With the appearance of a mysterious virus that kills everyone above the age of 13, mankind becomes enslaved by previously hidden, power-hungry vampires who emerge in order to subjugate society with the promise of protecting the survivors, in exchange for donations of their blood.
Among these survivors are Yuuichirou and Mikaela Hyakuya, two young boys who are taken captive from an orphanage, along with other children whom they consider family. Discontent with being treated like livestock under the vampires' cruel reign, Mikaela hatches a rebellious escape plan that is ultimately doomed to fail. The only survivor to come out on the other side is Yuuichirou, who is found by the Moon Demon Company, a military unit dedicated to exterminating the vampires in Japan.
Many years later, now a member of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army, Yuuichirou is determined to take revenge on the creatures that slaughtered his family, but at what cost?
Owari no Seraph is a post-apocalyptic supernatural shounen anime that follows a young man's search for retribution, all the while battling for friendship and loyalty against seemingly impossible odds.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
SevenKnights
Shinoa is probably the only reason I watch this every week. That and the Opening song. When I first started watching this I thought I was going to get a Attack on Titan type Revenge story with Vampires instead of Titans. I was wrong. It quickly becomes a School based setting with Main Girl obviously crushing on Main guy. They battle with inner demons, their past and obtain power to combat the vampires.Good thing there's a second season.
Definitely an enjoyable series. just don't expect AoT type stuff.
Justlike1984
Alright, this is one of the most popular shows last season so I found it reasonable for it to serve as my first review for the season. Story 2/10: The story is surprisingly bad. Episode one was almost perfectly copied from popular WIT series Attack on Titan. The premise is pretty generic. Main character is trapped and enslaved in a city by vampires along with many other kids. He ends up the sole survivor as he and friends attempt to escape from the city of Vampires. He then vows to get his revenge. Oh boy. He joins the military force to combat the vampires and for someodd reason the MC goes through school while receiving his training. His school life was irrelevant other than for making friends so the school setting was unnecessary as he could've made friends anywhere else. The setting is extremely unnatural considering the situation
The story continues to progress predictably while MC meets a typical cast of characters which I'll get into. But the absolute worst thing about the series is the dialogue. It's beyond generic and incredibly predictable. From "I'll kill all the vampires" to "I'll make sure no one dies lol". Just as no one seems to think before they spout whatever trash they want to say, they author doesn't seem give much thought to what dialogue can convey. It's as if he tried to take every cool sounding line from previously anime and manga and apply them where possible only to receive the opposite effect of what he hoped.
The weapons systems is retarded. They are controlled by demons and you must make a contract with a demon using some arbitrary and nonsensical show of "willpower", Which will lead to yet again some more predictable scenes. The fights are strangely favorable to MC and his party even though the power level between humans and Vampires is revealed to be huge. The upper level Vampires never go all out for whatever reason and constantly miss chances to kill, in contrast to episode one where the kids are cut apart in seconds. The thing I realized about this series is there is nothing unique about it. There is nothing that make it stand out and be recognized as "that anime". This isn't simply in comparison to AOT, but many good or at least decent anime. This goes back to the blandness of the dialogue, and the blandness of the characters.
Characters 2/10:
Not much to say here. The character are all dull as I said. The MC is a typical angry little kid who wish to exterminate the vampires. He spouts the expected edgy lines all throughout the first few episode thinking he doesn't need friends to kill, he wants to hurry up and kill, etc. He meets a typical shy kid who seems completely useless but can actually be somewhat helpful, and a typical rival character who is an ass but is actually nice on the inside. Shinoa was actually decent and entertaining as well. Maybe that's why I remember her name along with just a few others. Her smug playfulness drew an interesting contrast with her serious attitude on the field. But that's about it.
Strangely enough with all the emphasis on teamwork you'd think there'd be more tactics in fights but I guess not. The vampires didn't appear enough to do anything other than say the usual antagonistic lines and how things seemed interesting. MCs friend survives and turns into a Vamp, no surprise here. The show does a terrible job drawing sympathy for the viewer for either side, though it clearly aims to do so with MC's friend being turned while MC fights the vampires and a few other reasons.
Art 6/10:
The character designs are good but the animation can be inconsistent with one hilarious episode standing out in terms of poor quality. The water color-esque background are unique and works well for indoor scenes, but outdoors draws an huge contrast with the 2D character figures which can be annoying. Fight scenes were done decently at best, as seems WIT is saving the shekels for AOT.
Music 6/10:
Many people take the opportunity to shamelessly cream themselves when Hiroyuki Sawano is revealed to be handling the music composition for an anime. This is certainly not on the level of AOT or Kill la Kill and it's not anything special. It's has some good moments but nothing else.
Entertainment 5/10
Even with all I mentioned the series managed to remain entertaining enough for me to at least complete it. I may or may not be watching season 2, but I don't feel like I've completely wasted my time somehow. Maybe I still retain hope for the show to get better and haven't been completely let down (considering my expectations were pretty low in the first place)
Overall 3/10:
If you like something generic yet can kill time without causing you to die of boredom, this may be the show for you.
ZephSilver
Owari no Seraph, or Seraph of the End, is the quintessential example of a "generic" anime title. It's a show you've undoubtedly seen many times before and one you'll continue to encounter way after its time in the limelight is up. It's a throw-away title that'll be replaced by the next factory-assembled one to take its place. It's the store brand cereal at anime's supermarket; bland, cheap, packaged in a box with little creative effort, always at the bottom shelf, and does very little to distinguish itself from its competitors. At worse, it's a forgettable hodge-podge of clichés and overused tropes, and at best, it'sa cheap knock-off of a much superior product. It's an entry level show in every regard and depending on how accustomed you've grown to these formulaic setups will determine how much you like/tolerate it.
The story of Owari no Seraph is so standard-fare that if someone were to tweak it with a few name and setting changes, they will be able to use the same synopsis to describe any other show with a familiar setup. Use the template below and see how many bottom-of-the-barrel shows you an insert:
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One day humanity is suddenly attacked by a group of [insert name of threat here] and was brought to the brink of annihilation. [insert amount of years] later, leftovers of this time in mankind's history attempts to scrape together what's left to form a new society out of the event that felt like an act of divine punishment. And with the discovery of [insert name of weapons or power here], they were able to fight back. We follow our protagonist [insert name here] as he and his comrades use [insert name of weapon or power] to fight the [insert name of threat here] and reclaim humanity in this post-apocalyptic world. And in the process of doing so, they slowly discover the mystery of their sudden appearance that might be closer to home than what was intially thought.
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To say that there's little to talk about when discussing Owari's story would be an understatement. Everything I can say here can apply to any other cheaply patched-together narrative. Instead, I'll discuss if the execution of this setup was done right nor not. Despite harping on its overused premise, it can still be done well if executed and presented with some tact... and to the surprise of no one, Owari didn't even manage to do that.
The story is supposed to document the power struggle between humanity and vampires, with our protagonist and his friends being in the centerfold of all the events taking place. You'd think with such a setup that we'd at least get an action-filled romp to keep us entertained but sadly, all we got were less than 2-episodes worth of skirmishes. That's right, a show that boasts "action" as its primary genre couldn't even fulfill that simple quota. That's like ordering a Porterhouse steak and receiving a White Castle slider instead. To add insult to injury, the pacing for Owari was painfully slow, despite what the erratic time-skip-filled 1st episode would have you believe. Plot points that would normally be wrapped up in 10-15 minutes with proper pacing are now extended to 2-3 episodes. This made some events that barely held any plot relevance to adopt the type of pacing akin to long-running battle shounens.
And as if that wasn't enough to seal its fate, the story of Owari is also plagued with plot conveniences happening in rapid succession:
A virus wipes out humanity but "conveniently" doesn't kill anyone 13 and below. Enslaved kids attempt a big escape from their vampire capturers and our protagonist is "conveniently" the only one to get away, where he "conveniently" meets a resistance force that was "conveniently" waiting right outside the escapee's exit. Humanity has "conveniently" discovered a way to infuse demon's energy into weapons to fight against the vampires with the scriptwriters' explanation being "just because." And since shounen protagonists are always special snowflakes, he "conveniently" mastered this infusion where many others have been known to fail. And no, he never practiced, because God knows he's the special snowflake. And the rest of the story adheres to this painfully forced path from beginning to end. There isn't an episode that goes by where you're not thinking "well that sure was convenient." The screenplay is plagued with the artifice of fatalistic storytelling while pretending that aspect to its writing doesn't exist. "You can't have your cake and eat it too" perfectly encapsulates the issue on display.
Haven't done a lick of training but need a power boost? Well, how about this "conveniently" placed power-boost pill that was never foreshadowed or properly introduced beforehand. Stuck in a dire situation where all your friends are in trouble? Well, how about a "conveniently" timed supernatural powerup using the trite "dark side" shounen cliche.
And again, a formulaic setup isn't inherently a bad thing if done with finesse but this show just doesn't demonstrate any concern for decent storytelling whatsoever. It's a show that would rather abuse every literary device in the book if it'll get it the results it wants rather than achieving the same end-result through careful consideration. Owari is sloppy writing 101.
An area that demonstrated some effort, however, was the art and animation. By itself, the art and animation were fine but when brought together, they mixed as seamlessly as oil and water. The 2D character designs in contrast to the watercolor/oil-pastel inspired backgrounds felt very out of place. This was made apparent in open environments where the individual scenes showed no proper separation between its foreground and background. There's no dimension or depth in the background, which result in the characters moving awkwardly across the landscape. It's like watching them play things out on a green screen, which is made all the more amusing given that it's animated and not live-action.
While they didn't mesh well together, the creators still deserve credit for at least attempting to make it different, as the backgrounds did look quite nice at times, with a nice range of color choices and purposeful brush stroke-like textures. The character designs were all fine as well, being distinct enough to tell apart from other series. However, I am disappointed that they never had any well-choreographed fights, especially considering the limited amount of physical encounters they chose to have, to begin with. As a whole, the art and animation were passable, it wasn't the best but it did demonstrate some creative decisions in its visual output. At worst, a bit off model and at best, a serviceable piece of work.
If Owari had any saving graces it'll be the opening theme that came with it. It was a toe-tappingly infectious tune with well-timed visuals that I found myself playing on repeat. A catchy pop ballad that hit just the right notes and visual presentation that kept it in tempo. Surprisingly enough, the soundtrack had some restraint to it, which is uncommon for Hiroyuki Sawano, especially when taking into consideration his previous work on Attack on Giant Naked People and Kill La Wincest. While it still had his signature use of orchestric soundbites and digital glitch-pop buildup, it was often intertwined with shyer melodic tunes. It was refreshing if only unexpected for what Sawano is known for.
The voice acting was all fine, with the standout being Takahiro Sakurai's performance for the vampire antagonist, Ferid Bathory. He did a good job giving him a playful yet sinister tone, which really helps to sell how much of a baddie he was. But enough appraisal, time to address the biggest crux of Owari, and that were the characters.
Like the underbaked story, the characters suffered from an equal amount of problems. On top of being indistinguishable from your garden variety shounen lineup, they were also all grossly underdeveloped. Our protagonist, Yuu Hyakuya, is yet another hot-blooded teen who's on a quest for revenge. His one-track mindset is only topped by his regurgitated "I will defeat them all!", "I don't need friends!" mantras that he seems to want to yell out every 10-minutes. What's disheartening about the protagonist is that if given the proper time, he could have actually received decent characterization. There were several opportunities that could have allowed for this to occur but they were never taken advantage of. If you want the audience to get invested in a conflict, there needs to be proper time given to let the events unfold. If something life-altering happens to our protagonist that would cause a metamorphosis upon conquering that mental dilemma, it would benefit the story to let the audience see that play out. But instead of giving the proper time to allow this to happen, they simply time skipped pass this rough stage altogether. So not only was the story written with a sense of artificiality, but even the little decency it could have attained through demonstrating the character's growth was completely disregarded.
The rest of the cast were all forgettable nobodies you could find in other series. There was the pussy sidekick, the friendemy rival, the tsundere, and Douchbag teacher-sama, and the list goes on and on. Possibly the only character that had a decent personality was Shinoa Hiiragi, one of our protagonist's comrades. Her snarky, playful attitude made her interaction with the others fun to watch, but like the others, she remained underdeveloped and lacked any proper characterization outside of the already playful nature that she possessed. Another key character brought up was Yuu's childhood friend, Mikaela, but his involvement comes with spoilers so I'll leave it at that. The vampire antagonists were all one-dimensional baddies and none of them really mattered in the end. The only one that really got focus was Ferid Bathory, due to his involvement with our protagonist's life-altering incident. He's cartoonishly sinister and takes lives in a carefree manner, and that's about the extent of him as a character.
And after running through everything that Owari no Seraph had to offer, the final verdict can't surmount to anything other than generic.
Enjoyment: 5/10
This title is a knock-off brand shounen in every way possible. While I wasn't really bothered watching it, I certainly wasn't impressed either. The setup was predictable and the cliched moments just came in by the truckload. It was a time-passer, but not a good one at that.
Overall: 4/10
If you're a newcomer to anime then Owari could, at best, serve as a gateway title to help you get a little insight into the medium's common practices. But if you've been a part of the anime community for a decent amount of time and have grown tired of these formulaic setups, then I suggest skipping this one as it does nothing but follow a set checklist like its life depended on it.
LeFlower-kun
So the first cour of Owari no Seraph has ended, and I can say with clear confidence that this show, is without a doubt, an utter piece of generic troupes amalgamated and fused together into one entity. Was it amazing? No, not even close. And was it horrible? No, it hasn't reached that low of a tier yet, fortunately. The story in a nutshell involves kids, and adults stuck in a post-apocalyptic setting with two sides, the vampires and the humans. So what happened? Honestly, nothing much. The story itself progresses at the speed of a snail for the majority of the series and drags outtoo much, in which I personally hope the second cour will be faster paced and utilise suspense more intelligently for the benefit of the show.
The first episode was without a doubt, somewhat suspenseful and does a semi-good job. However, the opening song does a great job to counter this semi-well done job and reveal that Mika is indeed alive by showing his grown up self which would have been much better if it were to be revealed unexpectedly later on in order to create some sense of suspense.
Nevertheless, in this "post-apocalyptic" setting, the second episode starts off with the orthodox and conventional, overused school setting which already makes it hard to take the "post-apocalyptic world" seriously, and minimising any genuine sense of danger and threat that left off with the premiere episode. Fortunately, it then derives off this school setting but the ambiance still does not skyrocket in terms of suspence, tension or intensity as the main cast is composed by a group of children, not adults, but children.
The male central protagonist is Yuichiro Hyakuya and his friends from the Moon Demon Company, a group of freedom fighters formed to extinguish vampires in the harsh and dejected reality. Here on, it sets up two sides, the humans fighting against the vampires in this war-like battlefield. Although the main cast is a bunch of children, surprisingly they can pull off wicked stunts with their cursed gear, weapons specialised to exterminate the vampires, and are portrayed centuries stronger than the other adult looking soldiers from the army.
If I had to pick the best character, it would be Shinoa Hiiragi, also, she is one of the reasons I was able to enjoy the show to some degree. Her comical expressions and satirical manner of speech is what makes her as a character stand out more than the rest. Her design also stands out more than the others with her purple hair and ribbon attached. I applaud Hayami Saori for her splendid voice acting in portraying Shinoa's cheerful voice and sarcastic approaches and mannerisms, which pulled the show to a better level.
Sound-wise, it was definitely one of its stronger aspects, but also may be considered pretty incompetent by some because from a Hiroyuki Sawano standpoint, it was "just more of the same". The ost could have also been utilised better throughout the series and was not extremely memorable besides the orchestral version of the ending song. Both the opening song and ending song are pretty compelling though and definitely stand out.
The art is a hit and miss, some can say it is a manifestation of the show's lack in budget, and some can say it is for artistic and creative purposes, but I think, it's both. The animation was nothing ground-breaking or topnotch and was particularly below average for a shounen action series which is definitely disappointing.
The action is in particular, extremely weak and incompetent in terms of an action anime and there are many better shows that execute action and its choreography in a much better fashion with more fluid animation and well-directed choreography. Hopefully, as the climax is in the second cour of this series, one can only hope for improvements in these areas. Even if the second cour depicts improvements for the animation or action sequences, the show as a whole still will not have consistent good quality, but rather, fluctuations in its inconsistent quality.
Luckily, this is only the first cour, and certainly, if this was how the show ended, it would have a much lower score, but since it is merely the first part, that's somewhat forgivable and may perhaps be redeemed later on with improvements.
I can't say I did not enjoy the show, because I definitely did to an extent. But was it amazing? No, not even close. And was it horrible? No, not to that tier yet - but from here onward, I expect better from the second cour. The premise in itself has been done countless of times before and does not bring anything new or groundbreaking, but it does allow room for improvement, in both its presentation and execution in which the second cour will be pivotal to in order to judge the series as an entirety.
Undoubtedly, the second cour should expand on the story more, reveal more of the implied secrets, and hopefully develop the characters in a profound manner because right now, this show has not entirely finished and has ended in an open fashion for the second cour and until then, nothing in this first cour of Owari no Seraph will be complete.
Stark700
Owari no Seraph is pretty simple to describe. It’s a vampire shounen with action combining elements of horror, suspense, and odd humor. When, I mention odd, I don’t mean it as unconventional. Hardly. Owari no Seraph (Seraph of the End) attempts to stylishly craft a show with vampires at war with humans. It wasn’t always like this though because apparently, a virus many years ago wiped out a mass majority of humanity. The rulers of the world are now vampires as humanity desperately struggles for survival. At the center of it is an orphan named Yuichiro Hyakuya who hopes to reach freedom someday alongside hisfriend Mika. Sound a bit familiar? It may not be another Attack on Titan but Owari no Seraph surely follows a story of dark fantasy. Only the problem is, it’s only as half as dark as it seems.
From the creator of Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu, Owari no Seraph adapts a story based on the manga of the same name. It’s important to note that the series follows the manga rather than the light novel. And just like the way the premise implies, freedom in the world of Owari no Seraph comes at a price.
The first episode doesn’t drop you in the middle of the story. Instead, it establishes a background tale, a way of telling events from the past. We learn quickly that vampires treat human like trash and apparently, some of them are allowed to live only because they have blood. It’s a classic gimmick as vampires depends on it as a source of food. Nonetheless, the first episode shows how bloody (literally) it can be when humans tries to escape from their fate. Or rather, I can’t really call it fate because Yuichiro manage to escape. The only problem is that the rest of the orphans perish as the price. Luckily, the series also has a group of vampire hunters (Moon Demon Company) and Yuchiro becomes acquainted with the group. Their goal? To exterminate the vampires and make their freedom a reality.
So essentially, this show pretty much sets up a standard war-like atmosphere between the two sides – humans and vampires. Yuichiro is the central protagonist although the show also introduces others that he meets while he trains to become stronger. The problem with Yuichiro is that he is a rather narrow minded individual when it comes to his goals. Apparently, his goal is to annihilate the vampires because like many other humans, they annihilated his family. His black-and-white view of the supernatural world brings him at odds with his superiors because he tends to even ignore orders at times so that he can get a bit of retribution. In essence, Yuichiro isn’t exactly a good role model. However, I do have to emphasize that he is quite brave and often not to speak his mind. His kindness can also be seen at times when he is helping out others. Joining with him are Shinoa Hiragi, a girl with a rather sarcastic personality. Her relationship with Yuichiro and the others are usual casual although it can be seen that she greatly cares about them too. She also has a family member that she used to share a connection with although the show doesn’t fully emphasize on this. On the contrary, there is Mitsuba who has a more serious attitude and often wants to do things herself. This puts an odd at times with her comrades like Yuichiro as they have conflicting ideologies. Luckily, Yuchiro does get along better with other characters such as Yoichi and has a rather peculiar friendship with Shiho. (The two are more like rivals most of the time). With such a diverse group of characters, the show tries to do its best to bring out Yuichiro’s character. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t. I say this because the show’s weakness is the way the dialogues are delivered. It lightens the mood to a point where it’s hard to take the show seriously at times. In a way, it’s more like unconventional humor coming from the interactions of the characters. Yuichiro’s also too brash at times to really see him as a reliable person. However, I do have to say that one of the show’s stronger aspect is the relationship he has with Mika.
Despite being separated in the present storyline, there’s still a lot of reflection going back between Yuichiro and Mika. The story essentially shows that the two childhood friends are inseparable. With the way the first episode was presented, it also gives Yuichiro a stronger motivation to kill the vampires. What he doesn’t know is that certain circumstances happened back in the past. But regardless, there’s a strong form of brotherhood that can be seen indirectly throughout the season even though the two are not together on-scene most of the time. In retrospect, the show focuses on relationships with family and friends. This is sort of ironic as Yuichiro is an orphan so that means he has no true family (related by blood anyways). However, his new family comes from the people he works with such as the Moon Demon Company and the kids he encountered in the past. His friendship with Mika is one strongest bonds he has formed. At times, he even works well with his superior Guren despite him being a bit rebellious because of his nature. The show establishes these relationships as they are one of the core reasons for the characters to fight and survive.
Speaking of which, the fighting in the show between the two sides seems to be one sided at times. The vampires are the dominant force. Powerful vampires such as Krul Tepes and Ferid Bathory really shows a difference in gap of power between the two races. They also despise humans and looks down on them like livestock. As evidenced in both the past and present, a key idea of this show is to show if and how humans can overcome these vampires. Unfortunately, the show holds back on characterization on these vampires. They are too stereotypical and really too straightforward with their goals. In fact, the goal they have is too narrow as well and despite having a compelling post-apocalyptic setting, there’s little world building to go with the story. Luckily, the series does have its mechanics when it comes to the weapons and military. Basically, the show does two things: to show and tell. This comes from the weapons that the Japanese Imperial Demon Army uses known as the Cursed Gear. While it’s still generic, I do have to give some praise to the creativity of these objects. All of them are categorized by a different type with unique prestige, shape, and powers. The way the show explains it is just enough for a viewer to understand while also showing (not just telling) the consequences of their usage. In general, creativity with its weapon arsenal is clever in the case of mechanics. Even the military of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army has a good set of mechanics behind it with different rankings, squads, and roles.
As one of several anime projects that Wit Studio undertakes in the year 2015, it’s expected that they may maintain a strong degree of visual quality. Honestly though, it’s rather mixed. Although some of the first few episodes of the series makes an impression with its artwork, others really seems it ran on low budget. I think what I refer to most are the character expressions as they look far too one dimensional. Despite showing a good portray of emotions, it’s often hard to get viewers to think more about them. Also, there are static movements occasionally in the show and in one particular episode really suffered from body movements. On the plus side, background visual can be a spellbound sensation. The fantasy elements of the series especially with post-apocalyptic scenery is fantastically done. It makes it feel real that is also accompanied with dynamic camera work. The action scenes are also solid on most parts with intense movements, clever angle features, and a display of explosiveness. It’s a blockbuster for any action fan who should feel satisfied. Character designs also has a style to them such as the Japanese Army’s uniforms, the Cursed Gears, and even vampires. In particular, the cursed gears all have unique designs ranging from swords, scythes, bows, or even enhanced sniper rifles. Fan service is minimal although not entirely absent either such as the case of shower scenes. Then, there’s the iconic blood scene throughout the show that seems to be a key emphasis. There is a seemingly longer screen time when blood and violence is shown. To put it simply, it tries to create an element of dark fantasy envisioned by what the creators want the audience to experience.
Soundtrack is one of the more standard parts of the show. Names such as Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Nanatsu no Taizai, Aldnoah Zero) will instantly ring a bell and is easily recognized by their style. However, the show does suffer a bit as most of the soundtrack sounds similar. Unlike some the other popular works he is involved in, Owari no Seraph’s OST doesn’t create an excitement. It is on the right track most of the time but doesn’t leave behind lasting impressions. In fact, I can’t name one single OST in the show that I’d want to search for again. On the other hand, the OP and ED theme song has a creative melody to it with a lot of foreshadowing. It puts creativity to the vampire themes with decent amount of symbolism and can be memorable. Finally, character voice mannerisms is more or less average. The only praise that I can give are perhaps for the vampires because of their personalities. You can easily see how the two traces contrast with their tone of speech.
Owari no Seraph is a bit paltry when it comes to its dark atmosphere. The story obviously has a grim tone to it but can never really capture that objective. The improper timing of the humor holds this show back on many occasions. Fortunately, the series does establish its meaning well so understanding its intentions isn’t so hard. The characters obviously has their goals that we see firsthand. One of the better executions of the series relies on relationships, something that it has done from the very beginning. With a tragic tone and premise, you can expect this series to be appeal for fans of drama as well. It’s noticeable that this is the first cour season for the adaptation. Another cour of 12 episodes is scheduled to air in Fall 2015 so expect more vampires, cursed gears, and spills of blood.
Grapesandraisin
I really don't get why some people think that Owari no Seraph is similar to SnK. While it is true that both anime are about revenge-driven boys who want to kill vampires/Titans, have wickedly awesome weapons and gears, and test the boundaries of losing one's humanity, but other than that, there's nothing more. While SnK focuses on discovering the truth, OnS focuses on the importance of family and friendship. Tl;dr, both anime are unique in their own ways and they're both fun, badass, and interesting. The story (8/10): The story isn't TOO original, but it does have its unique moments. In fact, I think that thestory's very entertaining and worth watching. Also, the anime's rather fast-paced. It's not one of those anime that linger on one story or place for, like, 3 episodes.
Romance DOES brew as the story develops, so anyone who is interested in romance, fantasy, and action would be interested in this anime.
The art (8/10):
The art for both the manga and anime are beautiful.
The characters (8/10):
1) There is a wide variety of characters. There's that revenge-driven protagonist, the kind and innocent one, the playful but sadistic(?) vampire, the mysterious and funny female character, and so on.
2) The anime takes time to develop each and every character, instead of focusing on just the protagonists.
3) I just wish that the girls were a bit stronger. But they are still pretty badass.
kouteiba
Before I go into the review, I would like to say something. Despite all the bad reviews claiming that this anime is a cliche, IT IS NOT! This show is great. The Story: 8 Likely followed by age-old horrors thought only to be myth, vampires emerged from the dark and took control, after the world had met it's end in 2012 by a man-made virus, exterminating mankind leaving only children under the age of thirteen untouched. This is the story of a 12-years old Yūichirō and his family from Hyakuya Orphanage who live under the protection of the vampires in exchange for donating their blood. Living likea livestock Yūichirō and his fellow friend Mikaela plotted to escape the vampire's rule, which ends in a terrible tragedy. Four years later, Yūichirō dedicates his life to destroy vampires and seek revenge against them for murdering his "family".
This is a story about revenge, friendship and sacrifice which you don't cross everyday.
The Art: 7
The character design was great and the colors were perfect, there's not much to say about the art except the animation was a bit lacking, specially the movement parts.
The Characters: 7
They were somewhat typical, the protagonist is a stubborn guy yet a person with a very good heart, who loves and cares about his friends.
Two small girls using big weapons and very strong, one of them is the typical blond two tailed tsundere. And other two male characters who make the Moon Demon battalion.
The Enjoyment: 9
Personally I enjoyed it so much, a story about revenge preceded by heart breaking tragedy, and the plot was perfect in so many ways, but mostly it gave me a true sense of intensity and peril.
In the end, even though the animation isn't the best and the characters personalities are somewhat typical, still this anime has so many good points that I'm sure if you give it a try you will love it.
KuroYume-96
What do we have? Vampires, an army and a stubborn boy out for revenge. Nothing too special - you have a lot of those anime which are focused on revenge or have an idiot as their protagonist However, it is hard to combine these elements and make something enjoyable out of it since they're so common. If you're not careful, it becomes boring and you'll give the watcher the feeling of deja vu This anime does a pretty good job at combining the aforementioned elements and making it enjoyable to watch (even with the idiotic protagonist) Please note, however, this season was more of a prologue - wewill get a 2nd one - and for a prologue anime this is quite a good job. In this way it is similar to the 1st season of Tokyo Ghoul; important stuff happens during the show, but the real trigger is pulled at the end of the anime. Be prepared that this ends in a cliffhanger!
It got me curious about what will happen next
~ STORY ~
On what seems a normal day, a mysterious virus occurs and kills every infected human over the age of 13. At the same time vampires appear and take the remaining children, including the children of the Hyakuya orphanage under 'their wing'. To the great dislike of our protagonist Yuuichiro Hyakuya, the children are used as livestock for the vampires.
One day, one of his siblings, Mikaela Hyakuya, convinces the orphans to escape from the vampires. Mikaela stole a map from a noble, which he's convinced will lead them to freedom. Unfortunately, this noble vampire, Ferid Bathory, was just fooling around with the children by letting Mikaela steal his map. Just before the children can make it to the outside world, Ferid kills the majority of the orphans, letting only Yuuichiro escape.
This event is basically what feeds Yuuichiro's hate for the vampires and his desire for revenge
After Yuuichiro's escape, he joins the army to pursue his goal.
I love the vampire genre, but it's really hard to find a good vampire anime/movie/book. There is a lot about these creatures, but the majority is just not worth watching (e.g. Fortune Arterial - seriously guys, that anime is boring)This one, however, I truly enjoyed watching.
My only problem with it was that it focused too much on the army. We see how Yuuichiro learns about both the vampire and human worlds, makes friends, gets a weapon, etc.
I myself am human, so I kinda have a pretty good idea about their feelings and struggles. I wish more time would've been dedicated to the vampires. Like what kind of classes are there besides the nobles, something about their lifestyle, etc. Unfortunately, those fascinating creatures don't get that much screen time if you compare it to that of the army.
~ ART ~
Simply beautiful; nice character design, nice action scenes, love the contrast between the vampire world and the human world
~ SOUND ~
The ost fitted in the scenes, however, I cannot say that there's a song I'll listen on its own
Nothing really stayed in my mind
But the music did spice up the scenes, so that's enough for me to give it a 7
~ CHARACTERS ~
Well, there certainly are a few character that spice up the show and are worth mentioning
Yuuichiro Hyakuya
As I said before, Yuu is kinda an idiot. He doesn't really think before acting; if it helps him to achieve his goal, he'll do it without thinking about the problems that'll occur afterwards. He gets punished (e.g. suspended from the army) and punched a lot by his superior for acting without thinking, which makes Yuu want to prove himself even more. Yuu is short tempered and not really good at getting along with people (especially after the incident with Ferid)
To be honest, Yuuichiro is nothing special - just your usual type of main character
Mikaela Hyakuya
Mikaela on the other hand, is more interesting. As a boy, Mika was kind - hearted and always smiling. He always saw the bright side of everything, even living in the vampire world. Mika wanted for his dear family to be happy and took all the burdens upon himself. However, after his escape - plan failed Mika changed drastically. He became 'dead inside'. His only purpose for living is now saving Yuuichiro from the hands of 'those filthy humans'.
Shinoa Hiiragi
Shinoa is appointed to supervise Yuu during his suspension from the army. Later on, she becomes his squad leader.
This character is quite amusing, though she isn't my favourite. Shinoa doesn't really show emotion at the beginning of the anime. She's always there with a smile. Shinoa's manner of talking is a bit 'fake'; she says things that she doesn't mean and she says them in an exaggerated way that people hear she's being sarcastic. This is what I liked about her.
The rest of the cast is quite the stereotype. Even though a lot of them spice up the show (like Ferid Bathory), they're not really worth mentioning here
~ OVERALL ~
this is an enjoyable show and a good example of a great vampire anime. If you like dark anime, you should watch it
karlstein12
Owari no Seraph is a perfect example of a misrepresentation of your survival-type and an abandoned scenario with a post-apocalyptic setting anime TV show. It has several inclusives from its similar brethren of the same genre. And quite sadly, the actual story it offers isn't a fascinating one either. Adding the fictional Vampire attribute to something fictional itself is something that is very common these days. Now add that as the characteristic that plays the role of an antagonist who is trying to take over the world from humans in an era where a mysterious virus is threatening to wipe out the human population ages abovethirteen, and what you get is Owari no Seraph in a nutshell. Yep, that is pretty much what this show has to offer as we follow the along the footsteps of Hyakuya Yuuichiro, the protagonist of the show who is an underage kid trying to escape from the Vampires but to no avail as he is soon captured and confined into a realm which is ruled completely by the Vampires themselves and treated as a mere live-stock among several other human kids. The starting of the show focuses on how Yu(What he's called as in most of the show) along with a few of his friends and his equivalent and best friend, Mikaela.
Yu is the focus point of this show and plays out as the main character as he successfully frees himself from Vampires and joins up the "Moon Demon Company" - a human organization trying to regain control of the world as it is and fight against the Vampires. Yu is depicted as a boy with quite a short temper and is easily enraged. This is quite evident as he repeatedly shows his hatred and aggression against the Vampires and tells how he'll annihilate them all and get revenge for what they have done for his family and friends. Despite this, Yu also shows compassion towards his family and seems to care a lot for them in order to never lose them again. This also helps him make new friends from the academy where aspiring students study and train hard to become a part of the Moon Demon Company and fight against the enemy. Shinoa Hiragi is one such character who's the sergeant and a squad leader of the Moon Demon Company and is sent to watch over his progresses and always follows him around.
Shinoa is a short pink-haired girl who is portrayed as quite a self-possessed character. She also likes making sarcastic remarks over Yu and is one of the better, enjoyable characters of the show. Yoichi is the first friend Yu gets in the academy and he is quite a frail and fragile boy. He also joins Shinoa and Yu as one of the Vampire Extermination Unit members under the Moon Demon Company, along with Kimizuki, quite a strong-willed and an eccentric character quite the polar opposite of Yu and Mitsuba, a yellow-haired girl who is a little more experienced than the others in the group and the one who is revealed later as the show progresses. Ichinose Guren is the head and the Lieutenant Colonel of the Moon Demon Company and the one who offers the five students a membership to join the Vampire Extermination Unit. He's also the one who rescues Yu after he escapes from the Vampires, and the one who sends Shinoa to watch over Yu. Next is Mikaela Hyakuya, who is probably one of the important characters in the show but at the same time very little's known about him compared to Yu. He's the childhood friend of Yu as they spend their time together even after getting captured by the enemy. Mikaela is quite a cool-headed boy and opposite to that of Yu. He also shows a lot of compassion towards Yu and his friends, and is shown to offer his blood to the Vampire leader in secret, in order to get him and his friends better meal to eat.
Now this may be on the spoiler side but it's inevitable as I can provide very little information about Mikaela without it.
Anyway, he gets killed towards the end of the first episode by Ferid, the leader of the Vampires while he tries with his friends to escape the place into the world outside. Yu is the only survivor who escapes after that but in the coming episodes it is revealed that Mika is still alive thanks to the blood of the Queen, Krul Tepes. He then later confronts Yu in the battlefield and still shows his compassion towards him despite being transformed into a vampire. He even refused to drink the blood from the humans, however he learns that the humans are manipulating Yu to release the demon inside him and to save him is the sole reason Mikaela continues living.
Honestly, the characters are anything too special but at the same time they aren't generic or boring either. Each of the person has its own characteristics and its depicted pretty well in this show which is a plus point for this show. Another plus point is without a doubt the sound aspect of Owari no Seraph. Both the opening and ending theme performed by the renowned Sawano Hiroyuki himself is a peculiarity of this show. Amalgamated with good voice acting which perfectly synchronizes and depicts the certain character, Owari no Seraph somehow manages to be a fun show.
That being said, Owari no Seraph still is nothing extraordinary. Even if it's still just the first cour of the show though and the mysteries of the Seraph of the End is yet to be revealed, Owari no Seraph falls flat with what it displays in twelve episodes which is too little. There are also quite a lot of inconsistencies in the pacing leading up to the battle which makes me wonder if the twelve episode slot fot the second season is maybe a little too less. Nevertheless, Owari no Seraph is a fun watch with some cool characters and great soundtracks. And even if that fails to please you, I'll just say simply watch it for Shinoa.
Kei_z
This is easily one of the most epic and enthralling anime's I've seen. Everything about this anime is on point. Amazing animation, AMAZING SOUNDTRACK (so much so that right from episode 1 I HAD to find the soundtrack music), And the story is very well done. I was captured from the first episode. By the end of episode 1 I was crying like a baby, and I never really get that emotionally drawn into an anime. Even with the tragedies and deaths of Attack on Titan I wasn't really feeling the emotion of the events. This anime builds up suspense well. The characters are verylikable and easy to get attached to. There are NO annoying characters! There's usually always a very annoying female character in animes who you hate are want to disappear but not in this. Every episode is action packed and suspenseful. No filler episodes. My only complaint is that I wish it were longer. Al though there are similarities between this animes plot and Attack on Titan, I find this anime to be much better.
Overall I give it a 10/10
honzoslav
This show doesn't fuck around. After Covid killed the entire adult population, a shadowy cabal of vampires emerged from the hollow earth, took over the world and enslaved the surviving children. These children are raised like cattle, because the vampires need to consume adrenochrome to prolong their unnatural life. Our hero and his family only barely get by because one of them serves as a plaything for a rich pedo. All of this happens in the first five minutes. The best way to sum it up would be with a quote by Jonathan Frakes "This story is based". As you can probably imagine by theend of the first episode, I was scared and fascinated in equal parts by the authors power level. Just what is he going to talk about next? Flat earth, Chinese organ markets or fucking Hyperborea were all equally possible after the first episode. Sadly, the show almost immediately turns into one of the most generic school shonen shows I have ever seen. I was beginning to lose hope, but then the vampires decided to no joke crush two civilian planes into a building. So I guess vampires did 9/11, you are of the hook George Bush. Sadly, after that, there was no Agartha and the show once again became boring.
KittyNom
Owari no Seraph was definitely one of the most hyped up anime this season, but it does have a reason to be like that. This is my own opinion, but I found this series very fun and exciting. [Story - 7] Now I admit the idea isn't... Creative. Boy seeking revenge for his family against vampires, sounds similar to Shingeki no Kyojin, no?(except it's titans) Hey, what can you do. As long as it's still enjoyable it's not that horrible. The thing that made this anime enjoyable was the anticipation of how things will unfold in the end. Will it go horribly or smoothly? That's the reasonmany enjoyed this series.
[Art - 8]
The art wasn't extravagant, but I believe it didn't need to be anything special. It was smooth and pleasing to the eye. Not much to say there.
[Sound - 9]
Now the opening was something I enjoyed A LOT. The opening itself gave the anime a huge hype, the song just makes you all pumped up and want to sing along!(Also can we just talk about the freaking Universal logo thing at the beginning of each episode?) Now for the rest of the anime, I believe, that the sound played quite a large role. It got you pumped up when something was about to happen and also made you tear up at times because of something horrible happening. This is what music in anime is supposed to do, pull on your heart strings. And so, I myself think that the sound in Owari no Seraph did indeed have that. Of course it wasn't so good as to give a 10, that's reserved for Clannad.
[Character - 9]
I loved the characters in this. They were all unique in their own way and I can't say I hated any of them (Except maybe Shinoa because gurl, know when to stop). They all had their views and I'm glad we got decent backstory on at least Yuu's friends. I'll expect to find out more from Guren next season because he's the one I'm interested in the most, and maybe we'll even get some backstory from the other generals as well.
[Enjoyment - 10]
Now I, for one, found this anime extremely enjoyable. Sure it's not perfect, it has it's flaws but those flaws didn't affect the enjoyment, which is good. Every week I was pumped up to watch the new episode and see what happens next, it made me cry and also happy and too excited than I should have been lol. Anticipation for the next episode is already a sign that the anime is going to be good.
[Overall - 9]
Now I would definitely suggest someone to watch this anime. If you like shounen/vampire anime then this definitely is for you. For me the first episode already got me, but if the first episode isn't convincing then watch the first three. The first three should be enough for you to decide whether to continue watching it or not.
2LongDidntReview
Some spoilers may exist. Story 6: It seems to be one of the few typical shounen plots. World is destroyed, and, for some reason, children are the only ones that live (under 13). Protagonist conveniently manages to escape from his prison-like place. He's conveniently found by a strong organisation which then he manages to easily join because of innate protagonist buffs (he never actually does any training). Art 8: It's actually pretty decent. The backdrops are nice and the character design is pretty decent. But for w/e reason, Hiiragi Shinoa just seems inconsistent with her quality despite being a main character. (ep5 10:03 - 10:06) She looks like she'slagging away.
Sound 7:
The voice acting sounds really FKN forced. I'm a die-hard subber, but even so, the voice acting for pretty much everyone (except Guren and some side-characters) sound very forced and amateurish. There are occassion delays between characters talking and reacting to each other's speech which makes it seem forced and disingenuous. Yu sometimes yells with a suppressed kind of tone while Shinoa's speech sometimes does not match her expression.
Next, the BGM and music. The OP is quite nice, I enjoyed both the sequence and the song. The ED is exceptional, it was very well done with the contrast between light and shadows and the song was very memorable. If I would rate the music alone, I'd give it an 8, the OP and ED were very good, but the BGM was unmemorable, unlike AoT, which was also composed by the same composer.
Character 3:
What I hate the most about this series. Yu is the typical brat that's yelling/rebelling while also failing in his studies yet amazingly has all the skills necessary to further the plot without any actual development (training). He thinks he's all amazing and actually manages to pull impossible/unlikely things off (defeating a demon bare knowledge of even what they are by basically saying 'no'). Essentially it's like watching a slapstick comedy without the comedy, and with the plot advancing just because it can.
Yoichi's existence is questionable. At one point he gets taken over by a demon and was considered a target to be executed. However, because Yuu decides to save him, he mentions the nonsense about being friends and stands still as Yoichi aims an arrow at him because 'faith'. But because plot armor > logic, Yoichi misses and is saved because of the magical power of 'friendship'.
Kimizuki's existence is questionable as well, since he doesn't really contribute to the character development of anyone nor does he contribute to the story (for now). But at the very least, his survival is at least acceptable.
After finishing the first arc, Guren's character has become a bit more interesting, since he's not longer just the 'mentor' kind of guy. Now we see a darker side and possibly a desperate side. He's probably the strongest character out of all of them, so far.
The girls are kind of there just to yell/harass Yuu.
Enjoyment 7:
The music was great, the art was decent (most of the time), but what really put this whole series down were the characters. Hell, this series probably would've been a lot more interesting if we were watching it from Guren's point of view.
Overall 6:
It's not unwatchable thanks to the more interesting main characters (Guren, Mikaela). The OP/ED is so good that I never end up skipping them.
Tendon_Unajuu
Okay. I'll just say it. My favorite thing in Owari no Seraph was Shinoa. She was what kept me watching this show. For the sake of easy reading, I'll try to make things simple: Story - Post-apocalyptic setting, vampires vs. humans, a story of human resistance against more powerful vampires. Art - Okay, watchable. The animation was generally fine, but still not top-notch. Sound - Sound? What sound? Nothing too outstanding here. Just normal sounds and music. It neither bothered nor impressed me. Character - We have the MC+kids using some demonic weapons to fight vampires. There are some character bonding and developing moments, but not enough. One canstill feel difficult trying to concentrate getting into the relationships of the MC+others.
We still have another cour coming in the future, so the developments are not finished, but I still feel there are too many secrets in the show that prevent viewers to fully sympathize with the characters.
One good point here is Shinoa, my favorite character in the show. She's cute, cheeky, she's got nice purple hair, half-shut eyes, quirky personality. With the MC being quite a generic character, I feel that Shinoa is the the main personality that drives the show. She is cheeky and clever, and is real fun to watch her interact with others, usually outwitting them. Shinoa is also serious when needed (she's the leader of her unit after all), and funny just when the audience is thirsty for something refreshing when watching a drawn-out episode.
Moreover, Hayami Saori's acting here was something new for me when compared to her previous voices. It wasn't her usual dead-pan, serious character, but something more subtly and condescendingly bouncy and cheerful. Anyways, it was quite refreshing to the ear, and was a treat to watch.
Enjoyment - Okay. I don't know whether I completely enjoyed watching this. However, I enjoyed it to an extent - to the extent where I felt that this was a show I could watch without being too tense about the general story and flow of things.
Overall - Yep. Quite average so far. I think you can watch this in a rather relaxed manner. This show was nothing too creative to begin with, and everything is straight forward so far. Therefore, if you have some spare time, I think you should go watch this before the second cour comes out --- or just watch for Shinoa's sake.....
Honestly, I don't think it is fair to mark the show with a permanent grade, because it is technically not finished yet. However, for me, a good show. whether or not it has a second cour coming soon, always has good character+story developments and closure. On these aspects, I believe Owari no Seraph's first cour ended without having fulfilling them.
BossGeese
If you have seen Attack on Titan, there is no reason to watch this. Within 10 seconds of the start of the show the apocalypse happens and vampires come to gather the survivors who are only children. Our main character begins as an almost copy paste of Eren Jaeger, who is an orphan who is being held captive in a vampire camp. The only thing he wants to do is get his orphan family out of there and kill all of the vampires. The story is a pretty generic and lacking in any sort of originality, it is like a Frankenstein'sMonster of Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online and some other stupidly popular show that is pretty generic. The art is the hardest part to rate because the only thing that really ever looks nice are the backgrounds because they are painted and just sit there as a jpeg. The animation isn't noteworthy, just average. The music is nothing to write home about, has your classic "hardly noticeable background music", your "we are fighting now", and "attempted philosophical score for our 10 minutes of exposition". The characters are all bland and generic other than one. Your main character is a brooding teenager who lost something dear to him, your cowardly and timid barely even classified as a boy, your stuck up generic rival to the MC who will end up his friend, your tsundere who thinks she knows everything when she actually knows nothing, then the one good character who is the playful, joking person that actually has some power. If you were hoping for character development, you will not find any here. There is very little enjoyment that can be found in this show.
clarinsun
Owari no Seraph has everything that I love about anime in it. Tough, extremely loyal, and ferociously attractive characters. A kinetic plot with a plot twist combo. Dramatic irony. A heart-wrenching, "pound-your-fist-on-your-chest-until-the-freaking-feels-go-away" effect. And, of course, the first episode that hits you so hard that you just can't close your mouth. I love an anime with lots of loyalty in it, and Owari no Seraph would be one of my favorites, and ranks high on my list with 07-Ghost. It has an appeal to both male and female audiences: male-shounen and action, female- vampires, a hint of yaoi. It is most like 07 Ghost in that the two main malecharacters would easily, without hesitation, give up their lives for each other, and have a bond that is deeper than just a superficial friendship, and perhaps that is why I liked it so much. If you want dynamic characters that grow throughout the series, plot twists, and a whole bunch of action, then I would definitely recommend this series.
The reason that it only earns a 9 is that its soundtrack is not dynamic. Of course, it got me to cry and ache during the sad portions, which is superb, but sometimes, the soundtrack was a little bit off, especially in scenes where it wasn't exactly an intense scene.
The voice actors were perfect and well selected. I applaud them for all of the screaming scenes. Especially for Yu-san.
All in all, the pacing was fantastic, and it more than satisfied my cravings.
Please release the next series before it's too late and I'm tempted to just freaking read the manga!
313_Archer
The definition of average, Owari no Serpah tosses together shounen tropes in a rather predictable but still worth watching anime. Note: I have not read the manga but have heard various complaints about the anime from those who have. I’d love to hear any thoughts from manga fans! This review is (relatively) spoiler free! :D Characters: 5/10 With the exception of Mikaela and (somewhat) Shinoa, the characters scream standard. The cast is not fantastic or horrible, just typical. Many shounen start with stock characters that slowly grow into something more, but Owari no Seraph’s first season ended before that happened. Twelve episodes did not give therather large cast time to develop unique personalities.
So, if you love shounen characters, you’ll love these guys. I, personally, found them difficult to connect with, slightly irritating, and predictable.
That being said, I loved one character enough to give the show 6/10 instead of 5/10 and enjoyed two other characters.
(here comes the slight spoiler territory, though nothing specific)
I watched the anime because of Mikaela Hyakuya or “Mika”. To me, Mika is a “square peg in a round hole”. Mika might have become a Orihime Inoue, Allen Walker, or Oz Vessallius, a character who loathes to kill, determinedly cares for everyone, will defend their loved ones (and sometimes strangers or even enemies) till death, and desires to see the best in everyone. Sadly for Mika but interestingly for viewers, he is never afforded the luxury of such high ideals, though I'm he wishes he did (on a side note, I adore Oz, Orihime, and Allen). Instead, Mika finds himself in a role typically given to females—essentially, he “whores” his blood out to help feed his family—and later to anti-heroes—he fights on the wrong side but with a good reason and a damaged past. Thus, Mika is put in situations I haven’t seen too often for his base personality type, which makes him the most unique aspect of the show.
Shinoa and Guren also interest me. Shinoa falls into some of the stereotypical tropes of a shounen’s female lead, but I found her to be the anime’s second most interesting character. Guren has potential as well. At first, he comes across as nothing more than a lazy bully, but, as the story keeps going, his character does some interesting things that make me curious to see more.
Story: 5/10
Again—very shounen. The story is so incredibly typical I predicted everything that happened between episodes 2-9 without a hitch, and nothing in the others surprised me. While I am fairly savvy at “seeing things coming”, it was easy to see where this formulaic anime would go.
The anime spends at least half its episodes on “training”, which are always highly predictable. The rest are spent on backstory (one episode), wrap up (yes, this twelve episode anime dedicated an entire episode to wrap up), and about four-ish episodes follow a battle, which happens without much build up. Both sides just decide, “Yes, we shall battle here because!”. The “reason” felt more like a plot-forced excuse to me.
I feel the story starts to gain momentum at the tail end of this battle. The plot finally seems to find a direction besides “training to get revenge”. Personally, I would’ve started the story at episode eleven. Because of this (also because of Mika), I will watch season two. I may end up recommending that people watch episode one and eleven (maybe two and ten too) and then jump to season two. The rest is so typical you don’t really need it.
In fact, the plot has a whole is not well explained. I have no real idea about the parameters of the world, why the vampire decided to take over it, why Mika and Yuu are special, and so on. I hope season two will answer some of these questions.
The show falls into the potholes of many shounen. For instance, our vengeful protagonist consistently makes poor choices that the plot ends up bending over backwards and defying logic to reward him for. Charging into the battle and throwing plans into the wind somehow ends up being the right choice. He also has random powers, and all the girls fall in love with him.
Last problem: I do not find the vampires scary. Characters keep mentioning how powerful their bloodsucking opponents are, and yet newbies fresh on the field have no problem killing them with each swing of their various weapons. I understand it has something to do with the class of weaponry, but it’s poorly explained. I don’t really care that the vampires are easy to kill, but every time a character mentions how dangerous they are, I just laughed.
Art (and cinematography in general): 7/10
Fairly well done, the weaponry animation is especially interesting and visually appealing.The fighting is fast and exciting too.
(angles)
Could have been better. Really, the choice of when to cut from a scene and jump to another character’s point of view often jarred me. The transitions seemed abrupt and threw me out of the story for a moment.
(intro/outro)
The intro doesn’t really tell much of a story, but it fits the tone well and does capture the anime’s tone. The outro is a series of well-drawn pictures, a wise choice considering how many characters there are.
Female Representation: 5/10
The females are everything you expect in a standard shounen. The girls have a slightly moe appeal and run around battling in short skirts and falling for the male lead. I will never understand why fighting in a skirt is a good decision, but I do understand that some males enjoy watching that and that this show is, in fact, targeted towards males. I, however, just find it amusing and illogical.
Anyways, both of the females are touted as amazing warriors and are in charge of three males, but, per usual, the males prove to be “naturals” and surpass the girls' combat level during the first battle and often rescue their supposed superiors.
I wasn’t really offended or impressed. Like many things about this anime, it was average (hence the five).
Overall: 6/10
Without Mika, I would give this anime a 5/10. It’s a highly normal anime that will bore people sick of shounen but entertain those who love shounen or just want to kickback and watch a typical anime. Only 12 episodes long, it’s not much of an investment. I plan to watch the next season and believe it can easily surpass the first.
Now, to address the Attack on Titan accusations . . .
I have read/heard several times that Owari no Seraph is “ripping off” AoT. I disagree. AoT likes to use shounen tropes to set up the audiences’ expectations so it can smash them. And calling Owari no Seraph similar to AoT simply because both feature vengeful protagonists who live in a dystopian world where humanity is at the bottom of the food chain sounds as silly to me as calling every story that has a magic school a rip off of Harry Potter. Of course, I haven’t read the manga. So it is possible Owari no Seraph pulls more from AoT than I currently know from just watching season one of the anime.
I personally feel like Owari no Seraph’s mangaka was a big fan of Ao No Exorcist. The art styles are highly similar (especially the clothing styles, just look at Mephisto’s outfit). Both feature a close brother relationship (Rin and Yukio and Mika and Yuu). Shiemi and Yuuichirou share similar personalities. Shihou acts like Bon but looks like Shima. And then Mito looks like Shura. Both worlds feature many types of supernatural forces as well. But I won’t hold that against Owari no Seraph, as I enjoy Ao no Exorcist and don’t mind things borrowing ideas from it.
Anyways, if I failed to cover something you're curious or worried about, let me know! I'd be happy to answer them for you!
Pearlonthesea
The reviews on here tend to lead towards the negative side, everyone has a different taste so my recommendation would be to give this anime a go. Many people have criticised this anime carrying similar elements from Attack on titan however this was the one reason I was motivated to watch it since I was trying to find a similar themed anime. When I first watched this, after 6 episodes in, I didn't want to continue on. The plot was somewhat repetitive; my annoyance was growing but that is probably since I have no patience. None the less, I finished it and I am so gladthat I did.
The plot suddenly bloomed and there were more questions arising inside me now. This was just the kind of feeling I needed: curiosity. Suddenly the anime itself seemed unique with the vampire, demons vibe more prominent and less of the humanity on brink of extinction.
Try it, I dare you. If you are a girl you might just fall in love with all the characters but that doesn't stop the vampire loving fanboys too! It breaks from conventional topics after a while and complete itself in a unique identifiable way.
MessyIndiana
Note: This is my first ever review so keep that in mind while reading I decided to review this anime because I had no idea why people are giving this anime bad reviews! I thoroughly enjoyed it and was excited to see the next episode weekly. Yes the story line has been done before, but it was done RIGHT. I have seen plenty of anime, and this one is the first vampire anime I actually enjoyed. There is a character for each persons taste (Mine is Shinoa) and it's easy to fall in love with certain characters. The animation was fantastic! I enjoyed watching the fight scenes asit was fluid and easy to watch. I loved the art style as well, very grim and dark just like a real apocalypse would be.
The only thing I noticed that bugged me was the sound, sometimes it had moments where it could have had sound effects such as the odd footstep or shirt ruffle.
If I had the chance to see it again with new eyes (and it had finished airing) I would have watched it in one night.
Thanks for reading... I know it wasn't long but hey! I am sure most people want to find something to watch quickly rather then read a massive review just to decide yes or no >.
