Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign

Episode 15

Welcome back to another installment of Sheriff of the End! This week, Deputy Yu hunts down the nefarious cattle wranglers who've been making off with Farmer Guren's precious livestock. But what'll he do when he finds out that his childhood friend, Mika, is a wanted outlaw? Will Guren be forced to sell his land to Mayor Kureto? And will Yu make it home in time for the hoedown?

Er, wait, that's my fanfiction. Sorry about that. Anyway, this week in Seraph of the End, we're treated to some post-apocalyptic scheming. Kureto appears to be in contact with someone from the vampire zone. We open on him receiving intel that prompts him to call Guren. The two proceed to have a chat where they helpfully outline their motivations, personalities, and goals for the audience. Kureto wants to reestablish humanity as the dominant species and reduce vampires to chattel. His immediate goal is to make contact with human civilizations that may have survived on other continents. Guren's goals are still ambiguous, but he looks down on Kureto's ambitions as naïve.

Kureto seems fine with Guren's scheming because he knows how to control him. You see, unlike Kureto, Guren isn't a sociopath who can just shut off his feelings of love and attachment toward other people. Thus, Kureto could always threaten to kill Guren's friends should he get out of hand. So Kureto lets Guren scheme, knowing that he can ultimately appropriate the findings for his own purposes. First of all, Kureto wants to know how Guren found three new wielders for Black Demon Company weapons. This is apparently super-hard and usually only possible via human experimentation. Secondly, he wants Guren to lead the diversion attack against the vampires in the upcoming BATTLE IN NAGOYA for which this season is named. While Guren refuses to spill the beans on Yu and company, he's obligated to run the attack, which could very well kill him. After Kureto leaves, the demon form of Shinoa's sister Mahiru comes out of Guren's sword to taunt him. This is the first time we've ever seen her, and she does not look like a benign presence. She hangs over Guren's shoulder, reminding him that he's supposed to be “following her orders” so that she'll “make his wish come true.” Guren tells her to shut up. Poor guy. It looks like his plans are stuck between two Machiavellian Hiragi siblings. Maybe Yu's sheer idiocy can triumph over their smartness?

Meanwhile in vampire land, Mika is still having trouble holding himself off from human blood. When he confronts Krul about why she didn't kill him and Yu, she decides to confide her secrets about the Seraph of the End. We don't hear the truth ourselves, but Mika is horrified by it. It seems like Krul is neither on the side of humanity or her vampire brethren. She charges Mika with recovering Yu during next month's assault. (Perhaps at the BATTLE OF NAGOYA?)

We end on Kureto performing some sort of experiment involving a vampire. I guess this is how they make Black Demon weapons? Judging by the bloodsucking of the demons, they seem to be infused with vampires rather than regular old demons. I wonder if Seraph will ever do more to humanize its vampires. The goal right now seems to be to portray them as equally bad to the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. We're supposed to be horrified by Kureto's experiments, and the vampires are personable amongst their own kind just like humans, so they're two sides of the same coin right now. I wonder what could lead to an understanding between the two species?

It's a testament to Seraph of the End's quality that they could dedicate an entire episode to people talking in rooms and not bore me to tears. I mostly credit this to the direction- scenes are never visually stagnant. This is especially appreciated since the whole thing could have so easily been reduced to talking heads. Instead, these conversations are full of interesting cuts and camera movements that provide visual as well as auditory characterization. It's nothing too groundbreaking, of course. Guren grips the handle of his sword to show that he's uneasy in his conversation with Kureno, the two crows fly away at the scene's climactic reveal to accentuate the release of tension, stuff like that. But it's exceedingly competent, livening up this rote material into something genuinely compelling. That's not to say the writing is slouching either. I'm surprised that they made Kureno a somewhat reasonable (if still totally sketchy) figure and not just Evil McEvilton. He's still there to make Guren look good, but they don't try to bank on this immediately, accentuating the suspense in the process. Seraph is not a thoughtful show, but the people behind it have made all the right calculations in creating an engaging all-audiences action show out of its story.

I continue to be impressed by the female characters in this regard too. I've come to expect some degree of cheesecake in most anime, but Seraph is extremely restrained when it comes to its women. Heck, it has a loli vampire character that doesn't make me uncomfortable at all! I didn't think that those existed. This is probably because the show is chasing after the fujoshi market more than the otaku market. Yu and Mika are designed to be intensely shippable beneath their thin cover of FAMILY.

While this episode was fine, I do hope that we get some action soon to offset all the scheming. Shinoa's been assigned to an immediate mission, which is promising, but still – the quicker we get to the BATTLE OF NAGOYA, the better. The worst part of the first season was the pacing, since it dawdled so much on getting to the action. Seraph of the End definitely takes a page out of Attack on Titan's book with its structure of extended multi-episode confrontations interspersed with talky setup and intrigue. Attack on Titan was also at its worst when it lingered on the connective tissue, so hopefully Seraph has learned from its #1 inspiration. Judging by the next-episode preview, it looks like we're going to be treated to some comedy, including an encounter between Yu and pornography. I can't wait!

Grade: B

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign is currently streaming on Funimation.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.