Kazue Kato's Blue Exorcist is getting a new anime series.
Jump Festa event revealed the exciting news alongside a short promotional trailer. The video features iconic panels from Kato's manga and spotlights twin brothers Rin and Yukio Okumura. At the time of writing, it is unclear if the new show will be a total reboot or a continuation of A-1 Pictures' previous anime adaptation.
Blue Exorcist Follows the Okumura Brothers
Blue Exorcist follows the adventures of Rin, a seemingly normal high school student who discovers he and his brother are actually the sons of Satan himself. After demons brutally kill his guardian and father figure, Rin enrolls at the True Cross Academy in order to learn to control his blue flame powers and hopefully defeat his father one day. Kato began publishing his ongoing manga in Shueisha's Jump Square in 2009, and as of this year, the series has sold over 25 million copies across the globe.
A-1 Pictures' anime adaptation of Blue Exorcist initially ran for a single season in 2011, producing a total of 25 episodes and several OVAs. Directed by Tensai Okamura (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG) and written by Ryōta Yamaguchi (Sailor Moon Sailor Stars), the show starred Nobuhiko Okamoto (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?) as Rin alongside Jun Fukuyama (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion) as Yukio, Kazuya Nakai (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime) as Ryūji Suguro and Kana Hanazawa (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) as Shiemi Moriyama.
The Original Anime Aired in 2011
The 2011 Blue Exorcist anime received an English dub, which featured the voice talents of Bryce Papenbrook (Attack on Titan), Johnny Yong Bosch (Bleach), Kyle Hebert (Digimon Fusion) and Christine Marie Cabanos (Neon Genesis Evangelion). The show aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block, and Aniplex of America handled its English home video release.
Surprisingly, around six years later, a second season -- titled Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga -- made its debut and depicted the events of the story arc of the same name from Kato's manga series. The new season only had 12 episodes in total, but it did reignite interest in the show among anime viewers, and calls for a third season have been ongoing since Kyoto Saga's conclusion in 2017.
Kato's Blue Exorcist manga is distributed in North America by VIZ Media, and A-1 Pictures' anime adaptation is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Crunchyroll.
Source: YouTube, via Anime Senpai