Starting its manga publication over ten years ago, the successful Blue Exorcist is one of the forerunners of the current horror-shonen hits, like Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer. Following the son of Satan's demon-slaying exploits, Blue Exorcist combines the ever-present magical high school with a story inspired by the works of the Brothers Grimm.
The series' anime has been finished for several years, but the manga continues to be published to this day. Not only is the manga readily available through most book retailers, but the Blue Exorcist anime is even easier to find online and stream. Here's what the series is about and the best ways to watch or read it.
The world of Blue Exorcist is one filled with a very loose take on Judeo-Christian mythology, with the setting being both the human world and the demon dimension of Gehenna. The main characters are Yukio and Rin, two brothers who are raised by an exorcist. After their surrogate father is killed, they discover that their true father is in fact Satan himself.
Rin discovers his ability to take on demonic attributes, as well as summon the demon-slayer sword Kurikara. Devoted to becoming an exorcist like his former protector, he enrolls in True Cross Academy, learning under his own brother Yukio's tutelage to defend the world against the growing scourge of the demon realm.
Beginning back in 2009, the series was created by Kazue Kato and is published through Jump Square. Kazue has claimed to have an ending initially planned, but the unexpected success of the series has seen it continually pushed back. Thanks to its continued popularity, the series is readily available in English, both digitally and in print, amounting to 131 chapters and 26 volumes.
These physical volumes can be purchased through Amazon as well as Books-a-Million, Barnes & Noble and Walmart. They are also available for Kindle via Comixology. All 131 chapters can be read on the Shonen Jump app. There is also a spin-off starring Yukio titled Salaryman Exorcist: The Sorrows of Yukio Okumura, and though it ended publication last August, it's still unavailable in English.
A-1 Pictures handled the anime adaptation of Blue Exorcist, which began in 2011. The show was notable for much of its first season following an original storyline, though this was later retconned when the series began to more closely hue to the manga. The second season didn't air until six years later in 2017, and more faithfully adapted the fifth through the ninth volumes of the manga. This continuation also added several new characters into the mix. The show's popularity would spawn the theatrical release of Blue Exorcist: The Movie.
Sadly, there's been no word of a third season, but the entire series can be purchased on Blu-ray and DVD through Amazon. The series can also be streamed on Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll and VRV, though the same can not be said for the movie. However, it can be bought on DVD through Amazon. With the various ways to stream it, the Blue Exorcist anime is perhaps the easier way to get into the series.
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