Ao no Exorcist

Subject: Ao no Exorcist Tue Jul 05, 2011 3:18 am

Blue Exorcist ( Ao no Ekusoshisuto) is a manga written and illustrated by Kazue Kato. The manga has been serialized in Jump Square magazine by Shueisha since April 2009, with individual chapters collected into six tankōbon volumes as of April 4, 2011.[1] The one-shot of the manga was first featured in the September 2008 issue of Jump Square and was titled Miyamauguisu House Case ( Miyamauguisu-tei Jiken). As of June 4, 2011, 25 chapters have been released in Japan.
Viz Media has licensed the manga for North American production, with the first volume released in April 5, 2011 and the fifth volume scheduled for release in December 6, 2011. Blue Exorcist has also been released in the Shonen Jump Advanced magazine starting April 5, 2011. The North American book distributor Simon & Schuster listed the first volume of Kazue Katō's Blue Exorcist manga for release by Viz Media this April 2011.

nspired by a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Kato tried to work the angle of brothers fighting monsters into a story. He eventually decided on making the story about demons and exorcists, thus conceiving Blue Exorcist.[6] Due to exorcists being the main idea of the story, the manga features a lot of biblical references. In a interview Kato said "I should not run away from these references if I'm working in the Exorcist genre

Main characters

Rin Okumura (奥村燐 Okumura Rin?)
Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto
The fifteen-year-old protagonist of the story, Rin is the son of Satan born from a human woman and is the inheritor of Satan's powers. His powers were sealed at birth into the demon-slaying blade Kurikara, or Koumaken, by Mephisto Pheles, allowing him to live a normal human life for about 15 years. Rin became aware of his true identity after Kurikara could no longer seal the blue flames he inherited from Satan, setting off a chain of events that led to the death of his guardian, Father and Exorcist Fujimoto Shiro, at the hands of Satan, who attempted to drag Rin back to the demon realm. Exorcist Mephisto Pheles confronted Rin after Shiro's funeral with several exorcists, giving Rin the option to kill them all or die. Rin instead demanded to become an exorcist, an idea that amused Mephisto. Rin was then enrolled personally by Mephisto into the True Cross Academy Exorcist School, where he has since been pursuing his goal to become a Paladin and to defeat Satan. He is currently an Exwire and attempting to gain the title of Meister as a "Knight".
Rin can tap into the power he has inherited from Satan through the use of a demon-slaying katana, called Kurikara or Koumaken. The sheath acts as a portal to Gehenna (the demon world) which, when the blade is drawn, returns Rin to his demon form. While in his human form, Rin exhibits a number of physical traits that are signs of his demonic nature, such as sharp canines, slightly pointed ears, and a black, fur-tufted tail (which he keeps hidden in his pants). As a demon, Rin has blue flames that float above his head and long, elf-like ears, and his eyes turn bright blue. In both forms Rin can control incredibly destructive bright blue flames, the trademark sign of anything related to Satan. However, when he draws Kurikara, the magnitude of the flames dramatically increases and often leads to Rin being "consumed" by his own flames and losing his mind. Rin also has a Cat Sith, Kuro, who was initially Father Fujimoto's, as his familiar. Rin has been shown to have a talent for cooking, notably due to the fact that had started cooking at a young age. One episode of the anime involved him in a 'cooking duel' with a demon that was the cook in their dorm building, which ended in a tie. He has also demonstrated to feel certain attraction towards Shiemi, despite knowing about Shiemi's feelings towards Yukio.

Yukio Okumura (奥村雪男 Okumura Yukio?)
Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama
Rin's younger twin brother. When it was discovered that the woman impregnated by Satan was going to have twins, it was believed that Satan's powers would be split between them. Due to the weakness of Yukio's body, however, he did not inherit any of Satan's powers, thus being born fully human with the full extent of Satan's powers going to Rin. Yukio did, however, receive a Mashou at birth from his brother, which allowed him to be aware of demons for as long as he can remember. Yukio secretly trained to become an Exorcist from the age of seven in order to protect Rin (through the help of Fujimoto). While both Yukio and Rin are in their first year at True Cross Academy, Yukio is already an instructor at the Exorcist cram school, who teaches Anti-Demon Pharmacology to Rin's class.
It is often stated that Yukio is a genius, having already acquired the title "Meister" in both the Dragoon and Doctor class, while ordinarily most people would aim for Meister in only one class (both are still fully qualified exorcists). He is currently ranked a Middle First class exorcist. Even though him and Rin argue a lot and get into a lot of disagreements he truly cares about his safety and well being. Fearing his brother will be consumed by his demonic nature, Yukio often berates Rin for his impulsive actions and reckless attitude.
In episode 5, he said "Satan's power might be much less control than you think, Sir Mephisto Pheles," which can be interpreted in more than one way.

Mephisto Pheles (メフィスト・フェレス Mefisuto Feresu?)
Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya
Pheles is the Chairman of True Cross Academy's Japanese branch and is also an Exorcist. After Fujimoto's death Pheles was ordered to kill Rin; however, he accepted Rin's proposal of becoming an Exorcist and enrolled him into True Cross Academy. It has been heavily implied that he is the son of Satan along with his brother, the Earth King, Amaimon. He possesses the unique and peculiar ability of transforming into a small dog after counting down from three in German (up to three in the anime). He is powerful enough to subdue Amaimon while holding Rin off, and has it has been mentioned that he is an honorary knight, the position two ranks below Paladin. He was responsible for allowing several higher ranked demons onto campus to fight Rin for unknown purposes. Despite having served the True Cross for at least two centuries, many still have doubts about his true intentions, but he claims that his main goal is to bring peace to both Assiah and Gehenna. His name is an obvious pun on the word Mephistopheles, which is the name of the character that is either a powerful demon or the devil himself in Faust. He is portrayed as a man with more money than sense but is very cheap when it comes to spending on others.

Ryuji Suguro (勝呂竜士 Suguro Ryūji?)
Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai
Suguro (nicknamed "Bon") was the child of the Cursed Temple which was destroyed by Satan 16 years ago. Some of Ryuji's more noticeable physical traits include his stern visage and a streak of blonde hair. Ryuji also has multiple piercings on both ears. He wears a sand-coloured vest that has a pink 'V' neck, with a brown coloured tie which has black and white stripes, and the Academy's jacket over it all. Ryuji takes everything seriously and is trying his hardest in order to become an Exorcist powerful enough to defeat Satan (a goal he claims Rin stole from him) and rebuild his Temple. He believes that becoming an Exorcist will attract more people to his temple. When he found out Rin was the son of Satan, he was angry and yell at him. He hasn't spoke to him since. Currently Ryuji is ranked Exwire, and trying to acquire the title of Meister in both Aria and Dragoon. He has also exorcised a ghoul by reciting it's Fatal Verse and created barrier.

Shiemi Moriyama (杜山しえみ Moriyama Shiemi?)
Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa
Shiemi is Rin's classmate and friend, and the main female protagonist. Before she met Rin, Shiemi tended to her grandmother's garden while her mother ran an Exorcist-only shop inside True Cross Academy. During an encounter with Rin and Yukio, Yukio diagnosed that Shiemi was having her life force leached out by a Demon. After Yukio exorcised the demon, Shiemi finally decided to become an Exorcist and started to attend class. It was later revealed that Shiemi had the talent to become a Tamer, as she was able to summon a Greenman Spirit during class. It has been stated that Taming is a rare talent amongst Exorcists, where only a few can control demons to fight on their behalf. Despite being close to Rin and Yukio, she started to avoid them after learning that they are sons of Satan, because -- as they kept their origin a secret even from her -- she blames herself for not being trustworthy enough. However, she has got over the issue gradually.

Izumo Kamiki (神木出雲 Kamiki Izumo?)
Voiced by: Eri Kitamura
Kamiki is easily one of the best students and she's aware of it. She looks down on most people and almost always acts high and mighty. She is offensive towards everyone except Paku (since Paku is her childhood friend and the only one in her school who would talk to her she considered her, her best friend) and is especially at odds with Bon, whom she fights often with, which always ends up in the class taking group responsibility. Although most of the time she is a rather difficult person, Kamiki seems to care about her fellow Exwires and even tried to cheer up Shiemi and Rin when they felt down (even though she tries hard not to show it due to her pride).
She and Renzo were one of the few, who aren't afraid of Rin upon finding out about him. She even tries to cheer him up after finding out he's the child of Satan when she sat next to him on the train and said that for others like him in the world. She is shown to be a capable Tamer, being able to summon two Byakko's. It would also seem that Izumo may have some feelings for Rin when Paku mentions how cute and cool he was.

Renzo Shima (志摩廉造 Shima Renzō?)
Voiced by: Kōji Yusa
Renzo is a very carefree character, yet he has a fear of many things, mainly bugs. He's very loyal to Bon, his childhood friend. They grew up together along with Konekomaru in Kyoto. He is also has a big obsession with women. Plans to become a Meister in Aria. He has pink (dyed) hair. It is naturally black. In the manga, Renzo wears a man-tailored (flannel sort of) shirt over a t-shirt with a symbol, sort of like a bulls-eye. Renzo also carries around some sort of staff, which he and his two brothers also have. Renzo was born into the temple that Bon and Konekumaru was in as well, making him the childhood friend of the two.
He also is currently one of the few in the group whom are actually on good terms with Rin since he realized that he is not a bad person and can't bear to ignore him.

Shura Kirigakure (霧隠シュラ Kirigakure Shura?)
Voiced by: Rina Satō
Kirigakure Shura is an Upper First Class Exorcist and Rin's mentor. She trained under the guidance of Fujimoto Shiro to obtain the title "Meister" in Knight and can draw a demon sword from a symbol above her chest when she states, "Devour the Seven Princesses, slay the Serpent". She seems to be an excellent fighter with the blade, as she was able to hold off Amaimon on her own. Frequently chipper and obnoxious, Shura is carefree about her job, and is known to drink alcohol in excess and oversleep. She appears to harbor a dark past, as she claimed Shiro "came and rescued" her.
Disguised under a hood as one of Rin's classmates, she holds a grudge against Shiro (who asked her to teach Rin how to use Koumaken) for "casting her aside" and had orders to eliminate anything she discovered related to Satan, Shura intended to "clean up [her] Master's messes" by disposing of Rin after finding about his secret. But Rin told her he would prove Shiro was right to let him live by becoming a Paladin, leading her to spare him and become his mentor. This eventually led to a bond between the two, akin to an older sister-younger brother relationship. Shura also knows Yukio since she was around Shiro the majority of the time Shiro trained him. Due to her past experiences with him she saw him as a young, scared and naive child which led to her nickname for him : "scaredy cat four-eyes".

Konekomaru Miwa (三輪子猫丸 Miwa Konekomaru?)
Voiced by: Yūki Kaji
Childhood friends with Renzo and Ryuji, he also hails from Kyoto. Konekomaru is short, wears red glasses and has oddly large ears. Despite his young age, he is already the head of the Miwa family due to the death of his parents. He is the most fragile out of all the characters and is usually shy when it comes to speaking his mind. He typically follows Ryuji and Renzo. He is also training to become Aria like his two friends. It is also shown that he can come up with complex strategies in a short window of time. This was shown when he and the others had to carry a Peg Lantern back to Yukio and Shura for a test.

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA.COM