Seraph of the End, Vol. 2

終わりのセラフ [Owari no Seraph] #2

by Takaya Kagami, Yamato Yamamoto (Illustrator), Daisuke Furuya (Contributor)

After a catastrophic epidemic kills every adult on earth, vampires arise from the shadows to enslave the remaining human population. Yuichiro escapes from captivity and joins the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. But before he’s allowed to fight vampires, he has to complete his first, terrifying mission–make new friends with his fellow aspiring monster slayers!

Now that Yuichiro has earned his place in the Japanese Imperial Demon Army, he prepares to undergo a fiendish test to acquire the most powerful and deadly of humanity’s weapons against vampires—Black Demon Series Cursed Gear. Meanwhile, the vampire nobility welcome a new member—Mika, the best friend Yuichiro thinks died in their escape but who has his own bitter story of survival.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Vampires, Graphic Novels, Comics, Paranormal, Dystopia

200 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2013

About the author

Also known as 鏡貴也.

Reviews

[asma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Mika is on the cover and that alone deserves 5 stars.

[Lucy Tonks (the invisible life of a reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

i need the mika content 😌😭

[Joana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mika. My poor Mika. :'(

(This cover!!!!!)

[Amanda Setasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really solid second volume with a decent amount of plot and character building. Super enjoyed it. This series has me hooked.

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out more reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...


After a catastrophic epidemic kills every adult on earth, vampires arise from the shadows to enslave the remaining human population. Caught in the aftermath an orphanage of children are swept up to become blood donors. Hot-headed Yuichiro escapes from captivity at great cost and joins the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. He'll have to face a series of missions that terrify this loner before he can even think about fighting vampires!!

This is a review of volumes 1-2 which I read together back to back. See the plot section for my thoughts on the individual volumes.

The Premise

Post apocalyptic stories are so fun because they act as a sort of fantasy set on earth. I love the extreme situations humans are expected to endure and somehow survive both mentally and physically. In life and death situations our true heart and motives are revealed and friendship becomes a bond of upmost importance. Takaya Kagami TOTALLY knows all about what makes this genre great and wove it into Seraph of the End vol 1-2!!

I'm so glad that I read Seraph of the End vol 1-2 back to back because what we learn in vol 1 was totally turned on its head in vol 2!! Nothing is really as it seems, even the vampires aren't as clear cut as you'd expect blood suckers to be. We learn there is a secret agenda and Yu and his friends, Mika is right in the middle of it. I'm so happy though that I got to know Yu's back history right away. It's really necessary to understand why he feels so strongly about killing vampires in the Demon army and yet why he's determined to be a one-man army.


The Buzz

Hahaha funnily I don't enjoy reading about vampires... Normally! I picked up Seraph of the End vol 1-2 due to seeing it on VIZ Media's rolls and being curious to know what it was about. I was totally captured by the first chapter!! I was seduced like Yu by his friend Mika and his brand of forced friendship, hahaha. Honestly I wasn't taken with the vampires at all in vol 1. Though we do meet Yu's mentor in the army Ichinose and yes, I totally fell for him too!! Takaya Kagami knows how to give us charismatic characters.

Then in vol 2 I learned about all the twisty-do and how nothing is as it seems! That changed how I viewed the vampires. It was also quite fascinating that other monsters also appeared in the world along with the vampires. It puts the regular humans between a rock and a hard place. The demon army is fighting on two fronts! Plus we learn that Ichinose is in a whole political mess that is sure to add a lot of tension to the entire situation! Really for the way this is written the world building is fantastic.

The real problem I had with these volumes is that the story feels episodic. Most manga feels slightly slice of life as we see many aspects of the characters involved in the story. There are action times and down times and moments in between to setup plot. In Seraph of the End vol 1-2 each chapter is devoted to moving Yu along his path into the army. It's a little too focused on that plot and makes the pacing feel hurried.


The Feels

Yu is one of those protagonists with a huge chip on his shoulder, he talks big, he knows little fear and even though its not obvious on the surface he feels massively for those close to him. I was TOTALLY captured by his emotional plight! I LOVED how he met Mika and how Mika dealt with his attitude. And I fell for Mika too! Getting to see how they met and why they are such good friends allowed me to go on that journey with Yu!! In vol 1 I thought this may just be contrived back story but from the way the two parted I was suspicious there was going to be more to it... and I was right!! (I'm soooo glad I was too.)

In vol 2 we learn that we will be rooting for someone on each side of the human vs. vampire war! I feel strongly about each boy and feel like I'm going to be torn up as I continue past Seraph of the End vol 1-2... We also meet two other boys that I am totally rooting for too!! I loved that Kimizuki is a different kind of friend that Mika. It has more of a bromance vibe that is great in team situations. Boy was my heart racing as I waited for Yu to decide what to do about Yochi!! But it's that final frame that makes me wonder just how much our boys are going to go through...


The Visuals

The covers are GORGEOUS!! I can see why Takaya Kagami was so excited to work with Yamato Yamamoto... I would have been too. I really loved the character designs. I need everyone to look different so that I can tell who they are without being constantly reminded. The battle frames are masterpieces!! I can't wait until we see a lot more of those going on. Plus the advent of the demons into the mix is intriguing and add a bit of grey that is much needed. My most favorite frames are with Mika as his young self. The ones with the demon with all the white and the bodies... GAHHHHH! So atmospheric and emotional.

Seraph of the End vol 1-2 is a great start to a vampire vs. demon strengthening humans battle series. Yu and Mika are protagonists to root for and I can't wait to see them go head to head. There is much plotting afoot that will surely bring them much angst... but the secondary characters are just as intriguing! I'm happy to keep reading!!


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Authenticity
⋆ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Tension
⋆ ⋆ ⭐⭐⭐ Plot
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Art

This is a multi-volume series and there may be references to the plot of those volumes... SO READ WITH CARE! Here is my review of 1 | 2 |

______________________
You can find this manga review and many others on my book blog every Monday @ Perspective of a Writer. See my manga and graphic novel reviews at the bottom of the page.

Please like this review if you enjoyed it! *bow* *bow* It helps me out a ton!!

[mahina · Rating 5 out of 5]

MIKA IS A WHAT

[Alice4170 🌙 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 ⭐️

[isa :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes yes yes I love it

[Victor The Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yuichiro’s still a stubborn hero in the making as he settles in his new life in the Vampire Imperial Army and find a rival as he is finally about his fighting skills to the test. A- (91%/Excellent)

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick thoughts: Decent follow up to volume 1. There are a fair number of intriguing subplots developing, and several characters who likely aren't quite what they seem.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kagami really writes/draws some impressive action scenes.

[caiseeᡣ᭡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mika.Mika.Mika.Mika.Mika <3

[Tuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still in the opening stages of the series, Yu slowly starts to expand his friend group with Yoichi, from the ending of the previous volume, to Kimizuki, a similar hot blooded too cool for school, seemingly, boy. The trio has an interesting dynamic with Yoichi, the nice, crybaby, stable I care for my friends type of boy, trying to keep his bickering friends calm, and on that side, both boys trying to keep him out of trouble. It was interesting in the major action moment of the chapter that Yu seemingly realized that he and Yoichi were more alike than he realized and potentially maybe there was some darkness there, there was an interesting panel drawn with Yu looking pretty grim about it.

Comedy continues to work well in this dystopian dark fantasy and helps to balance things out, both on the side of the vampires who we get glimpses of from Mika's point of view, but also from Yu, Yoichi, Shinoa, Kimizuki, and Guren, who all seem to be goofballs, at reasonable times. Honestly do find myself smiling and rofl a lot.

I love this series and really do see it as peak Exorcist series thus far. Im still wholly interested in the lore and world building here and what the past and the future will be.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

someone looks like a character i will not name anyway this issue was mostly just getting their weapons so not much to say still enjoyable the art is always nice

[Niko(Armand’s version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

MKDKDKENEND

I don’t want to read about the vampire queen girl next volume😓 sigh, anyways, I absolutely love Yoichi<3

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very interesting especially with the proper note that you make

[dilara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its getting better.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent continuation of the series, though I'm really ready for more action - which I believe begins in the next volume based on the show (100% accurate so far). Also, this series really is going to leave me constantly starved for Mika content huh. 🥹 As Joyce Byers once said, "We need to save my boy!!!!!"

[Nocturnalux]

Volume 2 pushes the school angle further, with less than stellar results; introduces a rivalry that does not really work; waters down what should be a crucial moment in the narrative. But it has a very compelling flashback and final action sequence. So it remains very uneven a franchise and I may have found out one of the reasons why it so, more on that later.

Yuuichiro has now joined the supposedly elite military school. As I mentioned before, I dislike the mixture of school and army and as I feared, it is truly amiss in this particular story. We have heard much about how prestigious this school is and how Yuuichiro and Yoichi had to prove themselves in order to get admitted. Yet the students, a faceless mass for the most part, do not, at all, reflect this. When Yuuichiro is first introduced to class- making this a subset of the by now deader than dead Transfer Student trope- he sees fit to give a little speech about how he is here to KILL vampires and NOT to make friends, in pure hotblooded fashion. Apparently he seems to think he is in some kind of reality TV show in which reminding the audience about how he is so focused on the goal as opposed to interpersonal relationships. It is never a good look and feels silly in this context.

Weirder still is that the faceless class seems actually apprehensive. Why would candidates to this super elite school be this impacted? Even worse, when Guren tests them to see who is ready for the demon contract, only Kimizuki, Yoichi and Yuuichiro even make the grade. So everyone else is entirely useless, at this point? How did they get scouted to join this class? Who even knows. And why is Shinoa still acting as a student, she has actual rank?

Oh well, there is one exception when it comes to Yuuichiro's new batch of classmates but he overreacts in the opposite direction: Kimizuki is bent on hating Yuuichiro from the very moment he sets eyes on him. Why, you ask? Well, apparently because Kimizuki wants the top grade demon grade weapon to go to him. The problem is, there are actually more than one these so Kimizuki's obsessive hatred toward Yuuichiro falls entirely flat.

Kimizuki, as a character, also suffers from doppelganger effect. By that I mean that he seems an Expy to Haikyuu's!! Tsukishima. This is due to an unfortunate combination of looks and personality. Kimizuki is lanky, tall and has glasses which in itself is common enough but the way he snarks back at Yuuichiro at every given opportunity reminds me so much of the interaction Tsukishima has with the Haikyuu!! duo is just too alike. More, they both even have the character for 'moon' in their name, almost as if it were deliberate. Ironically enough, Kimizuki originally did not have glasses, these were added at the insistence of this editor who I suspect has way too much say on shaping the manga.

It could very well be a coincidence. Had Kimizuki been fleshed a little bit better, the similitude would probably fade away but unfortunately we do not see enough of him.I would have really have liked if we got to see his contract with the demon. We get to see Yuuichiro's and Yoichi's but Kimizuki's is entirely absent. So we miss a great opportunity of learning more about him.

Kimizuki's introduction forces Yuuichiro into his most obnoxious which also does not help. It also means we now have another character that feels free to up and scream into Guren's face about how he deserves the best demon grade weapon, ever, and right NOW. To be fair to Kimizuki, his impatience and insistence are entirely justified even if it is a pattern one has seen so, so many times. If you guessed, 'Ill Little Sister' then congratulations, you hit the jackpot. The virus that was supposed to only kill those over the age of 13 also infected her sister for reasons unknown and she is on a coma, on life support. He needs the money for further treatment and even more, he needs to have her transferred to a military hospital where she can properly be looked after.

Guren decides it is time for the demon contracts. This was meant to be truly a turning point but it seems very repetitive because Yuuichiro has already had a dress rehearsal. In the previous volume he ended up contacting a demon in his frantic attempt to seal a contract so we have seen it before. I cannot help thinking this was a misstep. Sure, this demon is stronger but it is difficult to create a feeling of genuine tension when we have already seen Yuuichiro breeze his way through an ordeal that looks essential the same.

Now, to what this volume does right. While I still think we should have seen Kimizuki's test, if only to get a handle on his character, Yoichi's is handled quite well. Yoichi's demon takes him back to when he was a little kid and his sister saved him by getting him to hide the under the bed, so that he survived while she got attacked by vampires and killed. This event had been recounted but we get to see it in greater detail. The point of view of a small child, hunkered under the bed, is distressing enough and becomes doubly so when the demon takes up the sister's form and taunts Yoichi.

The way the demon possesses him is interesting. The demon claims that Yoichi is lying, that his desire for revenge is something he does not actually have but that he thinks he should have. In other words, it is a case of survivor's guilt but one that gains a certain significance in shounen mode. Heroes with a tragic backstory must be consumed with the desire for vengeance. While it often gets modified and is part of their coming of age to let go or at least broaden the scope of their motivation, revenge plays a role almost by default.

Yoichi, by being exempt of this, is somehow unqualified to join the merry band of nakama. It is only when realizes that Yuuichiro- and perhaps even Kimizuki- is his new family, and that his reason for fighting is to protect them, that the spell is broken and he goes back to normal and thus seals his contract.

But not before his possessed form is pitted against Yuuichiro and Kimizuki who are expected to kill him as per Guren's instructions (Guren backpedals, though). There is genuine conflict here, Yuuichiro is deadset against killing or even actually fighting against a friend and even Kimizuki hesitates. So the episode doubles as character development for Yuuichiro as well.

The artwork is good but it does not always gets to truly shine. Here it gets a chance in a wide shot of Yoichi rising from under the bed, returning to his teenage self, as he breaks the emotional blockage. It is symbolic without being too on the nose. And followed by Yoichi throwing himself into Yuuichiro's arms in what could very well pass for an actual embrace. In fact, if this were not one of those pieces of fiction in which queerness simply cannot exist in universe, it would at least make someone wonder whether it is queer. Manga often skews toward this weird queer baiting in which it is not queer because by definition it cannot be; yet it very much supposed to be interpreted as such by at least a segment of the readership.

Then there is a long flashback:
We finally see just how Mika became a vampire. The plot has done a terrible job at keeping it a secret and he is on the very cover of this volume but I still think this particular flashback should have been placed at a later point in the narrative. Be it as it may, it is very effective. Mika was turned into a vampire very much against his will. The creepy Loli vampire queen asks him, as he is bleeding to death, if he wants to live and only turns him into a vampire because he says 'no'. Somehow, that makes it all the sadder.

In fact, 12 year old Mika bleeding away while Ferid banters with Loli is disturbing on several levels. We get a glimpse into vampire politics, with Ferid clearly not being fond of Loli and vice-versa. But more to the point is Mika himself and the highly creepy way in which the Loli borderline rapes him. Visually, it looks like rape. The screaming is also chilling.

The afterword made me wonder if one of the reasons why this manga seems so formulaic is that the mangaka and writer are simply too overworked to give it their full attention. As the mangaka explains, he is once again writing the afterword because the writer is too busy doing other projects. Said mangaka too was also working on the spin-off novel that follows Guren as the main character (which again points out to Yuuichiro's unstable role as the actual focus) and absolutely drowning in deadlines.

No matter how creative they may be, being pulled in so many directions is bound to have an effect. It becomes all too easy to fall back on tried patterns and clichéd solutions. Add to that a third person, this editor who has a lot of input, and you have a recipe for disaster.

If anything, it is remarkable that it is actually decent and with enough potential to redeem itself in future instalments.

[nica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il concetto di famiglia è ripetuto così tante volte che mi viene da tirarmi una coltellata nel petto solo per cessare questa agonia.

la trama è bella ma non ha uno svolgimento logico:
1)partiamo dal team, dicono che il gioco di squadra sia fondamentale ma alla fine tutto il lavoro lo fa solo Yu (salvando il culo a tutta la squadra TUTTE LE SANTE VOLTE) colui che a scuola aveva zero come voto… allora a che cosa serviva l’addestramento scolastico se chiunque con forza fisica eccelleva nel campo di battaglia? e alla fine solo i più forti ottenevano il posto nell’esercito? NON HA SENSO.
2)l’assegnazione delle spade…letteralmente lui parte da una scuola comune superiore per poi, a caso, finire nell’elite delle forze segrete e ricevere dopo 2 giorni la sua spada demoniaca, non c’è stata preparazione, non c’è stata l’evoluzione del personaggio, niente di niente e rende la cosa SENZA SENSO.
3)il suo amico piagnucolone… pure lui non ha senso che solo essendo la spalla destra del protagonista venga preso nelle forze segrete…non sa letteralmente fare una minchia.
4)Shinoa è un personaggio che per essere introdotto è stata molto forzata la trama, fredda e stronza con tutti ma magicamente con il protagonista apre il suo cuore senza nessuna motivazione. Il tipico POTERE DELL’AMICIZIA 😑🫥

UNICO PERSONAGGIO CHE VALE: GUREN 🥵

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. The main character is so annoying. He might be the most one note character I have read in years. He constantly disobeys, constantly fights with other students. Yet the upper brass still give him what he wants.

So we come to the demon bonding scene. These are supposed to be super difficult demons to overcome. So naturally our heroes have no problem (except for Shoichi). Our main character makes a contract that if he ever hesitates, the demon will take over. Then our hero is tasked with killing demon possessed Shoichi and he hesitates. So it should be over, right? No, apparently that wasn’t the kind of hesitation the demon meant? Then, of course, Shoichi the milquetoast somehow overcomes his super demon, too. Apparently even if you have the willpower of soggy bread, you can overcome the most deadly demons in he world.

So far I am just really not impressed.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ★

Marginally better than the last volume. Still not a huge fan of Yu as your typical stubborn, hot-headed shounen protagonist, but we got to see more of Mika and Yoichi so that’s a bonus. The characters finally got their cursed gear in this volume but I felt like it all happened a bit too easily considering how young and inexperienced they are. Nevertheless, the ending set us up for some exciting action so hopefully the next volume delivers.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

In questo volume seguiamo le vicende di Yuu e il processo per ottenere l'arma demoniaca per combattere i vampiri. Devo dire che la storia mi sta prendendo sempre di più e non vedo l'ora di proseguire e soprattutto ad arrivare ALL'INCONTRO fatidico.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book. Really love the art style.

[EVham · Rating 5 out of 5]

^^

[foxie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75*

okuduğum ilk fiziksel mangaydı diye de not düşelim👊

[Arnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/202...

[Ken Kap · Rating 5 out of 5]

yoichi is such a good friend

[holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

five stars for that cover alone, tbh.

[juls · Rating 5 out of 5]

yoichi my precious boy I love him so much