Blue Exorcist

On paper, this show appears to be a number of clichés of the supernatural anime subgenre. Youths going to an exorcist academy to fight demons and the drama and hijinks that occur along the way. 9/10 times I find that type of anime to be very standard and underwhelming, but this series seemed to execute those cliche's in a manner that made this series surprisingly engaging.

I have a family member who went through film school who has told me that you can have the most derived and clichéd story, but it still can be superb, it's all about the execution.

Now this series was not even close to the stand out originality of series such as Cowboy Beebop, Attack on Titan, Trigun, and such but it stands on its own because of an engaging cast of characters, especially the two main characters. The twins.

This series may not go into the depth of some of the above mentioned series but it has great themes of friendship, being an outcast, family and such.

And I'm not much of a fan of the chibi thing, and it didn't at all get on my nerves or unnecessarily break from the drama as I've found in other shonen series with chibi.

Overall, not one of the top animes out there but highly recommend watching for any anime fans out there.

Blue Exorcist isn't really that spectacular and it has several problems, but that does not mean it is a terrible watch. You'll enjoy yourself while watching it, there just isn't, much more than pure entertainment. If you're okay with that then, you'll enjoy this show then I recommend it. If you don't like that, then don't watch it. Now on to the problems: I never felt like any of our characters really grew in their abilities throughout the show. In all honesty I felt their skill level was exactly the same from when they were fighting basic demons all the way to when they're fighting Satan. It might be forgivable for the side characters to not show that much growth as the main character is much more important, but our main character, Rin Okumura, doesn't show any advancement either, and I take serious issue with that. Next problem is the pacing. I think they tried to condense too much content onto too few episodes, which makes me wish there were about 50 episodes rather than 25. Towards the end things get really rushed. It's like one second everyone is still basically trainees then they're fighting the most powerful demon out there. I would have liked it to slow down and take its time. As I said before though, it does offer up a pretty decent dose of pure entertainment, so watch it if you have nothing better to watch. 6.8/10

Season 1 (2011): When an action anime meets Christianity this happens. It's a really unique idea and it has some good scenes and sequences. I thought it could have done better at times and some parts were pretty predictable, but that's to be expected seeing as all the characters are high school age.

There's something for everyone to get out of it, however I wouldn't show it to someone who's never seen anime.

The first two episodes are pretty good and quite intense. It was the kind of thing I would expect to scar people for a long time, if it happened to them. However the main character, Rin, doesn't seem to phased by it and neither should you, because it doesn't remain that intense. Allot of the time it is quite light hearted and hugs solve allot of problems.

Generally the series is very short and as such all of the character's emotional turmoil is dealt with pretty quickly. In fact the main characters main emotions are righteous anger and puppy mode, which you might not realize you will love but you probably will. This doesn't mean there aren't any emotions, just don't expect characters to be discussing their feelings that much. The main struggles characters face are to do with friendship, how they deal with their past and finally understanding others. A good portion of the show is like a high school drama, all about making friends, passing tests and keeping secrets.

The end of the show really speeds up, this is because the anime overtook the manga and rushed to the end. It is not as bad as other endings that are like that but there are some things that are skipped and don't seem to the same.For example I feel weird saying Satan is not such a bad guy.

The demons are appropriately horrifying, excluding ones you are supposed to like. They look like they are part monkey and wag their tales like puppies. If you are watching subtitles hope they aren't in yellow like mine were because allot of the floors are yellowy. The English dub is fine except for the first two episodes where the voice acting is just less intense than what's going on.

In summary I liked it, I liked the characters, they were all pretty bad arse but still lovable. The premise and events were interesting and I thought about them a bit, but I was left thinking some things should have been explored more. Some things were a little freaky but there was plenty of cuteness too.

It had some potential but wasted. The MC is dumb. Big dialogs but doesn't give the vibe.