Table of contents

Summary

  • Renzo was carefree in Season 1 but transformed into a double agent with ease.
  • Renzo's cheerful persona makes him adept at espionage, while his true loyalties remain hidden.
  • Renzo's lack of ambition shifted after becoming a double agent, offering him newfound freedom.

In Season 1 of Blue Exorcist, Shima Renzo has always been a carefree character who easily gets along with and thus avoids suspicion. Renzo’s character has drastically changed since Season 1 of the anime, and although his personality remains the same, his ambitions and reasons for it have changed now that we know more about him.

Becoming a double agent requires deceiving friends, family, and those closest to you. To Renzo, this decision was made without a moment's hesitation. But what was Renzo like, and how much has he changed since season 1?

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Renzo’s personality at the beginning of Season 1

Renzo's Carefree Personality Allowed Him To Avoid Suspicion

blue exorcist renzo changed

Shima Renzo has depicted himself as a carefree student attending True Cross Academy. At the start of Blue Exorcist, Renzo doesn't seem to take anything seriously and often makes lighthearted jokes to break the tension. His cheerful mannerisms and light-pink-dyed hair represent his carefree personality.

Renzo, Suguru Ryuji, and Miwa Konekomaru grew up in the same temple under the Myoo Dharani, a holy sector specializing in Buddhism. However, Reno is the youngest member of his family and has fewer responsibilities than his older brothers. Coincidentally, this causes Renzo to develop a lackluster attitude toward anything related to the temple. It’s also possible that Renzo’s dislike for the temple could be due to his lack of position within it and his often being overlooked as the youngest of the Shima family.

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At this point, Renzo did not have any ambitions or future goals for himself, as his older brother already fulfilled this goal. Due to this, he became carefree and focused more on girls and obtaining a girlfriend. To further emphasize Renzo’s lack of interest, this was likely the reason he dyed his hair pink.

As described above, Renzo has a lighthearted personality and often hits on girls at the True Cross Academy. However, Renzo has taken a liking to Kamiki Izumo and has given her much of his attention throughout the series, although this may also be for another reason, which we learn of later in the series.

How has Renzo changed throughout the series?

Now A Double Agent, Renzo Has The Freedom He Always Wanted

blue exorcist shima renzo

Throughout Season 1, Renzo has remained primarily unchanged, giving little information about himself besides his fear of bugs. It was during the Exorcist Cram School Enrollment arc that Renzo also got closer to Izumo. Since then, he has taken every chance to compliment Izumo, much to her displeasure.

Renzo has proven himself to be a formidable foe in battle; however, his true skills are revealed in Season 3 during the Shimane Illuminati arc. During this arc, Izumo is targeted by the Illuminati and brought back to the Far East Laboratory, where she is to take her mother's place in summoning the Nine-Tailed Fox into her body. To protect her sister, Izumo strikes a deal in which she will enter the True Cross Order and study to become a Tamer. Unfortunately for Izumo, the Illuminati’s technology has quickly advanced, and her retrieval is thus placed in order.

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During this time, Renzo is revealed to be a spy from the Illuminati as he quickly incapacitates Izumo, and the Illuminati retreats to the Fast East Laboratory. Renzo’s revelation of being a spy for the Illuminati came as a massive shock to the students of the True Cross Order, as his betrayal was utterly unprecedented.

While his status as an Illuminati spy came as a shock, many of the exorcist cram school students still had faith in Renzo and did not want to accept that he was a spy. As a result, they made it their mission to save Izumo from the Illuminati and Fast East Laboratory while also attempting to convince Renzo to come back along with them.

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