Episode 10

**The Elite Demon Eshros** (エリート魔物エシュロス, *Erīto Mamono Eshurosu*) is the 10th episode of the Konjiki no Gash Bell!! Anime. This episode first aired in Japan on June 8, 2003.

## Overview

A tall, intimidating, yet gentle man comes to Gash's rescue at the park saving him from Naomi's torment. Kiyomaro, who's within the park's vicinity, notices a young boy holding a brown spell book. Kiyomaro immediately gets a bad feeling, suspecting the adult man to be the demon of the brown spell book. Gash however doesn't believe this to be true considering how kind the man was when he had helped him at the playground and even saw he was also caring for an injured swallow. When Gash and Kiyomaro decide to investigate these two, they eventually discover the truth about them and what their intentions are.

## Plot

One afternoon at the playground, Gash finds himself stuck at the top of a play-structure by Naomi who's currently preventing him from climbing down the ropes of the structure by furiously whipping these ropes below him. Seeing there's no way for him to come down, Gash cries out for someone to come to his rescue. Luckily for him, Kiyomaro happened to be in the vicinity of the park. Kiyomaro calls back out to Gash reminding him to come back home before dinner. Gash, forgetting about his current situation, responds that he'll do so and Kiyomaro soon leaves after hearing that. Gash then realizes his tragic mistake and hopelessly cries out for Kiyomaro who's now out of earshot of his cries.

As Kiyomaro walks off, he finds himself stopped dead in his tracks when he sees a young boy, Eshros, holding a brown spell book under his arm in front of the park. Kiyomaro haphazardly hides himself behind a tree trying to process the fact he had seen another spell book and wonders to himself where the demon of that spell book cook be. Suddenly, Shinichi approaches Naomi requesting her to stop what she's doing. Naomi turns around and before she offers a snarky reply to the man, she freezes in fear when she realizes how large and menacing he was as he looks down at her. Naomi screams and flees, both terrified of the Shinichi's intimidating appearance and convinced that he was a monster. After seeing Naomi run away, he reassures Gash it's safe to come down and helps carry him down from the pole.

Before Shinichi can put Gash back down onto the ground, Gash excitedly jumps from the Shinichi's hands to hug his head thanking him for saving him and praising him for being a nice person. Shinichi then asks Gash if he's even afraid of him to which Gash responds without hesitation saying he has no reason to be afraid of him since he had just saved him. He smiles hearing this and sets Gash down onto the ground telling him to get home safe. Eshros, who had been holding the brown spell book, impatiently calls out to Shinichi telling him it's time to go already. Both Shinichi and Gash say their goodbyes to each-other and Shinichi hurries off.

Shinichi meets up with Eshros who had been waiting for him and scolds him for making him wait so long. Kiyomaro, still hiding behind the tree, pieces together that the young boy must be the bookkeeper while the man must be his demon partner. Kiyomaro starts having conflicting feelings about these two that, while suspicious they may be an enemy team, he saw how nice the man was when he had helped Gash at the park. While following the duo, Kiyomaro starts to consider that perhaps if the man really is a kind-hearted demon then they wouldn't need to fight at all and therefore he can let them be.

While walking through town Eshros notes to Shinichi it's been a while since he had come back to his hometown. Shinichi tells Eshros that although it's been a while since he had last been in town, walking through the streets still reminds him about his pain and anger from the past. Kiyomaro stops in his tracks hearing this, then the duo also stop together as Eshros hops off Shinichi's shoulder reminding him that it wouldn't be a big deal anymore as they can simply destroy the town just how they destroyed other things that have bothered him before. Kiyomaro, now hiding behind a wall as he overhears their plans, becomes confused hearing their plans and how Shinichi, who he assumes to be the demon partner, had apparently lived in town a long time ago and questions just how long the battle to decide king had gone on. Before Kiyomaro can continue with his thoughts, he soon finds himself in a great deal of pain being bitten on the butt by Gash.

Gash had finally found Kiyomaro and started demanding answers from him as to why hadn't he helped him back at the park when he needed him the most. Before Gash starts yelling at him any louder, Kiyomaro quickly silences him and tells him about the situation at hand. When Kiyomaro shows Gash the demon and bookkeeper pair he had been following, Gash immediately recognizes Shinichi and tells Kiyomaro that he was the kind man who had rescued him at the park. Kiyomaro continues and tells Gash that he suspects Shinichi to be another demon and how he had overheard their plans on destroying the town. Gash is both confused and in denial about this and tries to tell Kiyomaro that it can't possibly be true because he believes Shinichi has a kind heart and wouldn't do such a thing. Kiyomaro feels the same way but at the same time feels they need to keep a close eye on them to figure out what they're really like.

As Kiyomaro and Gash follow Shinichi and Eshros around town, they initially don't see anything suspicious about them. They instead end up spending most of their day seeing the many acts of kindness Shinichi goes out of his way from assisting an elderly woman walk across the street and helping clean up a spilled over recycling can. Along their walk through town, Shinichi eventually discovers an injured swallow on the ground beside a tree and gently places the bird inside his waist pack intending to nurse the bird back to health. Kiyomaro and Gash both witness this and Gash once again expresses his doubts about Shinichi being anything else but a kind-hearted person. Kiyomaro however still remains adamant that there's something wrong since he had clearly heard the duo express that they're going to destroy the town. They continue to follow Shinichi and Eshros until they're finally led to the elementary school that Shinichi had attended long ago.

While looking over at the school from a distance, Eshros confirms with Shinichi that this was the school where Shinichi was bullied in. Shinichi begins to think back on a few of the many instances where he had been picked on and made fun of in school. Shinichi as a young boy, being unable to stand up for himself, indecisive, and in general was often too nice to his bullies, was often taken advantage of for these insecurities and never had the strength to stand up for himself and was known as a coward by his fellow schoolmates. Eshros reassures Shinichi that no matter how big the school appears to be, that their power is more than enough to destroy everything there because, according to himself, Eshros is an elite among other demons.

Both Gash and Kiyomaro become shocked learning that it was Eshros who was the demon this whole time and it was actually Shinichi who was the bookkeeper. Gash and Kiyomaro continue listening in on their conversation as Eshros praises Shinichi for finally being able to make decisions on his own after hearing how he's committed to destroying the school. Shinichi however requests that they go through with their plan the next morning as he's not ready to do it now. As Shinichi and Eshros walk off, Kiyomaro tells Gash that they really have no choice but to fight them after all. Gash, without saying anything, runs off to the direction Shinichi and Eshros were going in. Kiyomaro calls him out asking where he's going to which Gash tells Kiyomaro that he's not going to try and engage with them yet but he wants to continue watching them a little more. Kiyomaro looks onward as Gash runs off into the distance.

At night, a rain storm begins to roll in and Kiyomaro lounges in his room pondering Shinichi's plans and why he elected not to go through with it that day. Kiyomaro stares at his calendar trying to figure this out. He sees that the next day, June 7th, will be a Saturday and tries to figure out what could be significant about that Saturday. Kiyomaro takes a moment before he finally pieces together that there's no school on Saturday and Shinichi had chosen that day because there would be no children around who could potentially get hurt. Kiyomaro was initially unsure about Shinichi's motivations, as to why would he even want to commit such a crime despite not wanting to hurt anybody, until he realizes it's actually Eshros who's in control of things.

Meanwhile, at a business hotel in town, Shinichi begins thinking about his motherand looks at his framed photo of him and his mother when he was a child. In a flashback, he starts remembering the things his mother had told him when he was with her in the hospital. She expresses to him how it was partially his fault that he was being bullied and firmly advised him that if he wants the bullying to stop, then he has to be able to speak up for himself. His mother continued saying that if he's able to develop a strong will and become able to decide things for himself then she wouldn't be worried about him anymore. She urges Shinichi to be brave then gives him a hug telling him that he's a kind boy and wants him to grow up to become a good man. Shinichi looks at his photo of him and his mother and promises her that she doesn't have to worry anymore in heaven as he'll become a good adult for her.

Shinichi's thoughts are interrupted as Eshros enters his room. Eshros reminds Shinichi that bullying is a bad thing and schools that encourage bullying should be destroyed. Shinichi agrees saying that it's his decision that he'll destroy the school and Eshros chimes in telling Shinichi that his mother would be very proud of him making this choice on his own and encourages him to get some sleep. This entire interaction was witnessed by Gash who's perched onto a tree by their room windows. In Eshros' room, Gash sees Eshros thinking to himself outloud how this whole ordeal is all for him to continue tricking Shinichi to read spells helping him become more powerful and ultimately help crown him **king**. Gash becomes enraged hearing this and becomes more determined than ever to defeat Eshros.

The next morning, Shinichi and Eshros arrive at the elementary school only to discover both Gash and Kiyomaro already waiting for them determined to burn their book. Shinichi immediately recognizes Gash and becomes hesitant to fight them. Eshros snaps at Shinichi telling him that if he allows for his book to get burned then he'll never be able to fulfill his mothers wish. Being reminded of his mother causes their book to glow bright as Shinichi becomes determined to win the battle in order to make sure his mother doesn't have to worry about him anymore. They soon unleash their first spell, *Gurandamu*, which summons two large slabs of earth to crush Gash and Kiyomaro. They soon realize that their spell failed to cause any harm to them as they then discover that both Gash and Kiyomaro had survived the spell thanks to their quick thinking. Gash then tells Kiyomaro that he only intends on attacking just Eshros and they then destroy Eshros' attack spell with a single blast with *Zakeru*. The two of them then make a mad dash towards Shinichi and Eshros then separate in different directions. Shinichi becomes confused as to which he should attack, to which Eshros commands him to attack Kiyomaro seeing as how he's unable to defend himself without Gash.

Before Shinichi and Eshros cast another attack spell at Kiyomaro, Gash, behind the two of them, attacks with another *Zakeru*. Shinichi and Eshros just barley protect themselves using their defense spell, *Kureishiru*. Kiyomaro and Gash soon come at Eshros again just after they had defended themselves but manage to blow Kiyomaro and Gash away with another attack spell, *Guranbao*. Despite them taking a direct hit, Kiyomaro and Gash continue to stand still determined as ever to fight. Shinichi trembles in shock seeing this and tries to understand how the two of them continue to fight back. Gash dashes towards the two of them as Shinichi tries to think of another attack spell to use as ordered by Eshros. They ultimately cast *Gurangarugo* which manages to catch Gash off guard but fails to stop Gash from continuing to charge after them. Shinichi hurriedly casts *Kureido* to try and stop Gash once again, trapping him, but it ends up being destroyed by another electrical blast from *Zakeru*. Shinichi finds himself distracted again witnessing Gash's persistence only to be called out again by Eshros ordering him to use the next attack spell, *Guransen*, which fires large rock projectiles directed at Gash. Gash and Kiyomaro manage to defend and successfully ricochet back these rock projectiles using *Rashirudo*. Both Shinichi and Eshros get caught in the impact of their spell launching back at them and at the same time, Shinichi desperately questions himself as to why he is so weak in comparison to them even with all the power their spell book has given him.

Gash comes to Shinichi's side and asks him if he really thinks destroying the school would make his mother happy. Shinichi tries to justify this by saying that because the school is a bad place then it must be destroyed. Gash asks Shinichi again if it's something he really wants to do and if doing so would really make him the kind of person that his mother wouldn't have to worry about in heaven. Eshros grabs Gash telling him to be quiet then directs his frustration at Shinichi scolding him about backing out of their plan. Before Shinichi has a chance to respond, Eshros tells Shinichi to shut up and to only do what he says as that's what his mother would want him to do. He would then go on to berate him even more by insulting him and his intelligence which then causes Shinichi to finally break down and cry from this verbal abuse.

Kiyomaro finally steps in fuming with anger after seeing this and punches Eshros across the face which sends him flying back completely stunned. He then yells at Eshros about his manipulative behavior and swears he'll never forgive people like him. Shinichi, quietly seeing this, tearfully smiles as he finally understands the kind of strong-willed person his mother wanted him to become all along. Kiyomaro and Gash see Shinichi's moment of realization and encourage him to get rid of his book. Unexpectedly however, Shinichi refuses to give up his book. Eshros laughs as he overhears this and thinks Shinichi is still on his side. Before Eshros even finishes his thoughts, Shinichi angrily reacts to this by slamming his fist on the ground right in front of Eshros which causes Eshros to freeze up in fear. Shinichi tells Eshros to shut up then orders him to stand up and face Gash and Kiyomaro. After seeing Kiyomaro and Gash strong will to continue to fight in order to do the right thing, Shinichi tells them that they're exactly the kind of people his mother had told him about which is also the reason why he has to defeat them.

Shinichi's book begins to glow bright with Shinichi's determination to become a strong person for his mother. Shinichi then unleashes their ultimate spell, *Guranbaison*, a large snake-like attack spell created from the ground. Their spell clashes against Kiyomaro and Gash's *Zakeru* which then causes the two spells to cancel each-other out upon impact. The force of impact sends Kiyomaro and Gash back and their book to get separated from them. Before Kiyomaro retrieves his book, Shinichi ends up grabbing it first. Shinichi however returns the red book to Kiyomaro then tells him that it's his own book that he's going to get rid of instead. Eshros tries to argue with Shinichi telling him he can't just throw it away but Shinichi informs Eshros he has finally decided had enough of listening to him and that such an evil book must be destroyed. Gash and Kiyomaro become relieved seeing this and Shinichi too feels glad that he's done something that he's certain would not have his mother worry about him anymore.

Sometime later, Gash, Kiyomaro, and Shinichi come to visit Shinichi's mother's grave where Shinichi thanks the two of them for everything they've done to help him. Kiyomaro and Gash reassure Shinichi that they're certain that his mother now is watching over him peacefully knowing that Shinichi has become both a strong and kind person. Gash, facing towards Shinichi's mother's grave, tells Shinichi's mother that her son is a very strong person. Shinichi holds out the swallow he had been caring for in his hands, now healthy and strong, and lets the bird fly freely out into the sky.

## Features

### Characters by Appearance

* Naomi
* Gash Bell
* Kiyomaro Takamine
* Shinichi Akiyama
* Eshros

### Locations

* Mochinoki City
	+ Takamine Residence
		- Kiyomaro's Room

### Spells by Appearance

* Gurandamu (Debut)
* Zakeru
* Kureishiru (Debut)
* Guranbao (Debut)
* Gurangarugo (Debut)
* Kureido (Debut)
* Guransen (Debut)
* Rashirudo
* Gurankuraggu (Debut)
* Guranbaison (Debut)

## Manga & Anime Differences

* When Gash first meets Shinichi at the park, in the manga, Shinichi is already carrying the small swallow in his waist pack and even tells Gash that he's caring for the little bird's injuries. In the anime, Shinichi does not encounter the injured bird until later in the day while walking with Eshros where he sees the bird lying beside a tree on the ground.
* In the manga, Kiyomaro originally follows Shinichi around town witnessing all the good deeds he does alone without Gash. In the anime, Gash is there with Kiyomaro to watch Shinichi with him.
	+ Likewise, in the manga, Shinichi and Eshros have their conversation that leads to the idea about destroying the town when Shinichi stops to clean up after a recycling can that spilled over. In the anime, the two discuss this while first walking into town.
* Shinichi's flashbacks about being bullied in his childhood are not shown off in the manga until during his battle against Gash and Kiyomaro. In the anime, these flashbacks are shown as Shinichi and Eshros look at his old elementary school for the first time. These flashback memories also differ significantly.
	+ **Anime Flashbacks:** Shinichi has two flashbacks with one showing him playing soccer with other fellow kids then gets told that he's more suited to buying juice for them and that if he follows what they say, they'll let him be one of them. Another shows him in class being indecisive about a role he wants in a school play until the other kids choose a role for him.
	+ **Manga Flashbacks:** More flashbacks are shown of his childhood. One shows Shinichi doing cleaning duty at school and convincing himself he's with it since the other kids chose it for him. Another shows Shinichi being told to buy drinks for the other kids and politely accepting it. The last flashback memory of Shinichi's childhood shows the other kids choosing a villain role for him in a school play due to his indecisiveness and Shinichi, although visibly saddened, still forces a smile saying he'll do his best.
* During the night, a storm rolls in and it begins to rain in the anime whereas in the manga there was no such storm.
* In the anime, Kiyomaro thinks about the reason why Shinichi had chosen that upcoming Saturday as the day he'll destroy the school alone in his room then realizes the answer as he looks at a calendar. In the manga, Kiyomaro discovers the answer when he asks his mother this after thinking to himself in the kitchen.
	+ Hana Takamine never appears in the episode despite appearing in the manga where these events are based from.
* The battle against Shinichi after he refuses to hand over his book is drawn out slightly longer in the manga than the anime. In the anime, Shinichi immediately casts his ultimate spell as soon as the battle continues again then ends after *Guranbaison* and *Zakeru* collide. In the manga, Shinichi starts their battle casting *Guransen* which has become powerful enough to cause *Rashirudo* to be destroyed and then uses *Guranbaison* after *Zakeru* is cast. Additionally, more of Shinichi's thoughts of his desire to finally become strong are mentioned during this fight in the manga.

## Censorship & Other Localization Differences

* The original scene that depicts Gash suddenly biting Kiyomaro on the butt was originally highlighted with a pink overlay. This then transitions to showing a close-up of Gash speaking to Kiyomaro while still biting him before Kiyomaro tries to pry Gash off of him. In the VIZ localization, this scene skips to the part where Kiyomaro tries to pry Gash off of him.
* In the VIZ localization of this episode, Shinichi never refers to his mother being in heaven or even remotely hint that she's deceased. Even when Gash and Kiyomaro visit his mother's grave with him, it's never said out-loud that it is her grave in the whereas the Japanese version of this episode as well as both Japanese and English versions of the manga do.