#kato kazue

[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

[saturnsedan]

thinking about Kato Kazue (Blue Exorcist mangaka) drawing the Band of the Hawk

[oratokyosaigunda]

Jump SQ. cover 2025年4月 issue

[silveranimefan]

Today's Manga: “Blue Exorcist" ("Ao no Exorcist") by Kazue Kato

-Localization: Viz Media -Translation: John Werry -Touch-Up Art & Lettering: John Hunt & Primary Graphics -Design: Ian Miller -Editor: Mike Montesa

[nathvods]

my son

[flower-of-assiah]

★ { Ao no Exorcist / 青の祓魔師 }  ★

➨ AOEX EXHIBITION: new illustrations from Kazue Kato, featuring the main cast and others!

[ao-no-exorcist-blog-blr]

From Kazue Kato's Twitter

[hootiee]

JumpFesta 2025 Shikishi

[yomai]

HOPE YA’LL READY

[redcat-noodle]

In honor of the last episode and this AMAZING character - Father Fujimoto aka Shirooo 🥰 you better give this some love 😉

[kursed-arcana]

[midnight-in-town]

Slightly late with this one piece of news, but with the current cour of AnE anime airing, I think it's important to remind everyone that Kato-sensei definitely is a feminist.

More posts about that here and here.

Please read Ao no Exorcist, it's a good shonen series.

[hatsumishinogu]

Blue Exorcist Character Book - Seijuukishidan Archives

[oratokyosaigunda]

Jump SQ. cover 2024年2月 issue

[silveranimefan]

Today’s Manga: “Blue Exorcist” (“Ao no Exorcist”) by Kazue Kato

-Localization: Viz Media -Translation: John Werry -Touch-Up Art & Lettering: John Hunt, Primary Graphix -Cover & Interior Design: Shawn Carrico -Editor: Mike Montesa

[grinu]

Blue Exorcist chapter 13 "Something Kind" (やさしい事)