Blue Exorcist came out in Spring 2011, but I watched it sometime in 2012. The most interesting part for me was the story of Rin and Yukio’s birth – the story of Yuri Egin. But since the anime was made before the manga had told the true story, the version in the anime was vague and unsatisfying.
I’ve been waiting 13 years for the true story of Yuri Egin – and this new adaptation finally delivered it in a satisfying way. I am extremely impressed with these two episodes. However, I’m short on time, so my episode reviews will be brief. There was more I wanted to say, but it will have to wait till a bit later, when I have more time and motivation.
Contents
- Episode 8: The Blue Night
- Episode 9: Fight To The Death
Episode 8: The Blue Night
Episode Rating: 10/10
Satan wandered into Lucifer’s room in Section 13, blind and crazed with pain as his body degraded. It was clear that Lucifer deeply admired and empathized with his spiritual father. Just as Satan was about to admit that he loved Yuri and she was all he needed, his head exploded into blue flame and his consciousness became fully hateful and demonic. He swore he would kill Yuri, who he thought betrayed him on purpose.
Satan’s body burned away to nothing while he screamed in rage and agony. The Blue Night began as he took the form of a blue flash of light and started jumping between bodies, looking for a host that could sustain him. Hundreds died from the blue fire and violent possession, including many of the most powerful exorcists. Renzo and Ryuuji, who were only babies at the time, lost family members as their clans were suddenly attacked. It was devastating.
Back at the scene where Yuri gave birth, baby Rin was still wreaking havoc and killing exorcists. The corrupt members of the True Cross Order grew impatient and would have killed Yuri if Shiro hadn’t protected her. Thanks to him, Yuri had another chance to get the second baby out of her. She successfully birthed the younger twin, but he was immediately taken from her and nearly killed as the rough men tried to “test” the baby for signs that he was Satan’s spawn.
Thankfully, baby Rin burned those men to death with blue fire. The kind doctor who supervised the delivery picked up baby Yukio and gave him back to Yuri, who was so happy to have her baby in her arms. But there was still the rampaging demon baby to deal with. At that moment, Mephisto showed up and told Shiro to attack the baby with the magical Koma Sword. Yuri begged him not to do it because she knew Rin was only trying to protect her and Yukio. Shiro ignored her pleas.
Shiro fully intended to kill the demon infant, but the Koma Sword wasn’t powerful enough to destroy the heart of Satan’s spawn. It instead sealed his demon heart into the sword. Rin then reverted to a normal baby, blind and crying for his mother. The Paladin’s men suggested holding the demon’s vessel captive indefinitely and keeping it weak by destroying its body over and over.
Mephisto pointed out that this madness was what caused demons like Satan and Lucifer to turn against humans. To prevent baby Rin from becoming another Satan, Mephisto returned him to his mother’s arms, where he could feel love and warmth. Yuri now cradled both her twin babies safely, grateful to Mephisto for the act of kindness. At that moment, Satan possessed the Paladin. He had finally found Shiro and Yuri. To be continued.
Episode 9: Fight To The Death
Episode Rating: 10/10
Now that Satan had found them, he wanted to possess Shiro’s body and probably kill Yuri. When he called Yuri a whore and a traitor, she cried and tried to explain that she couldn’t stay by his side. Satan wouldn’t listen. He also wasn’t happy about the babies or the fact that he was a father now.
To make things even worse, Satan revealed that he was responsible for killing Yuri’s adoptive family back in the city slums. He attacked them and tried to possess them in order to get closer to Yuri, with whom he was obsessed. To protect little Yuri and thwart Satan, the old man and old lady killed themselves. Yuri was devastated to hear that. She genuinely loved Satan before, but now this reveal threw everything into question. Had she simply been under a demon’s spell since childhood?
Satan proceeded to possess Shiro, at least partially. In response, Shiro cut the side of his own neck, trying to kill himself. He apparently didn’t fully succeed, because Satan was still there, controlling his body. He told Yuri he did this out of love for her. He became Shiro, the man she loved. But Yuri boldly said that didn’t make her happy. Satan shot blue fire at her, but Mephisto protected her. As Satan screamed for Yuri to return his love, Yuri asserted that this wasn’t love at all.
Satan was at a complete loss, which allowed Shiro to make a comeback, fighting for control. He successfully banished Satan out of his body. Moreover, he was relatively alright, minus some blood loss. The wound on his neck was fully healed by the presence of one of the Grigori, who appeared out of nowhere. She had also been possessed by Satan earlier, but withstood it and came to see what was happening with Yuri.
The Grigori ordered Yuri’s capture and requested that she surrender her life as a sacrifice to stop Satan’s obsession with her. Shiro wasn’t going to allow that. He finally went rogue and betrayed the True Cross Order, going on the run with Yuri. For several days, they went from hideout to hideout, avoiding capture. During that time, Shiro was unusually kind to Yuri. He now realized how much he loved her and wanted to protect her. There were several sweet and romantic moments between them.
One cute moment was when Yuri named the babies. Rin was named after Rinka, the explosive blue flames. Yukio’s name came from Yukiotoko (snow man), the nickname she always privately kept for Shiro. In Yuri’s mind, a Yukiotoko was a strong and handsome man. I loved that moment.
Sadly, on their way to a hideout in the snowy woods, the inevitable finally happened. Yuri was too weak from blood loss and other birth complications. As she slowly died, Shiro carried her, and they talked about raising the babies together and being a happy family. After telling Shiro to become the father of Rin and Yukio, Yuri quietly passed away. She left Shiro completely devastated and hating himself for not doing better to protect her. He never even told her that he loved her.
This scene was truly heartbreaking. I wasn’t expecting anything different, but Yuri’s unavoidable death was so tragic. So was Shiro’s intense regret for how he had acted toward Yuri. I loved his self-reflective line, “Who am I to mock monsters when I was a monster myself?”
The sad scene was broken up by the arrival of a Yeti, who slashed open Shiro’s side and sent him flying several feet away. The Yeti was probably going to eat baby Rin and Yukio. At first, Shiro didn’t seem to care. He was so depressed he wanted to keep lying down and just die. The episode leaves off at this moment. Next time, Shiro will decide to protect the babies and raise them out of love for Yuri.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke
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