Seraph of the End

Seraph of the End
Cover of the first manga volume
終わりのセラフ
(Owari no Serafu)
Genre Adventure, science fiction, supernatural[1]
Manga
Written by Takaya Kagami
Illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto
Published by Shueisha
English publisher
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Jump Square
English magazine
Original run September 3, 2012 – present
Volumes 17
Light novels

Anime television series
Directed by Daisuke Tokudo
Written by Hiroshi Seko
Music by Hiroyuki Sawano
Takafumi Wada
Asami Tachibana
Megumi Shiraishi
Studio Wit Studio
Licensed by
Original network Tokyo MX, MBS, TVA, BS11, AT-X, TV Asahi Channel 1
English network
Original run April 4, 2015 – December 26, 2015
Episodes 24
Manga
Serapetit!〜Seraph of the End four-frame manga〜
Written by Takaya Kagami
Yamato Yamamoto
Daisuke Furuya
Illustrated by Ren Aokita
Published by Shueisha
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Jump Square
Original run April 2015 – present
Volumes 1
Manga
Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen
Written by Takaya Kagami
Illustrated by Yō Azami
Published by Kodansha
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Monthly Shōnen Magazine
Original run June 6, 2017 – present
Volumes 3
Game
Seraph of the End: Bloody Blades
Developer Bandai Namco Entertainment
Genre RPG
Platform iOS, Android
Released September 28, 2015
Game
Owari no Seraph: Unmei no Hajimari
Developer Bandai Namco Entertainment
Genre TRPG
Platform PlayStation Vita
Released December 17, 2015
Original video animation
Seraph of the End: Vampire Shahal
Directed by Hironori Aoyagi
Written by Attatory
Studio Wit Studio
Released May 2, 2016

Seraph of the End (Japanese: 終わりのセラフ, Hepburn: Owari no Serafu) (also known as Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign) is a Japanese dark fantasy[2] manga series written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto with storyboards by Daisuke Furuya. It is published by Shueisha on Jump SQ and in English by Viz Media on Weekly Shonen Jump.

The series is set in a world that allegedly comes to an end at the hands of a "human-made" virus, ravaging the global populace and leaving only children under the age of thirteen untouched. It is at this time that vampires emerge from the recesses of the earth, likely followed by age-old horrors of the dark thought only to be myth. A young man named Yūichirō Hyakuya joins a vampire extermination unit to avenge the deaths of his orphaned family and reclaim his best friend Mikaela Hyakuya from the vampires.

An anime adaptation by Wit Studio was announced on August 28, 2014. The first cour of the series premiered in Japan on April 4, 2015 and ended on June 20, 2015. The second cour began on October 10, 2015 and finished on December 26, 2015. The series was later broadcast in the United Kingdom on Viceland, beginning February 14, 2018.[3][4]

A series of light novels focused on Yu's superior, Guren Ichinose, has been written by Kagami and illustrated by Yamamoto.

Plot

In 2012, the world allegedly comes to an end at the hands of a "human-made" virus, ravaging the global populace and leaving only children under the age of thirteen untouched. It is at this time that vampires emerge from the recesses of the earth, likely followed by age-old horrors of the dark thought only to be myth. The vampires sweep the earth and claim it in a single violent stroke, subjugating the remnants of humanity and leading them beneath the surface to safety. This "protection" comes at the price of donating blood to their captors. At the age of twelve, Yūichirō and his friend and fellow orphan Mikaela plotted to escape along with the children in Hyakuya Orphanage. However, this resulted in their deaths and Mikaela sacrifices himself in order for Yūichirō to escape and be saved by members of the Moon Demon Company, an extermination unit of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. Four years later, Yūichirō dedicates his life to destroy vampires and seek revenge against them for murdering his "family." At the same time, it is revealed that Mikaela is still alive and is a vampire that Yūichirō has sworn to exterminate.

Media

Manga

Seraph of the End has been serialized by Shueisha in its Japanese monthly shōnen manga magazine Jump SQ since September 3, 2012. On October 7, 2013, Viz Media announced that it has licensed for North American release and added the series to its manga to its lineup of the company's Weekly Shonen Jump digital magazine.[5]

A voice comic (vomic) was also produced and published by Shueisha and its first episode was featured by Sakiyomi Jum-Bang! on February 1, 2013.[6]

A spin-off gag manga to commemorate the anime adaptation titled Serapetit!〜Seraph of the End four-frame manga〜 (せらぷち!〜終わりのセラフ４コマ編〜, Serapuchi!〜 Owari no Serafu 4-koma-hen 〜) has been serialized by Shueisha in Jump SQ since April 2015 after being serialized in 17th and 18th volumes of Jump SQ.19. It also has been published on the Seraph of the End official website.[7]

A manga adapting the Guren Ichinose light novel series has been announced and will run in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Magazine starting June 6, 2017.[8]

Light novels

Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen (終わりのセラフ 一瀬グレン、16歳の破滅, Owari no Seraph - Ichinose Guren, 16-sai no Hametsu) is a prequel focusing on Guren Ichinose as the main protagonist, detailing the series of events that occurred eight years before the start of the manga. Written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto, it consists of seven volumes and was published by Kodansha from January 2013 to December 2016. On February 15, 2015, Vertical announced that it has licensed the light novels for North American release and will be releasing it in an omnibus with two volumes per omnibus in January 2016.[9][10][11] A drama CD was released on October 30, 2015 bundled with volume 6 of the light novel and is written by Takaya Kagami.[12]

It was announced that the novels will receive a manga adaptation that will be serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine premiering on June 6, 2017. The manga adaptation was drawn by Yō Azami.[13]

No.Japanese release dateJapanese ISBNEnglish release dateEnglish ISBN
1 January 4, 2013[14] ISBN 978-4-06-375279-3January 26, 2016[15] ISBN 9781941220986
2 July 2, 2013[16] ISBN 978-4-06-375311-0January 26, 2016[15] ISBN 9781941220986
3 January 31, 2014[17] ISBN 978-4-06-375354-7May 31, 2016[18] ISBN 9781942993742
4 July 2, 2014[19] ISBN 978-4-06-375396-7May 31, 2016[18] ISBN 9781942993742
5 April 2, 2015[20] ISBN 978-4-06-381451-4November 8, 2016[21] ISBN 9781942993056
6 October 30, 2015[22] ISBN 978-4-06-381491-0November 8, 2016[21] ISBN 9781942993056
7 December 2, 2016[23] ISBN 978-4-06-381572-6September 25, 2018[24] ISBN 9781945054303

A new light novel series about Mikaela's story and the origin of vampires titled Seraph of the End: The Story of Vampire Mikaela (終わりのセラフ　吸血鬼ミカエラの物語, Owari no Seraph: Kyūketsuki Mikaela no Monogatari) began publication by Shueisha on December 4, 2015. The story is written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto.[25]

No.Japanese release dateJapanese ISBN
1 December 4, 2015[26] ISBN 978-4-08-703358-8
2 May 2, 2016[27] ISBN 978-4-08-703395-3

On October 20, 2017, it was announced on Kodansha's light novel blog that a second spin-off series about Guren, titled Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: World Resurrection at Nineteen (終わりのセラフ　一瀬グレン、19歳の世界再誕, Owari no seraph: Ichinose Guren, 19-sai no sekai Resurrection) would be released in December. It is written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yō Azami.[28]

No.Japanese release dateJapanese ISBN
1 December 27, 2017[29] ISBN 978-4-06-381636-5

Anime

An anime adaptation was announced on August 28, 2014, and premiered on April 4, 2015, which consists of a total of 24 episodes. It is produced by Wit Studio, directed by Daisuke Tokudo, and screenplayed solely by Hiroshi Seko.[30] Additionally, the original manga's writer, Takaya Kagami, is personally drafting the original story for episodes with material not yet serialized in the manga and supervising the scripts until the anime's final episode.[31] On December 12, 2014, it was announced the series would be split in two parts (quarters of the year). The first half (12 episodes) would air in 2015 from April to June and the second half (12 episodes) from October to December.[32] The series premiered on Tokyo MX, MBS, TV Aichi, and BS11 at their respective time slots. NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan will be releasing the first 12 episodes on Blu-ray and DVD formats in Japan starting on June 24, 2015 across four volumes. A six minutes omake anime specials adapted from the omake featured in the original manga, included in each Blu-ray/DVD volume titled Seraph of the Endless (終わらないセラフ, Owaranai Serafu).[33]

On March 31, 2015, it was announced that Funimation has licensed the series for streaming and home video release in North America.[34] Hulu will also be streaming the series. On May 13, 2015, Funimation announced that the English broadcast dub will stream every Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. EDT on its "Dubble Talk" streaming block.[35][36] In the United Kingdom, the English dub was broadcast on Viceland, beginning February 14, 2018.[3][4]

An OAD bundled with volume 11 of the original manga titled Seraph of the End: Vampire Shahal (終わりのセラフ 吸血鬼シャハル, Owari no Serafu: Kyūketsuki Shaharu) was released on May 2, 2016. It was first screened at the Jump Special Anime Festa 2015 event on November 2015.[37]

Hiroyuki Sawano produced and co-composed the music, as well as the opening and ending themes, "X.U." and "scaPEGoat", respectively, with Takafumi Wada, Asami Tachibana, and Megumi Shiraishi. As part of Sawano's vocal song project "SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]", for the first 12 episodes, the opening song is performed by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Gemie, while the ending song is performed by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Yosh. Both themes were released in Japan on a CD on May 20, 2015.[38]

Video games

A PlayStation Vita strategy game, titled Owari no Seraph: Unmei no Hajimari (終わりのセラフ 運命の始まり), was released by Bandai Namco Entertainment and Activision on December 17, 2015.[39]

BNEI also released a smartphone game titled Seraph of the End: Bloody Blades (終わりのセラフ BLOODY BLADES, Owari no Seraph: Bloody Blades) on September 28, 2015.[40]

Reception

Volume 1 reached the 24th place on the Japanese weekly manga chart,[41] and, as of 13 January 2013, has sold 62,434 copies.[42] It also reached the 3rd place on the New York Times manga bestseller chart.[43] Volume 2 reached the 15th place on the weekly manga chart,[44] and, as of 12 May 2013, has sold 91,095 copies.[45] Volume 3 reached the 9th place[46] and, as of 15 September 2013, has sold 121,235 copies.[47] Volume 4 also reached the 9th place on the chart,[48] and, as of 19 January 2014, has sold 160,444 copies.[49] Volume 5 also reached the 9th place,[50] and has sold, as of 11 May 2014, 155,139 copies.[51] In 2015, the series sold 2.8 million copies.[52] As of May 2017, the manga had 7 million copies in print,[53] and as of April 4, 2018, the manga had 8.5 million copies in print.[54]

On Anime News Network, Rebecca Silverman gave volume 1 an overall grade of B+.[55]

References

  1. ↑ "The Official Website for Seraph of the End". Viz Media. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Wit Studio to Animate Seraph of the End". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  3. 1 2 https://twitter.com/vicelanduk/status/963805288376582145
  4. 1 2 "Seraph of the End Now Available on Netflix UK & Broadcasting on VICELAND UK Soon". Anime UK News. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  5. ↑ "Viz's Weekly Shonen Jump Adds Seraph of the End Manga". Anime News Network.
  6. ↑ "鏡貴也×山本ヤマト「終わりのセラフ」朴ロ美らでVOMICに" (in Japanese). Natalie. January 29, 2013. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
  7. ↑ "せらぷち!〜終わりのセラフ４コマ編〜に" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2015-09-25.
  8. ↑ "Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen Novels Get Manga Adaptation". Anime News Network. May 1, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Vertical Adds Kizumonogatari Novel, Seraph of the End Novels, Ninja Slayer Manga". Anime News Network.
  10. ↑ "What does a Seraph of the End ominbus mean? 2 volumes in one?".
  11. ↑ "Vertical Confirms Release Date".
  12. ↑ 新キャスト発表！ 真昼役は遠藤 綾さんに決定!! (in Japanese). Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  13. ↑ "Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen Novels Get Manga Adaptation". Anime News Network. 2017-05-01. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  14. ↑ "Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose's Catastrophe at 16 #1 at Kodansha.co.jp" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  15. 1 2 "Seraph of the End, 1: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen". Penguin Random House. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose's Catastrophe at 16 #2 at Kodansha.co.jp" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  17. ↑ "Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose's Catastrophe at 16 #3 at Kodansha.co.jp" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  18. 1 2 "Seraph of the End, 2: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen". Penguin Random House. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose's Catastrophe at 16 #4 at Kodansha.co.jp" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  20. ↑ "Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose's Catastrophe at 16 #5 at Amazon.co.jp" (in Japanese). Amazon. Retrieved 2015-03-11.
  21. 1 2 "Seraph of the End, 3: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen". Penguin Random House. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose's Catastrophe at 16 #6 at Kodansha.co.jp" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  23. ↑ "Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose's Catastrophe at 16 #7 at Kodansha.co.jp" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Seraph of the End, 4: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen". Penguin Random House. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  25. ↑ "New Seraph of the End Novel Series' 1st Volume Listed for December" (in Japanese). Anime News Network. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
  26. ↑ 終わりのセラフ　吸血鬼ミカエラの物語　１ (in Japanese). Amazon. ASIN 4087033589.
  27. ↑ "終わりのセラフ　吸血鬼ミカエラの物語　2" (in Japanese). Shueisha. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  28. ↑ "Seraph of the End Gets 2nd Spinoff Novel Series About Guren Ichinose". Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  29. ↑ "Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose's World Resurrection at 19 #1 at Kodansha.co.jp" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  30. ↑ "Seraph of the End by The Legend of the Legendary Heroes' Kagami Gets TV Anime". Anime News Network. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  31. ↑ "Seraph of the End's Additional Cast, Creator's Direct Involvement Revealed". Anime News Network. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  32. ↑ "Seraph of the End's English-Subtitled Trailer, Split-Season Plans, More Cast Unveiled". Anime News Network. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  33. ↑ "VIDEO: Trailer for DVD/Blu-ray Bonus Episode "Seraph of the Endless"". Retrieved 2015-09-24.
  34. ↑ Michelle Lee. "Funimation Acquires the Rights for Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign". Funimation.com Blog. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
  35. ↑ "Funimation Announces Seraph of the End English Dub Cast". Anime News Network. May 13, 2015. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  36. ↑ "Funimation Streams Seraph of the End English Broadcast Dub Clip". Anime News Network. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  37. ↑ "Seraph of the End Event Anime to be Bundled with Manga's 11th Volume". Anime News Network. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  38. ↑ "Seraph of the End Anime's Additional Cast, Theme Songs, Air Date Announced". Anime News Network. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  39. ↑ "Seraph of the End PS Vita strategy RPG announced". Gematsu. July 1, 2015.
  40. ↑ "Seraph of the End Gets PS Vita, Smartphone Games". Anime News Network. July 10, 2015.
  41. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, December 31-January 6". Anime News Network. 9 January 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  42. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, January 7–13". Anime News Network. 16 January 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  43. ↑ "New York Times Manga Best Seller List, June 1–7". Anime News Network. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  44. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, April 29-May 5". Anime News Network. 8 May 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  45. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, May 6–12". Anime News Network. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  46. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, September 2–8". Anime News Network. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  47. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, September 9–15". Anime News Network. 19 September 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  48. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, December 30-January 5". Anime News Network. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  49. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, January 13–19". Anime News Network. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  50. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, April 28-May 4". Anime News Network. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  51. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, May 5–11". Anime News Network. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  52. ↑ "Top-Selling Manga in Japan by Series: 2015". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  53. ↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-05-01/seraph-of-the-end-guren-ichinose-catastrophe-at-sixteen-novels-get-manga-adaptation/.115491
  54. ↑ https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-04-08/roundup-of-newly-revealed-print-counts-for-manga-light-novel-series/.129996
  55. ↑ Rebecca Silverman (29 June 2014). "Seraph of the End GN 1". Anime News Network. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
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