Twin Star Exorcists

Plot

Rokuro Enmado is a young boy who used to be a powerful aspiring exorcist, before a tragic incident left his friends dead and made him abandon the profession. One day, he has a fateful encounter with Benio Adashino, a girl around his age and a well known exorcist from the east. According to prophecy, Rokuro and Benio are the "Twin Star Exorcists", and are destined to marry and have a child known as the Miko, which will be the ultimate exorcist, capable of cleansing all evil spirits, or Kegare, from the world and ending the war that has lasted over a millennium.

Twin Star Exorcists

The Twin Star Exorcists are a couple of exorcists destined to be the parents of the "Miko", the reincarnation of Abe no Seimei and the ultimate exorcist that is said to be capable of cleansing every kind of evil spirit. The Twin Star Exorcists also have a special, exclusive ability called "Resonance", that allows them to combine their forces to increase the power of their attacks or access abilities that no other exorcist possess.

Rokuro Enmado (焔魔堂 ろくろ, Enmadō Rokuro)

Voiced by: Natsuki HanaeThe main protagonist. A brash and headstrong 14-year old exorcist who once wanted to be the strongest and exorcise all Kegare and sins. Before joining the Hiinatsuki Dormitory, Rokuro was found by Seigen in Magano when he was 6 and had no memory of his past, then Ryougo took him in. However, a tragedy 2 years ago occurred which forced him to take the lives of his friends, who had been forcibly corrupted, at the Hiinatsuki Dormitory he grew up in. Following this, his right arm was corrupted as well and became part Impurity with great offensive power. This tragedy made him swear off exorcism until he meets Benio, who inspires him to fight as an exorcist again, despite not liking the idea of being engaged to her at first, he later develops feelings for her. It is discovered that Rokuro's Guardian Spirit is Abe no Seimei, who is also predestinated to reincarnate as his and Benio's child.

Benio Adashino (化野 紅緒, Adashino Benio)

Voiced by: Megumi HanThe main heroine. A serious, 14-year old girl, she vowed to become the strongest exorcist and destroy all Kegare to avenge her parents, who died protecting her. She wears a fox mask in battle. Upon meeting Rokuro she inspired him to return to being an exorcist, and despite not agreeing with the idea of becoming his bride, she secretly admires him for his tenacity, claiming that it is his sole redeeming quality. Benio has a taste for Ohagi. She loses both her legs in the battle with Yūto, but in the process, gets Impurity legs as replacements by Kamui (like Rokuro's arm) increasing her speed abilities to fight beside Rokuro. After the time skip, both seem to have become even closer with Benio silently noting that she has fallen in love with him. When receiving Sayo's enchantment, Benio's guardian appears to be of a dark entity that rivals with the Basara Impurity and is revealed by Kuzunoha to be Ashiya Doman, Abe no Seimei's archrival. She later loses her ability to exorcise (by the end of chapter 32) and stays behind to look for a way to regain it while Rokuro leaves to Tsuchimikado Island ahead of her, but before that, she confirms her love for him and kisses him for the first time.

Seika Dormitory

Ryougo Nagitsuji (椥辻 亮悟, Nagitsuji Ryōgo)

Voiced by: Tomoaki MaenoRokuro's friend and fellow exorcist, who often acts as a surrogate big brother. He is engaged to fellow resident Haruka after proposing to her which she accepted.

Shinnosuke Kunizaki (国崎 慎之助, Kuzaki Shinnosuke)

Voiced by: Daiki YamashitaHe's an exorcist that has his face covered by his hair.

Atsushi Sukumozuka (額塚 篤, Sukumodzuka Atsushi)

Voiced by: Taishi MurataHe's an exorcist with a red streak that runs down his hair.

Haruka Kashiwabara (柏原 遥, Kashiwabara Haruka)

Voiced by: Misako TomiokaAn anime-original character, she is an exorcist around Ryougo's age who becomes his girlfriend then later fiancé. She runs a daycare along with Ryougo.

Zenkichi Otomi (音海 善吉, Otomi Zenkichi)

Voiced by: Susumu AkagiMayura's grandfather.

Kinu Furusato (生琉里 絹, Furusato Kinu)

Voiced by: Masako IsobeBenio's legal guardian.

Twelve Guardians

The Twelve Guardians, literally meaning Heavenly Commanders, are a group of twelve elite exorcists stationed on Tsuchimikado Island, the place where Magano was first created, to prevent the Impurities from overrunning the mainland. Second only to Arima Tsuchimikado among the exorcists in power, each use one of the twelve familiars of Abe no Seimei and inherit a portion of his power through their use of his familiars. The twelve families that they come from are descended from the twelve original companions of Abe no Seimei. In the anime, they are not stationed in Tsuchimikado, and usually perform missions across the country in pairs.

Mayura Otomi (音海 繭良, Otomi Mayura)

Voiced by: Yū SerizawaRokuro's childhood friend and the daughter of one of the most powerful exorcists in the world. She was forced to become a Fallen Impurity by Yūto then goes on a rampage before being cleansed by Rokuro. After recovering, Mayura dedicates herself to follow Rokuro's path as a useful exorcist and requests Seigen to train her for the next two years. Initially timid with herself, she acquires Seigen's charm, Byakko, and soon takes her father's place among the Heavenly Commanders. She had feelings for Rokuro and feels envious of Benio's relationship to Rokuro and her strength at first, but later becomes her closest friend, deciding to support her relationship with him instead. It is hinted she has feelings for Shimon as they do private training together. In the video game, Mayura is one of the Twin Star candidates along Benio and three other new characters.

Shimon Ikaruga (斑鳩 士門, Ikaruga Shimon)

Voiced by: Kaito IshikawaA child prodigy who despite only being 2 years older than Rokuro has attained the rank of Heavenly Commander, holding the title "Suzaku". Shimon is also Seigen's former student. He possesses the ability of flight and hates vehicles. His goal is to end the 1000-year war and break Sayo's heavy burden to let her live a long and free life. While he initially looked down on Rokuro and co, after they saved Sayo from two Basaras, he sees them with a new respect and states that he looks forward to the day they will fight together.

Subaru Mitejima (御幣島 すばる, Mitejima Subaru)

Voiced by: Miyuki SawashiroShe is a exorcist, holding the title "Tenkō", who is Benio's former master. Subaru appears to be a young woman with long blonde hair wearing a white hat and a white dress. Like Arima, she intends to improve the Twin Stars' relationship in marriage and arranges them to date each other. She unleashes talismans from her fan deck and it forms into numerous guns, etc.

Tatara (鈩)

Voiced by: Takuma TerashimaTatara appears to be a priest who wears a paper mask that reflects his mood. His title is Tōda (騰蛇 "Soaring Snake"). He is actually a 600-year old Shikigami. He's known as the most chaotic of the Heavenly Commanders. In the manga, he acts as an enforcer, punishing exorcists who fight among themselves using enchantments outside of Magano. In the anime, he is regularly accompanied with Subaru and a mentor for the Twin Stars. He never speaks for the most part, unless aggravated.

Arata Inanaki (嗎 新, Inanaki Arata)

Voiced by: Kosuke ToriumiA self-confident Heavenly Commander. He stands with the title "Taijō". Not much is known of Arata's personality, other than his diverge habit in addressing a person's name of putting "-tan" at the end. Likes reading doujinshi. In the manga, he is the acting principal of an exorcist educational facility on Tsuchimikado.

Miku Zeze (膳所 美玖, Zeze Miku)

Voiced by: Yui OguraMiku is an exorcist with long, pink, curly hair. She expresses strict responsibility as a Heavenly Commander, and execute missions in cleansing all Kegare regardless of any unusual situation. Her title is "Daion". She is older than she looks, stated by Tenma to be 56. In the anime, she was paired with Sakura's father (for whom she had feelings as well) long before she was born. When she discovered Sakura's father was to be married, she accepted the fact sadly without complaint.

Sakura Sada (蹉跎 桜, Sada Sakura)

Voiced by: LynnSakura is an exorcist and is known as "Rikugō". She has long chestnut hair tied with a pink bow near the end and is topped with a big, white and green hat. In the anime, she is paired with fellow Heavenly Commander, Miku. Her weapon of choice is a scythe. She, like her father, has a very loud personality, shouting when speaking to anyone.

Kankurou Mitosaka (水度坂 勘九郎, Mitosaka Kankurou)

Voiced by: Yūichi NakamuraHe has blue eyes and is seen with his mouth covered. Not often showing his fighting style he can be assumed to be formidable enough to justify his title as an Heavenly Commander. He is an exorcist known as "Seiryū" (青龍 "Azure Dragon"). He's a directing doctor on Tsuchimikado.

Kengo Uiji (雲林院 憲剛, Ujii Kengo)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki KonishiHe is an exorcist who has shown to be somewhat irritable, easily annoyed at his fellow Heavenly Commander, Kankuro, when they introduced themselves. Known as "Genbu" (玄武 "Black Tortoise"). He is also shown to have a miserly personality and is very greedy when it comes to money. Working as an instructor on Tsuchimikado for younger exorcists.

Narumi Ioroi (五百蔵 鳴海, Ioroi Narumi)

Voiced by: Masaya TakatsukaHe is a muscular exorcist who has faith in strength that cannot be left unused. His title is "Kōchin". His earth elements allow him to uproar structures made out of the environment to attack his enemies.

Cordelia Kasukami (勝神コーデリア, Kasukami Kōderia)

Voiced by: Kiyono YasunoCordelia is an exorcist equipped with mechanical devices. Her suited title is "Tenkū". Most of the time she shows no facial expression and speaks in a robotic voice by spelling her words out which do not come from her mouth.

Tenma Unomiya (鸕宮 天馬, Unomiya Tenma)

Voiced by: Hiro ShimonoHe is labeled as the strongest among the Heavenly Commanders, he can slice his enemies with his sword and bring total annihilation in its surroundings without any use of talisman enhancements. His title is "Kijin". In the manga, they state that his latent power is so high, that he may not even know how to use talismans because they are useless to him.

Former Twelve Guardian

Seigen Amakawa (天若 清弦, Amakawa Seigen)

Voiced by: Junichi SuwabeMayura's divorced father who was the former master of Rokuro and Yuto, he left his family as he did not wish for his duties to interfere with their lives. He displays a cold exterior yet caring. Following the major battle of Yūto's appearance, Seigen renounces his status as a Heavenly Commander due to losing his right arm to his traitorous student. Despite the loss of his arm, he is not heavily impeded while fighting regular Kegare and still dominates Rokuro in sparring matches. When Mayura's skills is approved Seigen passes over his "Byakko" the White Tiger title to her.

Antagonists

Yuuto Ijika (石鏡 悠斗, Ijika Yūto)

Voiced by: Ayumu MuraseThe main antagonist of the series, Yūto is Benio's twin elder brother and an old friend turned enemy of Rokuro who supposedly died two years ago after using cadets of the Hiinatsuki Dormitory as experimental subjects with Rokuro, the only successful subject, being forced to kill them, an event therefore known as the "Hiinatsuki Tragedy", that inflicted such a trauma on Rokuro that he decided to quit exorcism until he met Benio. His objective is to become the ultimate exorcist by attaining the complete power of yang (the spiritual powers of humanity) and yin (the spiritual powers of the Kegare); which would result in eradicating all life in existence. Upon learning his plans, Rokuro and Benio started to focus on their training with the main purpose of defeating him as Rokuro wants to avenge his dead friends, and Benio intends to defeat her brother as a sign of atonement for the sake of her family's honor. His entire body had direct contact with an Impurity; transforming into one in the battle with Rokuro and Benio. It is later revealed that Yuuto was born with an unfavorable existence and acts as an guidance for Rokuro, so that one of them can become the King of Impurities, and sees Benio as an inferior to his only means of living due to her engagement with Rokuro.

King of Impurities

The strongest of all impurities, whom Abe no Seimei sealed in Magano at the cost of her own life 1000 years ago. According to Tenma, Yuuto's ultimate objective is to fuse himself with the King of Impurities to become invincible, and must be stopped before it happens. In the anime series, Rokuro and the King of Impurities are the same person, whose overwhelming Yin energy can destroy the whole world, unless he and Benio have a child, the Miko, that will be infused with his Yin energy, balanced with Benio's Yang energy she inherits from the Ame-no-mihashira, allowing Rokuro to live as a normal human.

Basara Impurities

The Basara are the most powerful Impurities in existence with each gaining intelligence, speech, and a human-like body by absorbing the energy of the exorcists they killed. Like exorcists, they can use their own version of enchanted gear and talismans to strengthen their powers. Unlike regular Impurities, their bodies do not disappear once they are killed. In the manga, there are only 11 in existence while several other Basara were created exclusive for the anime series.

Chinu (千怒)

The first and oldest of the eleven Basara. He is also considered the strongest among them.

Hijirimaru (聖丸)

The fourth of the eleven Basara. Hijirimaru enjoys toying with humans and has absolutely no pity for them. He enjoys killing his opponents to awake the rage and hatred of their loved one, in order to gain more power after killing them too. He and Higano kidnap Sayo into Magano in order to feed on her spiritual power but is stopped by Shimon, Rokuro, Benio and Mayura. After absorbing Higano's enchanted powers in order to get stronger, Hijirimaru is destroyed by the Twin Star Exorcists' combined power. He is revealed to be motivated to obtain enough power to let Higano and himself watch the sky on Earth without the risk of being turned to dust by Earth's Yang energy.

Higano (氷鉋)

The ninth of the eleven Basara, he has followed Hijimaru since the later found him as an ordinary juvenile Impurity. Unlike his partner, he is calm and collected and is not interested in obtaining more enchanted powers for himself. On the other hand he is highly dedicated to the latter and his dream, up to the point of sacrificing himself to take a fatal attack for him and transferring his enchanted powers to Hijimaru to make him stronger.

Kamui (神威)

Voiced by: Yūki OnoThe youngest and eleventh of the eleven Basara. He is also responsible for the death of Benio's parents. Though, he tends to let his opponents choose the death of their preference, and always gives them ten seconds to decide. He seeks entertainment by fighting humans without caring about which side (Human or Impurity) will be destroyed, and loves humans because they are weak yet strive to grow stronger. Despite knowing of Benio's hatred towards him, he usually appears to help her, hoping to fight her once she becomes a worthy opponent.

Anime Original

Kuranashi (闇無)

Voiced by: Kazuhiko InoueHe is a mysterious Basara and is very powerful. He is always seen wearing a mask, which seems to hold a portion of his power. He is the main perpetrator who achieved in tampering the Ame-no-mihashira to access the Dragon Spots across the country pretending it's a game. Having lived for hundreds of years as a Basara, Kuranashi has evolved long enough to display features almost human-like. His consciousness is overtaken by Yuuto when he attempts to absorb Yuuto's body, as Yuuto was all along waiting for him to do it in order to absorb his powers.

Suzu (珠洲)

Voiced by: Yūki WakaiUnlike other Basaras, she has a hobby for rock and roll playing. She prefers to fight her enemies in battle dance, though she despises those who are cowards. She has an interest in Rokuro.

Moro (師)

Voiced by: Sayaka OharaShe is Kuranashi's loyal servant. She is responsible for the death of Sakura's father twenty-years prior, until she finally faces justice against Sakura herself and Miku.

Yamato (山門)

Voiced by: KENNHe adores gigantic shape Kegare that are helpful in combat. He is later defeated by the hands of Kankuro and Kengo.

Kinasa (鬼無里)

Voiced by: Shouma YamamotoA powerful Basara that the Twin Stars were helpless to defeat when Tenma steps in and singlehandedly cleanses him in half.

Chijiwa (千々石) and Momochi (百道)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu MatsuokaThey are the only Basara Twins in the anime. Chijiwa always wears a black suit, while Momochi wears white. Following Momochi's defeat, Chijiwa swears revenge against the Twin Stars but fails after being defeated by Shimon and Rokuro.

Other characters

Sayo Ikaruga (斑鳩 小夜, Ikaruga Sayo)

She is Shimon's younger cousin addressed as his little sister. He nicknames her "Chiiko". Despite being 11-years old she is the heir and Proctor of the Ikaruga House. Sayo is the host of the guardian Kuzunoha that allows her to bestow a ceremony of divination on exorcists to see their quality essence. However, harboring such an strong guardian spirit greatly shortens her lifespan to less than two decades. Spending her entire life on the closed-off island, she gains the wonderful opportunity to visit the mainland upon Rokuro's request to be tested rather he'll be chosen worthy, making Sayo fall for him and considers him her prince and was clingy towards him whenever she's near him and managed to make Benio appear envious towards Sayo in her own way.

Arima Tsuchimikado (土御門 有馬, Tsuchimikado Arima)

Voiced by: Daisuke NamikawaThe eccentric leader of all exorcists in Japan, and the one who arranges the marriage between Benio and Rokuro so they can have the Miko, the exorcist that will end a 1000-year war. He later relocates them to a fancy villa. While eccentric and comedic, he also possesses an enigmatic, devious, and even sinister side. On the other hand, he is also powerful enough that two of the Heavenly commanders declined to join him on the battlefield as they would be merely a hindrance to him. Sometimes he appear uncaring in the case of the Twin Stars, when they are in danger, although in fact he wants them to prove themselves worthy of their title and strengthen their powers and bonds together unlike the previous couples that were chosen to become the Twin Stars, who died due to their carelessness.

Sae (さえ)

Voiced by: Hitomi SasakiA young girl and an anime original character. She is intelligent and very enthusiastic towards Rokuro and Benio. Similar to Rokuro, Sae is found in Magano with no memory. Rokuro and the others bring her to Seika Dormitory. She travels with the Twin Stars on the pursuit to exterminate the Dragon Spot outburst. Its proven that Sae possesses strong abilities she could deflect Basara's attacks. Eventually it is revealed that Sae came from a branch broken off from the Ame-no-mihashira, a gigantic tree barrier that separates Magano and the real world, and attained human form just like a tsukumogami, upsetting the balance between both realms, which is only restored when she returns to her former self, much to Rokuro and Benio's grief. She refers to Rokuro as "Papa", possibly due to his connection with Abe no Seimei.

Kinako (きなこ)

Voiced by: Jun FukuyamaBenio's familiar who is very protective of her. He has the ability to possess vehicles and machines to assist the Twin Stars in their missions. While he appears since the beginning in the anime series, Kinako only appears in the manga when Rokuro pays a visit to Benio's house, which was abandoned after her clan was disbanded following her parents' deaths and Yuuto's betrayal, guarded by him since then.

Mikage Tsuchimikado (土御門 御影, Tsuchimikado Mikage)

Voiced by: Daisuke OnoA member of the Tsuchimikado family. He serves Arima, as his right hand man, and after Arima's disappearance in the anime, he serves as the Stand-in for Head Exorcist. Unlike Arima, he is mostly silent, speaking only when needed. Mikage actually Abe no Seimei's Shikigami to watch his plan go into account that the world will be rid of King of Impurities.

Video game-only characters

Ran Ikuno

Voiced by: Nozomi YamamotoThe youngest of the Twin Star candidates in the game, she is an innocent, airhead "little sister" type character with no real desire to be an exorcist.

Rimu Tennōji

Voiced by: Kana HanazawaAnother of the Twin Star candidates in the game, she is a tomboy who lost part of her memory.

Ai Katsujō

Voiced by: Ami KoshimizuThe third of the original Twin Star candidates in the game. A composed and seductive "older sister" type, she has plenty of combat experience, and has a good relationship with Arima.

Manga

Yoshiaki Sukeno began serializing the manga in Shueisha's Jump Square magazine on October 4, 2013. A special chapter was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in April 2016.

Viz Media licensed the series for publication in North America, publishing the first volume in July 2015.

Anime

An anime television adaptation was announced on the January 2016 cover of Jump Square on December 4, 2015. The series is directed by Tomohisa Taguchi and written by Naruhisa Arakawa, with animation by Studio Pierrot. Additionally, Shishō Igarashi is serving as assistant director, Kikuko Sadakata is designing the characters, and Itsuko Takeda is serving as chief animation director. The series' first opening theme song is "Valkyrie -Ikusa Otome-" (Valkyrie -戦乙女-, lit. "Valkyrie -War Maiden-") by Wagakki Band, while the first ending theme is "Eyes" (アイズ, Aizu) by Hitomi Kaji. The second opening theme, "Re:Call", is performed by the idol group i☆Ris, while the second ending theme, "Yadori-boshi" (宿り星) is performed by the two-man group Itowokashi (Kashitarō Itō and Ryō Miyada). The third opening theme, "sync" is performed by lol, while the third ending theme "Hide & Seek" is performed by Girlfriend. The fourth opening theme, "Kanadeai" is performed by Itowokoashi, while the fourth ending theme "Hotarubi" is performed by Wagakki Band.

The series began airing on April 6, 2016 on TV Tokyo and other TX Network stations, and later on AT-X. Animax Asia is simulcasting the series with English Subtitles. Crunchyroll is simulcasting the series worldwide outside of Asia, and will also release the series on Blu-ray and DVD with an English dub. Chinese streaming site iQiyi has listed the series with fifty episodes.

The anime is licensed in North America by Crunchyroll (with home video distribution from Funimation) and in the UK by Anime Limited.

Video game

A video game adaptation of the series from Bandai Namco Entertainment was announced on September 3, 2016. The battle adventure game will be released for PlayStation Vita, and will feature Rokuro as a playable character. It will feature an alternate setup with five different girls as candidates for the title of Twin Star, including Benio, Mayura, and three other characters designed exclusively for the game by original creator Yoshiaki Sukeno. The game was release to Japan on January 26, 2017.

Reception

Volume 1 reached 11th place on the weekly Oricon manga charts, with 29,527 copies sold; volume 2 reached 23rd place, with 30,734 copies; volume 3 reached 46th place, with 38,835 copies; volume 4 reached 24th place, with 37,900 copies; volume 5 also reached 24th place, with 47,489 copies; volume 6 reached 32nd place, with 48,029 copies; volume 7 reached 20th place, with 48,762 copies; and volume 8 reached 11th place, with 56,947 copies.

Volume 3 of the English translation appeared on the New York Times Manga Best Sellers list for two nonconsecutive weeks, first at 8th place and then at 6th.