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Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Impure King Arc Anime's 1st Promo Video Introduces New Cast

The official website for the Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujō Ō-hen (Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Impure King Arc) anime series began streaming the anime's first full promotional video on Monday. The video introduces the show's new cast. (Note: linked video is region-locked to Japan.)

The show's website also announced a collaboration with Kyoto's famous Kyoto Tower, and the website will reveal more information about the collaboration later.

The site also revealed a new visual, drawn by original manga author Kazue Katō.

The show's new and returning cast includes:

• Nobuhiko Okamoto as Rin Okumura
• Jun Fukuyama as Yukio Okumura
• Kana Hanazawa as Shiemi Moriyama
• Kazuya Nakai as Ryuji Suguro
• Koji Yusa as Renzo Shima
• Yuuki Kaji as Konekomaru Miwa
• Eri Kitamura as Izumo Kamiki
• Ayahi Takagaki as Kuro
• Rina Satou as Shura Kirigakure
• Hiroshi Kamiya as Mephisto Pheles
• Keiji Fujiwara as Shiro Fujimoto
• Takashi Inagaki as Tatsuma Suguro
• Katsuyuki Konishi as Jūzō Shima
• Kishō Taniyama as Kinzō Shima
• M.A.O as Mamushi Hōjō
• Kazuhiro Yamaji as Saburōta Tōdō

Koichi Hatsumi (Deadman Wonderland, Gangsta., Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I - The Egg of the King) is replacing Tensai Okamura as the director of the new series at A-1 Pictures. Toshiya Ono (The Perfect Insider, tsuritama, Gatchaman Crowds) is handling the series composition, replacing Ryota Yamaguchi. Keigo Sasaki is returning from the first season to design the characters, and he is also the chief animation director alongside Akira Takata (Durarara!!, Natsume's Book of Friends). Shigeki Kawai (episode director for Kingdom, Galilei Donna) is serving as assistant director. Hiroyuki Sawano is additionally returning to compose the music alongside newcomer Kohta Yamamoto (the same Legendoor management company represents both artists).

The anime will adapt the "Kyoto Impure King Arc" that started in the fifth volume of Kazue Katō's original manga. Viz Media describes the manga's fifth volume as follows:

In the late Edo Period, a demon known as the Impure King killed thousands of people. After defeating the demon, the Knights of the True Cross kept its left eye safely sealed away on Academy grounds - but now someone has stolen it! Hearing the thief has taken a child hostage, Yukio and Rin go to help. The investigation and pursuit will lead Rin and his friends to Kyoto and involve them even deeper in a sinister plot! But will his friends' knowledge that Rin is the son of Satan drive a wedge between them?

Katō launched the manga in Jump SQ. magazine in 2009, and Shueisha published the 17th compiled volume on July 4. The manga inspired a 25-episode television anime adaptation in 2011, and an anime film in 2012.

The supernatural manga focuses on Rin Okumura, a boy raised by a famous exorcist named Father Fujimoto. After an argument between the two, Rin discovers he is the son of Satan. Rin decides to fight his fate by joining the True Cross Academy to become an exorcist and defeat demons. However, when he draws his father's sword, it releases a dark power within him.

Viz Media publishes the manga in English simultaneously digitally as new chapters are published in Japan, and the company also releases the manga in print. Aniplex of America released the previous anime adaptations. The manga has also inspired several stage plays, the most recent of which ran in Tokyo in August. The latest stage play also adapted the Kyoto Impure King Arc.

Thanks to Dennis R. for the embedded video.

Source: MoCa News