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After seven weeks on air, Toonami went on its normal holiday marathon to end the year and, up to that point, I’d rate the series pretty positively. Little did I know that things would change pretty quickly. After an extensive holiday break where Toonami had three separate marathons, the block resumed its normal programming on January 11th 2025, and, to put it lightly, the block was not in the best shape. Regardless of that, I continued onward with my rewatch of Blue Exorcist. I don’t have much to comment on with episode eight or nine; they were fine episodes, but nothing amazing. Arriving at episode ten on January 25, 2025, we get introduced to another character, a cat! More specifically, a cat demon by the name of Kuro. Kuro is a baby and should be treated as such… even if he’s introduced as violent after learning of Shiro’s death.
(Kuro The Demon Cat)
I mainly bring Kuro up because I have fond memories of my cat Buddy when he was still alive. He was always curled up on a small twin sized bed in my room while I watched Toonami in a chair near my bed. Almost every Saturday, like clockwork, my cat would cry outside my door so he could get me to open it so he could come into my room. I’d open the door and he would want some pets and then just chill on my bed. Sadly, I had to put him down in 2023 due to ongoing health issues with him. I miss him deeply, but much like dealing with the family death in 2024, I found myself tearing up earlier this year because I remembered those fond memories of my cat so much. I will always cherish the time I had with him, which is what reminds me of the bond between Shiro and Kuro and what they show the viewer. You can tell the two were close. That’s how I felt about my cat, and I think anyone can relate if they’ve had a pet. Moments like this soar for me because living more of my life has made me appreciate things that I never got the first time around. Kuro’s episode is one I liked, and while it is a good episode on its own merits, the memories and emotions I have will always make both this episode and episode four stand out as to why I really like Blue Exorcist.
Moving on to February 8th, 2025 with episode twelve, “A Game of Tag” premiered and at the end of the episode we are introduced to Shura Kirigakure. She shows up after Rin’s fight with Amaimon, a relative of Mephisto. An inspector for the Vatican, she would infiltrate True Cross Academy to spy on Rin to see if he has his demonic powers in check. She would later mentor him on controlling his powers. Up to this point in the series, only a handful of people knew that Rin inherited Satan’s powers: Rin’s brother Yukio, Shiro, and Mephesto. With another in the fold now knowing of Rin’s demonic abilities, it was only a matter of time until his abilities were revealed to everyone else, which would happen sooner rather than later.
I know I’ve been jumping around from plot point to plot point and haven’t had much cohesion or explaining all the characters. But this is, more or less, a recalling of my experience with Blue Exorcist’s first season rather than a comprehensive review of it. These are just the highlights of what stood out to me and my memories of the show from what I do remember over a decade ago. I want to bring that up because when we got deep into the Blue Exorcist experience, it started to unravel more of why I don’t remember the second half of the series all too well. Which leads me to…
