Ao no Exorcist
Blue Exorcist

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How is this manga NOT on the top ten most popular mangas! Normally with mangas, I have a few negative comments to say about it, such as the character development or the lingering plots that never seem to end, but I have nothing bad to say about Ao no Exorcist. As the summary says, it's a story about demons and exorcists. Except, in this case, the main character, Rin, is both a demon AND an exorcist. And not just any demon, he's the son of satan.

Rin has issues with his powers and keeping himself from being discovered by the other exorcists. The character development ... is what makes this story the most interesting! Even with only a few chapters out so far, you are wanting to read more about how the future will be for these teens that have gotten themselves into possibly more than they thought.

The art I gave a 10, but of course it's personal preference of mine. The art of this manga reminds me a lot of Soul Eater's art, and what I love about it is that you can tell what is going on. With some series, there's too much detail that it's hard to tell who's attacking or who is who! It's not that ANE's art is plain and without action, the fights are well drawn and have just enough detail to see the movements and fights clearly.

Enjoyment for me is clearly a 10, as I mentioned, it has some really awesome fights and although it's not on the genres, this manga does have some comedy in it. It's also not just pointless fighting, there's a great plot with it that keeps you on edge and waiting for the next chapter!

There isn't too much I can say about the actual story without spoiling things in this story. I'll recommended this manga to anyone and everyone! I can only hope that more people will be willing to read this story and enjoy it as much as I have!

Ao no Exorcist is easily on my top 3 favorite mangas!
10/10 without a doubt!!

when I stumbled upon this manga on OM, I honestly didn't expect much of it. how many mangas are there in the religious/inquisitive/exorcist genres? dozens! but Ao no Exorcist really caught my attention :) there is something that breaks out of the another-exorcist-cliche manga scheme

Story: (9)
It deserves a tenner, but I'm quite a persnickety person when it comes to the storyline. mainly because most of the mangas are almost the same... here, all the motifs (father dies, the protagonist grows up and wants to change, a great scheme, uber powers, demons and from chapter 9 or 10 even some boobs are there as well ;-)). ... but it is not such a cliche that is expected. Someone from another review said that it is a kind of mixture of bleach and beezelbub - I would add Holy Talker as well.

Art: 8
Nothing to be ashamed of, although I seen more stunning mangas in my life. nothing particular to complain about, except Rin's design when he's in his demon form - k'man, he looks like he was drawn by a five-year-old :< generally: good, but not outstanding

Character: (9)
Characters are definitely a strong point of this manga. The twin brothers, Rin and Yukio are like fire and ice and argue, but deeply care for each other. There is a clumsy yet charming female, diffrent background students and teachers from the true cross academy. But Fujimoto Shirou - this is a masterpiece! it has been a long time since any character made such a positive impression on me. his personality, design... ah, you got to love him even though he does not participate in the events that much (for a certain reason, but no spoilers, sorry! :-)

Enjoyment: (10)
It's extra fun. Even the cliches can't disturb your fun. There are funny moments but also some melancholic. I liked the intertextuality of this manga - e.g. Mephisto Philis. It;s fun to discover some references to other works/culture :-)

Overall: it's a tenner and Ao no Exorcist also lands in my favourites. I really recommend it to anyone.

I’ve heard enough about “Blue Exorcist” for a while now to get me interested in reading it. I was so excited when I saw the volumes at my library and picked up the first four right away. After finishing the first four volumes, I’m sad to say that I am thoroughly disappointed. Here is why:

The plot of Blue Exorcist sounds pretty interesting.That initial plot (+ the art style) was what made me want to read the series, but it’s also that plot that makes me not want to continue.

First, let’s take a look at some similar plots such as: Naruto, Soul Eater, or D.Gray-Man. Now, ... I like all these. I don’t really care that they share the theme of “dark powers within +trying to overcome and reach impossible goal” what I care is how the story progresses.

By the fourth volume in SE, some of the main badies were reveled, there was the intrigue of the black blood, there was an obvious moving forward to the story. things were happening and moving and it was really cool.

4th of DGM there was that progression also. Intrigue about Allen’s powers, the organization, attacks were going on and they had to move to save themselves and the organization. After a couple of early wacky chapters, it dove you right into the war and it’s desperate battles.

Even Naruto, by the fourth volume they had one of the most remembered fights in anime, Naruto’s power revealed, near-death scenarios, and then the beginning of the Chunin exams which was the first lead into…orichimaru, akatsuki, madara and all that good stuff.

Blue Exorcist…well…eh?

Okay so basically: He went to school, he made some friends, this guy is hiding something but nothing is really done about it. I don’t know. Something’s missing here. I thought the first volume was really great, the second too. It grabbed my attention, but then just let it hang and then fall by not moving forward. There wasn’t even any cool fights to distract me from the fact that nothing is happening.

I like the characters, I like the setting, I like the idea. The story-telling is killing me. I don’t think I’ll be able to pick up the 5th volume and give it a decent try. I want to like this series so bad, but it’s just not happening.

I give the first two volumes 8/10

Vol. 3 & 4 a 5/10

Over these four: 6/10

I was on a shounen reread roll, so I decided to pick it up again. And you’ll need to be in a shounen mood too to enjoy this manga, because Ao no Exorcist has it all – immature protag, ridiculous goals, struggle between siblings, blooming love and nakama power, even beach episodes – everything is as it should be. Though there has been no onsen arc yet (edit: fixed by the mangaka) and for the most part all of this stuff works – so give it a try. The current arc (the one that starts around ch. 50) drastically changes the mood. It’s hard to ... tell how it will end,but it's an unexpectedly good horror, brutal and scary.

Now to art. It improves. MCs are drawn a bit shakily in the first chapters and Rin looks more of a devil than he, probably, is meant to, but later it becomes ok. Can’t say that it is the greatest shounen art I’ve ever seen, but it has its moments. Backgrounds are well drawn, but the range of facial expressions is somewhat limited. The designs are trickier. What do you think of darumas? I’d say that it is the best example. Everything is not exactly cool, not exactly cute – something in the middle and somewhat ridiculous. Rin’s design is considerably less badass than in anime, he usually looks like a wild idiot, which, I must say, is at least fresh. The fighting scenes are enjoyable. But maybe you’ll need a fetish to keep you going, I was properly ogling over demon features – horns and tails. *sigh* Fluffy tails are the best.

Nevermind. Characters are well-developed. Or, more exactly, the story takes the development very seriously and takes its time too, in chapter 60 we still get new interesting flashbacks. Everyone has complicated past, worries and huge plans for future. Of course, teen angst can get to you sometimes, and the usual journey of selfdiscovery reeks of metaphoric puberty, but it’s bearable. There’re some redeeming characters and features, also it more or less makes sense, sometimes even serious adult sense. Thankfully, the cast isn’t overblown. Female characters are unexpectedly good too (probably, cause the mangaka is female). I desperately want the second brother, Yukio to get development, but, sadly, it is only hinted on but saved for later. Well, that’s what is painful about shounen – any conflict is dragged forever in order for the series to never end.

Story. It takes place in a magical school. So what do you expect? Yep. Fighting monsters for exams, competitions, school events. Thankfully their school is ridiculous anyway (it’s governed by otaku demon king), and not that many time is spent on showing usual classes. Most of the boring school stuff as festivals or trips quickly boils down to beating demons. The flow of the story is the problem. It’s uneven to say the least. There is a lot of rubbish mixed with the good stuff, some arcs are extremely weak in their entirety. Though the last arc gives me hope, Actually, I’d say that it’s worth to read this manga for the sake of the last arc – it’s a seriously good heartbraking story. If it continues like that, the manga has potential, but I doubt it.

So, in the end Ao no Exorcist is a fine manga, if you’re able to put up with some of the sterotypes, characteristic of works from Jump Square. The last arc stand outs and easily makes to my list of favourite manga, but to understand it you’ll need to read most of the previous parts. Though, in my opinion, liking something in particular about the world or the characters is necessary to pull through the lowest points of writing.

As a volume 1 reader I've been with this series ever since I was in middle school, and seeing me grow up with these characters is extremely special to me. Blue Exorcist is one of those shonen manga series that blew up in the beginning but tapered off later on. Now the diehard fans are the only ones really keeping a discussion of this manga. Blue Exorcist is the story of 15 year old teenager named Rin Okumura who finds out he is the son of satan! After his adopted father kills himself because of Satan, he is appointed by the head of True Cross ... Academy Mephisto, he has a ultimatum for him. Join the school and become an exorcist, or be executed on the spot. Rin takes the exorcist job and vows to kill Satan!

Blue Exorcist is the rare manga for me that I do not read for the action, but rather the character interactions and growth. Since all of these characters start off as one note people, but soon develop into a layered deep characters. Rin changes a lot also, from a whiny bratty kid who had anger issues to a confident fighter who is fighting for his friends and his brother. Kazue Kato is a master at writing and character development and I am glad I got to read this the way I did!

Ao no Exorcist reminds me of a combination of bleach and beezlebub. The story and characters are fairly generic. You got your average shonen protagonist who has demon powers, and a super cool sword, but he doesn't want to be a demon so he against his father, Satan, and all demons. He has a calm and calculating brother, whose weapon is a gun, and there is a very shy girl. They fight monsters together and go to school, but despite it being so average and combining popular manga it manages to entertain me and enthrall me. It knows when to be funny and when to ... be serious, plus it has some good art. All in all its worth a read.

Alright, so there is surprisingly less reviews for Blue Exorcist the manga than I expected. Seeing as most reviews came from people who've read up to chapter 30 or 40, years ago, I decided to give this a try.

I'm one of those people who've watched the anime first and I watched it a while ago. I tried the manga afterwards but only recently got invested into reading the whole thing. So this is my opinion after reading up to chapter 88 of the manga. I will try to spoil as little as possible in this review, so I'll have to leave off ranting about some ... of my favorite characters in here.

I'll start with personal enjoyment. I personally loved this manga. I thought the anime was decent, but didn't expect much out of the manga. Yes, some characters annoyed me and the narrative slows down in some places. Yes there were several cliches in here. Overall though, I'd give it a 9 for enjoyment because after I got into it, I couldn't stop till I've read all the chapters. That was around chapter 50 I think.

The story starts off pretty much a cliche. Parent figure dies, MC swears to become stronger and beat up what killed the parent figure. Drama between siblings (and this still persists.) and MC goes to a magical school to become stronger! While this seems like the generic shounen, the plot gradually thickens. A lot of stuff comes to light in the recent chapters about the Blue Night and demons. It's not as simple as I thought it was. While still retaining some lighthearted parts, the manga gets a lot darker after the anime veers off.
I'm giving the story 8/10 because it still had a pretty generic beginning and the rescue the damsel trope does get repeated a bit which gets annoying.

The art is really good. It's usually very crisp and detailed. A lot of the characters are distinct. The colored spreads are also beautiful. It portrays disgusting stuff as... very disgusting (You'll see what I mean when you get there). The only complaint I have about the art is how sketchy it gets during some action scenes. I'm not sure if the author ran out of time or if it's done on purpose. Either way, being the only bad thing I found of the art, I'm giving this section a 9/10.

Getting to the final section of this review, the characters! There are many lovable characters in Blue Exorcist. The main character, Okumura Rin, is kind of the generic shounen MC, but sometimes proves to have more insight and depth than you'd expect. He cares a lot about his twin, Okumura Yukio, but part of the conflict of the series stems from the tension between them. You can say that Rin wants to surpass Yukio, but Yukio sees Rin as the stronger one and has an inferiority complex in a way, that is aggravated by the different characters he meets later on. They are both lovable in their own ways though, and it is hard to believe that the MC is the older twin because of how hyper and childish he acts compared to the more solemn and composed Yukio.

Minor character-wise, there are quite a few female characters in the manga, though male still takes the majority. Out of these female characters, I'd say Shura is my favorite because she is pretty badass. The females have the potential to be strong, but as previous reviews say, there are characters like Shiemi that can be strong but acts weak and always has to get saved by people. She does grow a bit more bold later on, but I still don't like her very much. Izumo is the tsundere of the series and also annoys me, but not to a huge extent.
I am not sexist but for this manga, my favorite characters are all male. I like some of the more eccentric characters in the manga, from the Demon Headmaster Mephisto who holds the strings of many unexpected puppets in the manga, to the probably sociopathic Lightning who shows up a lot later in the series. I like the different world view the manga presents us, from the more naive students, to more cynical students, through the manipulation of Mephisto and the carefree view of some other characters...

For the characters, I would have given an 9, but the damsel in distress thing puts it down to 8/10.

Overall, I think this series deserves a 9 for the ratings. There is still room for improvement in the future and the plot of the story is still thick! Now if only it had more frequent updates than the current monthly ones...

Hope this helped!

I didn't expect to enjoy the series, initially it feels relatively like every other shounen. But this really touched my heart in a way that I never thought was possible nor did I ever expect it to, instead of it taking the normal ways out, it has managed to surprise so much of me. The many twists and turns of the story.

The mythology that it uses with its own unique spins, with plenty of mysteries and then twists upon twists. And above more incredibly memorable characters that you just can't forget. It takes every character but then add them with a singular great twist. ... The twists are astounding, developing each character's backstory, not to mention given them such depth and layers more than usually. By this time, it isn't just Rin who's important, there's a lot to their development but not every character gets shafted either.

Ao no exorcist is a series that gets better as it goes along, initially I didn't have any issue just reading a few but the more I actually read the work, the more I just couldn't resist going to the next chapter. It gets addicting that you just can't stop, and I couldn't until the latest chapter. It's an amazing piece of work, that makes itself stand out.

The manga is incredible. Best manga I've read so far.

Story: It's not what one could call 'original' but it's not cliche either. It's a great story, making you anxiously wait for the next chapter. I haven't once been dissapointed by any chapter and I'm really looking forward to any new ones. |

Art: One of the best things about the manga. The expressions, the bodies, the facial features, the clothes...everything. I love how she can draw very detailed and carefully sketched figures in one panel and in the other (or even in the same one sometimes!) very simple and chibi-like ones and still make it work ... perfectly. I simply love the art in there and the way she draws the characters. I love it.

Characters: Ah. My favorite part. One of the few manga/anime where I could say that I love about 80% of the characters. They're all made so different and yet, throughout the story and the things they go through together, they seem to be able to interact so well with each other. Even the ones who are considered rivals are shown to cooperate with each other at times. Another thing that I love about the characters is that, you can easily get emotionally attached to most of them. You worry when it seems that something is going to happen to one of them, you laugh with them when something funny happens, you get sad when they get sad...you just kind of wish you could be part of the manga. And that's amazing.

Enjoyment: ...I'm in love with it, I don't think this needs further explanation.

Overall: Incredible manga, I bow down to the mangaka. Shame it's not more popular, it definitely deserves it.

Blue Exorcist - An Underrated Show.

What happens when an anime doesn't sell enough or does not cover the whole manga material? What happens when only one season/arc in the series is justified for an anime adaptation? The answer is that this series is Blue Exorcist.

It's a bit strange not to put Blue Exorcist inside the bag of stories clichés or stories that everyone knows by its genre, we are talking about the usual airing manga, One Piece, Bleach, Death Note and everything that startles inside. But what actually happens with Blue Exorcist and why it isn't in the same category as the previous manga? Actually, ... that's easy to answer...
The difference between Shounen Jump and Jump SQ is too obvious: the first (SJ) gives readers too obvious works with basic reading content, the reader only needs to know that the protagonist has powers and that the story is pretty basic, always about the protagonist; In the second (Jump SQ) the story is more serious and more developed, there are secondary objectives in the story and the protagonist is much less well-known and so ends up being less mainstream than the rest of the characters, we are talking about works like Claymore, AnoHana, Madofuki Park, Rurouni Kenshin: Tokuhitsu-ban, Rengoku no Ashe or even the Blue Exorcist spin-off, Salaryman Exorcist: Okumura Yukio on Aishuu.

I never realized why people give hate to the works of Kazue Kato, the woman works every day to give readers the treasure of her which is exactly this work (or the previous works about it). The problem that the industry puts in these creators is that they work hard and strive to give readers the best they know, but nonetheless, other authors who don't do it by the same way, get the fame all over (I'm sorry but I'm talking about Hiromu Arakawa, for example).

As the synopsis indicates, this is a story about demons and exorcists. The story has two realities: Assiah and Gehenna, the story is initially lived in Assiah but later on, it is so far lived in Gehenna. The protagonist is called Rin Okumura and was educated by Father Fujimoto (whose is a powerful exorcist) but Rin never knew his own father. Rin eventually knows that he has Satan's blood - the Lord of Evil - and so he intends to fight against it but first he has to know how to use the exorcism and it is from here that the story takes a launching ramp with the centralization of it. From here, the story tells the daily life of Rin and, just as in a shounen series, as he defeats villains until potentially encountering Satan.

The story has a huge range of characters, from villains to heroes or even to anti-heroes. We have Rin and his brother Yuki Okumura (Yukio in some languages), Shiemi Moriyama and his mother, Mephisto Feles (the anti-hero of the series), Rin's friends: Ryuji Suguro, Renzo Shima, Konekomaru Miwa and Izumo Kamiki, then we have the sexy character of the story (and my favorite character) Shura Kirigakure and finally we have the villains Amaimon and Saburota Todo (in reality there is a certain villain, what happens is that each arc has a villain but eventually turns out to be an anti- hero of the series as happens with Amaimon and Mephisto Feles).

Let's now go to art, by preference I think the art is a 9/10 overall.
Of course, I've seen better and better manga arts but the art of Kazue Kato for a stand alone artist is quite good (almost excellent). She can make a clean drawing on 2 pages with the same attack and with the same power as the previous page or the pages with lines. In some manga series, the artist draws so much that he ends up not realizing anything or almost nothing of what he created in a chapter or in a whole book, which turns out to be a disappointment. In One Piece, for example, Oda began to create more complex drawings for the human eye, which ends up not being very well understood of what he did and what he could have done, Katou prefers to make a drawing with more spacing between the page just to make it stays white and with the own design, which turns out to be a fantastic choice for her because it results with Blue Exorcist. Once again, the fights are impeccable and I believe that Katou is an inspiration for many people who want to start their life as a professional mangáka.

The first arc of the story (from volumes 1-4 and chapters 1-15) is basically the anime adaptation that was created in 2011: https://myanimelist.net/anime/9919/Ao_no_Exorcist;
The second arc of the story will be the next anime adaptation for January 2017 and will cover the Kyoto Arc (from volumes 5-9 and chapters 16-37): https://myanimelist.net/anime/33506/Ao_no_Exorcist__Kyoto_Fujouou -hen

Of course Blue Exorcist has problems but I believe that it is the manga with more sales of Shonen SQ, one of the problems is for example in the development of the characters and in the creation of maturity for Rin's friends, for example, they gain "airing time" in the manga but it is not anything satisfactory as Rin, for example, has, and the character appears in three or four pages and is already the hero of the day. Rin, unlike the other characters, is what makes the story more interesting and intriguing.
Overall, the manga is not cliché, it's super overrated with no motives or reasons and it's a super interesting manga because it uses religious strands in the story, which is something rare to see in Japanese comics overall, once again.

What can I say more than other people have not?
I like the characters, I like the setting that is used in the story, I like the way the plot is told and to finish, I like the idea of the manga. I do not like the fact that it's not a well-known manga, I do not think it's overrated, I do not think it's worse than FullMetal Alchemist (it's not at all) and I do not believe people that do not take initiative because they think it's "cliché" or "waste of time".
People are ignorant because they want to and not because that is part of them if people are generalizing a genre of fiction, then they will be ignorant forever, Blue Exorcist has too much potential that will potentially be used in the rest of the arcs and later on, in more anime adaptations.

Story: 9 |Art: 9 | Character: 8 | Enjoyment: 9

Score:

At first I thought this was just another rip-off or imitation of some other exorcist themed series, but after getting through the story it is a little unique compared to those of the same genre. The way the story develops is great, finding a balance between action and emotion and the character have unique personalities and back-stories. It would be great to see this series develop and I can't wait for its anime adaptation to come out.

Blue Exorcist...wow, what a series. You know you've read good manga when the entire day melts away right before your eyes. Now, where to begin. Let's start with the bad.

Characters overall plot are taken from tried and true (and almost cliche at this point) tropes. The angsty teenager main character who sets out to be the best [insert super powerful being here]. You have the regular love interest, whom may never end up with the main character. There are the Tsundere's and the rivals. It's nothing we haven't seen before.

The story also relies on Deus Ex Machina writing to finish off boss battles. DEM ... writing can be good when used in context, but almost directly conflicts with the style of a shounen battle series. So unfortunately I must call it out on that.

But what the series does well, is its characters and design. Now, I will be the first to say it.... All the characters in Blue Exorcist are hipsters. There, it's all out in the open now. In real life hipsters are obnoxious, but in anime and manga, I will give it a pass since the characters are supposed to be hyper-stylized.

The characters simply look great. The author has gone to lengths and bounds to make the characters unique and interesting in regards to their design. The best designs are with the demon characters, in which the artist unleashes all of his creativity upon.

The overall artwork just blew me away while reading it. The environments are up there with Rurouni Kenshin. Simply eye candy. On some pages I had to just stop reading and stare at the artwork just to soak it in. It truly makes me wonder just how long and how much work went into the art of this manga. Everything about it's aesthetics is simply heaven.

Personality wise, most of the characters you can describe with one word. But others, mostly the main three that he plot revolves around, cannot be described with one word. Which is a God-send. The shounen genre is terrible when it comes to characterization. But, for the three main characters they progressed quite nicely. The three main characters really surprised me. Now, the other characters are not so surprising as they can all be described in one word. As mentioned above, there's the tsundere and then there's the pervert and the weak monk kid. So, I must deduct points for that.

The overall story itself draws parallels with Naruto. So much so that I can recommend you read Blue Exorcist if you liked Naruto.But where the similarities end is where the manga stands out. The plot picks itself up where the anime commits suicide. Everything else is just an introduction to the setting of Blue Exorcist, and if you have already watched the anime I strongly recommend you to begin at volume 4. Because the anime up to volume four sticks closely to the manga.

The ratings I give this manga are Story: 9, Art: 10, Character: 8, Enjoyment: 10, and Overall: 9. I cannot recommend this manga enough for fans of the shounen genre. It was a treat to read and is worth reading once at the very least.

Edit: As I sat on my opinions of BE, I seemed to have more to say. And instead of providing a general consumer review I will use this edit to touch upon the literary elements of the series. I will be examining some of the characters which delves into their personalities quite a bit. Which walks the line between spoilers and no spoilers. I must say that here I do not put any spoilers at all, which s true. But I will be examining the character's personalities. Which can make some people uneasy. So, if that makes you uneasy I recommend that you go no further. But If you don't mind knowing some of the character's personalities continue on, by all means!

Blue Exorcist is a beautiful coming of age story. It reminds the reader of what it is like to be a teenager again. The author takes his reader back to his or her youth using brilliant fantastical storytelling.

The characters of Satan and Father Fujimoto being the most compelling and brilliant of all. Where in the series the father of the main character (Rin) is Satan and the priest Father Fujimoto has taken Rin in and raised him as his son. The Character of Satan is symbolic of the distorted views we have of our parents when we are teenagers. Versus Father Fujimoto who is how our parents really are.

The main character was also well written. He embodies all it is to be a teenager. He is fifteen (15) years old and is going through all of the changes that come with being a teenager. He is beginning to get interested in girls and, like all teenagers, develops a crush on the most attractive girl he sees who happens to be close to him as well.

Also, at the same time he is trying to find out who he is as a person, and is unsure of himself. Which is how many teenagers feel. Sometimes in the normal teenage period, some teenagers in their search for themselves may feel like they may be the child of Satan as well!

Rin's fraternal twin brother, Yukio, is also heavily themed and literary. But unlike Rin, who is a template for the average teenager, Yukio is the template for the not so average teenager. The character of Yukio is one who is heavily traumatized. He is fifteen (15) years old as well, but because of his traumatic childhood, it forces him to grow up. So be becomes a really strong character. BUT! No matter how "grown up" he is, Yukio is still only fifteen years old. And he naively tries to shoulder everyone's burdens upon himself. And there are many teenagers out there who have experienced something similar and try the same thing. Unfortunately all of their efforts will be futile because as teenagers they lack the experience and wisdom necessary to successfully shoulder those burdens. So almost 100% of the time they will collapse.

Again, as I sat and thought about it. The literary elements just came to light. And for any literary elements to be in a SHOUNEN MANGA, it is very rare. Blue Exorcist is highly underrated and deserves to be more known.

Context is a funny thing. A common defense of many works is that "you have to wait for X time for WORK to get good". While this is cop-out reasoning, it came about for sound reasons. It's important to do proper set-up. Otherwise, it's hard to establish items properly. I bring this up, because Blue Exorcist suffers in the opposite way. The more it went on and the more context we got, it got worse.

The story focuses on arcs typically focused around dealing with whatever spirit or demon is causing harm to others. The first couple arcs focus on more minor demons, but as the ... story goes on, threats take on a bigger form, the cast learns truths about themselves and each other, and the (likely) ending conflict threatens to destroy the world. That sounds pretty generic, right? Of course it would. I summarized the content in that way intentionally. But despite how the plot may sound, character development is what gives this series something more unique than that summary.

The cast, while often simple, but that alone isn't an argument for character quality. I like Rin Okumura as a protagonist. He's got a good heart, yet his surroundings push this heart by forcing tough decisions upon him. The start of the story features him training while keeping his demonic past under wraps. Yet this inevitability happens much sooner in the narrative that we'd expect. At the same time, the story has been prudent in introducing the majority of Rin's class to us, giving them either a backstory, relatable motivations, or both. (Majority does not include Shura.) So, the following arc takes time to explore the characters reconciling Rin's demonic identity along with facing the incumbent threat. That quality is what makes Blue Exorcist's arcs stand out from the "generic good guy beats bad guy shounen arc" formula. This diversity of cast allows for a wide variety of character interactions, thus making the whole stronger than its parts.

Subaru is a personal favorite. He's a headstrong brat but takes his studies and work seriously. It's good to see smart characters given flaws to overcome. His banter with the more simplistic-minded Rin shows how their personalities clash, but they still get along when push comes to shove.
His two friends, Shima and Konekomaru, are the slacker and nerd in Subaru's "posse" of sorts. As the story goes on, though, these two make themselves distinct through the former finding an unconventional path to make his mark and the latter gaining confidence in himself. These arcs aren't very unique and only provide some depth to the cast, but it helps establish that the cast is never a monolith, and conflict among each other plays just as important a role as conflict with the enemy. With some exceptions.
Yukio, the younger twin of Rin, is a prodigy who has worked all his life to gain accolades. Despite Rin inheriting all of the demonic power, Yukio has him beat in knowledge and experience, providing an interesting dynamic. On top of that, Rin has a much simpler morality, leading him to strike immediately at evil while Yukio will assess the situation first. This at first gives Yukio complexity. He fights for the side of justice, but with a utilitarian mindset that requires him to ensure that a mother prepares for the worst when he goes in to rescue her child. This hesitancy is pounced upon by a few demons who want to manipulate him over to their side. This was interesting. At first. But after a certain point, it felt like he was trying to give himself problems, and exacerbated them by never talking to anyone. Before long, he's doing either pointlessly reckless tasks or hurting others for his ego. This does little to inform his character, and at times detracts from it, so I can't say I'm a fan.
It's hard to describe the villains. Not for spoiler reasons, but because there's very little meat to them. Satan is exactly as he's introduced, with the nuance of a child and the depth to boot. Neuhaus is introduced alright, but falls to the wayside after his motive comes out. Of the remaining villains, the only one with any sticking power serves as a foil to Yukio, but loses any value ironically at the same time as Yukio.
You'll note that there's one character I've not brought up who does have deeper motivations. But their role as either protagonist or villain does not yet have grounding, so I'd rather just leave them as a fascinating enigma who causes significant impact on both the plot and characters through their enigmatic ways. This character, with the power and influence to bend the rules as they see fit, is a huge part of what keeps the story interesting, and even gave me false hope for a later arc.

(SPOILERS)
Now, for spoiler territory and where I find that the manga starts to fail. It's in the first arc to focus on Shura. I never liked Shura. Her design was off-putting as fanservice characters tend to be, topped with how she's often in her stripped-down manner around minors. Yuck. But while her motivation had potential to put her in real conflict with Rin, the boy who stole her mentor and later led him to die, she's just a blanket ally and is responsible, something Yukio already did to greater effect.
Later, she finally gets an arc explaining her backstory. She's slave to a snake god who entered a marriage contract with her mom, the contract forcing each descendant to birth a female heir before turning 30 and then dying, creating an endless cycle where the snake god's wife is as undying as he. The before/after of this arc is meant to portray Shura as going from a more conservative person to one more willing to embrace life, since she has more than 3 years left to live. On the surface, this is stated, but not properly shown. Shura did not prior come off as someone who had limited time, by either living recklessly or not holding grudges for serious slights (I don't count her being nice to Rin as not holding a grudge because Rin was a passive reactor to Shiro's death and anyone with basic maturity could figure that out.), and future her doesn't get any substantial chances to do anything. The highlight of that arc was a short conversation at the end meant to build up to the current arc.
With this arc, the series continues to raise my hopes, only to dash them at the end. People can see demons? Let's show them panicking for a bit, but not delve into how society would be impacted save a reactionary "I don't want to die". Rin finally seeing his past and learning the circumstances? I'll admit, Rin's perspective change here was great, seeing his resolve strengthen after Yukio's betrayal weakened it. But that just led to an extended fight with Yukio that went on way too long, only for the two to join forces against a clearly greater threat. The flashback itself was alright, seeing Shiro and Ergn fleshed out more was nice, and I especially liked how the Order was partially responsible for the Blue Night through their inhumane experiments. But Egin never shows a connection to the childish Satan who supposedly impregnates her despite Shura's arc displaying how demons would need a human surrogate to impregnate a human female.
And that leads to my last complaint. Demons don't exactly have a physical form. They more take on forms from the living world to inhabit. But the more powerful the demon, the faster that host deteriorates, and the demon returns to this series' equivalent of Hell. The series never goes into what prevents any demon from simply leaving their current rotting husk, going to hell, then coming back in a new host. I get the corrosion angle when it comes to the stronger demons, but they stay in rotting bodies. Their means of initially going from Hell to the human world isn't explained, so us readers are left confused as to why they're struggling. I get that they wouldn't be able to stay very long, hence the research into immortality, but with no knowledge of their initial path to the human world, I'm just left scratching my head.
(END SPOILERS)

Sorry my art reviews are often so short; I don't have very distinct standards when it comes to art. In this story, the art starts off a bit simplistic, making it hard to differentiate the characters, but as the story goes on, the art finds its own identity and looks gorgeous. Characters look nice and perspective shots do a better job of helping me visualize a 3-d model of what's happening on screen. As I type this, it sounds like I'm praising a coder for knowing how to code, so I might be praising a mangaka for doing a base level job.

My overall thoughts? Once Kamiki ends her very satisfying arc, you can stop the series. Or continue knowing that the main characters have reached their apex.

Long time reader, volumes 01-26 review: 4/5
I really like Kato's style, the world she came up with here, the lore, the character development throughout time. But especially her style. I remember being a teen and going "wow this is so cool! Look at the way the demons look! Omg the landscapes and buildings are amazing!". To be honest, that feeling still stands as of today.
As usual, following the series as it comes out ends up being confusing, especially when it has so many side character with interconnected stories (main reason I'm not giving this 5/5, I just can't remember where some of my issues with ... the story come from). There's still no clear ending in sight but the ride has sure been worth it. Have I talked about how you follow the growth of a bunch of people here? How some of them have their edges smoothed as they mature? How some, outcasts since early on, find friends to rely on? I want to see where Kato is going to take this.

When I first watched the Blue Exorcist anime I felt very dissatisfied from about episode 15 onward and I didn't like the ending very much. So when I found that it was based on the manga and that the manga was incomplete, I was excited. I read from the beginning and discovered that the anime separates from the manga around where I started to lose interest. I continued reading and I simply loved the manga! I personally prefer the manga to the anime and I enjoyed it much better. Also the fact that it is still ongoing is awesome, since I usually watch or read ... anime and manga that are already complete, this was a nice change to have actual cliff-hangers that I have to wait another month to see the conclusion. It's a great read and I really suggest that if you liked the anime or were dissatisfied with the ending or later episodes that you read this.

I watched this anime because one of my buddies recommended it to me on Xbox. I started it on Crunchyroll and marathoned the entire thing. When I was down at AX this year I decided to buy Blue Exorcist Vol. 1 for 8 bucks. And I have to say that the manga is very on par with the anime however it extends out further than the anime. It's a good read and Kazue also put some detailed information in the back of the book about Rin, Yukio, Mephisto, Shiro, Sheimi etc. Its a good read and I highly reccomend it. If you dont want to ... read the manga watch the anime. If you have seen the anime, read the manga if you want to know what happens after Rin and Yukio destroy Gehnna's Gate.

Ao no Exorcist has some interesting ideas though not all of them fulfill their potential. There is a lot of enjoyment to be had here and if you're thinking about reading it I think it's definitely worth a shot even if some of the story arcs aren't as exciting as others there are still a lot of memorable moments and twists along the way, some really cool characters and fights. Especially if you're into plots that revolve around demons and exorcism.

Blue Exorcist Volume 1 review

Blue Exorcist is a pretty amazing manga series with a very good first volume. I really like this series because it is a really fun read that you don’t really have to think about too much. Except this series becomes very emotional I would say, at least for me that is. I feel like Kazue Kato is a master mangaka that constructed this story very well throughout the years.

This series starts with volume one and it is a masterpiece. I have never read a better first volume than this one. It just introduces everything to the reader in just the ... most perfect way. I especially like Rin’s character in this volume. All he wants to do is just become a respectable person and get a good job. This really stands out to me since no other shonen protagonist ever wants to say they need to become a respectable person, instead they want to become the wizard king because they don’t need to improve themselves. All they gotta do is become super strong and defeat the bad guys. I’m glad Blue Exorcist never went in this direction and he only wants to kill Satan because of revenge. Rin knows that he isn’t the best, but he wants to change that for the better. I also like father Fujimoto, he can be mean at times, but you know that his heart is in the right place especially before he dies. I really like that Rin and Yukio are twins because you don’t really see that dynamic much. Rin respecting his brother right before he becomes his teacher is good. I like to see character development in the first chapter for Rin when he gets his demon powers and father Fujimoto dying. It’s a great first chapter since it introduces the reader to the main characters and it leaves the reader wanting more.

The end of the chapter Rin attends the exorcist school and Rin becomes his teacher. This is very shonen-like, and it rips off a bunch of series since it just comes off as generic. This is very generic and it’s one of the few things I don’t like about this series. At least the author uses this to her advantage by introducing many characters and giving a general setting the character can hang out and be at. Yukio I find very interesting since you don’t really know his character, which makes developing him very easy since the reader does not know anything about him. Skipping to Chapter three, this chapter is very good and introduces Reim for the series. This chapter is a kind of one off story where it solves the problem in one chapter. I like this kind of thing if it’s done right and it is. After this the volume ends and it is just very amazing. All the chapters of this volume are 10/10 and it leaves you wanting much more. This is still my favorite first volume of a series of all time and will probably still be in ten years.

So, this is my initial impressions review. Just right of the bat, I see a LOT of parallelism between this and Soul Eater, but I'll explain that as I go.

As of this point, I have only read two volumes of Blue Exorcist, and I will try not to restate the description. The story is set in a world where our main focus of characters is Exorcists, who are essentially combat trained priests who specialize in destroying demons, similar to Meisters in SE. Themain protagonist of the story is a boy named Rin, who is both an exorcist (in-training, currently,) and also a half demon...the ... son of Satan, at-that!

He is namely suffering from the burden of feeling like he was the reason a priest, who was a father-figure to him and raised him all his life, was killed by Satan. Due to these events, he makes it his life goal to destroy Satan, his father.

And how does his journey begin? Major parallelism #2, he has to attend a school for Exorcists so he can learn the basics from a group of psychotic teachers. A notable plot point is that Rin's younger twin brother, Yukio, who did NOT inherit the powers of Satan, is an Exorcist prodigy and genius...which leads to some brotherly squabbles.

Also, this manga DEFINITELY suffers from a bad case of the 10 Chapter struggle, as it dove straight into the action with nearly no backstory on Rin or Yukio, and has yet to get back around to that. I hope that some more of their immediate past will be revealed very soon, because everything still feels very rushed.

So-far, the story is good, but it is just VERY reminiscent of Soul Eater and I only see it getting more similar as the story progresses. The characters are interesting and diverse, and I'm quite sure I have already met the entirety of the main cast. I GREATLY enjoy the artwork...I'm just hoping for some original twist to not lock this in as another same-y school for destruction story like Soul Eater, Naruto, etc. before it. I'm left with high hopes, but average expectations.

this review will have spoilers! you been warn.
while I know I"m the only one feeling this way, I can't help but at last write how I feel. even if I be the only one, at last some of you would know what you gotten yourself into.

at first I really like this mange, especially the first arc and even the arc after that. but with time this mange become not only more ridiculous and trying to look "cool" by mimicking other mange's and doing it poorly (cough One piece cough) but also lost the reason's characters actually doing things.

what hurt the story and ... here we are, in a place where the characters have no reason for doing what they doing and lost all their characteristic that was part of who they were and what make them good.

some character look more "strong" but still need to be rescue every time! (Shiemi) what didn't help much, has much has I"m trying to like them. and the other girl (Izumo background arc) it just make her look even more of a bitch then what she is. a bitch with even more fucked up bitch mother, what don't save her character.

Shima is the perfect example of lack in reason and bad development for a character I have ever seen, and no, doing shit with no reason doesn't make him a good character!! him deciding/choosing to be a spay for both Mephisto and the fuck up organization that will kill his friends for the simple reason that it fun this way, and more easy to live this way - fuck this shit! even his father said it's stupid, and we don't get any other reason for his harming ways and why he can smile after he just betray again and again them and say "it so much fun" or "this is more simple life for me" - yap that what he's said himself. how the fuck is that simple or fun?!! THIS IS NOT A REASON!!

And Suguro, the one that look like a bad ass (that got my favorite voice actors ever in the anime!) don't get to run away from bad development and lack of reason when a new teacher come, showing up for two minutes, and after that talking to them 5 minutes and Suguro decided that he's in love with him/admiring him from basically no where and want to be his Pupil with no fucking good reason!!! and by becoming one, bow to him and ready to become his slave. while he guess this guy is fuck up in the head, this teacher said Suguro a masochist. how the fuck he become one out of no where?!! fuck this shit!!

other then that there is many small things that happen with no reason or don't get to be explain wall, but what happen with this two characters are the most big one's that show how bad a mange series can get with no proper reason.

don't expect a good development in the story or the characters, you won't get one.

this mange was the first mange I read after the anime that made me actually hate the characters that I like while watching the anime and regret reading it! and I could never liked them again!! it ruin it for me! what really make me sad cause there was a time that I really liked those characters. so save yourself the trouble and only watch the anime, it better this way.

Vol 17 Ch 84