In 2011, the first season of Blue Exorcist ended its run, covering roughly through volume four of the manga with a hastily written ending that immediately diverged from the story path of the manga. That left fans wondering if season two was ever going to happen.
We’ll go ahead and declare a spoiler warning right here.
Fans might recall that like in the manga, Rin Okumura was revealed to his classmates to be the bastard child of Satan and kept under heavy surveillance by higher authorities due to his Satan-inherited powers not completely under his control. As one can imagine, exorcists in training sworn to vanquish demons would take such a revelation to be frightful and conflicting depending on their connection to Rin. While the manga took this approach, the anime, within the same scene, immediately had all characters dismiss Rin’s demonic lineage and declare him their friend that needed their help before charging off for a climactic final showdown.
Six years later, in 2017, season two finally began airing, titled Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga. Given the source material’s narrative and the hard shift in relationships between Rin and his classmates, the anime had to make a very bold decision on how to approach the continuity left from the first season. The anime ultimately decided to remain true to the manga and proceeded full-steam ahead, retconning the entire last episode and proceeding with Rin’s classmates being afraid and suspicious of him. Season two remained relatively faithful to the end of the Kyoto Saga for a 12-episode run. Season two covered roughly up to volume nine of the manga.
Now, here we are, another (almost) six years come and gone. This week and Jump Festa 2023, we were teased with the announcement of a new Blue Exorcist TV anime in the works. In attendance at the reveal were cast members from the first two seasons including:
- Nobuhiko Okamoto as Rin Okumura
- Jun Fukuyama as Yukio Okumura
- Kana Hanazawa as Shiemi Moriyama
- Eri Kitamura as Izumo Kamiki
Few details were revealed outside of the announcement trailer. It is unclear if this is an intended continuation from season two, or a possible reboot, starting over. Either way, there is plenty of material to work with. Today, there are 28 volumes published, and the series is still ongoing. Just recently Kazue Kato returned to writing the series after almost a year-long hiatus between July 2021 and May 2022.
Here’s the synopsis, as described by Anime News Network:
“Humans live in the world of Assiah, demons in Gehenna. The two dimensions are not meant to interfere with each other, but demons still possess creatures in Assiah in spite of this. The humans who can fight these demons are known as exorcists. Rin Okumura is a boy who bears the curse of being Satan’s illegitimate son. His foster father sacrificed himself to save him from demons. To avenge his foster father’s death as well as to prove himself, Rin decides to follow the path of an exorcist.”
