The mysterious secret organization, the Illuminati has kidnapped the Kamiki family and are planning to continue their torturous ways from Izumo’s mother on to her. Meanwhile, Rin and friends mount a rescue operation! All this and more in Vol. 13 of “Blue Exorcist”!
Image courtesy of © 2009 by Kazue Kato. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: Blue Exorcist Vol. 13 (Ao no Exorcist)
BY Kazue Kato (åŠ è—¤ å’Œæµ)
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Shueisha Inc.
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: VIZ Media, LLC
RATED: For All Ages
RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2015
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.
The Exwires learn the tragic story of what happened to Izumo’s mother, Tamamo, when the Illuminati’s mad Professor Gedoin sought her out in order to conduct his insane experiments. Now Izumo has been captured and is next on the Professor’s list of test subjects. Rin, Yukio, Shiemi, Suguro and Konekomaru head deep into Dream Town Inari to rescue Izumo, but what they find there is a horror none of them ever expected…
The secret society known as the Illuminati are behind mysterious incidents around the globe and it is revealed that there are spies from the Illuminati who are in the Knights of the True Cross but also has infiltrated the True Cross Academy.
Izumo Kamiki and her little sister Tsukumo have been kidnapped and we learned that their mother, Tamamo, the 64th head priestess with great spiritual power is the bearer of the demon fox, Nine Tails. She was consumed by the power and has been experimented on relentlessly by the Illuminati.
But with Tamamo being overused during experiments, the Illuminati want to experiment on Izumo and Tsukumo.
Can Rin and friends save her before it’s too late?
Find out in vol. 13 of Kazue Kato’s hit manga series, “Blue Exorcist”!
What is “Blue Exorcist”?
The manga series revolves around a hotheaded teenager named Rin Okumura. Both he and his brother Yukio have been raised by Father Fujimoto at the Cross Academy Town – Southern Cross Boys Monastery. While Yuki shows great intelligence and is attending school at True Cross Academy to become a doctor, Rin is quite the opposite. He tends to get himself in trouble, fights a lot and is continually told by Father Fujimoto to find a job.
Unfortunately for Rin, finding and holding onto a job is difficult. But one day, while working at a supermarket, he sees a monster in a girl’s scarf. He tells Father Fujimoto of what he has seen and Father Fujimoto starts to fear that something is happening. One day, Rin encounters a group of thugs and its leader that he had beaten up earlier and suddenly sees him turn into a demon. The demon tells Rin that satan is waiting for him and immediately, Father Fujimoto is there to save him and exorcise the demon. Fortunately, Father Fujimoto is there to help but it is all revealed to Rin about why he can see monsters.
It’s the fact that he is not truly human. He is the son of a human woman and satan. And the monsters he have seen, it is explained to Rin that in the world, there is Assiah, the realm of humans, and Gehenna, the realm of demons. Both are not supposed to come in contact with each other but they have and as an exorcist, it is his duty to send the demons back to where they belong. And satan wants to reunite with his son.
To protect Rin, Father Fujimoto gives him the Kamkakushi key, so he can hide anything. And he is also given the Koma Sword, a magic sword passed down from generation to generation and a sword where Rin’s powers have been sealed since birth. Rin’s flame resides inside the sword and is sealed by the scabbard. If he draws it, he will assume his demonic nature and will never be able to live as a human again.
One day, he and Father Fujimoto try to prepare for an imminent attack and tells Rin that he must seek shelter where satan can’t get to him but Rin takes it as his father trying to get rid of him forever. In return, Rin said some hurtful things to Father Fujimoto and the pain that Father Fujimoto felt was enough for satan, the demon to possess him.
Satan shows up to claim his son and attacks Father Fujimoto. Satan reveals that he created Rin from a human woman in order to create a container that would be powerful enough to hold him.
But it’s something that Father Fujimoto will not let happen to the boy, he looked at as a son. In order to save Rin, Father Fujimoto risks his own life to keep satan away and is killed in the process.
Now Rin mourns for the one person he knew as his father and when Mephisto Pheles, a friend of Father Fujimoto comes to visit, he tells him that they represent the Knights of the True Cross and they exorcise demons. And Rin has two choices, they will kill him, or he kills the demons. Instead, Rin tells him that he could care less about being human or a demon, he wants to become an exorcist like Father Fujimoto and avenge him and that means defeating his own father.
So, from that point on, Rin must be trained to become an exorcist and will have to follow special rules (which includes not revealing his true nature). But the first thing that he will need to do is enroll at the same school that his brother Yukio attends. When Rin sees his brother, Yukio is in the top of the class and that he is a special leader that people follow at the school and he is no longer the scrawny younger brother he once knew.
As Rin is now a student at the Knights of the True Cross, many of the elders are not too thrilled because Rin is the son of Satan and because Rin tends to be more of a hothead, they are not too sure if he can fit into the Academy. But Rin is determined to make good on his promise to his deceased father and to protect people, but most of all, to kill satan.
The story continues as Rin continues to study along with his classmates and each are trying to be Esquires, in order to take on various missions. But others at the Academy and the higher ups want to test Rin and find out if he is a person that can be taught and eventually fight with the other exorcists in defeating demons and satan himself.
While people question a demon being an exorcist, for Rin, he makes a goal that one day, he will become a Paladin (highest level of exorcism) like his adoptive father, Father Shiro and prove that because he is satan’s son, that having a caring father like Shiro can make a big change in the life of a person, even if they are a demon.
In volume 12, we have seen the friendship between Rin and his fellow classmates at the Academy grow but one of them is a traitor working with the Illuminati, and that traitor was revealed to be Renzo Shima, who played a role in the kidnapping of the Kamiki sisters.
In volume 13, Lucifer, King of Light and the Commander-in-Chief of the Illuminati has ordered his crew to transfer the Nine Tails that was in Tamamo, mother of Izumo, onto her, so that their experimentation will continue.
As Tsukumo has been hidden from the Illuminati and Izumo knowing that she may not come out alive from this, her friends are planning to mount a rescue operation.
But will they succeed?
“Blue Exorcist†features the following characters:
- Rin Okamura – The main protagonist. The son of Satan but born from a human mother. He and his brother Yukio are twins but he inherited his father’s powers. Rin’s power was sealed inside a sword by Mephisto Pheles, so he can live a human life. Rin was raised by the priest Shiro Fujimoto as normal humans with compassion and love. Despite getting into a lot of trouble and his abilities tend to be more of fighting or cooking, since discovering his power and identity, he vows to use his power to avenge his adoptive father Shiro Fujimoto’s death and defeat Satan. He vows to attend True Cross Academy and do all it takes to become a Paladin and a “Meister†(Knight). Rin also has taken in a dog demon (Cat Sith) which he names Kuro.
- Yukio Okamura – The son of Satan but born from a human mother. Unlike Rin he did not inherit Satan’s powers. Known as the intellectual person of the family, unbeknown to Rin was that he has been secretly trained to become an exorcist since the age of seven in order to protect his brother. So, now he is an instructor at True Cross Academy and responsible for looking after his brother. But he harbors a secret…dark spots are starting to appear on his body which Yukio has told no one about, despite being tested daily if Satan’s power is in him.
- Mephisto Pheles – The Chairman of True Cross Academy. He and Shiro Fujimoto worked together in order to seal Rin’s power and make him human. Mephisto is a powerful exorcist but because he is a demon, many do not believe him while others believe he has proven he is on the side to fight against Satan.
- Ryuji Suguro – Also known as “Bon†to his classmates. He has a high temper and is often fighting and arguing with Rin. But despite his attitude, he is the best student in the class and dedicated to his studies. Part of his drive is because Satan destroyed his family temple.
- Shiemi Moriyama – The daughter of a woman who runs an exorcist-only shop. She lacks confidence and she is quite sheltered (having lived with her grandmother and her only friends were plants) but when given the chance to meet and make friends at True Cross Academy, being in school gives her a new lease on life. It appears that both Rin and Yukio may have feelings towards her. Shiemi is a tamer and can summon a greenman spirit to produce herbs and barriers.
- Izumo Kamiki – She always has a cold attitude and known for her eyebrows. The only friend she is close to is her best friend Paku but slowly (very slowly), she is starting to befriend her classmates. She can summon two Baykko (foxes) to fight.
- Konkomaru Miwa – Very smart but very shy. He is the strategist and is loyal to his best friend Ryuji and Renzo, since they grew up at the same temple that was destroyed. His parents were killed by Satan.
- Renzo Shima – Carefee, loves to flirt with girls (especially Paku and Izumi) but has a major phobia of insects. He also grew up with Ryuji and Konekomaru. Renzo carries a K’rik staff to fight.
- Shura Kirigakure – The carefree, hardly wears anything, loves alcohol, upper first class exorcist who was asked by priest Shiro Fujimoto to train Rin and help him become a “Meisterâ€. She can draw a demon sword from her chest and stomach and is an excellent fighter.
- Shiro Fujimoto – The priest of Southern Cross Monastery who raised both Yukio and Rin as a loving father. He is a Paladin in the True Cross Order and was the strongest exorcist. Was thought to be the only man who could not be possessed by Satan but after an argument with Rin (and Rin saying some hurtful things) which shocked Shiro, it was enough time for Satan to possess Shiro. In order to protect himself from hurting Rin and Yukio, Shiro sacrificed himself.
With the big reveal of who the traitor really is in volume 12, the story continues as the revelation of why the Illuminati is so interested in the Kamiki sisters and their plans of transferring the power of the Nine Tails onto Izumo and possibly into her sister Tsukumo.
But Tsukumo was hidden away from an Illuminati insider who had enough of the torture of the Kamiki family. But Illuminati researcher, Michael Gedoin will do all he can to ensure that he will do whatever is necessary to torture Izumo and bring the power of Nine Tails onto her. Also, doing whatever he can to impress his commander-in-chief Lucifer.
Knowing that time is not on their side, Rin and friends mount a rescue attempt but come upon something they were never prepared for…regenerating zombies!
As for the manga itself, Kazue Kato’s artwork for “Blue Exorcist” is fantastic, the storyline continues to get better with each volume.
“Blue Exorcist†has a good balance of humor, action and an interesting concept in balance with awesome illustration. Because of the darker and more serious tone with the Kamiki family, there is less of the humor, more emotional drama and action this time around. And it’s a very fascinating storyline that is definitely building up for something huge!
If you are a fan of “Blue Exorcist”, definitely read volume 13! Recommended!