Well, with an episode title like “Strange Bedfellows,” I’m certainly expecting some uproarious hijinks to take place. But then again, I’ve learned to lower my expectations when it comes to… well, anything. However, it does look like it’ll be a Bon-centric episode, which makes me very happy. So let’s get this show going.
Ah, Kyoto. That one town in Japan that Skrillex wrote a terrible song about. I hear it’s a nice place to visit and live, a nice alternative to the always busy Tokyo. Anyway, with out group now in the city, their first stop for residence is, conveniently enough, Bon’s family home. So, they’re all here to tend to the injured and ill with their concierge, Kinzo Shima from the “Kyoto field office”, and yes, he’s related to that pink-haired cutie, Renzo Shima – should’ve said his first name in the last recap, my bad. The episode doesn’t really kick off with a big interest point, so there isn’t much for me to talk about, but midway through the A-part, Rin ends up meeting Bon’s father, who – much like a certain old mage from Inuyasha – is an old drunkard. And sure enough, he and his boy are in a bit of a squabble, much like Bon and Rin are – and yes, I know his name is Ryuji, but Bon is cuter. Rin makes mention that he wants to patch things up with Bon, and I say good for him, make things right with your boyf… er, I mean, your friend. Yeah, that’s what I mean. Well, sure enough, things start to pick up back inside the home, with a fight breaking out between… uh, a guy, and… three women… none of whom are introduced, but Bon breaks it up and we just sort of move on from that scene. Meanwhile, Rin’s just standing in the back like, “Hey, I brought watermelon slices, anybody want one?” Poor guy got ignored.
The B-part doesn’t start off too spectacularly, either, with Bon exiting stage left and leaving Rin all alone with Renzo for the time being. And I think Rin got into some alcohol, along the way. Most of the B-part is made up of flashbacks of a younger Bon, or should I say, Ryuji, talking with his fellow clergymen about how he’s going to defeat Satan and bring prominence back to their temple, all that kind of stuff, and it leads back to the present day with one of the clergymen finding Bon and informing him of a lead in what’s been going on, recently. He wants in on this action, and he wants his father involved, as well, so I guess we’re gonna come back to this later. Meanwhile, what’s Yukio been up to? Well, since he’s a part of “the elite” side of things, he’s in a separate party who have found a lead of their own, a target of an abandoned car on the side of the road. Sure enough, the ones who are inside are dead, with miasma flowing out the wa-zoo. And so, our episode ends with our big bad atop Kyoto Tower, looking on at the city and talking on the phone with, I’m assuming to be, his accomplice. And he’s already got the Left Eye put into his head.
Sorry if this is a bit shorter than what I usually do, there wasn’t a whole lot to talk about with this one. It was definitely a “development episode,” where the action takes a backseat for some smoothing out of the development and exposition and all that. Personally, I would’ve switched the format of the first two episodes around – have the first be the development, and have the second be all about the action. But hey, I don’t work at Aniplex, so all I can do is dream. That’s all for now, join me back here on Monday for the latest episode, where we’ll all see just where they go from here with this story. And may your Satan always have the s**t beat out of him.
Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga is available on Crunchyroll, with new episodes every Friday at 1:30pm Eastern, and is also available on Daisuki.net, Hulu, and Amazon Video’s Anime Strike channel.