Ao no Exorcist

[Terumi]

青の祓魔師

Synopsis: Humans live in the world of Assiah, demons in Gehenna. The two dimensions are not meant to interfere with each other, but demons still possess creatures in Assiah in spite of this. The humans who can fight these demons are known as exorcists. Rin Okumura is a boy who bears the curse of being Satan's illegitimate son. His foster father sacrificed himself to save him from demons. To avenge his foster father's death as well as to prove himself, Rin decides to follow the path of an exorcist.

Seiyuu Cast: Jun Fukuyama, Kana Hanazawa, Kazuya Nakai, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Rina Satou, Keiji Fujiwara, Tetsuya Kakihara, Eri Kitamura, Hiroshi Kamiya, Koji Yusa, Ryotaro Okiayu, Yuuki Kaji

Original Creator: Kazue Kato
Director: Tensai Okamura
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures Inc.
Air-time: CBC, TBS, SBS, MBS Sunday 17:00 (Formerly Star Driver, FMA:B, Gundam 00 and Code Geass R2 timeslot)

Opening Theme: Core Pride - UVERworld
Ending Theme: Take Off - 2PM

Credits to ANN for info and myself for writing out.

Needless for an introduction from me, 1 of the must watch action shows this season. 2-cour confirmed, power seiyuu cast and good animation plus great plot. Just like how FMA actually unfolded while reading chapter by chapter, this show is showing the similar promise. Watch it already if you have yet to pick this up.

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 3

Good, solid episode - again, it's all in the execution is there's not much here we haven't seen before.

I find it odd than no one is saying anything about Rin's ears - they seem damn obvious to me. He needs to grow his hair out. And let me get this straight - Mephistopheles' phony name is Faust - that's how he's going to throw them off the scent?

The academy design is awesome and the key system was quite smart; this way there's no chance an ordinary student might stumble upon the exorcist so they have no chance of being discovered.

 

[Terumi]

Spoiler: episode 4

Oh no.. So much for the first 2 episodes, we have officially hit the 'classmate-of-the-week' part of series. Starting things off, is Hanazawa's yet another 'moe' chara.

Coming off kou's comment last week, yes, the key system is indeed a genius plan. Without the right keys, there is no practical way to meet an exorcist in training at school. Rin, you should know that the clown aint really that clown.

Well, nothing much. Another Hanazawa, another poor moe-girl in distress. Ok, in my books, Shiemi aint moe at all, must be hanazawa's fault in stereotyping all moe-charas under her empire. Shiemi is plain dumb too, if that gate was meant to ward off demons, then when it is disengaged by Rin, she should have realised. LOOK AT THE EARS! LOL~ I liked Yukio's decision to bluff and shoot a 'fake' bullet in the form of nutrient pill.

Weak-fry demon and not so strong story wraps up the week. As me mentioned above, the next few episodes will be your weekly new character introduction and their background stories. Dont mess up on your execution, A-1!

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 4

Well, as soon as I heard KanaHana I figured Nessa Shiro Kuroneko Shiemi Charlotte Noir Mayuri Shiori Yuki Nanako Shiemi was going to be a recurring character.

Once again, I can offer nothing but praise for Blue Exorcist. The symbolism of plants is well-noted, serving as a restrictive and binding force instead of simply being nice things to look at. There look to be many nice plants in Shiemi's garden, but so many, many more exist in the real world. Leaving such sentimental memories behind can be a little painful. Even so, it's about time Shiemi threw off the emotional burden of feeling guilty for not being there to protect her grandmother. And stand on her own two feet. On that note, Shiemi can walk now... walking is a good thing.

We have the usual shounen approach to solving problems: Break it all! Rin went mass murderer on those potted plants, grabbed Shiemi by the shirt, and yelled at her to make his point. "Get out of this damn garden!" I guess Rin inherited a very fiery anger from his father. He won here, but perhaps it's wise for Rin not to yell through arguments in the future... when someone more powerful comes around, Rin might start regretting being the shounen hero.

Episode 4 contains very little fighting - most of the time goes to framing Shiemi's backstory. Not sure about everyone else, but I can appreciate a show which isn't limited to mindless violence (which I do like, but have seen too often). Blue Exorcist goes further and tries getting the viewers involved emotionally. The story does so with the usual shounen cliches - feel sympathy for a tragic character, who is rescued by the hero and his idealism. Seen it before? Yes. Executed nicely? Absolutely!

 

[f903y]

It enjoys it though it doesn't know where to conceal Satan's son Rin.

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 5

Not surprised Rin was sleeping in all his classes, enjoyed his dream. Felt bad for Shiemi when Rin said she wasn't his friend, the guy needs to understand her better if he likes her.

Bon was an interesting character. Very similar to Rin. Enjoyed how Rin saved him. That ending was pricelss with the blush. Seemed like Yukio keeps tabs on Rin to make sure he doesn't unsheathe his sword.

So the ending with Mephisto brought up some interesting points. That one he is indeed a demon from Gehenna. Also seems like he's also one of Satan's sons. He did call rin his younger brother. According to Yukio the he plans to use Rin somehow.

 

[Terumi]

Spoiler: episode 6

Another comedy-filled episode. This had to got to be the biggest laugh of this series yet.

Ever wondered who made your breakfast, dinner and clean your dishes for you without any cost? Especially when you live with your only twin brother in an isolated building where there shouldnt be anyone else there? XD

FOOD - is the topic of the episode to me at least. It was retarded funny Rin only seconds away from drawing his blade in comedy-filled anger, thrice in fact. Your normal snatching of the last bread with someone you hate, and being brought to a cafeteria later, to find out that the prices on the menu have an extra '0' at the back. Celeb? More like beggar! More comedy from our clown principal, who hands the twin a 2000 yen bill note for the month. BWAHAHAHA, beg for more Rin.

Our kuso megane little exorcist is dead smart, killing 4 birds with a stone, or so he thought. It was dead funny to see him angry after being kicked the following morning. Rin saw his grandma whom he never met too! DONT FOLLOW HER!! HAHAHAHAHA

Demon who cooks good food for you? Good idea! Ukobach x Rin combo was dead laugh! Becoming best dudes just by cooking showdown! Thats so shounen~ but the laughs are worth. ULTIMATE LUNCH!

DONT EVER MAKE THAT DUDE ANGRY. UKOBACH TURNS INTO A GIANT! AND HE COOKS YOU! Rin and Yukio's reactions after seeing the girls being cooked was so wrong, yet funny. YOU WILL THINK SOMETHING IS WRONG RIGHT! LOL~

Overall, great episode for the laughs. Probably the best one yet. I had fun laughing at those priceless faces.

 

[Kou]

Good filler episode.

Spoiler: episode 6

2000 yen allowance, Rin and Yukio get around to questioning who's been making their breakfast, Mephisto demonstrates his other worldly culinary skills, annoying fangirls, bonding via cooking and Yukio traumatised by boxed lunches! So the original episode did take some ideas from the 4koma skit but only at the start. Yukio ended up as the butt of most of the jokes. His fangirls are annoying as hell though, I hope we'll never ever see them again (even in fillers). Totally cracked up at how Rin was commenting on the berserk Ukoback's cooking etiquette instead of the fact it was trying to cook three girls alive. The extra flashback on how Rin's cooking skills improved over time was rather nice, but what made the whole episode for me was seeing Rin drop kick Yukio XD.

Next week we're back on the manga story with the training camp!

 

[Sakimichi]

Good filler episode.

Spoiler: episode 6

2000 yen allowance, Rin and Yukio get around to questioning who's been making their breakfast, Mephisto demonstrates his other worldly culinary skills, annoying fangirls, bonding via cooking and Yukio traumatised by boxed lunches! So the original episode did take some ideas from the 4koma skit but only at the start. Yukio ended up as the butt of most of the jokes. His fangirls are annoying as hell though, I hope we'll never ever see them again (even in fillers). Totally cracked up at how Rin was commenting on the berserk Ukoback's cooking etiquette instead of the fact it was trying to cook three girls alive. The extra flashback on how Rin's cooking skills improved over time was rather nice, but what made the whole episode for me was seeing Rin drop kick Yukio XD.

Next week we're back on the manga story with the training camp!

Episode 6 was a filler?! I barely noticed that ..I have no plans in reading the manga though..

 

[corocoro]

Spoiler: 7

A bit of character development here, with the girls being more fleshed out. I find it funny how a codependent person latches onto a codependent person who latched onto someone that is annoyed at how the codependent person treats the one latched onto her. Confusing, much? :P
In that case let me say there's a certain irony in how Ms. Eyebrows acts toward Shiemi, while sharing large parts of her character.
Behind all the hijinx and comedy and fanservice the story continues to move slowly forward, with one of the teachers attacking Rin. Then again, he was ordered to, most likely by Mephisto.

I also wonder what would happen if Rin tried to summon someone (see how he didn't?)... Maybe his dad will come for a visit. :D

 

[Kou]

^ lol. And yes, very confusing >_>.

Spoiler: episode 7

I did feel bad for Shiemi. Of course can see how Izumo turned out like that. Plenty of cases where someone abused turns into an abuser. So Izumo who was shunned and treated like that could easily turn into someone who shunned others. That kind of background could give someone a bad personality. Not that it was right for her to treat Shiemi that way since it definitely wasn't. I'm just not all that shocked that it's going to take some time for her to learn to treat Shiemi properly.

Good thing Shiemi has a great familiar in Ni. Perfect fit for her to be able to grow plants for her. She saved the day. Not surprising Rin didn't know about the different classes of exorcists.

 

[Sakimichi]

Obligatory Episode 7 Crack

Spoiler: CLicky!

Spoiler: Thoughts

Priceless

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 8

Episode 8 is good. I really like how well the producers interwoven the humour with the seriousness of the episode so smoothly together.

Rin and Shiemi banging foreheads together was hilarious! Surprisingly, these two go really well together - love their moment on the rooftop. Despite her outward, timid nature, Shiemi is a very strong and determined girl who doesn't hesitate to act. I just love how the producers switch this part of Shiemi's and Izumo's character around such that each character has both a weakness and a strength, and how each character's strength makes up for the other's weakness (in personality and not just power).

Bon is really giving me the 'big brother' vibes in this episode. He's a great character. It's rare that I find all the main characters in shounen (last being FMA) so lovable, each in their own way. And rarer still in a shounen anime where the entire story and strength of the episode is so evenly carried forth among all the characters and not just by the protagonist.

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 9

Wow, outstanding episode, probably the most exciting yet. The fights were really that well animated, and we kept getting new music in about every scene. I couldn't be more satisfied.

The episode starts with the revelation of test and the confrontation of Yukio and the one who attacks Rin. Then the another highlight of the episode is the first meeting of Shiemi and Yukio. Shiemi is already cute back then. She even call Yukio sensei at first then Yukio-chan. Rin is always a model big brother for Yukio as shown in the flashback. Then Yukio realize something and went back to protect his brother. A cool fight with a nice fluid of animation. They are really doing great here. It also reveals why sensei attack Rin. A bit of his past story and Shiem deciding to become an exorcist with the event that happen. Next episode is about the familiar of their father going rampage because he doesn't believe Shirou is dead. Ah... Amaimon also shows up in the near end.

 

[Terumi]

Spoiler: episode 10'

probably the most touching episode yet for this great show.

what started out as a brother quarrel between your protaganists, the sotry revealed more about fujimoto and how awesome he was really. turns out later the day after the quarrel, there was a demon running amok, a cat demon who was fujimoto's familiar, who did not believe that fujimoto is dead. rin and yukio arrives on screen, after yukio's explanation of kuro's(cat) story, rin can hear kuro's voice, of his disbelief of fujimoto being dead, as fujimoto was the paladin, the one and only greatest exorcist alive then.

while verdict was 'kill' the familiar who lost his master, rin tries to understand and make peace with him. mirroring what fujimoto did years ago, the cat finally realises the truth, and cried hard.

I cried too, after kuro realises that fujimoto is indeed dead, the thoughts of 'are you really dead?', 'I cant see you anymore?', really stir up a lot of emotions in me, like what i had experienced previously with my poor puppy.

great episode, great series, keep it up!

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 10

Seems like Yukio needs to be more specific when telling Rin things. Else you have using his head turning into a headbutt . Still that was a pretty solid job done by Rin in this episode. Managed to get through to Kuro though I suppose it helps when you have that telepathy that lets him understand what the cat's saying.

Felt bad for Kuro. No surprise he couldn't accept it, Shiro was such a powerful guy and to be dead is hard to take. Rin managed to get through to him and now has a pretty strong ally. Really since he can't fight too openly having someone to stand by and help him out will be good. Though I'm not sure what else he can do since he's got this solid weapon and apparently little talent for the other fields. But anyways did feel bad for Kuro and could feel his anguish.


As usual I like this week's episode. Ayahi Takagaki did good on playing Kuro. Unsurprisingly they made an entire episode out of the chapter. I'm a lot more curious on how the staff intends to handle the source material from now on since we're entering the end of the first cour. It's only a matter of time before the anime potentially diverges into it's own path.

And the next episode preview:
Rin: 夏だ！海だ！
Shima: 水着やぁ！ナンパやぁ！海が、大好きやぁ〜！

Oh you, Shima XD.

 

[financrisval]

This anime really good. I'll always enjoy watching this Ao no Exorcist or Blue exorcist.

 

[schizofreak]

either titles are the same.. the one uses japanese title and the other one is english title ~ . .

Spoiler: Episode 11

filler episode. i never seen that in manga.. but i like the kraken/big demon squid


demon could change our hearts as well ~ ..
~ . . .

 

[Coolio]

@Schizzy: That's your tentacles. :3

I can't believe I just wasted watching it though. >.>

 

[schizofreak]

just learn something from there though.. ~ about neko

next episode would be worthwhile to watch according to preview ~ . .

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 11

It was a relaxing filler episode. Nothing much really came out of it but a good look at Izumo in a bikini and her dere side when called cute (only if it wasn't for the eyebrows)

Next episode: Mephisto Land, Shiemi in seifuku, and Hoodie finally gets out of the background?

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 12

It was pretty awesome seeing Rin go full power on Amaimon ... or using a higher level of Satan's power anyway, I'm sure shonen being what he is he'll only get stronger from here. I understand why they want Rin to rely less on his flames, but its the only way hes gonna be able to compete w Amaimon.

Did anyone else find it odd that Mephisto has his own demonic-themed park named after him? Could he advertise any more blatantly that he's a demon working for the Vatican?

Nice fight but cutting back to Shiemi and the kid kept ruining the tension, since there wasn't any danger in the brat's ghost. Speaking of Shiemi, she looked a little fat and misproportioned in the uniform to be honest, like the artist couldn't figure how how to draw her without her kimono. Part of it's just them boobs n hips... had no idea she was hiding those oppai so well.

And Shura appears!

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 13

This was a fun episode :D
But Shura's background/flashback wasn't in the manga....I was pretty surprised to see that.
Poor Rin getting his ass kicked two episodes straight xD. As always Shirou is the best character. Old man still shines even when he is dead >_>.

That last scene where Mephisto blamed Amaimon for causing his statue to lose its head is funny.

 

[Terumi]

Spoiler: episode 14

summer vacation = yet another 'promo' exam.

this round, our class goes into a forest to get back 3 lanterns in 3 days. gotta love how this show is shounen yet so not shounen at all, with rin being warned about not using his powers, and he lost control again in less than 10 minutes, which drew laughs from shura and panic from yukio. why did i not wonder why did shura lie about her age when yukio revealed she is turning 26 this year? yukio is jealous~

well, this test has got everyone to help each other again, as it was revealed that the lantern cant be moved alone, with the lantern being a demon who goes skirt-chasing after girls at night. great teamwork and elaborate plan there, with bon packing the laughs for non-stop chants and drawing at the same time.

shima has gotta be the highlight of the episode, with his playful antics.
a playboy who is scared dead of bugs. thats a laugh

Bon: anyone has got their numbers?
Shima: i gave mine to kamiki many times but she never gave me hers.

Shima: you are telling me to jump into a bug pit. with moriyama-san thighs tucked around my head? i'm be fucking dead~
^ epic

 

[Kou]

Spoiler: episode 14

Bon is hardcore. Gotta respect that man. Being able to concentrate on two different things at the same time (chanting and thinking up a plan; chanting and explaining said plan by pictures) is no small feat. I wonder if he's the kind who can draw a square with his left hand and a circle with his right hand simultaneously.

It's good that they are speeding up the pace (this episode breaks the 1:1 manga to anime format) but I hope they would do something about the sloppy arts in recent eps.

I'm also liking the ED more and more.