Servamp

Servamp
Cover of English Servamp volume one.
SERVAMP -サーヴァンプ- (Sāvanpu)
Genre	Supernatural
Manga
Written by	Strike Tanaka
Published by	Media Factory
English publisher	NA Seven Seas Entertainment
Demographic	Shōjo
Magazine	Monthly Comic Gene
Original run	April 2011 – present
Volumes	10
Anime television series
Directed by	Itto Sara (chief director) Hideaki Nakano
Written by	Kenji Konuta
Music by	Kenji Kawai
Studio	Brain's Base Platinum Vision
Licensed by	NA Funimation
Original network	AT-X, Tokyo MX, SUN, Mētele, BS Nittele
English network	SEA Animax Asia
Original run	July 5, 2016 – September 20, 2016
Episodes	12

Servamp (Japanese: SERVAMP -サーヴァンプ-, Hepburn: Sāvanpu) is a Japanese manga series by Strike Tanaka, serialized in Media Factory's shōjo manga magazine Monthly Comic Gene since 2011. It has been collected into eleven tankōbon volumes. The series is licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. An anime television adaptation began airing on July 5, 2016 and concluded on September 20, 2016 with 12 episodes.^[1][2]

Plot

Mahiru Shirota is a normal high school student who likes simple things. One day, on his way back home, he finds a black cat and decides to take care of it, naming it Kuro. The next day, however, he is surprised to find out that the black cat is in fact one of the seven vampires that represent the Seven Deadly Sins. His name is Sleepy Ash, he represents Sloth, and he turns into a cat when exposed to sunlight. By giving Sleepy Ash a name and a cat bell, and then calling him by his given name, Mahiru accidentally forms a temporary contract with him. The contract is finalized once Sleepy Ash drinks his blood, making him Mahiru's vampire servant known as "Servamp" and Mahiru becomes his master called "Eve". Following this, Mahiru and Sleepy Ash, now Kuro, encounter Tsubaki, a vampire who claims to be the Servamp of Melancholy and the unknown eighth brother of the other Servamps. Tsubaki intends to wage an all-out war against his seven brothers, while Mahiru decides to gather them to fight against Tsubaki and his group together.

Characters

Eves

Mahiru Shirota (城田真昼, Shirota Mahiru)

Voiced by: Takuma Terashima (drama CD, anime)^[3] (Japanese); Clifford Chapin^[4] (English)

He's a freshman High School student who lost his mother to an accident at a young age. Having no father to take care of him, he was left in the care of his ever-busy uncle. Thanks to this, Mahiru grew up mostly alone and has developed many talents for household chores. Mahiru's talent for housework has also extended into his school life where he often uses them for class projects and the like. After discovering Sleepy Ash as a cat and eventually becoming his Eve, he obtains a Lead (essentially a conjured tool for Eves) in the form of a Broomstick. Kuro later notes in irony that it is what may represent him the most due to Mahiru's personality, and that it was the first thing he used to hit Kuro with when they met. His Lead later changes into a Spear, giving Mahiru more physical prowess. Mahiru's catchphrase is "Thinking simply, it's got to be me!"

Misono Alicein (有栖院 御園, Arisuin Misono)

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (drama CD, anime)^[3] (Japanese); Christopher Bevins (English)

Lily's Eve, he's a high school student who is in the same year as Mahiru. Misono comes from a very wealthy family and unfortunately possesses a very weak physical composition, which causes him to be easily exhausted. He has a tendency to look down on others such as when he commanded Mahiru to work for him in stopping Tsubaki. It's possible that this may be due to lack of social skills. He is a child born from the affair between his father and a servant. The affair caused his father's wife to kill his real mother out with Doubt Doubt's help. She spared Misono and decided to raise him as her own son, but eventually tried to kill him too, leading Mikuni to kill her to save Misono's life. Misono was initially unaware of this and hated his brother, but eventually he learns the truth. Misono's Lead is a chair which he often sits in to rest, and has so far shown creative uses for said chair in combat.^[5]

Mikuni Alicein (有栖院 御国, Arisuin Mikuni)

Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara (anime)^[6] (Japanese); Christopher Wehkamp (English)

Jeje's Eve, he's Misono's older brother and an antique dealer. He puts on a childish personality, however his true personality is quite the opposite; he is cunning and shown to be quite manipulative and doesn't have a second thought killing Subclass. Misono bears resentment towards Mikuni for killing their mother and then leaving their home and taking Doubt Doubt with him. It is later revealed that Mikuni and Misono are actually half-brothers; Misono born as the result of their father's affair with a servant, which lead to Mikuni's mother killing Misono's out of jealousy. Mikuni accepted what happened, but was disgusted by his father as a result. Eventually, Doubt Doubt's power took a toll on his mother and she tried to kill Misono. To protect his brother, Mikuni killed his mother and left home, taking Doubt Doubt with him. He is a former member of C3. His Lead is a rope that takes the form of a noose, in which he uses to strangle people to death. He is, so far, the only Eve to have a Lead that specialises in killing his opponents.

Tetsu Sendagaya (千駄ヶ谷 鉄, Sendagaya Tetsu)

Voiced by: Yūki Ono (drama CD, anime)^[3] (Japanese); Chris Rager (English)

Old Child's Eve, he's a junior high school student who works in an onsen. He tends to be very soft-spoken and simple-minded. Despite being a junior-high student, Tetsu has a tall and big stature, and people often mistake him for a college student. Tetsu doesn't seem to care at all that he's associated with vampires, shown by how he often carries around his Lead (in his case, a giant indestructible coffin) which he even uses to advertise for his family's Onsen, since he doesn't know how to get rid of it.

Licht Jekylland Todoroki (リヒト・ジキルランド・轟, Rihito Jikirurando Todoroki)

Voiced by: Nobunaga Shimazaki (drama CD, anime)^[3] (Japanese); Aaron Dismuke (English)

Lawless' Eve, he's a world-known Austrian pianist. Licht's personality can only be described as bizarre; he seems to consider himself an Angel, and even strikes poses while wearing a white backpack with wings attached. It's rare to see him smile; he almost always scowls. Licht has a violent streak, often brutally attacking other vampires (which he labels "Demons"). Licht also has an intense hatred for Lawless in particular, who he often calls a "rotten hedgehog" and is prone to tormenting or attacking. Licht possesses two Leads: A pair of powerful boots which can slow the regeneration abilities of vampires he kicks with, and a Grand Piano which he can play various songs on, with often debilitating effects on those who listen to them.

Servamps

Sleepy Ash (スリーピーアッシュ, Surīpī Asshu)

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (drama CD, anime)^[3] (Japanese); Chuck Huber^[4] (English)

A Servamp, or servant vampire, of Sloth. The name given to him by Mahiru as part of their Servamp contract is Kuro (クロ), due to the color of his cat form's fur. Kuro is the oldest of the seven Servamp siblings and, according to Mikuni, arguably the most powerful of them. This is contrary to Kuro's lazy personality, and he can often be found dozing off, playing video games, or eating junk food in Mahiru's apartment. So far, he is the only Servamp without any Subclass, because he doesn't know whether a person wants to live longer or not and has so decided to have none. Kuro's past is mired in mystery to Mahiru, as he is rarely ever willing to discuss it. The mere mention of his past was enough to make the usual lazy Kuro to become angered. It's revealed that Kuro had a falling out with Lawless because he decided to kill the one who made them vampires after receiving the request from C3. The reason for accepting the request is because he thinks that the world doesn't need "monsters" like them anymore. Following the request, Sleepy Ash killed his own creator, but this haunted Kuro who ended up regretting his action. The regret and grief made Kuro decide to not do anything unless someone tells him to, until Mahiru urges him to face his own mistake, which also significantly improves Kuro and Mahiru's friendship. Kuro has two animal forms: the first being his usual cat form, and the second being a giant lion form. Kuro's primary weapons are a pair of deadly, razor-sharp claws that can easily skewer targets.^[5]

Tsubaki (椿)

Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (drama CD, anime)^[3] (Japanese); Micah Solusod (English)

The vampire of Melancholy. This mysterious man introduces himself as the eighth Servamp and the youngest sibling, despite the fact that there are only supposed to be seven. Tsubaki has a psychotic and unstable personality, which is evident through his stated desire to "kill everyone who doesn't know him". His motives and past are currently unclear. Tsubaki commanded a sizable force of Subclass vampires until Lawless of Greed massacred almost all of them during their attempt to kill his Eve during a concert. His animal form is a fox. His primary weapon is a Katana.^[5]

Snow Lily (スノウリリイ, Sunou Rirī)

Voiced by: Kazuma Horie (drama CD, anime)^[3] (Japanese); Jerry Jewell (English)

All of Love (オールオブラブ, Āru obu Rabu), also known as the Servamp of Lust, is the Servamp of Misono Alicein. The name given to him for his contract is Snow Lily or simply Lily. He is the second youngest of the eight known Servamps, and has a tendency to strip no matter the occasion. For generations he has served the Misono family alongside Doubt Doubt, the Servamp of Envy. After Mikuni killed his mother to protect Misono years before, Lily manipulated Misono's memory so he won't remember the reason behind Mikuni's banishment from the house out of fear that Misono would reject him for being the representation of lust. When Misono finds out Lily's manipulation without knowing the truth, the bond between him and Misono becomes strained for a moment, giving Otogiri the opportunity to destroy his pocket watch that was also the source of his power, greatly weakening him. Since then, Lily is mostly bedridden and lost his tendency to strip as his body becomes weaker. His animal form is butterfly. His primary weapon is a conjured Scythe that can cut the "spirits" of its victims, rendering them unconscious.

Doubt Doubt (ダウトダウト, Dauto Dauto)

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (anime)^[6] (Japanese); Christopher R. Sabat (English)

The Servamp of Envy, and bound by contract under the name Jeje (ジェジェ) to Mikuni Alicein. Jeje is the third eldest Servamp, and possesses a quiet personality. He rarely speaks and often mumbles when he does. Jeje used to serve Mikuni's mother and has been protecting Alicein family together with Lily for generations. However, seven years before the start of the manga, Jeje's power started to corrupt Mikuni's mother, leading her to kill Misono's mother. Jeje erased any evidence of the murder. She eventually tried to kill Misono himself but the attempt was stopped by Mikuni who killed his mother and took Jeje with him when he left the house. His animal form is snake. Jeje's primary weapons are a pair of conjured fully automatic guns that are mostly hidden by his massive sleeves.

Old Child (オールドチャイルド, Ōrudo Chairudo)

Voiced by: Ayumu Murase (drama CD, anime)^[3] (Japanese); Michelle Rojas (English)

Old Child is the Servamp of Pride and is bound by contract to Tetsu Sendagaya. His contract name is Hugh (ヒュー, Hyū) and he is the second oldest of the Servamp siblings. This is despite his tiny stature, being no taller than 2'6. Hugh's most notable personality feature is his childish sense of pride, such as how he claims that Tetsu's blood is absolutely gourmet. Out of all the Servamps, Hugh has the most Subclass, to the point where they are practically his information network; he often uses them to gather intel on Tsubaki or indulge in his obsession with other people's love stories. During the group's attempt to rescue Licht and Lawless, Hugh fell into Tsubaki's trap and lost his power after being defeated. The result is the total change of Hugh's character, going from being childish to a personality of an old man, having walking and memory issues.

Lawless (ロウレス, Rōresu)

Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (drama CD, anime)^[3] (Japanese); Ian Sinclair (English)

Lawless is the Servamp of Greed and the fifth youngest Servamp, bound by contract to Licht Jekylland Todoroki. His contract name is Hyde (ハイド, Haido), which coincides with Licht's middle name "Jekylland", referencing the story of Jekyll and Hyde and symbolizing their antagonistic relationship. Lawless' personality is extremely unstable, as he has no interest in the value of human life and is often prone to brutally slaughtering anyone in his way. According to the Servamp of Pride, Lawless has a habit of killing his Eves if he gets bored of them. Licht, however, is an exception as Lawless enjoys his naive personality and his habit of calling himself an Angel. He used to be a Servamp of a princess named Ophelia, and fell in love with her. He was heartbroken when she married a prince from neighbouring country and was then executed, refusing to escape with Lawless because she wanted peace between both countries. Lawless' condition worsened after he had a falling out with Kuro who decided to kill their own creator himself, leading Lawless to become the way he is now. After Licht helped him realize his true wishes, Lawless abandoned his previous view on life and finally reconciled with Kuro.

The Mother (ザ・マザー, Za Mazā)

Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (anime)

The Servamp of Wrath and the only female Servamp. She always looks frowning, making people mistake her as being angry, though she's only trying to act cool. She was married to her Eve and together they owned an apple farm. She was later confined in C3 Tokyo HQ along with her two Subclass, Gil and Ray, though she didn't make a move nor had any intention to escape from confinement until Licht and Lawless free her. She reveals that a week before her confinement, her Eve died of old age. Lawless requests her to help stop Tsurugi, which she agrees to and saves Tsurugi when he was drowning after getting defeated by her Subclass who were trying to free her. She and Tsurugi are then trapped in the falling floor due to the impact of the prison break. To save both herself and Tsurugi, The Mother suggests that Tsurugi becomes her new Eve.

World End (ワールドエンド, Wārudo Endo)

Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (anime)

The Servamp of Gluttony. True to the sin he embodies, he has an incredibly huge appetite, able to eat the whole restaurant menu. Unfortunately, he is broke and doesn't have much money. He proclaimed himself as Sleepy Ash's rival.

Subclass

Sakuya Watanuki (綿貫桜哉, Watanuki Sakuya)

Voiced by: Toshinari Fukamachi (drama CD),^[3] Yūto Suzuki (anime)^[6] (Japanese); Brian Olvera^[4] (English)

Mahiru's classmate and Tsubaki's Subclass. When he was a child, he lived with his older sister and their parents. Their parents were abusive and mistreated them. One night, Sakuya watched his sister jump from their apartment room, being forced by their parents so they can get her insurance money, but not before she made them promise to spare Sakuya. Unfortunately, years later, Sakuya was forced to do the same, and when he was dying, he was saved by Tsubaki. Sakuya first met Mahiru when they were in middle school, becoming friends with him and he even went as far as manipulating Mahiru's memory to make him think that they were childhood friends. After Mahiru got into a contract with Sleepy Ash, Sakuya removed the fake memories from Mahiru and attacked him, wishing for Mahiru to end his life. Mahiru, however, refused to kill him and instead promised that he will free him of Tsubaki's control.

Belkia (ベルキア, Berukia)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (drama CD, anime)^[3] (Japanese); Mike McFarland^[4] (English)

Tsubaki's Subclass, a somewhat eccentric childish man who fights with magical playing cards and takes the form of a doll. He first appears in the first chapter, being ordered by Tsubaki to take down both Kuro and Mahiru, only to get defeated by Kuro after Mahiru finalized their contract.

Shamrock (シャムロック, Shamurokku)

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano (anime) (Japanese); Michael Johnson (English)

Otogiri (オトギリ)

Voiced by: Atsumi Tanezaki (anime) (Japanese); Apphia Yu (English)

She is the only known Tsubaki's female Subclass. She is mostly seen wearing a nurse outfit. She has special ability to use her strings to bind her opponents and also controlling marionettes that she uses for attacks. If necessary, she also uses her strings to control her unconscious allies' bodies and moves them to attack. She has a habit of finding something that is unexpected to be troublesome.

Lila (ライラ, Raira)

Voiced by: Yō Taichi (anime) (Japanese); Jad Saxton (English)

Sometimes romanized as Lilac, he is Tsubaki's Subclass who survived Lawless' massacre during the ambush at Licht's piano concert. He is saved by Mahiru from Lawless and is then used as a bargaining chip to exchange the Greed Pair when the two are captured.

Higan (彼岸, Higan)

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (anime)

Higan is Tsubaki's strongest Subclass and is considered the number 2 in Tsubaki's group. He has the ability to create fire from his hands and ignites flames from scratches he made on an opponents' body. When drinking human blood, he changes back into his much younger form that also significantly increases his power.

Guildenstern (ギルデンスターン, Girudensutān)

Voiced by: Shunsuke Takeuchi (anime)^[7]

Nicknamed Guil, he is Lawless' Subclass who always covers his entire body by wearing Licht's whale mascot costume, Whale.

C3

Shuhei Tsuyuki (露木 修平, Tsuyuki Shuhei)

Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa (anime) (Japanese); Austin Tindle (English)

Tsuyuki is a member of the research team in C3. He has a deep hatred for vampires after his father, who was also a C3 member, was killed by Shamrock, one of Tsubaki's Subclass. Due to this, he initially wanted to be on the fighting team, but his bad fighting style forced him to stay in Research. When he was in high school, he was Mikuni's underclassman and the two of them don't get along. He always anticipates small things that might happen and prepares in advance for when the time comes. This becomes one of the running gags in the series.

Tsurugi Kamiya (狼谷 吊戯, Kamiya Tsurugi)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (anime) (Japanese); Joel McDonald (English)

As one of the strongest C3 members from the fighting team, Tsurugi is feared amongst vampires for mercilessly killing many of their kind, and seems to enjoy the act. He was born and grew up in C3 under the guidance of C3 Tokyo branch's vice manager, Taishi Touma. While he is cruel and even sadistic in slaying his enemies, he is cheerful and childish around other people, especially around Junichirou and Yumikage who are his best friends. He claims he has no pride and will do anything as long as he gets paid. Harshly trained under Touma's brainwash, Tsurugi's mind became very unstable. He blindly follows Touma's orders and kills whoever's in his way, be it vampires or humans, going as far as to hurt even his own close friends under the twisted impression it is for their own protection. He used to be partnered with Mikuni and Jeje during Mikuni's time in C3, but they hate each other so much that they both have no hesitation to try to kill the other.

Junichirou Kurumamori (車守盾一郎, Kurumamori Junichirou)

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (anime)

Jun is one of C3 members from the fighting team who is partnered with Tsurugi and Yumikage.

Yumikage Tsukimitsu (月満弓景, Tsukimitsu Yumikage)

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (anime)

Partnered with Tsurugi and Junichirou, Yumikage is one of C3's fighting division.

Taishi Touma (塔間泰士, Touma Taishi)

Touma is the vice manager of C3 Tokyo branch.

Other characters

Ryusei (流星, Ryūsei)

Voiced by: Genki Okawa (anime) (Japanese); Stephen Sanders^[4] (English)

One of Mahiru's close friends since childhood.

Koyuki (小雪, Koyuki)

Voiced by: Kōtarō Nishiyama (anime) (Japanese); Alejandro Saab^[4] (English)

One of Mahiru's close friends since childhood.

Toru Shirota (徹城田, Tōru Shirota)

Voiced by: Yōji Ueda (anime) (Japanese); Sonny Strait (English)

Mahiru's uncle who took Mahiru into his care after his mother passed away. Due to his work that requires him to work abroad, Toru rarely returns home and only comes once in a while. Mahiru looks up to his uncle and considers him his role model, taking a few of his characteristics.

Johannes Mimir Faustus (ヨハネス・ミーミル・ファウストゥス, Yohanesu Mīmiru Fausutousu)

Voiced by: Kōji Yusa (anime) (Japanese); Justin Briner (English)

Johannes is a researcher obsessed with researching vampires, taking delight in doing an experiments on them. He is also an acquaintance of Mikuni.

Julie (ユリー)

Voiced by: Ayaka Nanase (anime) (Japanese); Kristen McGuire (English)

Lily's Subclass and Marie's twin sister.

Marie (マリー)

Voiced by: Sayaka Senbongi (anime) (Japanese); Kristi Rothrock (English)

Lily's Subclass and Julie's twin sister.

Doudou Eisuke (洞堂永介)

Voiced by: Kojji Takahashi (anime)

Dodo is a servant of Alicein household. He was an orphan who was saved and taken in by Lily when he was a child.

Rosen Kranz (クランツ・ローゼン, Kurantsu Rōzen)

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (anime)^[7]

Kranz is Licht's manager.

Ophelia (オフィーリア, Ofīria)

Voiced by: Yumi Uchiyama (anime)

Ophelia was Lawless' eve whom Lawless fell in love with hundreds of years before the story. She was a princess of an unknown country who made contract with Lawless when she was a child. She wished for peace of both her own and the enemy's country, so she married the other country's prince. However, the marriage was a ploy by her kingdom, leading her to be executed. Even though she could escape, she refused to do so and instead determined to bring the two countries together by becoming the symbol of peace, conveying her wish before she got executed. As she hoped, the two countries were united and she became the symbol of peace. Unfortunately, the country was eventually destroyed by another bigger country. Her death had a strong impact on Lawless who began to think that all lives are worthless and meaningless and no one is unique.

Media

Manga

Strike Tanaka began publishing Sevamp in the first issue of Media Factory's Monthly Comic Gene magazine in April 2011, where it was first tentatively titled Eve and Servamps.^[8][9] The chapters from the magazine have been collected into eleven tankōbon that have been released by Kadokawa.^[3] In July, 2014 Seven Seas Entertainment announced it had licensed the series for publication in North America.^[8] Seven adapted English language manga volumes have been released, with more announced.^[10] In addition to print material, the series also inspired six drama CDs,^[1] the first of which was released with volume six of the manga in July 2014.^[8]

Volume list

Music

In addition to drama CDs the series has also produced several character song CDs, as well as an original soundtrack CD. In total there have been five character pair CDs, released in 2015, as well as a character song mini-album and an original soundtrack, both to be released in October 2016.^[22][23][24] The anime series also had an opening song, "Deal With" by Oldcodex, and an ending song, "Sunlight Avenue" by Takuma Terashima.^[25][26]

Anime

An anime television adaptation was announced in the August issue of Monthly Comic Gene.^[1] It was reported by Oricon Style that the adaptation would be a television series.^[5] The anime will be produced by Brain's Base with Itto Sara serving as the chief director, Hideaki Nakano as director and Kenji Konuta handling series composition, with character designs by Junko Yamanaka and music by Kenji Kawai.^[27] The anime aired from July^[2] to September 2016. Funimation has licensed the series for streaming on their website.^[28]

Episode list

Reception

On Anime News Network, Rebecca Silverman gave the first three English language adapted manga volumes a combined overall grade of B.^[29]

References

External links

• Servamp at Seven Seas Entertainment
• Official anime website
• Servamp (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Servamp (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia