Sousei no Onmyouji – 21

After the life-changing ordeal that was the battle with Yuto, and Rokuro’s gift of new hairpins for Benio, it was as good a time as any for this 50-episode series to have a time jump. It’s been two years: Mayura is now an exorcist-in-training, donning hot pants and being clumsy; Ryogo and Haruka continue to be a couple, and Roku and Benio are now a reliable and staggeringly effective duo.

The time jump also means the love triangle is now in high school. Mayura and Benio learn that Rokuro has become pretty cool guy, and it’s nice to see a character who was so flawed and incomplete come more into his own, much like Ushio in Ushio to Tora.

Old crushes who rejected him are now smitten, and Mayura wants Benio to piss or get off the pot with regards to acting on whatever feelings she has for the guy. She has, after all, had the advantage of living and working with him for over two years. Also good to see Mayura won’t be giving up until the fat lady sings (or the Miko is born).

Roku isn’t the only one who’s grown, as Benio is a lot more comfortable at least bringing up the possibility of conceiving a child with Rokuro…’way way way down the road’. Furthermore, she’s open about wanting to cherish the sentiment of that future. The two years they’ve spent together have had a profound effect.

This is the kind of long-game gradual development a long show like SnO can bear. There may have just been a two-year shift forwards, but nothing that we see her is out of the blue, but informed by everything that’s come before. Oh, and Han Megumi, so awkward as Five, was born to voice Benio, as her pipes provide a great balance of toughness, forthrightness, and vulnerability.

As fate would have it, the couple gets a kid and the opportunity to train as parents far far far earlier than they expected, when after a routine exorcism trip to Magano, the gang finds a tiny young girl in the middle of a ruined playground, surrounded by an ethereal light.

Just like that, we get a little Amaama in our Sousei. The little girl mostly acts like a little girl: mimicking everyone and not giving clear answers. Where she isn’t like an ordinary little girl is her ability to quickly absorb and apply information.

Rokuro takes an instant shine to “Sae”, as he deicides to call her when she points to those particular sounds on newspapers. Benio, less so, but she proves a lot better with the kid than she initially gives herself credit for.

Considering their personalities, Roku was always going to be better with the kid (as he’s more of a kid himself), but if there’s one person who appreciates Benio’s Ohagi-man, it’s Sae.

But yeah, Sae is suspiciously smart, reading whole books, scaling up and building a cardboard dinosaur skeleton, and even picking up a bit of English. She’s also suspicious because of where she came from (Magano), how Seigen looked at her (with a stink-eye), and what’s going on around her (a worsening epidemic of some kind of fog-like infection).

The 12 Guardians are also on their guard due to the possibility someone named Kasukami (said with the same dread as “Voldemort”) is gathering Basara to wreak havoc. Is Sae really Kasukami in mini-configuration? Is she a Basara, like Kamui? A very full and enjoyable episode leaves us to ponder these possibilities. A strong start to the next chapter for the Twin Star Exorcists.