How much has Yukio changed since season 1?

Key takeaways

• Yukio struggles with feelings of inferiority and powerlessness compared to Rin.
• Yukio hides his true intentions and trains hard to prove himself and distances himself from friends.
• Yukio betrays the True Cross Order to join the Illuminati and seek power to overcome his insecurities.

Okumura Yukio has always been Rin's reserved younger brother, always looking out for him and making sure he doesn't get into trouble. But even though the two are twins, Yukio has always been distant from his older brother, and that distance has grown since Rin entered the True Cross Order of Knights to become an exorcist.

Yukio has always felt inferior to Rin and thus powerless. With his heritage unknown, Yukio has struggled with his morals throughout the series. But how much has Yukio changed since season 1 of Blue Exorcist?

How was Yukio at the beginning of season 1?

Yukio portrays himself as the kind and reserved younger brother

At the beginning of Blue ExorcistOkumura Yukio is portrayed as Rin's reserved younger twin brother, the son of Satan. At the beginning of the series, Yukio and Father Fujimoto dedicate their lives to keeping Rin safe from demons and all things occult. At a young age, Yukio could always see demons and knew the circumstances of their birth.

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However, Yukio always puts on a facade around his older brother, unwilling to give him any information because he wants to keep Rin away from demons. Consequently, this is because Rin has inherited Satan's blue flames. After learning to become an exorcist under the tutelage of Father Fujimoto, Yukio continued to keep Rin in the dark about his heritage, playing the role of a concerned younger brother as Rin had always been a troublemaker before Father Fujimoto died.

However, this was just a way for Yukio to hide his true feelings about their heritage. Without a doubt, Yukio cares for his older brother and would go to great lengths to protect him. However, Yukio has always felt inferior to Rin. When Yukio and Rin were younger, the neighborhood kids often bullied Yukio, so Rin ran to his rescue. This was probably the beginning of Yukio's inferiority complex, as he was the younger and weaker brother at the time.

However, Yukio gradually began to change after learning about demons and exorcists. At that time, he wanted to catch up with his brother, as he always felt weaker. In Season 1, Yukio revealed that he had become an exorcist to protect others and Rin because he no longer wanted to live in the dark.

Since Rin was unaware of his heritage, Yukio constantly interacted with him under a facade, never giving away his true intentions and feelings. Overall, Yukio essentially became Rin's older brother in this case, as Rin often got into trouble. Since Rin and Yukio no longer have a family, Yukio usually takes care of Rin and establishes some authority over him, not only as a mentor in exorcism, but also as a sibling. However, Yukio's true feelings about his older brother were yet to be revealed throughout this time.

How much has Yukio changed since season 1?

Yukio finally lets his insecurities get the better of him as he searches for more power

Throughout the events of Blue ExorcistYukio has his true intentions and feelings; However, Shiemi and Rin, who have been close to Yukio, have always been able to tell that something is wrong. While Yukio's character has always been professional and reserved to those in Cram School, Yukio has been shown to have a short temper.

As I said, Yukio has an inferiority complex towards his brother and those who are stronger than him. Because of this, Yukio feels that he should always work and train harder to prove himself. In addition to this inferiority complex, Yukio has always felt that he was in competition with his older brother. Yukio was under the assumption that he did not inherit the same Blue Flames from their father Satan and was under the impression that he was a normal human who was given a Mashou from birth, which is why he could see demons.

Although Yukio has always cared for his brother, he also envies him. After Yukio became an exorcist, he was forced to check his blood daily in case he might have also received Satan's blue flames. In Season 2, Yukio was convinced that he was a normal human. However, during the Kyoto Impure King arc, Yukio discovered that he also inherited some of Satan's blue flames but did not know its extent.

Yukio then began to distance himself from his friends and tried to keep this information to himself. But the Illuminati and Mephisto Pheles already knew of Yukio's plight. To reveal the truth about his heritage, Yukio would undergo dangerous experimental training to bring out the Blue Flames again.

Yukio has always doubted himself and his abilities. As Season 3 reached its end, Yukio continued to distance himself from the Cram School students and his older brother. Yukio possibly felt this way because he felt he had no one to rely on and needed to shoulder some burdens himself, which is why he had always gone out of his way to search. Yukio has kept secrets, especially from Rin, for most of their lives. As a result, it is possible that Yukio did not know how to confide in his brother about his condition.

As Yukio has always chased after his older brother, with the prospect of gaining more power, he soon leaves the True Cross Order of Knights and joins the Illuminati as a guest researcher. Yukio may have always sought power because he felt weak. Although Yukio could sometimes be seen as the older brother due to his dependable personality, this burden may have caused him to defect to the Illuminati in search of answers.

Blue Exorcist is now available to stream on Crunchyroll.