How did you pick up AnE?

[saladesu]

Here's a more fun thread

How did you find out about AnE? What made you want to read it? What made you keep reading it and fall in love with it? What are the things you like best about AnE and that you would use to convince a friend to read it?

For myself... I actually don't remember how I found out about AnE I think I read about it somewhere and was vaguely interested but slightly turned off by the cliched-sounding plot. Then I saw some reviews for it and they gave it lots of high praise, and since it was only 16 chapters, I decided to give it a go. I was bored while studying for exams anyway Little did I know that once I started, I wouldn't be able to stop I've already turned my thoughts on AnE and what I like about it into a review that was on an old Featured Manga News Post, so I shall just c&p it here~

The premise in one sentence: main character is the son of Satan, foster father dies, main character vows to take revenge/defeat Satan using the very demon powers he never wanted or even knew he had. Oh, how many times have we heard this premise before? Countless, I'm sure. But wait - don't let that stop you from reading Ao no Exorcist, because if you do you will regret it. Ao no Exorcist is a series that is so much more than its premise will have you think. It is one of those series that takes an overused, hackneyed plot line, executes it exceptionally, and turns it into gold.

The art is pretty good, albeit sketchy at times, and the story strikes a good balance between action, drama and comedy. It knows when to be serious and when to be funny, and trust me, it's real good at doing both. The characters are the true selling point of this manga as they are all very unique and have interesting back stories that will make you invested in each one of them and want to know more. As the story progresses, you'll also see that it isn't really as cliche as you might have thought upon reading the summary.

All in all, Ao no Exorcist is a very enjoyable read I would recommend to anyone who enjoys fantasy, action or supernatural manga. It also ranked 5th on the recent "Comics Bookstore Staff All Over Japan Recommend 2011" poll, a testament to the high quality of this great manga.

What about you?

[addenza]

Let's see... I think I came across it while I was using Onemanga's random manga function last year (or maybe the year before last?). I was trying to pass the time while I waited for DGM to update... And I'd just read 07 Ghost, which is another manga of a similar genre to both DGM and AnE. Since the summary appealed to me, I decided to pick it up and I was so captivated by the manga that when I finished reading the English scans, I read the Chinese scans which were up-to-date.

[riki]

Someone posted a page from the first chapter in a DGM chapter discussion thread, which caught my interest. I like it so much that I continue reading it. ^^

[Razeus]

Well I watched the thread before it was featured and I thought I give it a whirl and I'm glad I did so I want to pick up the offical releases.

[MSofAofCOCA]

I actually got AOnE somehow confused with Zombie Loan when talking to a friend, and ended up starting to read both >.>'' (though i kinda dropped ZL...)

[Mango-chan]

I caught the pilot episode of the anime on crunchyroll, saw a lot of potential and accidentally marathon'd the manga.

[Bhoot]

I saw that there was a new sub forum and so i saw the manga . Its ok in my books but its just that the protagonist seems to show off his blue flames w/o too much of a hesitation . I mean he doesn't think and then pays the price for it ............ badly

[RaveDragon]

My friend was like 'Watch it *xbillion* its really cool' and stuff and she explained it to me briefly i got sick and decided i had nothing better to do and now its in my top favourites xD Since i pretty much read the manga now im off to check the anime out ^^

[Negative Syndicate]

I just read from raw of chapter 1 when it was released. I read all of WSJ and JSQ series (except short page series) and I follow new series from chapter 1, even if it is not very good.

[k-dom]

It's quite a shame but I have absolutely no remembrance why I started it. I remember I learn only the chapter 1 and did not continue for some other unknown reason, then I give it another try and didn't stop since.

[earthforge]

Actually for the exact same reason as riki. While waiting for DGM to come back from hiatus, someone in the D. Gray-man subforum mentioned another manga had copied the Millennium Earl's outfit, and linked a page of Mephisto from the first chapter. I was very amused by the idea of a character named Mephisto Pheles, and skimmed through the next few pages and found it interesting, so I decided to read it.

First it really made me nervous with the main antagonist being Satan. Was afraid the manga was some religious nonsense, but the high school antics turned out to balance it. I found it fresh, a huge contrast from DGM, which has been slow-cooking it's plot from the beginning.

[sahugani]

I can thank Sai_the_Shaman for this. He had been working on this a bit with JAC and was enthusiastic about it. He told me to read it, I did and was immediately thankful that I listened

Damn straight...The Sai has good tastes XD =Sai

[Sai_the_Shaman]

It had been released in Jump SQ and I read the chapter there XD I've been very supportive of this Manga since the beginning.

[wulfy]

i started to read it since it has only 2 chapters O .o (i read the chinese ver., not english ones)
and since i am in love with plots that involves a character with 2 different identity (in this case, a human with saten blood)
and i love da art X3
and i love shounen~ (n this is actually da first monthly shounen manga iv ever read O .o)
and it reminds me of d-grey man (which i also love)

how ill make my friends read it?
uhh.....

shove it at their face n force them to read it - _-

[doggygirl_10]

Heh, I actually found it via that "Featured Manga" post. The description intrigued me, so I gave it ago. And actually, that description pretty much sums up my thoughts. XD I like the action, story, comedy, drama, all that general stuff. I also really like the art style and that's partially what kept me reading.

Funny, I just read D.Gray-man, and now that it's mentioned Mephisto does look like the earl clothes-wise...