Based on the series by Kazue Kato, originally known as 'Ao no Exorcist', the fact that it is a monthly series (published on JumpSQ by Shueisha) instead of weekly ones like Bleach or Naruto give more room to expand its contents and situations on the anime.
As we know, this is the story of Rin Okumura, a 16 year old orphan kid that discovers he's the son of Satan, pretty much in line with The Omen movie theme.
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| Damien in The Omen, 1976, directed by the great Richard Donner |
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| The use of colors in The Omen |
For starters, the soundtrack is what really stands out, from the popular opening song Core Pride by UVERworld, which is currently in top of Japanese charts. There is an unique, ecclectic sound that mixes Jazz, Blues, and Rock and Roll that creates the atmosphere for each scene.
You'd think that given the theme, the characters would wear obscure red, gray and black gothic colors, just like readers originally thought in the manga, but instead the author and the directors decided to avoid the cliche by dressing them in pastel colors that made contrast with darker ones, and it creates this supernatural, ethereal effect.
Just look at Amaimon, sure, he does come from Hell, but Hell seems to be a funky pimp dark place.
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| Credit to Axis33 from Deviantart |
Girls in the academy wear mainly magenta and pale yellow.
Rin Okumura, the protagonist, wears dark colors with a touch of primary colors such as red and blue.
Father Fujimoto reminded me of a mix between Elton John and Father Merrin (of the Exorcist movie) the first time I saw him, both in the manga and the anime, because of the glasses, the use of accessories and demeanor.
The animation is superb quality, similar to Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, however it's too early to judge the fight scenes as there have been few since this series is taking its time with the development of situations and characters, which also breaks a bit the shonen genre cliche in that there must be endless fights all the time. In that sense, this can actually be one of the few shonen series that take special note of character development rather than the constant fights.
So, this series feels like the fondly missed D.Grayman series, whose author hasn't recovered of
a problem in her hand that hasn't let her continue :(
As for the characters, Rin Okumura really stands out as a charismatic character just like Naruto is. The theme of being orphan and rejected, with a cursed legacy upon him makes you relate since you can see that he actually aims to do the right thing.
(by the way, I just can't wait to see Rin fight for real!!)
However, it isn't the same story with Yukio since he seems more aloof and even more arrogant than in the manga.
Also, people act more condescending towards Rin in the anime than in the manga.
But you probably wonder, well, are the differences between the anime and the manga relevant? And it's true, anime series often take their liberties and licenses since not everything can be exactly in the manga, but noticing the subtle differences makes you appreciate the same storyline in different mediums.
I once wrote a sorta review of the manga titled 'Is Ao no Exorcist the next Bleach?', which you can find here: http://myanimemangafix.blogspot.com/2010/06/ao-no-exorxist-next-bleach.html
And looking back, I think that remains to be seen. Both series can't really be compared despite some similarities, but we can see that the anime is having great success in spite of the slow development. In that sense, the pacing of the first Bleach episodes were like a punch to your stomach, and both Tite Kubo and Kazue Kato have very different approaches to their craft, so I think it was adventurous of me to jump ahead and say 'it's the next Bleach', when it's obvious that Blue Exorcist can pretty much become its own thing. :-)
