“Blue Exorcist the Movie: Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set” is a magnificent Blu-ray release that fans of the series will love and it’s also one of the most gorgeous anime films on Blu-ray for 2013. Highly recommended!
Image courtesy of Image courtesy of © Kazue Kato/Shueisha. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Blue Exorcist the Movie: Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set
THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: 2012
DURATION: 88 Minutes
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English and Japanese DTS 5.1 Master Audio, Japanese Linear PCM Stereo, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Aniplex Inc.
RATED: 13 and Up
Release Date: December 17, 2013
Original Creator: Kazue Kato
Directed by Atsushi Takashi
Script by Reiko Yoshida
Music by Hiroyuki Sawano
Character Design by Keigo Sasaki
Art Director: Shinji Kimura
Anime Production: A-1 Pictures
Featuring the following voice talent:
Jun Fukuyama/Johnny Yong Bosch as Yukio Okumura
Nobuhiko Okamoto/Bryce Papenbrook as Rin Okumura
Kana Hanazawa/Christine Marie Cabanos as Shiemi Moriyama
Rie Kugimiya/Cassandra Lee as Usamaro
Hidenobu Kiuchi/Todd Haberkorn as Cheng-Long Liu
Kazuya Nakai/Kyle Hebert as Ryūji Suguro
Ayahi Takagaki/Stephanie Sheh as Kuro
Eri Kitamura/Kira Buckland as Izumo Kamiki
Hiroshi Kamiya/Sam Regal as Mephisto Pheles
Keiji Fujiwara/Kirk Thornton as ShirÅ Fujimoto
Koji Yusa as RenzÅ Shima
Rina Satou/Wendee Lee as Shura Kirigakure
Tetsuya Kakihara/Darrel Guilbeau as Amaimon
Yuuki Kaji as Konekomaru Miw
When his adopted father, Shiro Fujimoto, was killed by his biological father, Satan, Rin Okumura swore to become an exorcist to avenge Shiro’s death declaring war on his own blood-relatives of the underworld…
Everyone is in the midst of preparing for a festival which is celebrated once every 11 years in True Cross Academy Town. However, behind the scenes in the shadows, a “Phantom Train” goes berserk while the barriers protecting the town from demon intrusions are under repair. Rin, Yukio, and Shiemi are sent to exorcise the Phantom Train, but as usual Rin complicates the situation.
Amidst the chaos, Rin meets a demon in the form of a young boy. Meanwhile, Cheng-Long Liu, a Senior Exorcist First Class from the Taiwan Branch joins Shura in the repair operation and the story takes an unexpected turn as all their fates cross…
This limited edition box set includes a bonus DVD featuring an exclusive staff interview, a deluxe booklet, and exclusive illustration postcards all housed in a rigid box illustrated by Kazue Kato.
The characters of “Blue Exorcist” are back in a brand new movie as chaos comes to the city and Rin meets a demon in the form of a young boy named Usamaro, which the exorcists intends on sealing.  Which puts him and his brother Yukio with two different opinions on how to handle the matter.
An emotional and visually beautiful holiday film, “Blue Exorcist the Movie: Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set” will be available on Blu-ray courtesy of Aniplex Inc.
So, What is “Blue Exorcist†about?
“Ao no Exorcist†(Blue Exorcist) is an anime adaptation of a manga series written and illustrated by Kazue Kato, a mangaka who won a Tenkaichi Manga Award back in 1999 at the age of 19 and won a Tezuka Award in 2000 for his manga “The Witch and the Rabbitâ€. Kato is also known for his 2006 manga series “Robot Usakichi†(Space Traveler Robo & Usakichi).
“Blue Exorcist†was serialized on Jump Square Magazine by Shueisha since April 2009 and is still an ongoing manga series in Japan.
With the popularity of the manga series, an anime adaptation was produced by A-1 Pictures with Hitoshi Okamura as the producer. The series began back in April 2011 and 25-episodes have aired in Japan.
The anime 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.
Blue Exorcist The Movie
The movie begins with a story that Rin and Yukio was read by the priest Shiro Fujimoto when they were younger.
The story was about boy who finds a demon and they become friends. The boy brings the demon back home and everyone in the village becomes friend with the demon and have fun. But they all forget their duties and when an exorcist comes to the village, the demon is sealed.
Fastforward to the present time, as Yukio, Rin and Shiemi are on a mission to capture a Phantom Train and the True Cross Academy exorcists are on alert as they prepare for a major festival that is held once in every eleven years. So, the ridding of demons during the festival is very important to protect the city.
As Yuki and Shiemi arrive on the Phantom Train (and Rin is late as usual), Shiemi notices that there are ghosts inside the train and feels the must do something to help them, but Yukio wants her and his twin brother Rin to focus on the mission. As Yukio takes out the demon, the two just have to pull on the brakes when he tells them.
Unfortunately, as Yukio takes on the demon, Shiemi and Rin try to help out the ghosts as Shiemi wants to use a Chinese lantern to attract them and have them freed. As Rin goes to check on his brother, Yukio is shocked that Rin abandoned his post and did not follow his instructions. The demon on the Phantom Train grows and as Rin tries to fight it off, Yukio tries to help Shiemi.
As massive destruction is caused by the demon, Rin manages to cut parts of the sludge demon but fails in stopping it.
Meanwhile, Cheng-Long Liu, an Upper First Class Exorcist from the Taiwan Branch is in the area for a festival but also to help Shura work on an operation. He wants to meet the twins but while they are completed with their operation, they also see the destruction caused by the demon and seeing the brothers failing their mission.
In the end, the demon escapes and Rin ends up saving some young demon boy that acts wild.
Because of the failure of the mission and the extreme amount of damage caused in the mission, the True Cross Academy Council with Mephisto decide to punish Yukio with a permanent blemish on his once-perfect record and as for Rin and Shiemi, they are suspended for five days. Upset at Rin, Yukio tells his brother that he must use his five days to catch up on homework and study.
And as for Rin, the demon boy that he found and must be caged, he must take care of him for five days and make sure it doesn’t get into any trouble or else they will seal it.
And at first, the relationship between Rin and the demon boy is a bit complicated as the boy acts wild. But when Rin offers the boy water, the boy starts to act nicely to Rin and tells him that his name is Usamaro.
Rin then bonds with the demon by bathing him, introducing him to his friends and even cooking his favorite meals for the boy. Usamaro is happy to be around Rin and instead of caging it, Rin treats Usamaro with respect and has him sleep with him in his bed.
As Usamaro is going through Rin’s box of old toys, he finds the book that Rin and Yukio’s father read to them when they were younger. As Rin reads the story to Usamaro, Usamaro is upset by the book and tells Rin that it’s not true.
Immediately after, as Rin has to study his homework, Usamaro asks him that if he forgets his homework, would he be much happier. Rin tells him that he would be much happier and so Usamaro uses his power to feed on a person’s memory, so they can forget it.
When Yukio arrives, he finds Rin and Usamaro sleeping in bed. Upset that he is not studying and that Usamaro is not in his cage, the two get into an argument and Rin behaves as if he never knew he had to do any homework, which upsets Yukio.
Meanwhile, Rin’s friends and the other exorcists continue to be on high alert in preparation for the festival and are repeatedly getting caught with the remnants of the demons they fight against. Often having to use Rin’s bath, everyone loves getting together and playing with Usamaro.
But they know they must get back to work and unfortunately miss the festival, because they will be working.
When Usamaro asks if everyone would be happy if they didn’t have to work, everyone tells him that it would be great if everyone in True Cross Academy didn’t have to work. And so, in order to make his new friends happy, Usamaro uses his power to make everyone in True Cross Academy forget that they have to work.
Not knowing that by having all exorcists forgetting, all demons will begin attacking the city all at once.
And with everyone forgetting about their mission, Yukio, Cheng-Long Liu, Shura and a few others must try to fend off the demons and try to get the exorcists ready for an onslaught of demons that they were supposed to contain and now have headed straight to the city.
“Blue Exorcist the Movie†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.
- Usamaro – A demon rabbit who takes the appearance of a human child. Has the power to eat memories.
- Cheng-Long Liu – An Upper First Class Exorcist from the Taiwan Branch.
- 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.
VIDEO:
“Blue Exorcist the Movie†is presented in 1080p High Definition and I must emphasize how this is one of the most beautiful animated films I have seen in my life.
It’s one thing to watch the anime series but what they did for “Blue Exorcist the Movie” was to create this entire city and add plenty of detail of city landscapes, buildings and what one can expect to see in a metropolitan area and make it look so beautiful.   Character animations are well-detailed, shaded and look fantastic.
And that’s not it, they even went as far as to create detail in the festival which is modeled after Chinese-style festivals and the detail of structures, banners or anything related to the parade is highly detailed. There is no doubt that A-1 Pictures went all out in creating this expansive world for the animated film. Animated films are always bigger budget, require much more production time and involve a larger staff but the amount of detail put into “Blue Exorcist the Movie” is magnificent.
I detected no banding, no artifacts or any problematic issues with picture quality. I was very impressed! This is one of the best looking anime films on Blu-ray for 2013, if not the best I have seen for 2013.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Blue Exorcist†is presented in English and Japanese DTS 5.1. Also, in Japanese LPCM Stereo.
The dialogue, music and special effects are crystal clear through the front and center channels. Surround channels are utilized during the more action-intense scenes and there is also good use of LFE during various moments of the film.
The soundtrack for both English and Japanese are the same, with obvious dialogue differences between the two. But for the most part, both Japanese and English dub are well-acted. Watching the Japanese straight-through, I was wondering how Cassandra Lee would do as Usamaro as Rie Kugimya was fantastic, but for the English dub, Cassandra Lee did a fantastic job.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Blue Exorcist the Movie” comes with the following special features:
- Audio Commentary 1 – Featuring audio commentary by Nobuhiko Okamoto (voice of Rin), Hidenobu Kikuchi (Voice of Cheng-Long Liu), director Atsushi Takahashi and A-1 Pictures’ Kenichi Hayashi.
- Audio Commentary 2 – Featuring audio commentary by Jun Fukuyama (voice of Yukio), Rie Kugimiya (voice of Usamaro), director Atsushi Takahashi and Aniplex Inc.’s Takamitsu Inoue.
- News – Featuring “Blue Exorcist the Movie” news, 15 and 30 second spots.
- Trailers – Featuring “Blue Exorcist the Movie” news, 15, 30 and 100 second spots.
- Promotional Video – (1:02) Promotional video for “Blue Exorcist the Movie”.
- CM – Featuring the Japanese action and emotional commercial versions of “Blue Exorcist the Movie”.
- English Trailer – (1:44) English theatrical trailer for “Blue Exorcist the Movie”.
Disc 2:
- Exclusive Staff Interview – (32:24) Interview with Atsushi Takashi (Director), Kenichi Hayashi (Animation Producer) and Takamitsu Inoue (Producer).
EXTRAS:
“Blue Exorcist the Movie” comes with the following extras:
- Deluxe 32-Page Booklet – Featuring illustrations, image board of the festival, picture book illustrations and artwork.
- Exclusive Postcard Set – Featuring four “Blue Exorcist the Movie” postcards.
- Deluxe Box – Featuring a deluxe slipcase illustrated by Kazue Kato
As a fan of the “Blue Exorcist” anime and also manga series, I have been highly anticipating a “Blue Exorcist” film for over a year and now, “Blue Exorcist the Movie” has been released on Blu-ray courtesy of Aniplex, Inc.
The film was a major surprise because I was expecting better production quality, an action film and many characters from the series.
But what I was surprised was how gorgeous the film looked visually. This is beyond the quality of what we have seen with the TV series as there is tremendous detail when it comes to the landscape of everything you can think of. Outdoors overlooking the city, the detail of the festival, outside Rin’s home and also inside his home.
It’s one thing to expected better animation, better shading and better fight scenes but “Blue Exorcist the Movie” goes beyond what most action anime series usually do for the film and I have to say it’s one of the my top 3 picks for best looking animated film on Blu-ray for 2013. This film is absolutely vibrant, colorful and gorgeous.
Another positive for the film is the voice acting. Having watched the series in Japanese and then most recently with the English dub with the new Aniplex Blu-ray releases, one thing that I loved about the Japanese version of the film is emotion. This is an emotional film. A film that features a wide range of emotions from fear, anger, sadness, happiness and quite often, the English dub doesn’t quite have the same emotional level as its Japanese counterpart.
But having watched this film, the English dub voice actors delivered and in this case, Cassandra Lee was able to do a fantastic job with the character of Usamaro.
And what lent to the efficacy of this film was its original story.
Ryota Yamaguchi was able to craft an original story that manages to incorporate many of the characters from the manga/anime series but also introduce new characters. But most importantly, the film focuses on relationships, we see the difference between Rin and Yukio, as their approach towards demons are quite different from each other.
The film focuses on his relationship with his friends and of course, his acceptance towards the mischievous demon Usamaro. Others want the demon to be sealed but Rin is one to see the positive aspect of Usamaro earlier on and him wanting to protect it. But most importantly, knowing himself to be the son of satan and also as a half human and demon, he also believes there are good demons out there and trying to show others how he feels. Despite how unpopular it is for an exorcist who’s sole job is to rid of demons.
But overall, the story for this film was well-crafted, not to say that other anime films are not, but typically many anime films based on an action-film are merely non-canon popcorn action films and a storyline that most often, you don’t find yourself coming back to. In the case of “Blue Exorcist the Movie”, it’s a very good film that I can find myself watching again and again.
As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is fantastic and the lossless soundtrack is well-done, with crystal clear dialogue, music and special effects. Surround channels are used and I did hear moments of LFE utilization during the more action-driven scenes as well.
And as always, with Aniplex releases, you are usually used to Aniplex swag and in this case, you get a limited edition Blu-ray box set featuring illustrated art by Kazue Kato (the author of the manga series) with a 32-page booklet, exclusive postcard set, a bonus DVD featuring an exclusive staff interview and two audio commentary tracks and more.
Overall “Blue Exorcist the Movie: Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set” is a magnificent Blu-ray release that fans of the series will love and it’s also one of the most gorgeous anime films on Blu-ray for 2013.
Highly recommended!
