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@franzoir, I totally think the same as you about the school and Yukio, but you put it to words so nicely.

On one side I do believe that some schooling is necessary to become an exorcist, but I certainly dont think this schooling should have the form of a high school. The grand school setting reminded me of occult academy and well, I was also wondering, if the world really needs so many exorcists. I felt the high school plot twist is unnecessary and the anime would be better off without it.

As for the talk between Yukio and Rin.... it was necessary for them to have this talk, because they needed to clear the air between them. But just like Franzoir pointed out, Yukio was behaving as if though it is natural he didnt inherit Satans blood and it is solely a shortcoming of Rin. I felt sorry for Rin, because it wasnt him who decided to be born and he didnt choose his father either and Yukio shouldnt be so condescending, just because he was lucky. I very much liked the one sentence Rin said to Yukio: "Dont you dare to point a gun at me, I am your brother!!!" Hell yeah, well said Rin!!! By the looks of it though, Yukio is a kind soul and I bet once he decided to support Rin, he will be do anything for him.

The next episode looks interesting. It seems they will have a case to solve.

Well, as the anime does go on, you will kind of see a relevance on having a school for Exorcist. In the next episode you will find out "Why" they have to go to school. Exorcism isn't just going out and killing demons with brute force (Although as for Rin, since he is kind of a brute who relies strength).

And, there aren't that many exorcists in the story. Maybe 10 main exorcists, 20-30 side character exorcist as the story goes on.

The school setting is also very minor in the Manga. As the story goes on, you won't see much of the school apart from the classroom and dorm.

Anyways, i enjoyed episode 3, but when i read chapter 24 i noticed there were NO MOLES on Yukio's face. The anime makes him look too weird and in the manga version he looks so much better.

Spoiler image of the manga (Chapter 2 page 3) - The part we see in the anime in episode 3

That picture has no mole, but i guess looking back at page 1 the colour pages there are moles which i never noticed.

Rather then Yukios face moles I wonder, what creature Mephisto is. He has the same demon ears as Rin.... so is he a demon?

PS: I think Yukio looks unique with his moles and I dont see a problem with it. A little originality in face design cant be bad. I am tired of the uniform look anime charas normally have.

Seems that Yukio is prety evil himself and only appears to be a crybaby and nice guy. I mean how he killed the Demons was pretty awesome and I wouldnt have thought that he would say and think such stuff to his brother and about him.

The schoolsetting isnt that bad since its good to have a pseudo-life. And even as an excorsit its not wrong to learn certain things "normal" people learn.

I know what you mean. The feeling I can't shake off is they applied this school and dorm setting because they wanted to reproduce the Harry Potter style environment. Even the whole key thing that allows Rin to enter the secret exorcist classes was reminiscent of the third Harry Potter book. I guess maybe the producers thought Harry Potter was popular so by mimicking it's formula they could produce similar results. When I first heard of the academy I was hoping (although not completely expecting) it would follow a set-up closer to Fairy Tale where people congregate at one place, learn a few things but the school element is kept to a minimum.

While I do agree that how Yukio hid the truth from Rin all this time was bad and blaming him for his father's death was worse still I can sort of understand where he is coming from. Yukio adored his father, his strength, his supreme talents in exorcism and his amazing willpower to hold Satan back. His father was the source of inspiration in becoming a exorcist in the first place and Fujimoto's talents in exorcism would only serve to leave Yukio in awe over him. The fact Fujimoto was taken away so suddenly would be hard for Yukio to take.

I think another sore point for Yukio is the fact Fujimoto had a weak spot for Rin. I believe all this hard work undertaken by Yukio wasn't simply to become stronger, it was also done to impress his father and make him favour Yukio more. He probably felt somewhat aggrieved that despite all the hard work and amazing feats he accomplished (like becoming the youngest exorcist ever) his father could still hold such an attachment to his brother who was no more than a thug. Because let's face it, that was how Rin was basically presenting himself. He is green with envy and this is the root cause of his dislike for Rin I feel. It is ugly and it is certainly goes against the friendly public persona that he likes to present to others. Then again many people are like that so to me this is good character development.

With all that said, we should remember Yukio's reactions come from the immediate aftermath of his father's death. So wild accusations are likely to be thrown around and old resentments surface. After this talk it is likely things will settle down somewhat although I would agree with you; the rivalry and bad feelings are likely to surface at some point in the future.

That is my assumption. The fact he keeps his true Mephisto identity a secret must make that the case. Besides isn't Mephisto a demon of sorts who is related to Satan in some way? My knowledge is very patchy in this area but I think that is case. If someone knows more please correct me. But to answer your question: I believe he is a demon.

Ohhh, you think that Mephisto is not just his funky name, but he is like the real thing? I thought he just adopted the name because he finds it funny, but I didnt expect him to be THE Mephisto from Fausts work. Now that I think about it, it is quite reasonable....

PS: if Mephisto is a demon as well, then I fail to understand, why he was laughing so hard, when Rin decided to become an exorcist. In the end isnt he an exorcist as well?

It prbably because Rin being the high level hell spawn that he is can be consdered as laughable for him to become an exorcist. I mean that power alone that he has can take on almost any kind of demon that comes his way, but I'm sure he wants to refine his ability so he can be a profesional exorcist here.

In any case I still kind of enjoyed on how he even stated that he would never want to pick a fight with his brother no matter what, since he did always tend to respect him every now and again.

As for the whole high scool bit... well isn't it common sense to have some kind of better idea of the real world incase the Exorcits side of business is slow at times?

Well, yeah, but then why not accept people who already finished high school?
For me it smells of slice of life type of plot.... OK, we are not getting that here for sure, because it is a supernatural shounen and not some demented harem anime, but still..... I could do without it.

JC-Hobz mentioned though, the focus of the anime isnt on the school, so that comforts me and I am looking forward to the next episode. Right now the exorcist is my fav this season. It is a shounen, but then why not? I watch(ed) Naruto/Bleach and ao no exorcist looks like it has a refreshng twist to it.

Well it's pretty much going for the whole normal high school life and then throw in a Breach-like (I perfer to use Engrish for that title no matter what) curve ball to make it were the school is just a place to pass the time between story arcs, or to be nothing but massive filler moments to the main plot, and add a bit of GARness to the thing and that's how this show turns out. Although just because it's set in high school doesn't automatically go into harem, it's just that they have a similar setting. I mean mostly anything that is set in present day would be having the setting or main character going into high school. Although there is the rarity of it being set in college and a select few set in a workplace though.

Anyways the school looks interesting, but I'm sure it's just there for backgorun purposes just to mak ethings look cooler then they are I'll bet.

Yes Mephisto laughing would seem rather odd and hypocritical if he was a demon himself. But then the other thing that makes me think he is a demon is like Rin, Mephisto also has the distinctive ear features that Rin has. No one in this series has those ears except those two characters. It all points to him being a demon but then this could be a red-herring purposely planted by the makers of the show. We will see.

I don't think peoples' reservation of the high-school setting is centred around the fear of a potential harem dynamic. I don't even really get a harem vibe from this series; I mean Rin is fairly cold towards his classmates and his classmates are the same. There seems little potential at this moment of time for Rin to gain a harem of girls. I feel the real issue is the fact the whole high-school thing has been done to death and it would be nice if they tried something a little more original. Your suggestion of a college setting would be good but what would have been even better is if the academy was something closer to a guild or workshop. It would still retain the school element as they can attend some functions but since they are exorcists a bigger emphasis can be placed on on the field practice since everything is not in a high-school. Also another point; by making it like a guild it will have a more adult feel as not everyone in the class will be kids. There is more scope of adding older characters with weird and wacky personalities which would fit the overall vibe of the academy.

In any case I don't think this high-school theme is a deal breaker and I feel most people here think the same way too (I could be mistaken though). It is just they could have done things in a better way and this current set-up has the potential to become cheesy and corny and this is what people worry about the most. But it seems Ao No Exorcist is not likely to go in this direction if it follows the manga even somewhat faithfully. So it is all good!

Well I have nothing against the high school setup, but it seems to be one of the most simplest things to start off with in any present day anime/manga anymore though. I mean I think it might be due to thier audience that they are targeting for this series.

Never the less the school setup is th emost common due to the fact that you will always run into that certain loli that becomes a major player in the story.
A cheezy tatic, but it makes things rather easier for the writiers I'll bet.

Well.. Yukio didn't really have to tell Rin that he was the son of satan or a demon, because Father Fujimoto wanted to raise Rin as a human. And like most humans in the series, they don't think demons exist. If Rin was told he was a demon by Yukio when he was a little kid... Then Rin would probably go berserk or something (Keeping in mind he would be only a little kid).

Also about Mephisto, Don't worry or try to think about it too much, as the story goes on you will find out enough. The manga is only up to Chapter 24 so even i don't know that much. But as the way the anime is going, it's used 2 chapers of the manga in 3 episodes. I do hope they speed it up to all the good stuff

School setting-check
Ditzy Loli girl-check
Antagonistic friend/rival- pending next episode

Firstly, I did not find Shiemi's story touching or moving in the slightest. The best moment was when Rin gave her a slap on the head for being such a silly girl. The best way to deal with a touch of the melodramatics and maybe sheer idiocy.

There are better ways to introduce characters then having standalone episodes. It almost like the writers are saying, right, we have done Shiemi's past, the audience knows who she is and where she is coming from, now she can just fade into obscurity in a supporting role. No need for further character development. No doubt that the same thing will happen to the guy that will be introduced in the next episode. Ofcourse, for most shounen/fantasy shows this is a tried and tested method, but I have seen it been done a thousand times and Im tired of it. I dont see why characters cant be introduced incrementally, with the writers teasing us with further character development so we want know more, while the plot is still advancing. In my opinion, had they followed this approach, I may have found Shiemi's story more sincere.

As of episode 6 (episode 5 is a write-off), I hope the slog of generics will be over and the plot will advance to how Rin will tackle his daddy issues.

I just feel this is the type of show that needs to blast ahead with the plot, not giving us too much time to think about the why's and how's of the story.

Ok after seeing epsidoe 4 I have to say that I am enjoying how this series is going. although I still sense badassery here and there, but I'm supprised on how Yukio is actually showing Rin the ropes first hand like that here. Granted Rin did see that Shiemi was almost the same as him. I mean they both and a traumatic moment in thier lives, but it seems that Rin didn't want her to loose sight of what she really wanted to do.

In the end of it all it seems that she ended up in the same cram school class with Rin as well. Although she does openly admit to having a crush on Yukio though. Poor Rin I don't think he'll ever get a chance with th eladies for quite sometime here.

Oh God, Kana Hanazawa again..... I was putting off watching the episode because I didn't want to listen to her. But, when I did get around to watching it, she wasn't too bad here. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate her, I think shes great as Kuroneko in Ore no Imouto and as Tenshi in Angel Beats, but I don't like her Kobato-ish voice.
That being said, I understand where you are coming from franzoir, I hope that this series does break out of the cookie cutter formula that we often see with shounen shows. At least we have two strong male leads, their amusing brotherly interactions keep me watching each week

Meh, thats ok, he can do much better than Shiemi anyway

Just saw episode 5 and here are my thoughts:


The beginning .... well, our fears about the school life plot are now confirmed, sigh. At leats the magical/phantasy setting makes it somewhat bearable....

I have been wondering about something though. Rin must be very careful from now on not to let anybody know, that he is the satans son and therefore he cannot draw the sword in front of the other students. So far so logical...... but the blue flames arent the only sign of his demon blood. Doesnt anybody notice his ears? Or Mephistos for that matter? I mean, they study exorcism, wouldnt they have this basic knowledge that pointy ears = demon? Or do they think that both Rin and Memphisto are elves?

Speaking of Mephisto..... he is an interesting character. So it seems he is Rins niisan. I have been wondering how come the church lets a demon guide the exorcism academy and now that I know he is as well satans son, I understand it even less. Obviously, he must have a reason of some sort.... just like Rin..... but it is strange that after all this time, Satan doesnt seem to know about it? Is he something like a double agent then? This last scene definately spiked my interest in this anime.......

(too bad there arent any delicious bishounens in this anime. I have a weakness for the baddies, but Rin is acting so immature. Bad is good, but it must have class and style too).

Yeah this series has already a lot of flaws in regards to realism. Nobody seems to see the ears of Mephisto and Rin, nobody seems to care that Rin always runs around with a sword, a son of Satan leading the excorcists, a total nutcase as an excorcist teacher.

And we seem to really dive in the slice-of-life genre since next ep totally looks like that.

And why should you get delicious bishounen if I dont get delicious women ^^

Well next episode is a filler...
Killer, everything will be revealed as the series goes on. It's probably the best thing about the manga, how you always questions whats going to happen and why things are like what they are.

Warita about the ears here's a spoiler There have been demons who have become exorcists, and they could just be half demons aswell(Human mother + demon father). Also, most of the harmful demons you see in the series don't look like humans at all.

And your question about Mephisto will be answered in the series so i won't go into that. Just keep watching if your curious or read the manga Which i think is way better.

A good episode even if it is a bit of a filler.
The fight with the froglike demon was not so great. Mephisto however was. Is he a double agent? His remarks seemed pretty dangerous for everyone.
Rin was pretty awkward towards Shiemi. I do hope he makes up with her. Not calling her a friend seemed to hurt her a lot. Rin should know better..

This episode was just all over the place.

I see this show as a test to my endurance now. I feel so stupid for letting the first two episodes dupe me into thinking there would be progress. It seems wanting to defeat Satan is just as ambiguous as wanting to become the next pirate king or hokage.

Eitherway, it was a brain dead idea to turn this into an anime if there are only 24 chapters out.