A whole arch is skipped!
Blue Exorcist (Ao no Exorcist) manga spoilers ahead!
Summary:
- Production mistakes robbed the title of popularity, although it was promising during the first release.
- Terror of the Kraken doesn't add much to the main plot.
- Seven Wonders Arc prepares us for the main events of Shimane Illuminati.
Viewers have high hopes for Blue Exorcist Season 3. A number of serious production mistakes deprived the title of popularity, although it was promising during the first release in 2011. So far, the new season doesn't fix the situation that happened to the franchise.
Fans complain about the new drawing (the rights to the adaptation went to another studio), the abundance of repetitive information and missing scenes. The fast pace of the narrative and the absence of some moments is the most frequent complaint, but were the deleted scenes that important?
Not exactly what we expected
There were some rumors that the third season would be split into 3 сours, and it seemed logical since there are two more arcs before the Shimane Illuminati mentioned in the title. From the first seconds of Season 3, it becomes clear that these assumptions were wrong and we will definitely not see the Terror of the Kraken Arc.
That arc was a transitional one — right after defeating the Impure King, Rin and his friends stopped by the sea where they encountered a large monster. Terror of the Kraken doesn't add much to the main plot except for the scene where Rin and Yukio work things out, so its absence isn't disappointing.
The first episode immediately started with the Academy Seven Wonders Arc, with the first few minutes being exactly the same as in the manga — Rin is sitting in class and notices that his classmate is seeing demons.
After that, however, the series picked up a fast pace — one event followed by another. Some have even speculated that the entire arc, which is 12 chapters long, is contained in this episode.
Removed scenes
While Terror of the Kraken doesn't have any particularly outstanding moments or plot-relevant information, that's not the case with the Academy Seven Wonders Arc. This arc sets up the main events of Shimane Illuminati.
Although the episode does not focus on the scene with the pictures, it is one of the seven mysteries of the Academy that the characters solve throughout the arc.
The rest of the mysteries, including the funny wedding kimono case and the important mystery in the women's bathroom of the dormitory, which is important for the relationship between Shiemi and Izumo, are skipped.
Other missing elements are almost all the scenes with Yukio, except the one where he meets Shura and has breakfast with Rin, and Rin's meeting with Amaimon during a conversation at Mephisto's house.
Perhaps the creators are deliberately not showing the King of Earth to keep viewers from asking unnecessary questions — Rin defeated the demon in the second half of the first season. Of course, these scenes are not critically important, but they are still quite interesting.