Blue Exorcist (Ao no Ekusoshisuto) is an A-1 Pictures anime based on the Shonen Jump manga written and illustrated by Kazue Kato.

The ultimate weapon against Satan is his own son!

“Assiah, the realm of humans, and Gehenna, the realm of demons. Normally, these two dimensions would never intersect, but having possessed all material substances, the demons are now intruding on the material world. But among the human race, there are those who can exorcise such demons.” – the Exorcists.

Rin Okumura and his twin brother Yukio have been raised by Shiro Fujimoto, an eminent priest, so it comes as a shock when Rin discovers their biological father is actually Satan! As the border between “Assiah” (the human world) and “Gehenna” (the demon world) is crossed by evil, Rin vows to become the ultimate exorcist and defeat his own father. To hone his raw skills, Rin enters True Cross Academy to train with other exorcist candidates.

Volume 01, 13 episodes.

Blue Exorcist Review

"In almost every respect Blue Exorcist has the look and feel of a typical shonen action series. It focuses on a 15-year-old protagonist who's quite the misfit, discovers that he has hidden reserves of skills and powers because of something special about his nature, and seeks to harness those powers for an objective that audiences can easily sympathize with. He is a knucklehead who must struggle to integrate in amongst others who have and/or are developing similar powers, which naturally results in him having a bull-headed conflict with at least one of them, while also trying to figure out a way to get the attention of girls. And, like many recent protagonist delinquents, he can cook remarkably well, too.

So why does Blue Exorcist work so much better than a lot of its kindred? Production values have a lot to do with it. This is one of the sharpest-looking shonen action series in recent memory, especially in its art design; True Cross Academy is a wonder of over-the-top fantasy-styled architecture both inside and out, while the garden scenes are also beauties to behold and even the cluttered store has its own charm. Character designs for Rin when passing as a human, his fellow students, and the Exorcists are more typical (although Shiemi is drawn with an unusually broad face and no one is portrayed at extraordinarily handsome/pretty), but Mephisto Pheles is a garish pimp par excellence, Rin looks suitably nasty when his demonic side shows, and some of the demon designs are very cool. Action scenes sizzle as characters, weapons, and power releases smoothly flash about, with scenes like an attack on a church sanctuary packing all the demonic ambiance one could ask for. The overall rendering job by A-1 Pictures is splendid, too, with characters only going off-model intentionally. A hard rock-laden score whose dramatic swells hit all the right notes also helps.

But there's a little more to it than that. The dynamic between Rin and Yukio seems rather bland in the two episodes based in the church, but it becomes dramatically more interesting when events move to True Cross and Yukio finally lets his long-restrained concerns about Rin and Rin's true nature as the son of Satan show. Shiemi's efforts to find a friend when she's never had one before, and the catty way that some other girls react to her familiarity with Rin and Yukio, ring painfully true, and prideful Izumo surprises a little with the weaknesses at her core despite her outward confidence. Granted, these and other events generally play out in predictable fashion, as does the way stubborn, hot-tempered Ryuji quickly becomes a foil for Rin, but the developing relationships have at least some degree of honest feeling to it. An effective sense of humor finds a sufficient balance with the heavier elements, too, while fan service remains at a minimum; one female character (appropriately) in her undies in one scene is the extent of it, and even then that scene does not play out as if actively attempting to be titillating…a solid start to a promising shonen action series." B+ animenewsnetwor­k.com