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青の祓魔師 [Ao No Ekusoshisuto] 1 (2009)

by Kazue Kato(Favorite Author)

4.34 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

4088747097 (ISBN13: 9784088747095)

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

Shueisha

series

Blue Exorcist / Ao no Exorcist

review 1: Blue Exorcist #1Fifteen year old Rin Okumura has been living at a monastery with his fraternal twin brother, Yukio. During an argument with his guardian, Father Fujimoto, Rin comes to discover that he is a demon, but not just any demon. He is in fact the Antichrist, the spawn of Satan! Yukio, who is the weaker of the twins, failed to absorb the demonic power of their father but became aware that demons existed at a very young age, unlike his brother who is shocked by the news. Fujimoto, who is an exorcist of demons, gives Rin a sword but warns him that the moment he unleashes the sword it will awaken the demonic power within Rin and reveal his true nature to the world. Of course, moments later the sword is unleashed and during a tragic event Fujimoto is killed by Sata... moren. Rin vows revenge.It is determined that if Rin wishes to avenge the death of Fujimoto and fight demons, he must train at True Cross Academy, the very school Yukio is due to attend. There he must learn the skills necessary to become an exorcist while at the same time keeping his true nature a secret from the other students. The first book in the series seemed to move a bit too fast for me. It spends a lot of time introducing us to new characters, but not enough time allowing us to develop a feeling for them. Father Fujimoto is killed off so early that it had little impact on me and made it harder to relate to Rin's feelings about his death. We briefly meet the principle of the academy, intriguingly named Mephisto Pheles. With a name like that, it will be interesting to learn more about his true nature as the story develops.There are several action scenes that keep the pace moving, interspersed with moments of light hearted humor which I enjoyed. The artwork is black & white and I liked the frequent larger panels. True Cross Academy is quite magnificent in appearance, and the twins have a really cool look. Yukio, the more studious of the two, often seems older than Rin due to his maturity. The turn his character takes from a weak, bullied child is a surprise to the reader and Rin as well. Mephisto is a very mysterious character with an extravagant sense of style. From his rather large top hat to his cape he seems more like a circus ring leader rather than a principle. As much as I like black & white comics for their simplicity, I almost wish this manga were available in color because the cover image looks amazing!At the end of book one is included a guide to major characters and a ranking of the danger of the demons that appear which I greatly appreciated!I'll definitely be picking up the next book in the series!
review 2: Honestly, I wasn't too impressed with the first volume of "Blue Exorcist". The illustrations were great, but the storyline is what got to me. I don't know... I'm not into all that demon/"I'm the son of Satan" stuff. Maybe later down the line the story will get better and a little deeper, but the "Blue Exorcist" series, for right now, will be the last manga I'll read after I've read all the ones I want to read. less

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