Seraph of the End

Seraph of the End (終わりのセラフ) is a Japanese manga, anime and light novel series with additional media having been made available. After a calamity with most of humanity perishing, Yu and Mika attempts to survive in a world overrun by vampires. For other characters, the human members of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army, attempt to consolidate power largely by wielding demonic powered cursed gear weapons. Seraphs are also active. This is the basis of the Owari no Seraph manga and its anime adaptation.

There is a prequel story concerning Guren as a teenager with his contemporaries before the apocalypse event which is detailed in the Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen light novels. This has received a manga adaptation of these light novels for two Seraph of the End manga released concurrently. The Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Resurrection at Nineteen light novel series continues the prequel story shortly after the world has ended.

Details of latest content releases may be viewed on the wiki news page.

World
The modern world is a non-fictional Earth around the time of the late twentieth and early twenty first century AD. However, it is reported that a human-made virus was responsible for the end of the world where supernaturally powerful adversaries such as vampires emerge to enslave the surviving humans. The Japanese Imperial Demon Army, along with the Moon Demon Company military unit under them has established bases in post-apocalyptic Japanese cities such as Shinjuku, Nagoya and Shibuya among other locations. Outside of Japan, it is largely vampire nobles particularly those on the progenitor council who have restored their version of order abroad. Those such as Urd Geales in Russia and Lest Karr in Europe keep humans as livestock for a sustainable blood supply yet make their way to Japan to deal with the human uprising there. Certain demons residing in weapons namely Shikama Doji would work to possess their human contractors and exert a sizeable influence over events, which have been long in the making dating back to the dark ages of Ancient Greece.

Plot
Years ago, a lethal virus spreads across the world, wiping out most of humanity and allowing vampires to enslave the remainder of the human race.

For the next four years, Yūichirō Hyakuya and his fellow orphans at the Hyakuya Orphanage are 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 joins the Japanese Imperial Demon Army — Japan's only hope against the vampires — in order to exact revenge on the vampires who killed his family.

Characters

 * Seraph of the End Characters
 * Seraph of the End Anime Characters

Yūichirō Hyakuya
When he met Mika after being taken to the Hyakuya Orphanage Yu was against the very notion of family and insisted he did not have one. Resenting the captivity and having his blood taken when they were taken underground Yu would speak of fighting back against the vampires but have little means to do so. Having finally gained his family Yu had to leave as the sole survivor. Swearing revenge against the vampires, the goal to kill every one of them would be his driving motivation in life. Yu sought to join the Moon Demon Company to that end and he would gain the black demon katana sword, Asuramaru. His lack of team work and not making friends would be obstacles. A headstrong commitment to helping others when their lives were in danger coupled with the resolve to enact his desire to destroy vampires would make Yu an effective fighter. Moved to tears at seeing that Mika was alive, Yu's vengefulness was replaced with the goal of reclaiming him.

Mikaela Hyakuya
Understanding Yu's plight Mika assured him everything would be fine when he welcomed him to their family. While he acted pragmatically in providing his blood to vampires in order to gain food for his family Mika was content to remain with them where he was together with the other orphans. Seeing Yu's frustration was what motivated Mika to steal a map and a pistol from Ferid's mansion where he led others to what he saw as their freedom. The loss of all who he held dear and being forcibly transformed into a vampire would remove Mika's cheer and optimism utterly. Against drinking human blood that would transform him into a complete vampires Mika sustained himself on vampire blood. He lived for the hope of finding Yu again and at doing so Mika wanted to rescue him from the humans.

Shinoa Hīragi
Assigned by Guren to monitor Yu until he made friends Shinoa would offer guidance on how to do so. She also demonstrated the power of cursed gear using her Shikama Doji scythe. While a member of the Hiragi family that controls the Japanese Imperial Demon Army Shinoa does not take part in the power struggles at all. Not missing the opportunity to tease others, Shinoa would deny Yu someone he knew as a practice partner so he had to work with someone he was not on friendly terms with. Happy to rub it in that she was squad leader instead of Mitsuba, Shinoa still encouraged her to guide the other members of the team. Serious when the need was pressing Shinoa would send for others for assistance. Asking for their trust Shinoa led the rescue attempt to help Guren and Shinya. She would successfully identify and rescue Mika where Shinoa let him leave with Yu.

Yoichi Saotome
Thinking that he was not being bullied when that was evidently the case, Yoichi gave the excuse it was just a means of joining the Moon Demon Company. Stating that he was fighting to avenge his sister clashed with Yoichi's sweet disposition. Brave in tackling a vampire Yoichi would be concerned when Yu came under attack. His choice in not hiding even when told to and instead fight to defend others would help Yoichi overcome a demon possession. Making fast progress with his weapon Yoichi would become accomplished at raining destruction upon foes using the explosive power of the Gekkouin bow.

Shihō Kimizuki
His temperament results in him being fast to pick a fight. In equal measure Kimizuki is level-headed and is effective in speaking to the point to reach the outcome he wants. Needing money to help pay his sister Mirai's medical bills would lead to him acquiring the Kiseki-o twin swords. Attacking directly in combat to following other's leads, Kimizuki is a good team player and covers others.

Mitsuba Sangū
Having lost her entire squad, Mitsuba is angered at reckless actions that could result in the same thing happening again. Familiar with vampire ambush methods, Mitsuba would still intervene to help when Yu came under attack. When captured Mitsuba called for the others to retreat and leave her. Unrestrained she used her war axe Tenjiryū to cut apart enemies.

Guren Ichinose
Becoming a Lieutenant Colonel and the captain of his squad Guren would also lead the Moon Demon Company. In accordance with prophecy Guren was awaiting the arrival of Yu and would help him in his training. It was on an irregular basis and Guren would also not treat meetings with high ranking members of the army with much seriousness either. On more than one occasion Guren would miss the classes he was supposed to teach or fall asleep where unknown to almost everyone he was regularly being possessed by his demon Mahiru-no-Yo being a Namanari himself. Guren was motivated to defeat vampires and overthrow the Hiragi's world order and planned a coup for that.

Manga
There are two concurrent manga. The first released is Owari no Seraph. The second is Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen, which adapts the prequel light novels of the same name. The individual chapters and volumes for the two are released by various publishers. A spin-off manga, titled Serapetit! "Seraph of the End" four-frame manga, was released in December 2014 to commemorate the release of the anime.

Owari no Seraph
Released on September 3, 2012 the Owari no Seraph manga is written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto, with storyboards by Daisuke Furuya. This is the primary story involving Yu and Mika after the world comes to an end. Chapters are generally released near the beginning each month. Currently, there 104 chapters and 24 volumes. The events of the story are divided into story arcs.

Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen
The second manga is titled Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen and adapts the prequel light novels of the same name. This is written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yo Asami. Chapters were released in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Magazine on June 6, 2017.

Light novels
There are three sets of light novels. The first is Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen which was released after the Owari no Seraph manga, yet in terms of the in-universe story it is a prequel focusing on Guren when he was a teenager before the catastrophe event. The second light novel series is titled Seraph of the End: The Story of Vampire Mikaela which involves characters in Sanguinem and then in the past. The Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Resurrection at Nineteen are the third set of light novels.

Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen
As with the Owari no Seraph manga, the Catastrophe novels are written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto. The seven novels were published by Kodansha and released from January 4, 2013 to December 2, 2016.

Seraph of the End: The Story of Vampire Mikaela
Written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto, there are two light novels available while a third one is forthcoming. The first novel was released December 4, 2015 and the second on was released around five months later on May 2, 2016.

Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Resurrection at Nineteen
This story is a sequel to the Catastrophe novels. The first novel was released Released December 27, 2017 with the second one eleven months later on November 30, 2018.

Anime
Wit Studio produced the Seraph of the End anime with Daisuke Tokudo as the director. The twenty four episodes is one season split into two cours. Part one and two were titled Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign (終わりのセラフ) and Seraph of the End: Battle in Nagoya (終わりのセラフ 名古屋決戦編), respectively. Seraph of the End aired from April 4 to June 20, 2015, while Seraph of the End: Battle in Nagoya aired from October 10 to December 26, 2015.

Episodes
The first season has 24 episodes in total. "Seraph of the End: The Beginning of the End", an episode that recaps the first cour aired on October 3, 2015, a week before court 2 premiered.

OVA
An OVA titled "Vampire Shahal" was released May 2, 2016 with volume 11 of the Owari no Seraph manga. In-universe the events take place in between the two anime cours.

Blu-ray and DVDs
After episode 12, the final episode of the first cour that aired on June 20, 2015, four days later on June 24, 2015 the first limited edition DVD was released containing episodes and physical bonus materials. Across the four DVDs that were released was the Seraph of the Endless (終わらないセラフ) omake specials. Where anime often have live-action films released, Seraph of the End ' s was musical based and Seraph of the End The Musical was released as a DVD in 2016. Box sets featuring all the episodes in addition to unique artwork have also been made available.

Music
The music is predominantly featured in the Seraph of the End anime and was composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, along with Takafumi Wada, Asami Tachibana, and Megumi Shiraish. With an opening and ending song for both cours there are four songs in total composed for the anime.


 * X.U. (May 20, 2015) - The opening theme for the first cour, first played in the second episode up to episode 12. It is performed by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Gemie.
 * scaPEGoat - The ending theme for the first cour which is included on the same track as X.U. It is performed by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Yosh.
 * Seraph of the End Original Soundtrack (July 15, 2015) - The soundtrack used throughout the anime is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, Takafumi Wada, Asami Tachibana and Megumi Shiraishi.
 * Seraph of the End Mini Soundtrack CD -Out Tracks- (August 26, 2015) - A bonus soundtrack album included in Blu-ray and DVD volume 3, with music composed by Takafumi Wada, Asami Tachibana, and Megumi Shiraishi.
 * Two souls -toward the truth- (December 2, 2015) - The opening theme for the second cour, Seraph of the End: Battle in Nagoya. It is performed by fripSide.
 * Orarion (December 9, 2015) - The ending theme for the second cour, played from the episode 13 to episode 23. It is performed by Nagi Yanagi.
 * Seraph of the End: Battle in Nagoya Original Soundtrack (January 27, 2016) - The second soundtrack release for the anime that is used in the second cour, Seraph of the End: Battle in Nagoya, with the same composers as the first OST.

Drama CDs
The audio dramas have been bundled with the anime DVDs. Drama CDs feature cast members detailing the events of original stories.


 * Ikebukuro Vampire Hunting Edition (終わりのセラフ ミニドラマCD 池袋吸血鬼狩り編) (June 24, 2015) - This CD drama was bundled with the first Blu-ray/DVD disc set as an early purchase bonus. The voice cast speak for the five members of Shinoa squad in addition to Mika and along with Guren and Ferid being featured.
 * Seraph of the End Drama CD - "Head Towards! Road to debut!!" "Hide! Black History!!" (終わりのセラフ ドラマCD「目指せ!デビューへの道!!」「隠せ!黒歴史!!) (July 23, 2015) - This CD drama was released with the limited edition of the second Blu-ray and DVD disc set.
 * Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen: The World's Last Christmas (January 27, 2017) - This was released within the limited edition of the sixth Blu-ray and DVD disc set. Before the Catastrophe when Guren is a teenager friends come over to his to celebrate Christmas.
 * Seraph of the End: Seraph of the Butler (March 9, 2016) - This drama CD was released as part of the seventh Blu-ray and DVD disc set. Guren runs a coffee shop with Shinya and employs Yu and Mika. Shinoa, Mitsuba with Ferid, Krul and Kureto are also voiced.

Games
The two Seraph of the End games were developed for different consoles. The first, "Seraph of the End: Bloody Blades" is a role-playing game (RPG) was released for iOS and Android devices on September 28, 2015. The second game is a TRPG for the PlayStation Vita named Seraph of the End: Beginning of Destiny and was released over two months later on December 17, 2015.

Seraph of the End: Bloody Blades
Quests covered the first and then second cour of the anime and ran until September 29, 2016. A large amount of character cards from major to briefly seen characters were able to be collected.

The Album Scroll features the 336 cards available.

The elemental cards also act to provide unique character art.

In terms of gameplay the five member team that was able to be formed had stats including HP, attack, defence, recovery, teamwork and agility to assist them in battles against adversaries.

Seraph of the End: Beginning of Destiny
Bonds between characters on the battlefield can be levelled up. From the Japanese Imperial Demon Army Shinoa Squad is featured in addition to Guren Squad, and Narumi Squad. Player decisions throughout the game effect the ending. Special endings can be attained if trust is built up between the characters.

Supplementary books
Both art books and fan books provide behind the scene details regarding the creation process of the manga and anime. The fan books are not created by fans, rather are in the context of being official releases that provide illustrations of the Seraph of the End characters and the world they inhabit, so insightful details released for fans.


 * Seraph of the End 8.5 Official Fan Book (June 4, 2015) - This fanbook was released for the original Seraph of the End manga. There are illustrations of characters are featured as well as situations such as Shinoa reporting on her squad's handling of interactions with other teams and enemies. Practices such as vampires harvesting blood and the Japanese Imperial Demon Army's chain of command are elaborated upon.
 * Seraph of the End TV Anime Official Fan Book 108 (December 4, 2015) - This fan book concentrates on the anime. There are character profiles and a short story collection. A question and answers style interview with 21 cast and staff members is included.
 * Seraph of the End: Anime Material Collection (December 31, 2015) - The art book for the anime. Character designs and image boards from the anime are featured. This is in addition to technical details such as prop settings and color designs.
 * Yamato Yamamoto's Rough Art Book (January 22, 2016) - Rough sketches of the Owari no Seraph manga are featured along with other artwork illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto. It was released January 22, 2016.
 * Seraph of the End: Genga Collection 1 (April 8, 2016) - The first of two books containing key animation art for the anime adaptation. The episode drawings are from episodes 1-12.
 * Seraph of the End: Genga Collection 2 (August 12, 2016) - The second of two books containing key animation art for the anime adaptation. The episode drawings are from episodes 13-24.
 * Yamato Yamamoto "Seraph of the End" Illustrations: The Art of Seraph (forthcoming) - Following the Rough Art Book, this art book was scheduled to be released December 4, 2017. Having been delayed until January 4, 2018 the release remains upcoming content.

Official sites

 * owarino-seraph (Japanese) - The official site for Seraph of the End which contains information on characters, novels and the two concurrent manga.
 * owarino seraph (Twitter) (Japanese) - The official Twitter account that provides latest release information and unique art work for the series.
 * Viz Media is the English publisher of the Seraph of the End manga. Monthly chapters are able to be bought in Weekly Shonen Jump when they are released at the beginning of each month. The collected volumes/tankōbons, which compile around three chapters and feature their own Seraph of the End cover art, are generally released three per annum.
 * Jump Square Japanese website page for the Owari no Seraph manga, detailing characters and updates on latest chapters.
 * owarino-seraph.jp (Japanese) is the official site for the Seraph of the End anime. It provides details on characters and information on the staff/cast behind the animation. In addition to providing news and updates, there is also the opportunity to get Blu-ray and DVDs of the Seraph of the End anime. These are special additions with bonus content included. In addition, the site provides a section detailing official merchandise.
 * Wit Studio, the producers of the Seraph of the End anime.
 * The Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen and Resurrection at Nineteen prequel novels are available to be bought at Penguin Random House.
 * The same novels are available via Vertical, Inc.