First impressions review: Seraph of the End; The Story of the Vampire Michaela, by Kagami Takaya

 

            I love the Seraph of the End manga and anime, so when I heard there was a light novel in that universe focusing on vampire lore and Mika’s life as a vampire specifically, I was so excited! Unfortunately, almost two years after I heard of it, there is still no official English translation. So, having found a reasonably readable fan translation¹ I decided to dive into that. I was a bit disappointed to find that Mika’s POVs are essentially just bookends on the first and second volumes. However, the backstory provided for the relationship between the vampires Crowley Eusford and Ferid Bathory is interesting – by the second volume I was quite enthralled – and both storylines are relevant to some of the questions I and other readers had about world of the manga.

 

1. Seriously, some I ran across had the most eye-bleeding fonts I've ever seen!

 

             One notable thing is that these light novels confirm that vampires are indeed asexual by human standards². However, that doesn’t mean the interpretation that Mika is in love with Yu is wrong! First, being asexual and homoromantic - or heteroromantic, or bi-romantic - is a thing in the real world. Just because you don’t want to have sex doesn’t mean you don’t want to kiss or cuddle or have that kind of emotional bond with someone! Second, it is clear from these novels that vampires get lonely, and Ferid states that the most common reason for a vampire to turn someone is that they want a companion – misery loves company - or even have someone they love that they don’t want to lose. Actually, he says they think they love them, which could be read two ways. On the one hand, maybe Ferid thinks vampires can’t actually feel love. However, since he was likely always a bit twisted, even as a human (more on that in a minute) he may just be projecting. On the other hand, he may be saying that if a vampire actually loved someone, they would never wish being a vampire on them. And it is totally clear from the manga that Mika would rather stake himself out in the sunlight than see Yu turned³! Third, it is also quite clear from the light novel and the manga that the kind of pleasure vampires get from drinking blood, and the kind of pleasure their “prey” experience when bitten – whether they want to or not – is very sex-adjacent. Which means…Sorry, Ferid: You’re still a creepy pedo⁴! The level of shame and guilt Mika feels after he’s bitten by Ferid for the first time has a very “bad touch” vibe!

By contrast, while at one point in the manga Yu claims that he “hates” how good it feels to be bitten by Mika, that’s likely driven by the inconvenience of that feeling in the middle of a fight. He never seems hesitant at all – regularly urging Mika to just take what he needs  – and sounds weirdly proud of his deliciousness! Mika, for his part, clearly doesn’t want to feed from anyone but Yu…but is also terrified of how easily he could kill the only person who gives his life meaning. Also, notice what happens when you censor out the word “blood” in said sequence (read right to left):

 

It immediately sounds WAY dirtier, doesn’t it? And it seems very unlikely that that is an accident. This interpretation also explains why, in another manga episode, Mika is the cool voice of reason when it comes to dealing with Ferid…until Ferid steals a sip of Yu’s blood, at which point he immediately flips to: “Bitch, I will KILL you!” Ferid didn’t take nearly enough blood to hurt Yu physically – far less than Mika would in a normal feed – but Mika is still mad enough to throw all caution to the winds, which is not remotely his usual MO. Why? Well, if we take the “bloodlust substitutes for actual lust” view, this known creep who once took advantage of him basically just sexually assaulted his “family”, the person he swore to always protect, right in front of him. Of course he’s furious (and upset with himself for failing to prevent it)!

 

2. Meaning I can finally use the LGBT+ MC tag on this story knowing that the "+" at least, is real! I have hope that the author isn’t just baiting with the incredible levels of queer coding on…honestly, the majority of characters, but especially, Yu, Mika, and Asuramaru. Seriously, though, if this pulls a ‘Fruits Basket’ ending on me, I’m going to be PISSED. Not just because of the lack of representation, but because the hints have escalated to such a degree that it would actually make the story nonsensical if they refuse to go there…at least in the moderately subtle way that ‘Yuri on Ice’ or ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ do.

3. He’s certainly ready to strangle Ferid for suggesting making Yu a vampire!

4. Ferid is shown in these light novels as having a preference for feeding on children even before the apocalypse happened and kids were basically all that was left.

 

            Another thing these light novels reveal is that Yu is probably at least 98% right when he insists that Mika is still fundamentally Mika, even if he is a vampire. We get to see a lot more of the human personalities of both Mika and Crowley and yeah: they are basically the same people, minus some understandable trauma and vampire physiology effects! Crowley as a human was already very physically strong, unusually chill (despite a certain amount of Crusades-related PTSD)…and fascinated by Ferid’s intelligence and unpredictable nature. Mika as a 12-year-old human kid is already adept at masking his feelings and is very pragmatic. He cares deeply about the found family he has gathered, and Yu in particular, and he is willing to sacrifice both other people and himself if that will keep them safe. He might even seem a little cold-blooded if you don't know the deep love that is driving his decisions. Yu, by contrast, already had a bit of the “I want to save everyone” attitude he voices later – an approach that, while theoretically admirable, can actually put the people he loves most in danger.

That is illustrated by a highly disturbing scene where the pair stumble on a pair of 16-year-olds attempting to rape a younger girl. Mika urges Yu to keep walking, reasoning that they are far too small to be able to effectively intervene. Yu, of course, doesn’t listen. Mika can’t let Yu get beaten to death, so runs in to defend him but is soon getting his ass kicked as well. Worse, now that these assholes have seen his and Yu’s faces, Mika fears their whole family will be at risk. So he pulls the most effective threat he can think of: Telling them they’d better back off because he’s Lord Ferid’s favorite, and if they hurt him or anyone he cares about, they will bring the wrath of the vampires down on themselves. It sickens him to say it, and he’s somewhat relieved but guilty that Yu thinks he was just bluffing:

“ ‘Who would believe we’re on good terms with those bloodsuckers!’ Yu-chan smiled as he said that. Mika loved that smile of his…That foolish, reckless dream Yu-chan talks about with his smile was the children’s emotional support. I’ll protect that even if I have to sell my blood, flesh, and body for it. That’s nothing. ‘Well, let’s go home already. [Mika said] If we’re late getting home, the children will worry.’”

That scene continues into something even more affecting:

“As long as Yu-chan is here, Mika can smile for sure…While on the way back home, Yu-chan spoke once more: ‘Mika…I’m sorry’. ‘For what?’ ‘It’s because of me you got hurt.’… Mika looked at Yu-chan with a mischievous expression: ‘I won’t forgive you.’ ‘Eeeh?’ ‘Just kidding! Only, if I make a mistake, you also have to forgive me with a smile.’ ‘What for? I’ll always forgive you.’ ‘Right, but unlike you, I don’t make mistakes.’”

Oww, my heart! Because, of course, Mika is in the middle of a mistake that he will torture himself about for years. And, of course, when they finally meet again, Yu doesn't just forgive him - he never blamed Mika in the first place.

 

            It’s pretty obvious by this point that I ship Mika and Yu - possibly more than any two characters ever! I’d never fully understood why a lot of fans ship Ferid and Crowley, though. That’s mainly because if you’d asked me to a place a bet on which character in this story is most likely to actually be straight, I’d have picked Crowley. Because, well, this:

 

Not to mention that, in contrast to Mika’s constant use of “Yu-chan⁴”, Crowley and Ferid refer to each other with the more bro-ish Crowley-kun/Ferid-kun.

             However, having read this…I kind of see where the shippers are coming from! There are significant chunks of the story that are effectively from Crowley’s POV, and he seems to notice male beauty, particularly Ferid’s, a lot. Crowley is a Templar knight at this point. While he doesn’t 100% keep to the vow of celibacy with regard to women, he’s a lot better at it than his companions despite his lesser faith…and we never get a clear picture of a beautiful woman through his eyes. But there are at least 3 mentions of Ferid's "bewitching" smile and some detailed descriptions of his cheerful, handsome best friend Victor, who gets killed by a vampire on the battlefield in a manner that closely mirrors how Ferid (almost) killed Mika in front of Yu. Then there’s the “Are you a sodomite?” line delivered to Ferid, not in an “I’m going to call the Inquisition” kind of way, but more an “I’m not sure what’s happening right now - Are you flirting with me?” kind of way. The idea really doesn’t seem to bother Crowley as much as you might expect it to. So it would be a messed up ship, Ferid being Ferid…but it does seem possible, and toxic love stories have their appeal.

 

5. “Chan” being a particularly intimate and cutesy honorific which, based on some anime that attempt to translate it, could render this nickname something like “Yuey” or “Yu-sweetie”.

 

            Ferid, of course, continues to be both vile and endlessly entertaining. The time spent in his mind as he’s feeding Mika’s hope of escape was the time I most wanted to hurt him. The bit where he’s encouraging Crowley to play Watson to his Sherlock Holmes regarding some fake vampire killings is hilarious, even though, if you know Ferid, you know he’s got something awful up his sleeve – and he does! But you also have to sympathize a bit with how boring it must be to be a vampire, especially for someone as intelligent as Ferid. No wonder he’s always cooking up elaborate schemes just to feel something or to make things happen; It’s just unfortunate for everyone else that he’s a sadist! I don’t think he’s lying when he says he turned Crowley using his sire’s blood instead of his own because he wants a friend and an equal, not a servant – not entirely, anyway. He clearly also thinks it will be useful to have a companion who is stronger than other vampires expect. Likewise, it is interesting that he was lying to Krul about having a kind of “deadman switch” that would reveal her involvement with the Seraph of the End if she killed him for messing with her project. It isn’t that he didn’t think about it – it’s that having a safety net would eliminate the thrill of intrigue. And, after all “Why do we have to live forever?” is the question Ferid wants to ask the First, so “heads I get to have some fun, tails I die” is actually the perfect game in his eyes!

 

            These aren’t flawless books. While the manga doesn’t develop its female characters as much as I’d like…at least there are some with their own arcs! Apart from a brief appearance by Krul, the women who appear here are just there to suffer in service of the male leads’ character development. Also, Crowley in the “present” timeline seems to have forgotten key elements of his own story. For instance, he asks if Ferid was already a vampire when they were drinking “wine” together for the first time. Of course he was, dummy! He’s the one who turned you! Also, how the heck did Crowley not notice Ferid’s red eyes before the big reveal? I’m not sure if the author is trying to make a point about vampires forgetting things that once seemed really important after 800 years, or if those were just oversights. The fan translation is also a bit wonky on the English grammar in places, translating the Templar vows as "poverty, chastity, and pliability" for instance (which I at first thought was Ferid making a joke, but then Crowley himself says it that way). And while I appreciate them leaving in the "Yu-chan"s, it is rather jarring to hear medieval knights call each other "Crowley-sama" or "Gilbert-sempai"!

Still, those points aside, I did enjoy the story quite a bit. The afterword on volume 2 promises that further installments will focus more on Mika. That would be great…if it is ever published!