Review: ‘Seraph Of The End’ Collectors Edition

Seraph Of The End: In a world overrun with vampires, humans have been hunted to the brink of extinction. The only way they can fight back is with a series of demonic weapons known as Cursed Gear. Reserved for soldiers with exceptional talent, these weapons require humans to form pacts with ancient demons in exchange for their power.

Yuichiro Hyakuya is a young member of the Moon Demon Company, a prestigious army squadron armed with Cursed Gear and tasked with exterminating vampires. After the blood-sucking monsters killed his family when he was a child, Yuichiro vowed he wouldn’t stop fighting until every last one was dead. But when a familiar face from his past appears sporting a new set of fangs, the line drawn between good and evil begins to blur. There’s something special about Yuichiro—a dark power that the vampires call the Seraph of the End. When that power is unleashed, will he be the key to humanity’s salvation or its complete destruction?

When this series first started publishing in Weekly Shonen Jump I was hooked. Apocalyptic stories always intrigued me. It has also been awhile since there was a good vampire anime (at least one I enjoyed). Seraph Of The End focuses on two distinct worlds: The Vampires and The Humans. At a young age our two main character Yuichiro and Mikaela are livestock for the vampires but are both from the same orphanage and stuck together during the downfall of humanity. Mikaela had a plan to escape which went horribly wrong and he sacrificed his life so Yu could get away. Yu vowed to fight and kill every vampire he came across. Little did he know that Mikaela survived and is looking for him, though he might not like what he finds.

The series has some potential gay love interest between Yu and Mikaela though its never directly shown, but its hinted at plenty throughout the first season to the point towards the end that its all but flat our confirmed. After Yu is brought back to a city full of people, he is back in a military school where he meets Shinoa. She loves to pester Yu about his love interests and his seemingly endless rage towards everyone. She is the team leader for the group that Yu is about to become apart of along with Yoichi and Shihō. Together each of them enter into a pact with demons to secure they cursed gear. Together the group will fight a war against the vampires that turns into a war where there is no good or bad side in this war.

The first 12 episodes we have background, character development and little bit of forward plot development. I will admit that I am a sucker for long winded character development. Overall I think each of them formed a great background and personality. The conspiracy plot lines for both sides is also interesting as they seem to intersect at a similar goal. By the later half of the first season, we went straight into plot movement and reveals with non-stop action and beautiful, animation.

Wit Studio was in-charge of the animation and boy was it beautiful. I think Chad James with Screw Attack said it best, the weapons manifesting is the best part of the animation. I mean what would you expect from the studio behind Attack On Titan? In fact here is a sneak preview of one of the more action packed scenes showing off the animation.

But great story and animation isn’t enough to set the mood, a musical score is also needed. Hiroyuki Sawano produced and co-composed the score for Seraph Of The End. He did another of my favorite soundtracks for Aldnoah Zero. The biggest issue the series has is its pacing against the manga. The end result is it could be a long time before we get more Seraph Of The End.

The collectors edition of the series is a must have if you enjoy Wit Studio’s animation style and the series as a whole. Justin Rojas does an unboxing video to show of the ‘nice package’ that comes with this set. Versus the standard editions here is a quick list of what you get.

Pickup your choice of the Collectors Edition, Limited Edition, or Standard Edition of Seraph Of The End on Amazon.com Now.

Collectors Edition Extras

• Rigid Chipboard Box
• 8-Panel Digipak
• 8 Art Cards
• 10 Stickers
• 200-page Hardcover Art Book
• Season 1 Part 1 Blu-ray and DVD
• Season 1 Part 2 Blu-ray and DVD

https://youtu.be/vPOrVwLscrw

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