Literally:

(Follow up to this post)

For the record, I don't believe we are in the final arc of AnE yet.

5) For Rin to experiment or explore Gehenna and maybe meet Yuri's ghost (?) and for Takara Nemu to be revealed to be Armumahel's Nephilim

I talked about Rin going to Gehenna before and same for Nemu as a Nephilim.

Bonus point if Yukio is the one going to Gehenna instead of Rin, who wants to understand Satan's view, to parallel Rin going to the past instead of Yukio, who wanted to understand their origins so badly.

4) Shura, wielding Rin's sword, vs Arthur.

(Kind of similar to their fight during the first season's final, now that I think about it)

Arthur, as a Paladin "saved" by the Uzai family and as Lucifer's clone, is an unfortunate pawn to both the Uzai family and the Illuminati.

Whereas Shura, who recently escaped her family curse (so she can relate to Arthur's section 13 background), was never persuaded by Mephisto's bullshit as an exorcist, was Shiro's apprentice (the one clone who rebelled against Section 13 and the Order) and Rin's mentor.

Bonus points for a fight involving possessed!Arthur by Lucifer vs Shura entering a temporary contract with Mephisto (or one of his strong kins) to beat him (would echo nicely with the whole Lucifer vs Mephisto theme).

As for Shura using Rin's sword, it's simple : she's a Knight and yet her sword is almost out of massive attack possibilities, after she fought against the lust guy. So maybe she'll need to use a different sword, temporarily (and besides if Rin's ego is going to Gehenna, he'll need to leave his sword to someone he can trust).

3) Renzo rescued by Bon, Koneko and his brothers +/- Mamushi.

Because, between the Order and the Illuminati, Renzou will always choose the Myo Dha and, despite what he thinks, he's not Takezou's replacement to his family nor is he only a protector to Bon and Koneko.

Anyway, they all care so much about him, at some point he'll have to believe it, if they show him strongly enough.

I'm just not sure about Mamushi because, while I would love for her to be there and to confront Todo directly or through Homare, this might be a lot to make happen at the same time, narratively.

In any case, Juuzo is definitely worried about his brother (and not just about Bon & Koneko) in ch 152.

2) Amaimon + Shiemi vs the Uzai family from the Shemihaza faction

Because Amaimon is treated like a pawn by Mephisto & the Shemihaza faction, as much as Shiemi is a pawn to the Uzai family and the Order.

Also the whole Amaimon subservient to Shemihaza thing ? It's gotta go, it's too far in the past.

I say Shiemi is the Shemihaza who finally frees him, which would echo nicely with her gaining her own freedom for the first time after so many of her foremothers sacrificed their lives for the Order.

1) Yukio & Rin teaming up, similarly to the Yuri/Shiro incredible team during the Blue Night

I don't care if it's meant to be destroying Satan, the Illuminati or the Order (best choice would be all 3), but bonus points if Rin and Yukio also tell Mephisto & the Order to butt off, like Shiro did, when he took Yuri away.

Okay it's quite interesting that Amaimon said ''fake me'' and now I want to know more about it

( and then literally OKAY I'M FREE, IMMA HEAD OUT BYE 🤣)

Hey Anon ! Good ask, sorry I've been rather quiet about AnE lately !

To be quite honest, I never really care for the stereotypical Shonen battle type of arc, but more for its many outcomes. And since Kato-sensei is publishing slowly, I'm aware it could take some time to reach more interesting (to me) chapters.

But since you asked ;) I loved Lucy vs Iblis and it emphasized with yet another example that demons ought not to be considered too different from humans (in that example, because they share the concept of "dreams").

Afterwards, Egyn vs Beel taught us that the bonds between the Baals are more complex than the simple explanation provided by Mephisto a long time ago. It's not...

but rather

...

I'm just kidding.

Or am I ? :) But actually, since AnE is extremely family-oriented in its themes, I really found it cool to finally see it also applied to the Baals.

I mean, Lucifer and Mephisto can claim grand things like, "it's about siding with or against humanity", but in reality, all Baals' ego awakening meant they all refused to abandon their corporeal reality centuries ago, making them all more human in their reactions, feelings and dynamics.

It's why Iblis treated Egyn like a child, or why Beel was angry that Egyn would choose to hurt her rather than hurt Iblis...

and why Egyn collaborated with the Illuminati, because he felt sorry to witness the other Baals' powers destroying their corporeal vessels:

Mostly, Egyn vs Beel showed that long sibling rivalry can be solved (*winkwink* Rin & Yukio, Shima and his siblings) and also that this whole conflict (like every conflict) comes from different truths..

...bringing us back to Rin's ambivalence towards Satan.

As for the latest chapter, well, it kind of convinces me that the reason I don't really care for this typical battle arc is because I think it's a red herring by Kato-sensei. Or, to be more accurate, that it's definitely not what's really at stake here.

I mean, let's get this straight, Shiemi sacrificing herself and dying ? When we don't even know what's up between her and that creep Jeremiah ? No way.

In fact, Shiemi is likely to be the character with the biggest plot armor after Rin and Yukio and "losing to Amaimon" is definitely making me believe that this battle is not what we should focus on. Rather...

...alternate realities make for a better subject to ponder on. :))

After all, isn't it how this one big battle arc started ? With Satan's unleashed literal hell destabilizing Mephisto's powers ?

Space and time becoming unstable triggered a future that we witnessed, "two years later", with most people being dead, Paku being forced to work as an exorcist and Rin being the Demon King of the faction opposed to the Order.

Supposedly Mephisto fixed it before the battle began, but...

I'd never trust Mephisto "having some fun", like, ever :

Especially not after Beel explaining that this conflict between the True Cross Order and the Illuminati goes both ways,

And specifically not when I still have my doubt about Mephy being the big bad (and not Satan), as far as the Okumura twins are concerned.

In other words, with Amaimon saying that Shiemi beat him in a different reality so "it doesn't count", or Shiemi saying "there is no freedom" in this world, it makes me suspect that we should see further beyond the plain "one side fights another". Especially when, at its core, AnE illustrates that the more power one (person / being / organization) has, the more corrupted everything around them becomes (see the Baals, Satan and their many deteriorating vessels).

So, rather than trusting in Mephisto's fun, I'd rather trust in Rin, who's trying to get a better understanding of what Satan meant :

Because look, I may despise Satan since he's an abusive asshole, self-obsessed being who declared himself a God and who treated Yuri wrongly, but he wasn't necessarily wrong when he called out Mephisto's bullshit.

Truthfully, I think AnE is an excellent and quite unique Shonen series and Kato-sensei generally tends to subvert writing tropes [X][X], which is why I'm waiting for the reveal that this one generic battle unfolding chapters after chapters is not what matters.

Rather this battle being metaphorically won in as many alternate realities as possible is what matters, but it won't happen until powerful entities (like Mephisto, the Uzai family, Satan, Lucifer, Illuminati, the Order, etc), stop treating demons and humans like they're nothing but their pawns. Otherwise it's nothing but doom ahead.

TL;DR let's try to see beyond this Shonen battle, this isn't what Sensei depicts that matters, but addressing the circumstances and the guilty party that led to it, still lurking in the shadows.

Specifically about ch156, I don't think we should care that Shiemi "lost" to Amaimon or fell somewhere, but rather we should think that she won't win anything until she's confronted Jeremiah and the Uzai family who have been upholding a system in which she has no choice to make or freedom to have about her own future.

Somehow I hope my rambling makes sense ? Haha, but as always don't forget I can be absolutely wrong !

Me :

WHAT THE ACTUAL...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

NOOOOO