Ao no Exorcist: Yuki no Hate-hen Episode 4 Discussion

Did you not hear her thoughts at the end? She can't find a purpose for her to live. Even if she's now "free"," she's always lived her life knowing she would die early and needs to become stronger. Yukio doesn't understand that so his words didn't affect her much. At the end, she felt sorry for Hachiro, and decided that it's best for her to die at his side than anything else.

@BlueMoonTornado

Yeah and that is some stupid shit.

Another quality episode. The snakes were scarier this time but I held up ok.

Does Yukio ever get tired of pretending to be the villain? I admit, with his current obsessions, I believed him when he said he would do anything for that power. The hurting Shura stuff not so much, but I'm interested in what Yukio will do when he finally becomes stronger Rin again like was before Rin reunlocked his powers again.

The fanservice in this story is weird. I get what they are going for, but who really believes the story would actually let a kid and adult consummate their relationship? Everyone knows that only happens when it's an older guy and a younger girl, like in the epilogue of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. Never forget.

Did she STILL decide to die? I cannot honestly understand what is going through this girl's head!

@MFDOOMED The thing about Yukio is that he's admirable, despite his obsessions. He fulfills his duty at all times, and that's why I really love Yukio as a character. He's such a strong individual, but weak at the same time. He's grown strong to protect Rin, but he's always been jealous and felt inferior to Rin, because of what Rin has that Yukio doesn't. He's unaware that Rin feels the same way and their brotherly relationship is so complex and interesting to me. The inner conflict of him trying to accept Rin and himself, but falling slowly towards his demonic side to resolve his inner feelings is just heartbreaking. It's so incredibly relatable to though, with how he has such a low sense of his self-worth, but still does what needs to be done, having to deal with the pressure of his family (Rin) on him at all times. Even in this episode, he fulfilled his responsibilities, rather than let himself fall prey to his desires. I feel like too many people misunderstand him.

@BlueMoonTornado That's a fascinating perspective. I see Yukio as foreplay. He keeps pretending he's going to be evil then the story will give him an out. I'm looking forward to when Yukio finally really admits his weakness and inferiority and lets Rin save him. But I'm assuming even the manga hasn't let that happen yet.

Tbh, I don't relate to doing your best despite your inferiority complexes. But I wouldn't be surprised if Yukio's struggles are big part of the reason he is so popular in Japan. He definitely holds up his part of the story well. I just wish the tease wouldn't last so long. Similar to another mega popular anime airing right now where a hero is deep undercover but only manga readers know when he's gonna reveal his true colors.

@MFDOOMED It has already happened in the manga in a very different way. We're about 3 arcs away from that moment. A really satisfying climax between these two. Between that and this, there's also one of my absolute favourite arcs in this series as well that leads up to that moment. It completely retcons Season 1's original ending as well so I imagine a lot of people will be confused if they don't know about Season 1's original ending. There's quite a lot to the story as the arcs go on. It's just that manga releases have been extremely slow for a while, about 1 chapter every 3 months.

@MFDOOMED The thing about Yukio is that he's admirable, despite his obsessions. He fulfills his duty at all times, and that's why I really love Yukio as a character. He's such a strong individual, but weak at the same time. He's grown strong to protect Rin, but he's always been jealous and felt inferior to Rin, because of what Rin has that Yukio doesn't. He's unaware that Rin feels the same way and their brotherly relationship is so complex and interesting to me. The inner conflict of him trying to accept Rin and himself, but falling slowly towards his demonic side to resolve his inner feelings is just heartbreaking. It's so incredibly relatable to though, with how he has such a low sense of his self-worth, but still does what needs to be done, having to deal with the pressure of his family (Rin) on him at all times. Even in this episode, he fulfilled his responsibilities, rather than let himself fall prey to his desires. I feel like too many people misunderstand him.

@BlueMoonTornado That's a fascinating perspective. I see Yukio as foreplay. He keeps pretending he's going to be evil then the story will give him an out. I'm looking forward to when Yukio finally really admits his weakness and inferiority and lets Rin save him. But I'm assuming even the manga hasn't let that happen yet.

Tbh, I don't relate to doing your best despite your inferiority complexes. But I wouldn't be surprised if Yukio's struggles are big part of the reason he is so popular in Japan. He definitely holds up his part of the story well. I just wish the tease wouldn't last so long. Similar to another mega popular anime airing right now where a hero is deep undercover but only manga readers know when he's gonna reveal his true colors.

Yukio popular in Japan? Maybe that was true a decade ago but not now. The most recent popularity poll Yukio was at 4th. While Rin was at 2 and Angel came first.