Blue Exorcist: The Movie (2012) Plot Summary Explained

Usamaro was originally a benevolent kami who lived in a village centuries ago. He became a demon after suffering betrayal and abandonment by the villagers he cared for. To protect them from the pain of remembering his suffering, he used his power to erase their painful memories, allowing everyone to live in happiness despite his own torment.

Foreshadowing: The opening tale of a demon in a small village hints at Usamaro's tragic origin.

• usamaro
• demon
• kami
• betrayal
• memory erasure

Rin objected to exorcising Usamaro because he saw the small demon as innocent and harmless. Having grown up hearing his father's stories about demons, Rin believed that even a demon could be worthy of compassion. He volunteered to care for Usamaro rather than let him be destroyed.

Foreshadowing: Rin's upbringing by his exorcist father Shiro likely shaped his willingness to see goodness in supernatural beings.

• rin okumura
• usamaro
• protect
• exorcist

Usamaro's power to manipulate memories unintentionally blurred the boundaries between the human world and the demon world. As he grew closer to Rin and the other exorcists, making them his friends, the protective barriers weakened. This allowed demons to enter the town in greater numbers, triggering the city-wide invasion.

Foreshadowing: The increase in demon activity directly correlates with Usamaro living among the exorcists.

• usamaro
• demons
• infestation
• memory power

Usamaro possessed the power to erase memories. During the demon invasion, he used this power on a massive scale to save the city, causing everyone except Rin to forget his existence entirely. This was his final act of self-sacrifice, ensuring the city would recover while he disappeared from collective memory.

Foreshadowing: Usamaro had previously erased villagers' memories to protect them from pain, foreshadowing this larger memory erasure.

• usamaro
• memory
• forget
• sacrifice

The Phantom Train was a supernatural train that spiraled out of control during the festival period. It trapped the ghosts of those who died aboard it, and when Rin and Shiemi attempted to rescue these ghosts, the train became volatile. A demon escaped from it during the confrontation, leading to subsequent events.

Foreshadowing: The Phantom Train mission serves as the inciting incident that leads Rin to encounter Usamaro.

• phantom train
• ghosts
• demon escape

Usamaro sacrificed himself to stop the demon invasion consuming the city. By using his memory-erasing power on such a massive scale, he was able to neutralize the threat and buy the exorcists time to respond. His sacrifice represented his transformation from a being who erased memories to protect himself from pain, into one who erased himself to save others.

Foreshadowing: Rin's earlier appeal for Usamaro to value memories, even painful ones, helped Usamaro find meaning in sacrifice.

• usamaro
• sacrifice
• demon invasion
• memory

Usamaro was the same demon from the folktale that Rin's father Shiro had shared with Rin and Yukio when they were children. This revelation during the crisis deepened Rin's understanding of Usamaro's tragic history and strengthened their bond, as Rin realized he had known of Usamaro's story since childhood.

Foreshadowing: Shiro's story about the demon in the village directly parallels Usamaro's true identity.

• shiro fujimoto
• father
• story
• connection

Usamaro could erase specific memories from people's minds, particularly painful ones. He originally used this power on villagers to remove his own suffering from their memories, allowing them to live happily. When used on a large scale during the invasion, it caused mass forgetting of his existence. The power appeared to work subconsciously when he was emotionally overwhelmed.

Foreshadowing: His power was first demonstrated when he gradually made Rin and the exorcists forget their duties toward exorcising him.

• memory erasure
• power
• painful memories

Unlike others whose memories Usamaro erased, Rin's strong bond and emotional connection to Usamaro apparently prevented the memory erasure from affecting him completely. This special treatment suggests the depth of their friendship transcended Usamaro's power, allowing Rin to keep his promise to never forget.

Foreshadowing: Rin's unique ability to resist memory manipulation may stem from his own demonic nature.

• rin
• memory
• remember
• unique

The festival at True Cross Academy is described as a major event occurring only once every eleven years, creating significant anticipation and preparations. While the exact reason for this interval is not explained in the film, it serves as the backdrop for the movie's events and adds significance to the timing of the Phantom Train incident and Usamaro's arrival.

Foreshadowing: The rarity of the festival makes the demon invasion during this time particularly devastating.

• festival
• eleven years
• true cross

After centuries of isolation and betrayal, Usamaro desperately wanted genuine connections. Living with Rin gave him his first true friendships. He used his power to make them his friends because he craved companionship, though this inadvertently caused the demon infestation by blurring the lines between human and demon worlds.

Foreshadowing: His desire for friendship stemmed from being abandoned by the villagers he once helped.

• usamaro
• friendship
• loneliness
• connection

Rin's promise to visit Usamaro's temple and never forget him represents his commitment to honor Usamaro's sacrifice. It signifies that Rin will carry the memory of their friendship forward, keeping Usamaro's legacy alive when everyone else has forgotten. This resolves the film's theme about the importance of remembering both happy and painful memories.

Foreshadowing: The promise directly contrasts with Usamaro's previous habit of erasing painful memories.

• rin
• promise
• temple
• remember