I have been following this series since I found the first chapter online a few years ago so I am quite a fan… XD

Ao No Exorcist, also know as Blue Exorcist, starts out with a pretty standard plot. Half demon boy, evil dad, dead mom, murder, boy gets taken in by a group of exorcists. See? Nothing-new there… It’s as the plot progresses that this series begins to stand out. The depth of the characters, the main character Rin in particular, is suburb! All of the characters have pretty realistic reactions to the happenings around them and the mystery of wondering what’s going to happen next is always a rush. At the school for exorcists Rin has to hide his half demon identity or risk being killed by other exorcists. This makes for some exciting tension between him and his friends.
Again this is a pretty normal sounding shounen manga, and for the most part it is. For me I fell in love with the tension and realism of reactions of the characters. (I can’t go into more detail without terrible spoilers…) I love that it feels like the author has a real idea of where they want the story to progress. As far as shounen goes this one stands at a level that is very accessible by not being too bloody or gruff, but also not being too kiddish and light.
Also while the anime based off this manga has garnered this series some much-deserved attention, I still feel like it’s worth a mention here and definitely worth the read. Half demon action series are also a fan girl fav for me… XO
The artwork is very pretty in my opinion and the story is a fun shounen with some punch!
This series is ongoing so I can’t say with complete confidence that it will have a good ending, (I can’t put any series on my favorite list if I haven’t seen/watched it in it’s entirety) but I think it has great promise to remain a great series!

Also I am happy to say this series is available for sale in the English language published by VIZ!!! (And I tooootally own it!)

~Tsu