Seraph of the End takes a simple premise and makes a mess of it. A virus kills most humans, vampires rise from below, and a boy escapes their grasp only to join the army hunting them. The anime runs two seasons across 24 episodes on Tokyo MX, and it earns a 7.9 out of 10.
Trailer, via NBCUniversal Anime/Music.
The Virus That Killed Everyone
The setup is brutal and fast. A human-made virus wipes out 90 percent of humanity. Only children under 13 survive. Vampires emerge from the earth and treat the living like cattle, demanding blood in exchange for safety. The show wastes no time getting to the horror of it.
Escape From Hyakuya Orphanage
Yuichiro Hyakuya, voiced by Miyu Irino, and his friend Mikaela Hyakuya, voiced by Kensho Ono, hatch a plan to flee the orphanage with the other children. Mikaela secretly donates his blood to Ferid Bathory, voiced by Takahiro Sakurai, in exchange for a map and a gun. The plan fails. Every child dies except Yuichiro, who is saved by the Moon Demon Company, an extermination unit of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army.
Four years later, Yuichiro devotes his life to destroying vampires and avenging his family. Mikaela, it turns out, survived. The Third Progenitor and Vampire Queen Krul Tepes, voiced by Aoi Yuuki, gave him some of her blood and turned him into a vampire. Mikaela now serves under Ferid and plans to find Yuichiro.
The Cast Behind the Voices
The voice cast reads like a who’s who of Japanese anime talent:
- Miyu Irino as Yuichiro Hyakuya
- Kensho Ono as Mikaela Hyakuya
- Yuichi Nakamura as Guren Ichinose
- Takahiro Sakurai as Ferid Bathory
- Saori Hayami as Shinoa Hiragi
- Nobuhiko Okamoto as Yoichi Saotome
- Kaito Ishikawa as Shiho Kimizuki
- Yuka Iguchi as Mitsuba Sangu
- Aoi Yuuki as Krul Tepes
- Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Shin’ya Hiragi
- Daisuke Ono as Norito Goshi
- Atsumi Tanezaki as Sayuri Hanayori
What Works and What Doesn’t
The pacing is strong. Episodes move quickly between the orphanage escape and the military training that follows. The show leans heavily on action and combat sequences, and the animation holds up well. The emotional core between Yuichiro and Mikaela carries the quieter stretches.
Where the show stumbles is in its handling of the larger world. The anime borrows from the manga’s mythology, but it never fully explains the scale of the vampire threat or the forces arrayed against it. Some arcs feel rushed, especially the political maneuvering between the Moon Demon Company and its rivals.
The Verdict on Seraph of the End
Seraph of the End is a solid but uneven adaptation of its source material. It excels at character drama and combat spectacle, but it struggles with world-building and pacing in the middle stretch. Fans of the manga will find familiar ground, while newcomers may find the sprawling cast and shifting allegiances hard to follow.
The anime deserves credit for taking a grim premise and executing it with confidence. It is not a perfect series, but it is a compelling one. For those willing to invest in its world, the payoff is real.
Key Facts Box
- Title: Seraph of the End (2015)
- Network: Tokyo MX
- Seasons: 2, 24 episodes total
- First aired: 2015-04-04
- Last aired: 2015-12-26
- Score: 7.9 out of 10
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