The first half of the first season followed the original story, and the second half was created by A-1 Pictures.
When the second season was released in 2017, many viewers didn't realize what had happened.
It is unclear if the new studio will be able to fix the situation.
Probably all old anime fans know Blue Exorcist (Ao no Exorcist). In 2011, it was a sensation — it had excellent ratings and a huge number of fans. But as time went on, it lost all its popularity. Not least because of poor production and hasty studio decisions. Recently, the third season was announced to be released in January 2024. Will the new season be able to rectify the situation and return Blue Exorcist to its former glory, or will it remain a failure?
Great flop
In the beginning, Blue Exorcist was a promising project. The story of two brothers facing demons and Satan attracted a lot of attention. First of all, thanks to the charismatic characters. Rin, a bully, and Yukio, an honor student, are orphans taken in by a priest Shirou Fujimoto. It seems like nothing special, but it's more complicated than it sounds. The boys are the sons of an ordinary woman and (surprise!) Satan. They become exorcists like their adoptive father and try to find a way to fight back against their bloodthirsty father.
Nowadays it is very rare that the original source material is not enough for an adaptation. But in the mid-2000s, studios would often pick up manga that was just starting to come out. This happened with Blue Exorcist. As a result, the first half of the season followed the original story, and the second half was created by A-1 Pictures. At the end of the first season, we got a complete story, although it was open-ended to continue.
However, when the second season was released in 2017, many viewers didn't realize what had happened. Without any explanation the show's creators simply continued the events of the then-released manga and adapted the Kyoto Impure King arc. The second season went unnoticed — old fans were disappointed with the studio's decisions, and new viewers didn't understand anything and didn't want to deal with it.
More details were shown in the new PV
It seemed that this interesting plot had fallen into oblivion. But not so long ago there was news about the third season and it will be released soon. It is unclear whether the new studio will be able to fix the situation (the rights to the adaptation were transferred to Studio VOLN). Some are already alarmed by this change. However, we can definitely say that the planned arc (Shimane Illuminati arc) is very popular, definitely more popular than the Kyoto Impure King arc, and loyal fans are looking forward to it.
Recently, a new PV was released. It confirms many expectations. First of all, the new season will start with the arcs that precede Shimane Illuminati, so we will most likely see some backstory that was shown in the Terror of the Kraken arc and the Academy Seven Wonders arc. What's most interesting is that the upcoming season is supposed to feature a lot of reveals of already beloved secondary characters (manga is very praised for this). The new PV confirms these speculations by showing the other characters' storylines. It's hard to say what fate awaits the third season, hopefully it will be a hit and set things right.
The first half of the first season followed the original story, and the second half was created by A-1 Pictures.
When the second season was released in 2017, many viewers didn't realize what had happened.
It is unclear if the new studio will be able to fix the situation.
Probably all old anime fans know Blue Exorcist (Ao no Exorcist). In 2011, it was a sensation — it had excellent ratings and a huge number of fans. But as time went on, it lost all its popularity. Not least because of poor production and hasty studio decisions. Recently, the third season was announced to be released in January 2024. Will the new season be able to rectify the situation and return Blue Exorcist to its former glory, or will it remain a failure?
Great flop
In the beginning, Blue Exorcist was a promising project. The story of two brothers facing demons and Satan attracted a lot of attention. First of all, thanks to the charismatic characters. Rin, a bully, and Yukio, an honor student, are orphans taken in by a priest Shirou Fujimoto. It seems like nothing special, but it's more complicated than it sounds. The boys are the sons of an ordinary woman and (surprise!) Satan. They become exorcists like their adoptive father and try to find a way to fight back against their bloodthirsty father.
Nowadays it is very rare that the original source material is not enough for an adaptation. But in the mid-2000s, studios would often pick up manga that was just starting to come out. This happened with Blue Exorcist. As a result, the first half of the season followed the original story, and the second half was created by A-1 Pictures. At the end of the first season, we got a complete story, although it was open-ended to continue.
However, when the second season was released in 2017, many viewers didn't realize what had happened. Without any explanation the show's creators simply continued the events of the then-released manga and adapted the Kyoto Impure King arc. The second season went unnoticed — old fans were disappointed with the studio's decisions, and new viewers didn't understand anything and didn't want to deal with it.
More details were shown in the new PV
It seemed that this interesting plot had fallen into oblivion. But not so long ago there was news about the third season and it will be released soon. It is unclear whether the new studio will be able to fix the situation (the rights to the adaptation were transferred to Studio VOLN). Some are already alarmed by this change. However, we can definitely say that the planned arc (Shimane Illuminati arc) is very popular, definitely more popular than the Kyoto Impure King arc, and loyal fans are looking forward to it.
Recently, a new PV was released. It confirms many expectations. First of all, the new season will start with the arcs that precede Shimane Illuminati, so we will most likely see some backstory that was shown in the Terror of the Kraken arc and the Academy Seven Wonders arc. What's most interesting is that the upcoming season is supposed to feature a lot of reveals of already beloved secondary characters (manga is very praised for this). The new PV confirms these speculations by showing the other characters' storylines. It's hard to say what fate awaits the third season, hopefully it will be a hit and set things right.
