A Blue Exorcist- so What’s New?

Ao no Exorcist has many of the hallmarks of a classic shounen series.  The main male lead has a good heart but some aspect of his personality keeps him from being able to fit in with others.  He stands out in some way, shape, or form, and within a few episodes, this difference motivates him to pursue some sort of goal to improve either himself or the world.  The series brings with it a whole hash of character tropes seen in other shounen series, such as the physically weak female supporting character, the fanservice-heavy female character, and the rival side character who initially despised the main character.  The acquisition and development of skills is undertaken through a series of tests and challenges meant to push the main character outside of his comfort zone, and before training is complete, the protagonists are thrust into a larger area of conflict.

In the case of Ao no Exorcist, the first half of the series is dedicated to the acquisition of skills by the protagonists and character introduction, while the second half is an amalgamation of revenge, ethics, and determination.  Seen from a macro perspective, the series does not bring a lot of new aspects to the table.  The basic shounen platform can be rebadged under scores of series, most of which end up lasting dozens or hundreds of episodes and dedication to the series wanes.  In the case of Ao no Exorcist, it at least is able to handle its assets well enough, and the main way it does this is by having the series be only 25 episodes long, which is a double-edged sword.

The story’s main male lead is Okamura Rin, a laid-back and rather naïve half-demon.  He is complemented by his twin brother, Yukio, one of the most well-thought-out secondary characters in anime, his role being right up there in terms of importance along with Rin.  The way the two intermesh and complement each other is a good foundation on which to build the series.  There’s a good sense of internal conflict and a delicate balancing between the calm human side of Rin and his wild demonic side, which starts off and builds well, becoming strong but not overpowering.  The transition usually keeps the speech about ethics and righteousness short and sweet, as it feels actions speak louder than words.  There are constant reminders about Rin’s internal conflict and half-demon heritage, as multiple characters often make this known throughout the series, and to see Rin’s progress and gradual acceptance at becoming a higher individual is fluid and well-done.

Some of the side characters, however, leave something to be desired, including fanservice-heavy Shura Kirigakure, who looks and acts like a 90% carbon copy of Bleach’s Rangiku Matsumoto.  The other major disappointment is the head of the establishment standing against the main characters, known as the Paladin, Arthur Auguste Angel, whose character is weakly developed by starting with a shaky foundation and putting on a lack of free will.  He comes off as a drone and a puppet, his actions clumsy and himself displaying no sense of emotion or conflict, only doing something because he was told to.  His depth and moral code, therefore, are severely lacking.

In terms of artwork and character designs, though adequate and containing a good amount of action relative to other shonen series, the drawings and animations themselves don’t bring much new to the table.  It doesn’t shine and sparkle, nor does it drone and depress.  Instead, it aims straight for the target of adequacy, par with Bleach or D.Gray-Man.  The fact that it fails to push the envelope further can be argued with “But that’s not the point of a shounen show”, but one can only rehash something so many times before one starts to yearn for distinction.

As previously said, the first half of the series is dedicated to skill acquisition by the protagonists and character introduction, and starts off well enough, with good pacing and each character developing their own identity and a certain amount of depth.  Teamwork is a central theme of becoming an exorcist, and this does help bring everyone together and become a coherent group.  However, the transition into the second half of the series is less effective.  There are multiple elements being brought into play in the second half, including a tradition-bound body of governance along with themes of disaffection, sacrifice, and motivation.  The second half moves much too quickly and shifts gears too often, a tragedy of ambitious goals but having too few episodes to work with.  An introduced element is quickly pushed aside without having firmly established its purpose and another element is brought in to replace it, so elements are easily missed and there are too many things to keep track of.  A few episodes are also used up as filler, and good as they are, still can’t hide the fact that the main plotline needed breathing room.

The arrangement and timing of Ao no Exorcist’s anime is peculiar.  Based off a manga, the anime was announced when only 4 volumes were released.  When it premiered in Japan, the 6th volume had just been released, and there was only so much source material available for use.  Compared to the Big Three or even shorter shounen series such as Hikaru no Go, Death Note, and Rurouni Kenshin, having 25 episodes stunts Ao no Exorcist’s potential, as it seems to be paced much more slowly.  It has the potential for running much longer than 25 episodes and only provides one chapter of Rin’s pursuit of self-improvement, but care should be exercised now in this stage of the game.  Going down Bleach’s road of introducing dozens of new characters through filler episodes, arcs, and pushing episode counts over 300 is one way of approaching it, but should be avoided.  The advantage of having only 25 episodes is that it allows for a conclusion and a break first to evaluate how well a series performed, plus there is no need to randomly plug in useless filler episodes and waste time and capital before the main story line starts moving again.  It allows Ao no Exorcist to stay on its main path rather than deviate from the manga, and makes the series much more manageable than something with triple-digit episode counts.

While Ao no Exorcist can just be dismissed as just another shounen anime, it nonetheless is a consistent entry into the category, placed in a ve
ry manageable package.  It is able to have its elements work together and play off one another, coming together to form what is overall an enjoyable series at first.  The second half’s transition could have been done better, and either elements could have been taken out or more episodes granted to offer more breathing room.  The second half feels mismanaged and crammed together, and even though the end doesn’t leave you hanging in the style of Code Geass, it feels more like you just finished the first chapter of a book of unknown length rather than having completed a series.  Ao no Exorcist does have the room to grow, and another season is more than likely.  Whether this growth will result in either a continuation of the quality standard, a rise, or a drop remains to be seen, but it will be easy to sample the series, as Crunchyroll is streaming it and the first DVD is released today.