Blue Exorcist: the Movie

**Blue Exorcist The Movie** is a 2012 anime film and a spin-off of the *Blue Exorcist* manga and anime created by

   Kazue Kato.  The film was green-lit on September 30, 2011, around the time of the anime's first season finale. It was released on December 29, 2012 in Japanese, with an English dub released on July 19, 2013, receiving mixed to positive reviews.

## Plot

Every 11 years, a festival is held in True Cross Academy Town. While on a mission to investigate the case of a possessed train, Rin Okumura meets a demon in the form of a child and befriends him. Unbeknownst to Rin, the demon is the one told about in one of his childhood books and laid a village to waste.

## Why it rocks

1. For the most part, the movie's plot is parallel to the manga/anime, yet remains faithful to the source material. One scene manga readers will recognize is the scene where Rin, Yukio, and Shiemi investigate the possessed train. This means that this movie is, in general, enjoyable by both die-hard fans of *Blue Exorcist* and for people who are not overly familiar with the series, but remember it.
2. Great, lovable characters such as Rin, Yukio, Shiemi, and more!
3. Various subplots that all connect to make one large story.
4. Beautiful and breathtaking animation which sets high standards for 2D animation films around the world.
5. Amazing music score (composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, one of the most popular anime/video game music composers in Japan) with varying genres for different moods. Not only does it have its own original soundtrack (which is expected), it also uses music from the TV anime, as well as acoustic renditions of fan-favorite songs.
6. Voice acting is unparalleled in all languages (Japanese, English, French, German) and boasts some of the best foreign-language anime dubs. Everyone voiced their characters as if they actually *were* that character.
7. A mix of genres for people with different interests, such as action, humor, social drama, and emotional scenes.
8. Two characters left out of the anime's first season, Juzo and Kinzo Shima, make a special appearance, predating their true first appearance in the anime's second season.
9. The end credits are accompanied by a headbanging song by Japanese band uverWORLD.
10. Heavy pre-release promotion, including rerunning the entire first season *and* broadcasting a Blu-ray/DVD-exclusive special bonus episode on Japanese TV, as well as Nobuhiko Okamoto and Jun Fukuyama, the Japanese voices of Rin and Yukio respectively, releasing a single featuring 2 songs: Trailblazer by Okamoto as Rin, and Dedicate by Jun as Yukio.
11. Admittedly, cartoons and anime aren't for everyone. But this is ***THE*** animation film to defy that.

## Bad Qualities

1. Besides Usamaro, none of the original characters were **that** memorable. Lena was seen in only one scene, and Cheng Long-Liu can be quite an asshole, especially to Rin, Yukio, Shura, and Usamaro.
2. None of the other main characters from the manga/anime, besides Rin, get that much attention.
3. In general, *Blue Exorcist* is seen as nothing special and just another mediocre action anime, which is why some people, even die-hard anime fans, overlook this film.

## Reception

As of November 2016, Blue Exorcist has sold over 15 million copies.[32] The manga has been popular in Japan with the seventh volume receiving first print run of one million copies becoming the first *Jump Square* manga to reach such milestone. The release of the anime also drastically increased the manga's sales to the point that Shueisha decided to increase the print run for the seventh volume.[30] Critics have praised the *Blue Exorcist* manga with Comic Book Bin reviewer Leroy Douresseaux feeling the first volume had potential, enjoying the comedy in the work and the characters and their interactions, recommending it to teen readers.[33] Danica Davidson from Otaku USA felt that while the series employs disturbing storytelling, Rin's heroic traits despite being Satan's son make the plot more appealing to the readers.[34] Kato's artwork has been praised by Anime News Network's Carlo Santos for the way each character has distinct traits while background images are well designed.[35] Despite noting that the story uses several clichés, Carl Kimlinger from the same site emphasized how the execution was well-performed, resulting in entertaining episodes, especially its fight scenes, which were noted to be one of the anime's strongest points.[36]