Ao no Exorcist 60 – Review

As luck would have it, we missed the publication of Ao no Exorcist #60 by one day!

On the other hand, you can have my opinion of it without having to endure the singing of the SPOILER song, which is, no doubt, a huge relief.

WARNING:  SPOILERS*
*(Link provided above)

 Right, so #60 started where #59 left off, with Rin (our hero) battling pink-haired traitor, Shima, and Yukio (our other hero/hero’s brother) and the rest of the gang ready to face off the re-animated blob of all the zombie-bits.

When Rin takes a tumble and Shima follows after, the story follows Yukio who quickly figures out that the re-animated blob is programmed to follow the highest source of power, which, at the moment, is Rin (who is in full blue-flame mode.)  So everyone jumps on the giant demon-cat’s back and makes a get-away.

Meanwhile, eyebrow girl, Izumo struggles to take on the nine-tail spirit.  Kind of predictably, she fails… initially.  She does the dance, but the fox-spirit appears to reject her.   Evil toad-face guy, Gedouin, activates his science-y back-up plan and, through the fox mask’s technology, forces a spirit transfer.  It seems this transfer is going to kill her.  Her body starts to rot.

But, this is a shounen manga, so it doesn’t end there.  Izumo reflects on her life and realizes the chapter is named after her breakthrough that while she’s always hated her companions, it’s only because she actually desperately loves them, too.

This causes her to do something she’s never considered doing in her entire life….

She calls for help.

Rin, who has been stabbed by traitorous pink-haired guy’s super-magic staff and who has been suffering his own existential crisis, hears her cry.  He remembers that his greatest strength comes when he’s helping others/using his powers for good and Rin is rewarded with a classic shounen power-up.

The final scene is him busting through the ceiling to answer Izumo’s desperate plea.

I may mock, but this is precisely why I love shounen manga.

No matter how predictable, I get a little teary-eyed every time people come to the realization that they can’t be heroes alone and/or they realize the greatest good is helping others.

THIS WAS A FREAKING TWO-FER.

So, yes, Blue Exorist for the win.