Seraph of the End

Seraph of the End (Japanese: 終わりのセラフ, Hepburn: Owari no Serafu) (also known as Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign) is a Japanese dark fantasy manga series written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto with storyboards by Daisuke Furuya. It is published by Shueisha on Jump SQ and in English by Viz Media on Weekly Shonen Jump. The series is set in a world that allegedly comes to an end at the hands of a "human-made" virus, ravaging the global populace and leaving only children under the age of thirteen untouched. It is at this time that vampires emerge from the recesses of the earth, likely followed by age-old horrors of the dark thought only to be myth. A young man named Yūichirō Hyakuya joins a vampire extermination unit to avenge the deaths of his orphaned family and reclaim his best friend Mikaela Hyakuya from the vampires. An anime adaptation by Wit Studio was announced on August 28, 2014. The first part of the anime premiered in Japan on April 4, 2015 and ended on June 20, 2015. The second part of the anime began on October 10, 2015 and finished on December 26, 2015. A series of light novels focused on Yu's superior, Guren Ichinose, has been written by Kagami and illustrated by Yamamoto.

Plot

In 2012, the world allegedly comes to an end at the hands of a "human-made" virus, ravaging the global populace and leaving only children under the age of thirteen untouched. It is at this time that vampires emerge from the recesses of the earth, likely followed by age-old horrors of the dark thought only to be myth. The vampires sweep the earth and claim it in a single violent stroke, subjugating the remnants of humanity and leading them beneath the surface to safety. This "protection" comes at the price of donating blood to their captors. At the age of twelve, Yūichirō and his friend and fellow orphan Mikaela plotted to escape along with the children in Hyakuya Orphanage. However, this resulted in their deaths and Mikaela sacrifices himself in order for Yūichirō to escape and be saved by members of the Moon Demon Company, an extermination unit of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. Four years later, Yūichirō dedicates his life to destroy vampires and seek revenge against them for murdering his "family." At the same time, it is revealed that Mikaela is still alive and is a vampire that Yūichirō has sworn to exterminate.

Media

Manga

Seraph of the End has been serialized by Shueisha in its Japanese monthly shōnen manga magazine Jump SQ since September 3, 2012. On October 7, 2013, Viz Media announced that it has licensed for North American release and added the series to its manga to its lineup of the company's Weekly Shonen Jump digital magazine.^[1]

A voice comic (vomic) was also produced and published by Shueisha and its first episode was featured by Sakiyomi Jum-Bang! on February 1, 2013.^[2]

A spin-off gag manga to commemorate the anime adaptation titled Serapetit!〜Seraph of the End four-frame manga〜 (せらぷち!〜終わりのセラフ４コマ編〜, Serapuchi!〜 Owari no Serafu 4-koma-hen 〜) has been serialized by Shueisha in Jump SQ since April 2015 after being serialized in 17th and 18th volumes of Jump SQ.19. It also has been published on the Seraph of the End official website.^[3]

A manga adapting the Guren Ichinose light novel series has been announced and will run in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Magazine starting July 6.^[4]

Light novels

Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen (終わりのセラフ 一瀬グレン、16歳の破滅, Owari no Seraph - Ichinose Guren, 16-sai no Hametsu) is a prequel focusing on Guren Ichinose as the main protagonist, detailing the series of events that occurred nine years before the start of the manga. Written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto, it currently consists of six volumes and has been published by Kodansha since January 2013. On February 15, 2015, Vertical announced that it has licensed the light novels for North American release and will be releasing it in an omnibus with two volumes per omnibus in January 2016.^[5][6][7] A drama CD was released on October 30, 2015 bundled with volume 6 of the light novel and is written by Takaya Kagami.^[8]

On May 1, 2017, it was announced that the novels will receive a manga adaptation that will be serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine starting on June 6. The manga adaptation will be drawn by Yō Azami.^[9]

A new light novel series about Mikaela's story and the origin of vampire titled Seraph of the End: The Story of Vampire Mikaela (終わりのセラフ　吸血鬼ミカエラの物語, Owari no Seraph: Kyūketsuki Mikaela no Monogatari) began publication by Shueisha on December 4, 2015. The story is written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto.^[19]

Anime

An anime adaptation was announced on August 28, 2014, and premiered on April 4, 2015, which consists of a total of 24 episodes. It is produced by Wit Studio, directed by Daisuke Tokudo, and screenplayed solely by Hiroshi Seko.^[21] Additionally, the original manga's writer, Takaya Kagami, is personally drafting the original story for episodes with material not yet serialized in the manga and supervising the scripts until the anime's final episode.^[22] On December 12, 2014, it was announced the series would be split in two parts (quarters of the year). The first half (12 episodes) would air in 2015 from April to June and the second half (12 episodes) from October to December.^[23] The series premiered on Tokyo MX, MBS, TV Aichi, and BS11 at their respective time slots. NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan will be releasing the first 12 episodes on Blu-ray and DVD formats in Japan starting on June 24, 2015 across four volumes. A six minutes omake anime specials adapted from the omake featured in the original manga, included in each Blu-ray/DVD volume titled Seraph of the Endless (終わらないセラフ, Owaranai Serafu).^[24] On March 31, 2015, it was announced that Funimation has licensed the series for streaming and home video release in North America.^[25] Hulu will also be streaming the series. On May 13, 2015, Funimation announced that the English broadcast dub will stream every Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. EDT on its "Dubble Talk" streaming block.^[26][27]

An OAD bundled with volume 11 of the original manga titled Seraph of the End: Vampire Shahal (終わりのセラフ 吸血鬼シャハル, Owari no Serafu: Kyūketsuki Shaharu) was released on May 2, 2016. It was first screened at the Jump Special Anime Festa 2015 event on November 2015. ^[28]

Hiroyuki Sawano produced and co-composed the music, as well as the opening and ending themes, "X.U." and "scaPEGoat", respectively, with Takafumi Wada, Asami Tachibana, and Megumi Shiraishi. As part of Sawano's vocal song project "SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]", for the first 12 episodes, the opening song is performed by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Gemie, while the ending song is performed by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Yosh. Both themes were released in Japan on a CD on May 20, 2015.^[29]

Video games

A PlayStation Vita strategy game, titled Owari no Seraph: Unmei no Hajimari (終わりのセラフ 運命の始まり), was released by Bandai Namco Games on December 17, 2015.^[30]

Bandai Namco Games also released a smartphone game titled Seraph of the End: Bloody Blades (終わりのセラフ BLOODY BLADES, Owari no Seraph: Bloody Blades) on September 28, 2015.^[31]

Reception

Volume 1 reached the 24th place on the Japanese weekly manga chart,^[32] and, as of 13 January 2013, has sold 62,434 copies.^[33] It also reached the 3rd place on the New York Times manga bestseller chart.^[34] Volume 2 reached the 15th place on the weekly manga chart,^[35] and, as of 12 May 2013, has sold 91,095 copies.^[36] Volume 3 reached the 9th place^[37] and, as of 15 September 2013, has sold 121,235 copies.^[38] Volume 4 also reached the 9th place on the chart,^[39] and, as of 19 January 2014, has sold 160,444 copies.^[40] Volume 5 also reached the 9th place,^[41] and has sold, as of 11 May 2014, 155,139 copies.^[42] In 2015, the series sold 2.8 million copies.^[43] As of May 2017, the manga had 7 million copies in print. ^[44]

On Anime News Network, Rebecca Silverman gave volume 1 an overall grade of B+.^[45]

References

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Official manga website (in Japanese)
• Official anime website (in Japanese)
• Seraph of the End (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia