Blue Exorcist: Here’s How & When Shiro Fujimoto Died!

The cast of Blue Exorcist might look like a typical shonen cast, more or less, but some characters really do stand out, either because they are important or because their stories are important for the lore in general. Shiro Fujimoto is undoubtedly one such character, and in this article, we are going to talk about Rin’s adoptive father. We know that Shiro left us early in the story, and in this article, for all those who don’t know what happened, we are going to tell you when and how Shiro Fujimoto died in Blue Exorcist and why his death was so important for the series.

When did Shiro Fujimoto die in Blue Exorcist?

As far as the moment of death is concerned, Shiro Fujimoto appeared in the first chapter of the Blue Exorcist manga as a pretty important figure in the lives of the Okumura twins. But it was also that same chapter that was his final appearance. Namely, Shiro Fujimoto committed suicide in Chapter 1 of the Blue Exorcist manga, titled “The Mockery of Satan”, which was first published on April 4, 2009 in Japan.

As far as the anime is concerned, the first chapter was divided into two episodes, so Shiro debuted in Episode 1 of the first season of the Blue Exorcist anime, but died in Episode 2, which was titled “Gehenna Gate”, and which premiered on April 24, 2011 in Japan. And that is it as far as the chronology of the series is concerned.

Now, this doesn’t tell us much about the circumstances of his death, so we are now going to explain how Shiro actually died and what happened to him in that fateful moment in the series that shaped Rin’s future in a significant way.

How did Shiro Fujimoto die in Blue Exorcist?

Before we start, a brief introduction. Shiro Fujimoto was an exceptionally important character in the series. He was a charismatic priest of the Southern Monastery, an Exorcist, the two-hundred fifty-first Paladin of the True Cross Order (the title given to the strongest and most powerful Exorcists), as well as the adoptive father of the Okumura twins. He was also Shura’s mentor. Qualified as a Meister in “Aria”, “Dragoon”, “Knight” and “Doctor”, he had a Cat Sith familiar that he named Kuro.

Shiro was a person who devoted his life to his work and was regarded by many as the most significant exorcist of his era. Following his direct instruction to steal the “demon subjugator” sword Kurikara from the Cursed Temple of Kyoto, he and Mephisto used the blade to seal the demonic heart of the son of Satan and Yuri Egin. Later, Shiro raised Yukio and Rin, Yuri’s children, with love and care after adopting them.

Shiro was also considered the only man capable of resisting Satan’s possession while keeping his conscience intact. He fought Satan’s repeated attempts to possess his body with great willpower, but this changed after a fight with Rin. Namely, the two of them did not get along that well at the time, and Rin was so furious that he told Shiro that he was only pretending to be his father and that he should stop with the act; enraged, Shiro slapped Rin and told him to go away. After experiencing that mental shock, which was due to Rin accusing him of “playing father,” but in reality never really considering it his son, Satan managed to enter his body; this is when we found out that it was his love for Rin that fueled his willpower to resist Satan’s attempts to conquer his body, which was an important moment in the series.

After Satan summoned the Gehenna Gate to take Rin back, Shiro temporarily regained control of himself and committed suicide in order to stop him, which fueled Rin’s willpower to become an exorcist himself and to apologize to his dying father for having said what he did to him.

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