Just another day in exorcist school.
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Kazue Kato
Translation/English Adaptation: John Werry
What They Say:
Shocked by the death of his foster father and the revelation that his real father is the demon lord Satan, Rin Okumura enters the True Cross Academy to learn to be an exorcist. But every great exorcist has to start somewhere, and for the students of the academy the first step is the Esquire examination. To prepare for the exam, the new pages in Yukio’s class must undergo intensive training. Rin and his classmates have their hands full when a demon appears, but is this a test or something more sinister?
The Review!
Since the first volume took care of the set-up and introductions, it’s finally time for Rin and company to truly get settled into school life. Unfortunately for Rin, though, while he may be able to fight demons, he still struggles with school work, even if it’s related to being an exorcist. This catches the eye of the gruff yet hard working Ryuji Suguro, who hates Rin and feels that he is nothing but a slacker. As it turns out, Ryuji’s dad died during the Blue Night, a night sixteen years ago in which Satan attempted to possess priests from all over the world, slaughtering them in the process. This left Ryuji with a strong drive to become an exorcist and kill Satan, ironically giving him a lot in common with Rin. Not knowing this, however, Ryuji sparks a strong rivalry with Rin, culminating in a dare to touch a demon that is deadly when approached with fear or doubts. When Rin refuses, Ryuji attempts to do it instead but wavers, forcing Rin to leap in and save him, and in turn causing Ryuji to see the error in judgment he had made in the process.
Next, we see Shiemi trying to make some friends after an offhand comment from Rin made her feel unwanted. Before she can make any real attempt, however, we learn that exorcists are divided into five types: Arias (recites bible and sutras), Dragoon (uses fire-arms), Knights (uses swords), Tamer, and Doctor. Afterwards, we learn about summoning, which is apparently a rare ability which allows you to summon a demon as a familiar. Only a girl named Izumo Kamiki, who summons two white foxes, and Shiemi, who summons a little fuzz ball called a baby greenman, are able to summon anything. Seeking companionship, Shiemi approaches Izumo to be her friend, only to be used as a slave for the uppity girl. When Izumo is confronted by another of her close friends about how she’s treating Shiemi, she panics and is suddenly attacked by a ghoul. Her panicked state causes her summons to turn against her, putting her in quite a poor position until Rin swoops in and saves her, but unintentionally allows the ghoul to escape. We then find out that the ghoul is the minion of the summoning teacher, meaning we certainly haven’t seen the last of it.
The rest of the volume is spent on a camp in which the group consisting mostly of Rin, Shiemi, Izumo, Ryuji, and Ryuji’s friends are supposed to learn to work as a team. In the middle of this camp, the lights flicker off and the ghoul suddenly appears before them. Though things seem bad at first, Shiemi uses her summon to set up a barrier, allowing the rest of the group to work on a chant to defeat the ghoul, and allowing Rin a chance to slip out to “get help.” There, he confronts and defeats a second ghoul just in time for the group to kill the first one. Thanks to their teamwork, they are all promoted to “esquire,” as it turns out the attack was a secret test. However, it turns out this excuse was just a cover, forcing Rin and Yukio to confront the corrupt teacher, and hinting at the fact that the school’s upper management may be further involved with Satan and demons than originally thought.
In Summary:
This volume takes on something of a different tone, focusing on the school life of our heroes and everything that entails. Along the way, they meet several interesting new characters and a number of new difficulties. The underlying mechanics behind being an exorcist are also slowly emerging, and promise to become an interesting component to the series. Most importantly, though, in this volume we start to see a number of big players, both old and new, maneuvering in the background. However, this volume does feel a little disappointing, if only because most of it is spent on a single none-too-interesting enemy, which also sucks away quite a bit of the visual flair. Hopefully the next volume will pull out all the stops, as the series certainly seems to be setting for some rather interesting twists and turns.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: June 7th, 2011
MSRP: $9.99
