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REVIEW: Blue Exorcist Episodes 1-6 Streaming




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reanimator





PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 1:17 am Reply with quote
For me, Blue Exorcist was fun to watch.

Has anyone read the original manga version? It feels like the director gets uneven criticism.
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poonk



Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 1490
Location: In the Library with Philip
PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 1:35 am Reply with quote
I was into the first few episodes of this show... until they shifted to the supernatural highschool setting. My interest definitely wanned after that. Instead of, "Oh, a new episode! Must make time to watch!" it became, "Well, I've already watched everything else I'd rather see at the moment so might as well..."

So, manga readers-- assuming the anime stays with the manga, is it worth keeping up? I'm really, really on the fence about this one.


Last edited by poonk on Fri Jun 03, 2011 2:37 am; edited 1 time in total
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Alexis.Anagram



Joined: 26 Jan 2011
Posts: 278
Location: Mishopshno
PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 1:41 am Reply with quote
Great review, couldn't have said it better myself. Nothing original about it, but Rin is such an appealing protagonist (and such wonderful eye candy, especially in demon form...ahem!) that he alone seems to carry the show. Unfortunately (and fortunately), the series looks to have just started delving into specific characters' pasts and motivations indicating that the real meat of the story is yet to come. I would say the introductory two-parter seemed a bit scatter-brained, and Satan's (I'm sure it was meant to be a twist) possession of Rin's priest dad came off as underwhelming, despite the fact that I liked most everything about its execution.

Good jab at Yukio. Gosh, I'm tired of the condescending smart-ass brother trope.

Oh, and episode 6. Was I the only one to have caught themselves practically screaming, with some significant measure of impatience, "This is NOT Yumerio Patissiere!" Because I did do that at one point.

Things I would add: more fighting, more shirtless Rin, more interesting demon mythology. And even more Shiemi, I like her.
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kgw



Joined: 22 Jul 2004
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Location: Spain, EU
PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 11:18 am Reply with quote
It's not an original story, nor original characters. But its strength is shown when faced against genre rivals: "Belzebuub" is rude and I couldn't care enough for the (demon) baby; "Toriko", a hunter gourmet? wth?; Deadman Wonderland... so much violence it stopped being funny. Faced with better rivals (and i know I can name a few), "Blue Exorcist" would have nothing to do. But there are none in this season, and so might work.

P.s: At least, to me. Believe it or not, Toriko seems to rule the ratings...
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sepherest





PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 1:49 pm Reply with quote
kgw wrote:

Believe it or not, Toriko seems to rule the ratings...


Well yeah....'cause you know, it's a good series with a pretty original concept.

Although to be honest I'm not a fan of Toei switching over to do the anime so I'm passing on it.
Manga's a whole buffet of fun though.
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egoist



Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 7762
PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 1:55 pm Reply with quote
Hilarious to hear "original" this "original" that when about everything coming out nowadays is generic and has already been done to death including so proclaimed shows like Madoka Magica and Tiger & Bunny. But unlike those 2, Blue Exorcist didn't put on a cute facade like "Hey look, a show within a show about heroes sponsored by organizations", but by the end what we get is the same stuff we saw another million times in other hero fiction, while the other had the "Hey look, cute magical girls dying, this is so innovative!" But by the end nothing I hadn't already seen done in Evangelion (+ plus the other trillion NGE inspired anime), Bokurano and so on.

If we're talking about originality there's only a few coming out. From this season perhaps Steins Gate and Hyouge Mono. I had hopes for Showa Monogatari, but that thing is so bland it's almost like a Mexican telenovel animated.
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Saturn



Joined: 08 Aug 2002
Posts: 513
PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 2:34 pm Reply with quote
Aww, I like Yukio-- he serves his purpose (as cool, calculating foil to Rin's hot-blooded emotionality) perfectly, and they're especially fun to watch together in the cooking episode (where Rin, for once, gets to force his morals onto Yukio).

Anyway I agree, this show is loads of fun. I'm always excited for the new episodes, even though the most recent one with Shiemi being such a doormat I wanted to punch her was kind of grating. I don't know how long the series is going to be, though, so I do wonder how they're planning on doing the plot. As long as they don't, you know, give the series an unequivocal ending and then retcon it (as A-1 has been known to do...), I'll be happy.
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Aero-Wolf



Joined: 11 May 2011
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 3:15 pm Reply with quote
I really love this show, but I do agree it is fairly cliche... then again, I could care less! Give my cliche if it's well done and I believe Blue Exorcist is.

I've read the manga and I think the anime will follow it pretty well. In the manga there isn't very much "school time" and what I believe to be more action-filled as the series continues, and the fights were fun to read, in my opinion, although they weren't extremely long. [then again there are reasons they are short.] I don't care much for long battles because after a few minutes, I just want to see the end already.

By the way... the kitchen episode was a filler. The actual one is totally different and 5 pages long xD
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 3:27 pm Reply with quote
Sepherest wrote:
kgw wrote:

Believe it or not, Toriko seems to rule the ratings...


Well yeah....'cause you know, it's a good series with a pretty original concept.

Are y'all talking about TV ratings?

Cause One Piece is 30 minutes after Toriko (or is it before?) Either way, that's a huge audience to cash in on. Whereas the time slot of Blue Exorcist is pretty well known for under-performing somewhat.
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Weazul-chan



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 625
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 11:37 pm Reply with quote
I have to agree that it's cliche and not that original, but it sure is fun and well done. that's what got me into it. and the slow pace of the anime probably stems from the fact that the manga runs in a monthly magazine and only has 20-odd chapters out so far. but the ep with the kitchen demon was pretty much an expansion of some bonus 4-koma that came with the second volume rather than something completely pulled out of nowhere.
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MaxSouth



Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 1363
PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 3:10 am Reply with quote
when graphics/art style gets "original" for the sake of "originality" itself, making characters looking ugly, it is pathetic...

this is the same problem as with Kekkaishi... characters there and in this BE project have noses cut at unbelievable angles... as if they all suffered syphilis, the illness which, on the late stages, eats out soft part of the nose, making people's head look like skulls... or as if everyone depicted in the project committed crimes for which punishment was cutting off the nose (medieval measure)...

also, the idea of main hero all of sudden bursting non-motivated insulting nonsense to his "adopted" father in the begging of this show is so blatantly stretched that there is no other way to interpret this as a truly lame, lazy work by authors to make up drama at point where it does not come naturally at all...

such cheap tactics by authors make viewers disconnected from the world the project tries to present, from heroes to sympathize... because the show's settings becomes so obviously constructed... viewers just can not fully merge, immerse with the story...
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Cecilthedarkknight_234



Joined: 02 Apr 2011
Posts: 3819
Location: Louisville, KY
PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 11:08 am Reply with quote
what i expected...was a story about the off spring of Lucifer's kicking his dad's ass.

what i got... brotherly lovely with crazy hijinks and some romance.

gee i wonder why my hopes where set so high for >_>
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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3489
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:22 am Reply with quote
For my two cents: I really liked the first two episodes, mostly liked the third, and then...

It's become case-of-the-week, character-intro-of-the-week, filler (the kitchen episode was apparently a short gag chapter) and fluff. It's still well-animated, and I like Rin, but it's awkward, slow, and clunky when the first two episodes were just slick and action-packed. It's not the cliches (because "cliches" done well can be oh-so-much fun, heavens knows Tiger & Bunny is pushing all the right superhero buttons), it's that I feel like it's become a different, more boring series.

The reason I'm sticking with it, though, is that I have been assured by my friend who reads the manga that it eventually will get to another, stronger arc. But this "let's expand the cast in the most inorganic way possible!" arc is really wearing down my interest in the show.
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spymaster4



Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 9:18 am Reply with quote
Personally I really enjoyed this anime. No offense but, I wish they would bring out more sceans where the girls in the anime do some thing sexual or close to it. That would bring humor and help out the show for when they need to end a slow scean.

I also think that they should bring back that first girl that the main character was with befor he started his quest. she was awesome!
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