Seraph of the End - Reviews

This show has to take the cake for the best vampire animation I have seen to date.  It has plenty of great and memorable characters such as Krul, Yuichiro, Guren, Shinoa, Shiho, and Ferid.  Why not Mikaela?  Because he is so often so focused on reuiniting with Yuichiro that it feels creepy and perhaps more than just brothers.  He does seem like a pretty strong and decent character, but we never really see much or at least not enough of that to come to a strong assessment one way or the other beyond that eerie sensation that he thinks of nothing else than meeting and fleeing vampires and humans with his would be adopted/shared orphanage brother.  For this reason, his character beyond the fact that he is a vampire with progenitor blood and a good sword fighter seems fairly weak and incomplete compared to essentially every other character in the series.

All that aside, this is a pretty gripping story that starts with a dramatic tragedy and continues on to another one before the story gets a solid stable footing in a bleak future with little hope for sucess that doesnt prevent our heros from trying anyway.  There are some hidden power aspects to the series both in some surprises and the fact that their weapons have a special something to match the vampires in combat.  Season one ends with a harrowing epic finish that leaves you wanting more and unable to wait for the next season.  Like a typical story of weak versus strong the vampire side has become cocky and complacent way too secure in their sense of superiority and arrogant dominance.  This clearly sets up a David/Goliath like underdog scenario.  The only downside to the humans is their own sense of arrogance and dominance in that they think they can or deserve to conquer not only the vampires but all the humans as well.  LOL.  That sort of makes it hard to really know who the bad guys really are though, that somehow the show's creators failed to see.

Despite this slight flaw, it is still a fun and interesting show to watch with a gripping big finish that though you get glimpses of something under the radar gradually builidng up to the climax, you will still be surprised and amazed at the end and wanting even more.  There are also hints to subplots and subfactions within each side of vampires and humans leading one to speculate there might be some mixed faction forming in the shadows.  Whatever the future holds for the series, it will leave you craving to see it to the end and beyond this first season.

Budget Attack on Titan

Owari no Seraph (Seraph of the End)

This anime HAD POTENTIAL. Actually, A LOT of potential. Potential that wasn't lived up to because of this studios need to hastily capitalize off of the massive success of Attack on Titan with a very similar anime. Replace titans with vampires an you basically have this anime... but without the amazing soundtrack and animation. And with (even more) pacing issues. 

First episode of this anime we get a bit of background information on the main protag, Yu. He was an orphan with no blood related family, but grew close to his orphan family, especially Mika. When all of a sudden... the vampires attacked. "And on that day, mankind received a grim reminder--" There was a virus released that wiped out 90% of mankind, leaving behind mostly children under the age of 13, not affected by the virus. The vampires took some of these children back to the Vampire City to raise them as livestock. Yu and his whole orphan family were taken to this city. Mika sold his body blood to one of the vampire nobles in order to provide special goodies to the family. But of course, these kids want to escape! So Mika steals a map and gun from this vampire noble, and on the same night him and Yu arrage to leave the Vampire City. This was the most spontaneous plan ever, and I remember thinking while watching this episode, "What? JUST LIKE THAT?! GUYS, YOU HAVEN'T EVEN LOOKED OVER THE MAP YET--" Alas, kids will be kids.

Basically, they get to the exit, vampire noble is there. And kills the entire family, except Yu who escapes back to the outside world. But if you know anything at all about cliches, you know damn well someone in the family didn't actually die, as it never actually showed him dying. Then the anime fast fowards 4 years, Yu is in a school training to exterminate vampires. His entire character in the beginning is, "I must kill them all. I must avenge my family." (Sound familiar?)

And while he goes on and on about avenging his family (seriously, it gets OLD really quick), the ONLY person he gives a fuck about is Mika. Mind you, there were like SIX (honestly idr the number... they died so fast lmfao) OTHER KIDS supposedly apart of his family. But no. Mika's the only one who matters. Gee, I wonder who wasn't actually killed and was saved by the vampires... and became one of them... the thing you hate the most.

Cliches. Seriously, NOTHING in this anime is surprising. They foreshadow everything and the story is very predictable. All of the characters are predictable as well. You have Yu, the protag hell bent on revenge, but whom later develops into a well-rounded individual. Yoichi, the timid boy. Shiho, the hothead. Mitsuba, the tsundere. Shinoa, the... actually, Shinoa was probably the least cliche character. She was fun to watch.

Aw man, I'm typing too much. Lemme tl;dr the rest.

Main character Yu avoids getting close to anyone at his school, as he doesn't want to witness them all being slaughtered like lambs again, but of course, he comes to love the rest of the people in his unit. He refuses to leave them behind and protects them no matter what. Eventually he comes back into contact with Mika, who has become a vampire. Mika feels the need to save Yu, Yu feels the need to save Mika. A power struggle ensues and something that was foreshowed several times before happens; The Seraph is released. Everyone is shocked, except the humans who knew, and it goes on a rampage. After the storm passes... nothing really happens in the last episode. Just a cliff hanger, foreshadowing some information. 

 

In regards to the animation, one of the reviewers compared it to a Powerpoint presentation, causing me to almost split my sides open. The animation wasn't awful, but there were some times where I would think to myself... "wait, is his mouth moving? why is her hand twitching so much." They seriously skimped on the animation. But the worst part is they skimped where it mattered. The fight scenes in this anime always leave more to be desired. 

 

But even though this review probably makes this anime seem bad, it wasn't. It was just alright, but it could of easily been more. Which is why I'm a little bitter. But oh well! I will be watching the second season. 6.5/10 - not bad, just cliche. I do hope the second season is better~

I just wanted to make a quick review of this somewhat interesting series and elaborate on its good and bad points.

First, let's have a look at the pros:

   The characters in this anime are pretty sympathetic, which is probably what made me rank this show at 3,5 stars instead of an average 3. I usually like works that include gorgeous characters much more than those that don't and I guess this applies for every viewer, but I really want to stress this point, since they really did a decent job here. However, I must say that Shinoa really pissed me off! I mean...C'MON. Why didn't she tell Yu what happened on the battlefield?! That's so unfair. I want to punch her!

   Also, I really like how they played with unusual colors. It really gave this show a different look and the edge to be ranked above average.

As for the cons:

   The opening and ending are so underwhelming they can compare to Exo's WOLF. Now, I'm not a kpop fan, but I heard that one song (it's actually listed in many "worst songs ever" lists)... Just don't listen to either of those. 

   About the story... Many things don't even make sense. I understand why the vampires left one tenth of humans alive, since they need blood, but when they started the war, why didn't they just use the virus again? The only theory I came up with is that the virus was only able to kill those, who were not immune against it, thus leaving children under 13 AND certain adults alive. So if they were to use the virus again, it probably wouldn't kill anyone since everyone is immune against it? I just don't know. Moreover, the vampires just look stupid to me. They didnt invent any technology, their "cities" look terrible, the only thing they know is power. Lastly, why didn't Yu kill Mika? Honestly, it really upset me. Mika is a vampire now. He's no different than those other vampires, so why didn't he just mercilessly dispose of him?! What a weakling.

So there you have it. Feel free to elaborate on these topics that I mentioned. I'll be happy to read your opinions about this anime and hopefully the new sequel can throw some light on our questions.

This is my personal opinion.

The story is good, like we dont know which side is in the wrong side, vampires for enslaving humans and treating them as livestock or humans experimenting on human children and doing everything for greed and power. 

While the story is good it is also bad for the same reason that we dont know what exactly is going on and in which direction the story is heading. 

Now coming to animation, while the general animation is good the fight scenes are basically moving pictures with sounds, if its not an important fight or if it is not a fight where mc is involved, then they will jush rush through it even if marks an important event in the whole story. 

Basically its a decent anime if you want to pass time but like thats it. 

This must be the first vampire TV that I have liked. I must say I was nervous at first, but after much naging my friends convinced me to watch it. 

Story - I only have one problem with this show and that is the ending. While there is a second season there are still loose ends. I am hopeful that there will be a third season that will fix all my problems.

Animation - I have issues rating art style, because I really like all styles, but this one is truely great. 

Sound - I have to say that I really love the opening song for the first season, but the second is just meh. In other shows I sometimes skip the intro if I don't like the song, but for this show I had to watch it everytime and more on YouTube. 

Characters - I really like the range in characters. There is the one that gets into trouble, and the one that always follows the rules etc. 

Overall a great show, that is totally worth re-watching!!!!!!