#egin yuri

[room25-morgue-street]

some doods, mostly Shiro because he is fun

[notninani]

two demon gods walk into a bar

[midnight-in-town]

Ao no Exorcist is a Shonen series written by a woman and it shows

Since the latest chapter, I've been thinking about how several usual Shonen tropes are written rather differently under Kato-sensei's pen. No judgement or anything, it's just cool to observe. Some examples :

1) Rin's mentor is a woman

2) Rin's secret, despite being the MC, was revealed in ch13 to the entire cast, meanwhile Shiemi, The Main Girl, who was introduced to be so helpless is only starting to be explained.

3) Also, the Mysterious plot-relevant Shonen Parent is actually the twins' mother. (Of course Shiro is super plot-relevant too, but Satan is still angsting over Yuri and she's a huge part of the reason why he's the big bad)

4) Rin also changed his view about his future throughout the story: from dropping out of school, passing by hoping to become the Order's Paladin (probably to cope with Shiro's death and also to antagonize Arthur), to finally showing way more interest and potential in the (less epic and heroic in appearance) field of talismanic cooking.

5) When it comes to arcs, mental illness is a valid reason to build a character arc around...

6) And so is making an arc about girls being "cursed" to basically "get married and have children before they hit 30, the age where their beauty fade thus they become useless" :

7) ANE is a story about women becoming traitors to protect their loved ones, like Mamushi

or becoming overwhelmed because men toyed with their feelings like Tamamo

8) Older women can be absolute badasses like Shiemi's grandma

or Lucy.

9) Complicated mother-daughter relationship and girl friendships are given as much focus as complicated father-son relationships and sweet bro friendships (like Bon and his dad during the Kyoto arc, as well as the complicated but deep bond between the Kyoto Trio)

10) And one of my favorites: full time single dad, asking for help to do the job as well as he can and finding his true purpose in life by doing so :D

Hmm and now that I think about it, the only other Shonen series written by a woman I've been as invested in is Kuroshitsuji, by Yana Toboso, and similar examples can be found in it too, namely:

1) If Ciel ever finally admits needing a mentor, his aunt Frances will probably play that role

2) Girls can be super strong & skilled (Elizabeth, Mey Rin) and clever (Sieglinde)

3) (one part of) the Big Bad is a woman (Queen Victoria)

4) maybe Ciel's entire revenge stems from a conflict between Queen Victoria and Ciel's maternal grandmother, Claudia.

5) the Undertaker has been a continuously freaking pain in the ass because he probably fell in love with that same maternal grandmother and couldn't mourn properly

TL;DR we love our boys and their spectacular growth and development under women's pens a.k.a shonen series written by ladies are hella fun to read. :D

[moonsoupstar-ao3]

We all agree that Rin's his father's son in the complete opposite way Yukio's his mother's son, right?

Rin is what Satan could have become if he have had the chance of growing slowly, in an environment of love and encouraging to be kind with other.

And Yukio is what Yuri could have become if she haven't had a family that encouraged her to be kind with demons, and had been raised to be a soldier rather than a free spirit kind of kid. (Not that I think Yukio was raised to just be a soldier, but he wasn't exactly raised to be compassionate with demons).

They're a mirror of their parents, where they got the looks, they got the other's traits to compensate.

Rin was (and still is) reckless, he was impulsive, hotheaded, he didn't stop to think of the consequences of his actions before doing them. He is kind, and a born protector, he opens his arms for everyone (though knows where to trace a line), he is keen to care for others, and do his best to provide.

Yukio was envious, too prideful sometimes, tended to himself and had a hard time accepting help, even more looking for help himself, he has a narrow vision of things. He's willing to sacrifice himself for his brother, and for the world, he tries to protect everyone, to know everything, he's an amazing learner and quick to think in logical solutions, tracing plans and go with them.

[rajayayaduck]

[mellorine-dreams]

The extreme contrast of personalities and familial roles between Shiro and Satan when they share the same appearance is so fascinatingly handled in Blue Exorcist. It makes the dynamics between Shiro, Satan, Yuri, and the twins so incredibly insane.

Like from Shiro’s perspective he saw Yuri, the woman who loved him and who he loved back but was too proud to admit, fall in love with Satan in the body of another Azazel clone, give birth to Rin and Yukio, and pass on. Then he had to raise the twins as his own, and he probably wondered if kids between him and Yuri would have looked like the twins. Which probably made him wonder every day about what a life with Yuri and the twins could have been like.

And then there’s the twins, Rin and Yukio. Shiro filled the role of being their father figure, so they closely associate him with that parental role, but Shiro ends up killed by their biological father Satan. Which is already crazy enough, and that already traumatizes them. But then they have to go on and fight Satan, who is possessing another Azazel clone and looks like Shiro as a result. Which must remind them of their father figure, Shiro.

Seems like a lot of psychological and emotional torment for Shiro, Rin, and Yukio.

[paxerle]

Two very strong woman 🔥

[swissroll87]

[yukinouacolors]

[kamiko1234]

Blue Exorcist moodboards anyone?

[blueexorshit]

I have this version and the more complicated version of the family tree

[pnk-spiderr]

So on discord, @flower-of-assiah brought up that this template fits these two. So I drew them. I guess. Template is below the cut

[notninani]

nonsense and things...

no bg izumo bc why not?

[r3nthebirb]

That one art trend but make it blue exorcist, parents edition

[noraclairex]

drew yuri egin bc i love her and shes underrated.

i tried to make her look like a mixture of the way i draw yukio and rin i hope thats noticeable 😌😌

{click for better quality}