Owari no Seraph 2 – 12 (Fin)

It’s the end of Seraph of the End, but what actually ended? Not the war between humans and vampires, nor the extinguishing of many lives on both sides for dubious purposes. And it isn’t really the end of the world, either.

No, the things that end are a bit smaller than all that. It’s the end of the pretense that the Moon Demon Company has the best interests of mankind in mind…if it even ever was. It’s apparently the end of Krul Tepes’ rule. It’s also the end of Guren’s place in Yu’s family; a bond that could not overcome the influence of Mahiru.

And as a result, it’s the end of Yu and the Shinoa Team’s affiliation to the Moon Demon Company. Things…just got too weird. And boy did they ever: Kureto finally unleashes his Seraph of the End on the world, and it uses Shiho’s poor little sister Mirai as its vessel, killing human and vampire indiscriminately and randomly.

With Shiho, Mika, and Yu all skewered at various times during this ordeal, Yu decides he needs more than Ashuramaru to defeat the seraph. So he picks up the mystical “second trumpet” and blows it, summoning the “Salt King” who uses him as a vessel to similarly kill human and vampire indiscriminately, turning them into pillars of salt, along with Abaddon, the demon summoned by the Mirai-Seraph.

With Kureto’s big experiment seemingly ruined and the end of the world postponed indefinitely, there’s a little more scuffling around; Kureto tries to go after Yu and fails; Yu refuses to kill Guren even in his state (he also spared his family); and Ferid, with Crowley’s help, sucks Krul’s blood until she’s unconscious, then accuses her of high treason in the Seraph of the End affair and names himself the new leader.

As for Yu, Shinoa & Co., thanks to Mika and Narumi they are able to simply get the hell out of there, which is probably the best move. It’s enough for Shiho that his sister is back to her human form, while Yu is in no condition to protest leaving Guren behind, even if he didn’t want to. As for Mitsu and her sister Aoi, well…there’s just nothing more said about that.

Then, curiously, four months pass. Why four? No idea. But they pass, and Kureto and Aoi and Guren are still up to their old tricks, only they’ve got some nice evil red cloaks now. Ferid seems to have successfully consolidated his power, and is meeting with other nobles to join the apparent fight.

And Shinoa, Mitsu, Shiho, Yoichi, Narumi, Mika, and Yu are in street clothes on a remote beach, now fully healed and preparing to head back into the shit, apparently to save Mirai and Guren. They all gang up on Yu with playful barbs at his intellect; with even Mika joining in.

They’re still a family, for now, and they want to rescue the rest of it. But whether they will, and how, and what will become of Ferid’s new dynasty and Kureto’s continued mystical machinations, are all tales for another time.

Owari no Seraph 2 – 11

This episode runs somewhat concurrent with Yuu and Mika’s reunion and re-alliance, focusing on Teams Shinoa, Narumi, and Guren. Shinoa in particular provokes the deadly ire of Rika, who blames her and her team for the death of her comrades. Narumi relieves Rika, only to step in an threaten to kill Shinoa himself, and bristles when Shinya, in charge in Guren’s absense tries to stop him.

At that point this becomes about more than fallen comrades and who is to blame, but how had it Narumi is with the all-knowing, all-powerful Hiiragis ordering humanity around and deciding who lives and dies. He’ll ignore orders to “stand by” (i.e. die) and instead head back to try to rescue Guren.

What Narumi didn’t expect was that Shinya, Hiiragi Shinya, a general and a part of the cabal he hates so much, not only doesn’t try to stop him, but thinks they should all go together. Shinya’s fought and bled with these guys, and we’ve been able to see the gradual change from almost vampire-like nonchalance to a solemn, haunted determination. Screw his orders and his last name; Shinya’s going to fight for his comrades here and now.

Meanwhile, Guren is still alive, and still managing to be defiant in the face of the vampire nobles who take turns scooping him up. He’s going to give them false intel to lure them into a trap in Shinjuku, but needs the vamps to believe it’s because he’s been beated badly enough to not be able to go on keeping his silence.

Crowley, who saw through the machinations going on and correctly suspected Ferid, is bemused when Ferid admits he gave the Demon Army the locations of the nobles, including his old chum Crow. Ferid even has the audacity to tell Crowley to thank him, since he had a fun fight thanks to him.

Once Guren has been beaten enough, he goes into his Happy Place with his demon companion and dead ex-girlfriend Mahiru, who decides its time to awaken and fight back. I must say she show’s always done a good job portraying Mahiru as imminently mysterious, seductive (moreso even than the other demons) and ethereal, like a dark angel.

She is also the reason for Guren’s dual personalities: one dedicated to his family, the other thirsty for power. When Krul takes him down and gets in close, out of earshot of the others, Guren/Mahiru discuss the plan Krul had been a party to all along, betraying her people in the process, and how that plan hasn’t changed: she still needs the Seraph of the End.

On the other side, Kureto arrives at the airport (with Mitsu’s stern sister Aoi by his side) to relieve the teams assembled there, saying “they’ll take it from here.” It’s clear Kureto has a new toy he wants to try out; he even admits he’s in a good enough mood he won’t summarily execute Narumi & Co. for questioning his orders.

But what he does do is open the Big Box he flew in, out of which come hundreds of interconnected swing hangars with blades on the ends, many of which pierce through Kureto’s own soldiers, including Rika, who definitely looks like a goner. The blade go after Narumi when he lunges forward for revenge, but to his shock, he’s saved by Yoichi and Shiho, while Shinoa’s blind spot is covered in the nick of time by Yuu, who has arrived with Mika to help out.

Mika doesn’t waste any time saying it was a bad idea to come back, as he sees the humans fighting amongst one another. But that fight is tabled when hordes of vampires drop from the skies and it becomes a giant line battle. Amidst all the chaos, Yuu catches sight of Guren, safe and sound, and runs toward him, beaming with joy.

Only Guren isn’t quite himself anymore, drawing his sword and bringing it down, followed by a cut to black. With dual personalities, crazy experiments, and betrayal and intrigue on both sides, what probably won’t be black—or white—is the impending finale, which looks to be a good one.

Owari no Seraph 2 – 09

So yeah, the pills did kill Yuu, but only briefly. In a post-death, pre-afterlife scene involving Ashuramaru, an unseen angel, and a trumpet, he comes back imbued with even more of the demon’s power. He goes after Crowley straight away, and the vamp is impressed with his power, wondering if you can even still call him human.

Crowley isn’t worried, though; Yuu is, at the end of the day, only livestock. No matter how much he fights, he can’t win. Especially when Yuu’s friends end his fight by using Kiseki-o’s coffin to contain him so they can take him away. Guren, meanwhile, remains captive, but alive, and told Yuu he has “his own plan for himself.”

Shinoa and Guren’s squads meet back up with Narumi’s and head to the next rendezvous, but their way is blocked by a single enemy: Mika. As soon as he spots an unconscious Yuu in their clutches, it just gets Yuu even more upset. He’s taking Yuu away from those human bastards. And he does it in a very Yuu-like fashion: rushing forward on a wing and a prayer.

He meets stiff from Guren’s elites and the grunts, but he will not be denied his family. When Yuu’s friends try to convince him they’re also Yuu’s family, he won’t listen. It’s just him and Yuu. No other friends, no other family, nothing else to live for. But his opinion on Yuu’s “captors” might just change a tiny bit when Shinoa, Mitsu, Yoichi and Shiho turn their weapons onto their own allies in order to protect him and Yuu.

Needless to say, Yuu’s fam is in big, big trouble, but the recriminations have to wait, as vampire reinforcements arrive. Mika, in bad shape, makes off with Yuu, and Shinoa trusts they’ll meet again at the airport. Then the vamps advance, Yayoi and Kagiyama are killed in quick succession, and even more vamps descend. Shinya orders Shinoa and the others spared for the time being so they can help fight off the enemy and retreat.

Will Mika hold to Shinoa’s plan to meet back up? How will Shinya and Narumi deal with their insubordinate subordinates, assuming they survive the vampire onslaught? And how will Yuu react when he wakes up, and in place of his squad, he’s now with Mika? Both brothers have sought to “save” one another from their respective plights; now they’re in the same boat together.

Owari no Seraph 2 – 08

No doubt motivated by her feelings for Yuu, and her desire to not see him in pain, Shinoa agrees to attempt to save Guren and Shinya. Had she fully comprehended how impossible it would be to snatch from Eusford Crowley something he does not intend to give up willingly, she would never have agreed even to the few minutes of attempted rescue.

The Shinoa Team puts their absolute best, perfectly-coordinated product on the field, and still get trounced by the mere sidelong glance of Crowley. Not that surprising; even Guren and Shinya only lasted so long until they were exhausted heaps unable to stay upright without a wall nearby to lean on. Rescuing Guren simply isn’t possible. They can only run, live another day, and hope to get another shot later.

(It was good to hear a vocal arrangement of Sawano’s “scaPEGoat”, which not only gave this scene gravitas, but also made me miss the first season’s ED; this season’s OP and ED are pretty weak by comparison.)

The extent of the futility continues when Guren’s team shows up. Goshi gets his illusory fog going, and even Crowley is plunged into a lava-filled cavern, but none of the surprise attacks from Sayuri, Shigure, or Mito trouble Crowley at all, nor does the illusion. Rather, he’s bemused that the humans have amassed even this much power, even though they remain thoroughly powerless compared to him.

Guren orders everyone to retreat and leave him behind, and everyone obeys, though nobody is happy about it. Both Shinya and “Guren’s Girls” are particularly broken up about it, but with the exception of Sayuri, maintain their composure and set their sights on completing the mission, linking up with Narumi’s squad and working as a team. But Yuu can’t do it.

No matter what anyone, even Shinoa, says to him about family or how much better they know Guren, Yuu is simply incapable of letting Guren go as long as he’s still alive. He remembers the first sleepless, nightmare-ridden nights after Guren rescued him. Even back then they’d developed a rather combative sheen to an otherwise deep brotherly bond, and for the first time, we see how much Yuu meant to Guren as a means of making up for the person he lost.

He also spoke of a day Yuu never thought would come: when the pain of living would give way to purpose: finding someone who needed help, as Yuu needed Guren’s. Yuu believes that time has finally come, and he’d rather die than pass it up. So he takes two more pills than he should, then starts to convulse and bleed and pass out, to everyone’s horror; particularly Shinoa’s.

Just as Yuu is apparently dying of an overdose as his friends stand around him, helpless, Mika arrives with his squad of vampire underlings, who he promptly kills. He’s not here to “check on Crowley”, after all. He’s here for Yuu, and it doesn’t look good for Yuu’s friends right now.

As for the larger battle, Kureto, on the front line and feeling directly responsible for the survival of the entire human race, hasn’t quite let the power get to his head, but he has certainly grabbed all the power he can. Despite the arrival of a brother closer to the Hiiragi patriarch, Kureto is going his own way with his own means and methods, and no one can judge him, because if he fails everyone will be dead anyway.

His own means include the deployment of a “test subject” ominously stored in something resembling the Jurassic Park raptor crate. What devilry lies therein? Will it make a difference? Is Yuu really dead of an overdose? (No, he’s not.) The preview for next week shows Shinoa holding back a line of vampires…for Mika’s sake. I am definitely intrigued.

Owari no Seraph 2 – 07

After just leaving Aihara Aiko and her squad behind to die, Guren indulges Yuu’s desire to save the hostages rather than kill them to end their suffering and retreat. But since these noble attacks are decoys to allow the main Shibuya force to move without detection, it doesn’t really matter how they proceed at Nagoya city hall, as long as the count of able-bodied soldiers doesn’t go down too far.

Shinoa tells Yuu to be calm more than once when discussing what’s to be done about the hostages, but she’ll suffer no deviation from her orders: if they can’t save the hostages in five minutes, everyone is to retreat, no ifs ands or buts. Narumi’s squad will back hers, while Guren, Shinya, and his team will target Crowley, Belle, and Horn. But as Shinya and Yoichi’s first shot demonstrates, these nobles won’t go down so easily.

While I can see what the show was trying to do by building up the attack, the orders not to die and the setting of the watches, and all the talking didn’t help the pace of this episode, nor did the apparent contradiction in abandoning one squad to die but saving another in a much more dangerous situation. But when the battle finally begins, things pick up nicely, as we see just how easily Guren’s people can mow down vampire foot soldiers.

Still, it’s nobles Guren is after, and when he finally crosses swords with Crowley, what is surely his best strike is easily turned away. Crowley is more bemused than anything else by the sudden attack, but admits to his two lieutenants that in the short-term, humans can actually be somewhat entertaining. The result of their efforts isn’t in doubt for him, but he’ll patiently see what they can do.

Guren on his own is clearly not enough against Crowley, but Shinya undermines the element of surprise by announcing he’s behind Crowley. Before he can say “checkmate”, both Guren and Shinya are in a pile, and have to regroup. Meanwhile, Yuu and the others are done early, so under pressure from Yuu, Shinoa decides to dedicate three minutes—no more—to helping Guren out. Interestingly, this week there’s no downing of PEDs, though one would think those would come in handy against nobles as they had in the past. Maybe they took some earlier and they haven’t worn off yet?

In any case, Guren and Shinya, wounded and soundly outmatched, are forced to scurry from one room to another at an increasingly slow clip, with Crowley and his ladies always catching up. Yet as long as they’re keeping the nobles busy, the mission continues to be a success. It’s just…it would be really nice if these three vampires could be brought down.

But considering how easily we’ve seen Guren take care of Yuu, I don’t see how Yuu is the man to do it. It will have be a concerted team effort, as it was for their first bagged noble. But all that might be moot once Mika arrives. Could he join forces with Yuu to beat Crowley, in service of his ultimate goal to free and protect Yuu from those who would hurt or use him? Stranger things have happened.

Owari no Seraph 2 – 06

Unlike the foppish Lucal, Crowley isn’t above treating the humans as a legitimate threat, or at least a nuisance more pressing than a smattering of ants at his feet. Testing the power of the demon gear of a dead soldier on his lieutenant Chess, then cutting himself and noting it isn’t healing; he’s carefully assessing the advancing enemy before acting.

But this isn’t out of respect for a worthy adversary. In fact, judging from their casual attitude and banter, Crowley and his ladies are just as certain in the supremacy of vampires. Rather, Crowley suspects the humans are getting help from a high-ranking vampire traitor, and he has a pretty good idea that it’s either Ferid or Krul.

What would surprise Crowly is if his treacherous comrades were the ones having their strings pulled by a lowly human. Such a human might even hold his interest for a measurable amount of time, insomuch as a cool-looking bug would for you or me.

As Crowley watches, waits, and thinks, Shinoa and Narumi’s squads stand by awaiting the other squads at a rendezvous point. The focus of last week’s battle, here they’re only around for a bit, to show Guren the teams have gelled nicely and that he was right to put Yuu under Narumi’s charge; the two are a lot alike and both enjoy the occasional joke.

But it’s easy to joke around a bit when you’ve come off your last battle unscathed. And the result of a squad that didn’t fare to well is the focus of this week, which could just as easily be titled The Passion of Aihara Aiko. Aihara’s squad of fifteen completed their mission objectives, but lost eight in the process, and Aihara is extremely upset and guilty about it, and her mask of stoicism quickly falls.

Guren can’t wait for the other squads, so he takes Shinoa’s and Narumi’s and his own and head to city hall to rescue the hostages, leaving Aihara and her men to stay behind in case other squads arrive. Another decimated squad joins them, but so do a couple of Vampire Chinooks. Aihara takes one out with her bow, but the second drops its troops, led by Lacus, Rene…and Mika.

When the vampires capture all of Aihara’s men, she orders them to bite down on their suicide pills. Just like that, her unit is gone, and there’s only her and Mika, who pulls the pill out of her mouth before she can join her comrades. He wants one thing: info on Yuu. And he’s willing to spare Aihara to get it.

As Lacus and Rene survey the area Aihara and Mika’s exchange is masterful. She’s initially defiant and tells him to go ahead and kill her, but she then gets the feeling there’s something different about this particular vampire while Mika knows she’s met Yuu.

The two then do a little bit of play-acting, with Aihara agreeing to “inform” on the other humans if he spares her life. In this way, she tells only Mika that Yuu is headed to city hall, but sends Lacus and Rene in the wrong direction, which is what both she and Mika want, for different reasons.

Mika’s fine with leaving Aihara alone at that point, but she doesn’t want him to leave her alone; she wants him to kill her, because her squad, her family, is all gone, and she thinks it’s because of her. She has nothing left to live for. Mika refuses to do it, but she forces the issue by attacking him. She thanks him with her dying breath as she falls to the ground. Lacus and Rene shrug and head off.

Honestly I didn’t remember much about Aihara Aiko until this week, but I will surely remember her now, in this, the tensest and most affecting episode of Seraph 2. Her palpable despair, her sense of loss, her fleeting ‘dance’ with Mika, and the increasing unlikelihood she would come out of all this alive; all of it combined to form a sad but brilliant self-contained tragedy that underlines the challenges humanity faces in directly taking the vampires on.

It also underscored Mika’s single-mindedness. No Crowley- or Hiiragi-type big-picture stuff here: Mika wants to live happily ever after with his family Yuu safe in his arms. And woe betide any human or vampire who stands in the way of that goal.