How to Watch Blue Exorcist in Order: 3 Popular Ways

Blue Exorcist is a popular anime series about a half-demon boy training to become an exorcist. After a long hiatus, seasons 4 and 5 are finally here, and with them comes a renewed interest in the series. So, what’s the best way to watch it? An anime expert partnered with wikiHow to provide the answer and outline the recommended watch order for the series. We’ll also explain the three most popular watch orders (release order, chronological order, and canonical order), plus where to watch the series, what it’s about, and more!

What’s the best order to watch Blue Exorcist?

Anime expert Richard Moore recommends watching Blue Exorcist in release order. To do this, simply watch the show, OVAs, and movie in the order they were released. If you’re interested in watching in canonical order instead, only watch the first 17 episodes of season 1, then watch the other seasons in release order.

Section 1 of 7:

How to Watch Blue Exorcist in Release Order

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If you’ve never seen Blue Exorcist before, Moore recommends watching in release order.^{[1]
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Richard Moore
Anime Expert

Expert Interview} This way, the story is easy to follow, and you’ll consume content that’s canon to both the manga and anime. Here’s a current list of all the seasons, OVAs (original video animation), and movies:^{[2]
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- Blue Exorcist season 1
- Blue Exorcist: Runaway Kuro (OVA)
- Blue Exorcist: The Movie
- Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga (season 2)
- Blue Exorcist: Snake and Poison (OVA)
- Blue Exorcist: Spy Game (OVA)
- Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga (season 3)
- Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow Saga (season 4)
- Blue Exorcist: The Blue Night Saga (season 5)
Meet the wikiHow Expert

Richard Moore is an anime expert based in Dayton, Ohio. He has 6+ years of experience creating anime content on social media for more than 386k followers.

Section 2 of 7:

How to Watch Blue Exorcist in Chronological Order

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If you want to watch the show according to its in-universe chronological timeline, your watch order differs slightly from release order. This is because Blue Exorcist: The Movie occurs between episodes 18 and 19 of season 1. Here’s the complete chronological order:^{[3]
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- Blue Exorcist season 1 (episodes 1-18)
- Blue Exorcist: The Movie
- Blue Exorcist season 1 (episodes 19-end)
- Blue Exorcist: Runaway Kuro (OVA)
- Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga (season 2)
- Blue Exorcist: Snake & Poison (OVA)
- Blue Exorcist: Spy Game (OVA)
- Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga (season 3)
- Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow Saga (season 4)
- Blue Exorcist: The Blue Night Saga (season 5)

Section 3 of 7:

How to Watch Blue Exorcist in Manga-Canon Order

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Like many anime series, Blue Exorcist contains some episodes that are exclusive to the anime, meaning they aren’t in the original manga. Moore says Season 1 splits off from the canonical story following episode 16, so you can skip the rest of the season if you’re not interested in filler and go right into Season 2.^{[4]
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Richard Moore
Anime Expert

Expert Interview} Here’s the complete canonical watch order:^{[5]
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- Blue Exorcist season 1 (episodes 1-16)
- Blue Exorcist: Runaway Kuro (OVA)
- Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga (season 2)
- Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga (season 3)
- Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow Saga (season 4)
- Blue Exorcist: The Blue Night Saga (season 5)
- Note: Blue Exorcist: The Movie contains some canon aspects, but most of it is not canon, so you can skip it. Moore says that the movie is a standalone, but if you want to watch it, watch it after you complete season 1.^{[6]
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  Richard Moore
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  Expert Interview}

Section 4 of 7:

Blue Exorcist Story Arcs

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1
Season 1, episodes 1-9 Rin Okumura is a teenager who’s down on his luck; he’s been ostracized at school because of his temper and abnormal strength, he just lost his job, and he’s gotten into a fight with a gang of punks. When the punks show up again and try to kill him, he suddenly spouts blue flames from his body. The gang’s leader reveals himself to be possessed by a demon and explains that Rin is actually the son of Satan.
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Season 1, episodes 10-17 Rin enters True Cross Academy to begin learning how to be an exorcist and meets his classmates. During a mission at an amusement park, he gets into a fight with Amaimon, one of the eight Demon Kings, and is saved by the mysterious Yamada, who reveals himself to be a former apprentice of Rin’s teacher, Shiro. Rin then pledges to become the Paladin, the highest of all Exorcist ranks, to prove that Shiro was right for letting him live.
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Season 1, episodes 18-25 These episodes are canon to the anime only. After recovering from Amaimon’s attack, Rin’s classmates discover his true nature and he must fight to regain their trust. Meanwhile, Rin’s brother Yukio meets their grandfather, a high-ranking exorcist, who needs the brothers’ help to destroy Satan and all other demons. In return, he promises he can make Rin and Yukio fully human.
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Blue Exorcist: Runaway Kuro This OVA is based on the bonus manga chapter by Kazue Katō titled “Kuro Runs Away” and is technically part of the first season of the anime. It follows Kuro, the 121-year-old cat sidhe, as he leaves the Okumura house after being teased by Rin and disciplined by Yukio. He sets out to find a new master and encounters various characters while wandering True Cross Academy.^{[7]
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Blue Exorcist: The Movie True Cross Academy Town is preparing for a grand festival held every 11 years. During the parade, a “Phantom Train” float goes berserk, and Rin and his friends discover that the barriers meant to protect the town from demons have been compromised.^{[8]
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Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga In season 2, Rin and his friends get called to the slums of True Cross Academy to meet Saburota Todo, head of the Saishinobu, a division of the True Cross Order. Todo explains that his team found a masked man stealing a very dangerous demonic artifact from their archives. As they chase the masked man down, Todo reveals he’s demonically possessed and attacks Yuko. The Exwires must then fight to save the artifact from Todo.
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Blue Exorcist: Snake and Poison This OVA is part of theKyoto Saga season and based on the second chapter of the novel Home Sweet Home by Kazue Katō and Aya Yajima. It follows Mamushi Hojo and Juzo Shima when they were students at True Cross Academy.^{[9]
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Blue Exorcist: Spy Game The 3rdBlue Exorcist OVA is based on the second chapter of the novel Spy Game by Kazue Katō and Aya Yajima. It follows Renzo Shima during his early days as a spy at True Cross Academy, as he is tested by Mephisto with 3 tasks to see if he is worthy of being Mephistos’ double-agent spy.^{[10]
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Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga In season 3, Rin and friends have successfully defeated the Impure King and returned to their daily lives. Soon, though, strange things begin happening, and the Knights of the True Cross discover that Seraphim have appeared all around the world. Meanwhile, the Illuminati, led by the strongest of the Eight Demon Kings, Lucifer, appears and explains that the Illuminati have declared war on the True Cross Order.
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Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow Saga Season 4 opens with Mephisto ordering Rin and Yukio to head to Aomori, as Shura has gone missing and that was her last known location. While the boys search for her, Shura confronts a mysterious demon known as Hachiro, who informs her that the Illuminati have slain a longtime comrade of his. Shura offers him protection, but he refuses and attacks her.
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Blue Exorcist: The Blue Night Saga While the Blue Night—the massacre in which Satan possessed several holy men—is touched on in season 1, season 5 finally depicts it in full as Mephisto takes Rin back in time to witness his mother’s life and the Blue Night itself.^{[11]
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Section 5 of 7:

Where to Watch Blue Exorcist

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Watch Blue Exorcist on Crunchyroll. While streaming platforms are always subject to change, in the United States, Crunchyroll is the only streaming service where you can access Blue Exorcist. If you have a Crunchyroll subscription, however, you can also watch the show on YouTube TV, Amazon Prime Video, or the Roku Channel by connecting your subscriptions.

Section 6 of 7:

What is Blue Exorcist about?

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Blue Exorcist follows Rin, the son of Satan, as he trains to become an exorcist. When Rin and his brother Yukio discover they’re actually the sons of Satan, they enroll at True Cross Academy to learn how to exorcise demons.
- The Blue Exorcist anime is adapted from the manga of the same name.
- Currently, there are 5 seasons of Blue Exorcist. There is no confirmation that there will be a season 6, but fans speculate the show will be renewed because the manga is ongoing.

Section 7 of 7:

Other Anime Watch Orders

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Want to start watching another anime series? You’ve come to the right place! Check out these other wikiHow articles to learn the best watch orders for other popular series:
- Black Butler
- Chainsaw Man
- Black Clover
- A Certain Magical Index
- Demon Slayer