Sousei no Onmyouji

[Kraco]

http://i.imgur.com/feEynwO.jpg

"Rokuro is from a family of exorcists who remove the evil Kegare, but his real dream is to be a singer, a soccer player, or anything other than an exorcist. When another exorcist name Benio arrives, Rokura is suddenly inflamed with competitive spirit and decides to put his natural knack to good use. Their rivalry gets more complicated when they both learn they are the destined "Twin Star Exorcists," two ultimate fighters fated to marry and create the prophesied child who will eliminate all the Kegare in the world." -Manga-Updates

Links: AniDB (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=11785) | ANN (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=17890) | Official (http://www.sousei-anime.jp/)
Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Supernatural




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I've watched a few of the new offerings of this season, and largely they haven't overly impressed me. Thus I was positively surprised when this first episode left me thinking it looked promising. Of course the description itself immediately does offer a couple of plot elements that click for me: the MCs are apparently strong and, above all, they are a fated couple. I really like fated couples.

Other than that, shounen shows where the MCs fight monsters using superpowers are dime a dozen, so it's always good when the show tries to add some spice to it. Few manage to do it as well as Shana, for example, but this show was already much better than "Hundred", to name another new show. The monsters are positively weird and there's that alternative, overlapping dimension the exorcist, as well as the monsters, can use. The talismans and shamanistic powers also feel more natural than merely shouting the name of your power/technique aloud for no reason whatsoever.

I'll keep watching this unless it suddenly ruins itself.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm up to date with the manga and the female twin star gets NTRd.




Just kidding.

[Kraco]

Episode 2 - HS




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I really liked this, apart from the stupid familiar. I hope we won't see the annoying thing too often. Otherwise I like the rivalry setting, the aloof personalities, the wicked boss exorcist, and the fights. It's good Benio had a technique she could use to at least try to overpower Rokuro, making things not so one-sided. But on the other hand I feel like it serves the plot the best that Rokuro is stronger in pure fighting power when he doesn't want to have anything to do with exorcism, unless he's forced to. If Benio was stronger, it's hard to see why she would care to try to push Rokuro. This setting, however, ought to create good dynamics.

I didn't expect the other people at Rokuro's place to be so ignorant. Considering Rokuro is tolerated there despite not working at all, I thought they were aware of his potential and were hoping he would return to work. But apparently they knew next to nothing. I guess they are really good-natured, then.

Benio was overreacting badly. She was perfectly wrapped in a towel, thus preventing Rukuro from seeing anything, yet she went totally berserk nonetheless.

[Munsu]

I'm watching this as well, and so far enjoyable enough. We'll see how things develop, certainly plenty of amusing scenes and action to keep us entertained.

Episode 4 is out, will watch tonight or tomorrow.
http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=806698

One thing though, I think that "Hell Teacher Nube" / "s-CRY-ed" arm has to go or evolve. I think it's incredibly stupid considering how cool other characters look weaponized.

[Kraco]

One thing though, I think that "Hell Teacher Nube" / "s-CRY-ed" arm has to go or evolve. I think it's incredibly stupid considering how cool other characters look weaponized.

It certainly looks stupid alone. It's like a part of a whole armour, like in DxD, but he can only use it on a single arm. It's so different compared to the powers of everybody else that it makes you think the dude wasn't joking when he called it a curse, not a cool power. I don't usually watch OPs, even less analyse them, but the OP seems to suggest something along those lines as well (03:06 in this episode) with Rokuro seemingly fighting an evil looking clone of himself.

I still enjoying this well, but I didn't particularly like Rokuro bowing so much here, all the way up (or is it down) to prostrating. Sometimes I like headstrong and rude characters, sometimes I don't like them, but generally speaking I'd want them to stay one way or another. What I definitely don't want to see happening here is the dude getting all meek while the girl stays professionally cold (but obviously warms inside). That's too common in manga/anime these days. I don't mind Rokuro saving his friends when needed, but I'd like him to remain aloof and stubborn in that juvenile way he displayed in the beginning.

[KrayZ33]

Ep 3+4 were alot weaker than 1+2 imho.

Rokuro acted out of character when he begged for help. At least I thought of him more of a "I'll do it myself" type of guy that wouldn't bother other people to fight fights for him.
I'm not a fan of the arm either, I really hope it will turn out to be something similiar to Highschool DxD

[Munsu]

Ep 3+4 were alot weaker than 1+2 imho.

Rokuro acted out of character when he begged for help. At least I thought of him more of a "I'll do it myself" type of guy that wouldn't bother other people to fight fights for him.
I'm not a fan of the arm either, I really hope it will turn out to be something similiar to Highschool DxD

Not sure why you see it out of character. It's been clear from the get go, in a pounding into your face kind of way, that he's been dragging a lot of issues because of the tragedy he suffered in his youth. That he looked for help when practically the only person left that he feels close to is going to die, is not by any means out of character.

If the danger was his own alone, that would be a different story altogether.

[Kraco]

Episode 5 - HS



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I think we could have survived without a sasuke, but I guess a rival was the only thing that could really fire up the MC now that he has got over his total dislike for the exorcist work. His wife didn't seem to do the trick, despite what the series description says, even if she can exasperate him in other ways, but a male rival apparently could. I just wish it had been something else than a sasuke. At least there didn't seem to be a triangle.

Seems like he does have a lot of catching up to do. He's fortunately not a total one move wonder, but obviously he's lagging behind with his years (?) of doing nothing. He also needs to do something to conquer his trauma.

[Munsu]

Episode 5 - HS



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I think we could have survived without a sasuke, but I guess a rival was the only thing that could really fire up the MC now that he has got over his total dislike for the exorcist work. His wife didn't seem to do the trick, despite what the series description says, even if she can exasperate him in other ways, but a male rival apparently could. I just wish it had been something else than a sasuke. At least there didn't seem to be a triangle.

Seems like he does have a lot of catching up to do. He's fortunately not a total one move wonder, but obviously he's lagging behind with his years (?) of doing nothing. He also needs to do something to conquer his trauma.

I thought this episode was a step back. There was no need to make him an inept Exorcist. I mean, I don't mind that he needs to catch-up and what not, but at no point has it been hinted that he was this useless and inept as he was shown here. Felt too forced, pilling everything on unnecessarily.

He wasn't really much of a likable MC (quite annoying to me) to begin with.

[Kraco]

It seems to me that he appeared inept because he didn't simply rely on his major power, the armoured glove, like he always did before now. The wife is powerful because she can use a wide variety of magic, and more at the same time than most exorcists, but the husband's power is all about that glove. Without it he's probably weaker than those two average exorcists he's brother is always dragging along. He has got more potential, but relying so much on a single skill will necessarily weaken the others. It very much seems like the glove, which he called a curse, is something he won't forget from unuse, but the regular exorcists skills he might gradually forget if not put to use regularly. It was made very clear his lack of practice prevents him from drawing talismans.

[Munsu]

It seems to me that he appeared inept because he didn't simply rely on his major power, the armoured glove, like he always did before now. The wife is powerful because she can use a wide variety of magic, and more at the same time than most exorcists, but the husband's power is all about that glove. Without it he's probably weaker than those two average exorcists he's brother is always dragging along. He has got more potential, but relying so much on a single skill will necessarily weaken the others. It very much seems like the glove, which he called a curse, is something he won't forget from unuse, but the regular exorcists skills he might gradually forget if not put to use regularly. It was made very clear his lack of practice prevents him from drawing talismans.

Sorry, but the whole "oops, forgot to take out a talisman to use my exorcist powers" was incredibly stupid. Scenes like that one were unneeded. Like I have no problem if he has a learning curve to catch-up to being a proper exorcist, but that was incredibly rookie and he's been in plenty of fights since the beginning of the series to make those type of inept mistakes now all of the sudden.

And of course, him not using his powers form the get-go a clear gimmick to accentuate his ineptness for no apparent reason.

The way I would've handled it is that he would use his main powers, find that for some reason it isn't working against these guys, then when he tries to do other more experienced exorcist skills he might have been found lacking. That would be more believable, proper, and consistent with his characterization (of course, then you'd have him do something spectacular in the end).

Just thought they piled on all these "mistakes" unnecessarily and in a very unneeded manner. It's OK if this was the first or second episode, but don't show me this crap after he's been owning everyone left and right from the get go, including using talismans as it was.

[Kraco]

I'm not arguing against you per se, as I thought this battle was poorly written/directed. Obviously its only purpose was to make the MC look lacking compared to the what's-his-name sasuke look-alike. It was stupid, like you said, that he suddenly was lousier and more foolish than before during this particular fight for no particular realistic reason. However, I hate the power suddenly not working for whatever reason plots as much as I disliked the poor direction here, so it certainly wouldn't have got any more points from me.

It would have been better if, after seeing his wife fight so many times using the varied skills (spells), he had become annoyed by his own lack of skills in comparison, aside from the glove, and wanting to prove he's not a single skill miracle had tried too much without the glove and ended up failing.

[shinta|hikari]

Or he could just use what he has and own stuff.

[Munsu]

I'm not arguing against you per se, as I thought this battle was poorly written/directed. Obviously its only purpose was to make the MC look lacking compared to the what's-his-name sasuke look-alike. It was stupid, like you said, that he suddenly was lousier and more foolish than before during this particular fight for no particular realistic reason. However, I hate the power suddenly not working for whatever reason plots as much as I disliked the poor direction here, so it certainly wouldn't have got any more points from me.

It would have been better if, after seeing his wife fight so many times using the varied skills (spells), he had become annoyed by his own lack of skills in comparison, aside from the glove, and wanting to prove he's not a single skill miracle had tried too much without the glove and ended up failing.

I'm also not a fan of the power suddenly not working. I phrased that a bit wrong. I meant more that maybe it wasn't as effective or not enough, like he would need to combine that power per se with some skill to properly use it.

But yeah, I just thought the whole "bringing him down to earth" angle was poorly done, though I agree with the sentiment of trying to do so, but I thought the way they went about it was just bad.

I'd prefer if he'd stay on the status quo, but suddenly even finding as he was, still lacking and having to improve his current self, not some sort of invention they dropped on us all suddenly.

Anyways, curious about the head priest calling off his hound when he was in pursuit of a bad guy all for some sort of new model spread. He's been quirky enough as it is, but something smells a bit fishy.

[Kraco]

That head priest seems incredibly suspicious. Hard to say if he actually participates in anything criminal, but at the very least he knows much more than he's telling anybody. It would be quite gruesome if he in fact was taking part in arranging those monster outbreaks to keep exorcists needed in the society. He doesn't really seem the type with the stupid humour and everything.

[Kraco]

Episode 06 - HS



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I wonder how thrilled Mayura will be when she hears those two not only live under the same roof, but the exorcist world considers them a husband and wife...

This episode seems to reinforce my interpretation that Rokuro indeed was trying to train his regular exorcist skills aside from the glove. He only decided to use it when the others had been knocked down. For a while it looked like his trauma overpowered him, which would have sucked major noodles, but fortunately he just needed to warm up his tubes to get angry enough.

Other than that, I enjoyed Benio's character development and Mayura's delusions. And hated every moment of the obnoxious creature on screen. Somebody should banish it back to the whatever plane of oblivion Benio foolishly conjured it from.

[Munsu]

Episode 06 - HS



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I wonder how thrilled Mayura will be when she hears those two not only live under the same roof, but the exorcist world considers them a husband and wife...

This episode seems to reinforce my interpretation that Rokuro indeed was trying to train his regular exorcist skills aside from the glove. He only decided to use it when the others had been knocked down. For a while it looked like his trauma overpowered him, which would have sucked major noodles, but fortunately he just needed to warm up his tubes to get angry enough.

Other than that, I enjoyed Benio's character development and Mayura's delusions. And hated every moment of the obnoxious creature on screen. Somebody should banish it back to the whatever plane of oblivion Benio foolishly conjured it from.

This one was a better episode. Not a fan of Mayura, but her delusions and her conversations with Benio and her "more dangerous the better" scenes were great. I don't like Mayura type of characters though.

I thought she was better when she was firstly introduced as Rokuro was hitting on anything that moved. Which reminds me, Rokuro changed a lot since then as well, he was introduced as someone who would go after any girl he could find to see if he could finally get lucky, but since then he's been shy about just about anything. But whatever.

And yeah, not a fan of that pet... I think I heard it was an anime original character.

I can buy the idea of Rokuro simply not using his main power so he can practice his other ones. The anime then failed to make that distinction more clearly, which would've made these past scenes easier to stomach. I still think they made him act unneeded inept in some regards, but it's something that I can work with easier with the premise in mind.

[Kraco]

Yeah, I absolutely agree that they should have verbally made a point of Rokuro trying to train like that. Now it was never stated anywhere, he just suddenly stopped using the glove until there was no other choice, leaving everything to watchers' own interpretations. It hasn't even been revealed if that abnormal power of his is something he really hates and if it's somehow connected to what happened to his previous place of residence, which got wiped out, leaving only Rokuro alive.

I'd assume Rokuro changed because of Benio. Both of them vehemently deny any deeper relationship between them, but I can't help but think that Rokuro would find it hard to make himself hit on random girls as long as Benio is there. If things got more strained between them, I could see Rokuro actually going down the cliche road and trying to get some other girls' attention just to make a point, but that would annoy me greatly.

[Kraco]

Episode 08 - HS





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That was rather interesting. Although I don't know how it could work. If Rokuro was corrupted and turned into a kegare, how come he's been hanging around as a human ever since and is now even fighting as an excorcist? It's like these old people talked about two totally different things. Furthermore, if it really happened like that, and Mayura's nazi old man isn't just talking shit, it's weird Rokuro is left to his own devices. Couldn't he turn into a man slaughtering monster at any moment? This doesn't quite compute.

Regardless, this is exactly what this show needed.

[shinta|hikari]

Why the fuck do they call the enemies kegare? What the hell kind of lazy translators are they hiring nowadays? They should be called impurities.

[Munsu]

Episode 08 - HS





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That was rather interesting. Although I don't know how it could work. If Rokuro was corrupted and turned into a kegare, how come he's been hanging around as a human ever since and is now even fighting as an excorcist? It's like these old people talked about two totally different things. Furthermore, if it really happened like that, and Mayura's nazi old man isn't just talking shit, it's weird Rokuro is left to his own devices. Couldn't he turn into a man slaughtering monster at any moment? This doesn't quite compute.

Regardless, this is exactly what this show needed.

Just watched the last two episodes, and they were a big step above the previous ones. Really enjoyed them.

The living together in the same house worked quite well for me and now these new developments from the past.

We'll see if what they're saying is BS or not.

Also the most important aspect that I just learned is that Benio's VA is the same one as Gon Freecs! What the fuck?!?!

[shinta|hikari]

Did that kill your boner or enhance it?

[Munsu]

Did that kill your boner or enhance it?

I'm still in the confused stage...

But she's good looking, so... not much confusion I guess.

[Kraco]

Episode 09 - HS



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I couldn't with any honesty call this original and indeed it would have surprised nobody Benio's brother was a big villain. However, I think this was executed nicely. I'm also a big fan of plots where a prideful character blames another for something, yet the truth turns out to be quite different from the assumption, and the prideful one has to apologise. Of course my enjoyment also requires the wrongly accused one isn't a total bitch about it. Needless to say, I really enjoyed how this brought Rokuro and Benio a lot closer together. This episode would have been perfect if Benio's bro had accidentally killed the obnoxious critter following Benio, but I guess that would have been too much to ask for. Actually that would have made the bro a hero, not a villain, so maybe it would have been purely impossible.

That master/teacher, whatever he was, Mayura's old man, is a totally useless scumbag, though. Not that I'd hate him as a character as it's far more interesting there are all sorts of exorcists, not only goody two-shoes. But I don't see how he could teach anything to anybody, except perhaps hatred and bitterness.

[Kraco]

Episode 10 - HS




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That was an amusing episode. Full of cliches but still funny. Nothing much more to say about it, really. Although it's bullshit Rokuro seems to be weaker now than before his fight with Benio's traitor brother. I hope this at least means that his hands got much stronger and he simply needs to learn to control it.

[shinta|hikari]

The fluctuating power level thing seems to be an issue with the shounen genre in general. Very few can keep things consistent. One that comes to mind is HxH.

[Kraco]

Episode 11 - HS



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While it was amusing to watch those two grow as a couple and listening to Mitejima's awesome dialect, I'm still happy this is over. It didn't feel like it was moving the story forward at all. I won't look back at these eps as worthless, but honestly I reckon what was achieved here could have also been achieved in the middle of scenes that would have progressed the greater plot, including fleshing out characters.

It seems like Benio already considers herself Rokuro's girlfriend since she can't accept any competition, not even in the form of mags. In that case Rokuro should start to reap the benefits as well, not only suffer the disadvantages of losing his bachelor life.

[Kraco]

Episode 12 - HS



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I wonder if Benio's brother became the way he did because he realised exorcists are no good in their current form. If this 10 seconds Kamui has been killing so many exorcists he has already lost count, it means he has also killed the more powerful ones, maybe including former members of the Twelve Guardians. There's no way the brass would just sit on their hands when the soldiers are getting killed, after all. I reckon the Twelve Guardians members we have seen so far would be equally hard-pressed to win.

Other than that, I don't know if such a scatterbrained person could exist that he would allow the food to burn so badly while in the very process of mixing it. If that's his level of control and concentration, no wonder Benio's bro was laughing at him. Even horses would laugh at him.

[Kraco]

Episode 20 - HS




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I feel like this has only been getting better. It's probably not coincidental that the romance has also developed nicely. It really does wonders to a shounen show when it's not a harem with a denser than osmium male lead. Not only have the main characters developed as personalities, the powering up has also been reasonable, mostly. Main villains, so far, haven't been uninteresting either. The decent action aside, the relationship of the main characters is the thing that keeps the show going for me. The gradual change in their dispositions has been a treat to watch. Their occasional cooperation in battle is also better than in most fighting series I've seen.

Quite funnily the ending of this ep could have worked in a final episode, if not for the preview.

[shinta|hikari]

Are they grown up now?

[Kraco]

No, but if I understood the preview correctly, they will skip to the high school age from the current middle school age.

[shinta|hikari]

Oh, finally.

I guess the show is planning on covering all the released manga chapters.

[KrayZ33]

how many episodes will this show have?

[Kraco]

how many episodes will this show have?

A good question. The manga seems to have 9 volumes out in Japan, scanlated 33 chapters, although I have no idea how many chapters there are per volume. The anime has covered about half of those scanlated chapters (which makes me think we must have watched a bunch of fillers as well, but I'm not sure since I haven't read the manga). I suppose this could still continue, these days I wouldn't count on it. It's more a rule than an exception that anime never covers the whole story, only a beginning of it, fully on purpose.


Episode 21 - HS



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So, yeah, we did get a time jump. Rokuro still looks like a brat, but Benio looks a bit more lovely. Too bad the romance hasn't apparently moved a single inch forward. I don't know how a dude could live, alone, in the same house with a girl he likes and respects, training and fighting side by side continuously, yet not have made a single move during all that time. He must have the Rito disease. A tragic case.