***Anime information***
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 24
Episode length: 24:00
Genre: Action, Demons, Fantasy, Shounen, Supernatural
Viewers rating: 7/10
Opening: 1.) Core pride
2.) In my world
Ending: 1.) Take off
2.) Wired life
3.) Trailblazer
Plot: Humans and demons are two sides of the same coin, as are Assiah and Gehenna, their respective worlds. The only way to travel between the realms is by the means of possession, like in ghost stories. However, Satan, the ruler of Gehenna, cannot find a suitable host to possess and therefore, remains imprisoned in his world. In a desperate attempt to conquer Assiah, he sends his son instead, intending for him to eventually grow into a vessel capable of possession by the demon king.
Ao no Exorcist follows Rin Okumura who appears to be an ordinary, somewhat troublesome teenager—that is until one day he is ambushed by demons. His world turns upside down when he discovers that he is in fact the very son of Satan and that his demon father wishes for him to return so they can conquer Assiah together. Not wanting to join the king of Gehenna, Rin decides to begin training to become an exorcist so that he can fight to defend Assiah alongside his brother Yukio.
***personal input***
Personal rating: 7/10
Opinion: When I started watching anime I was introduced to this list. On this list were certain anime that were mainstream and apparently sucked ass. Now, the longer I watch anime, the more this list becomes void. The more I watched series from this list the more great anime I find. Blue exorcist is a great anime that I was told to have sucked and actually been really great. So let's talk about that. With it's upcoming second season (which I will review individually) here's my review of Ano no exorcist.
Firstly, the plot. Immediately, from episode one I was presented with a story I knew I'd love or at least be very interested in. The anime gave a cool spin to Christianity and it's mythology. The ideas that the show lay out were intriguing and really set the mood for a good shounen anime. Naturally, as the anime went through it's episodes, there were times when they had simple filler episodes or things that were hardly relevant to the actual plot itself.
This was one thing I didn't like. As I found the main story to be so very good, I wanted as much time to be spent on that as possible. So seeing these pointless filler episodes were upsetting. That was the only real issue I had with the plot. Besides a few unconfirmed ships (which I'm hoping happen in season two) I really loved the plot and I'm eagerly waiting for the next season
Secondly is the art style and animation. I don't have very much to say regarding this. As the animation was fluid and very smooth. The fight scenes (and other scenes) were really brought to life through the splendid movements of the show. The art style is different. While there are characters who looked amazing, who looked absolutely awesome, there were so many that I couldn't come to like. I say this all in a visual sense. So many of the characters were presented in a drawn style that I hated. However at to same time I found so many others to be drawn so cool.
Thirdly, the soundtrack. It was awesome, as most higher budget anime tend to have decent soundtracks. I personally found all the openings presented to be amazing. Pumping me up for every episode, I'm hoping that the second season stays with that great reputation the anime has with it's music. The endings were also mildly good, however not as nice as I'd have liked.
Finally, the character cast. With so many presented throughout the course of the series, it was difficult to choose my absolute favorites, but in the end I managed. But, with such a large character cast comes undevelopments. There wasn't enough time to develop all the characters and keep that awesome and thriving main plot line. So, many potential characters lost the chance to have decent backgrounds and those with actual story were few. There was a handful of episodes dedicated to side characters, but not nearly enough. I'm hoping the second season helps to clear up this issue. But, for those characters that were thoroughly developed throughout the show, I liked them. They were great in fact.
Favorite character:
Moriyama Shiemi
Favorite part:
***Average***
Plot: 90
Op: 90
Character's: 96
Art style: 89
Enjoyment: 93
Ao no exorcist average: 92 (B level anime)