Manga Review: Seraph of the End- Vampire Reign (Vol. 1-3)

Author| Takaya Kagami
Artist| Yamato Yamamoto
Storyboarding| Daisuke Furuya
Edition| American Paperbacks
Publisher| VIZ Media
Genre| Dark/Post-apocalyptic
Rating| Overall 4 Stars (Vol. 1- 2.5 Stars; 2- 4.5 Stars; 3- 4.5 Stars)

This was originally going to be a review for only volume two, but then I finished volume three and realized I hadn't done a review for volume one, either.

To avoid spoilers, I'll give a quick run down.  Basically, the world has been ravaged by a disease that caused adults to die, and vampires rose up to take control.  Humans have banded together to fight against this threat.  Yuichiro's dream is to kill all the bloodsuckers, so he works to join the Moon Demon Company- an elite group of vampire hunters.

The idea isn't super original (it reminds me of Attack on Titan) but it's still a very fun series.  It relies heavily on characters, though its leading man- Yu- is easily the most boring of them.  I can't really stand Yu, and I've heard that complaint before, as well.  The side characters are absolutely AMAZING, though.  The first volume does a poor job of introducing characters, but within the first page of volume two, I'm sold on the secondary players.  I like how it slowly integrates new characters and allows them to grow on you.

My favorite of these side characters (there are many and I love them all) is Guren.  He's just so very cool.  I'm hoping the Light Novel series about him will get an English translation so I can pick it up.  It tells the story of how the apocalypse comes to be, I believe.

I'll be picking up the next few volumes in a month or so.  I want to get through a few more of the comics I've collected before I start buying too many more.  I definitely recommend this series if you read Manga, and particularly if you like stories in the vein of AoT.