When speaking of 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 bad 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 the 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 slay Satan.
Over its long run, Blue Exorcist has accumulated 33 volumes with over 160 chapters. Sadly, the series has faced many issues over the years. At one point, the anime switched studios, and the quality dropped significantly. On top of that, the creator, Kazue, has been dealing with significant health issues, which have slowed down the manga to the point that even now, 17 years later, it’s still ongoing.
Blue Exorcist Creator Kazue Kato Reveals The Manga Is Ending
In the 2010s, Blue Exorcist was easily one of the highlights of shonen manga and anime. Back then, the series had a very large fanbase. While it has definitely diminished due to slow publishing, it is still a fan favorite to many dedicated readers out there, and its quality is such that it can easily be called a legendary shonen series.
Sadly, 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 is coming to an end very soon. She has stated that she will do her best with the final chapter to deliver something that fans would enjoy.
“Thank you all for the warm replies—they really help. Thank you so much!
Since it's a monthly serialization, it'll probably end up being quite a ways ahead anyway, but I'll do my best to make the final chapter as enjoyable as possible for everyone.” — Kazue Kato (@katohhhhhh on X)
Evidently, fans are unhappy with her decision to end the manga so suddenly. Even after 17 years of serialization, readers do not believe this is the right time in the manga for the story to end, with some stating that this ending is going to be very rushed, and that the story could have taken one more arc.
There is also some confusion among the readers about the author's message of the author. Some fans believe that Kato is talking about the final chapter of the current ongoing arc, and not of the Blue Exorcist story, in general. However, from her message, that doesn’t seem to be the case. It is quite apparent that the author is talking about the end of the story altogether which is set to come in Summer 2026.
Blue Exorcist Anime Is Still Ongoing
The Blue Exorcist manga is, sadly, reaching its end in the next couple of months. However, that's 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 a lot of troubles. Since the anime switched studios, going from A-1 Pictures for Seasons 1 and 2, to Studio VOLN for seasons 3 and 4, it is clear that the quality has dropped significantly.
That said, with proper time and a good staff, all these issues can be easily fixed. There is hope for a new studio to pick up Blue Exorcist in the future, or, at the very least, for VOLN studio to put in adequate work to properly adapt this series and do it justice when it returns.