Ao no Exorcist – 25 (End)

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The ending for the anime of the manga that isn’t ending anytime soon wasn’t really an ending at all. But stay tuned for the movie…

While it was certainly an open question how A-1 Pictures was going to conclude this adaptation, one thing I was pretty confident of – even before the movie announcement – was that no doors would be closed. No vital characters would die – if they’re alive in the manga they’d survive the anime. That left anime-original characters like Ernst as sacrificial lambs, but indeed none of the major cast died and no potential avenues for a second season were closed off (Yukio was even demoted back down to Middle First Class). If and when (and I’d bet the farm on “when”) a second season rolls around, if A-1 so chooses they can pick up pretty much where they left the manga last month and not skip a beat.

That’s all well and good, but the most important question is how the ending stands on its own. There’s no question that the series lost a little of its dramatic firepower when the anime veered off, but I’ve generally enjoyed this final arc and it didn’t end badly. If I’m going to fault it, I would argue that it was too predictable and – even given my expectations – too open-ended. The final battle on the rooftop went just as I expected, with Arthur joining up with Shura, and the Okumura brothers setting aside their squabbles to stand (or fly) together against their father. It’s not as if things could have ended any other way, but as has sometimes been the case with this adaptation the characters get where they’re going a little too quickly and conveniently, with the necessary emotional journey feeling rather rushed.

I was also a bit disappointed that, right to the end, both Mephisto and Takara ended up playing the role of spectator. We did get an interesting flashback at the start of the episode, where Mephisto apparently made a bargain with Faust himself – apparently choosing his alias as a tribute – and he did at least provide commentary when Rin and Yukio joined their demonic powers to form a flaming phoenix that was rather cool. But I’d hoped for more, a real choice – and as for Takara, all he did was pop his head in at the close and say a few words of snark through his bunny puppet. “Where have you been all this time?” Indeed, Shima – my very words. Probably the most interesting element of the final arc was the question of Satan’s motives – it’s clear that Yuri genuinely believed ( and still believes) that this notion of uniting Genenna and Assiah has merit, and that their sons will still have a role to play in doing just that.

My favorite moment of the episode was when Rin and Yukio – sent by Mephisto – headed off to the abandoned forest where Yuri died giving birth to them 16 years earlier. That added a nice benedictory moment at the close of the series, as well as framing the contradiction of their existence and setting the stage for future developments. As if it weren’t clear enough that this wasn’t really an ending, the anime closed with a completely extraneous bit about a demon that possesses vehicles, giving Rin one last chance to show all all his shounen character attributes and giving us one more Blackie moment. It was an odd choice, ending as it did quite literally in the middle of the scene.

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6 comments

  1. j

    predictable ending, but still a good end? I wonder what the movie will do to the series… and bunny guy is still in mystery… who is that Faust guy again? I wish I have to read the manga now 🙁

  2. Faust is the MC of a classic German legend about a man who makes a pact with the devil (Mephistopheles). He trades his immortal soul in exchange for unlimited knowledge. The story had been adapted and re-adapted and the details change, but that's the gist of it.

  3. A

    Hmm .. well I've just finished watching eppy 25 so I'm sort of still in neck whiplash "HUH? What?" mode lol … It wasn't bad. That being said, it wasn't particularly good either. Once again the pacing went HAYWIRE, I fail to understand why Satan our all important "last boss" of the season was defeated 14 minutes in. Talk about anticlimax. Still I love this manga and the first half of this season was so awesome that I can forgive the second half. But I've gotta say tho, had this been a standalone, or had this arc preceded the first few … I honestly wouldn't have even bothered watching this season through to the end.

    I at least hope the movie is better!

  4. M

    Takara's saved to use as deus ex for the second season, and/or mangaka hasn't decided what Takara actually is, either.

    The final motorbike scene probably does the same – end everything on an open-ended note to prepare for the second season. Everything, of course except the Satan arc – literally, every key character involved in the arc is thrown into the Gehenna Gate. Which is good, because that's how you wrap up filler episodes.

    Does make me wonder why A-1 was so rushed to produce an adaptation of a manga that wasn't even long-running yet – why do something that risky?

  5. To sell lots and lots of DVDs and boost manga sales, both of which they did.

  6. A

    I thought it ended on a retarded note. Probably, the best scenes of the whole episode, were the phoenix part(AWESOME!!!), and the part where Rin and Yukio went to visit Yuri's grave. The rest was more or less just bs. I hope they make a second season, and I hope the movie is kick ass just like the anime was. ^^ I hope if they did make a second season, I hope it ACTUALLY follows the story. Anyway, this was a good series, and I loved it(until the end,minus the parts above, and Yukio going all demonic lol).

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