Ah, yeah. Now I remember again that there was a big problem with the original material of this series: it tends to not make any sense.
Before, the problem with the two filler episodes wasn’t that they didn’t get the characters, or that they weren’t enjoyable, but rather that they were just ridiculously stupid. With this episode.. . you could see the traces of that. Thankfully it didn’t reduce any of the characters to morons: they were fine, and actually quite interesting. Instead… the plot got a bit questionable.
In one shot, we see the blacksmith working hard to restore Rin’s sword. Then we switch to the courtroom scene in which Rin is tried, and there the side-characters just randomly pop up out of nowhere with the sword completely fixed. What happened to the transition here? How did they get there in time? How did they fix that sword so bloody easily?
Then, alter, we see Rin enter the classroom. He then randomly bashes the wall that makes those flying things appear around Shiemi. That scene was just meant to show Rin’s blue flames again, which he uses to get rid of those creatures. The same blue flame which is later revealed to be beyond his control and which burned the clothes of Yukio and Shura. I mean, it was a funny scene and all, but please at least try to be consistent here.
Having said that though I can see where the creators are coming from with the new plot. If I didn’t just hear that they stopped right before the best parts of the manga, I wouldn’t have had any problems with them. Instead of everyone getting terrified of him, the reactions are more subtle, which combines hatred at the blue flames with the acknowledgement that it was Rin’s father who killed all those people, and not Rin himself.
The fight against Amaimon seemed a bit anticlimactic at first, but ah well. At the very least someone actually dies upon getting cut by a sharp sword. Again though: consistency!
And at least, the characters still are quite enjoyable to watch and the chemistry is still there and the new material did not reduce them to idiots, so it’s not like this series is doomed, although it probably will become less good if the creators keep throwing these random deus ex machina in its plot. Whether this series will work is all going to depend on what the creators are going to make out of the finale of this series. There’s this Satan thing which has hardly been explored so far which will become the major problem here: the final villain. BY FAR the biggest pitfall for this series is the lame final villain. This also was the thing that proved to be disastrous for Letter Bee’s anime original finale.
Rating: * (Good)
It seems they are mixing some things from the manga as well. I didn’t watch the episode yet, but there was a scene where he is trying to control his flames but he burns the clothes of Yukio and Shura. So it is probably partially why this seems inconsistent.
Also about them returning so fast, remember that Yukio supposedly has a key that makes a door open to wherever he wants. (or all major shrines? or something). So basically they can move around pretty fast.
I just wish all this filler means there’s going to be a season two.
I want a redo of the series like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood after the manga is done :3 And by A-1, of course.
“How did they get there in time?”
Have you been paying attention to the whole key system?
I don’t think Rin using the flames to save Shiemi (again), and him not being able to control them later is inconsistent at all. He’s not actively releasing his flames to get rid of them, they are just naturally shooting out because he got emotional.
The part that bothered me was the final bout with Amaimon. Seriously, how did Rin turn into such a badass sword fighter? Sure, he did well against Amaimon in the forest; but that was from overpowering him, not from any real finesse with a sword. Last time I checked, his blue flames don’t turn him into Kenshin Himura.
@kazukifafner: I don’t think the anime makes Rin overpowered, it merely makes everyone not named Rin underpowered. A mere flaming stab should not kill Amaimon. After all, he’s been stabbed 2 times like that without any lasting effect before.
The good thing about this episode is that it includes some character interactions from the manga. The bad thing is that they feel flat because there’s not much tension in the class to begin with. Bon is especially inconsistent. One day he is all about saving Rin, another day he’s spouting death threats.
I hate the eyebrows girl’s character. I honestly forgot her name and that is how much I hate her.