Ao No Exorcist (Blue Exorcist in English)
Japanese are very spiritual, but then again, they aren’t. It’s more of a style/fad type of thing, instead of something very sacred. Consider drinking a Coca-Cola, or wearing a cap with your favorite team on it. We do it because it’s cool or it feels good. So when I watched Ao No Exorcist (I skimmed through most of the 26 episodes) I noticed that spiritual powers are cool.
*SPOILERS FOR AO NO EXORCIST AHEAD!*
To break down the anime in short, it’s about Rin who is the son of satan. His brother is as well, and they were both taken care of by Father Fujimoto. Fujimoto was with their mother (not sure if they were married…) but satan ended up impregnating her “spiritually”, nothing sexual shown in the series. So after they are born, they have no idea of who their real father is, nor the existence of a spiritual world outside of the natural one. Eventually Rin discovers his powers, using his demonic talents to fight other demons that want to attack him. Satan wants him to go back to Gehenna (hell basically) and have a happy family (yeah right). Rin refuses, and decides that he (along with the other exorcists that he goes to True Cross Academy with) will fight these evil demons…with his demon power. He starts getting trained by his professors at the school and prepares for battle with the more powerful eight kings of the demon world.
Eventually everything comes to a head with the pope wanting to use Rin’s demon blood as a sacrificial offering to open the gate of Gehenna, drop a bomb (yes, it’s a bomb!) called the Messiah (any more dramatic?) and destroy hell. Of course that doesn’t work, the pope is killed (he got what he deserved, basically) and Rin, being the son of satan, has to fight to save his friends and world.
This anime is great in showing how easy it is not to notice that there’s a spiritual side to our life and world. We see even in the first episode how Rin didn’t know that there were small demon looking “bugs” flying around everywhere, especially attracted to the kid who was bullying him. Do you believe that there are supernatural forces acting outside of your natural senses?
How can we even prove that there are angels or demons acting outside our five senses? The bible mentions one instance with a prophet who activated his servant’s eyes to see in this realm:
2 Kings 6:17
17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
Where does that leave us? How can we experience all this supernatural stuff for ourselves? I’m not going to get deep or “mystical”, but yes, God is supernatural and you can experience Him in your daily life. It may not be the way your used to seeing in movies, comic books, or video games, but He wants to have a real relationship with those who are open to one. Jesus says that He knocks on the door of our heart, and we have to open it. All you have to do is take an action and be open to His forgiveness, His healing and freedom. I’ve experienced God in many supernatural ways, seen and read about others experiences, and I always want to know Him deeper than I do now.
Have you ever had a supernatural experience happen to you, whether spiritual or maybe something you can’t explain? How do you relate our real world to the world in Ao No Exorcist? How did the anime open your eyes to the supernatural, if it did at all? Thanks for reading, and let me know what you liked or didn’t like about this post 🙂 God bless.