Seraph of the End - Vampire Reign

At first and second glance, the most transparent story imaginable for small children, about a boy who had an incredible amount of bad luck in life and had to fight for his place in the sun every day. And at third glance, it is not hard to spot the stereotypical characters and understand that the plot is progressing forward through jumps in time where clichés don't go far. But at each of these three glances, I am drawn in because the reckless Yuu is exactly the type of hero I have to cheer for and wish well, despite his many mistakes, and wish for him to gain every (involuntarily) acquired ally or even friend. And thanks to his sincere sullenness, there ends up being quite a lot of them. My personal anime book of courage and adventure. (15/11/2015)

If I were to somehow examine the level of originality of Seraph of the End in relation to other shonen, (not just Attack on Titan, which it is probably most often compared to), I am convinced that I would not only hit the number zero, but perhaps even go into minus figures; one could say that the series does not excel at anything, and actually stands out as the only one of its type in that way in the end. There are metrosexual vampires, the humanity is fucked up, there is a resistance army of little shits there to save the world, an impulsively idiotic main hero, whiny baggage to go with it, some female dominatrix, a charismatic leader, an unexpected power-up, weapons in the form of demons, random fateful encounters... nothing we have not seen a hundred times before, which makes it hard to recommend this to anyone other than an avid shonen fanatic who does not mind the fact that they are seeing the same thing over and over again, and of course, some undemanding otaku who only needs some nicely drawn characters to be satisfied. However, if you do not fall into either of those categories, and somehow found yourself watching Seraph of the End, know that it is certainly not going to be a terrible ordeal, more likely just a somewhat forgettable experience. In fact, despite the aforementioned downsides, I certainly did not find the main characters as irritating as I found the heroes in Attack on Titan, for example, and I would almost go so far as to say that I took a liking to them. The atmosphere and suspense over the season, despite the heavily palpable recycled nature, is not completely lacking, and the plot holes, along with the most irritating shonen tropes, were relatively avoided by the production team. The artwork and character designs are well-done, the level of animation lags in places with the occasional static image, and the soundtrack, including the opening and closing theme songs, is very successful by Hiroyuki Sawano’s standards. Overall, then, this is an anime that is easily confused for other anime of its kind, and that very few will likely remember in a few years, albeit one that does not cause any undue suffering watching it. I shall watch the second season on principle, to see if by chance there might be any originality. A solid 2 stars. (21/06/2015)

"This is a poor man's Attack on Titan." If we are going to make that comparison, well, whatever. Sure the emotional or musical aspect might not be as strong as in Attack on Titan, but I prefer the characters in this show. Attack on Titan has awesome action-packed scenes, whereas this show focuses more on drama and horror. What I particularly like about Seraph of the End is the setting, the vampires who treat humans like sheep and the humans who, despite being decimated, have instilled a clear goal. They team up with demons and the devil to defeat the enemy, and if that does not work, there is still a plan to overpopulate and regain the numerical advantage they lost to the deadly plague. I imagine a post-apocalyptic future like the destruction and ruins of the cities where war is waged in this show, as it promises a lot of conflicts. As for the characters, I am probably most fond of the two main protagonists, Yuichiro and Shinoa. Yuichiro is determined, although he does not go overboard with his emotional outbursts, and Shinoa is wonderfully sarcastic. I was also very curious about Mikaela (I guess his parents wanted a girl) and SPOILER ALERT, his role when he "changed teams." END OF SPOILERS. Oh, and I have to mention Krul because this Lolita girl has an incredible spark, and even though I have not seen much of her this season, I already think I would be happy to get bitten by her. My expectations were very high, and I think the result is commendable. However, it did not deserve five stars even after the last episode. Perhaps the vampires could have been a lot scarier, the atmosphere more oppressive, the animation less cute and darker, or maybe they could have given the riot police some better uniforms. Even though I could find some moments that made my heart skip a beat (like when "seraph" appeared), it did not excite me or give me the feeling that I was watching something amazing (which I had with Attack on Titan, even though the main characters annoyed me). So I am only awarding this show 8/10, even though I am not going to miss out on the second season that will air in the fall. (18/04/2015)