Blue Exorcist Vol 8 by Kazue Kato

The Impure king is almost to his full form, which means his body has begun to form a city with spores attacking anyone or thing who sets foot on the ground. Rin and Bon hitch a ride on an enlarged Kuro, who whisks them towards the growing poisonous mega-spore. When the mega-spore explodes, poisonous gas will be released and float down the mountain to the unsuspecting city of Kyoto below. Bon takes his new power from Karura and creates a fire barrier to lock in the Impure King’s poisonous gas. Yukio tries to fight off Todo, who has absorbed the Phoenix abilities of Karura, which he stole from Bon’s father. The Shima brothers also aid Yukio in his battle.  Mephisto is being annoying and lounging on a couch in the sky just watching the action and providing a bit of color commentary.

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We’ve almost reached the end of this arc with the Impure King, but of course Rin has to level up in some way. We get two interesting reveals here, one from Mephisto and one from Yukio, which I'm sure will be stretched on over several volumes.  Bon and Rin are back to being competitive friends and they work really well together in this volume.  We also finally get to see some attention to Kuro, the cutest character.  His agility and speed, plus resistance to the spores of the Impure King, make him essential to getting Bon and Rin into position.  The enemy turning into a city concept is something that can be seen throughout Japanese video games and other stories, so this element wasn't as strange to me as it could be to some readers.  The illustrations of the puss-bubbles and spores is satisfyingly horrible.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
​Suitability Level: Grades 10-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4, vol 5, vol 6, vol 7

Publisher: VIZ Media
Publication Date: November 6, 2012
ISBN: 9781421550848 (Paperback)

Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Demons, Horror, School Life, VIZ Media ​