This Saturday, Aniplex unveiled the second trailer for the upcoming third season of the animated adaptation of Katou Kazue’s Ao no Exorcist, announced in December 2022, as well as the voice cast and opening theme. Coming six years after the end of the second season, Ao no Exorcist- Shimane Illuminati Hen will cover volumes 10 to 15 of the original manga and is set to premiere in January 2024. Like the previous seasons, Aniplex of America has licensed the series in English.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFtUkrxqRaM]
Studio VOLN is now in charge of production, replacing A-1 Pictures from the first two seasons, with Yoshida Daisuke (a veteran key animator, also Idol Jihen‘s director) as the new director, replacing Hatsumi Koichi from the second season. Meanwhile, Oono Toshiya (Shadows House, The Promised Neverland), also from the second season, is confirmed as the scriptwriter. All primary voice actors, starting from Okamoto Nobuhiko as Okumura Rin, have reprised their roles. UVERworld (Arslan no Senki first opening, Bleach second opening, Boku no Hero Academia fourth opening) performs the opening theme “Eye’s Sentry”.
Katou’s third serialized manga, Ao no Exorcist, originally started as a pilot one-shot, titled Miyamauguisu-tei Jiken, published on Shueisha‘s Jump Square on August 4, 2008. It was later serialized on April 9, 2009, in the same magazine and has been collected into twenty-nine tankoubon volumes as of July 2023. The manga has sold over 25 million copies as of December 2022, with the seventh volume alone selling over 1 million copies, setting a new record for Jump Square. A spin-off series written by Katou and illustrated by Sasaki Minoru, focused on Rin’s brother Yukio and titled Salaryman Futsumashi Okumura Yukio no Aishuu, started on Square‘s spin-off issue Jump SQ.19 on April 19, 2013, then was folded into Square on February 19, 2015 after SQ.19 ended publication The series finished on April 3, 2020 and was collected into four tankoubon volumes.
(Season 3 visual)
The first season of the animated adaptation was announced on November 27, 2010, on Square‘s official website. Originally scheduled to premiere on April 10, 2011, on MBS, it was delayed by a week due to the Touhoku earthquake. The anime ended on October 2, 2011, running for twenty-five episodes; an OVA titled Ao No Exorcist: Kuro no Iede was released later the same year, followed by a movie-length feature on December 28, 2012, directed by Takahashi Atsushi. Neon Alley and Toonami broadcast the series in English in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Six years later, a second season titled Ao no Exorcist: Kyouto Hen was announced in June 2016 and premiered on January 7, 2017, with twelve episodes.
