Manga Review: Ao no Exorcist - 37
It’s a sea monster smackdown!
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The beach mini-arc concludes with the epic showdown between the sea god Wadatsumi duking it out with the Kraken. The old god uses the last of its strength to deal a strong blow, but an injured Kraken proves to be twice as deadly. The Kraken creates duplicates of itself to attack the exorcists on the beach while Rin, Yukio, and Shiemi attack from the sea.
This chapter followed up nicely on the tension between the two brothers from the previous chapter by having Yukio preventing Rin from using his flames due to his inability to accept them as a part of Rin. It’s become pretty clear that Yukio’s refusal to accept Rin’s powers is a reflection of his insecurities as he struggles with the implications of their shared heritage. Doubtless this will follow Yukio until he’s able to express his fears to Rin, but Yukio still has some ways to go before he’s able to reach that point.
While this was an exciting and fulfilling chapter, it has to be docked some major points for the art. It is clear that the author was unable to complete the manuscript. The middle of the chapter features half-drawn characters with the presences of body guidelines and undefined facial features. The only completed details are the Kraken and Yukio’s sniper rifle, both of which require more extensive artwork. The flawed pages break the flow of the chapter, but certainly don’t take away from the overall story and pacing, so it’s acceptable to a certain degree. Though that could be because I’m too used to reading Hunter x Hunter.
In this chapter, we see the outcome of Rin’s acceptance of his demon powers, which I’m very pleased to see. In another series with a similar situation, we might have to sit through endless angst or have the arbitrary period of time where the protagonist refuses to use his powers. It’s really a display of Rin’s character that he has no second thoughts about fighting because he’s fully aware of what he has to fight for. It’s chapters like these that really make me admire shonen heroes.
GO Rating: 4/5
