Review of Seraph of the End: Battle in Nagoya

As adaptations go, OwaSeri S2 has proven to be somewhat of a disappointment especially since I was awfully hyped for it. For newbies pondering on whether to pick this up, I strongly recommend you read the manga first, which has in my opinion much higher quality art, not to mention actual plot explanations which for some reason the anime has conveniently shaved off, understandably culminating in viewers new to the franchise writing it off as plotless and pointless. Only with an actual understanding of what the hell is actually going on will you be able to even begin to enjoy the anime for its lovelyanimation and superb soundtrack.

Going into the second season of Owari no Seraph, I was afraid that the producers would pull another Fullmetal Alchemist and deviate completely from the manga's plotline. While they appear to have avoided such a catastrophe in the larger picture, they have also completely eradicated the nuances in the manga indicative of character growth and replaced them with scenes undoubtedly meant to pander to the likes of various shippers. Similarly, emotional scenes which most left an impact while reading have either completely disappeared or been redrawn in a manner that makes it nigh impossible to refute any judgements of predictability or cliche that this current season 2 has drawn. I've got my own ships and biases (YES, mika/yuu; guren/shinya) but still the manner in which these relationships were portrayed ... was just bad. Cringe-worthy- I say this as a shipper.

The final episode overtakes the manga (at least the eng subbed version) so I understand and echo the confusion that arises from the sudden appearance of many GIANT plotholes; I'm hoping the manga will provide a comprehensive answer to my questions... then again, if we're talking about OwaSeri S2 as an anime in its own right, it shouldn't have to lean on its manga for quality plot and should (but has failed) to stand alone in this aspect.

To sum it up, those new to the entire OnS franchise should give the anime a miss; delve straight into the manga and if it's enough to make you a fan come back to watch your favourite scenes being animated.