Manga Mondays (1): Blue Exorcist, Vol. 1

Manga Mondays

Manga Mondays is a meme hosted by Alison @ Alison Can Read

This is my first post for Manga Mondays although I've been reading manga since forever. ;p

Blue Exorcist (Blue Exorcist, Vol. 1)
by Kazue Kato
Genre: Shōnen, Action, Supernatural
English, Paperback, 200 pages
Published April 5th 2011 by VIZ Media LLC
Buy the book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:

This world consists of two dimensions joined as one, like a mirror. The first is the world in which the humans live, Assiah. The other is the world of demons, Gehenna. Ordinarily, travel between the two, and indeed any kind of contact between the two, is impossible.

However the demons can pass over into this world by possessing anything that exist within it.

Satan is the god of demons, but there's one thing that he doesn't have, and that's a substance in the human world that is powerful enough to contain him!

For that purpose he created Rin, his son from a human woman, but will his son agree to his plans? or will he become something else...? An exorcist?

Originally published in Japanese as 青の祓魔師 (Ao no Exorcist); translated in French and English as Blue Exorcist

Review: (Might contain minor spoilers)

When it comes to books, I'm more of the romance type but when it comes to manga, I'm all for the shōnen, action and adventure.

Okumura Rin, our hero, is like your typical shōnen protagonist who is short-tempered, strong-willed, boisterous and war freak. He is the son of a priest/exorcist and is the older twin brother of Yukio who is everything that Rin is not. Yukio is intelligent, patient, polite, responsible and has ambition in life. He is also the more weak-willed one who used to get bullied a lot. I'm a sucker for siblings with unconditional love for each other, so the flashbacks for when Rin used to save and protect Yukio from the bullies moved me.

Rin and Yukio have just finished middle school and while Yukio is to go to True Cross Academy as a scholar, Rin is left to go job hunting. Now, this is where the plot escalates rather quickly. When Rin left for a job interview, he began seeing weird little dark things floating around that no one else seems to be able to see. After, he is confronted by one of his gangster enemies, who later turned out to be a demon. It was also here that Rin discovered that he, too, was demon and the son of Satan, no less. But though he and Yukio are twins, only Rin inherited Satan's demon-blood. This secret was guarded by their adoptive father in order to hide Rin from Satan. These revelations happened in one chapter only and though shōnen manga generally tend to have eventful pilot chapters, I found it slightly discomforting since I've grown more accustomed to the slower pacing in YA novels and other shonen manga.

The second chapter focuses more on Rin and Yukio's relationship as siblings especially after what happened to their adoptive father. Here, we realize that Yukio is not as weak-willed as readers think he is. He continues to be the responsible one to his immature older twin brother which is just amusing to no end. In the third chapter, we meet a new character, Shiemi, an overly shy girl whose grandmother had just died and who also had an instance with a demon which Rin and Yukio helped to exorcise.

Overall, Blue Exorcist is a good addition to the list of shōnen manga with great promise, awesome drawing style and a humor to contend with the rest of them. Rin is definitely a crush-worthy bishie and I can't wait to read more of his adventures!

Cover: That's Rin looking cool and badass. Blue flame is the symbol of Satan and it only appears when he removes the sword from its scabbard. He also grows a tail and his ears become elongated like that of an elf's.

Rating: 4/5 stars