Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga - Reviews

I like this one. The animation is cool. It has a unique style with a dark edge while still being colorful and pretty. The characters are developing nicely although there are some stagnant side characters which is normal and no big deal. The main characters are all very lovable, and I am hoping/can’t wait for them to all become friends. The story line is unique while still following many shounen tropes. If you like shounen anime, you will probably like this one. 

Anime Review #22 - Blue Exorcist Kyoto Saga

(some spoilers hehe)

Kyoto Saga is the continuation of the original 25 episode Blue Exorcist series except this one actually follows canon picking up after episode 16(?) I think. Honestly I like that they decided to backpedal to follow the manga, but it was weird to see all his classmates hate him again for being the spawn of Satan like I got deja vu. But it’s cool, it’s better this way. (I watched Blue Exorcist soo long ago so it’s kinda nostalgic to me, and I’d be happy with as many episodes as we can get. I also watched it in English dub LOL sue me but this is one of those shows where it's not super cringe in dub. Idk man, i like it but I can see why you'd prefer sub.)

When I was watching this, it felt like I’d seen it before even though I know I haven’t so I was like hmmm interesting... I don’t know why I felt the need to share this, but here are my thoughts about the show:

I hate how Yukio is starting to get Satan’s powers.. like why do you have to steal Rin’s thing.. 🙄 smh does anyone even like Yukio? I try to like him but he’s so whiny and annoying. I love Rin though. He seems like he’d be annoying given his loud ass mouth and recklessness, but he’s so wholesome and dumb, even when he fucks up, you gotta love him. He just wants to see Kyoto Tower dammit! And I love Kuro of course!! Shiemi is cute and I like that Kamaki is bitchy, but I wish the girl characters weren’t so weak. Like why’s it taking Shiemi 5 episode to free Kamaki from some Impure King sploogy fungus?? Come on ladies, put in the work or at least kiss or something!!! Where are the lesbians?? At least Shura is cool… We love big booby bikini top, booty shorts, fishnets, DSL Shura. I also live for the fruity little thing Miss Mephisto~ just watching all the drama from his gay pink chair. And I like Bon hehe. We love an angry character who is secretly nice!!!! <3 (also there is no way Suguro’s dad is living after getting his throat stabbed like I know he got healed or whatever but damn he was dead for like 5 eps just on the ground lol.)

Anyway, the Impure King was kind of a weird ole bubbly demon not really what I was expecting. It didn't talk at all or really do much of anything except release toxic spores. I’m also still confused by the Todo guy. Ucchusma was kinda cute doe. Is it weird that I wish Rin would just go full demon sicko mode? Like I know they wanna execute him and all that, but it would be kinda fun if he was in Gehenna chillin with Mephisto and Satan and shit. 

Also all of the OPs for Blue Exorcist are so good. I love UVERworld<3

Ok time for me to read the manga >:-) mwahhha 

This review is going to be for the 2 seasons of Blue Excorsist

Story

In short, the first season is about Rin trying to kill his biological Dad. (✨How lovely!✨😂) I loved how they started the story right away. They weren't fucking around. 😂 However, I wish they did a better job with the starting episodes of Season 2. As it seemed boring and slow to start off the actual plot. 

Characters

I just wanted to say...Shiemi your so annoying!! Ur mans is right there and u ain't takin' him!! 🙄

Overall

The start was very interesting, which drawn me in to watch the anime. But then I lost interest in some episodes. The other episodes were good, just not the boring ones...

This tosses series consistancy out the window. In fact, they re-drew scenes that they could have just taken from the first season, for example. Season 1 had a trial scene where Rin is encased in a blue crystal. Here, he is kneeling when they flashed back. Also there is a past arrest scene that dose not appear in season 1.

Sooo what gives? Did no one tell them that they can and should use the actual footage, it will cost less too. Aside from that, it the characters were acting like major parts of season 1 never happened. If you just started with this and not watched season 1 it would be totally confusing. Arrrrggh!

Normally, I would give something like this 1 or 2 stars but the animation was good and the story was complete. No cliffhanger, so I gave them an extra star for that.

I hope they do better on season 3

Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga has so much potential for a sequel but it falls short due to the story not continuing from the first season, the humor is not the greatest and the characters have problems. 

Story

Let's be perfectly clear. This saga is NOT a darn sequel! The saga takes place after the events when Rin was revealed to be the son of Satan to his classmates and where he lost control of his demonic powers. After when Rin was tasked with 6 months to pass the exorcist's exam and started to begin his training. The first thing to notice is that Rin's classmates are avoiding him even though it took the next episode of the main story to get everyone to trust Rin again. Even Shiemi is avoiding Rin because of what happened which is unlike her to do. The gang gets to go to Kyoto to protect the Right Eye because Toudou obtained the Left Eye and the exorcists are concerned that he plans to get the Right Eye for some reason. Throughout the anime, Rin continues his training to control his powers, Ryuji has to deal with his father and what his father is hiding, Shiemi has to regain her confidence because she can't summon her demon friend Nii, Yukio trying to find Toudou and exorcise him, Miwa trying to stop being afraid of Rin, and Shima doing the same. In the end, the threat is defeated and everyone trusts Rin again and become friends again. 

Animation

The animation for 2017 standards is really good. The fights with Toudou, the unclean king, and the eyes are smooth and cool. I really like the fact that A-1 Pictures was able to make the animation look stunning. 

Sound

The music in the background was pretty good. I just wish I could say the same for the opening and ending songs. I know that Uverworld did the first opening Core Pride but this opening is lackluster and boring. It's not Core Pride levels of good and it fails to keep me listening. The opening is called Drop's Influence and all I can say is that it Dropped my Influence of is opening ;). The ending is not any better, in fact, it's the same as the opening lackluster and boring. The ending is called With This Hand. This is why I rarely listen to endings. It is not Take Off or even Wired Life (my personal favorite ending) in that regard but what can you do. 

Characters

Oh boy, where do I begin? Rin, voiced by Bryce Papenbrook, still holds up has the hot-headed, impatient, and crazy son of Satan that he is but there is one thing that's different though. Rin couldn't pull the Koma sword aka Kurikata because he was afraid of losing control. Unfortunately, this is dumb because he pulls it out in the main story and he wasn't afraid throughout the time when he was training so why do this. To put a handicap on him, probably. Rin never gives up that easily but seriously when he got trapped in the "prison dimension" he pretty much doubting himself and was asking why he was saved. That isn't like Rin to say something like that you know. Shiemi. voiced by Marie Cabanos, was pretty much useless and less focused in the saga. I really was hoping that Shiemi would be more involved in the story but nope. She has to get upset because she says she weak and doesn't know why Rin and Yukio wouldn't tell her or anyone about this sooner. ... Shiemi only does something when she tries to save Rin and when she tries to save Izumo which is near the end of the anime. I like her but not is this saga. Ryuji was doing what he can to help his temple. Shima was being a coward when the unclean king was attacking and didn't want anything to do with this anymore. Miwa was avoiding Rin even though in the main story he gets corrupted by a demon and tried to kill Rin. Izumo was pretty much the only one that remained the same and I was fine with that. Oh, speaking of which Ryuji/Ban is voiced by Kyle Hebert, Miwa is voiced by Mona Marshall, Shima is voiced by Brian Beacock, and Izumo is voiced by Kira Buckland. Yukio, voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch, was a bit strange with his voice. I know JYB hasn't done Yukio in a long time but when watched the first episode of the English dub Yukio sounded really different. I don't know why maybe he was out of practice for a while or something. Yukio is still the same as he was in the main story but it would have appeared that Yukio is starting to have demonic powers but he doesn't realize it.  

Humor 

Before I finish this review there is one thing I need to say about the humor in the anime. It was far and few between when it came to humor. The saga was more serious than humorous which is a problem. The main story mixed the serious moments and the funny moments while the saga had funny moments but the serious outweighed the funny which is not what Blue Exorcist needed. The balance between funny and serious works better in the main story.

Overall

Overall, Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga was not the season that Blue Exorcist needed if you can call it a second season or even a sequel. It's not a sequel. The story was a mess and kind of predictable and dumb too. The characters were not acting themselves. The opening and ending were lackluster and boring. The animation was good. Unfortunately, I found the Kyoto saga not really that good and it could have done better. I understand that people will like it but I don't see myself rewatching the Kyoto saga if I decided to rewatch Blue Exorcist. The original did better than the Kyoto Saga in more ways than one and I believe that.

I personally think that if you are a fan of Blue Exorcist do not watch the Kyoto Saga you will be disappointed and a little bit bored of it. If you are a fan of Blue Exorcist and you liked it tell me why you liked it and I will understand your opinion.