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And so began the battle at the end of the world, between vampires, angels, demons... and us.

Years ago, due to the Trumpets of Apocalypse, a lethal virus spreads across the world, wiping out most of humanity. Afterwards, the surviving humans are either terrorized by the Horsemen of Apocalypse monsters, which exist to kill humans only, or vampires, who emerged from their underground world after the Apocalypse to preserve and enslave what's left of humanity. Yūichirō Hyakuya and his fellow orphans at the Hyakuya orphanage are captured by the vampires and treated as livestock, only being allowed to live for their blood. Desperate for freedom, Yūichirō and his best friend Mikaela hatch a plan to escape with their family to the outside world, hopefully free from vampires—only for their attempts to end in tragedy. As the only one to make it out alive, Yūichirō aligns himself with the Japanese Imperial Demon Army (JIDA)—Japan's only hope against the vampires—in order to avenge his fallen friends.

Seraph of the End (Owari no Seraph) is a manga series written by both Takaya Kagami, author of The Legend of the Legendary Heroes and Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi, and Daisuke Furuya. It is illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto, artist of Kure-nai, and began serialization in Jump Square in 2012. Viz Media began serializing the series as of October 2013 with the subtitle "Vampire Reign".

The manga also has a light novel prequel series titled Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen. A second light novel series titled Seraph of the End: The Story of Vampire Michaela (Owari no Seraph: Kyūketsuki Mikaela no Monogatari) was released in December 2015. It focuses on Mikaela's story and the origin of vampires. A third novel series titled Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Resurrection at Nineteen (Owari no Seraph - Ichinose Guren, 19-sai no sekai Resurrection) began in December 2017. It takes place three years after the events of Catastrophe.

An anime adaptation by WIT Studio was announced on August 28, 2014. In December 2014, it was announced the series would run in two split cours (quarters of the year). The first cour aired in April 2015 and the second cour aired in the following October. In North America, the series was licensed by Funimation for streaming and home video release. Their English dub premiered in the U.K. on Viceland, starting February 14, 2018.


Tropes:

  • Abusive Parents:
    • Yu: His parents were paid to allow the Brotherhood of the Thousand Nights (Hyakuya Sect) to conduct experiments on him, and he was around seven years old when his father tried to kill him with a knife and his mother tried to burn him alive in the apartment fire while yelling that he is a devil's spawn.
    • Mika: When he was five, his father blamed his mother's insanity on him, started to drink, and beat him every day. His mother became insane after getting involved in some cult; it's hinted to be Hyakuya Sect. Eventually, his mother threw him out of a speeding minivan, leaving him to bleed out in the street after she claimed that he is a bearer of the "Mikaela" name and thus, a chosen one who, in her own words, should "fly". Mika's father ignored his pleas for help.
    • The Hīragi family is known to be ruthless and only cares about having power and the strongest bloodline at any cost. They also put themselves under harsh training to endure even torture.
      • Shinoa and Mahiru: Both were born from a woman who was possessed by a demon due to the experimentation done by the Hīragi Family. This is why both were born with demons inside themselves. Those demons are always trying to possess them and often attack the weaknesses in their hearts.
      • Shinya: He was sold by his parents to the Hīragi Family and forced into a survival competition, with the winner getting the right to become Mahiru's fiance. As the last survivor of the competition, he ended up being adopted into the Hīragi family at the age of ten and became Mahiru's fiance.
  • Adaptation Distillation: Explanation about the cursed gear and its different types was either simplified or cut out in the anime.
  • Advanced Ancient Acropolis: While exploring their lost memories, Yu and Mika travel all the back to the Age of Dinosaurs, where they find a very advanced city of angels. Yu even comments on how it looks like they're in a far-future instead of prehistoric Earth.
  • Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Guren has a few moments of literally petting Yu on the head.
  • After the End: The series began after a virus has decimated most of mankind.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: In chapter 54, when Kureto manages to kill his father, Tenri Hīragi, the latter shows remorse for having killed his 40 siblings in order to become the leader of the family, a fact he used to flaunt about. His last words suggest he's jealous of Kureto since he managed to "become king" without losing his humanity.
  • Anti-Regeneration: Vampires have a Healing Factor, which makes it impossible for humans to harm them with normal weapons. Cursed Gears are weapons equipped with a curse that prevents vampires from regenerating the wounds left in them.
  • Attempted Rape: In The Story of Vampire Mikaela, Yu and Mika come across a girl who was about to be ganged-raped by a group of boys.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Yu and Mika in chapter 40 when joining an area surrounded by enemies by all sides to protect Shinoa's squad. In JUMP SQ this part had the text: "Trusting someone else to watch your back. That's a sign of Trust."
  • Badass Army: The Japanese Imperial Demon Army is an army specialized in fighting the vampires and protecting humanity in the post-apocalyptic world.
  • Badass Longcoat: Some members of the JIDA have these as their uniforms. More evident in the 'Catastrophe novels', when Guren's Squad is given their uniforms they look standard, yet Kureto has a longcoat that differentiates him from the others. Some Vampires also have them.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: In the flashback of chapter 129 and 130, there's a bunch of naked children running around, but you won't see any more anatomical details than you would see in a Barbie or Ken doll.
  • Barefoot Captives: In the manga, the humans who are kept as livestock by vampires are barefoot. The anime averts this by having them wear shoes.
  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: To subdue demons and avoid Demonic Possession, humans have to fight inside their heads. However, Yu manages to mostly avoid this by befriending his demon Asuramaru instead. That is until Yu and Asuramaru have an all-out battle in Chapter 117-118, with Yu coming out victorious when he devours Asuramaru to empower his desire to protect Mika and save everyone.
  • Battle of the Still Frames: The fight scenes between the minor characters in episode ten consists of this. At most they may have an attacking animation, but otherwise the camera pans while showing off the battle. Sequences between main characters are mostly animated, but often consist of a few short clashes of their weapons intermixed with dialogue.
  • Better to Die than Be Killed: Aihara orders a "Code 284" after she and her squad mates are surrounded by vampires. They all bite into a poison pill hidden in their mouth to commit suicide and avoid capture. Unfortunately for her, Mika catches on and manages to grab her pill before she can do the same. He is then forced to deliver a Mercy Kill so as to avoid any suspicion after he asks about Yu, and she deliberately feeds the other vampires the wrong intel so Mika can find him.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Yu and his team show up to save Guren just before Mikaela tries to kill him.
  • Big Damn Reunion: In chapter 13, Yu and Mika finally reunite after being separated for four years, causing Yu to cry Tears of Joy because he thought Mika was dead during all that time. However, the happiness of their reunion is undermined because they're in the middle of the battlefield, Yu stabbed Mika to protect Guren and Mika tries to take Yu away from his squad because he thinks Yu is being used.
  • Big Heroic Run: The artist is rather fond of scenes of the heroes heading out to battle as we see in chapter 8 when Yu runs to save a little girl, chapter 9 when Yu runs to save Mitsuba from the vampire, chapter 12 when Yu runs to save Guren and stab Mika by "accident", chapter 27/28 when Yu runs to fight and attack Lucal Wesker, chapter 31 when Guren's squadron is running to save the soldiers they can, chapter 34 when Yu runs to rescue Guren, chapter 35 when Mika runs to confront the Demon Army and to get Yu back, chapter 39/40 when Yu runs to intercept Kureto attack against Shinoa, chapter 52 when Yu runs to intercept an attack against Mika who had his arms cut, etc.
  • Bio-Augmentation: A staple of Kagami's works. It's implied from the very beginning that the Hyakuya Orphanage was running experiments on children, which was what caused the virus.
  • Black-and-Gray Morality: The vampires are merciless and amoral beings who think of themselves as superior to humans. They keep humans contained like cattle for their blood and will spare them as long as they don't rebel. In addition, the vampires place little value in everything (except blood) and therefore don't care if a "small" number of humans, and sometimes their own kind, die. However, the human organizations that fight against them keep vampires locked up to do experimentation on and are not above doing similar things to humans; the most obvious proofs can be seen in Chapter 14, 36, and 39. Although humanity as a whole isn't as warped as the vampire race, the non-Muggles from various magic organizations who subtly control humanity behind the scene are willing to risk committing blasphemy and start an apocalypse just for the sake of power. It is heavily implied and later confirmed that humanity, specifically the Hyakuya Sect and Mahiru Hīragi, is responsible for the viral outbreak that eradicated 90% of human population due to a failed experimentation that is later resumed by the JIDA and other human magic cults. While the vampires can be unsympathetic, they at least want to preserve humanity, seeing as how they protected the humans inside their territories from the Horsemen of Apocalypse monsters, how they are actively trying to prevent another Apocalypse, and how they forbid drinking blood directly from humans in order to avoid accidentally sucking them dry. In fact, two Seraphim, the angels based on the Book of Revelation, pointedly mention of wanting to smite humans for their sins, not vampires.
  • Black Sheep: Shinoa and Mitsuba are both shunned and considered useless by their own respective families (houses). Both were also abandoned by their sisters. Shinoa, who was neglected by her family and was always overshadowed by her successful older sister Mahiru, who also abandons her at some point in Catastrophe. Mitsuba, who is considered a worthless soldier since her reckless actions led to the death of her comrades in the past, is easily discarded by her older sister Aoi in Vampire Reign chapter 45. Shinoa and Mitsuba both have a lingering attachment for and feelings of abandonment from their sisters. Currently both are considered traitors and fugitives from JIDA, a military organization where their families, Hīragi house and Sangu house, participate.
  • Blatant Lies: Some bullies at the school lie about being selected for the army in order to intimidate people.
  • Bodyguard Crush: It's apparently common for retainers (who also work as bodyguards, apart from servants) of the Big Families to fall in love with their masters, like Sayuri and Shigure towards Guren and Aoi towards Kureto.
  • Bolt of Divine Retribution: After Sika Madu failed to resurrect his dead angel subjects, God and the angels from Paradise sent down massive lightning bolts to destroy the Tower of Babel and kill the few angels that were still alive to punish Sika Madu for his sin.
  • Breather Episode:
    • Episode 12, which takes place a few days after the intense fight during the Battle of Shinjuku from the previous few episodes. The episode mostly follows both humans and vampires as they recover from the battle, with Yu waking up from his coma after a week and realizing for sure that Mika is still alive.
    • Episode 15, in which Shinoa Squad spends some time together cooking and eating, as well as getting to know each other more before the difficult Battle of Nagoya occurs.
  • Bridal Carry:
    • Mika has carried Yu this way a total of three times (chapter 13, chapter 35/36 and chapter 40).
    • Chapter 54 shows in a flashback that Guren carried the then dead Shinya this way, after he died in his arms during the finale of Catastrophe.
    • In Chapter 87, Yu carries Mika like this as they flee from Guren, Mahiru, and Noya.
  • Bros Before Hoes: In Chapter 118, Shinoa indirectly confesses her romantic feelings for Yu when she admits she can't go on living without him. Unfortunately for her, Yu immediately turns her down and leaves her along their teammates, in order to protect his best friend Mika from Guren's machinations. Afterwards, Shinoa gets so pissed at Yu essentially choosing Mika over her that she wants to kill Mika and force Yu to come back to her.
  • The Cameo: Keigo Atobe from The Prince of Tennis makes a cameo in chapter 26 which the author confirmed in one of his tweets.
  • Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Almost every major male character is handsome, pretty or cute. The vampire side in particular has very beautiful men, like Mika and Ferid.
  • The Cavalry: Guren, Yu, and the others are rescued in episode 11 when Yu's Unstoppable Rage moment delays the vampires who had cut off their escape long enough for the Hīragi family to arrive and rescue them.
  • Childhood Friends:
    • Yu and Mika have been close like family since they were eight years old.
    • Everyone in Guren's squad have known each other since they were teenagers.
  • Child Soldiers: A fair number of the major characters are teenagers that the Japanese Imperial Demon Army trained as soldiers from a young age.
  • The Church: In this universe, Japan is mostly run by religious organizations, while they might not be considered a Church, we do have one called that: the Hyakuya Church. Other organizations are the Order of the Imperial Demons and the Order of the Imperial Moon, both of these are in less than amicable terms with each other since the latter split up from the main clan 500 years ago. Both are run by the Hīragi and Ichinose families respectively.
  • The Clan: In this series' universe, there are many different families with varying authority in the country. The largest and most powerful is the Hīragi family, which Shinoa belongs to. Guren belongs to the Ichinose family, which are a branch family of the Hīragi.
  • Clothing Damage:
    • In chapter 54, Shinoa rips open Mitsuba's uniform and leaves the latter's bra in full display.
    • Ferid and Krul are subjected to torture by sun exposure as punishment for being in cahoots with humans. When Ferid is rescued, all of his clothes have been burnt, leaving him completely naked in front of the girls of the Shinoa Squad.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Guren is totally fine with fighting dirty to win against the vampires. The only thing he will not do is hurt his comrades.
  • Cool-Down Hug: On Guren's demands, Shinoa hugs Yu to came him calm down after the latter goes berserk from what is presumably his 'seraph' entity.
  • Crapsack World: The world after being decimated by the virus. Humans are usually kept as livestock to provide blood for the vampires, while the vampires keep them alive. There's a chance you can join the Japanese Imperial Demon Army and get a Demon Weapon that can kill the vampires, but this requires getting a contract with a demon who will take over your body if your will should waver, not to mention it won't stop the more powerful vampires from killing you. In addition, the Demon Army themselves aren't exactly saints either, with the top brass being comprised of members or subjects of the Hīragi Family who will destroy anybody who tries to defy them, be it human or vampire. Even before the start of the apocalypse, the Japanese government itself was essentially a tool for the Hīragi Family, Hyakuya Sect and various magic cults to control the Muggles. The rest of the world are implied to have a similar situation; magic organizations and cults around the world hold tremendous powers over governments and Muggles.
  • Cruelty by Feet: In chapter 4/episode 4's flashback, Krul beats up Ferid for acting insolent towards her and once she has him lying on the ground, she steps on his neck to assert her dominance as his queen.
  • Cyanide Pill: The Japanese Imperial Demon Army's soldiers use pills to kill themselves in case they're captured by vampires.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Losing their 'family' was this for Yu and Mika. For Mika, becoming a vampire and seeing humans doing blasphemous experiments that could wipe out humanity made it worse. See My Greatest Failure for Mitsuba's.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: In a world like this, most of the characters have a dark and tragic past.
  • Dead Person Conversation: In a flashback seen in chapter 113, Yu reveals to Sika Madu that he can have conversations with the dead angel Mikaela, claiming that he can hear Mikaela's voice from his corpse.
  • Declaration of Protection: Yu and Mika swear to protect each other multiple times.
  • Demonic Possession: What happens if you touch a cursed weapon but lack the willpower to overcome the demon within it.
  • Died on Their Birthday: In the first episode, the Hyakuya orphans eat curry for the first time in years and decide to make the day into their collective designated birthday. Later that day, all the orphans except for Yu and Mika are murdered by Ferid.
  • Disapproving Look: In chapter 4, Guren has this while watching Yu and Kimizuki fighting and questioning if this was the result of Shinoa supervising them. In chapter 43, Yu and Mika have this look towards Shinoa when Shinoa accuses Mitsuba of not being a virgin.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?:
    • Mika and Krul, meet for a private session. No one else is present, it's only them. Mika then thrusts a part of his body in her, and both experience 'a feeling of immoral pleasure', as an exchange of body fluids occur. Krul strokes his hair the entire time and even adds some double entendre, and when they pull away, both are sweating, panting and blushing. Hard. Keep in mind, said action is severely illegal in vampire law. It has a great punishment, yet Krul and Mika don't care. Oh, and they do this EVERY DAY, and have been doing it for the past 4 years. It's pretty blatant. The moaning noises don't help.
    • Lacus' behaviour seems similar to that of someone who suffers from an eating disorder.
    • The vampire bites are similar to sexual assault.
    • Mika's 'addiction' to Krul's blood can be linked to drug addiction. He also seems to be having a bit if a hangover when they're done.
    • The way Ferid behaves towards Mika is akin to how many abusers and rapists treat their victims.
    • Ferid and Crowley knock Krul unconscious and chain her up, and she is utterly defenceless the while time. To provide some context, Ferid and Crowley are two adult men and Krul is a child. Imagine what they could have done to her...
    • Crowley was 'made' by Saito's blood, without Saito's knowledge or consent. Compare that to man who unknowingly impregnated a woman with his sperm without his knowledge and consent.
    • Vampires are said to lose their emotions, lack sexual drive and become stoic on transformation. Anyone with depression can relate to that.
    • The humans want to drive the vampires, 'the invaders', out of their home. 'Invaders' could be seen as an alternative for 'immigrants'.
    • The scene where Mika pounced on Krul in extreme hunger.
    • In one scene, a helicopter (a flying vehicle) is smashed in a tall building.
    • Crowley seems to have PTSD.
  • Downer Beginning: The series starts out with a major tragedy as a virus killed off a vast majority of the human population and vampires take the survivors as cattle. The first chapter/episode ends in a major Tear Jerker when the Hyakuya Orphanage children try to escape Sanguinem but are all horribly killed aside Yu and Mika, who is later revealed to have survived after been turned into a vampire.
  • Dueling Messiahs: Yu and Guren, starting from chapter 117. Guren wants to bring back the dead humans who were killed in the catastrophe that he triggered eight years ago, but in exchange, he needs to sacrifice the lives of all the vampires and Mika, who has been turned into a demon. Yu rejects Guren's plan and deserts his side because he wants to save everyone, without sacrificing Mika or anyone else. Yu recognizes that the path he has chosen will require him to make harsh choices, and he might have to harm and kill people to achieve his goal, but still decides to go through with it since he plans to eventually revive the people he killed.
  • Dysfunction Junction: Almost everyone here has a dark past and unhappy life.
  • Expendable Clone: According to Noya in chapter 85, the First Progenitor Sika Madu had created dozens of clones of Yu. Hundreds of years ago, Noya killed a kid version of Yu for discovering his, Ashera's, and Krul's secret meeting. Noya didn't care since Sika Madu wouldn't notice if one or two Yu were destroyed.
  • Facial Markings: These occasionally show up, thanks to usage of the cursed weapons.
  • Failed a Spot Check: In chapter 44, Yu says that he didn't notice Ferid (who was right beside Mika) in the Shinjuku battle because his mind was entirely focused on Mika after meeting him again. Until the Shinjuku battle, he believed that Mika died with the other Hyakuya kids at Ferid's hands. In the anime however, he spotted Ferid right away after the latter attempt to cut off the humans' retreat.
  • Family of Choice: The Hyakuya orphans considered themselves this. Shinoa Squad eventually becomes this too. Guren has also put himself in the position of being Yu's father. Krul also calls herself Mika's surrogate mother.
  • Fanservice:
  • Fantasy Kitchen Sink: There's vampires, demons, angels, horsemen of the apocalypse, cursed weapons, supernatural human experimentation, and superpowerful magical religious organizations.
  • A Father to His Men: Guren cares for his troops more than he likes to admit and tries his hardest to make sure as many of them survive as possible, at great personal risk.
  • Flashback Nightmare: Yu had the same nightmare every night for four years, which is the one where he sees the Hyakuya kids dying, with emphasis on Mika dying in Ferid's hand (stated in chapter 2 and in the Ikebukuro kyuuketsuki kari-hen extra chapter).
  • Flaw Exploitation: Kureto's Modus Operandi. He regularly controls Guren by threatening to hurt his subordinates.
  • Foil: Mika to Yu. Whereas Yu is Hot-Blooded, prefers brute force over wit, and has a dark colour scheme, Mika is composed, prefers using his head, and has a light colour scheme. Oh, and one of them's a human and the other's a vampire.
  • Forceful Kiss: Chapter 58 has Kureto kissing Aoi by surprise because Kureto needed to act on his greed and selfish desires in order to give the demon inside of him energy.
  • Four-Star Badass: Lieutenant General Kureto Hīragi and Major general Shinya Hīragi.
  • "Freaky Friday" Flip: A particularly convoluted example. The flashback arc ends with the big revelation that Yu and Mika swapped souls all the way back in their first lives as the angel Mikaela and the homunculus Yu. Mikaela possessed a human body like all the other dead angels, but he wanted his father to still think he was dead, so he asked his homunculus companion Yu to enter his dead angel body while Mikaela spent the next thousands of years possessing the human bodies of the "Yus" created from the homunculus.
  • Friend-or-Idol Decision: In Chapter 114, Guren forces Yu to choose between saving his best friend-turned-demon Mika or bringing back the humans who died in the past eight years, including the other Hyakuya orphans. Yu refuses to choose because he wants to save everyone, Mika included, and runs off with Mika so they can come up with their own plan together.
  • The Glomp: Yu is glomped by Yoichi in chapter 2 and glomped by Mika in chapter 36. In the anime, Yu also glomps Mika in episode 22.
  • Good-Looking Privates: Shinoa's first comment upon seeing Yu in his new uniform is that he looks really good in it, with Yu returning the compliment.
  • Harmful to Minors: Yu's bitter relationship with his parents at a very young age was the start of his anti-social tendencies.
  • Healing Vat: Vampires have tanks for curse detoxification to heal themselves from the injuries left by Cursed Gear.
  • Height Insult: When Shinoa rides "her car" (or so she claims) and quickly realizes she's too short to see past the steering wheel, both Yu and Shiho, who were arguing nearby, burst into giggles and start teasing her about it. Then it cuts to both of them beaten up and promising not to mock her height again.
    Yu: (in a defeated voice) Let's not mock Shinoa about her height anymore.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: The main protagonist Yu has a sword for a weapon.
  • Hide Your Gays: Yu and Mika call each other family, since they came from the same orphanage and grew up together in Sanguinem, but their relationship sure seems to go way deeper than familial love because of their absolute devotion to each other and Luminescent Blushes during their blood-drinking scenes. Eventually, Mika gives a Dying Declaration of Love to Yu. Also, Mika's ideal illusionary world is him living a peaceful life with Yu at his side and raising their fellow orphans together. As for Yu, he makes abundantly clear that he wants nothing but a life with Mika at his side and at one point, violently rejects Mika's suggestion for him to give up on him and move on to marry and have kids with Shinoa, because Yu would choose to die with Mika over even trying to live without him. When the author was asked whether Yu and Mika's relationship can be considered romantic, he said it's a "matter of perspective."
  • Hollywood Tactics: When the vampires attack Shinjuku, they are seen flying AH-64 Apache helicopters. They could easily attack the humans from a very long distance away. Instead they wait until they're within shooting range of a bow & arrow before attacking, and unsurprisingly, are brought down by a Rain of Arrows. They also decide to ram a C-130 cargo plane into one of the walled defenses instead of say, having an air drop of vampires to force the humans to defend multiple points instead of easily defending from one point. One also has to wonder why the humans haven't obtained or kept any anti-aircraft weaponry around if vampires are armed with flying military vehicles. It's not as though anti-aircraft missiles would be difficult to maintain if the vampires are somehow able to get enough fuel to fly those helicopters around.
  • Hope Spot: The Hyakuya orphans were very close to escaping the vampire city, only for Ferid to appear at the exit and slaughter all the children except Yu and Mika.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Yu towards the Vampires and Guren. Especially seen in how even after Guren betrayed him a few times already, killed Mirai (Kimizuki's sister) and Mika, and revealed to Yoichi that he's been keeping his deceased sister's corpse he still decides to trust him against his Squad's advice. Suffice to say, no one is happy about this. However, the moment Guren reveals he needs to sacrifice Mika to resurrect the dead, Yu finally comes to see Guren as an enemy and immediately cuts ties with him and his teammates to run away with Mika.
  • Horsemen of the Apocalypse: This trope is quite literal, since in this world there are monsters called exactly that. Also called "Four Horsemen of John", they were created by the Brotherhood of a Thousand Nights later known as "Hyakuya Sect". In Shinoa's words: "Horsemen only attack humans. Almost as if they were sent to cull the world's bloated human population."
  • Hostage Situation: In chapter 120, Yu takes a child as a hostage to force civilians to give up their food supplies.
  • Human Shield: In chapter 120, Guren uses a child as a shield against Yu, who stops himself to not harm the child.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: Demons, vampires, and angels seem to believe this at least. The human magic cults and organizations in this story are depraved at best and sickeningly atrocious at worst. The tendency of humans to engage in immoral experimentation and push boundaries that should not be pushed when left on their own is remarked on by several vampires, and in the Chapter 43, Shinoa's squad agrees that the JIDA is actually a more dangerous than the vampires, who for the most part only care about their next meal.
  • Hypocrite: Yu tells Yoichi that his sister's death wasn't his fault and that the boy shouldn't live for revenge—that is, advice opposite from everything that Yu is doing. He's aware of this though.
  • I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Several vampires whose sires are known hate them for some reason. Krul and Saitou even lampshaded it while talking in chapter 49:
    Krul: Are you after the First Progenitor as well? He was the one who turned us into bloodsucking, undying monsters. We all despise him to some degree.
    Saitou: A good question. All vampires hate their "parent" at one time or another. Almost like how human children go through a rebellious phase.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Subverted in Chapter 118. After Guren reveals he needs to turn Mika into a sacrifice to resurrect 90% of humanity plus the Shinoa Squad's dead family members, Yu lets his demon go berserk and attacks his so-called friends to escape with Mika. Guren, the squad and Asuramaru think Yu has lost himself to his demon side again and try talking sense into him. It looks like the squad's plead to Yu calms him down and makes him recover his sense of reason... Only for Yu to reveal he never lost it and was just lowering everyone's guard to devour Asuramaru and abandon his former friends to go start his own path with Mika.
  • Internal Reveal: The reader learns relatively quickly that Mikaela is alive and a vampire. Yu doesn't get to know until Chapter 12 after stabbing him with a sword. Ouch.
  • Intertwined Fingers: Looking for emotional strength to keep going against Asuramaru, Yu thinks of Mika and imagines himself intertwining his fingers with him (Chapter 20 and Episode 14).
  • I Owe You My Life: Yu feels that he owed Guren his life. This is one of the reason why he sticks with Guren even after finding out that Guren is planning to use him for his own ends.
  • Ironic Echo: After being repeatedly told by the other orphans at the Hyakuya orphanage about how they're family and repeatedly denying it, Yu finally acknowledges them as this at the end of the first chapter as why he can't abandon Mika.
  • It's Personal: Yu during the Battle of Shinjuku when he realized Ferid was the vampire who killed his family years ago. He goes off the deep end when Ferid and the other vampires start hurting his new family.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Shinoa does this often. In just two chapters, she's already pointed out that Yu's in no position to get preachy with the school bullies after one of them snuck into the training facility under the school and also points out the absurdity of the high school situation in the post-apocalyptic world they live in.
    Shinoa: Give me a break. Did you really think a normal high school life existed in a world such as this?
  • Lap Pillow:
    • In a flashback at the start of Chapter 117, Krul is seen resting her head on her brother Ashera's lap.
    • In Chapter 126, angel Mikaela rests his head on his father Sika Madu's lap.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: Mikaela is alive and a vampire. It's not revealed until the end of the first volume, after which all art—including the cover of the second volume—makes no attempt to hide this.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In response to Mika claiming that Yu reads too much manga, Yu responds by saying that no, he doesn't and "This is not a manga!"
  • A Lesson in Defeat: Chapter 26 has the squad get Curb Stomp Battled by Lt. Guren's squad after which they receive a lecture about just how and where they went wrong. Yu actually takes the lesson seriously.
  • Lotus-Eater Machine: Chapter 93 has Mika trapped in a world made of his deepest desires (living a peaceful and normal life with Yu and the other Hyakuya orphans). This entire world is a manifestation of Mika's own demon power.
  • MacGuffin: The Sinful Keys are cross-shaped daggers that come out of humans that hosted a seraph. They are extremely powerful since they can neutralize the First Vampire and are stated to be needed for the ritual to resurrect the dead.
  • Malingering Romance Ploy: In chapter 110, after taking a poisonous drug to weaken the First inside her, Shinoa pretends to pass out to make Yu give her the Bridal Carry.
  • Mass "Oh, Crap!":
    • Seems to happen whenever a Vampire noble shows up on the battlefield. Yu and his squadmates quickly learn how much stronger they are when they first run into Crowley, who mostly just toys with them and only lets them escape because he had other matters to attend to.
    • Both vampires and humans have this moment when Yu's Traumatic Superpower Awakening occurs during episode 11. Crowley barely escapes Yu's attacks, and even Shinoa is helpless against him. And even Asuramaru, Yu's contracted demon, seems fearful of whatever non-human thing was inside of Yu that awakened, and even warns him that he should flee with Mika and the vampires.
  • The Men First: Kureto has shown unprecedented concern about the wellbeing of his subordinates, so long as they are loyal to him. The official fanbook indicates that one of his interests is "An environment where his subordinates can work easily". He's not above killing them for major purposes though.
  • A Million Is a Statistic: Taken to ridiculous levels later on. Yu decides that reviving Mika at all costs takes priority over everyone else affected by the actions of the vampires, the angels, and Guren, while Guren's faction will take any measure to get Yu back and ignore what they're doing to civilians. Case in point, both factions attempt to control a supply of rations, but Yu and Mika trick Guren's group into burning all of Akihabara's supplies while killing at least twenty people and raiding the guarded reserves, dooming the whole area to starvation. Yu even says that it doesn't matter because he'll just revive them later.
  • Mistaken Identity: Something that turns the entire series on its head. It's revealed that Yu is Mikaela (Sika Madu's son) all along, and what everyone else thought was Mikaela was in fact the Yu homunculus inhabiting his corpse. Mikaela put his soul in Yu's body and then modified his own memories so the ruse wouldn't be discovered. No one, except for Yu and Mika realizing it later on, not even Sika Madu, is aware of this, explaining why the plans revolving around them failed - the one they were focusing on reviving and the intended sacrifice for said revival were the opposite from the beginning, rendering said plans moot from the start.
  • Muggles: The people who had no connections to any of the magical religious organizations prior to the apocalypse. These were the ones who were hit the hardest by the virus.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Basically any vampire noble is this. They are by far tougher than regular vampires since they also have special weapons and are much stronger as well. And you'd better hope there isn't more than one of them around...
  • A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Hīragi family shows disturbing similarities with the Nazis with their fervent belief in Social Darwinism and supremacism, their status as absolute rulers of the JIDA, and their tendency to engage in "scientific" human experimentation.
  • Neck Lift: Ferid to Guren in the Battle of Shinjuku and Crowley to Guren in the Battle of Nagoya.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • Subverted. This seems to be the case at first, with one civilian pointing out that by killing the vampires keeping them captive, that group of people, forced to live outside of city walls, no longer has any means of surviving. However, Yu replies that it's better to try and be free, no matter how difficult it might be to live afterwards, and Shinoa believes that there might be room for them to be protected by the Japanese Imperial Army, so it all ends well.
    • In episode 16, after dealing with some horsemen, Shinoa deliberately has Shiho avoid picking up Yu when he attempts to jump back onto the vehicle after killing two of the horsemen. However, this horseplay ends up making them late to the meeting, and Guren nearly kicks them off the mission as well as giving Shinoa a "The Reason You Suck" Speech by stating that her not taking things seriously could cause problems. His mock battle with them only further proves the point when their lack of teamwork makes them easy to defeat by Guren and two of his squad mates.
  • Not a Date: In chapter 121, Yu and Mika climb Mt. Fuji together to create some happy memories together before they start the battle against all the factions that want them dead. After hanging out around the mountain, they sit to watch the sunset together as both comment on how happy they are to be together
  • Odd Friendship: Yu and Yoichi have very little in common, but are still each other's first friends at school.
  • One Cast Member per Cover: In the early volumes, the majority of the covers have a different character doing a pose.
  • One-Man Army: All Black Demon Series wielders and vampire nobles (the Progenitors and their direct progeny). The hosts of Seraph of the End even more so.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Yūichirō is frequently shortened to Yu, and likewise, Mikaela gets shortened to Mika. This is nodded to in canon, where Mika is able to inadvertently convince a human to tell him where Yu is because he refers to Yu by his nickname.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Shinoa gets a few of these:
    • When she gets worried about Yu after he goes berserk into Seraph mode, Guren even points out this is an unusual attitude from her. She even blushes when he suggests she might've fallen in love with him.
    • She grows desperate whenever Yu is in danger, evident when she's about to get possessed by Shikama Doji, since Shinoa had always been able to suppress her desires until Yu appeared in her life.
    • We additionally get one from Kureto when he's also about to be possessed by the First, he starts to get desperate and fulfills small desires in order to make Rameiki, his demon, stronger, like kissing Aoi or laughing at stupid things, or even letting himself be mocked by Shinya to quell his self-destructive desires, even Shinya points out this is rare coming from him.
  • Ordinary High-School Student: The kids at Yūichirō's high school think that they're this, or at least as ordinary as you can get in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but the high school is actually a recruiting ground for the vampire resistance. Despite having been personally trained by an elite member of the Imperial Demon Army for most of his life, Yu gets sent there in order to find some partners to join him in his squad in the army; albeit, he doesn't learn this until later on.
  • Orphanage of Love: Subverted with the Hyakuya Orphanage. At first, it was thought to be an orphanage that took in children with abusive backgrounds and let them find a new happy family with each other. However, the orphanage was secretly ran by the Hyakuya Sect, an evil cult that used the orphans as test subjects and then brainwashed them to make them forget about the terrible experiments they put them through.
  • Parental Abandonment: Few parents are ever mentioned to exist, let alone given screentime, if they're alive anyway. Most adults died after the virus killed most of humanity.
  • Patricide: Kureto kills his father Tenri.
  • Pensieve Flashback: Starting from chapter 122, Yu and Mika explore the former's lost memories. Using Mika's demon powers, the two physically manifest in the world of Yu's memories in Ancient Greece and then the Age of Dinosaurs. They find it inconvenient because the flashback doesn't take them to the important places automatically and they have to move by themselves to follow Angel Mika and Eyeball Yu.
  • Personality Swap: As children, Yu was rather cynical of those around him while Mika tended to be the optimist. After being separated, Yu gains close kinship with other humans who have all experienced loss and who are all fighting to protect humanity and in the process grows a lot kinder and optimistic, particularly after learning that Mika is still alive after years of believing him to be dead. Mika on the other hand spent the 4 years separate from Yu among vampires, himself a partial-vampire who constantly thirsts for blood. He has not gained any move love for vampires even after becoming one of them, but he has learned that higher ups in the human army have rather evil plans, which has caused him to become distrustful of humanity as well. All in all, Mika has become a very cynical person, with Yu being the one thing he still believes in.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: When humans break the taboo from God, the Seraphs possess humans and set out to destroy humanity. The world has been left in ruins because of this already.
  • Pietà Plagiarism: In Chapter 90, Yu kneels down and holds the top half of Mika's battered, dying body in his arms as he desperately begs for anyone to save Mika.
  • Pixellation: In Chapter 96, Shinoa and Mitsuba get drunk and throw up all over Krul and the floor. Their vomit is pixelled for censorship.
  • Playing with Syringes: All human magic cults and organizations in this story have a chronic fixation on human experimentation, to the extent that vampires and demons associate it with one of the defining traits of humanity. Those experiments are "quite" inhuman to say the least.
  • Power at a Price: The Cursed Gears give users power at the cost of getting a mental demon roommate that's always there to take over your body if you're not careful and keeps you from sleeping with nightmares of the past. It's not even easy for humans to successfully form contract with demons, especially with Black Demons, which requires various bio-augmentations to even have a slight chance to succeed. Furthermore, to stand a chance against stronger vampires and nobles, it's necessary to consume doping pills to increase the amount of power that could be drawn from the Cursed Gears; taking more than two pills at once could rupture the internal organs. Less is known about the weapons of vampires, but they seem to give power in exchange for blood at the very least.
  • The Power of the Sun: Angels get their power from the sun where their God resides.
  • Powers via Possession: Wielders of possession-type Cursed Gear gain power by allowing their demons to possess their bodies, at the risk of completely losing themselves to the possession.
  • Princeling Rivalry: What the Hiragi family is all about. Tenri Hiragi killed his 40 siblings to inherit the throne, and back in high school his children had a dispute, particularly Kureto and Mahiru, on which one would become the heir.
  • Promotion to Parent: Mika, Yu, and Akane acted as parental figures to the younger Hyakuya orphans after the collapse of the world.
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: The higher ranking members of the Imperial Demon Army such as Guren, Kureto and Shinya are easily its most powerful fighters. The vampire nobles are also more powerful than ordinary vampires, especially the Progenitors, who are the leaders and most powerful of the vampires.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: All the demon and vampire characters have red eyes.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Yu and Mika. Yu's fiery, hot-blooded personality contrasts Mika's collected and level-headed attitude. That is, until they meet again.
  • Red Shirt Army: Much of the regular Japanese soldiers are this, and it seems their only purpose is to die to show how horrific fighting the vampires are. It's not much of a stretch however, considering they're using weaker weapons than the main characters, and even then they sometimes have trouble with the vampire nobles.
  • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The angels from Sika Madu's ancient kingdom have names taken from the demons of Ars Goetia. The most prominent ones are Bael, Paimon, Amon, Belial, Astaroth, Marbas, Bathin, Naberius, Raum and Orobas.
  • Rescue Arc: The main objective of the Osaka arc is for the Shinoa Squad, Guren Squad, Mika and Crowley to work together in order to rescue Ferid, who has been punished to be set on fire because of sun exposure.
  • The Reveal: A bunch:
    • The person Krul Tepes has been searching for for centuries is Ashuramaru, her brother, with the latter's true name being Ashura Tepes.
    • Guren caused the apocalypse by reviving his squad comrades from death.
    • Yu is an artificial human, having many clones of himself being created and grown in canisters by the first progenitor since thousands of years ago. And later on, it's revealed he's actually a homunculus created by Sika Madu initally as a companion for Mikaela, and later on to create humans instantly for his plan, whose mind/soul was placed into one of said artificial humans.
    • The first progenitor, Sika Madu, is not a vampire, but an angel, with six wings and blue blood.
    • Mika is Sika Madu's son, and the energy gathered in the seven sinful keys can either bring back all of humanity killed in the apocalypse or Mika alone.
    • Adding onto that, what happened between Sika Madu and God. It turns out all of the vampires were angels thousands of years ago living in an advanced city and journeying to reach God. Sika Madu attempted to revive his comrades from death, a sin that combined with creating life (Mikaela) lead to God killing all of the angels, destroying the city and cursing him to be undying. He created humans afterwards and placed his comrades' souls in them in a plan to eventually fully revive everyone that died.
    • And the biggest one so far, explained further under Mistaken Identity: It turns out that Yu and Mika were in fact the opposite identities from the start - "Yu" is the angel Mikaela, and "Mika" is the Yu homunculus. Their souls inhabited each other's bodies. Further on that, the sinful keys were combined in Mikaela's corpse, but split apart and scattered into seven pieces to delay Sika Madu's plan of revival.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: Akane and the other members of Yu's makeshift family. Mika, on the other hand, subverts this by ultimately surviving.
  • Sacrificial Lion:
    • When Guren's squad is trying to rescue the hostages from Crowley and there's no chance of winning, Guren tells everyone else to run and leave him behind. Luckily Crowley had no interest in anyone other than him anyway and lets them escape. Guren reveals that this is all according to plan.
    • More generally, this is how Kureto uses Guren in his strategies. Guren's team is usually handed the most dangerous task of keeping the enemy distracted and occupied while the main force completes its objective.
    • Turns out the whole mission in Nagoya would eventually lead to this as the survivors of the DMC were always meant to be sacrificed in order to control the Seraph of the End.
  • Scenery Gorn: The series doesn't skimp when portraying the state of post-apocalyptic Japan.
  • Scenery Porn: Both the manga and anime have some very detailed backgrounds. The anime especially, with its hand painted backgrounds, looks amazing.
  • Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: The Seraphs heralding the end of the world are implied to have been kept inside all the Hyakuya orphans.
  • The Seven Mysteries: Shinoa mentions the Second Shibuya High School's mysteries. They include hearing the piano playing in an empty room, anatomy mannequins that move on their own, and the Forbidden Chamber, the last which is really a restricted basement where the Japanese Imperial Demon Army keeps Cursed Gear.
  • Ship Tease: There's some scenes of blushing while looking fondly at other characters (e.g. Shinoa blushing because of Yu in chapter 24, Yu blushing because of Mika in chapter 37, Mika blushing because of Yu in chapter 37), characters teasing other character to have a crush (e.g. Guren teasing Shinoa to have a crush over Yu, Shinoa teasing Mitsuba to have a crush over Yu), romantic tropes, fanbook facts (e.g. Shinoa's favorite teasing target is Mitsuba), etc.
  • Shoot the Dog: What's left of humanity has to get its hands dirty to stay free. Although, many humans are getting more and more willing to Kick the Dog.
  • Shower of Angst: Mitsuba has one along with Shinoa in Chapter 9, she has horrible flashbacks of his previous Squad's demise before Shinoa tries to cheer her up.
  • Sibling Rivalry: There's numerous examples, especially within the Hiragi family. Most of them have one serving as the Aloof Big Brother while the other is the one who Can't Catch Up.
    • Kureto and Mahiru. Ever since they were children, Mahiru proved herself far more skilled and stronger than Kureto despite him being the eldest. Because of this, she became Tenri Hiragi's favorite , a fact Mahiru often brags about to annoy Kureto. Kureto is quite aware and accepting of his position as the weak one, until he realizes Mahiru is slowly going insane and he becomes more than willing to commit Sibling Murder in order to stop her.
    • Seishiro and Kureto. Kureto doesn't think of it as such but Seishiro has a big inferiority complex towards him.
    • Shinoa and Mahiru. Not quite a rivalry either, but since Shinoa is The Un-Favourite it's a given she'd feel inferior to her older sister who everyone regarded as a genius.
    • Mitsuba and Aoi. The latter has always been considered better than her by her family because of her skills and working directly for the Hiragi. It doesn't help so much that Aoi has an antagonistic behaviour towards her.
  • Snow Means Love: In Episode 22, Mika walks through Nagoya while carrying an unconscious Yu in his arms, as it starts snowing around them. Their first consented vampire bite scene happens shortly after.
  • Spanner in the Works: Revealed late in the story to be the true reason Guren and Sika Madu's plans failed, without them even knowing. In reality, Yu and Mika exchanged souls thousands of years ago. The only ones aware of this were Mikaela (the planner) and Yu (who agreed to work with him) - but they modified and erased their own memories so that there was no way for it to be discovered. Everyone, including Yu and Mika themselves, believed that Mika was Mikaela and Yu was the artificial sacrifice created for Mikaela's revival. The two boys only realize it after diving deep into their own memories over thousands of years ago, with no one else the wiser, yet this is one of the main reasons the revival plans for Mikaela never worked, with everyone believing Mika was the one with the soul to be revived and Yu was the sacrifice for it.
  • Summoning Ritual: Kureto and the Japanese Imperial Demon Army summon a demon called Abaddon, using Mirai's Trumpet and numerous blood sacrifices from humans, demons and vampires.
  • Survivor Guilt: Yu and Mika suffer from a case of this, as does Yoichi, who survived while his older sister died protecting him. Mitsuba also seems to suffer from this, as she would rather die than have someone be killed because of her again.
    • Pretty much everyone has lost friends or family, due to the premise of the story.
  • Team Hand-Stack: At the end of Chapter 112, the members of the Shinoa Squad cross their hands together and convince Guren to join them, once they manage to convince him to trust them and tell them the truth about his plans.
  • Tower of Babel: During the flashback arc, Yu and Mika visit a city of angels in the prehistoric Earth of their lost memories, where they find out the angels were working on the Babel Project to build a massive tower that would reach God's paradise in the sun.
  • A Truce While We Gawk: When whatever was inside of Yu awakens during episode 11, everyone around the area stops fighting. The vampires, who had cut off Yu's squadmate's escape and were even feeding on them, kind of just stare at him along with his friends. Crowley, who was likely the strongest character there, suffers a Curb-Stomp Battle and is unable to stop Yu. Shinoa barely manages to get a "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight moment on him after Mika takes a sword stab for her.
  • True Companions:
    • Hyakuya Orphanage kids: (chapter 2) One of the words Yūichirō uses to describe them is "nakama" (comrades), also "tomodachi" (friends) and "kazoku" (family) (the director told them to refer to themselves as family, but the kids are ready to see themselves getting adopted when Mahiru goes to the orphanage to take Junji in book 5 of Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen).
    • Shinoa's squad: (chapter 23) Yūichirō declares that he sees the squad as his family. Yoichi and Kimizuki agree with this notion, and Shinoa decides to apply the motto of "Family takes care of family" for their squad. Mitsuba is implied to be agreeing with them.
    • Guren's squad + Shinya: (chapter 25) Yūichirō asks if Guren considers them his family, and Guren confirms. Guren also encourages this way of thinking to those under him as we see in chapter 7.
  • Twisted Christmas: On Christmas of the year 2012, most of the world's human population dies because of a virus and vampires capture the survivors to use them as livestock.
  • Underground City: Sanguinem, the third capital of the vampire world, is located underneath the ruined city of Kyoto.
  • Undying Loyalty: Yu and Mika are completely loyal to each other.
  • Unwanted Rescue: Happens to Mitsuba in two different occasions, first in Chapter 9, when she's grabbed by the neck by a vampire and gets rescued by the Squad although she asked them to leave her behind, then in Chapter 57 when they're attacked by Crowley and she tries to restrain him by grabbing his leg and yelling for the others to leave, as she didn't want anyone getting killed because of her.
    • Shinoa squad as a whole, to the point that they outright attack Shinya and the rest of the Moon Demon Company to save Mika, who they don't know and who had just attacked them, solely because they know he's Yu's friend.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: Yu, Yoichi, and Kimizuki all have Black Demon Gear, but for all that power they're still inexperienced. Their mock battle with Lt. Guren's squad is used to display this.
  • Unstoppable Rage: When Yu's squadmates are in danger and being fed on by vampires in episode 11, he loses control and suffers a Traumatic Superpower Awakening. Mika tries to stop him, but whatever was within Yu suddenly makes him extremely powerful. Crowley, who earlier was toying with them and forced Guren to order a retreat when he showed up again, doesn't stand much of a chance either, and barely escapes Yu's vicious attacks. Unfortunately, he's unable to tell friend from foe, and attacks Shinoa during his rampage.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Yu and Kimizuki, once they get over their initial dislike towards each other. Shinoa and Mitsuba fall into this as well, though they can still be more than a little hostile.
  • Watching the Sunset: In chapter 121, while hanging out at Mt. Fuji, Yu and Mika sit on a torii to watch the sunset together and stay right on the same spot until they watch the sunrise as well.
  • We Do the Impossible: Shinoa squad in a nutshell. They are often handed tough tasks and due to their inexperience, have trouble fighting stronger vampires such as nobles. However, unlike many other squads, they mostly make it out intact, though having several users of demonic weapons helps too.
  • We Used to Be Friends: Subverted with Yu and Mika. Before discovering Mika had become a vampire, Yu declares he will kill all vampires and even stabs Mika when he doesn't recognize Mika and thinks he is an evil vampire trying to kill Guren. After discovering Mika had become a vampire, Yu still considers Mika his "family" without question, even though Mika is a vampire (Yu's enemies) and Mika hates the Japanese Imperial Army (Yu's allies). Yu and Mika are somehow never forced or tempted to go against each other. Funny enough, Mika and Guren have both tried to kill each other, yet Yu considers them both family. In addition, Shinoa's squad temporarily turns against the Japanese Imperial Army in order to protect Mika since Mika is Yu's family.
  • Wham Line: Chapter 130 has a big one:
    Yu: I am Mikaela. But if I'm Mikaela, (points at Mika) who're you?
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: After a multiple chapter fight, Yu manages to save an Angel host, excising the angel from him. The very next chapter they are all on the road to their next destination, with said ex-angel nowhere to be seen.
  • What You Are in the Dark: The demons attack Yu, Yoichi, and Shiho mentally when they first attempt to form a contract with them to utilize their weaponry. Yoichi nearly succumbs to his demon, but is rescued by the others. Ironically he ends up mastering his weapon's ability simply because he talked to his demon regularly before going to bed, while both Yu and Shiho had to struggle with their respective demon's mental attacks on them to try and break and possess them. But they both ultimately succeed in not succumbing to the demon's temptations about giving up and letting themselves be consumed by the darkness.
  • The Worf Effect: Guren's squad is supposedly much stronger than Shinoa's, but they get hit the hardest in pretty much all the real conflicts.
  • Worth Living For: Yu doesn't succumb to Asuramaru when he tries to possess him because he has a new reason to live, that reason being to rescue Mika, as shown in Chapter 20 (Episode 14). Mika's reason to endure his bloodthirst and keep living as a "filthy vampire" is to meet Yu again.
  • Would Hurt a Child: The Hiragi family would do anything, despite how cruel it may seem, even torturing and experimenting on children.
  • The X of Y: The title is "Seraph of the End".
  • You Can't Go Home Again: Presumably most of the characters have lost their homes. A particularly tearjerking example is Mika visiting his old home in the vampire capitol only to see that new children have occupied it and see him as just another vampire.
  • You Kill It, You Bought It: It's revealed that every head of the Hīragi family is posessed by some sort of god, in Tenri's words: "An old, cursed god. One who cursed the Hiragi Family." Since Kureto kills him, said god goes on to posess him, we later find out its Shikama Doji, the Vampire's First Progenitor, and the demon Shinoa was born with. Averted when Shikama leaves Kureto's body to possess Shinoa's instead.

Alternative Title(s): Owari No Seraph

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