Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Let’s talk about vampires. Before zombie-mania took over, the biggest thing in the horror genre was vampires. Intelligent and immortal creatures who could be scholars in one moment but bloodthirsty creatures in the next moment. There was definitely a lot of charm and appeal to vampires that kept people coming back. But then they released Twilight and that just sucked all the charm and appeal out of vampires. Anime has also tangled with and explored the stories of vampires from a romantic standpoint such as Vampire Knight, an atrocity standpoint such as Diabolik Lovers, a badass standpoint such as Hellsing Ultimate, and also from an action standpoint like Owari no Seraph. Also known as Seraph of the End when translated, Seraph is a series that tries to find the middle ground between vampire enthusiasts and lovers of action and shonen manga. The series was written by Takaya Kagami in 2012 and still continuing to this day where a war has broken out between humanity and vampires and the last of humanity band together to fight this vampire threat. The series was quite popular and over the years gained a following. In 2015, the series got turned into an anime by the then popular Wit Studio. Following the success of Attack on Titan, the studio gained a lot of nobility and started working on different animes to expand it. 2015 was a break out year for them as they released three animes that year, the dark comedy Hōzuki no Reitetsu, the less than impressive Rolling Girls, and the dark action series Owari no Seraph. Out of these animes, Owari no Seraph was the one who gained the most attention having a total of two seasons that came out that same year but since then faded from the public eye. Let’s see if this series was just a short-lived hype train, this is Owari no Seraph.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening for the first season is “X.U.” by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]: Gemie (that is one unique band name). I didn’t like the opening that much. For a series that’s about vampire slaying, the song doesn’t get you hyped for the anime. It’s very slow, tamed, and doesn’t start picking up until the end of the opening where it’s too late to get you hyped. While the visuals are interesting and the singer sounds good they just don’t match up with each other.
The ending is “scapegoat” by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]: Yosh. Once again we are presented with the same problems as the opening. The song sounds good but nothing fits together. Now to this song’s credit I like it more than the opening and think it goes with the visuals a little more but overall it still falls short.
Episodes 1-4
The anime opens up normally in the city when all of sudden people start dropping like flies in the street. It turns out a virus have been released on the world by vampires killing everyone except for children 13 and under (that’s a little disturbing). We fast forward 4 years later where the vampires have captured all the children and are now using them as livestock for blood in their own society. In this society we focus on Yu voiced by Miyu Irino (Apollon from Kamigami no Asobi) a boy who wishes to one day kick all of the vampires’ asses. We find out later that he was labeled a demon by his own mother before she killed herself and was later placed in an orphanage because his father tried to kill him (man talk about having bad parents). Because of his terrible family experience Yu doesn’t like the idea of families and doesn’t fit in all that well with the other orphans from the orphanage that he lives with in this vampire society even though they do their best to make him feel welcomed and treat him like a brother. Yu is hanging with his friend Mika (who along with him and another orphan named Akane are the oldest of the orphans from his orphanage) voiced by Kenshō Ono (Kuroko from Kuroko’s Basketball) who is somewhat of a whore as he is totally submissive to the vampires and hangs out with a nobleman offering his blood in exchange for food (I hope that’s all he’s doing otherwise this is gonna be even more disturbing than it already is). Thanks to Mika whoring himself out to the vampires the orphans have food to make curry (you know that’s whore food right? Enjoy your whore food). Mika returns later that night with a gun and a map to the outside that he stole from that vampire noble’s mansion when he wasn’t looking (wow, he is a whore). It turns out this is what Mika was working towards all this time while being a whore, to find a map that will lead all of them out of this nightmare. They all leave in the night sneaking past all the vampires in the sewer and finally reach their goal when that vampire noble that Mika whored himself out to appears before them (https://youtu.be/4F4qzPbcFiA). He begins killing all of them one by one (enjoying it to the fullest) until only Yu and Mika are left. Mika gives his life to allow Yu to escape but before Yu leaves he shoots the vampire in the head killing him (scene here: https://youtu.be/au9seSt3Pbk). He makes it to the outside where he meets other humans who are clearly pass the age of 13 (better explain that next episode). They say that he is the chosen one that the prophecy predicted would come and defeat all the vampires (where the hell did this prophecy come from? It’s only been 4 years since this shit happened and all of sudden you guys are talking about prophecies). Yu embraces this totally believing what they’re saying and says he’ll do anything just as long as he can kill vampires. We fast forward 4 more years again where Yu is now 16 years old, has a sword, and is ready to kill some vampires (it’s Blade 2.0).
In episode 2 four years have pass since Yu lost his family and friends and escaped to the outside world where he found the remains of humanity (apparently only the Japanese survived). Once in the outside world Yu met Guren, Lt. Colonel of the vampire attack squad (I’m sure it has a cooler name but this is easier to remember) who takes Yu in to join the army where they trained him in the ways to kill vampires and the other monsters that were born from the result of the virus. After failing to follow orders Yu gets suspended from military duties and has to go to a normal school. Once there he meets Shinoa voiced by Saori Hayami (Haqua from The World God Only Knows) his observer from the military who says his only way to relieve suspension is to make a friend at school which Yu doesn’t want to because he’s afraid he’ll lose someone again and believes that you don’t need friends to kill vampires (well who could argue with that boy’s logic?). He goes through school not caring about anyone or anything until he sees a kid named Yoichi voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto (Karma from Assassination Classroom) who’s being picked on by other students for no reason whatsoever. Yu stands up to the bullies protecting Yoichi however he’s not allowed to fight civilians (what about self-defense?). So Yu is forced to become the bullies’ errand boy along with Yoichi who says the reason why he’s allowing this treatment to go on is because the bully has ties to the army and Yoichi wants to join the army to avenge his sister who was killed by vampires protecting him. After they talk, the school gets attacked by an escaped vampire who got out of the lab (why would you keep something so dangerous near a school?). Yu sees this as an opportunity to prove himself so he decides to go face the vampire himself. He finds the vampire where they have a decent fight as Yu is able to hold his own against the monster however the characters move rather slow in the fight. Yoichi comes in to help him by stopping the vampire from sucking the blood out of one of the students (nice save meat shield). The vampire falls out of a window with Yu where Yu pierces the vampire with his sword but it doesn’t kill her as the only thing that can kill them is a demon weapon (in other words a sword fused with the power of science). Guren comes in from behind and kills the vampire saving Yu (scene here: https://youtu.be/W9ZFfLgsmCs) and once he sees that he’s made a friend he allows Yu to join the army along with Yoichi as well because of his bravery.
Not much happens in episode 3. We find out that Yu has begun the next part of his training and Shinoa is his trainer. Before becoming a full fledge member of the team he must learn teamwork which he still refuses to do (dude seriously? After everything that happened last episode?). They find out that a student has snuck into the forbidden chamber underneath the school. The forbidden chamber is basically the testing groups for new members of the vampire extermination unit and is home to a demon (sounds welcoming). Yu, Shinoa, and Yoichi go to rescue him from the demon where they go into the chamber (nice place) and see that the student has already become possessed by the demon. Yu, seeing this as another opportunity to prove himself decides to face the demon and gets possessed himself to prove how strong his mind and willpower are. The demon shows Yu visions of his family (the good one not the one who called him a monster and tried to kill him) where at first everything seems normal but the demon begins telling Yu to give in to his anger and let it rule him (like a Youtube commenter). But Yu easily sees through the ruse and battles the demon out of his mind all by himself saving the student and impressing even Shinoa who says he’ll be coming here from now on to train. We end the episode by seeing that Mika is still alive (I would say I’m surprised but they kind of ruined it in the opening) as well as that noble vampire who slaughtered everyone in the first episode (scene here: https://youtu.be/J6UsqriDHIY).
Episode 4 starts off with an explanation for how Mika is still alive. We get a flashback which shows us that the queen of vampires Krul Tepes (a petite loli vampire) forced Mika to drink her blood thus turning him into a vampire even though he didn’t want it (too bad. You’re a vampire now congratulations). As a result Mika lost his humanity and is now determined to rescue Yu from the human society which he believes is using him for their own purposes (yeah! To kill all vampires and reclaim the planet that you all fucked up). After that we return to Yu at school where he gets into a fight with a new character named Shiho voiced by Kaito Ishikawa (Nine from Terror in Resonance). Much like Yu he too is a loner and uninterested in making friends. All he cares about is joining the military to get his sister proper medical treatment since she’s suffering from a virus known as the Apocalypse virus. After fighting, Yu goes to his first class of vampire killing where he tells the whole class he has no intention of befriending anyone and is going to get all the best equipment (you sound just like a kid playing COD or Battlefield). Once he sees that his classmate is Shiho the two begin to fight again until it gets stopped by Guren. After Yu and Shiho are forced to partner up in a training exercise while being handcuffed to each other, Shiho receives news that his sister has gone into critical condition, but he refuses to go saying he has to train. But Yu of all people tells him to forget about training and go see his sister (this, coming from the guy who thinks friendship is bullshit). It takes a little convincing but Yu manages to get Shiho to go visit his sister dragging Yu along with him since they’re still handcuffed together (if he’s getting a bad score he’s taking you down with him). After seeing that his sister is alright the two bond a little bit on a bench. While that’s going on we find out that the vampires have discovered that the humans are experimenting with the Seraph of the end (and then the universe imploded. The end) and have declared war on them (ladies and gentlemen. I give you World War V).
Episodes 5-8
Not much happens in episode 5. Yu, Shiho, and Yoichi pass Guren’s test to see if they’re ready to get a vampire-killing weapon. They’re taken to the ceremony chamber where they’ll each pick a weapon and get possessed by a demon where if they can control the demon the weapon will be there’s however if they fail the demon will kill or turn them into man-eating demons in which case Guren will kill them (in short they will either leave there alive or stay there dead).
So in episode 6 Yu, Shiho, and Yoichi come face to face with the demon possessed weapons who each try to take over their body by using their most treasured (and ironically most horrific) memories from their past. For Shiho the demon becomes his sick little sister and taunts him into thinking he wishes his sister was dead so he wouldn’t have to be held back by her. For Yoichi it’s dealing with the death of his older sister who gave her life to protect him and for Yu it’s his first family. It takes Yu a bit but he quickly overcomes the demon quite easily who tells him he’s already 10% nonhuman (well he did grow up in a vampire society and got his blood sucked daily. I wouldn’t be surprise if he caught something). Shiho overcomes his trial long before Yu and Yoichi fails his trial and gets taken over by the demon because he really has no desire for vengeance nor does he want to fight (than what the hell are you doing in this anime?). Yu and Shiho are ordered to kill Yoichi but Yu can’t bring himself to kill his comrade (okay what’s going on with this character? At one point he doesn’t care about his comrades saying he doesn’t need them and now he doesn’t wanna kill them? Is the guy bipolar or something?). Yu tries to talk to Yoichi and snap him out of it where his words manage to reach him and bring Yoichi back to the land of the living (and I was all set to hang you on the wall like a trophy). Guren tells him he has a new purpose to live and fight. His new comrades and family. So they all pass and are set to go to the frontlines where they’ll be fighting a vampire invasion in Shinjuku.
In episode 7 Yu has now become a full-fledged vampire hunter (and I have to admit he looks good in that vampire uniform). He goes outside the safe zone with Shinoa where he’s put in a group with Shinoa, Shiho, Yoichi (we just can’t get rid of these guys can we?), and a new character named Mitsuba an elite who’s been a hunter since the age of 13 and puts a heavy emphasis on teamwork and staying in formation when fighting because some time ago her selfish actions got one of her comrades killed battle and since then she’s blamed herself for it (yeah it kind of was her fault). She’s voiced by Yuka Iguchi (Mea from To Love-Ru Darkness). We see that her and Shinoa don’t get along with each other (scene here: https://youtu.be/vwwMATkVi-w. Their relationship is like Shiho and Yu) Their mission is to go to Harajuku and eliminate a vampire settlement that’s farming humans than head to Shinjuku (the more I watch this anime the more I think this would make a good action beat ’em up game). They arrive at Harajuku where they see a small girl being chased by a monster. Yu wants to save her but Mitsuba says it’s a trap set by vampires to lure out hunters and is told to remain on standby (screw that I want to see some vampire killing). As the monster gets close to the girl Yu can wait no longer and jumps in to save her. Sure enough it was a trap and Yu gets surrounded by three vampires where they all have a short fight and both sides retreat with even the vampires intimidated by Yu (who’s the real monster here?). They go to a safe area and the girl tells them that the vampires have a hideout at the Omotesando station. The next day they arrive at the Omotesando where they plan to kill all the vampires without a scratch on them (alright let’s get Assassin’s Creed up in here).
In episode 8 the group raids the station with Yu killing off two vampires but alerting the others (alright so much for sneaking around. Now we do things my way. Full out brawl). Mitsuba gets captured by one of the vampires and tells everyone to leave her (alright nice knowing you, bye) but Yu saves her and the group kills all the vampires and save all the children being used as livestock (not bad for your first mission. Man, this really would be a good game. Starting to get mad that this isn’t a game already). The next day Shiho hotwires a hummer and the group (scene here: https://youtu.be/Cf6O5HozJQc) arrives at Shinjuku which is under attack by a noble vampire. Unlike the common vampires these vampires are a lot stronger, quicker, smarter, and enjoy toying with their prey. Despite the vampire out powering them he retreats to meet up with someone else leaving the others still alive despite the fact that he could have killed them (scene here: https://youtu.be/pz3aIvzERgo). After taking a moment to compose themselves they hurry into the defense line of Shinjuku to defend the base.
Episodes 9-12
Episode 9 starts off with some pretty great action. The base is under attack by vampires in choppers (couldn’t they just fly into the base?). The vampires kamikazes a hole in the wall allowing them to enter the city from the west and they opened up another hole in the east but Yu and the others are there to lend everyone aid and repel the vampire attack. After their defense holds they’re ordered to go to the frontlines with Guren and his team who are already there scouting the area and we see that the vampires in that area are being led by Mika and that noble vampire who killed him in episode 1 (kill him you whore). We get another flashback into Mika’s past where we see that when he became a vampire he refused to drink blood and become one of them. This is bad because if Mika doesn’t drink blood he’ll turn into an uncontrollable ghoul but despite knowing this he still refuses to drink blood so Krul offers him her blood as an alternative (she is tempting you like a fly to a pile of sugar). Mika tries to resist but finds out he can’t resist Lolita vampire blood (hey that’s rare) and becomes her loyal dog. Now Mika has to rely on her for blood from now on since he refuses to drink any other blood. Back in the present as Mika wonders the city determined to find Yu before his supply of blood runs out he runs into Guren (well, time to earn your blood whore). Back with Yu and the others Shinoa gives them all doping pills which will help them draw out the true power of their cursed weapons (dear God now they’re bringing drug abuse into this anime) however she warns them not to consume no more than three as it will kill them. They soon get attacked by another vampire chopper where Yu and Shinoa save their driver but get separated from the others in the subway where Shiho and the others decide to go to the defensive line where Yu and Shinoa try to get their driver medical attention.
In episode 10 Yu and Shinoa get the driver to a medical base just in time. Once there, they’re told to go to the defense line on Fifth Street where Guren and his squad are taking on the vampires. As they’re about to head out they hear that three hunters are battling for their lives in the park and Yu thinks it’s the others (he is correct obviously). So Yu ignores his orders to go to the defense line and instead goes to the park with Shinoa to save the others (you know if it wasn’t for the vampire situation this be the ideal date for those two). They arrive at the park and rescue the others where Shiho scolds Yu for ignoring orders and not trusting them to handle the situation (it’s not about trust it’s about looking out for the people you care about). They then run off to the defense lines where Guren gets stabbed in the heart by Mika and he gets stabbed by Yu (scene here: https://youtu.be/D0XFnGEZNxo, and the two finally meet).
Okay so there’s a lot of confusion in episode 11. First off Yu is shocked to see Mika alive and is so shocked by this he can’t fight (dude, it’s just your dead brother bought back to life by a loli princess vampire. What’s there to be shocked about?). He gets even more distracted when he sees the vampire responsible for killing his family and the rest of the group become overpowered by the noble vampires and their forces. When Mika has a chance he grabs Yu and flees with him saying that the humans are using him (and? Yeah, that’s pretty much all he says throughout this episode. He doesn’t explain how the humans are using him or why he’s acting the way he’s acting making it totally impossible for us to be on his side). When Yu sees all of his friends getting bitten by vampires (hey it’s a biting orgy) he tries to return to save them but Mika keeps holding him back until the non-human part inside Yu takes over and goes on a rampage showing off amazing skills but not killing a single vampire (scenes here: https://youtu.be/eeRlSPtEHqc and https://youtu.be/_0njYPkaoBw, what a waste! Couldn’t you have taken down at least one vampire in your berserk mode?). Guren tells Shinoa that there’s still time to bring Yu back so she hugs him and begs for him to come back (and it works. What the hell was all that about?). Just when a vampire is about to kill Guren the cavalry arrives and surrounds the vampires to end the episode.
So at the start of episode 12 the vampires retreat. After that 5 days past with Shinoa looking for Guren hoping to get answers into what happened to Yu (well it’s obvious he was used in a human experiment to kill the vampires. Duh). She finds Guren in the vampire testing facility where they perform inhuman test on the vampires (it’s times like this I wonder who the real monsters are). Guren refuses to answer her questions but he does tell her that Yu should wake up soon. We then cut to Mika who’s sad that he couldn’t save his brother from the humans (okay what is this? No seriously what is going on here? You’re obviously not with the vampires but you’re also against humans. I would be more than happy to join your team if you would explain to me what the hell is going on here?). The vampires believe that the humans are researching the Owari no Seraph (the anime just exploded on itself. . .again) a power that it said will destroy the world (haven’t heard that a million times). Back with Yu he finally wakes up in the hospital where he doesn’t remember anything (of course) but is happy that everyone survived that his brother Mika is still alive (scene here: https://youtu.be/L9lBGOdGus4). We then get a montage of everyone recovery and relaxing after the battle while listening to some nice jazz music and get this confusing scene between Guren and a vampire (scene here: https://youtu.be/l9w3N27wxi4).
So that was the first season of Owari no Seraph and I’m starting to get an idea as to why this series vanished from everyone’s radar. What is it? Come back next week in order to find out. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj. MU-
(Chibi Isis): Pie fight!
*Chibi Isis throws a pie at Nitsuj and hits him directly in the face*
(Nitsuj): I didn’t even get one evil laugh in this time. Honestly.
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