OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)With tensions continuing to rise, True Cross Academy builds up its forces to fight the Illuminati, and Ban reassesses his reasons to fight.OUR TAKEWow, it really doesn’t feel like it has been that long since we last looked at Blue Exorcist, with the dub of the previous season only finishing a few months ago. It’s even more wild when you consider that the time between the first and second seasons was nearly six years, while the time between the second and third was around SEVEN. But we’re back for more now, with an episode that kinda feels more like a bridge from the events of last season (and a little bit of the second) to this, which will apparently be a lot more Yukio focused from what I’ve heard. Ban gets some further character growth, with his goals of protecting his family and friends falling out from under him as he realizes said family is handling things fine without him, while his friends (newly revealed triple agent Shima in particular) are going in directions he can’t follow on his current path. And as such, along with the sudden absence of Yukio and their other teach Shura, the class is getting lessons from Lewin Light, also known as Lightning, one of the top Exorcists in the order. Lightning was only first shown last season as Paladin Arthur’s right hand man, and only given a few appearances here and there, so I guess now’s the time he makes his proper appearance as a key character moving forward.With as much as was revealed about so many characters last season (Shima’s secret agreement with Mephisto to be a triple agent, Izumo’s tragic family past of being raised to be possessed by a powerful demon, Nemu Takara being also revealed as a secret exorcist within the students to monitor the other two, not to mention all the stuff with Rin and Yukio), having this season begin with just a relatively normal school day with no big developments feels…actually a little strange. We could very well be within the eye of the storm, with greater and more tragic events on the horizon. There are still eleven episodes of this to go, and then after that, Blue Exorcist’s anime future becomes pretty murky, so let’s hope they make the most of it while they can! Personally, I’m just kinda glad to see something I watched when I was in high school still getting as much love as it is today, so I’ll take what I can get out of it.