Blue Exorcist Season 3 Announced: Release Date and Expected Plot

The two dimensions of Assiah and Gehenna are reserved for people and demons, respectively. All sorts of paranormal events take place in this show. It is a treat for fans who love horror, action, and fantasy altogether.

It is the story of a young teenager named Rin Okumura. For him, he is just a normal edgy teen, but things take a really dramatic turn when he gets attacked by demons.

That’s when he finds out that he is something special. He is the son of Satan himself. And now his father wants him to come back so that they can rule over Assiah.

Clearly, he does not want to do that, so he and his brother train hard to become an exorcist. Rin and his journey through all of this creates a great plot filled with crazy twists and action-packed series.

Fans are now facing a whole new dimension, concerning a possible season 3 for this unforgettable supernatural anime. Let’s see what’s up with the anime and if it is getting a new season or not.

Everything we know about Blue Exorcist so far

Also called “Ao no Exorcist”, this show has gathered a steadily swelling fandom ever since season one was released in 2011. The dark fantasy series traces its intellectual origins to the manga written and illustrated by Kazue Kato.

Drawing several pages out of the book of ‘classic shounen anime’, there is a clear line between good and evil in the narrative of “Blue Exorcist”. The heroes are the cynosure of these shows because they face impossible odds to rise above the darkness, even saving the world in the process.

It doesn’t get more heroic than the son of Satan himself becoming the hero, namely an ‘Exorcist’, and standing up to his father’s diabolical plans to rule both Gehenna and Assiah (i.e., the human world).

Fans enjoyed every battle scene and emotional moment in the first two seasons, which brings us to the dire need of those very fans to know what’s going to become of their heroes and villains.

You may be wondering, ‘Didn’t season 2 give them closure?’ Instead of throwing a grand piano at you for asking, let us detail precisely what the second season of ‘Blue Exorcist’ gave its fans.

Blue Exorcist Ending Explained

A whale’s weight in weirdness landed in season 2 of the series, especially as it neared its finale. From the get-go, seasons 1 and 2 seemed to be deviating from one another.

If those two were supposed to marry, the plot twist gave viewers a divorce instead. The second season of Blue Exorcist began with one such ‘changing of the guard’. It was sometime around the middle when fans got a flashback scene involving Rin showing off his flames.

This more than anything set the core tone for season two and cleared a lot of confusion in the process. The showrunners can’t be blamed for this discrepancy in storylines.

The original manga, around the time season one, was in full swing and had only about 9 episodes out. This meant that the show remained true to the original manga for about 10 episodes.

As expected, everything after season 1 episode 11 of Blue Exorcist was fillers. The season one finale was thus a blend of made-up stories that gave the fans adventure and cheer in equal measure, while also resolving longstanding issues among its characters.

This is where fans were miffed. Season 2 Blue Exorcist began where events left off in Season 1 episode 17! Bear in mind that they gave fans 25 episodes in the first season and only 12 in the second.

The already shortened season two was taking the story forward from the long and intentionally developed 20-plus episodes of season 1 narrative. Fans familiar with all this are probably plucking their hair out from the sheer frustration of it all.

Spoilers ahead… This messy state of affairs is how Yukio remained human, and not a demon, in season 2. It is also why Yukio and Rin are not as close as they were near the end of season 1.

Adding salt to the wound is Rin’s buddies still being weird to him in the second season after coming to know that he’s the son of Satan. A good set of episodes resolved this matter among them, but season 2 seems to have been hell-bent on a rewind, and not in the good sense.

You mess with character growth, you mess with fans. And that’s what happened with the debacle that was season 2’s choice of narrative, and the now-totally unnecessary plot buildup that gave fans so much to look forward to when season 1 of Blue Exorcist ended.

The second season nevertheless has some strong points working in its favor. If you can get past the whole ‘story development’ angle from season 1, you’ll notice that the focus is back on Satan and the looming battle.

Anyone who reads the original Blue Exorcist manga will be in a more forgiving mood where season 2 is concerned.

Official Announcements and Release Date for Blue Exorcist Season 3

The wait is over now as season 3 of Blue Exorcist has been announced at the Aniplex Online Fest 2023. The creators also released a teaser trailer and key visual for the fans.

They announced that the anime is under production and is all set to be released in January 2024. Fans cannot be happier right now as the anime is coming back with a brand new season on Crunchyroll.

Now that we know, the heavily anticipated third season is gonna drop soon, let’s check for the source materials and predict what might be in stock for the new season.

Source Material Information on Blue Exorcist Season 3

The manga has been around for a decade and has churned out 27 beloved Volumes under the Blue Exorcist banner. The anime has remained faithful to the manga in more ways than some other adaptations.

The 12-episode run of season 2 relied on about 9 manga Volumes to tell its tale. Considering there are 27 manga Volumes in total, it gives the creators and writers sufficient content to adapt to season 3.

After manga remained on hiatus since July 2021, the manga has finally returned with the latest chapter coming in May 2022

Volumes	English Release Date
Volume 1	April 5, 2011
Volume 2	June 7, 2011
Volume 3	August 2, 2011
Volume 4	October 4, 2011
Volume 5	December 6, 2011
Volume 6	February 7, 2012
Volume 7	April 3, 2012
Volume 8	November 6, 2012
Volume 9	April 2, 2013
Volume 10	July 2, 2013
Volume 11	March 4, 2014
Volume 12	November 4, 2014
Volume 13	June 2, 2015
Volume 14	January 5, 2016
Volume 15	May 3, 2016
Volume 16	December 6, 2016
Volume 17	July 4, 2017
Volume 18	January 2, 2018
Volume 19	June 5, 2018
Volume 20	October 2, 2018
Volume 21	January 1, 2019
Volume 22	September 3, 2019
Volume 23	February 4, 2020
Volume 24	August 4, 2020
Volume 25	February 2, 2021
Volume 26	October 5, 2021
Volume 27	—

Popularity Information for Blue Exorcist Season 3

The first season was released back in 2011 and, before long, enjoyed a boost in popularity. You can thank Satan for that J. That year and the following one saw two special episodes and an anime movie going on air, further adding to the burgeoning fandom for “Blue Exorcist”.

The show struck the perfect balance between cliché and well-timed storytelling. The original manga sold over 15 million copies by the year 2016. The show was just too popular to be denied a second season.

And so, in 2017, “Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga” was released. The show creators followed this up with two OVA episodes. Now, that the third season has been announced the fans are extremely excited for the release.

Google Trends

Google Trends for “Blue Exorcist” peaked in mid-2020, and afterwards, it settled down to 20% or less of the peak value. But after the announcement, the searches are definitely going to double.

Search Volumes

The number of Google organic searches for a term tells us how many people are interested in it. Now that Blue Exorcist is coming back with season 3, there has been an increase in the searches as well.

Online Reactions to Blue Exorcist Season 3

Online reactions are not always accurate. Many of them are just overreactions and mislaid perceptions. Despite that, if we look at them cumulatively, we find an emergent pattern that nevertheless provides useful insight into what’s being expected surrounding season 3 of Blue Exorcist.

Twitter

There are simply too many tweets on this topic. You merely need to type in ‘Blue Exorcist Season 3’ and you’ll drop into a world of demands, curses, and speculations.

Here are two ‘teaser images’ of the prevailing mood concerning the third season of Blue Exorcist.

Quora

The above screenshot contains some opinions from Quora. You can read it for yourself, but they’re mostly positive

Expected Plot of Blue Exorcist Season 3

It’s obvious by now that any future series or seasons are going to rely directly on the manga. Adapting the manga volumes into show episodes has almost always been the way things are done in anime.

It is with some referencing and educated guesswork that we now surmise season 3’s expected plot for Blue Exorcist. Rin and his friends, based on the manga, may well encounter the Illuminati headed by Lucifer, aka the King of Light.

The Illuminati are not out to help they wish to help Satan realize his goals. One of the most prominent members of this dark group is Sabutota Tadou, who appears in the manga.

Fans have yet to see the invention of the Gehenna Gate. This could very well be portrayed in the third season. It is already known that its location is in Russia’s former nuclear power plant site.

The Illuminati helped make the gate in the first place, so this story arc is not entirely impossible. Technical errors have already proven chaotic concerning the workings of the Gehenna Gate.

This could find resolution in the third season. Its heavenly counterpart, the Assiah Gate, and Gehenna were both in solitary worlds before the ‘merge’ happened. The Exorcists will certainly have a part to play in all this, and that includes Rin (the son of Satan).

The ‘new world’ could well end up hosting all sorts of zombies and demons if Rin and the gang do not stop the Illuminati’s experiments.

Why We Want Blue Exorcist Season 3 So Desperately?

There are still plenty of manga volumes left to adapt in the Blue Exorcist series. The first two anime seasons did not cover every eventuality. Suffice it to say, cliffhangers and questions abound, to say nothing of incomplete character arcs.

A third season is ‘desperately’ needed, for Art’s sake if nothing else. And now we have the news that it is happening, so let’s see what arcs they choose and how they move ahead with the characters.

Ratings & Awards Won So Far By Blue Exorcist

IMDB boasts a 7.5 rating for the show’s runtime in the 2011-2012 bracket. 11,211 users rated it, as of this writing. The show enjoys a 79% Audience Score rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The series has a 4.7 / 5 rating (4,519 votes, as of this writing) on Crunchyroll. Below are all the awards the show has garnered.

Great Graphic Novels for Teens | 2012
BTVA People’s Choice Voice Acting Award | 2014
Best Male Lead Vocal Performance in an Anime Television Series/OVA | 2014 | awarded to Bryce Papenbrook who voices Rin Okumura
Best Vocal Ensemble in an Anime Television Series/OVA | 2014 | awarded to multiple voice-cast actors.

Reviews

This anime series has received good reviews. There are always people who write negative aspects and there are people who appreciate the series. In the case of blue exorcist, most of the reviews are positive just like the above.

So, no need to worry, fans like you have appreciated the series.

Top 5 Best-Rated Episodes

Episode Name and Number	Ratings (MyAnimeList)
Act of Kindness (Episode 15, Season 1)	4.8/5
Gehenna Gate (Episode 2, Season 1)	4.6/5
Memories (Episode 9, Season 1)	4.6/5
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Episode 6, Season 2)	4.6/5
Shine Bright as the Sun (Episode 11, Season 2)	4.6/5

Profit and Sales Details for Blue Exorcist Season 3

Light Novel/Manga sales: The light novel is titled “Ao no Exorcist: Weekend Hero”. It was written by Aya Yajima, with Kato fulfilling the illustrations. As of 2016, over 15 million copies of the manga were in circulation.

Blu-ray/DVD sales

If we go by Oricon data, we see total sales of a whopping 126,491 copies of Blu-ray/DVDs for Blue Exorcist in Japan alone. This figure is superior to season 2’s sales, which stand at 13,061 copies sold.

You may be wondering what caused such a dramatic drop in sales. The popularity of online streaming platforms could be one key clue. Regardless, it is safe to say that the show’s creators struck a decent profit where disc sales were concerned.

This can convince them to announce a season 3, but all this is just speculation, and your guess is as good as ours

Merchandise Sales

T-shirts, posters, stickers, home décor, hoodies, badges, keychains, pins, action figures, cosplay attire, collectables, and manifold merchandise designed by various artists and illustrators abound for the Blue Exorcist franchise. Prints for bedsheets, mobile phones, mugs, and a plethora of other decorative objects are also on the market.

You’ll find many of these on sites like Redbubble.

Popular Blue Exorcist Characters

Some of the important characters from previous seasons will go on to appear in every upcoming season. It always brings joy to recap these characters as they become our favourites.

Rin And Yukio Okumura

The Okumuras are going to return, the whole show revolves around the son of Satan and the boy’s self-adopted human half-brother Yukio. This human boy is also the youngest to have passed the Exorcist qualification exam, so that’s going to count toward what Yukio contributes to the series going forward.

Chasing his dreams to become Exwire at the reputed True Cross Academy, the son of Satan Rin is well on his way to becoming Knight Meister, a title that will afford him better knowledge and skills to take on his diabolical dad.

Renzo Shima

Yet another Exwire to keep your eye on is Renzo Shima whose companionship and cheer have kept the show interesting. He is often seen with Ryuji Suguro and Konekomaru Miwa.

He fulfils a two-fold speciality for not just the True Cross Order but also the Illuminati, making Renzo an important addition to the cast of season 3.

Shura Kirigakure

Shura Kirigakure is Rin’s guide and an Upper First Class Exorcist, both of which favour a return of her character. She received her Knight Meister after mentoring under Shiro Fujimoto.

Her skills and guidance are that much more significant now that Rin is going up against the one and only Satan. Another Exwire fan-favourite is Ryuji Suguro. He’s done a convincing job being Rin’s rival at the Academy.

Ryuji has an interesting backstory. A Satan-ordained Blue Night sanctuary destruction led to fans learning that the Head Priest, Tatsuma, of said sanctuary calls Ryuji his only son. Suffice to say Ryuji’s dislike for Rin is justified.

But it’s Ryuji’s desperate ambition to exact vengeance from Satan that could make him a worthy ally in season 3 than the adversary he has proven to be.

Izumo Kamiki

Izumo is one of True Cross Academy’s female students. She’s in the Exorcism Cram School, to be specific, and one of the Academy’s top students. Tracing her lineage back to several shrine maidens makes her important in the show going forward.

Fans are eagerly awaiting closure for Rin’s currently incomplete storyline. The Mephisto Pheles character could also be making a comeback. This is owing to the incomplete Illuminati story arc, of which he is a major part.

Top Similar Anime Like Blue Exorcist

1. Noragami (2014-2015)

“Noragami” is an animated series that aired from 2014 to 2015 and has captivated audiences with its unique blend of action, adventure, and supernatural elements. With a rating of 7.9/10, the show introduces viewers to a world where gods and spirits exist.

The story follows Yato, voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya, as he takes on odd jobs to earn recognition and followers. Alongside him are the spirited Hiyori Iki, voiced by Maaya Uchida, and Yukine, voiced by Yûki Kaji.

Together, they embark on thrilling adventures, battling dangerous spirits and uncovering mysteries. “Noragami” offers an exciting and engaging viewing experience, featuring a talented voice cast led by Hiroshi Kamiya, Maaya Uchida, Yûki Kaji, and Jason Liebrecht.

2. Soul Eater (2008-2009)

“Soul Eater” is an animated series that aired from 2008 to 2009, known for its action-packed storyline and distinctive visual style. With a rating of 7.8/10, the show combines elements of action, adventure, and fantasy.

The series revolves around a group of students attending the Death Weapon Meister Academy, including the determined Maka Albarn, voiced by Laura Bailey, and her partner Soul Eater Evans, voiced by Micah Solusod.

Together with their fellow students, they strive to collect evil souls and turn their weapons into powerful tools. With its dynamic battles, memorable characters, and a touch of dark humour, “Soul Eater” provides an enthralling viewing experience for fans of the genre.

3. Sword Art Online (2012- )

“Sword Art Online” is an animated series that has become a sensation since its premiere in 2012. With a rating of 7.5/10, the show combines elements of action, adventure, and virtual reality.

Set in the near future, the story follows Kazuto Kirigaya, also known as Kirito, voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, as he becomes trapped in a virtual reality MMORPG called Sword Art Online.

With his skills and determination, Kirito navigates the dangerous game world alongside other players, forming friendships and facing formidable challenges. Featuring a talented voice cast including Haruka Tomatsu, Bryce Papenbrook, and Cherami Leigh, “Sword Art Online” offers an immersive and thrilling viewing experience for fans of virtual reality gaming.

4. Tokyo Ghoul (2014)

“Tokyo Ghoul” is an animated series that premiered in 2014, renowned for its dark atmosphere and captivating story. With a rating of 7.7/10, the show combines elements of action, drama, and supernatural themes.

The series delves into a world where humans coexist with flesh-eating creatures known as Ghouls. Follow the journey of Ken Kaneki, voiced by Natsuki Hanae, as his life takes a drastic turn when he becomes a half-ghoul.

As he grapples with his newfound identity and navigates the dangerous dynamics between humans and Ghouls, Kaneki’s journey becomes an intense and emotional one. With a talented voice cast including Austin Tindle, Brina Palencia, and Sora Amamiya, “Tokyo Ghoul” offers a gripping and dark viewing experience for fans of supernatural drama.

5. The Future Diary (2011-2013)

“The Future Diary” is an animated series that aired from 2011 to 2013 and has gained a devoted following. With a rating of 7.5/10, the show combines elements of action, drama, and suspense.

The series follows the story of Yukiteru Amano, voiced by Josh Grelle, as he receives a mysterious diary that can predict the future. As Yukiteru finds himself entangled in a deadly survival game, he must rely on his wits and form alliances with other diary holders, including the enigmatic Yuno Gasai, voiced by Brina Palencia.

With its intricate plot, psychological twists, and intense battles, “The Future Diary” offers a thrilling and suspenseful viewing experience, featuring a talented voice cast led by Josh Grelle, Brina Palencia, Leah Clark, and Emily Neves.

6. Deadman Wonderland (2011)

“Deadman Wonderland” is an animated series that premiered in 2011 and has garnered attention for its dark and gritty narrative. With a rating of 7.1/10, the show combines elements of action, drama, and mystery.

The series revolves around Ganta Igarashi, voiced by Greg Ayres, who finds himself wrongfully convicted of a crime and sent to Deadman Wonderland, a twisted prison where inmates must participate in lethal games.

As Ganta navigates this dangerous environment and uncovers the prison’s secrets, he discovers his own mysterious abilities. With a talented voice cast including Monica Rial, Romi Park, Kana Hanazawa, and Greg Ayres, “Deadman Wonderland” provides a thrilling and suspenseful viewing experience, perfect for fans of dark and intense storytelling.

Conclusion

Now that we have the good news, there is nothing to worry about for the fans. The anime is coming back in January 2024, with a brand new season. It is great as 27 Volumes of manga are something to be adapted otherwise we will miss many things.

Fans are extremely excited and now all that is left to do is wait and see how the new season is going to be.