Manga Review – Blue Exorcist Vol 5 by Kazue Kato (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Manga/Shonen/Fantasy
Length: 202 pages
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Release Date: December 6, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1421540764
Stand Alone or Series: 5th volume in the Blue Exorcist series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Rin and his exorcist classmates are caught in a secret war against the forces of darkness.
Raised by Father Fujimoto, a famous exorcist, Rin Okumura never knew his real father. One day a fateful argument with Father Fujimoto forces Rin to face a terrible truth—the blood of the demon lord Satan runs in Rin’s veins! Rin swears to defeat Satan, but doing that means entering the mysterious True Cross Academy and becoming an exorcist himself.
In the late Edo Period, a demon known as the Impure King killed thousands of people. After defeating the demon, the Knights of the True Cross kept its left eye safely sealed away on Academy grounds—but now someone has stolen it! Hearing the thief has taken a child hostage, Yukio and Rin go to help. The investigation and pursuit will lead Rin and his friends to Kyoto and involve them even deeper in a sinister plot! But will his friends’ knowledge that Rin is the son of Satan drive a wedge between them?”
Series Info/Source: This is the 5th volume in the Blue Exorcist shounen manga series. There are 24 volumes published in this series right now in the US with the 25th due out Feb 2021. There are 26 volumes in this series right now with the 27th to be published in 2021 in Japan.
Story (4/5): This was a more interesting storyline than the last volume. Rin tags along with Yukio to help at an incident involving the poison eyeball of the Impure King. Rin is still being alienated by his friends because of them finding out he is the son of Satan. I did enjoy getting to see what the Knights of the True Cross actually do, rather than hanging out with the students the whole time.
Characters (3/5): Not a lot of new characters introduced in this volume, although we do meet some new Knights of the True Cross. The highlight of this volume is Kuro for me; I still don’t like Rin as a character that much and Shuro bugs the crap out of me. Still looking for some decent female characters in here…
Setting (4/5): A lot of this story takes place in some creepy underground tunnels which was a good setting for the story. We get to start a journey to Kyoto as well which should be interesting in the next volume.
Writing/Drawing Style (4/5): Not a lot more to say than what I’ve said in review of previous volumes. These are decently drawn and easy to follow. I like the fast pace and action in this manga. The characters remain a weak point of the series for me. I did like getting into a storyline with a bit more background and “meat” to it, hopefully the Impure King storyline will go on a couple volumes.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this continues to be a solid shonen manga series that I am enjoying. While the drawing and storyline aren’t absolutely fabulous, this is one of the better shonen manga series I have read.
