Owari no Seraph

If I were to somehow examine the level of originality of Seraph of the End in relation to other shonen, (not just Attack on Titan, which it is probably most often compared to), I am convinced that I would not only hit the number zero, but perhaps even go into minus figures; one could say that the series does not excel at anything, and actually stands out as the only one of its type in that way in the end. There are metrosexual vampires, the humanity is fucked up, there is a resistance army of little shits there to save the world, an impulsively idiotic main hero, whiny baggage to go with it, some female dominatrix, a charismatic leader, an unexpected power-up, weapons in the form of demons, random fateful encounters... nothing we have not seen a hundred times before, which makes it hard to recommend this to anyone other than an avid shonen fanatic who does not mind the fact that they are seeing the same thing over and over again, and of course, some undemanding otaku who only needs some nicely drawn characters to be satisfied. However, if you do not fall into either of those categories, and somehow found yourself watching Seraph of the End, know that it is certainly not going to be a terrible ordeal, more likely just a somewhat forgettable experience. In fact, despite the aforementioned downsides, I certainly did not find the main characters as irritating as I found the heroes in Attack on Titan, for example, and I would almost go so far as to say that I took a liking to them. The atmosphere and suspense over the season, despite the heavily palpable recycled nature, is not completely lacking, and the plot holes, along with the most irritating shonen tropes, were relatively avoided by the production team. The artwork and character designs are well-done, the level of animation lags in places with the occasional static image, and the soundtrack, including the opening and closing theme songs, is very successful by Hiroyuki Sawano’s standards. Overall, then, this is an anime that is easily confused for other anime of its kind, and that very few will likely remember in a few years, albeit one that does not cause any undue suffering watching it. I shall watch the second season on principle, to see if by chance there might be any originality. A solid 2 stars. (21.06.2015)

If anyone desires to know what screenwriting cluelessness and confusion looks like, I can highly recommend they watch the second season of Seraph of the End. Not that my expectations after the first season were all that high – I started out watching the second season purely out of interest to see if the production company had by any chance managed to muster up a little more inventiveness, and make this most audience-pleasing blend of well-known shōnen tropes a work of its own – but I was really not expecting the kind of creative constipation that I got here. For the first nine episodes, absolutely nothing happens, the plot goes absolutely nowhere; and only generic filler is thrown in the audience’s face. This consists of frenzied chatter, training and minor fights, or fights with no real consequence, only to have the production company build up the plot to an insanely breakneck speed at the end in the last three episodes. Those episodes then try to cram in as many events as possible, which do finally move the plot forward, however, on the other hand, without making any real sense. Maybe the producers were trying to make the audience all the more eager to switch to the manga (conveniently, they are caught up to the last chapter here), to find out what the show was actually supposed to be. With such an approach, the audience would have probably had a heart-attack when, after watching the last episode, they realized that shit, there had actually been much more the production company had had to work with. Sometimes, on the other hand, the audience could have been amused: the interaction between the main hero and his friend seems pathetically ridiculous, even though they could suspect that might have been the intention of the production company all along. Then again, sometimes they might have realized that not all of the aspects of a show aimed at the widest possible audience have yet been fulfilled: and this is when they get introduced to two new very feminine, very well-endowed characters. The level of drawing, animation and soundtrack then appears to be back to more or less the same level as the first season. At the end of this season however, this reviewer might bitterly lament and throw a fit at the producers, even if subconsciously he knows that when the third season arrives, he, like a lamb to the slaughter, would blindly eat it up, so he ends up giving it a strong one star. (26.12.2015)