When talking about iconic shonen manga in 2026, the likes of One Piece, My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End often come to mind. While these are well-established series in the shonen demographic, there are many legendary shonen manga that have faded away due to poor anime adaptations or long hiatuses, and Blue Exorcist is one such series. Blue Exorcist was at one point one of the most popular and iconic shonen stories, and now, its creator officially confirms that her story is coming to an end.
Blue Exorcist is a legendary Shonen Manga
Blue Exorcist is a shonen manga series that first began serialization in 2009. This manga series was created by Kazue Kato, who handles both the writing and illustration. Blue Exorcist follows the beloved story of Rin Okumura and his twin brother, Yukio Okumura. When Rin's adoptive father is killed, he unlocks his powers as the son of Satan. With that, he sets out to become an exorcist and grow in strength to achieve his ultimate goal – to kill Satan.
In the long term, Blue Exorcist has collected 33 volumes with over 160 chapters. Unfortunately, the series has faced many problems over the years. At one point, the anime changed studios, and the quality dropped significantly. On top of that, the creator, Kazue, has dealt with significant health issueswhich has slowed down the manga to the point where it is still ongoing now, 17 years later.
Blue Exorcist creator Kazue Kato reveals that the manga is coming to an end
In the 2010s, Blue Exorcist was easily one of the highlights of shonen manga and anime. Back then, the series had a very large fan base. Although it has definitely declined due to slow publication, it is still a favorite among many devoted readers out there, and its quality is such that it can easily be called a legendary shonen series.
Unfortunately, now, after 17 years of slow serialization, the story is finally coming to an end. On her X platform, creator Kazue Kato has officially confirmed to fans that her manga series will end soon. She has said that she will do her best with the final chapter to deliver something that fans would appreciate.
“Thanks everyone for the warm replies – they really help. Thank you so much!
Since it's a monthly serialization, it'll probably be quite a bit ahead anyway, but I'll do my best to make the final chapter as enjoyable as possible for everyone.” — Kazue Kato (@katohhhhhh on X)
Apparently, fans are unhappy with her decision to end the manga so suddenly. Even after 17 years of serialization, readers do not believe that this is the right time in the manga for the story to end, and some say that this ending will be very rushed and that the story could have taken another arc.
There is also some confusion among readers about the author's message about the author. Some fans believe Kato is talking about the final chapter of the current ongoing arc, and not the Blue Exorcist story in general. But based on her message, that doesn't seem to be the case. It is quite obvious that the author is talking about the end of the story altogether which will come in the summer of 2026.
Blue Exorcist Anime is still ongoing
The Blue Exorcist manga will unfortunately come to an end within the next few months. However, it is not the end of the franchise as the anime still exists, and fans are already looking forward to it. The anime of Blue Exorcist has dealt with many problems. Since the anime changed studios, from A-1 Pictures for seasons 1 and 2, to Studio VOLN for seasons 3 and 4, it's clear that the quality has dropped significantly.
That said, with the right amount of time and a good staff, all of these problems can be easily fixed. There is hope for a new studio to pick up Blue Exorcist in the future, or at least for VOLN studio to put in enough work to properly adapt this series and do it justice when it returns.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)
