Here’s another show to demonstrate how subs aren’t always the answer. The scene introducing the two brothers and their subsequent heart-to-heart over bandaging had some of the most painfully on-the-nose dialog I’ve encountered in a long time. Seriously, the characters are just rattling off all these details they should all be well aware of - - “It’s like we’re opposites!” - - and it could’ve been conveyed just as well (or better, even) without any dialog. And how hard would it have for the kid to explain that he was chasing some kind of wild animal through the store instead of that nonsense about a “monkey-faced guy.” Was he not wearing his glasses or something? Was that why he wasn't sure?
There was also the matter of them referring to the priest as “Dad.” Slap my wrist with a ruler if I’m wrong, but I don’t’ think any branch of Catholicism lets the clergy adopt kids in that personal a fashion. I’d almost guess that they were meant to refer to him as “father” and, thus, that might’ve been a case of the translation team outsmarting themselves by thinking that was too formal a term for hip young dudes to be using for their guardian.
Look, I’m not seriously expecting an anime to be absolutely accurate to Catholic doctrine, but I honestly get the impression that this was dreamed up by some mangaka who saw THE EXORCIST (or one its many rip-offs) for the first time only a little while back and then felt strongly that it was missing chibi and super-moves. It’s kind of a shame, because the intro with the ritual gone wrong was actually rather gripping, but the whole thing takes a nose dive right about when the window cleaners (?) start filling us on the guys’ entire life stories in the space of two minutes.
I think I’ll pass on BLUE EXORCIST. Somebody needs to introduce this kid to Daimon Hellstrom, though. They’d have plenty of common ground.
Watch this episode "The Devil Resides in Human Souls" below and decide for yourself.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
@zaldar: No, they are not. Was I supposed to agree with that notion?
@YotaruVegeta:
I didn't expect you would but I stand by it. Not a show for me as the others are not. I like my shows with a little more intellectual depth than these have. (Melancholia for example looks like a movie I am going to love).