Yukio Okumura is the character we needed in a shonen manga
If there is one thing I will always applaud Kato for (I mean I applaud her for a lot of things but this one in particular is special) is Yukio Okumura's characterization and development
I can't tell you how much I love how his character arc is based mainly in deppression, insecurity and mental health and not that much about his own power and ambition (but this is important too ofc)
I never saw a shonen mangaka talk about the mental health of a protagonist in that way because they usually focus more on continuing the story and not that much about how the story and what's happening at the moment resonates into the characters mind
But Kato is different, Kato uses and includes real life problems to develop their characters which is not something all mangakas do
Is not only a physical development, is not only them gaining control about their powers, is them gaining control about their own minds too which is so so important I can't even begin to explain it.
Kato not only breaks a lot of twins tropes with this storyline, she also breaks a lots of shonen protagonists tropes that most of the mangakas use to write their stories (which is not a bad thing tho)
She doesn't forget that her main characters are children that went through A LOT, and expresses that in character arcs that prioritize mental health and trauma
Because she knows that even if the situations are fictional, the problems and feelings her characters go through are not and she with this, is actually sending a beautiful and important message to her readers about life and love and how we are not alone and everything will be okay
The way he treats Rin and the other people around him is so realistic for a person with depression and suicidal tendencies
And the fact that his ambitions, his goals were also based on insecurities about himself, how he envy Rin for everything, how he wanted to solve everything alone because his own insecurity didn't let him see that he has people around him that loves him with all their hearts and would go to hell and back for him
Yukio's character arc was never about him trying to have powers like his brother, it was never about him being powerful and be better than Rin, it was all about he realizing his own insecurities and trauma and open up with the people he loves and is just so powerful to me as a person who has a sibling with depression and feels so related with how Rin feels about the whole situation with his brother.
So yeah, Yukio Okumura is such an important character not only for AoEx but for Shonen mangas in general, and it is also a great example and reference for future authors and artists who want to include these topics about mental health in action and adventure projects.
A lot of people may hate Yukio, or only dislike him because of how he treated Rin in past chapters but we can't deny this, he is indeed the best written character in the whole manga and the manga wouldn't be the same without him
Rin may be the heart, but Yukio is the SOUL of Ao no exorcist/Blue Exorcist and I just applaud Kato for introducing this character to us, because he is indeed, an incredible, powerful and complex character.
