Servamp

Plot

Mahiru Shirota is a normal high school student who likes simple things. One day, on his way back home, he finds a black cat and decides to take care of it, naming it Kuro. The next day, however, he is surprised to find out that the black cat is, in fact, one of the seven vampires that represent the Seven Deadly Sins. His name is Sleepy Ash, he represents Sloth, and he turns into a cat when exposed to sunlight. By giving Sleepy Ash a name and a cat bell, and then calling him by his given name, Mahiru accidentally forms a temporary contract with him. The contract is finalized once Sleepy Ash drinks his blood, making him Mahiru's vampire servant known as "Servamp" and Mahiru becomes his master called "Eve". Following this, Mahiru and Sleepy Ash, now Kuro, encounter Tsubaki, a vampire who claims to be the Servamp of Melancholy and the unknown eighth brother of the other Servamps. Tsubaki intends to wage an all-out war against his six brothers and Sister, while Mahiru decides to gather them to fight against Tsubaki and his group together.

Characters

Eves

Mahiru Shirota (城田真昼, Shirota Mahiru)

Voiced by: Takuma Terashima (drama CD, anime) (Japanese); Clifford Chapin (English)

He's a freshman high school student who lost his mother to an accident at a young age. Having no father to take care of him, he was left in the care of his ever-busy uncle. As a result, Mahiru grew up mostly alone and has developed many talents for household chores. Mahiru's talent for housework has also extended into his school life where he often uses them for class projects and the like. After discovering Sleepy Ash as a black cat and eventually becoming his Eve, he obtains a Lead (essentially a conjured tool for Eves) in the form of a Broomstick. Kuro later notes in irony that it is what may represent him the most due to Mahiru's personality, and that it was the first thing he used to hit Kuro with when they met. His Lead later changes into a Spear, giving Mahiru more physical prowess. Mahiru's catchphrase is "Thinking simply, it's got to be me!"

Misono Alicein (有栖院 御園, Arisuin Misono)

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (drama CD, anime) (Japanese); Christopher Bevins (English)

Lily's Eve, he's a high school student who is in the same year as Mahiru. Misono comes from a very wealthy family and unfortunately possesses a very weak physical composition, which causes him to be easily exhausted. He has a tendency to look down on others such as when he commanded Mahiru to work for him in stopping Tsubaki. It's possible that this may be due to a lack of social skills. He is a child born from the affair between his father and Mikuni's home tutor. Out of jealousy, his real mother was killed by his father's wife with Doubt Doubt's help. She spared Misono and decided to raise him as her own son. While growing up, he witnessed his older brother Mikuni kill their mother but could not remember it fully because his memory was altered by Lily. He resented his brother for leaving the house until he learns the truth. Misono's Lead is a chair which he often sits in to rest, and has so far shown creative uses for said chair in combat.

Mikuni Alicein (有栖院 御国, Arisuin Mikuni)

Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara (anime) (Japanese); Jessie James Grelle (English)

Servamps

Sleepy Ash (スリーピーアッシュ, Surīpī Asshu)

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (drama CD, anime) (Japanese); Chuck Huber (English)

The Servamp, or servant vampire, of Sloth. The name given to him by Mahiru as part of their Servamp contract is Kuro (クロ), due to the color of his cat form's fur. Kuro is the oldest of the eight Servamp siblings and, according to Mikuni, arguably the most powerful of them. This is contrary to Kuro's lazy personality, and he can often be found dozing off, playing video games, or eating junk food in Mahiru's apartment. So far, he is the only Servamp without any Subclass, because he doesn't know whether a person wants to live longer or not and has so decided to have none. Kuro's past is mired in mystery to Mahiru, as he is rarely ever willing to discuss it. The mere mention of his past was enough to make the usual lazy Kuro to become angered. It's revealed that Kuro had a falling out with Lawless because he decided to kill the one who made them vampires after receiving the request from C3. The reason for accepting the request is because he thinks that the world doesn't need "monsters" like them anymore. Following the request, Sleepy Ash killed his own creator, but this haunted Kuro who ended up regretting his action. The regret and grief made Kuro decide to not do anything unless someone tells him to, until Mahiru urges him to face his own mistake, which also significantly improves Kuro and Mahiru's friendship. Kuro has two animal forms: the first being his usual black cat form, and the second being a giant lion form. Kuro's primary weapons are a pair of deadly, razor-sharp claws that can easily skewer targets.

Tsubaki (椿)

Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (drama CD, anime) (Japanese); Micah Solusod (English)

The vampire of Melancholy. This mysterious man introduces himself as the eighth Servamp and the youngest sibling, despite the fact that there are only supposed to be seven. Tsubaki has a psychotic and unstable personality, which is evident through his stated desire to "kill everyone who doesn't know him". His motives and past are currently unclear, but he has a close relation with the person who created Servamps, referring I'm as "Teacher". However, Tsubaki genuinely cares for each of his Subclasses and won't ever betray them. Tsubaki commanded a sizable force of Subclass vampires until Lawless of Greed massacred almost all of them during their attempt to kill his Eve during a piano recital. His animal form is a silver fox. His primary weapon is a Katana.

Subclass

Sakuya Watanuki (綿貫桜哉, Watanuki Sakuya)

Voiced by: Toshinari Fukamachi (drama CD), Yūto Suzuki (anime) (Japanese); Brian Olvera (English)

Mahiru's classmate and Tsubaki's Subclass. When he was a child, he lived with his older sister and their parents. Their parents were abusive and mistreated them. One night, Sakuya watched his sister jump from their apartment room, being forced by their parents so they can get her insurance money, but not before she made them promise to spare Sakuya. Unfortunately, years later, Sakuya was forced to do the same, and when he was dying, he was saved by Tsubaki. Sakuya first met Mahiru when they were in middle school, becoming friends with him and he even went as far as manipulating Mahiru's memory to make him think that they were childhood friends. After Mahiru got into a contract with Sleepy Ash, Sakuya removed the fake memories from Mahiru and attacked him, wishing for Mahiru to end his life. Mahiru, however, refused to kill him and instead promised that he will free him of Tsubaki's control.

Belkia (ベルキア, Berukia)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (drama CD, anime) (Japanese); Mike McFarland (English)

Tsubaki's Subclass, a somewhat eccentric childish man who fights with magical playing cards and takes the form of a doll. He first appears in the first chapter, being ordered by Tsubaki to take down both Kuro and Mahiru, only to get defeated by Kuro after Mahiru finalized their contract.

Shamrock (シャムロック, Shamurokku)

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano (anime) (Japanese); Justin Cook (English)

He was Tsubaki's Subclass who always calls him "Young Master". When he was a human, Shamrock used to be a member of C3 and close friend of Shuhei's father. When he fought Tsubaki together with his teammates, he was left behind, making him believed that he has been abandoned by his friends. The heartbroken Shamrock is then recruited by Tsubaki as his Subclass and he killed Shuhei's father in retaliation. During the fight against Mahiru and his friends, he, Belkia, and Higan were captured and held captive by C3 until he was freed in the prison break instigated by The Mother's Subclasses. Shamrock is then confronted by Shuhei, whom he easily defeated. Before he could kill Shuhei, he is stopped and defeated by The Mother and Izuna. After his defeat, Shamrock is remorseful for killing Shuhei's father and resolves to make amends, leaving Tsubaki's group.

C3

Shuhei Tsuyuki (露木 修平, Tsuyuki Syūhei)

Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa (anime) (Japanese); Austin Tindle (English)

Tsuyuki is a member of the research team in C3. He has a deep hatred for vampires after his father, who was also a C3 member, was killed by Shamrock, one of Tsubaki's Subclass. Due to this, he initially wanted to be on the fighting team, but his bad fighting style forced him to stay in Research. When he was in high school, he was Mikuni's underclassman and the two of them don't get along. He always anticipates small things that might happen and prepares in advance for when the time comes. This becomes one of the running gags in the series.

Tsurugi Kamiya (狼谷 吊戯, Kamiya Tsurugi)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (anime) (Japanese); Joel McDonald (English)

As one of the strongest C3 members from the fighting team, Tsurugi is feared amongst vampires for mercilessly killing many of their kind, and seems to enjoy the act. He was born and grew up in C3 under the guidance of C3 Tokyo branch's vice manager, Taishi Toma. While he is cruel and even sadistic in slaying his enemies, he is cheerful and childish around other people, especially around Junichiro and Yumikage who are his best friends. He claims he has no pride and will do anything as long as he gets paid. Harshly trained under Toma's brainwashing, Tsurugi's mind became very unstable. He blindly follows Toma's orders and kills whoever's in his way, be it vampires or humans, going as far as to hurt even his own close friends under the twisted impression it is for their own protection. He used to be partnered with Mikuni and Jeje during Mikuni's time in C3, but they hate each other so much that they both have no hesitation to try and kill the other.

Junichiro Kurumamori (車守盾一郎, Kurumamori Junichirou)

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (anime) (Japanese); Ben Phillips (English)

Junichiro is one of C3 members from the fighting team who is partnered with Tsurugi and Yumikage.

Other characters

Ryusei (流星, Ryūsei)

Voiced by: Genki Okawa (anime) (Japanese); Stephen Sanders (English)

One of Mahiru's close friends since childhood.

Koyuki (小雪, Koyuki)

Voiced by: Kōtarō Nishiyama (anime) (Japanese); Alejandro Saab (English)

One of Mahiru's close friends since childhood.

Toru Shirota (徹城田, Tōru Shirota)

Voiced by: Yōji Ueda (anime) (Japanese); Sonny Strait (English)

Mahiru's uncle who took Mahiru into his care after his mother passed away. Due to his work that requires him to work abroad, Toru rarely returns home. Mahiru looks up to his uncle and considers him his role model, taking a few of his characteristics.

Johannes Mimir Faustus (ヨハネス・ミーミル・ファウストゥス, Yohanesu Mīmiru Fausutousu)

Voiced by: Kōji Yusa (anime) (Japanese); Justin Briner (English)

Johannes is a researcher obsessed with researching vampires, taking delight in doing experiments on them. He is also an acquaintance of Mikuni's.

Yuri (ユリー)

Voiced by: Ayaka Nanase (anime) (Japanese); Kristen McGuire (English)

Lily's Subclass and Mari's twin sister.

Mari (マリー)

Voiced by: Sayaka Senbongi (anime) (Japanese); Kristi Rothrock (English)

Media

Manga

Strike Tanaka began publishing Servamp in the first issue of Media Factory's Monthly Comic Gene magazine on June 15, 2011, to December 13, 2024, where it was first tentatively titled Eve and Servamps. The chapters from the magazine have been collected into twenty-four tankōbon that have been released by Kadokawa. In July 2014 Seven Seas Entertainment announced it had licensed the series for publication in North America. Twenty adapted English-language manga volumes have been released, with more announced. In addition to print material, the series also inspired six drama CDs, the first of which was released with volume six of the manga in July 2014. The manga entered the hiatus in February 2017 due to the author's health. She had the intense pain which led to rest and recover. The manga resumed on April 15, 2017, after she was recovered from her pain. The 24th and final volume was released on December 27, 2024.

Music

In addition to drama CDs the series has also produced several character song CDs, as well as an original soundtrack CD. In total there have been five character pair CDs, released in 2015, as well as a character song mini-album and an original soundtrack, both of which have been released in October 2016. The anime series also had an opening song, "Deal With" by Oldcodex, and an ending song, "Sunlight Avenue" by Takuma Terashima.

Anime

An anime television adaptation was announced in the August issue of Monthly Comic Gene. It was reported by Oricon Style that the adaptation would be a television series. The anime was produced by Brain's Base and Platinum Vision with Itto Sara serving as the chief director, Hideaki Nakano as director and Kenji Konuta handling series composition, with character designs by Junko Yamanaka and music by Kenji Kawai. The anime aired from July to September 2016. Funimation had licensed the series outside Asia for streaming on their website. In Southeast Asia, Muse Communication holds the license to the series.

A sequel anime film titled Servamp: Alice in the Garden premiered in Japan on April 7, 2018. The film was produced by Platinum Vision. Hideaki Nakano and Junko Yamanaka returned for the direction and character designs respectively, while Ayumu Hisao served as scriptwriter. The film's theme song is "One Side" by Oldcodex.

Stage play

A stage play adaptation of the manga ran in Tokyo's Kokumin Kyōsai coop Hall / Space Zero from November 27 to December 6, 2020. It had also been scheduled to run in Osaka on December 19 and December 20, 2020, but was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The stage play starred Ryohei Takenaka as Mahiru Shirota, Kyouhei Chida as Kuro, Ryu Kiyama as Misono Alicein, Yuya Tominaga as Snow Lily, Reo Hotta as Mikuni Alicein, Ken Kato as Tetsu Sendagaya, Nagato Okui as Hugh, Yuta Kishimoto as Licht Jekylland Todoroki, Yuta Osumi as Lawless, Mondo Ukai as Higan, Masaki Matsuda as Sakuya Watanuki, Shuto Washio as Belkia, and Taiko Katono as Tsubaki.

Reception

On Anime News Network, Rebecca Silverman gave the first three English language adapted manga volumes a combined overall grade of B.