Ao no Exorcist

Ao no Exorcist is very similar to Naruto; a main character who everyone hates because of the extreme, evil power he has, and tries to become the top dog to get the acknowledgement of others (Rin/Naruto), with a person he considers a brother and is the young prodigal genius that everyone adores, but has a dark side (Yukio/Sasuke), with the girl who does absolutely nothing and yet still gets the attention of the main character while she has a crush on the brother (Shiemi/Sakura).
That said, the story is pretty interesting, with religion and magic as a base. Unfortunately, the characters are so BLINDINGLY STUPID, it's ... hard to fully enjoy the anime. The concept is brilliant, but unfortunately, its delivery is just awful because of the characters. You can't try to portray demons in a sympathetic light, when the main character (who is Satan's son), is constantly ruining the lives of other people, and then saying its his style. "Looking for the good in everyone" is the main premise of this show. Unfortunately, the characters seem to add to the tagline: "Looking for the good in everyone while being willing to sacrifice the innocent."

This is an anime I picked up on a whim, I'm glad that I kept my expectations low. Every aspect of this show is average, though that can be an understatement with regard to certain elements. Let me elaborate.

To begin with, Ao no Exorcist's story is nothing to write home about. As can be gleaned from the synopsis, it is your typical shounen with a reckless underage hero who is tasked with saving the world from (literally) all evil. Candidly speaking, the 'demon-who-is-oblivious-to-his-true-identity' archetype to which the protagonist belongs is overused. However, this is not to say that the story is 'bad'. It just ends ... up being a little too predictable and fails to create a lasting impression.

The rest of the characters also fall into well defined archetypes. For example, there is Yukio, the nerdy younger brother of the protagonist, the wise father Fujimoto and the usual bunch of tsunderes, tough guys, weaklings and the like. The only character who stands a little above the rest is the buxom, Kirigakura (yes, she is used for fanservice). In some situations, she is the only voice of reason among the often over-emotional cast. But as is the case with most shounen anime, being audacious when there is no apparent need for the same is considered admirable. A trait which I find very irritating. Not helping matters is the fact that only the protagonist is developed during the course of the series. That too, in a very predictable manner. It is very clear from the beginning that Okimura Rin is the demonic savior of humanity All in all, this is an average cast with passable group dynamics.

As for the art and and animation...well, they are hit and miss at best. There are some slick action sequences which are animated with very good particle effects. Alongside these is some truly horrible CGI. For example, there is one scene near the end in which insect-like demons explode through an opening in the ground. The whole thing is done in CGI and you can actually see the difference in frame rate between the 3D and 2D portions. This renders the whole scene a broken feel. The character designs are more consistent and generally well done. The blue flames that surround demonic characters lend them an imposing presence.

Aurally, Ao no Exorcist is pretty good. The Japanese voice cast does an an almost flawless job. My personal favorite is Rina Satou , as Kirigakura. The soundtrack is also good, although it isn't as emphasized as it should be in the series. I especially liked the second ending 'Wired Life' by Meisa Kuroki.

Ao no Exorcist is by no stretch of imagination what I would call a good anime. Sure, it has its moments, but they're too far apart and disjointed from each other to amount to anything. Add to this, the visual inconsistencies and the under-emphasized OST. One can deduce that it had a lot of potential. But in the end, no aspect of the anime creates enough of an impression to make it worth your while. Unless of course, you are a hardcore fan of of the shounen genre or are relatively new to the medium

Initially getting ready to watch this anime I thought it would be somewhat similar to Soul Eater. Some sort of creepy (not necessarily Halloween) vibes that would create an atmosphere that I could get into. For me, it did not do this. The characters, the ones used at least, had overall a pretty good design. They all had different things that allowed them to work together and synchronize after coming to an understanding of each other. The other problems I had with this would be the action, the pacing, and overall how things happen. There were so many times where there were some weird episodes ... that had nothing to do with anything that was happening. At the end, it felt like nothing had been accomplished.

Favorite character: Shima Renzo
I liked Shima because he was a laid back guy that could pretty much get along with anyone. While he was also a pervert, he could still be a comforting guy for the other characters to talk to.

I feel like I'm giving this too high of a rating because I get crushes on anime boys too easily. So maybe subtract a point or two due to my gayness.

The characters were likable, but average. I did see a fair amount of character development. Though it did feel very slow around mid-anime. The ending kind of bummed me out on that low-key comedy feel. I would've rather it ended with drama, but hey whatever. I did like the story, though it's not unusual to find an anime about a boy pinned against the odds struggling with his own destiny. *cough* D-Gray Man *cough* ... comes to mind *cough*. This anime doesn't at all feel like a rip off of anything, but it certainly isn't ground-breaking in terms of uniqueness. If you're not a picky prick like me, I'd say go ahead and watch it. You'll probably enjoy it but you may get bored halfway there.

So, I have been dying to write a review and flex my writing muscles, so that I can find a good way to make up for not having English class (Which I sorely miss), and what better way to do it than by writing a review of Blue Exorcist.

Story - 5 - Now the story, if you read about it already, it looks pretty genuine. It would've helped if the protagonist's father's name was NOT Satan, and could've been Ifrit (Which, mind you, also has a demonic background and sounds way more badass), because that's what struck me a lot. OH LORD, our hero is ... the spawn of SATAN. Let's throw in a bat so we can shoe-horn in an Ace Ventura joke.
BEGONE! WINGED SPAWN OF SATAN!!!! - Never gets old. :-))
Okay, let's give it the benefit of the doubt that, Satan is not OUR Satan, but that does not change how generic and predictable the plot is. No, SERIOUSLY, IF I gave you the spoilers, you won't be surprised. TRUST ME! I mean the series was SO forgettable, that I only remember the important plot lines and forgot the fillers. OH YES, there's fillers, but it's only for one episode yet it serves no purpose to further the plot.

Art - 7 - Now I have to admit, the artwork is pretty good. The school looks breath-taking and the character designs, while some awkward, is pretty good. Heck! Why don't I enroll into True Cross Academy and learn how to summon Ifrit, OR #@$*!&% BAHAMUT! I mean, the classroom looks pretty well drawn. And never has a Principal's office looked so good. And good lord, THE BLUE FLAMES, they looked so gorgeous, yet so dangerous, That I want one of these for my screensavers. PERIOD!

Sound - 7 - The openings are #@$*!&% awesome. Not kidding, it has to be one of the most awesome OPs I've ever heard. If only the series stayed true to that. As for the OST, well, the series was so forgettable that even the OST is forgotten!!
As for the Anime Voices, I watched it in dub, and I have to give the crew some credit, they did it pretty well, especially with Johny Yong Bosch voice acting as Rin's brother, Yukio. And Rin's voice actor did a pretty good jod of capturing the spirit of a young, confident, hard-headed (is that even a word?) protagonist, that you can't help but love the guy. Everyone else, especially Bon's voice actor, did a pretty good job. Can't judge the subs, but I can tell that the subbed works for some scenes in the anime than the dubs, especially in the summoning sequences.

Character - 6 - Now let's get to, what may be the first time I have seen good characters get bogged down by a weak story. Rin makes for a pretty badass protagonist, who looked is down upon society. Yukio..........umm, he's a good brother, so there's that. And everyone else is genuinely, hmm how do I say this, basically riddled in anime tropes, except for Bon, even HE is not safe. The story and the characters are so cliched, that you can play 'Anime Trope Bingo'!
(1st Prize - A body pillow of your favourite Waifu/Husbando / An illegal copy of that one episode of your favourite anime that isn't released yet!
Last Prize - THIS ANIME >:-(()
The character lacks substance, hence they are less memorable. Even with their own character arc, NOTHING can save them.

Enjoyment - 4 - Guys, It's basically a poor man's Soul Eater. You can tell by just looking at it. And like I said, FORGETTABLE.

Overall - 6 - The anime had great potential, but tripped harder than a school girl falling on a guy, with no pants on! (Who would forget THAT?!?!). In my opinion, GO WATCH SOUL EATER!!!! It's considered one of the best Shounen anime to hit the screen and has excellent art direction and OST, and the opening is helluva lot better, since the tone match so well with the show. This...is a sluggish train wreck. You sit down and the ride looks pretty pleasant, but by the time you realize it, BOOM! You are now suffering a slow and painful death, and you're begging someone would clobber you with an Asuka body pillow and then smother you to death, and what are your chances of encountering THAT. It's a bad way to go.
But at least the OP is badass!

i was thirteen when i watched this and even then i thought this one boring honestly ive never watched a show so boring in my life the reason it was so boring is that it never really explored much of its world or concepts the character are are umm uuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh forgetable the only one i rember is rin okumara and thats just cause his name is fun to say there was a girl who fucking had johnny tests hair and the brother was soo lame and his rival is so fucking nice ohh your dad destroyed my temple and killed people i love so were ... rival what a waste couldve been a good villian
overall i dont hate this show i just hate average shows

ive thuoght of watcing this for as long as i can remember. i finally completed it about three months ago, i moight not be doing justice by not having reviewed it immedieately, but here are my thoughts.

i rate this anime a 6 acroos the board. it had amazing potential, but failed to tap into it.

first off, story.
the world building is not a strong point of this anime.
its a cliche, overused, and unoriginal idea for worldbuilding.
and the Rin's ain aim is to defeat the demon overlord, satan.

the story itself takes time to develop the characters, but im actually unsatisfied with the route the anime took ... in the second season.

if i remember correctly, there was an extension in the first season of the anime, where it included like an alternate story line, and i feel going with that wouldve been a hell of a lot better.

characters,

im satisfied with rins backstory and the character development, although it would be better if we could flesh out the characters a bit more.
the characters dont seem to follow popular tropes, whch is a good thing, but i couldnt feel any connection btween me and the characters. theres anime out there that pulled such feats spectacularly.

art and sound,
nothing special. the art style and color palette is splendid.

i didnt particularly enjoy watching it, but it had its moments.
its pretty average. a solid 6.

All there is to say about this anime is that first half of the series is pure gold and the second half is a big pile of ****.

It's ok to watch it, but i wouldn't recommend it for the fans of the manga.

They made good work with the source so if you want to see the characters or some of the scenes from the beginning of manga it's made really good, just don't expect good story or good ending becouse people who made it saw first few chapters of manga and said: "Oh it's awesome but we can make it better", and of course they ... couldn't.

Look, I loved this show. Like really loved it. And I know it's not a perfect show, in fact, looking at it objectively, it's a 6, maybe 7 out of 10. But I still love it, and the only reason is cause my boy Rin deserves the world and I'll fight you if you disagree.

But I will say this; fuck everyone else in this show, except Izumo because she is GOALS!

The way they treat my boy Rin, like fuck you guys! The amount of times my mans saved their lives, like how you gonna repay him like that? ALSO can Yukio go right ... the fuck off and jump off a cliff? If I have to hear him talk shit to Rin one more damn time, I swear I'm gonna slap a bitch.

CAN WE PLEASE talk about the fact that everyone giving shit to Rin about being the Devil's son, while sucking the ground Yukio walks on? Like, these fuckers are TWINS! Yukio is also a whole ass son of Satan! How you gonna be like "oh no you are satan's son i hate you" and then also be like "Oh we're gonna make you Paladin cause your so cool and shit".

YUKIO IS ALSO THE SON OF SATAN! HOW IS HE LET OFF SCOTT FREE!?

Please explain to me this bullshit!

I was knitting while watching the second half of this show. Which was on subs by the way. I was hardly paying attention, thats the only way I got through this.

Its an understatement that I was disappointed I didn’t like this more. To be honest, it’s not about the popularity of the show, as if the hype ruined expectations, but because of the main character himself.

I’ll explain.

Rin and Yukio are twin brothers, and the sons of Satan. Alright, already interested.

Rin is rebellious but also sweet and sensitive to others’ plights. BOOM, I love his clashing personality already. I’m sold everyone, lets ... hop on the bandwagon. Yukio is the opposite, serious and sticks to the rules. The trope is there, all you need is the execution and these brothers should carry the show on their shoulders right?

No, no it did not happen.

I didn’t like Yukio until the last episode. He was mysterious, condescending, jealous, uptight, overprotective in a twisted way and the show decided to justify him AT THE VERY END. In a way, this approach to his character was smart as it creates tension for the upcoming plot, but if I just dislike him and he takes up half of the screen time as a main character, it’s just not going to sell.

Now Rin. I. Love. Rin. I loved him so much I was imagining him being in any other show, without a brother, and different circumstances to make for a better experience. There were so many ways to sympathize and adore him, even though he falls into the “woe is me, tragic backstory but super powerful and will save the world” trope. Which, again makes me realize why they wanted that twin brother, to add an interesting conversation of this contrasting sibling with similar circumstances but different approach. Them being siblings makes this show different and great, I must say, but god dammit it was tedious execution.((AT THE END OF THE SHOW, I REALLY APPRECIATED THAT. HONESTLY. BUT I DISLIKED ALL THE EPISODES LEADING TO IT THAT I HAVE TO GIVE A LOWER REVIEW. IM SORRY))

So Yukio didn’t ruin the whole show by himself, I would never drop a show based on one character unless that character had all the screen time. This show has many side characters— mainly being the classmates in their special demon hunting school.

Generally, the classmates were fine. They had cute moments, funny dialogue on occasion, and fine backstories. Their designs were nice, but I didn’t click with any of them. Perhaps, as students, I never felt the dire tension of their arcs? For Rin, it always felt dire because of his growing power and being in an unfamiliar situation where he has to make friends, without revealing his nature, and actually attempts to study. For the students, their pasts with demons are haunting them to move become hunters but the way its presented in the show feels abstract. I forgot a lot of the first half of the show, I apologize, but it shows I didn’t find the impact of their tragic past a reason to sympathize with them— which is more of a fault with the storyboarding of the episodes.

As individual episodes go, as I’ve made clear, any that focused purely on Rin’s arc, I enjoyed. There are episodes focused on the classmates and I blanked out on those, not finding them too important. Also once you get to the end of the series, the only reason those character are focused on is to create a familial bond to boost the positive outlook on the main characters. I didn’t need entire episodes for that; it doesn’t take long to like a character. If you need an entire episode to like a character, they need to be a complicated piece of work that makes you think, “they're worth it” at the end.

The Father, Satan, and the mom are also characters I liked but its not like they were shown often. A damn shame.

Other random comments, the placement of the music in the show was nice and the action scenes were very fun to watch. I remember watching a scene that blasted the music during a certain camera angle and thought, “I would think this is so badass, if I didn’t care so little.”

I didn’t expect to write this so sorry if the review is all over the place, but I had to air my frustrations.

Give me the character Rin, make an entire new show around him, and I’ll eat it up. Honestly, he was the only reason I finished it.

This has to be one of the most generic anime I've ever seen. I was somewhat entertained for the first few episodes and then the rest was a drag. The more I watched it, the more I felt like I was watching Naruto's carbon copy with a sprinkle of religion. In addition, to anyone reading this review before they watch the show, episodes 18-25 are filler, so don't waste your time watching it, do something more productive with your time. It's even sadder due to the fact I would consider the filler episodes the best part of the series. Honestly, the show became so dry ... and predictable, I wanted the show to kill off someone important, just to spice it up or give it some change of pace, but nothing happened. This show was so boring that I didn't even notice that I had finished it, rather it was just one big blur. I think there was so much more they could have done with Yukio, but the most character development he got was in the filler. The characters are static, which leaves a lot to be desired in the character development department considering this is a shounen anime. If a season 3 ever comes I'm not looking forward to it.

Blue Exorcist is one of those anime that is greatly marred by anime-only arcs. Without giving anything away, suffice to say the last arc of the anime pretty much turns the manga on its head in a way that feels extremely hard to believe. The fact that we're getting another season that tries to pick up the manga plotline as if the anime's weird ending didn't happen only adds insult to injury.

A good anime for the first 2/3rds, which is based off the manga. I'm sad to have to mark it down so drastically for its botched final arc.

Why didn't they just follow the manga...

This anime started off really strong. The main characters were likable, the power system made sense, and the story was interesting. However, the manga wasn't anywhere near finished, and the animation studio wanted that💲🤑 now. So, somewhere around episode 16, they decided, "Why don't we make 9 anime original episodes, and in those episodes, we wrap up the entire story". As you can imagine, this didn't work out too well. The story was not meant to end in only 25 episodes, so naturally, this didn't work out. The elements they introduced were super rushed, and a lot of them ... didn't even make sense.

It's a good show, with a nice premise, but the characters are by far the worst thing in this show.

Ren's brother is such a jerk. Ren's "friends" are complete idiots who changed their entire attitudes towards Ren for no apparent reason (keep in mind he revealed his secret trying to protect THEM).

This show lacked any direction, the plot went in so many wonky directions. When I first watched it, I enjoyed it, but found myself getting annoyed at the characters. I tried rewatching recently and I couldn't even get through the first 5 episodes.

It had so much potential, but in the end, it ... didn't meet it.

Story - 3
Art - 8
Sound - 7
Character - 2
Enjoyment - 7
Overall - 5

As a fan of shows with dark/satanic aspects, I anticipated that I would enjoy this show. However, as the anime progressed, it became very easy to see its flaws.

Story: 5. I think the show had a really interesting premise; the protagonist is the son of satan and has to overcome his satanic powers so he doesn't become consumed by them. However, the way that the story is executed is weak and feels very oddly paced. In the beginning of the series, the pacing is suitable. However, the storyline is very dull and the conflict continues to consist of one of two things: someone is testing ... Rin's powers or wants to kill him. As the story reaches its climax, the events are not well-developed which makes it seem like the writers had to shove the last major plotline into the anime in the last few episodes. There was little to no foreshadowing at all. The story was predictable and mediocre. I would also have liked there to be more screentime of the "cram school" students participating in their actual student life; the actual "school" aspect of their location kinda seemed pointless for the rest of the story.

Art: 7. The main reason that I re-watched the show was for its art. Although a bit static at times, I found many of the scenes pretty enjoyable to watch, especially in Shiemi's garden and in battles against the demons. I also love the OP's.

Sound: 9. The OP's are fun to listen to and the voice actors for the sub are great. I haven't watched this anime dubbed in a while and I don't care to, so I can't say how the dub is.

Character: 5. I expected a lot more character development over 25 episodes. The characters were all 1-dimensional. You have the classic tsundere, Izumo. Then there's the cute, sweet, oblivious girl, Shiemi. You also get a rascal and his try-hard twin. There is little to no character development for many of the characters in the show, and if so, it only happens in a span of only one episode. A lot of the characters seem to only be introduced as plot devices and are not developed at all because of it. This also leads to inconsistencies in the way that characters act. Without giving away too many spoilers, I would think that Yukio wouldn't act so naively as to immediately trust the grandpa that he barely knew since he doesn't even trust his own brother at times and doesn't tend to fall for tricks, yet he does so to further the plot. Also, what's up with the puppeteer kid that had pretty much no reason to be in the story? At least the other mysterious student, Yamada, had a reason to be there. The only character I ended up being emotionally attached to was Rin (and Yuri to an extent because I liked her backstory).

Enjoyment: 6. Although I had many issues with the plot and characters, if you can suspend your disbelief, it is a fun and entertaining watch. If you like action and supernatural stuff and need some time to fill, you probably won't hate it.

Overall: 6. This is definitely not a must-watch, but if you're bored and have nothing else to do with your time, feel free.

No Spoiler Review

Story: 6/10

The premise for this anime was really interesting and honestly, the first episode was great too. With the first episode I expected so much for it, but it just started to go downhill for me after the first few episodes. Everything just seems so generic in the story as it comes to a conclusion

Art: 8

I thought the art was very good especially when certain people were being taken over by demons or during fighting scenes. It looked a little weird to me sometimes but nothing really off putting.

... Sound: 7
I found that I liked a lot of the soundtrack that played throughout the series, nothing was extremely noteworthy, but I did find myself staying to watch the opening instead of skipping.

Character: 5

A lot of the characters I found kind of annoying or either complete stereotypes. Like shiemi is the shy girl who eventually finds her strength but still finds herself needing to be saved in situations. Then there's Rin who is a caring guy but has a short temper fights for his friends. Which isn't necessarily bad but we've all seen it before. And then there's Shura who's boobs are basically flaunted everywhere, but I guess her characters wasn't bad, I just found the boob thing annoying. But I found Bon as an interesting character and I think him and Yukio were my favorites.

Enjoyment: 5
There were only some places where I found myself being greatly entertained, in other episodes it was just kind of meh.

Overall: 6

I will write this review just for the story I found very bad.
I saw this anime (which was my 9th since September) while I was searching for good dark stories. Because this one isn't dark at all, that wasn't what I was looking for but that's not the real problem.

I find this anime really to classic, using themes that were already used so many times before, by a lot of animes, stories, books, etc.

The only good surprise was the 24th episode. I was not expecting so much of this episode at all. That was for me the greatest episode of the entire anime, the next ... and last one go back to a classic story and a very predictable end.

Being as this is my first review I ask that those considering it take it with a grain of salt. This is in reality because I have always had a hard time putting my thoughts into words in general.

Now, let's get down to business... This review is coming from the perspective of a person who has completed a number of and dabbled in numerous anime. The story is for the most part very straight forward and typical for the genre. Although the story is not very differentiated I felt that I was still willing to make a connection with the characters and be a ... part of the story. Even though overall the story was lacking in terms of depth, I felt it hit on a few key ( Although common ) themes and points that made it enjoyable to watch.

I would recommend this to those who enjoy a darker anime of this genre that doesn't quite become too serious, but still has a punch to it. As is often the anime does feature humor that does tend to lighten the mood.

Rin and Yukio are twin brothers who have been raised by a priest. They not only can see the supernatural and demons they fight and ward them off. There is a prophecy for the son of the devil, and Shiro the priest who took them in has tried to prevent it from coming true. Joining an academy may prove to push the prophecy in place.

This story was a little more original than some of the more recent anime that regurgitate the same story with different characters. I didn't feel any sort of real resolution from the story. I think it should have ... been a little longer with a better ending. Other than that the story was decent and did a good job with character interaction and explanations of the past.

Whoa, is this a retro review? Probably not.

First Half
"Sins of the father fall on the fins of the father swimmer. Then my son is going to Jannah." - Lupe Fiasco

Second Half
No!
We were so close! We were almost free!
Why must we be held down, and fester within comfort zones!

... Let's begin!


Story:

The first half the anime had me! I was in! It had me by my iron heart strings developed by my obsession with Tekken! It's like the story was split between two twin brothers, and the first brother got along well with his neighbors Art Design, Sound Design and Character Design. The aesthetic was there!

But it just breaks my heart to inform you that the second half shoves his brother in a dumpster, forcing him to dive for trends we're trying to leave behind. Then makes everyone watch!

The story is based around one boy (Okumura, Rin) out of a pair of twins, that is the son of Satan. As the demon side of him starts to awaken, demons that were tracking him down for as many reasons as you can fit in an anime start surfacing. Naturally, tragedy befalls the church he and his brother were raised in, and results in his adoptive father dying. So in order to set things right, he goes to an exorcist academy to learn about the world around and to fight off demons, while taking care of a katana that keeps his powers in check.

It's like Devil May Cry meets high school! He wears our misunderstood, delinquent hero niche with pride and that already makes the series less generic. We're talking back in the day, Yu Yu Hakosho, character design. And I like that! He has seen what passes for evil, and aims to stop it, no matter what people think! Where the part of the world that doesn't matter calls him violent, the viewer can see him as the guy who devotes himself to action. No matter how much trouble he might get into.

Enjoying yourself so far? Good, now if you want to make it through to the end of the anime I suggest you lower your expectations quite a bit.

As the series goes on and it naturally becomes harder for Rin to hide his demonic powers and origin, the anime misses it's chance to go down the path less traveled!
The friend Rin saved and even his own twin brother, step aside and basically let the world bully Rin because his powers are just like his fathers. Even though he never met the guy, and became and exorcist to fight him, they blame all his father's miss doings on the son. Just one son though. Looking at both of them like they're the spawn of Satan must have been too much work.

And I refuse to accept how the anime might defend itself with, "that's the point; it's realistic".
Then my eye sight must be going bad... because I could've sworn I saw this anime in the genre called "fantasy". It's so supposed to be unrealistic by definition. The awesome Kamina (from Gurren Laggan) approach Rin has throughout the anime is neutered when his little brother and and his friend with tits are two flicked pebbles into the rushing main stream of prejudice and classicism.





Art:

The art style is nice since it reminds me of Bleach meeting Full Metal Alchemist in a way, even if it annoyed me when the animation style seemed to change during one serious fight scene while (trying not to spoil).

It's a mix of diverse proportions and appearances among support characters and antagonists that made me smile. The change in funny faces and expressions during the comedy moments were all the more welcomed.

The effects are pretty great too, like that time when the catholic church basically tries to nuke hell. Freakin' amazi-hi get back here! I'm not done reviewing!





Sound:

The opening themes and first ending themes at the start really fit the theme the anime was trying to go for. A modern day urban rebel vibe that leans towards Samurai Champloo but is more like Bleach now that I think about it. Oddly enough, the second ending theme tugs more at Inuyasha.

This anime seems to understand that if you're going to be like everyone, be more like the anime everyone can agree on liking (except for some mad people).

The ambiance is nice.

Overall everything gets a solid "good".





Character:

I feel the characters really were trying to grow as people, but much like the kids in the real world: they were held down by how adults are supposed to think. Instead of being cool about "talented and hard working Rin" being "the spawn of satan Rin" or remembering that he saved most of their lives several times if not fought along side them, the anime forces everyone to never lets up on how Rin alone is closest to Satan out of the twins.

"Satan is your father, your father did bad things for generations your father is Satan, and father father father father father father demon!"

Basicly putting everyone who had enough sense to not to be a jerk about it in a box until everyone felt like it's about time to not be generic.

Though in there understandable defense, the friends who treated Rin like crap did so in part because Rin didn't have enough control over his demonic side. He might set people on fire, get mad enough to ice cream truck punch someone... oh and maybe even hurting the poor ozone layer.

So most of everyone's growth as characters were stunted for several episodes, until they learned to blame Satan and not one of his two sons. And even though the characters that didn't catch on either got their butts beat or died horrifically, the anime wasted good episodes by feeding them to the main stream machine when the support characters could've supported the main character more.

Oh and the anime killed off the most bada$$ character (Rins adaptive father) and replaced him with a douche bag, so it looses points there. Even if they try and make up for it with flash backs. Makes me wonder why even bother killing him if the anime could've benefited off of him being alive, and show that you realized that by flash backing at every gosh darn turn.


But hat's just the second half of the anime for the most part. The first half of the anime is very interesting thanks to the characters. With personalities and growth that you don't see often in anime. This includes the Smart Delinquent, The Monk In Training, The Care-Free Sage, and the self centered Kistune girl.

Afterwards we fester into the cliche the busty nice girl, and the polar opposite twin brother.





Enjoyment:

You were the chosen one! You were on your way to destroying mediocrity, no joining it! Bringing balance to anime, not leaving it in darkness! And it hurts my enjoyment score because it's like saying, "Yeah, I enjoyed half the anime but was disappointed by the rest." Everything the first half worked at building up with fun episodes, the art style, character growth, falls flat!

You kill off an interesting character and parade him around in flashbacks and references, drag the story through a tar pit by making fleshed out and fun characters become annoying show off how they don't like Rin's dad much, and just overall drop the ball.





Overall:

The final verdict for Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist is a 5 out of 10.

It's an anime that quit being good half way for me. Takes all the good qualities and flare I saw, and uses them for evil! An anime that does half well for me, gets a half score on my scale.

And it's a painful 5 because I really did enjoy the first half. I truly did, and was expecting to keep enjoying myself. But don't like the direction it took. The episodes that could have been spent with the same flare as growth it developed, fell into the ole Yin and Yang pitfall.

You can't tell me you weren't expecting the good guys to be evil if meant being their definition of good! Or the demons aren't as bad as everyone believe! If you do tell me that, i'm going to drawn the innocence you sullied in ice cream!

I really hope the series learns from it's mistakes this time. Until then, i'll see you guys on my next review.