Well, as a whole now four episodes into this original arc, it is too soon to say my thoughts on it. Certainly it is now coming off to be a lot longer than what I originally thought.  But this episode really gave some thought on not just what could come in the anime, but what this could mean for the manga as well. So, let’s get started.

 

The Plot:

The situation is getting worse. The Twelve Guardians are spread all over closing the portals or helping putting a stop to the threats. Not just this, but the threats are getting worse. It may soon be known to the public about exorcists and the situation that they are in. Before actually getting on with the episode two of the Guardians are shown off, what is with their outfits?

Anyway, the Twin Stars are onto their next destination. Certainly Sae is enjoying the rid, making origami. Even making Beino happy with Ohagi origami. Rokuro mentions that the next stop is an amusement park. A quick flashback to the third episode (which was original by the way), Rokuro shares his encounters with an amusement park sparking Sae’s interest.

At the amusement park, they meet the exorcists in charge, who state there is a Kegare at threat level True Serpent, which means it is about to turn into a Basara.

This lion like Kegare, who Sae calls Mr. Lion, wants to see something beautiful. Sae runs off and meets Mr. Lion and she says the amusement park is meant to be beautiful.  But just as she is making a new friend in Mr. Lion, Beino and Rokuro save her. Yet this does not last long as the fight sends Sae flying and Mr. Lion saving her only to run away with her.

Mr. Lion tells Sae how he wants to see something beautiful, he does not care about eating humans. He just wishes to see something beautiful. Sae says the place runs by adults. So, Mr. Lion goes looking for one.

Rokruo and Beino are stalking up on talismans before they head out. Only instead of spending the rest of the episode searching for Sae, she is found rather quickly. Well, an empty amusement park and hearing one child is easy, so that is why.

After searching, falling, and coming to a realization, Mr. Lion returns to the amusement park. Rokruo goes to attack him only to notice he is crying. Mr. Lion realizes that he is not meant to be in the human world to not ruin it. But the lights turn on, his face lights up, and he truly sees something beautiful. He wishes to see it with Sae. As he sees the beauty of the sparking park, he gets shot in the chest.

He dies peacefully. Rokuro and Beino are angry at the two Guardians from earlier. They state it is their job to destroy kegare and that it should not cloud their judgement even if one is like Mr. Lion.

Sae sees the park lit up. Rokuro and Beino tell her Mr. Lion had to go home. Sae sees an origami lion on the ground that she gave to him. She hides it away as the episode ends.

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Overall Thoughts:

This episode was a certainly a nice change of pace, while still giving a nice closing that could affect later episodes. I only say that is Sae is obviously going to be very important at the end of this arc. Could she turn evil, could she be someone who is neutral, or something else. Her role although is not fully clear, still is known that this ending may affect her later down the line.

Now, with Mr. Lion, there always seems to be the chance with shows with monsters, that at some point there will be a monster the main characters come across that is actually nice and not evil. By the end the monster dies due to someone else. So, this was not a surprise. Certainly this concept that there may be a good kegare out there in Twin Star Exorcists never really occurred to me. Mostly since Bassara are evil, with Kamui being a more neutral evil. Never really a pure good one has appeared.

But there is a war between kegare and humans, and both wish to live. So although we will probably see a lot more evil kegare and bassara to come, and it is unlikely to see another good one. There may be potential in other ones to maybe appear in the manga.

As for the episode as a whole. The plot certainly was a bit predictable for Mr. Lion. It has been done before, which is why I am not surprised at all. But there are going to be problems to come from this, at least in this arc. And although he was not a bassara, it was nice not to get another one introduced only to have them run by the end. With how many that were and how many that will appear in this arc, it might be longer than I expected. But who knows only time will tell.

 

Overall Score: B-

Overall Enjoyment: 80

Feel free to give your thoughts on the series or this episode, just keep in mind for spoilers for later episodes.

As always I hope you enjoyed.

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Again, I hope you enjoyed and see you next time.

– Joe