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Review: Seraph Of The End Ep 2 – Humanity After The Fall

By: Robert Prentice
Seraph Of The End

I read a lot of comments from people new to the Manga who felt episode one was a bit all over the place. In all fairness the series had a lot of ground to cover in the first episode to get us to the current time. We needed to see what motived Yūichirō and how the fall of humanity happened. They could have spread that over 2, maybe 3 episodes but that would have resulted in a rushed season for everything else. I am happy they got that out of the way from the start.

As always this your warning about spoilers. Those of you who have read the Manga, please don’t spoil upcoming events in the comments.

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Episode 2 gives us our first look at humanity after the fall, and sorry to say kids but school is still around. Real bummer right? Yūichirō still has nightmares replaying the scene in his head that cost the lives of all of his ‘family’ and his best friend Mikaela. We catch a glimpse of the new monsters roaming the surface after virus, and Yūichirō against orders attacks and kills the creature. We get a short flashback that explains what happen to humanity. The overall population is down to 1/10 of its original population and these creatures popped up everywhere.Screen Shot 2015-04-11 at 5.10.45 PM

Lieutenant Colonel Guren Ichinose decided to suspend Yūichirō for disobeying an order and his overall attitude. To get reinstated, Yūichirō must do one very difficult task: make a friend. He is finding this rather difficult, fearing if he gets close to anyone again it will end up like it did before. Shinoa,a surveillance officer from the Moon Demon Army, was sent to ensure Yūichirō cooperated with his suspension and for him to make a friend.

It didn’t take long with Shinoa following Yūichirō around when they came upon another boy being bullied by some older students, Yoichi Saotome. Yoichi’s motivation is not all that different from Yūichirō. Yoichi’s sister was killed by a vampire and he wants revenge and that is why he wants to join the army, but failed the entrance exam. Yūichirō tells him he is took weak to join and walks away, cleary trying to spare the boy from killing himself for revenge.

Screen Shot 2015-04-11 at 5.11.24 PMJust as this happens and alarm sounds, a vampire that was being held has escaped in the school area. Yūichirō runs to grab his weapon and find this vampire and prove himself worthy of the Vampire Extermination Unit. The female vampire is feeding on a girl when Yūichirō comes in on her and begins to fight. While Yūichirō is much faster and more responsive then he was the last time we saw him face to face with a vampire, she still has him on his toes for most of the fight. She promises to get to full strength by draining the girl completely when Yoichi jumps in and tackles her. Just before she swiped her hand to kill him, Yūichirō stops her with his sword. She pushes him back and they both fly out the window and hit the ground.

Screen Shot 2015-04-11 at 5.11.38 PMYūichirō’s sword is through her gut but she is still alive and it seems to have little effect on her. I also found it strange that she is in the sunlight and nothing is happening. I would assume the reason the vampires are still underground is due to the sunlight, so why is she okay? I am sure this will be explained at some point. But just before she finishes her nice speech Lieutenant Colonel Guren Ichinose stabs her with a cursed weapon and she vaporizes.

After a little teasing and back talk between Guren and Yūichirō, Shinoa informs the Lieutenant that the requirements of Yūichirō suspension have been fulfilled and he along with his new friend Yoichi are accepted into the Vampire Extermination Unit of the Japanese Imperial Moon Demon Army.

Overall I loved this episode. It was an episode that introduced several important characters and also provided threads into events coming up and the overall story. The pacing was great and the interactions between the characters are about what you would expect for Yūichirō. He was always a difficult social person even as a child. I will be interested in learning more about the cursed weapons and each of the units members. I am still confused about the vampire being okay in sunlight but I also wonder if her escape wasn’t a test for Yūichirō and not the accident it was made out to be.

Until next week, FUNimation has posted the EP and OP for the series on youtube and I’ve included them below for your listening pleasure.

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