Blue Exorcist
Blue Exorcist is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazue Katō. The story revolves around Rin Okumura, a teenager who discovers he and his twin brother Yukio are the sons of Satan born from a human woman, and he is the inheritor of Satan's powers. When Satan kills their guardian, Rin enrolls at True Cross Academy to become an exorcist under Yukio's tutelage in order to defeat his father Satan. The manga has been serialized in Shueisha's Jump Square magazine since April 2009, with individual chapters collected into twenty-three tankōbon volumes as of February 2020.
The series was adapted into an anime television series produced by A-1 Pictures, and broadcast from April to October 2011. An anime film, Blue Exorcist: The Movie, premiered in December 2012. A second season, titled Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga, aired from January to March 2017.
Viz Media has licensed the manga for North American production, with the first volume released in April 2011. Aniplex of America also released the anime's DVDs in English regions.
The series has been well received by readers with sales having received a boost thanks to the anime's release. Publications for manga and anime compared the series with other shōnen manga but still praised the series' story and artwork.
Synopsis
Setting
The world of Blue Exorcist consists of two dimensions, attached to each other as a mirror and its reflection. The first is the material world where humans live,, and the other is, the world of demons, which is ruled by Satan. Originally, a journey between the worlds, or even a contact between them, is impossible. However, any demon is able to pass to the dimension of Assiah through the possession of a living being in it. Even so, in history there are demons wandering among humans and only those who can see are those who have had direct contact with a demon of any level.In contrast, there are those called Exorcists, people who train to destroy demons who act in a damaging manner in Assiah. With more than two thousand years of existence, this group has several branches all over the world, being secretly under the command of the Vatican itself and acting in a subterfuge way to the masses.
Plot
The story revolves around Rin Okumura, who, along with his younger twin Yukio Okumura, was raised by Father Shiro Fujimoto, an Exorcist. One day, Rin learns that he and Yukio are the sons of Satan. Witnessing Shiro dying to protect him, Rin draws the demon-slaying sword Kurikara, which restrains his demonic powers. From that moment on, Rin not only gains demonic features like fangs and a tail, but also the power to ignite into blue flames that destroy almost anything he touches.Rin wishes to become an Exorcist like his guardian to become stronger and to defeat Satan. He enrolls at the prestigious, an exorcist cram school, which is actually the Japanese branch of the, an international organization dedicated to protect Assiah from the Gehenna. Much to his surprise, Rin finds that Yukio is already a veteran Exorcist and is one of his teachers. Thus begins Rin's journey to become an Exorcist, accompanied by his brother and his fellow students who quickly become his close friends.
Production
Kazue Kato took inspiration from the 2005 film The Brothers Grimm, as she tried to work the angle of brothers fighting against monsters into a story. She eventually decided on making the story about demons and exorcists, thus conceiving Blue Exorcist. Due to exorcists being the main idea of the story, the manga features a lot of Biblical references. In an interview with Anime News Network, Kato said: "I should not run away from these references if I'm working in the Exorcist genre." An ending was planned by Kato but the exact length of the series has yet to be decided based on the manga's popularity in Japan.Media
Manga
The chapters of the Blue Exorcist manga series are written and illustrated by Kazue Kato and have been serialized by Shueisha in the monthly manga magazine Jump Square since April 4, 2009. The first tankōbon volume was released on August 4, 2009; eighteen volumes have been released as of December 31, 2016. The one-shot of the manga was first featured in the September 2008 issue of Jump Square and was titled Miyamauguisu House Case.The series was licensed by Viz Media for release in North America, with the first volume released on April 5, 2011; twenty volumes have been released as of October 2, 2018, and a 21st volume is scheduled for January 1, 2019. Blue Exorcist has also been released as part of the Shōnen Jump Advance imprint starting April 5, 2011. In 2016, Kazue stated, "I think there might be four more arcs. I have a rough storyline complete for the ending, but I haven’t figured out all of the details. I have a few things where I’m not sure what to decide to do."
The series is also licensed in France by Kazé Manga, with the first volume released on May 27, 2010, and in Poland by Waneko.
A spin-off focused on Rin's brother Yukio titled Salaryman Exorcist: The Sorrows of Yukio Okumura started in Jump SQ.19 on April 19, 2013. It is also written by Kazue Kato, but with illustrations by Minoru Sasaki. After the cessation of the magazine on February 19, 2015, the series was transferred to Jump Square. The series finished on April 3, 2020.
Anime
An anime adaption for the manga was announced on November 27, 2010, on Shueisha's Jump Square official website. The anime was produced by A-1 Pictures with Hitoshi Okamura as the producer. Originally, the series was scheduled to air on April 10, 2011, on MBS, replacing ; however, due to the March 11, 2011, Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami the series' broadcast was delayed until April 17, 2011. The anime ended on October 2, 2011.The opening theme for the first 12 episodes is "Core Pride" by Japanese rock band Uverworld, while the opening theme from episode 13 onwards is "In My World" by Japanese rock band ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D. The ending theme for the first 12 episodes is "Take Off" by South Korean boy band 2PM, while the ending theme from episode 13 through episode 25 is "Wired Life" by Japanese singer Meisa Kuroki.
Aniplex announced they would simulcast the series in North America through video sites Hulu, Crunchyroll, Anime News Network and Netflix starting on April 20, 2011. Aniplex of America released Blue Exorcist on DVD in four sets, starting by releasing the first DVD on October 18, 2011. An OVA was released in 2011, called Ao No Exorcist: Kuro no Iede. The series began broadcasting in the United States and Canada on Viz Media's online network, Neon Alley, on October 2, 2012. The series began airing on Adult Swim's Toonami block on February 23, 2014, and finished airing on August 10, 2014.
After six years, a second season titled Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga was announced in June 2016 and premiered on January 7, 2017. Koichi Hatsumi directed the sequel, while Toshiya Ōno wrote the scripts, Keigo Sasaki designed the characters, and Hiroyuki Sawano and Kohta Yamamoto composed the series' soundtrack. A-1 Pictures returned to produce the animation. It was also announced that there would be five new characters in the sequel. The opening theme song was "Itteki no Eikyō" by Uverworld, while the ending theme song was "Kono Te de" by Rin Akatsuki. The series has been licensed by Aniplex of America.
The first anime series contains an anime-exclusive story arc starting in episode 16. The original ending contained within the first season's final nine episodes is retconned in the second season, with the anime story timeline once again following the narrative of the manga. The second season adapts volumes 5 through 9 of the manga.
Movie
A movie titled Blue Exorcist: The Movie was released on December 28, 2012, in Japan. The English dub cast reprised their roles for the movie.Other
A stage play based on the series titled Live Act Ao no Exorcist: Mashin no Rakuin ran for nine performances at the Nippon Seinenkan hall in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward from May 11 to 17 during 2012. Satoshi Owada directed and wrote scripts for the play. Main characters Rin and Yukio Okumura were portrayed by Ryou Kimura and Kimito Totani respectively. A light novel titled Ao no Exorcist: Weekend Hero was written by Aya Yajima and illustrated by Kato. It was released by Shueisha on September 2, 2011. A visual novel for PlayStation Portable, Ao no Exorcist: Genkoku no Labyrinth was released on April 26, 2012, by Bandai Namco Games. A smartphone game, Blue Exorcist: Damned Chord is set for released in 2019.Reception
As of November 2016, Blue Exorcist had over 15 million copies in circulation. The manga has been popular in Japan with the seventh volume receiving first print run of one million copies becoming the first Jump Square manga to reach such milestone. The release of the anime also drastically increased the manga's sales to the point that Shueisha decided to increase the print run for the seventh volume.Critics have praised the Blue Exorcist manga with Comic Book Bin reviewer Leroy Douresseaux feeling the first volume had potential, enjoying the comedy in the work and the characters and their interactions, recommending it to teen readers. Danica Davidson from Otaku USA felt that while the series employs disturbing storytelling, Rin's heroic traits despite being Satan's son make the plot more appealing to the readers. Kato's artwork has been praised by Anime News Network's Carlo Santos for the way each character has distinct traits while background images are well designed. Despite noting that the story uses several clichés, Carl Kimlinger from the same site emphasized how the execution was well-performed, resulting in entertaining episodes, especially its fight scenes, which were noted to be one of the anime's strongest points.