Kazue Katō is the author and illustrator of the manga Blue Exorcist (青の祓魔師エクソシスト Ao no Ekusoshisuto). Since April 2009, Shueisha has been serializing the manga in Jump SQ magazine. As of December 4, 2020, the individual chapters have been collected into 26 tankōbon volumes. The Miyama-Uguisu Mansion Incident (宮山鶯邸事件 Miyama Uguisu Tei Jiken), a one-shot also written and illustrated by Kazue Katō, served as the inspiration for the Blue Exorcist manga and was initially published in the September 2008 issue of Jump SQ.
A-1 Pictures initially turned the series into an anime television series, which aired from April to October of 2011. Following that, the same studio created BLUE EXORCIST THE MOVIE, which debuted in December 2012. A second season of the anime, which focused on the manga’s Kyoto Impure King arc, was released in January 2017.
The manga was licensed by Viz Media for publication in North America, and on April 5, 2011, the first volume was made available. On July 30, 2012, the series started a localized serialization in the magazine Shonen Jump Alpha, utilizing Chapter 33 of the manga as the beginning point.
Plot
Like a mirror, the universe of Ao no Exorcist is made up of two dimensions that are combined to form one. The first is the Assiah world, where people reside. Gehenna, the realm of demons, is the other. Normally, it is impossible to travel between the two, let alone have any form of communication with each other. But the devils can enter this planet by taking possession of anything that’s here. The one thing that Satan, the god of demons, lacks is a strong enough vessel within the human race to confine him!He made Rin Okumura, his son from a human woman, for that reason, but would he follow through on his ambitions or turn into someone else? After killing Father Fujimoto, Rin’s guardian, in an effort to return Rin to the Demon realm, Rin embarked on a journey to become an exorcist in order to gain the strength necessary to vanquish Satan and deal with the fallout from being the son of Satan.
Anime
First revealed on Shueisha’s Jump SQ official website on November 27, 2010, the manga will have an anime adaptation. A-1 Pictures, led by producer Hitoshi Okamura, produced the anime. The series was originally slated to premiere on MBS on April 10, 2011. However, the broadcast of the series was postponed to April 17, 2011, because of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011. via April 20, 2011, Aniplex revealed that the series will be simulcast in North America via the websites Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Anime News Network. The first sixteen episodes of this 25-episode anime season adapted the first 14 chapters of the manga. Beginning with the sixteenth episode, the anime featured a story arc that was specific to the anime, which revealed creator Kazue Katō’s intentions for the series’ conclusion.
On December 28, 2012, the anime film BLUE EXORCIST THE MOVIE made its theatrical debut in Japan. A-1 Pictures produced it as well, and Atsushi Takahashi directed it. Reiko Yoshida wrote an original story for it.
The anime was scheduled to return to production in June 2016, and A-1 Pictures was confirmed to develop a second season. A season dubbed the “Kyoto Saga” would cover the Kyoto Impure King arc (Chapters 14, 16, and 34) in the manga. The 12-episode series debuted on January 7, 2017. Toshiya Ōno penned the episode scripts and Koichi Hatsumi directed the sequel season.
The third season of the show is scheduled to premiere in December 2022. A project dubbed the “Shimane Illuminati Saga” will adapt manga volumes 10 through 15. Character designs are done by Yurie Oohigashi, music is provided by Hiroyuki Sawano and Kohta Yamamoto, and scripts are written by Toshiya Ōno. Studio VOLN will produce and direct the series. It is set to premiere in January 2024.