Servamp (Review)
Servamp Proves Japan Has a Very Different Idea When it Comes to Vampires.
I’ve seen a lot of bloody vampire series over the years from Black Blood Brothers to Hellsing Ultimate, but none of them are quite like Servamp. For one thing, there’s a surprising lack of blood when it comes to the series as directors Itto Sara and Hideaki Nakano decide instead to make it a more about the incredible powers and abilities the vampires possess. Unfortunately, this alternative approach doesn’t help Servamp to make a lasting impression and it just blurs together with so many over mediocre series I’ve seen over the years.
Based on the manga by Strike Tanaka, Servamp follows a teenager named Mahiru Shirota (Clifford Chapin) who finds himself sucked into the world of vampires when he makes a pact with a vampire simply known as Sleepy Ash (Chuck Huber). Unfortunately, after the two first meet, Servamp starts a slow descent into chaos. Early on it becomes clear that the series embraces cliches without bothering to add any meaningful depth to the themes or elements it uses. Mahiru is a teenager with the worst case of White Knight syndrome I’ve seen in years. He simply wants to protect everyone from everything and decides early on that he should take it upon himself to fight back against the big baddie (Micah Solusod), who wants to kill all humans because of, well, reasons.
One of the few intriguing aspects of Servamp is that all the primary vampires in the series are based off the seven deadly sins, something that’s become a pretty big trope in the world of anime over the past few years. Of course, Sleepy Ash is the sin of sloth, which isn’t exactly a sin you see as a primary character in many series (see Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood or The Seven Deadly Sins). Unlike most vampires, the seven at the center of this series don’t turn to dust in the light of day, but instead become an animal version of themselves. Servamp plays this up a lot by picking some pretty appropriate alters for the characters (most notably, Sloth becomes a cat). Still, even these fun little quirks aren’t enough to really make Servamp a worthwhile series, just one with a few cute moments to it.
Brain’s Base tackles the animation for the series and does a pretty damn good job overall (you might be familiar with some of there other series like Baccano! and Blood Lad). However, I found a lot of the characters to be a little over-designed for my taste. For one thing, every character looks as though they could serve as the main character, except for the actual protagonist. The vampires that appear throughout feel like they’re trying a little too hard to get your attention. Because of this, Servamp can be a bit of a visual mess at times, especially when some really cool looking minor characters pop up only to disappear before you really get to know anything about them. More importantly though, for a series that supposedly based its characters on the seven deadly sins, we don’t even really get a chance to see all of them in action. In fact, the servamp of Wrath (who also happens to be the only female of the bunch) never even makes an appearance.
All in all, Servamp is pretty to look at and has a few interesting ideas that it plays with when it comes to the vampires in it. However, it’s one of those series I can already feel myself starting to forget. It’s a filler series, something you watch in between truly incredible anime series. Essentially it’s capable and moderately entertaining but is far from being great. Instead, it will simply have to settle for being “OK.”
