Manga : Blue Exorcist

Volumes: 14 to 19 

Author: Kazue Kato

Original publication year: 2014-2017

Description: A group of high schoolers is training to be exorcists in the elite school The true cross. They go to high school but alongside their normal classes, they train, fight demons alongside their trained teachers, and gain experience and the knowledge necessary. The main characters are a set of twins who are the sons of Satan. One of them has inherited the blue flame, the power related to Satan himself. Rin is determined to become an exorcist and defeat Satan. He is not alone in this dream, he meets the rest of his class and they all have something to say about that dream of his. 

Thoughts:

As part of a long series, this will undoubtedly contain spoilers as you can't reference the events without giving away what happens in previous entries. Be warned.

They manage to survive the trap by the Illuminati, Izumo's mom manages to pull the last of her strength and contain in her body the spirit of the nine tail fox. To top it off, the True Cross had always known where Izumo's little sister was. She is granted a key so she can visit, its heartwarming.

Back in the classes, people are struggling they have to take their tests, its time to decide if they will continue to be Exorcists or not. Everyone is excited and making decisions on what they want to do and which area they want to focus on. Shemi is revealed a big family secret and she decides against taking the test. She will continue to go to high school but she will be dropping out of Exorcist classes. 

The prodigal son returns. They have to deal with huge reveals and now the group and the Vatican need to decide if they trust their "traitor" as a double agent for the Illuminati. He does a great job of tricking you and his fellows. You can't really tell where their true loyalty is. Great spy, still silly teenager, which makes it hilarious. 

A new teacher is brought from the Vatican, his mission is to uncover some shady things that happened right around the time the Blue night took place. He believes the Japan branch was doing something and is hiding it from the Vatican itself. As fate would have it, one of the exwires becomes his apprentice. Together they must uncover the truth of what happens. The moral dilemma though, he can't decide if let Rin and Yukimura know as they seem to be related to it. Among the discoveries, there are experiments that their parent's and the monks that raised them were part of. A lot of revelations and they just raise more questions. 

Rin is out of his mind for several reasons:

-His brother is hiding something from him. They are becoming more prone to fighting and Mephisto lets him know that Yukimura is doing some very dangerous training. 

-Shemi rejected his feelings.

Also their teacher, the sexy vixen who has no regard for cold or proper clothing. Well, she has a huge secret regarding her demon sword. And it catches up to her. In these few volumes you learn of her past, the ancient deal she has with a demon due to the decision of an ancestor. She is fated to die soon. But she refuses to give into the demon she will not bear a child to continue the family curse. 

Yukimura and Rin are sent by Mephisto to find her as she went missing after visiting the area of her native town. They find her and Yukimura makes a few interesting proposals to the demon, he is interrupted by Rin "rescuing" them. Yukimura does not get the demon's power as the deal is not sealed. He pretends is all good and acts as if it was all a ruse and that Rin acted in the nick of time. But it is very clear he wanted the demon's power. 

The last time I started the series I did not get this far, but I think in the anime it was clear from the beginning the dislike Yukimura felt for his brother. In the manga, it feels more subdued and he pretends better. Also, he does not get to spend too much time with his brother, now though even oblivious Rin is starting to notice his twin brother is going out of his way to not be around him. 

The Illuminati have shown a great interest in Yukimura and made several references to his power. I do wonder what the outcome of that is going to be.

I am still enjoying the series greatly, I really want to get to the part where everything is revealed but I will take my time to get there. Each volume is a pretty fast read, right now in each one there are tons of revelations about people's pasts, plans within plans, twist no one knows about, huge secret organizations within the current secret organizations, you know typical political intrigue. But the overall plot is still very slow-moving. You still have a great time with it.

If anyone out there has seen or read the manga do you mind enlighting me? Are they similar? I have yet to start the anime, but it does not look like I will watch it anytime soon. Also what other anime do you recommend I try? Something similar to this, fighting, or fantastic settings but not too heavy on romance would be great. Feel free to give me your recommendations. I have been suggested Black Clover and One Piece so maybe I will move on to one of those in the upcoming months.

That is it for now, until next time.

Stay safe!