When it comes to 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 been lost due to poor anime adaptations or long hiatus, and Blue Exorcist is one such series. blue ghost At one point, was one of the most popular and iconic shonen stories, and now, Its creator officially confirms that his story is ending.
The Blue Exorcist is a legendary shonen manga
blue ghost is a shonen manga series that first began serialization in 2009. The manga series is created by Kazue Kato, who handles both writing and illustration. Blue Exorcist follows the beloved story of Rin Okumura and her twin brother Yukio Okumura. When Rin's adoptive father is killed, he unleashes his powers as the son of Satan. With that, he sets out to become an exorcist and become stronger to achieve his ultimate goal of killing Satan.
In its long run, blue ghost Compiled in 33 volumes with more than 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, is facing significant health issuesWhich has slowed down the manga to the point that even now, 17 years later, it's still going on.
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. At the time, the series had quite a fanbase. While it certainly fell short due to late publication, it is still a fan favorite for many dedicated readers out there, and its quality is such that it can easily be called a legendary shonen series.
Unfortunately, now, after 17 years of delayed serialization, the story is finally coming to an end. On his X platform, creator Kazue Kato officially confirmed to fans that his manga series is coming to an end soon. She said that she will try her best to give the fans something to enjoy in the last chapter.
“Thanks everyone for the warm replies – they really help. Thanks so much!
Since it's a monthly series, it'll end pretty early 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 his decision to abruptly end the manga. Even after 17 years of serialization, readers still do not believe that the time is right for the story to end in the manga, with some saying that the ending would be too rushed and that the story could take one more arc.
There is also some confusion among the readers about the author's message. Some fans believe that Kato is talking about the final chapter of the current ongoing arc, and not the Blue Exorcist story in general. However, from his message, that doesn't seem to be the case. It is very clear that the author is talking about the end of the story which is coming in summer 2026.
The Blue Exorcist anime is still ongoing
The Blue Exorcist manga will, sadly, be coming to its end in the next couple of months. However, that 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 faced many problems. After the anime switched studios, going 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.
He said, with proper timing and good staff, all these problems can be solved easily. Hopefully a new studio will pick up Blue Exorcist in the future, or, at the very least, VOLN Studios will do enough to adapt the series properly and do it justice when it returns.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)
