Blue Exorcist by Kazue Kato

Blue Exorcist follows the story of 15-year-old Rin Okumura, an unruly teenager who discovers that he is the son of Satan, the king of demons. After Satan kills Rin’s adoptive parent Father Shiro Fujimoto, Rin enrolls in a school for Exorcists called True Cross Academy. Armed with his powerful Blue Flame he inherited from his demonic father, Rin is determined to defeat Satan and protect the innocent.

In volume five, former Exorcist Saburota Todo steals the left eye of the Impure King—a vicious demon that killed 40,000 humans! The eyes release a poisonous gas, and if they fall into the wrong hands, innocent people will be killed. To protect the remaining right eye, Rin and friends team up with members of the Myodha Temple in Kyoto. Volume six starts with a shocking revelation of a traitor within the Myodha Temple, plotting to steal the right eye!

As a big fan of this series, I really enjoyed this latest volume. The situation surrounding the eyes gets intense as the Exorcists desperation to find the traitor leads them to distrust everyone—including their own family members! The plot was so thrilling that I refused to put the book down.

I was also very impressed by Rin’s character development as he continued to struggle with controlling his Flame. In the first volume, Rin was a hyperactive tough guy with no sense of responsibility. But as he becomes more mature, he starts to understand his power and himself. However, he is still the same goof who acts on his emotions. It’ll be interesting to see how he develops throughout the rest of the series.

Of course the most important aspect of any good Shonen manga is action and Blue Exorcist has plenty of it. Kato creates intense and epic battles between Rin and the demons that explode off of the page. Though volume six doesn’t have as much fighting scenes as the previous volumes, it still packs enough to satisfy.

What will happen to Rin and friends? Can they protect the eyes and the innocent at the same time? Find out in Blue Exorcist Vol. 6, on sale February 7th, 2012.

by Katherine McGowan