Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign

One day, a mysterious virus that infected humans appeared and killed every human who was infected over the age of 13. At the same, time, vampires came out of the shadows and enslaved as much of mankind as possible, using children as their source of food. . .

Yuuchirou "Yuu" Hyakuya (formerly Yuuichirou Amane) was one of these kids; he, his best friend Mikaela "Mika" Hyakuya (once Mikaela Shindou) and a group of children from their orphanage were captured specifically for this end. The group became as close as family and they tried to escape from the vampires's territory, yet all but Yuuichirou were apparently killed. Consumed by the guilt of having left his friends and especially Mika to die, Yuuchirou swears vengeance.

Years later, Yuuichirou gets the chance to be in the Japanese Imperial Demon Army and specifically under the leadership of the powerful young warrior Guren Ichinose; which he sees as a way to fight back against the vampires and the virus. But then he finds out that Mika did survive - but unlike Yuu, who kept his humanity, he was turned into a vampire, which logically means lots of trouble for the two of them. . .

Seraph of the End is a 2012 manga written by both Daisuke Furuya and Takaya Kagami, and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto. It's been serialized on Shueisha's Jump SQ since 2012, and up until 2020 it has 21 volumes. It also has a two-season anime series from 2015 and three light novels: Guren Ichinose - Catastrophe at Sixteen (focusing on the aforementioned Guren Ichinose, and adapted into its own manga drawn by You Asami); The Story of Vampire Mikaela (centered not only on Mika, but on the origins of the series' vampires), and Guren Ichinose - Resurrection at Nineteen (a sequel of Catastrophe, again centered on Guren;it also was adapted into a manga)

---

Tropes used in Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign include:

• Action Girl: All the girls in the Imperial Japanese Demon Army, including Shinoa and Mitsuba.
• Anti-Villain: Krul isn't exactly a nice vampire, but she's clearly less villainous than the rest. She cares for Mika as much as she can and transformed him to save him, rather than any ulterior reasons.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Anyone who wants use a Cursed Gear must defeat the demon in a battle fought inside the wielder's mind, where the demon can use the wielder's own memories against him or her.
• Big Screwed-Up Family: The powerful Hiiragi family. It's a miracle that Shinoa is at least mildly stable, and it says a lot that the very un-stable Mahiru was the only one who was more or less kind to her.
• Black and Gray Morality: On one hand, the vampires treat humans like cattle and are very amoral. On the other, the human groups that fight them off are not above using horrible methods to do so as well.
• Childhood Friends: Mikaela and Yuuichirou.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Mahiru and Guren.
• Child Soldiers: MANY of them serve in the Demon Army.
• Cleavage Window: Averted for Krul because she is, well, flat.
• Crapsack World: What Earth became after The Virus was released on humanity.
• Dead Little Sister: Yoichi's older sister Tomoe died protecting him.
  • Out of the other Hyakuya orphans, a girl named Akane (formerly Akane Iida) was their Team Mom and especially close to Yuu and Mika. When she's killed alongside the other kids, neither Yuu nor Mika take it well at all. At some point, the vampire Ferid shows the boys plus Shina's squad that he's kept her head in a jar, and Yuu completely loses it.
• Demonic Possession: The Namanari are humans with "two souls", who will eventually be liable to become demons. The list includes: Yuu, Guren, Mahiru and Shinoa.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Asuramaru's dress, voice and younger appearance makes it difficult to guess it gender at first.
  • Yuichi's hairstyle, petite build, and sweet personality makes him, ahn, look pretty feminine.
• Fangs Are Evil: The vampires, obviously.
• Foil: Shinoa, in classic Sancho Panza and Dom Quixote's fashion, is realistic, more smart and sarcastic than the main hero of the story.
  • Also Mika. He dresses in white clothes compared to Yuu's dark uniform, tends to act more calm (most of the time), and survived the massacre of the Hyakuya kids - but became a vampire.
• Idiot Hero: Yuu seems to be obsessed with doing everything he wants to do quickly, so quickly he puts himself at risk.
• Ill Girl: Shiho Kimizuki's sister Mirai.
• Living Weapon: All Cursed Gears have demons living inside them.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Some vampires have red eyes.
• Older Than They Look: All vampires since they are immortal undead beings who only look human, after all, but Krul in special looks like a teenager but has the position and acts like an adult in her society.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Guren and Mahiru, Shinoa's older sister, who's now the demoness Mahiru-no-Yo that resides in his Cursed Hear.
  • Mika and Yuu have been compared to Romeo and Juliet by the anime producers.