Ao no Futsumashi

A bit like a cross between Naruto, Devil May Cry and Harry Potter. Boisterous teenager finds out he's actually the son of Satan and has demonic powers that could overcome him, so after he pledges to beat Satan he is semi-secretly whisked away to a private school all about training exorcists.

The main theme of the story is mistrust whether this boy can actually control his power and not cause an unholy (no pun intended) massacre and unleash Satan's powers (blue flames) upon the earth, but control them instead in order to defeat demons. This causes rifts between him and his brother, a sensible and established exorcist, and his classmates, some of whom have lost families to Satan's flames.

While the premise is great, there is something generally lacklustre and sub-par about this manga to me, though it could very much be that it will pan out to justify this in the later arcs. Otherwise it's a bit like Harry Potter in the school, but with exorcist subjects; a bit like Naruto in it's "demon child" aspect, their powers and the different exorcist clans with different powers/different ninja clans with different powers; and a bit of DMC in the demon-hunting, guns and the entire 'demon dad' thing, though not quite. It may be that I need another read-through to refresh myself of it, but I also found the villains to be rather poor, of anime-filler quality, and the fights can be similar.

I mean, it's alright, and you could do worse, but it's decent at best, tired shounen archetypes - exorcist edition - at worst.

I been a fan for this for a very long time and I still continue to love it even now. I agree with mostly everything the hinaru77 had to say about this series, confusing or not. I love this plot, admire and adore the Charcters, Rin, Yukio, Sheimi, Izumo, Fujimoto... Shura, etc... Right now, there's really no one I caould possibly hate, not even satan himself, espically in the anime, even though some of it was filler. But it was set in the right place. I hope to see to more from ths awesome artwork, and more deeper plotline as the series continues to be ongoing. I just hope that I won't be 30 years old or 10 years later until to the series, end. Cause I can't wait that long!

I have to say that this reminds me a litle bit of Naruto. The boy who is lonely even though he has fujimoto and his brother Yukio, other people call him a monster. Very simialr to Naruto adn his situation at first. And the fact the he is the son of Satan like Naruto who is the kyuubi, has to bear with it whle change into something very important as time goes goes. I watch the anime first before reading the manga and I just fell in love with both of them as soon as I started reading and watching this seeries. The plot is sort of smiliar adn common like Luffy tying to be King of the pirates (One piece) Naruto who wants to become Hokage, and now we have Rin who wants the defeat Satan, and becoming the one of the strongest exorcist in history. So as I say, very much the same, but different ways of telling it. Not trying to say it's a bad thing or everything. Just pointing of the obivous if your used to seeing stories like.

The characters, like in Naruto, Fullmetal Alchimest, One piece, etc. have very loveable, and funny character is this series, which I admire. Which at first I found a dislike towards one of the characters which was Izumo at first, for her attuide just sort of made me dislike, but in Naruto, Kazue Kato, starts to show more background of Izumo as much as the other characters and makes me start to like them just a litle bit more as the series progesses. I adore Rin, and Shiemi the most, which they all each have their own problem but then try to change it little by little as well as the rest of the characters, like Rin tries to learn, how to appect himself, as who is his as him baes the burden of being born as the son of satan who is what many people fear. Shiemi tries to be more confident as well, as she tries to catch up to her close friends (and what you could probably be know as family) Yukio and Rin. Yukio who has a rebeless, think to quick, and fight by himself, big brother, who to stress and worry because he doesn't seem to carry satan's powers, and with his brother getting into to trouble, he tries to be the one to protect him (For that he feels that fujimoto train him to be an exorcist for.) He feels that his brother might be threat due to his flame. And so on with other characters in this series. But the series does have his heartouching moments, where if the friends could be seen as a big family which I find very powerful. To praise to Kazue!

The artwork: Beautiful and excellent! I can't really find any way to put it. Gorgous as you might say. I even gets me inspired to draw to create new characters here and there. I hope she does an artbook very soon and if you she say she already did then I hope it hits the US. Cause I want a copy so I can look at the colors, and the sketches and notes about each drawing and what they author says about each one of them.

To me, there are some confusion adn some parts that are pretty fast to get through so easily without and converstion bewteen the characters about that problem like so and so Espically with Yukio and Rin as brothers and the problems they have with one another, but maybe the author will reveal that in the later future. But as many people Know, not everyone can write a prefect story. There's always going have a person that reads a story and find something wrong or something that they didn't like and that's why there really can't be a "prefect story". Maybe "almost prefect" but not prefecr. Maybe some people will, maybe some people won't, but I say "hey! Cut the author a break! She only human after all. Just like you and me.

To me, I will give this wonderful, funny, heartwarmthing, action, series, Called Blue Exorcist a 10. I will highly recommend to anyone, espcailly if your in the teens catgory. Blue Exorcist FTW! and Kazue keep up the good work!

It has a good idea, good characters, and good development both in plot and in relationships. There's a nice theme of family, comradeship, and choosing your associations. I enjoy it, and I see everyone seems to be enjoying it, for the most part.

But Ao no Exorcist needs to learn to pace itself - problems come and go with resolutions that come and go. Big reveals of identity and trust just fly on by one after the other. Moderation should be practiced, if just to give problems a little more...weight. I don't feel invested; everything happens at once. Slow it down, give us a breather, or at least develop your problems and resolve them over periods of time and with a LITTLE SUBTLETY PLEASE. And for God's sake, can the solution this time NOT consist of Rin yelling his feelings angrily but meaning well at the top of his lungs?

I love Ao No Exorcist. I'm always eager to see what's next, but it's like Ao no Exorcist is even more eager than I am to show off its good stuff, and so it throws it at you one after another. No, that is not how you story!

I hope it slows down a bit, and I hope everyone gives it a try. It has some gorgeous art as a plus!

I've read it a few times and I'm definitely going to buy it whenever I can find it in my bookstore. This is a fantastic manga, and none of the characters are annoying and/or purposeless. I really recommend this to anyone.

the settings good, the plot good, the action is good. however theres somthing missing - the characters are unimpressionable nor likable, the flow is stilted, the dialogue unnatural, and the whole thing is not captivating enough to make me pain for the next release. however, extra points for siblings. i dont read much manga with siblings in centre stage.

Fullmetal Alchemist is one of my favorite manga. Have read it so many times and never got bored.
Ao no Exorcist is another FMA in making. I hope it will be an epic. It as an awesome plot, demons, superpowers, parallel worlds, exorcism, possibly love triangles. Man it has everything.

Some similarities with FMA : 2 brothers, Alchemy/exorcism, in both brothers have a goal, possibly love triangle in Ao no exorcist, Female author writing shounen.

Also FMA (first anime series) diverted from the main plot and turned out to be a crappy series. Similarly the anime of AO no exorcist diverted and we got a piece of shit. Hope they will make a second anime for the series when the story progresses.

Overall 10+ rating for this series.

I really enjoyed it. The characters are good (expect Shiemi) And the main character has a strong role. So overall, it's good. (I bet I was only attracted to this anime because of 2PM ending lol)

Problem: Shiemi. Meh. I agree with HC. Shiemi... she is just.... out of character. I thought I would like her... and she would end up with Yukio. But then there was a Rin x Shiemi thing going on. So I started dropping the series. Then I started watching the anime. This anime isn't goin to have any romance (I think). But if it does. I don't want Shiemi to end up with Rin. I would get so pissed if she DOES end up with him.

Okay I admit that the the story is only a bit cliché... a little bit. Although the whole religious arc could have been more about rin and less about that old chubby monk guy (forgot his name. See? That's how much I didn't really care. But it is necessary to the whole plot. (' 3') ) The art is amazing and I'm not gonna lie there have been many fangirl shrieks during the anime and manga... Ahhh fangirl shrieks... shiemi and rin, ugh just thinking of it...

I would recommend this to someone, anyone really... is a good light read and I'm just WAITING for another update.

This manga so far is really cute. I was introduced to it in the most unusual way (saw the trailer for the anime after learning that 2PM was making their Japanese debut by singing the ending song for it!! ^o^). Honestly, I didn't have high expectations for it, so when I started reading the manga, I was pleasantly surprised. It utilized some typical shounen tropes, which didn't impress me, but the main character Rin is strong, sensitive, and very easy to relate to, which made up for much of the mundane. Ao no Exorcist doesn't really bring anything new to the genre; however, it certainly has its own interesting moments, so it's quite enjoyable for a light read. Thankfully, the author doesn’t rely on the “demon of the week” plot line that many shounen manga follow, and for the most part, the chapters aren’t episodic, and most do add up to something bigger. It’s sort of on the border between what I like to call “traditional” shounen (focus is on action and “fight scenes” with less attention being given to characters and character development) and “new-age” shounen (focus is on larger plot and more dynamic characters and tends to favor techniques of suspense over dramatized fight sequences).

For the most part, I agree with brid. This manga has wasted a lot of potential, and I feel like it alienated much of its shounen demographic with the latest religious plot line. In a manga geared toward young boys, I don't understand what the author was thinking in centering an arc around an obscure religious sect. What annoyed me most, though, was that it wasn't even the main character who starred in the arc; it was a side character's... old father? As a reader, I have no interest whatever in that character.

If you're looking for a manga with an intricate plot and diverse and complex characters, you might be better off trying Fullmetal Alchemist, Pandora Hearts, or Record of a Fallen Vampire. But if you just want something light and easy, Ao no Exorcist delivers. It's managed to hold my interest thus far, so as of right now, I'll give it a 6.4. Recommended.

I think the characters are enjoyable (except for shiemi, because she strikes me as annoying; with her good girl attitude, stupidity, and ignoring rin when she finds out he's a demon) Rin is cool, he looks cool and I think hes the funniest character in the story. Although this manga is labeled as a comedy, it's not that funny. BUT it does make up for it with all the action scenes. The mangaka did a very good job on the illustrations. As for the plot it's pretty good . I really like this manga!!!!!
The only thing I hate about it is SHIEMI!!!! She's so annoying. She should just die in the story. Seriously like I wish she'd stop getting into trouble and wording everybody, and having those close up scenes when she talks about her feelings. GEEZ I really hope that there won't be ANY romance in this story.

(this comment may contain spoilers)

Yeah, I know that some of you readers will disagree, just by the title. But hear me out: the strength of this manga doesn't come from originallity, that much we all know. Its true strength lies in its simplicity.
It has some elements from D.gray-man, it is an EXORCIST manga after all, and Katou herself has done her best to bring someting new to the exorcist-genre (try reading her interviews), and she HAS. She has brought shonen back to the exorcists since D.gray-man began getting too complicated/boring. When making a shonen manga, there are some guidelines that you have to follow if you want your manga published (unless you want something like Death Note). There HAS to be hope, there HAS to be willpower and there HAS to be some cliche characters. What I think is original is the way that Katou has chosen to put all those very different characters together in ONE single class room where they cannot escape from each others. There's the hero, strong of will, the main girl, nice and doubting, the rival, the perverted nice guy, the mean girl, the... nerd(?), and then we of course have the woman with big (...) and the mysterious know-it-all-person with unclear motives. Plus there's a twin brother who's at the same time teacher of the hero, which is kind of original...

Let me end this comment by telling why I love this manga. I was bored. Naruto is in war, Bleach just ended one and had to (kind of) start all over again. Katekyo Hitman had gotten DBZ-like and D.gray-man was just confusing. Kuroshitsuji didn't have what I was looking for and neither did Pandora Hearts. (I could go on like this, but i choose not to.).
There was something that I was missing. Something that had been lost in most of my other mangas. It's difficult to describe what it is with any other words than these; Epicness. Pure awesomeness. Simplicity that could not be found simply by rereading the old mangas. I needed something new and yet familiar. And then I found a new anime, that seemed to have these things to it. I saw each episode that had yet come out and I read each and every chapter. This manga had what I had been missing, and I'm sure that even when it looses its simple way of telling the story, something new will come from it. Maybe originallity? Only time will tell, but please remember: this manga is just getting started.