Blue Exorcist | Anime Review | Pinnedupink.com

Blue Exorcist

Shonen anime spans a wide variety of genres under itself. Even among them, series centered around the supernatural, superpowers, and particularly demons are especially popular. Blue Exorcist is a series catering to fans of all such genres in a spectacular fashion.

Blue Exorcist or Ao no Exorcist is a manga series originally written and illustrated by Kazue Kato sensei. An author who pays a lot of attention to detail, leaving minuscule hints, foreshadowing and symbolism all over her work, in the forms of both writing and art. She specialized in Shonen manga, most well known for Blue Exorcist and Robot to Usakichi, from which the latter received the Osamu Tezuka Award.

Ao, no Exorcist manga was first serialized in Shueisha’s Jump Square magazine in April 2009. The manga is still ongoing, with enough chapters to fit into 26 Tankobon volumes by December 2020. The chapters are released monthly, with each chapter around 40 to 50 pages long. Viz Media handled the manga’s licensing in North America, and the first volume was released outside Japan in April 2011.

The manga series was then adapted into a TV anime series. It ran from 17th April 2011 to 2nd October 2011. This series was Season 1, consisted of 25 episodes in total, and was handled by Studio A-1 Pictures. Producers Aniplex, Dentsu, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Movvic, Sakura Creators, and Shueisha collectively worked on it. Aniplex of America licensed the anime’s DVDs outside Japan, particularly in English regions.

In December 2012, an anime film based on the series titled “Blue Exorcist: The Movie” was released. Following a period of no content release except the Manga, Season 2 of the anime was finally released in 2017. It ran from January to March 2017. It is titled “Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga” and is somewhat disjointed from Season 1.

Overall the series has obtained positive ratings, and following the anime’s release, sales received a considerable boost. A gem of a series from the previous decade, Ao no Exorcist is still praised by fans in both manga and anime formats compared to other Shonen Manga for its unique style and themes. It follows a myriad of genres, including Action, Demons, Fantasy, Supernatural and Shonen.

Ao, no Exorcist’s story revolves around a rowdy teenager named Rin Okumura and his straight-laced twin brother Yukio Okumura. Born and raised by a pastor who is also an Exorcist, Shiro Fujimoto, the two seemingly live ordinary lives in his church. As Rin grew older, something was stirring inside him, ready to burst forth at any moment.

Being unusually strong, energetic, athletic, and short-tempered by nature, Rin picks many fights with others and is academically a failure, in stark contrast to his brother. One day, amid a heated fight, an unknown power bursts forth from Rin in the form of Blue flames.

Fujimoto then reveals to Rin that he and Yukio are the illegitimate sons of Satan and their mother was a human. Now that Rin’s powers had been unleashed, too strong to be kept sealed away as in his childhood, he has become a common target for all sorts of demons, as a Demon Prince that must eventually return to Satan.

With intentions of destroying him out of jealousy or taking him to Satan out of loyalty, myriads of demons have their eyes set on him. Added to this are humans and exorcists who fear or seek revenge on Satan or anything related to him for all the harm the Demon King has caused in his wake.

When Satan himself confronts Rin and tries to drag him to hell, Fujimoto sacrifices himself to protect Rin, and he is left with the demon-slaying sword Kurikara, which helps him restrain his powers. Part-demon, part-human, Rin now looks like an ordinary human except for his fangs, pointed ears, and thin long black tail. When he unsheathes his sword, he releases blue flames that destroy all in its path, as well as two blue flame horns.

Devastated over his foster father’s death, Rin resolves to become an Exorcist to one day defeat Satan. Having inherited Satan’s power, he vows to master it and protect humanity from his maniacal father and all demons alike.

To this end, he enrolls at the prestigious school for Exorcists, the True Cross Academy under the True Cross Order, an international organization protecting the human realm (Assiah) from the Demon Realm (Gehenna). Along with Yukio, who was secretly a Veteran Exorcist and his new classmates, he commences his contradictory journey to wipe out demons and Satan’s threats from Assiah.

The disjointed nature of Season 1 and 2 can be explained as follows; Season 1 of the Anime is only canonical to the manga’s storyline halfway. The manga and anime diverge roughly at Chapter 13 and Episode 15, respectively. As such, the first 15 episodes of the anime are all canon to the manga. The story becomes anime-exclusive from episode 16 onwards, but the first half of episode 16 itself is canon.

This is the same for the rest of the first season, up to episode 25. Rin and Amaimon’s battle ensues, and Rin is forced to reveal his true nature as Satan’s illegitimate child to his classmates. After Mephisto steps in and stops the two from fighting, sealing Amaimon in a giant clock and then somewhat subduing Rin, Rin appears in his demon form (out of control and has lost sense of self) in front of the current Paladin, Arthur, under the True Cross Order.

Opting to eliminate Rin as a being related to Satan immediately, Arthur is stopped by Shura. He then takes all three of them in front of the Grigori in a trail, deeming them traitors. After Mephisto convinces them that Rin is the best weapon they have against Satan, the trio is released under numerous conditions, a pivotal one being that Rin must pass the Exorcist Authorization Exam in 6 months. Afterward, Rin’s harsh training regiment is put into play to master his powers.

Following these events, the manga’s storyline continues as per Season 2 of the anime. Season 2 is entirely canon to the manga and takes place following Mephisto’s trial. The remaining episodes of Season 1 attempt to give the series an anime-only ending, which feels quite abrupt, lackluster, and rushed. The animation and battles are all well done regardless, and it portrays well the deep brotherly bond between Yukio and Rin Okumura, which is a core concept in this series. Rin’s classmates have difficulty accepting him after seeing him go berserk in both the anime and manga.

Still, in both cases, they rebuilt their trust and friendship again over time through the many hardships and experiences they face together. The Season 1 ending even hints at a particular pivotal event in Yukio’s character development, currently being featured in the manga’s latest chapters. So both seasons are definitely worth a watch, and hitting up the manga afterward is highly recommended as the series progresses immensely in printed format.

The story is promising and only reaches its true potential in the manga. The anime only takes it halfway and leaves much to be desired. Regardless, the main storyline following the manga is exciting and engaging. The characters are a highlight, as many are very well written, unique and complex, spanning from humans, demons, and anything in between.

Some characters have intense character development and hidden depth—special mention to fan-favorite Mephisto Pheles, who is genuinely entertaining and exciting to watch. The anime’s art is also well done, I would call it unique, but it has its characteristic features and charms.

As for the music, from the Openings to the endings and all the OST, this series had its unique music which matched its themes so well and exuded their own style. The concept and world-building are pretty straightforward and typical of a Shonen at first. Still, it grows increasingly complex with many sub-divisions and subspecies as the story progresses. The Demon King of Time-Space masterfully manipulates time and Space within the series.

Overall the anime boasts quite a few religious themes, with their unique spins on them. The series as a whole is quite enjoyable and recommended to avid Shonen fans, especially considering its epic fight scenes and beautifully animated abilities. If one chooses to delve into the manga, the series will become even more interesting, deep, emotional, complex, suspenseful, and entertaining!