Age Appropriate: Pre-teens
Emotional Response: excited, surprised, entranced
Notable Features: demons, exorcists, high school
Language: Japanese
Length: 2 seasons, 25 episodes
Overall Recommendation: FTW
"Time, Stop! Thou art so beautiful" - Mephisto/Faust
Rin and Yukio are a set of 15-year-old twins who've been raised in a monestary by Shiro Fujimito, as his sons. While they know that he's not they're actual father, he is still their Dad. Rin is the troublemaker of the two, always getting into fights and refusing to grow up. Yukio is serious and wants to become a doctor, so he's more driven. He's gotten himself a scholarship to go to True Cross Academy - an elite school campus in their area. It is both a school for regular (read: rich) kids, and new exorcists-to-be.
Rin and Yukio are also the sons of Satan, who impregnanted their mother during a terrible event. This is how their father found them. At first, Rin seems to be a normal bumming high school-age student, but it turns out that he's been hiding his demon powers - until being accosted by a gang of teens including a demon, sets his powers free. His father saves him and drags him back to their monestary and gives him a brief talking to while they run from the little demons heading from them. During the attack, Shiro gives Rin a demon sword with instructions to never use it, and then locks him in an underground room to fight off the demons with the other priests. When Rin finally releases himself the battle seems over, until he gets upset at his father, says terrible things, and earns a slap in the process. That one action opens Shiro up to Satan's possession and thus is the beginning of the series story.
All of these events, lead Rin to join the Exorcist Cram School. It will include regular classes and cram school classes with hopes of educating all of the students to be exorcists fighting the evil demons that escape into Earth. There is no greater shock than to look up and for Rin to see that Rin's twin brother, Yukio, is his new teacher! Not only that, but Yukio is a full intermediate level exorcist whom Shiro had been training since age 7. With this new revelation, and the other students being annoyed with his presence, Rin's first days in class are difficult. His relationships with his classmates, his brother, and other characters as they enter the scene all lead up to the grand finale.
I loved it! I didn't think I would. I'd been putting it off for awhile, because I wasn't too impressed by the synopsis where I found it to watch. After surfing around the internet for ideas, I decided it was time to watch it, anyway. I'm so glad that I did. I think that it's sometimes harder to get myself to watch anime in Japanese, because sometimes I'm too lazy to think about subtitles. If a series is new enough, Japanese may be the only option - or the easiest to find.
Anyway, I watched almost the entire two seasons in one day. I've figured out how to watch some of the Japanese series that I watch via the Xbox, which means I can enjoy them on the couch rather then on my iPad and it's has been awesome. Blue Exorcist just possessed me (haha), and I couldn't watch only one episode. It is highly likely that I will watch it again. After a little bit of time, and a lot more anime, I may consider promoting it up to Top 5 status. Per the usual note: No nudity, or swearing, some blood but not enough to make me cringe, so I think a mature pre-teen could handle it. Did I mention that I loved it? It was very exciting, and funny, and woooooooooo! Go Get Satan! Raaar! Also, I would like a familiar like Rin's.
-----
Surprise!: Kamisama Kiss
