Review of Seraph of the End: Battle in Nagoya

Owari no Seraph is a lot like Attack on Titan. Almost to the point that it feels like the show was trying to be Attack on Titan, and perhaps this was what the producers were going for (Though you can't blame the original author who started the series before Titan hit mass popularity). That is; Owari no Seraph a messy anime that's chaotic, a plot that zips around like a cat on meth, leaves a lot of questions unanswered, has too many characters trying to be developed that it leaves all the characters only half-developed, and too many shounen tropes being blown out of proportion.But it manages to be successful and has a decent fanbase (At least in Japan) by playing on over-the-top edgy themes of humanity survival against monsters, stylish looking characters butting heads with one another, and political machinations being put everywhere.

It's a huge convoluted mess. Humans fighting for survival against vampires who want to use them as livestock, people making pacts with demons to gain power, rampaging monsters called Horsemen of the Apocalypse who slaughter things for unexplained reasons, mass genetic experimentation, biblical terms being thrown everywhere, angels descending down to punish everyone, and throughout it all everyone betraying one another to pursue their own agenda. All of this in one huge ball of mess and even after 24 episodes nothing is really answered or explained. The closing episode in fact can be described as an incoherent stack of legos a kid decided to make and chuck across the room where all the characters and plot crashes in a heaping mess.

Despite this Owari no Seraph can be a decent show to watch if you don't take it seriously. If you're the type of person who needs things explained and you take anime seriously, you will hate this show. But for someone who wants to watch a Saturday cartoon on a boring weekend with "cool" and "stylish" characters shouting bombastic lines and trying to kill each other in a shounen mess, then Owari no Seraph is entertaining and even fun. It has decent animation and fights, there's quite a few clever jokes that can be funny, and a lot of the characters are likable even if they come off half-baked. You can't deny that the character designs are eye-catching, like the Demon Army in their imperial military uniform and pretty looking vampires in cape coats. It has orchestral music to go along with its edgy themes of apocalyptic world end.

Serpah of the End is Attack on Titan that didn't hit massive popularity in the west. If it had the budget that Attack on Titan held and had a stronger beginning rather a slow and dull one it probably could have become the next big hit. Objectively though, Owari no Seraph is average and has a lot of problems trying to stay organized. It's a show you watch if you're bored and if you like themes of world end, humanity's survival, and fantasy shounen.