Ao no Exorcist 08: Welcome to Quiet Hill.

I think I change my mind. Crap, there’s still four more months till Halloween and I’m going to cry so hard this isn’t funny at all.

In a couple of hours, I will be distracted with E3 for the rest of the day on the internet. So I just need to make it short and sweet; this week our protagonists are still in training camp and are punished by Yukio for their constant arguments and blame-shifting antics. While on ‘detention’, the class are forced to work together when demons (with designs suspiciously taken from Silent Hill) began infiltrating the ‘detention’ session of Rin and his pals. Hopefully we see some progression at the end of this episode onwards, as I’m starting to get bored with AnE’s character introductions.

My ‘tsun’ side is showing. And it’s only for you and Shiemi to see.

Summary: Rin and his entire class are being punished by Yukio for not cooperating with one another after an argument broke out between Bon and Izumo and are left to fend for themselves when they are being attacked by gruesome demons that almost killed Paku the night before. Forced to work together to prevent anyone killed before the Exwire exam, Rin has to find a way to survive without revealing his demon identity to his classmates as he finds out the culprit behind the recent demon attacks.

Because I don’t want to be a stuck-up bitch like you, that’s why I’m leaving.

Izumo woke up early after experiencing a nightmare for failing to protect Paku and returns Rin the jacket he lends Izumo to in the previous episode (and for the first time shows her tsundere side). As Yukio completes his part in taking care of Paku, he answers Rin’s question the reason why demons lurking around in the academy despite Mephisto putting barriers to prevent demons from entering the school. Sounds like an aesop to me; even demons aren’t perfect after all. Lying down at the rooftop of the dorm, he finds Shiemi drying the laundry and decides to help her even though Rin’s not as good as Shiemi as they discuss if Shiemi still wants to be an Exorcist after what happened the night before. Paku finally have the guts to tell Izumo that she’s quitting cram school, since she feels that the dangerous Exorcist life isn’t right for her.

New trollface, anyone?

During one of the classes Izumo was too engrossed at what Paku said to her and was unable to recite the lines from the Bible, which Bon did it without any signs of struggle. That eventually spun into an argument after class, Izumo mocking Bon’s simplistic reason for wanting to become an Exorcist. Bon uses this as a means of attack, asking Izumo what is her reason why she became an Exorcist. Cue typical disturbed childhood scene, burnt hometown, mysterious person murdering the entire family, you get the drift. The answer isn’t so straightforward as Izumo decides to reveal her troubled past at a later time, but that’s all the flashbacks we get to see for now. Rin was the first to be pissed with their fighting after Izumo meant to punch Bon in the face, followed by a eyebrow-twitching Yukio, punishing them once they have returned to the dorm. Followed by a ‘All for one, one for all’ motto to his students and reprimanding them of their bad behaviour that will being trouble to a life and death situation, Yukio leaves them to reflect on their mistakes for the next three hours, locking all the entrances so that nothing goes out (and in). A blackout soon hit the dorm a few seconds Yukio left the room.

Because I’m the one and only amazing Bon in this academy. I’m too cool for school.

Time to show Bon who’s the stronger one here.

Shima decides to play the bad boy again and closes the door once he figured out that he doesn’t want to risk his life over a misconduct of his. Cue demon rampaging into the room as it spreads miasma (as a result of the closed head breaking its stitches and splitting itself up) to the students, with Shiemi’s familiar protecting them right on time before further trouble continues. Everyone, with the exception of Rin were affected by the miasma spit by the demon, and its up to Rin to act as decoy, leading the powerful half of the demon out of the room. Becoming weaker over time as a result of getting hit by the miasma, the others help Shiemi out by reciting all 21 chapters from the Gospel of St. John, not before Bon tells off Izumo to be useful for once in order to save them all before they become demon food. The scolding from Bon and Shiemi’s struggle to save everyone gives Izumo the courage to do her part in buying time for Bon and Koneko to recite the lines as she summons her fox familiars again.

Taking heed of Bon’s tip, Rin rushes to the facility room to switch on the lights again but was stopped by the demon and the teacher seen in the previous episode in Rin’s class. Knowing that Rin’s a demon (and also the fact that he’s Satan’s son), Rin was forced to use his flames and the Kurikara in front of his teacher to get rid of the demon, not before confirming his suspicion and escapes while Rin was distracted. Meanwhile, as Bon recites the last lines from the last chapter, Sheimi was all out of power to sustain the roots from holding back the demon. To give Bon some time to reach the end Izumo orders her familiars to attack the demon and that gives enough time for Bon, with the demon grabbing his head and about to eat him to say the line that vanquish the demon, as well as turning the lights on at Rin’s side. Thankfully everyone’s safe and sound as Yukio returns, not before bringing another guest into the room, which turns out to be the teacher Rin faced earlier on…

Seriously, I swear I did not sign up for this just because I have to experience the Silent Hill treatment all over again! That’s it; I’m saying hello to my therapist again next week!

I’m Rin Okamura, son of Satan. Don’t you forget that, you inferior demon from a video game.

Can’t afford to die now in an early story arc.

Thoughts: – Izumo’s flashback when Bon asks her the reason she became an Exorcist was new to me. In fact, nothing was known about her reason of being an Exorcist in the manga. (Because of the low quality of that flashback in the manga, I can’t see what’s really going on at that panel.) In fact, Yukio was right for punishing the entire class after the argument between Bon and Izumo; in real situations against a powerful demon they (including the people not pulled into the argument between the aforementioned) might get killed. That Izumo flashback looks very cliche, seen it in many old school shounen series, but for now I’ll leave it be since Izumo’s not telling anyone about her past.

- Cue blackout moment, things are starting to become interesting after the character introduction episodes (besides episode 5 and filler episode) as everyone are forced to work together and stop arguing the moment they knew that their lives are on the line. Really gives them a sense of urgency, plus putting them into a situation as if they’re full fledged Exorcists and trapped all alone in a room with no outside help and phone signals. One of the most exciting part of the series since everything shown in episode 2. Nice to see Izumo’s tsundere side at Rin and Shiemi, hopefully she’s less bitchy towards Shiemi at least to start off with after Paku decides to leave the exorcist life behind.

- There’s more focus of the students which are yet to be introduced properly in this episode, mainly the kid with his rabbit hand puppet and the guy with the hood. Only time will tell of their true powers and identities. (And as a word of warning, please do not reveal any spoilers from the manga in the comments section. I will have to delete your comment if you do that, as there are some people watching this series who does not want to be spoiled of the happenings in future episodes.) I sense a change of direction after the incidents in this episode, hoping to see a lot of surprises coming this way very soon.

Some boring captions for you to sneer at:

Rin: I know that beneath those mean words you said, you are really nice on the inside.
Izumo: Shut up, shut up, shut up! Pretend I didn’t say that. *blushes*

Rin and Shiemi are upset that the first season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has ended. As well as crying over the fact that none of the games they are expecting are coming to this year’s E3.

Focus on that Yamada (Guy in hood) guy? Yup, that’s some nice foreshadowing going on right here.

That’s it, sign me up for some Shiemi X Izumo yuri fics. Yum!