Quarantine Control #214: The Bad Exorcist Vault

DC Staff | May 9, 2024 | Animation, Features, Reviews, Television | No Comments

The biggest story around continues to be the student protests on college campuses against Israel’s outright genocide in Gaza. These protests have continued to grow despite strong (and ridiculous) resistance from college administrators, most politicians, and the police, and they’ve led to some frightening instances of violence. But it’s clear why the young people won’t be deterred, after seeing what’s happening in Gaza with Israel looking to increase the body count of innocent citizens by invading Rafah, a location previously considered a refuge for Palestinians. Student protests tend to age well, while the resistance to them usually doesn’t. This one is well on its way to gracing the list of movements that will be looked back back on fondly, to the point that some people will pretend they were never against them.

Geoffrey Barnes

Star Wars: The Bad Batch — Season 3 (2021-2024)
Source: Disney Plus
Episodes: 15

The Bad Batch had far from the most intriguing concept for a Star Wars series to cover when it first began, animated or otherwise. There’s a wild gulf of story possibilities for a franchise that takes place in such a (supposedly) large galaxy to cover. Was anyone really clamoring for a show about a bunch of defective clones an a deeply well-trodden period for the franchise all that much, beyond seeing Dee Bradley Baker flex his vocal talents? (He voices all the clones in animated form.) On the other hand, the production team did all they could with it, with the crew getting involved in several plights that made the characters worth following and caring about.

The first season got a little bogged down in the characters accepting side quests, but the second season delved further into the grander story following the events of Revenge of the Sith by tackling the conundrum of what happened the clones themselves after the Clone Wars ended. The final season here continues that quality… mostly.

The Bad Batch’s third and final season picks up right where the grim second season conclusion left off, with Omega captured by the Empire, Tech still very much dead, and the other remaining crew of the titular Batch struggling to gather their forces together and survive. It does this while following in the footsteps of prior seasons by making sure to feature segments of the wider story occurring around this period in the Star Wars world during the time. In addition to further elaborating on what happened with the clones, the series this season also addresses the fates of the Force sensitive younglings born around the time, which has even larger implications.

When this season hits, it hits hard. There’s a reason why several of the best post-George Lucas tales with Star Wars have emerged from the period including the Empire’s establishment. The Bad Batch features previously unseen aspects regarding how the Empire sought to secure power around the Galaxy shortly after its establishment. This was during a time when the Empire was progressively becoming more sinister, well before resistance movements like the Rebel Alliance started taking hold. But a good story of this nature wouldn’t have been achievable without solid character development, which Lucasfilm made sure to give to all the main characters here. This includes Omega and Wrecker, with their most annoying character quirks being reeled in thanks to the progression they made over time — especially the former.

The presentation helps the tale along, too. The Bad Batch reaffirmed how Lucasfilm has found a happy medium in terms of the art style for their animated works, alongside the also-recent Tales of the Empire anthology released on May the 4th. It hews closer to realism than the styles in previous works, especially those from Rebels and Resistance. But it makes sure not to veer too far into that realm to prevent off-putting Uncanny Valley effects. This is accompanied by Kevin Kiner’s soundtrack, whose abilities have only improved over time and have hewed closer to John Williams’ approach for Star Wars works.

The storytelling faltered a bit this season. It’s possible the second season was the best they could have done in presenting the most intriguing story possible for a batch of defective clones. The writers struggled to assemble consistently intriguing tales for them throughout the season. Launching rescue missions for specific characters is one matter, but doing it twice for the same characters in one season leads to monotony setting in.

Between these and the episodes with subplots that went nowhere, perhaps this season didn’t need 15 episodes to tell this story. That, or the allotted time could have been used more carefully, considering there’s more than one subplot left unresolved by the end despite this being the final season of the show. It’s possible those will be tackled in other show, or shorts since they don’t directly involve the titular Batch.

The Final Season of the Bad Batch isn’t quite on par with the second one in terms of quality, though it’s still better than the first season. But its highs remain as proof that Star Wars is often at its best when animated. Where the animation segment of the galaxy could travel to from here is up in the air as of this writing, but I hope Lucasfilm realizes there’s more potential for these shows than to have them fill in the blanks between the live-action content. This goes double when part of the purpose involves answering questions regarding why a certain much-maligned and mocked twist in The Rise of Skywalker occurs.

Angela Moseley

It turns out spending less time online is conductive to productivity. Who could have possibly guessed? Sure there’s still tons of bad news happening, but not being online all day and doomscrolling social media helps a lot.

Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga (2024)
Source: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 12

Blue Exorcist occupies a peculiar space for me regarding shonen series. This anime keeps receiving new seasons, but those seasons have long periods between releases. For example, the first season released in 2011 and ran for 25 episodes. At some point during the original run, the anime diverged from the manga and had an original story with an open-ended conclusion. Then in 2012 a movie was released (which I didn’t see). After that, all was quiet on the animation front and it was easy to assume the series was done.

Out of nowhere in 2017 Blue Exorcist had a second season in form of the Kyoto Saga. That was six years after the first season’s run. Weirder yet, the new season adapted the manga closely and disregarded the second half of the first season. I’m sure manga fans didn’t mind, but as an anime-only fan I was left scratching my head. I understood WHY the second half of the first season had to go, as it made some big changes to the story and characters that weren’t canon. Still, those anime-only events happened and going forward fans just needed to forget they ever happened. The Kyoto Saga was short at only 12 episodes, and it seemed like another season would be around the corner. Except it wasn’t.

As the years ticked by, I tabled my expectations for anything new as a Blue Exorcist anime fan. Then this year, a third season dropped. A full seven years after the Kyoto Saga. Watching Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga in 2024 was an exercise in remembering who half the character were as well as the events from the previous season. You know how My Hero Academia has this bad habit of giving a text introduction for every hero who walks on screen in every single episode? I feel like Shimane Illuminati Saga could have used that style of introduction for at least the first episode. Fortunately, everything felt familiar again after about three episodes.

After putting an end to the Impure King’s rampage, things have mostly gone back to normal at True Cross Academy. School life continues as normal as Rin Okumura tries to make friends with other students outside his class. Shiemi Moriyama settles in after transferring to Rin’s class and tries to make friends with Izumo Kamiki. Meanwhile, the entire academy prepares for the school festival as some students desperately try (and fail) to find dates, and others focus on their studies. Among the backdrop of the festivities, Yukio Okumura is summoned to a meeting with the Vatican to be questioned about meeting Saburota Todo and the events leading up to the Impure King being set free.

True Cross has their hands full with a multitude of troubling events. A group known as the Illuminati have been trying to open a gate between Assiah (the human world) and Gehenna (the demon world). Worse, spies from the Illuminati have infiltrated True Cross Academy. They finally make their move as they attempt to kidnap Izumo while Lucifer himself declares war on True Cross.

I probably didn’t do myself any favors by not rewatching any of the previous Blue Exorcist seasons before starting on Shimame Illuminati Saga. Especially since the events of the Kyoto Saga were a bit fuzzy. Still, this series isn’t so complex that I wasn’t able to remember after about three or four episodes who was who. As for this season, I wasn’t sure where it was going, but I probably should have guessed Izumo would be the big focus given the opening animation. Actually, I felt a bit dumb for not piecing it together sooner. Renzo Shima was also another large part of this season, as he broke out of the comic relief role. I suppose one should be wary of either the quiet ones or the jokesters.

Overall, the season was enjoyable, and it’s always good to have more Blue Exorcist. Although I can’t help but chuckle at the name of the organization just being “the Illuminati.” I suppose if you need to name your powerful evil organization, it does the job well enough. Though they’re less about controlling the world and more of a paramilitary organization who wants to see the world of humans united with the world of demons. Surprisingly enough, a good number of regular humans subscribe to this goal. I guess Lucifer is just that charming of a fallen angel, or the fascist vibes are just too strong for some people to resist. I’d like to know the backstory of this organization and I suspect its coming.

Let’s just hope that backstory won’t take another six or seven years to be revealed. Jabs at long gaps between seasons aside, I found it curious that this show had a switch in its animation production studio. The first two seasons were produced by A-1 Pictures. This season is produced by Studio VOLN which doesn’t have a long list of series they directly produced. Their most notable production besides Blue Exorcist is Ushio & Tora. Given the length between seasons with A-1 Pictures, perhaps having the series handed off to a new studio is a net positive. The next season will premier in October of this year.

If you’re a fan of Blue Exorcist and have been waiting for more, you’ve probably already watched this newest season. If you’ve been curious about getting into this series, I’d recommend starting with the first two seasons. At some point, I realized it shares a lot in common with Hazbin Hotel. Maybe it’s because both series are pulling from the same Abrahamic mythology, have warring factions, and the children of powerful demons are the protagonists.

Joseph Daniels

So as you know from past weeks on the blog, I’ve been preparing my Final Fantasy XIV character for Dawntrail. I’ve been clearing out old quests, leveling her classes to 90, unlocking various mounts and minions that she hadn’t received yet, and just generally trying to achieve stuff that you’d be surprised I hadn’t done so yet. I’ve been crafting and getting rid of a bunch of stuff from her inventory in order to clear space, and selling those items on the market board. Gradually, I’ve been working my way through stuff that I’ve been carrying around for up to seven or more years.

During times of crafting or gathering or otherwise mindless tasks that don’t require a lot of reading or attention to accomplish, I’ve begun listening to a podcast called:

The White Vault (2017)
Episodes: 60 (plus bonus episodes and spin-offs that are available as premium content)

I’ve been listening to it on YouTube, but you can find it on most good podcast sites. The first couple seasons focus on a supernatural incident that occurred on an archipelago located north of Norway in the Arctic Ocean, and then shifts focus elsewhere for subsequent seasons… but are the events truly separate or is something more going on?

I actually only just started it today and am already on season two because the episodes are like popcorn and aren’t that long. You can get through an entire season in less than three and a half hours, because the pacing is tight and flows very well. One or two performances felt a little rough in episode one, but after that, everything sounds professional. Which is remarkable, considering this is the first acting gig for a number of the performers.

Considering how recently I began this series, I don’t have a lot to say, but I’ll just say that if you like a slow burn horror story that builds over time, this is a good podcast to listen to. I really hope things don’t go downhill after season two like some people claim, but considering the podcast is still going strong with a recent sixth season and several spin-offs that they released alongside the main series, they must hopefully be doing something right.

Several people are underestimating just how the students will persevere with their protests. Rest assured that they’ll be around for a while, whether the powers that be like them or not. Until next week, everyone.

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