Manga Review: Blue Exorcist, Volume 23, by Kazue Kato

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: February 2020

Volumes: 25+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 22. 24.

 

Goodreads Synopsis:

 

Rin and his exorcist classmates are caught in a secret war against the forces of darkness.

Raised by Father Fujimoto, a famous exorcist, Rin Okumura never knew his real father. One day a fateful argument with Father Fujimoto forces Rin to face a terrible truth – the blood of the demon lord Satan runs in Rin’s veins! Rin swears to defeat Satan, but doing that means entering the mysterious True Cross Academy and becoming an exorcist himself.

The tragic story of what happened to Rin and Yukio’s mother, Yuri Egin, continues to unfold. Yuri and Father Fujimoto were once up-and-coming young Exorcists involved in Section 13’s extensive operation to research elixirs of immortality and develop clones to house the spirits of demons. The project seemed to be moving ahead until the unexpected manifestation of a demonic spirt into one of the clone bodies. And not just any demon—the most powerful demon of all: Satan!

 

Review:

 

This volume continues the back story of their mother and Satan. We discover who Satan really is, how he became who he is, and how their mother got mixed up in it all. It definitely gets messy very quickly, and how Yuri decides to help with it only complicates things further. Yukio might be the one who feels like he needs to know more than Rin, but Rin also needs to understand where his powers came from, and what happened that led to him and Yukio.

So far, it's explained some things, but also complicated others. We're reaching the climax of the back story, I think, so it'll be interesting to see how it concludes and leaves the twins where they are now.

I definitely do find this story interesting, but I'm also very curious where the rest of the characters are in the mean time, and what this means for Rin and Yukio going forward.

I really like the direction this series is taking, and I want more of it, faster. This plot is definitely one that would read really nicely in a binge session.