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readingrobyn 's review for:
Blue Exorcist, Vol. 1
by Kazue Kato
Well that was fun!
After this first volume, I'm really liking the overall concept of Blue Exorcist and am interested to see where it goes. I mean, bastard children of Satan produce some of my favourite characters. Exhibit A: Raven, bastard daughter of super demon Trigon from the Teen Titans. I would love to see how this story develops.
In volume one were given a lot of establishing details at breakneck speed. I'll admit that it was all a little too rushed for my liking. The content of this volume could have easily been expanded upon over two volumes and felt more natural, but why wait to get to the action? Things get moving fast and the plot is already well in motion after just a few pages.
What made this worth it for me was the humour. In a lot of cases jokes took me completely by surprise and made me give a few great out loud laughs.
However, I've got to paste a big warning here along with my praise. The only negative was a big one. If you're at all familiar with the manga [b:Soul Eater, Vol. 1|6406018|Soul Eater, Vol. 1 (Soul Eater, #1)|Atsushi Ohkubo|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344267219s/6406018.jpg|6594903] then Blue Exorcist may give you some major deja vu. Not only is the general plot and concept similar but so is the primary art style. (Which too me feels like a combination of the art from Soul Eater and Bleach) However, a big difference is that this is by a completely different author. (I had to check just to make sure.)
So, the first question we have to ask is: Is it too similar? No, not for me. At least not yet.
To be honest, I've come to expect there to be some overlap in Shonen, especially when it comes to the "paranormal, kill-all-the-things!" genre. A lot of paranormal manga draw from the same cultural background which can explain away some of the similarities, but not others. Right now I don't think I could bring myself to care very much about the parallels till I see the world explored more.
I'm now officially on the look out for volume two!
After this first volume, I'm really liking the overall concept of Blue Exorcist and am interested to see where it goes. I mean, bastard children of Satan produce some of my favourite characters. Exhibit A: Raven, bastard daughter of super demon Trigon from the Teen Titans. I would love to see how this story develops.
In volume one were given a lot of establishing details at breakneck speed. I'll admit that it was all a little too rushed for my liking. The content of this volume could have easily been expanded upon over two volumes and felt more natural, but why wait to get to the action? Things get moving fast and the plot is already well in motion after just a few pages.
What made this worth it for me was the humour. In a lot of cases jokes took me completely by surprise and made me give a few great out loud laughs.
However, I've got to paste a big warning here along with my praise. The only negative was a big one. If you're at all familiar with the manga [b:Soul Eater, Vol. 1|6406018|Soul Eater, Vol. 1 (Soul Eater, #1)|Atsushi Ohkubo|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344267219s/6406018.jpg|6594903] then Blue Exorcist may give you some major deja vu. Not only is the general plot and concept similar but so is the primary art style. (Which too me feels like a combination of the art from Soul Eater and Bleach) However, a big difference is that this is by a completely different author. (I had to check just to make sure.)
So, the first question we have to ask is: Is it too similar? No, not for me. At least not yet.
To be honest, I've come to expect there to be some overlap in Shonen, especially when it comes to the "paranormal, kill-all-the-things!" genre. A lot of paranormal manga draw from the same cultural background which can explain away some of the similarities, but not others. Right now I don't think I could bring myself to care very much about the parallels till I see the world explored more.
I'm now officially on the look out for volume two!