English Dub Review: Blue Exorcist “Insider”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Nemu Takara confronts Izumo, which instantly puts her on the attack, leading Nemu to fight back with his previously unseen abilities, though is later revealed to be an undercover exorcist. Shima arrives to protect Izumo, but is soon revealed to be the Illuminati mole that Mephisto was warned about. He knocks her out and hands them to his comrades, including the one running things; Lucifer, the King of Light and strongest of the Eight Demon Lords. They declare war on the Exorcists and leave with the city destroyed in their wake. Shinra vows to get both Izumo and Shima back.

OUR TAKE

Wow, okay, things suddenly took a VERY hard turn into plot relevance! We have both the second AND third reveals that a student in the Ex-Wire class wasn’t what they seemed, with the first happening all the way back in Season One when Shura turned out to NOT be a featureless dude in a hoodie, but actually Busty Anime Character Model 37. This time, it’s not a gender reveal, but actually a misdirect about this Illuminati mole that’s been talked about for so long so far. Nemu had always been the odd one out among the class, especially sticking out when Shura turned out to not be a student. And Nemu isn’t one either, apparently being a full blown Exorcist who was sent by Mephisto to watch over the group, for all the good that did. He also seems to have a reason for talking through his puppet and keeping his eyes clothes, as the puppet urges him to close his eyes again when they open up during the fight with Shima, so there’s likely plenty left to explore with him down the line. Which is a good time to bring up the fact that there is apparently another season coming in October.

As for Shima, I have to be totally transparent and admit that this twist was spoiled for me many years ago, long before this season was made or there was any hope that we would even be getting a SECOND season, let alone a fourth. But yeah, he’s actually working with a…I guess terrorist group that is planning to revive Satan by merging the human and demon worlds together. Not sure how the second thing leads to the first thing, but we’ve got plenty of time to get into it in this and next season. Now, if I had no idea this twist was coming, the way they handled it was actually pretty clever. First we have the red herring of Nemu, followed up by the sudden and unexpected save by Shima protecting Izumo, then his reveal that he’s been holding back a really powerful spirit but that’s probably fine…right? Well, then we see him knock Izumo out and that’s where it all clicks. So, now we have a teammate who is an informant, a teammate who was a spy, and a teammate that’s been kidnapped. Where will this go next? Guess we’ll find out as we enter the second third of the season.