Kazumi Reads

Plot Summary:
Rin and Yukio are fraternal twin brothers with two very different personalities and abilities. For the youngest twin, Yukio, he is very intelligent, likeable, and successful. In fact, Yukio is the youngest exorcist to ever be enrolled at True Cross Academy and Father Fujimoto (his guardian) is very proud of him. For Rin, the eldest twin, he is the opposite of Yukio with a short temper, a tendency to get into fights, and lacks academic discipline. Although Father Fujimoto is more protective of Rin, Rin wants nothing more than to find his place in this world. As Yukio gets ready for school, Rin must find a job because it's about time that he learns some responsibility so he, too, can be a productive member of society. However, what should have been an easy process, turns complicated when Rin realizes that he can see demons and ends up losing his job over protecting a little girl being plagued by demons. Rin may not understand why he can see demons, but the truth about who he is comes with a great price. Unbeknownst to Rin, but he was chosen by Satan to be his liaison between the realm of the demons (Gehenna) and the realm of the humans (Assiah). When Satan possesses, and murders Father Fujimoto, Rin vows that he will avenge his "real" father and defeat Satan. After meeting Mephisto, Rin tells him that he will destroy Satan and tells him that he wants to be an exorcist.  However, as a demon, his role as an exorcist will not only make him target from other exorcists, but every demon will come after him. Although Rin has no problem with the fighting and death part of being an exorcist, he has to face one of the greatest challenges of his life: succeed at True Cross Academy by doing homework, showing up to class on time, and learn the power of team work.


Critical Evaluation:
This is a fun manga filled with plenty of action and emotion. Rin is absolutely adorable because underneath the demon exterior, he is just like every vulnerable teen guy who just wants to fit in. Although Yukio and Rin are light years apart in certain aspects, there is a love that no one could ever understand and it warms the sould to see how the take care of each other. The question that may plague readers is if Yukio had to, would  kill Rin? Honestly, I don't think he can regardless of what his duty is because, unlike any other demon, Rin has grown up with the capacity to  love and protect those dearest to him. Rin may not be the most devout exorcist, but he knows that is anyone messes with his family, there will literally be hell to pay. The best part of this story is Rin's education. True Cross Academy is this microcosm where exorcists in training learn the various facets of exorcism. Not just anyone can enroll in this school because they have to have the strength, the heart, and the faith to do what they have to do. What we learn about this world is that there are two realms specifically meant for demons and humans. The reason why Rin exists is because Satan needed a body in the human realm in order to launch his hostile takeover. The problem with Satan's plan is that Rin, who truly believes himnself to be human, refuses to side with him, which leads to all sorts of complications for the human world. As Rin learns to control his power, he must also prove to his brother and classmates that he has what it takes to become an exorcist and that is not going to be an easy task.This series is going to be a lot of fun and I can't wait to read more.


Information about the Author:
According to the Blue Exorcist Wiki:

Kazue Katō (加藤和恵, Katō Kazue), born on July 20th, 1980 in the district of Shinjuku, in Tokyo, is a Japanese mangaka, author of shōnen manga. She is mainly known to be author of Blue Exorcist. She also created Robot to Usakichi ( ロボとうさ吉 ), for which she received a prize: Osamu Tezuka Award.

Genre:
Teen Fantasy Manga, Teen Action Manga

Reading Level/Interest:
Grades 9 & up
 
Books Similar to Blue Exorcist:

• D. Gray Man by Katsua Hoshino
• Vampire Hunter D by Saito Takkaki

Awards & Recognition:
According to Anime News Network:

Plot Summary:
Mikado is moving up in the world. Not only is he attending Raira Academy in the iIkebukuro, he is actually attending school with his childhood friend, Kida. Although Mikado is from a small town, he is incredibly excited, and terrified, by the hustle and bustle of the big city. When Kida picks Mikado up from the train station, he can't believe how cool his old friend is. If there is one thing about Ikebukuro, there are certain people to stay away from such as Simon (the Russian Sushi Man), Shizuo (skinny dude with awesome strength), and Izaya (the informant who has serious hatred for Shizuo and is a sadist). For Seiji, who is also attending the same high school as Kida and Mikado, he has problems of his own including a blood-thirsty sister and a stalker. As Mikado and Kida tour Sunshine City, not only do they run into Seiji, the meet the Black Rider in the "flesh." Since Mikado is afraid of everything, meeting the Black Rider should have scared him, but, his reaction was the opposite.Who is this Black Rider? When the first day of school arrives, Mikado is leery about introducing himself to his class, but, when he meets Anri, Mikado is hit by cupid's arrow. After surviving his first day, Kida and Mikado meet up with, Yumasaki, Karisawa, and, the ever elusive, Kadota; they are all on the weird side, but good guys at heart. The questions that remains is what do these characters have in common? All will be revealed when the identities of "The Dollars" are made known. With alternating point of views, DRRR!!! Durarara!!! is an action packed series based off of Narita-San's light novel, where mystery, drama, fantasy, and adventure, and love lay right around the corner.

Critical Evaluation:
Honestly, this is probably one of the most creative, complicated, silliest, and the weirdest manga I have read in a while. Not only are the characters out of the ordinary, their stories are a great compilation of how wild and crazy adolescence really is. On top of the usual teen drama, there is a fantastical storyline involving a Dullahan in search of its missing head, an unsuspecting warrior, and plot to bring misery to the human race. In other words, if one could combine every soap opera in existence with the traditional fantasy novel then the final product is DRR!!! Durarara!! Another great aspect of this series is the alternating point of views because no only do readers get the bigger picture, they get to learn more about each character. Furthermore, each chapters is preceded with an online chat room script. As stated earlier, DRR!!! was originally a light novel that was turned into an anime; thus, the manga is a re-telling of both the novel and series. Although I have yet to watch the series, I am hoping that most of the story arc is kept intact because, conceptually, an anime is usually made right after the release of the manga and/or light novel. Whatever the case, Narita is definitely an artist since he is infamous for writing a ton of installments packed full of grammatical and spelling errors (see note about the author). This series is for older teens since there are some mature themes and violence. Other than that, there is a lot of fun to be had for those who are looking for an adventure.

Information about the Author:Again, there is not a whole lot of information (in English), but, according to Goodreads.com:

Ryohgo Narita (成田 良悟, Narita Ryōgo) is a Japanese light novelist. He won the Gold Prize in the 9th Dengeki Novel Prize for Baccano!, which was made into a TV anime in 2007.[1] His series Durarara!! was also made into a TV anime, which began airing January 2010

There are two traits found in most of Narita's works:
* Narita writes extremely fast, one volume a month if he wishes - with tons of spelling errors and missing words as a tradeoff. The editors like to leave them sometimes just for fun, though.

 * His work titles often have an exclamation mark at the end (i.e. Baccano!, Vamp!, Durarara!!, etc.).

Genre:
Teen Adventure Manga


Reading Level/Interest:
Grades 10 & up

Books Similar to DRRR!! Durarara!!

• Soul Eater by Atsushi Ohkubo
• FLCL by Gainax