Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign

Episode 20

This episode featured everything I want out of Seraph in the End: lush visuals, bleeding-heart pathos, dozens of exclamations of FAMILY, and a fight taking place in a volcano for absolutely no reason. At the end of last week, our heroes were in a rough spot. Even on the defensive, Shinya and Guren were losing ground to Crowley. When Yu butts in with a surprise attack against the noble, it only places him in further danger. Their rescue attempt continues this week, but to no avail. Crowley and his lackeys are too much even for Guren's experienced forces. With their five minutes up, a distraught Shinya forces a retreat with his best friend still in the enemy's clutches. Fighting back grief, Shinya orders them to continue the mission, but Yu won't accept that. He reminisces about what Guren did for him, steels himself, and downs the pills that make him turn into Sephiroth. This time they just make him spew blood, but Shinya's hand has been forced. They need to stick around to deal with the potential consequences.

Kureto, meanwhile, is proceeding with his evil plan. His punk brother, Seishiro Hiragi, is sent by their dad to stop him, but Kureto pushes him away effortlessly. While Kureto emerged from his Hiragi upbringing a sociopathic ubermensch who brute forces others into submission, Seishiro is a cowardly weasel who hides behind his father's power. Considering how her siblings turned out, it's an honest miracle that Shinoa only became mildly psychopathic. Either way, Kureto's plan seems to involve boxes, which he'll presumably drop on the vampires to kill them. Maybe they're filled with garlic? Kureto is a wily man.

It was nice to see more of Yu's childhood interactions with Guren. It's been implied that these two have a history, but that hasn't been outlined in much detail. From the beginning, their relationship was antagonistic, but in a friendly way, halfway between a rivalry and a mentor/student relationship. This scene shows us that although Guren is almost certainly using Yu for his Sephiroth powers, there have been moments of genuine caring and even parenting from his end. Interestingly, if Guren is Ferid's contact, then he isn't in any danger, since Crowley is just taking him to Ferid. Ah well. The best laid plans of mice and men are ruined by Yu's bullheaded (and ultimately narratively justified) devotion to his FAMILY. I wouldn't have it any other way.

After last week's brief dip in quality, the production is back in full force. I have to say, Studio Wit has been doing a fantastic job with this second season. The first one had similar highs, but the last six episodes were a mire of still frames, poor compositing, and off-model wackiness. By contrast, this season has been consistently smooth, dynamic, and even experimental. If sakuga fans aren't watching this, they should be. The story is fine, but the main pleasure I get out of this show is just from looking at it. The animators seem to be having a blast too – Goshi's volcano illusion seemed more like an excuse for a cool setpiece than anything else. As evidenced by the subtle transformations in the characters' bereaved faces, Seraph of the End is a smorgasbord for small moments of character animation too, coming from uniformed toughs with swords rather than petite schoolgirls, which is more relevant to my interests. I'm excited to see if this quality carries straight on through to the finale.

Grade: A

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.