The big reunion comes at last
Creative Staff
Story: Takaya Kagami
Art: Yamato Yamamoto
Translation: Adrienne Beck
What They Say
After losing his mind to Asuramaru’s power in his attempt to save Guren, Yuichiro goes unconscious and is stolen away by Mika. When Yuichiro finally wakes up, he learns that Mika is dying from lack of human blood. Yuichiro offers Mika the choice to drink his blood and become a full vampire, but Mika has something very important to tell Yuichiro about the Seraph of the End project that could change his life.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This time around the focus is very much on Mika, and shortly after the book opens we find him charging at the Imperial Demon Army in order to get to his friend. In addition to showing some nice action and Mika’s determination, it also brings him in direct contact with the secondary cast. And this leads to a really great little scene, in which the rest of the team decide without hesitation that the right thing to do is back up Mika, even though it means disobeying orders. It’s a really fantastic bit that’s played just right, fitting a great deal of emotion and character interaction in a relatively brief period. And in the aftermath of this, Mika runs away with Yuichiro, while vampire reinforcements force the army to flee.
After a scene which very succinctly summarizes Mika’s struggle between his primal desires and his hatred towards the idea of sucking blood and becoming a true vampire (and a little bit more between Yuichiro and Asura), we finally get the true reunion between our hero and his old friend. And unlike last time around, Yuichiro’s naïve simplicity is actually played to great effect. Though we have a lot of potential drama with Mika’s condition, Yuichiro cuts straight through it and tells him to just do what he needs to in order to survive. And this time the book is well aware of the sort of logic that implies, and instead tackles it head on, which makes for a great scene that absolutely hits on the core of both characters.
With all that out of the way, Yuichiro in turn convinces Mika of the importance of rescuing the rest of their “family,” giving them a new goal. But when even more dark machinations come to light, including those involving the titular “Seraph of the End” project, will they manage to make things work out? Or will this happy reunion be followed in quick succession by a great tragedy?
In Summary
While last time around we were treated to the great weaknesses of Yuichiro’s way of life, this time around we instead see its strengths shine. The key point here is of course the reunion between Yuichiro and Mika, and it perfectly encapsulates both characters while also showing how great it can be for our hero to cut through all the drama and just speak his mind. On top of that we also get some nice little hints at future plot threads and plenty of action as well, filling up the rest of the volume nicely. But surprisingly, it’s actually a small interaction between Mika and the rest of the secondary cast that actually sold the volume for me. It’s quite brief, but it just so perfectly hits on what makes the characters tick, and makes for a downright glorious moment. So all in all, this is certainly a turnabout from the events of last time. And in fact, it’s a straight up great read in general, so even if the last volume turned you off, be sure to give this one a look, as it definitely seems to have the series back on track.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: September 6th, 2016
MSRP: $9.99
