(L) Owari no Seraph

[zztop]

Originally Posted by Mira16

How can anyone tell that this is cheap?

* How hard it is to hand made draw an background with this degree and details
* How much did they all have to consume for all those paint materials for it.
* The time they consume to draw all of this in each scenes.

Wow, that's beautiful.

To fully appreciate Seraph, you have to read its light novel prequel. It contains the majority of the worldbuilding, and better explanation of the backgrounds of the various factions involved.

[Kurohane]

This series really has tons of "humans are the real b*stards" trope. Well, that doesn't mean, I'll jump on the vampire bandwagon, because they aren't that better. The MC is a childish soldier, who's very much green. Yep, it seems it's gonna take plenty of patience before I start getting into this series.

Don't like how humanity is getting generalized as one huge evil, out of the actions of a few, but it's usually like that. I won't try to sugarcoat things. We are capable of the most atrocious acts possible. We can be anything after all. However, because of that, we're also capable of the most selfless acts possible. We can be anything after all.

Originally Posted by Chiibi

*faithful YuuxShino fangirl*

............you know, to balance out the fujoshi.

Same here, comrade!

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

If he had choices, maybe he could change his mind and defect. If he doesn't, all he can be is an enemy.



It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that Guren is an asshole, and it doesn't matter that Mika doesn't directly participate in the killing of innocents. He is working for the vampires, if for no other reason than he's one. He fights and kill for their sake. Guren, OTOH, fights against them.

Lines have been drawn. Letting Yu believe he can have his cake and eat it too isn't doing him a favor. Siding with Mika, even if it's just so they can both desert, would be betraying of humanity. Maybe that's the choice he wants to make, but I don't think so. And even if it is, he has to confront that decision.

Why do people think Guren is an a**hole? Does anyone really believe he has any ill intentions? He's accepted being in an tough position that sometimes requires him to be unlikeable. However, in order to make waves in a society that's ruled by the selected few, it's not a simple matter of "defeating the bad guy". This is not that kind of manga. You have to make plans, and shoulder tough choices, willing to dirty your own hands.

Originally Posted by Irenesharda

The lines are really Yu and those who are with him and everybody else. This series is really a shounen, and because Yu is the MC of a shounen series, I think both you and I know, that he will both have his cake, eat it, and then give cake to all him posse, which would include Mika.

Tell that to Eren of AOT, and Gon of HunterxHunter. Just because this is shonen doesn't guarantee the protagonist will automatically succeed. There's the trope failure hero for a reason.

[DragoonKain3]

Wow, 3k DVD vs 2.75k BD sales. I guess the fujoshis really saved this from being just a borderline financially successful show.

[Guido]

At this season, since over a decade, I rewatch shows suitable for the Halloween season. This year I picked-up Owari no Seraph to watch it again. However, I do apologize beforehand due to plan on reviewing the entire show.

You see what happened was that way back at Spring I got carried away by overt laziness going into a season of hiatus, and, hence, stopped watching series I picked-up, including Owari no Seraph.

If I do recall, the most I got far into the series was episode 5, and after that I went on a hiatus with this show. Therefore, this proves a good chance for me to watch it again and to resume where I left off so as to properly conclude it.

Moreover, I do not intend to start season two, until I'm not with season one first.


Humanity After The Fall
I'm reusing this thread so as to avoid multiple posts on the same discussion for the Owari no Seraph episodes that I'm rewatching.

The second episode raised so many questions regarding the true state of humanity's condition after the virus swept most of the worldwide population, as well as intriguing nuances of why the Moon Demon Company or their higherups keep vampires confined inside the operations centers. I mean just look at the runaway vampire that broke free from her confinements and was inches away of sucking dry a poor maiden. Had the vampire succeeded at regaining her strength, she would have made mincemeat out of Hyakuya and everybody else.

BTW, how do the surviving humans protect their settlements from ever being constantly infiltrated by vampires, since I want to know. For example, humanity in Shingeki no Kyojin built the titanic walls to protect themselves from the Titan onslaught settling their population inside. Then, we have humanity preserving their cities and civilizations inside giant monolith structures made out of varanium in Black Bullet to counter the ever looming threat of the Gastrea monsters roaming outside. Hope this gets addressed real soon in Seraph.

Finally, I get that the Moon Demon Company operates as pack hunters so making trusting friends is a must and need to keep all alive with every mission and scouting. It's understandable that Hyakuya cannot put the past behind so I think that him coping with his reluctance to make friendship will serve as a device in order for him to grow-up as a character and confronting his inner demons.


The Demon within Your Heart
Yuu's exploits at school continue on, delving on the theme about Infernal Arms.

I have the premonition that Yuu's sheer display of willpower will come in handy for a later episode, since I assume it's an extremely rare sight for a human to drive off a demon possessing him or her through simple willpower. Yuu's had lost too much that a demon won't be enough to put him to death and devour his heart.

What we have also hear is the introduction of Infernal Weapons, which forming a contract with a Demon is a must requirement, and yet training is essential as well for one at the Demon Moon Company to have the heart steeled enough, so as not to be devoured by the demon while accessing its power via the weapon.

Bonds and friendship are important pieces so that the wielders wont' lose their humanity.

Overall, an average episode since the music doesn't fit at all with the mood and atmosphere for this show. In fact, the last episodes I've been watching are lacking in both drama and build-up for a suspense climax.

Right now, only Shinoa with her sarcastic humor and penchant to tease others constantly win my heart. That, and also the focus has shifted to Mikaela for your later having survived by being turned into a vampire.


Vampire Mikaela
If there's any complaint I have for this show is that the pacing goes quick without letting the needed build-up of suspense and/or drama to deliver catharsis on the audience for those scenes that require emotional impact.

For example, Yuu literally beats sense onto Kimizuki in order for the latter to make realize he must visit his ailing sister, and by the end of the episode they have come to amicable terms with each other, recalling right at the beginning of this episode they were against each others' throats beforehand.

I believe it would've been necessary not to lift the strain between those two fellas in order to develop their friendship for future episodes.

Now, for the second part, we now know how Mika turned into a vampire having been force fed the blood of the Queen herself, Krul. BTW, she's voiced by none other thatn Aoi Yuuki. And, her voice role credits go back to Tachibana Hibiki from the Symphogear series, Victorique de Blois from the Gosick series, and, of course, another loli-vampire Queen related by family name only, Mina Tepes from Dance in the Vampire Bund.


Contract with the Black Demon
The preview for the next episode continues on from the ceremony's initiation started in this fifth episode. The boys that steeled their hearts and made up their minds picked-up the accursed weapons.

Any hesitation would prove fatal, and Yoichi, unfortunately, is going to fall victim to the demons' temptations.

On another note, the Hiragi family pulls all the strings behind the Demon Moon Company, and makes to ponder how much they control the remnants of whole Japan from behind the shadows?, and how much they know or got a hand with the Vampires and the virus?

This was the last episode I saw for the series before my lazy hiatus around five months prior.


A New Family
Episode sixth bring closure to the show's first arc, and yet packed cathartic, emotional power that made me feel for the characters, particularly Yoichi.

Dwelling and going around circles in past memories helps no one to go further. The demons capitalize on those regrets in order to mentally break down the boys, and Yoichi for most of the episode seemed to be lost for good. Nevertheless, when we're at the bottom of the pit and feel like no one's ever coming we still can count on people to look at us as friends.

Yuu refused to spill Yoichi's blood while the latter was possessed, and engaged him as a friend. It was until Guren's further remarks on Yoichi not to be afraid hiding under the bed, that Yoichi reacted and willed himself to get out of the dark into the light with his friends.

Looking forward to the future with a new family and do everything with your might to protect friends and family alike, boys.

You're now graduated with Infernal Arms and ready to go braving the front lines against vampires.

Yuu, one last note, heed Asuramaru's warning; that humans have already took out a bit of your own humanity for their experiments, since likely the people running the Demon Moon Company are not generous at tall. Nevertheless, the same can be said of the vampires.

The much awaited reunion between Mika and Yuu is right around the corner, and I won't miss it.

[Guido]

The graduates sent to the battlefield in their first team mission.

Honestly, I like Mitsuba as her personality quite fits in complimenting Shinoa's wily, cynicism.

I'm a little complaining on pretty much revealing in the same episode the source of Mitsubas' issues against Yuu's brash attitude, stemming that she sees her younger, amateur self in Yuu while in combat. Bold, rash, reckless, such attitudes that almost led her squad to death in the past.

Still, I have my reservations on this show since the pacing comes quick when it comes at situations such as the characters under crossfire attack or interacting. To summarize, the show should slow down in order to let flow of the moment build-up for suspense and catharsis so as deliver a dramatic punch.


Dawn of Extermination
The eighth episode made me both thrilled and excited due that I got to see cathartic action and drama.

In a lot of ways, this episode subverts Yuus' expectations and aspirations by having nature to teach him the lesson the hard way. Power alone amounts to nothing, if you do not have the brains, the skills, and needed teamwork to pull through.

The first part of the episode Shinoa team manages to score a victory against the vampires freeing the captive humans at Otomesando Station. Nevertheless, during the second half once the team reaches the limits at Shinjuku ward they are confronted against a high-ranking, noble Vampire that just toyed with them.
The power gap became overwhelming even if all team members went full mode with their Black Series, Infernal Arms.

And, adding more insult to the injury, the noble just lets them go unharmed while still exerting a little manifestation of his abilities.

Frustration is what Yuu feels after being left humiliated and alive by such powerful foe, and, yet Shinoa compliments for his actions that may have save the lives of the rest of the team members.

There's so much that Yuu needs to realize and to learn in the battlefield; learning and experience are important assets not to be missing for future fights, if all team members may survive the Battle at Shinjuku.


Vampire Onslaught
I do get Krul's motivation at offering and tempting Mika with her blood, a figurative form at having offered an apple and Mika succumbing to curiosity, or in this case the hunger, and taking a bite out of the forbidden fruit.

Would the same apply to Shinoa offering the same temptation for easy power to Yuu? I guess this episode dealt more on choices regarding Yuu and Mika, exploring each lad's approach at handling them.

Jeez, those five already thrown into the heat of a war, and Mika's now just too close to Yuu, and, yet, he's facing off next Guren in the battlefield.

[Mad Pierrot]

Hi, I've been catching up with the manga before jumping up here. When do new chapters appear?