Blue Exorcist: Volume 1

by Kazue Kato, 195 pages

High schooler Rin Okumura has always known he was a little different, what with his short temper and unnatural strength, but somehow his and his fraternal twin brother Yukio's adopted father Fujimoto always made him feel accepted anyway. At least until he starts seeing things nobody else sees and becomes the target of recruitment attacks from creatures of the underworld looking to bring him home...to his real father.... Finding out that one is literally a son of Satan would be difficult at any age, but doing so at fifteen is just rough. Rin barely has time to wrap his head around the truth before reality strikes those he loves and he has to choose a future path.

The art in this action series works well, as do the characters, but the story's a little choppy, jumping from scene to scene, and tone to tone, without transition. We're not given enough opportunity to see why we should like or care about Rin before we're expected to feel for him (in fact, we get to know enigmatic Yukio better than the main character). I'm currently watching the animé adaptation of this series and it does a better job of fleshing him out and showing his innate kindness and internal motivation along with his rash temper, as well as more skillfully connecting the dramatic and comedic elements. I'll give the books a few more volumes and see if they start to smooth out those emotional transitions, otherwise I might just stick with the (unusually) more involving animated adaptation.