Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign
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Miyanoai
Posts: 327 |
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My friend who told me about this show described it as a mix between AoT and Blue Exorcistt actually, lol. When he added the fujoshi bait potential, it definitely made me wanna watch it. X'D |
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zztop
Posts: 646 |
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Seraph's author, Kagami Takaya, is also writing a prequel LN series to the manga. It revolves around Guren's past and (I hear) the origins of the human-killing plague.
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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I take it you're not a populist? (I am.) |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 2945 Location: Email for assistance only |
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That wasn't a recap, as previous poster put it, it was a nightmare. I'm watching this show even after heaving read the first three manga volumes. I say "even" because the plot is pretty ridiculous with literally every single shonen-action theme shoehorned into the plot. Episode 3 will make this more obvious when they further explain why it's called the "Moon Demon Company." Examples: spoiler[Vampires AND Demons AND Evolving (demon) Weapons AND Post-Apocalyptic AND Mysterious Virus AND Revenge AND Christian Mythology Flavor] On the other hand, the background art is really gorgeous and I was impressed by the action animation sequences in episode two, so I'll keep watching in the same way I watched three seasons of Once Upon a Time. Last edited by ANN_Lynzee on Mon Apr 13, 2015 4:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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@leafy sea dragon:
Politically I am a populist, within reason and fairness (the Tea Party can go to hell). Anime-wise I support populist shows for being gateway anime, but I almost never like them for their own merits because they're usually badly-written.
But why would a nightmare be so fundamentally different than what really happened? Was it not enough that his friends were sliced up? Now he has to imagine the vampire whom he believed dead to be alive again, taunting him as he lets him run away? Makes no sense. And yes, I know (manga spoiler) spoiler[the vampire is actually alive, but Yu doesn't know that.] |
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Barbobot
 Posts: 460 |
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Because it's a nightmare. Dreams don't have to make sense. Your subconscious does weird stuff and this one's not even that weird. |
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Miyanoai
Posts: 327 |
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Dreams can warp things pretty greatly. The point of that whole scene seemed to be more focused on the fact that he had to leave him behind. Plus I'm not he would forget the particular detail of killing him but it HAS been years. Memories can get muffled. Thanks to the opening I can tell what happened to Mika but I don't think the outcome would have different. |
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Hameyadea
 Posts: 3679 |
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Symbolism and plot device to illustrate and emphasize to the viewer the dreamer's inner worries; all his friends are dead, vampires - as a whole - still exist and still feeding on humans, he hasn't accomplished anything in his vengeance against the vampires, which is akin to keep running away from them. When one compares the dream sequence at the start of the episode of the sequence at its end, taking into account what happened between them, it becomes clearer what those sequences were trying to convey. |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 2945 Location: Email for assistance only |
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We even made a joke about it how "get it, it's a loop, the themes have fed back into each other!" That, and like the previous posters said, he saw his entire adoptive family slaughtered in front of him. PTSD nightmares make sense in this scenario. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Regarding the troperifficness of Seraph of the End: Something else I've noticed, at least in the manga, is that the style of combat spoiler[looks like something out of a fighting game: You have a lot of direct clashing of short-range abilities with little use of terrain and with opponents facing each other for most of the time. These abilities also seem to instantly manifest and de-manifest. It's more complicated now, with more asymmetry and pragmatism in the fights, but at that point, the character designs and the battling looked like as if someone really wanted there to be a fighting game adaptation of the story.]
I see. Usually, I like most things that are popular, or if I don't, I can see why they're popular. My favorite series is One Piece, for instance, and that's crazy-popular. |
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_Cyphon_
 Posts: 996 |
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I found these first two episodes to be littered with problems. The biggest one is that I don't find myself forming emotional bonds to any of these characters. I honestly think it would've been a better idea to show episode 2 first, then have a flashback episode for episode 1. When there's two time jumps over a span of eight years in one episode I get the feeling of being rushed.
Here is a list of small pet peeves I had: - Where is the police force? There's a burned down city but no soldiers whatsoever. - You're drawing somewhere that's for walking purposes and you don't get out of the way when a vampire comes along? Maybe the kid just didn't hear him. - They're walking across a large open bridge. How has none of the vampire sentries seen them? - Be a little more daring, guys. We literally see one bit child and the rest aren't even shown dying. (Well, except for Mika) - I get that you're excited to see other humans, but should you really trust a stranger you just met? - I do remember there being something of a prophecy, but I still find it very coincidental they were right there at that right time. - Yup, five second action sequence. And it was even shown in full in the PVs. Can we get some fresh action here? - If the main character was smart for once he would realize that he could call the bullied kid his friend to get into the extermination unit but not actually be one. - He will accept Yu if he makes a friend? Can I get a facepalm here? /facepalm - The amount of dialogue in here is just annoying. Did you really need to tell the students that "vampires become stronger after sucking blood"? I thought that was pretty obvious, or at least say it more subtlety. - Why are some of the students just curling up on the stairs? RUN, idiot! - Was it really necessary to have the bully confess his lies in the middle of a battle? You seriously had the time for a 30 second conversation? - Did the vampire really have to say, "Oh, after I suck this kid's blood you will be no match for me." Dude, just do it already. - I don't see how Yu didn't have the time to stab the vampire while it was drinking blood. They couldn't have been more than 15 feet apart. - More coincidence. How was Guren right there? Okay, maybe Shinoa told him or he sensed the vampire or something. - He actually accepted Yu?! - Wait, bullied kid was also accepted? Do they want him to die on the battlefield? One moment of glory does not equate to adequate ability to survive on the battlefield. But even with all these problems, I'm still interested in this and how it's going to end up. I also chuckled at how they don't even try to hide Mika surviving. Hopefully we can get some more action next episode. |
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Miyanoai
Posts: 327 |
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^ I'm not one to usually notice such problems but I found it a bit too fast paced where I didn't find the kids' death scene sad at all. And when he suddenly hugs a stranger...what?!
I just hope it slows down now that he's in the position he wants to be. |
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Akuuza
Posts: 3 |
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@ _Cyphon_
I agree with your first point that you can't really feel for the characters yet and it might have been a god idea to switch the episodes. I can’t help but laugh at most of your little ‘pet peeves’ though, I mean have you never watched a shounen action anime before? No police force – most af the adult population DID die from the virus as far as we know Stating the obvious and talking during fights – no shounen anime without it dude Why Guren is at the school – well they did sound the alarm so why would he not be there? It would have been more strange if he weren't… Guren accepting Yūichirō and Yoichi – he obviously knows something we don’t, like the previously mentioned prophecy Anyway, I will keep watching the show as long as it's entertaining. It will most likely not be anything epic but even if most things are obvious the animation is nice and it's still fun to watch. I do love the comparison to Roy though, if Guren is anything like him he definitely have some hidden agenda for his own benefits. |
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_Cyphon_
Posts: 996 |
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@Akuuza, I guess I had my expectations for this too high, and then when it came out I was very disappointed. I don't see this as a shounen anime, and more of a supernatural/action/thriller genre. I know most of the police force died, but we don't see any bodies of police officers at the scene at all. I didn't mean why Guren was at school. I meant why he was outside of the window right when Yu crashed through with the vampire. Strange place for him to be considering that he should have been alerted to go inside the building maybe? I just feel so disappointed at these first two episode's poor execution, but hopefully we can see it becoming better later on. I still have hope this can turn around.
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Miyanoai
Posts: 327 |
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Maybe he had just arrived on the school grounds at that point?
Also I wouldn't be surprised of Yoichi ends up having a kind of special skill later on. spoiler[or they actually do get more training as I just found out from the manga...] |
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