Like any shounen action anime, Blue Exorcist is slowly amassing multiple seasons that detail the life of Satan’s son who doesn’t want to take over daddy’s business of trying to murder humanity, and doesn’t want him taking over his body to do it either.
However, unlike most shounen anime, Blue Exorcist had a long while after its first season where it didn’t actually seem like it was going to be green-lit for more. However, it eventually made it happen, which has lead to a more descriptive, but less conventional naming scheme for the seasons that came after.
When you start having seasons named after their arcs instead of the more common “Season 2,” then you suddenly find a need for a watch order, especially when OVAs and movies get thrown into the mix.
Blue Exorcist Watch Order
How to Watch Blue Exorcist in Order
Unlike some other series, Blue Exorcist isn’t actually a very complicated show to watch. Mostly it boils down to knowing what the next season is called so you don’t watch the third season instead of the second.
Blue Exorcist Full Watch Order
- Blue Exorcist (TV)
- Blue Exorcist – Runaway Kuro (OVA) (Optional)
- Blue Exorcist – The Movie (Movie) (Optional)
- Blue Exorcist – Kyoto Saga (TV)
- Blue Exorcist – Kyoto Saga OVAs (Optional, but Recommended)
- Blue Exorcist – Shimane Illuminati Saga (TV)
If you are looking to get the Blue Exorcist story closer to how the manga would be telling it, you will want to augment your watch order to the following.
Blue Exorcist Manga-Canon Watch Order
- Blue Exorcist (TV) Up to Episode 16 (The rest is filler)
- Blue Exorcist – Kyoto Saga (TV)
- Blue Exorcist – Shimane Illuminati Saga (TV)
The major benefit of the manga-canon watch order is that the transition from the first season of Blue Exorcist to the Kyoto Saga second season isn’t as jarring. It can feel a bit weird to finish the first season, then have the events of the entire second half be kind of ignored as you start the second season.
About The Canon Content of The Kyoto Saga OVAs
You can completely watch Blue Exorcist without watching any OVAs or even the movie since the first OVA and movie are anime-only content. However, the Kyoto Saga OVAs are based on two novels that were paired with the Blue Exorcist manga.
I actually recommend watching the Snake and Poison OVA, the first Kyoto Saga OVA, as it is a prequel to the events of the second season and provides an interesting glimpse at some characters that play a large role in it. The second Kyoto Saga OVA, Spy Game, feels less worthwhile.
