Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign

Well, he's basically Eren but more traditionally heroic. But, whoops, the main thing that made Eren interesting was him being an antihero of a type we haven't seen much of for a while

Apparently CGI helicopters have a crippling weakness to arrows?

It's having that problem endemic to war stories where it's insisting that the protagonist's side is losing despite only ever showing them winning fights

They do, if you're applying Fire Emblem tactics.

Thought vampires were the type to be above using helicopters and the like, though.

Guren's quite calm in this warzone. Or is it nonchalant?

It will be bad should Mika loses those vials of his. And he's about to face Guren. He's gonna have a tough fight.

Superpowered demon arrows ain't nothing to fuck with.

I am also seeing depressingly little conversation about how the vamps resolved their little Wall Maria problem by going straight-up 9/11 on it.

I don't recall a lot of this from the manga, BTW. I think everything but Mika's flashback was made up wholesale this episode. That or they expanded a really minor panel or something, since IIRC it pretty much goes straight to what the preview says is in the next episode after they arrive at the base.

edited 31st May '15 2:40:15 AM by burnpsy

I don't think enchanted gears are made from "demons" (why are they translating "oni"?). And I'm not sure how they'd do that kind of damage? The arrows aren't moving that fast and the anti-vampire effect wouldn't work on a chopper

Who did the series composition and why do they hate us?

IIRC, they brought the mangaka in to help out. Don't know if that's what he's in charge of.

But it's a good thing they're willing to change things around, since, as I said, the second half would have nothing but training and setup for an incomplete part of the manga happen otherwise.

edited 31st May '15 3:21:20 AM by burnpsy

We were told in this episode that Enchanted Gears are like Cursed Gears but less good. We also know that Cursed Gears are super-sharp and super-tough in addition to being able to dissolve vampires (Yoichi's arrows basically hit helicopters like APFSDS rounds, and the others used their weapons to deflect minigun fire like it weren't no thing). Logically, then, Enchanted Gears should have a bit of that (if not quite as much) going for them as well.

Mostly I'm just complaining that the way it was presented made it look like helicopters were incredibly fragile rather than the bows powerful

As far as military weapons go the helicopter is pretty fragile.

So Ashuramaru is confirmed to be male.

And if the novel spoilers I heard are right Krul's brother.

So Guren started the episode stabbed through the heart, spent the rest of it getting his shit wrecked, and appears to be moderately injured at the end. How durable is he?

Well demons do make you more durable than normal. His former human girlfriend is his personal demon weapon. Hers used to be Asuramaru.

Guren Ichinose: The hardest to kill.

You truly are Yu's family, Mika. Both of ya have the same knack of basically being one-track-minded simpletons.

That's a trump card, alright. The Hyakuya Institute truly must've done some crazy crap. Even Ashuramaru's powerless against it.

They got bitten, but they seem alright. Guess the bites weren't deep enough.

Mika was Ferid's favourite snack for years without any severe ill-effects, remember? Vampire bites don't seem to be all that dangerous unless the vampire in question is really, really putting some effort in.

Welp, may be the first time I've felt that an anime's heterosexual option would be nice, but doesn't stand a chance against the official romance. Godspeed, Shinoa, and here's hoping you find someone smarter and straighter in your life.

Or, y'know, Mitsuba.

And it's over. Well, technically just the first cour, but I'm not going to be watching the second, so

Overall, the series has some interesting ideas, but they're buried beneath tedium, cliches, uneven animation, and poor direction. Would not recommend

Nothing says "Break Time!" more than both sides chilling to some good 'ol jazz.

*Sigh* Shinoa's romantic feelings for Yu's showing. Did it have to go down that route? *Sigh*. ...*Sigh*

Hm, wonder who Ferid was trading info with? Guren? Ha, impossible. It would make their little combat earlier staged.

...Um, can't you vampire nobles tell that Mika's at least half-vampire? His eyes being different from every other vampire should've clued you in well enough. Twits.

And Mika's just as endearing to me as Yu is. Those two really are made for each other.

edited 20th Jun '15 11:33:31 PM by Diamite

Shinoa was better when she was just a troll. Not that opposed to her budding feelings which everyone saw coming from miles away, but still

Dropped this halfway in cuz the pacing pisses me off. I take it it's still a Cliché Storm though.

So I finished it...

I surprisingly enjoyed it without having to deal with the pacing.

Read the first four volumes.

Holy shit, I never seen anything this cliched in a long time. It's like the most bland mix of Bleach and Attack on Titan, with vampires.

When I saw that pigtailed girl whose name I can't care to remember, I was like "Let me guess, she's going to be those thunders character. And of fucking course she is!"

Dropping this shit like it's hot.

Anime was great for wallpapers though. The painted backdrops are gorgeous.

After last weeks recap episode, the first proper episode of the second season is out. It was mostly setup with a bit of exposition on the orphanage Yu and the others were in and more on the internal machinations of the army.

Caught up on the manga. As I thought Guren was working with Ferid, but it turns out it was actually his girlfriend/demon weapon that's working with him. Also something is seriously wrong with Yuu and he need to save others even when told blatantly that the Demon Moon Company is up to bad shit and the chapter itself showing that yes they are performing the same experiments that killed off most of humanity.