Blue Exorcist started out as a manga series that has been running since April of 2009. Said manga has proven to be popular, so much so that it has received an anime adaptation with two seasons so far. As for the content, well, suffice to say that Blue Exorcist is a pretty literal title. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Blue Exorcist:
1. Focused on Exorcists
Unsurprisingly, Blue Exorcist is centered on a collection of exorcists and would-be exorcists, who are necessary because the Blue Exorcist is split into two worlds that serve as mirrors of one another. Humans inhabit one of these two worlds, while demons inhabit the other.
2. The Human World Is Called Assiah
The human world is called Assiah, which means something along the lines of “World of Action.” For those who are curious, Assiah is a name that comes from Kabbalah, in which it is one of the four spiritual worlds. It represents material existence.
3. The Demon World Is Called Gehenna
Meanwhile, the demon world is called Gehenna. This refers to a valley in which some of the kings of Judah are said to have sacrificed their own children, which explains why it was considered to be cursed by later people. Eventually, it started becoming associated with the afterlife destination of the wicked, which spread throughout the Abrahamic religions.
4. Demons Can Enter Assiah Via Possession
Generally speaking, demons can’t enter Assiah. However, this changes if they can possess either a human or some other living being of Assiah. With that said, the possessed have to be strong enough to support the demon. Otherwise, the bodies of the possessed will degenerate at a rapid pace with rather horrific effects to say the least.
5. Satan Rules Over Gehenna
Satan is the one who rules over Gehenna. However, it is unclear how much the Blue Exorcist version of Satan is a match for the source material. Still, the evidence that has been presented so far suggests that the Blue Exorcist version of Satan is at best a very unpleasant being.
6. The Series Is Named Because of Blue Flames
One of the stand-out characteristics of Satan in Blue Exorcist is his blue flames, which are supposed to be able to almost anything. Blue Exorcist is named thus because the titular character possesses the blue flames, though in his case, it was inherited rather than a consequence of possession.
7. Centered On a Pair of Twins
The main characters of Blue Exorcist are a pair of twin brothers named Rin and Yukio Okumura. However, if one had to choose, Rin would have greater claim to main character status than his younger twin. Both of them are the half-human children of Satan, though Rin is the one who inherited Satan’s blue flames whereas Yukio did not.
8. Rin Had to Have His Powers Sealed
For Rin to be able to live a relatively normal life, he had to have his demonic powers sealed. Unfortunately, his seal eventually broke with disastrous consequences, but by that point in time, he had already had 15 years with his brother as well as his foster father Shiro Fujimoto, who was a respected exorcist.
9. Rin Has More than One Motivation for Becoming an Exorcist
Rin has multiple motivations for wanting to become an exorcist. For example, there is exacting vengeance on his biological father Satan for killing his foster father Shiro. Furthermore, there is not wanting to be put in the position of someone sacrificing themselves for him ever again. Finally, there is the matter of proving that he is more than his blood.
10. Plays with Expectations with the Twins’s Roles
There is some subversion in regards to the twin brothers’ roles in the Blue Exorcist series. For example, one would expect Rin’s more obvious demonc inheritance to have had an impact on his personality. However, he is better-described as a pretty nice person with good intentions but a bit of a temper under certain circumstances as well as a fair amount of social awkwardness because of a lack of opportunities to hone his social skills. Over time, Rin becomes less abrasive as he becomes more confident in himself while maturing more in the process. In contrast, Yukio starts out as someone who has everything together, so much so that he starts out as a skilled exorcist whereas Rin wasn’t even told about the existence of demons. However, the series sees him taking a darker turn, not least because he does have some buried resentment for his older twin.
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