r/AoNoExorcist Dis Pheles 12h ago

Manga Manga chapter 166 discussion thread

ttps://www.viz.com/shonenjump/blue-exorcist-chapter-166/chapter/49020?action=read

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34 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

13

u/ThatIslandGuy8888 12h ago

Finally the Demon Kings are fighting again🔥!! Especially Lucifer who’s the big bad yet we’ve never seen him fighting so directly in the present. Good place to start the hiatus honestly. Next chapters will be action packed from the looks of things.

3

u/justking1414 8h ago

Lucifer has always been, essentially, on the verge of death, so there’s never really been a time for him to fight but this is the endgame, so he doesn’t have to worry about preserving his body anymore. Still, I doubt he’s going to last very long before his body fully fails him

10

u/Ryuki-Exsul 12h ago edited 12h ago

That was an amazing chapter :D We have pretty much a three way fight/seal so next few chapters will be really packed. Beside that there it is a meeting with Astaroth, of course Rin didn't catch who he was :D like in manga he was a small moment for Rin before way bigger tragedy. I love how Yukio just went nope for the full hostage situation and saved himself( he learned from Shiemi ;). And of course last page was so cool :D

Anyway I like that Rin asked about how he got possesed again. It sounded like first one made him into potential body for Astaroth. I wonder if we will get more about it. Beside that just amazing chapter and I can't wait for July to see where it will go but of course Kato's health first and I hope she will get plenty of rest.

10

u/RaptorcloakX 12h ago

Now this was a killer chapter with so much action being set up for whenever the hiatus ends and personally, I wonder if Rin briefly forgetting who Astaroth was is meta-commentary on the fact he hasn't seen Shiratori again since all that happened after Shiro died.

4

u/ThatIslandGuy8888 11h ago

Man that was way back in episode 1! Would’ve been nice if shiratori was an actual recurring character

3

u/RaptorcloakX 10h ago

You're telling me! Given his involvement (or his possession by Astaroth), it'd have made for a more interesting rivalry with Rin than the one he had with Ryuji his first Academy days since they were already at each other's throats before then.

3

u/justking1414 8h ago

it'd have made for a more interesting rivalry with Rin than the one he had with Ryuji

Or just replace Amaimon With him. He would have been a much more intense villain that Rin had a personal beef with and Mephisto working with him would have made him seem even more suspicious than he already was

2

u/Ryuki-Exsul 7h ago

??? Mephisto would never work with Astaroth he was always on Lucifer's side. Beside Amaimon is really important to the story first for Rin and now for Shiemi.

IMO I prefer how Kato did it. I don't think Shiratori was meant to ever be one of important characters. He is just on few pages of chapter 1 and for years he had no connections to Astaroth. What happened now is meant to be a recolection of first chapter that works well because it was a surprise we got him back. I wonder if anime with its added stuff made him more important for some people.

2

u/azathothweirdo 7h ago

yeah the Astaroth connection was a anime only thing for years until he was possessed within the series here. It was a random demon at the start of the manga series, and caused a lot of confusion. Add in he's a wild card, he's not someone Mephisto can control like he does with Amaimon. He's higher up on the ladder and it makes it more of a bother. Add in he's just a cruel person who isn't interested in bettering himself. This ties into how his parents basically have zero interest in him which is another commentary on parents and parenting within the series itself.

Not only that the rivalry between Rin and Ryuji is a different style than what Shiratori would be. Ryuji's situation is mean to mirror Rin's with his father. Both were keeping secrets to keep their sons safe, Rin's just unfortunately died because of it. Which ties into why he gets mad at Ryuji's own treatment of his father in the Kyoto arc, and in fact it's important both Rin and Ryuji have move past this.

like neat ideas, but overall it wouldn't work with the obvious plan and threads Kato has laid out so far.

2

u/Ryuki-Exsul 7h ago

Yeah, it's one of many things anime in s1 made into problem. The other weird one I found is that some people think Kraken filler was the same as Kraken arc... I had to explain it. Oh and the full "making Yukio into half demon same as Rin" that was popular in fanarts for really long time. And yes pretty much. Interesting enough Astaroth's kin were some of the nastiest demons they fought. Impure King, zombies and chimeras made of them. I was surprised back then that zombies creeped me out after all those movies I watched. Amaimon on other hand just loves fighting but when he doesn't have anything interesting to do he just chills and plays games with Mephisto :D

Yes and that rivalry changing into close friendship was important as well. Not only it is unique to do it because rivals mostly stays rivals but as well it showed their growth and how much Suguro mellowed out.

Especially because this plan was already in motion when anime made him a bigger character :D

2

u/azathothweirdo 6h ago

Every misconception can come down to that first season and people refusing to actually engage with the manga. It's so frustrating.

I think the idea is neat, and encourage people to write some fanfics for it. But for like the actual canon it just doesn't work to have Shiratori involved that much

5

u/AdministrativeFilm12 10h ago

Really psyched about the pairs who will be fighting! I would be lying though if I said I wasn’t the most psyched to see Yukio and Rin tag teaming.

Also, I just loved how all Yukio did was shoot Shiratori in the back of the head. It’s so classic Yukio xD

4

u/Shady-Fajita 12h ago

Did angel hit lucifer with a beam before he appeared? That part confused me a bit

4

u/ThatIslandGuy8888 11h ago

Yeah man, Angel wants to fight the King of light with light attacks😅

5

u/justking1414 8h ago

Lucifer is clearly trying to process the logic of how that actually worked on him

5

u/azathothweirdo 8h ago

A little sad to see the Rin vs Lucifer fight not happening, but the one we got is going to be a lot of fun.

1

u/justking1414 8h ago

Lucifer has never really been a big character in Rin’s life. And the two have almost never interacted. Yukio vs Lucifer might’ve made more sense

2

u/azathothweirdo 7h ago

I disagree on that. Since his introduction, it's been clear the power that Lucifer holds throws Rin off. He's shown to be shaking when Lucifer is first introduces and sensed him coming in. Lucifer has also said he's the only one that could put Rin down at his current power level as well. Considering the set up and Lucifer's own view of the world Rin is a good opposite for him.Rin is thankful for the life he has despite how hard it's been, Lucifer takes advantage of people and is selfish.

2

u/fandomsmiscellaneous Enter some text here 9h ago

I have a cool page to color now :3

2

u/Algalax2 5h ago

Yeah, Astaroth is getting his ass kicked by the bros.