Servamp Limited Edition Blu-ray (Review)

By: AlanvMahiru Shirota is a kid who enjoys living a simple life. However, his simple life comes to an end after picking up a stray cat, Kuro, on his way home from school. Unbeknownst to him, Kuro is a special type of vampire; a Servamp, whose name is Sleepy Ash, which is a vampire that can form a contract with humans. Mahiru accidentally forms a contract with Sleepy Ash becoming his Eve and is immediately introduced to the wild world of vampires, where one Servamp is trying to wipe the rest of them out.The relationship between Mahiru and Sleepy Ash sets the tone for the rest of the series. It’s a typical anime comedy duo. Mahiru is a hard-working student and the straight man of the act, while Sleepy Ash is a lazy vampire full of gags. Neither of these characters breaks the mold, and they do a serviceable job in trying to keep viewers interested with their back and forth. The same can be said for the rest of the combinations of Eves and Servamps. The Eve acts as a balancing force for the goofy vampire they’re paired with.The personalities of the Servamps is also a by the numbers affair. They are all named and modeled after the seven deadly sins of man, but don’t have much range beyond that. They all act exactly as you’d expect them to. It’s a bit confusing as to why some of the sins just aren’t used, as they only appear in some flashbacks with a few lines of dialogue.The one partnership that is enjoyable is between Licht Todoroki and the Servamp of Greed, Lawless. That’s because towards the end of the series there is a good amount of time dedicated to delving into what makes Lawless tick, and how Todoroki helps him find the right path. If more of the Servamps would’ve gotten this treatment they would’ve been far more relatable, and worth caring about.Tsubaki, the one who is trying to kill the rest of the Servamps, also sets himself apart. He isn’t named after a sin, and his character isn’t as narrowly defined as the others. He’s constantly flipping back and forth between murderous intent and being goofy. He also is also surrounded by a cast of underlings who have a meaningful impact on the proceedings. However, this character still manages to meet the bare minimum in how interesting he is.The amount of enjoyment you derive from Servamp depends on how much you enjoy the gags it indulges in. If the thought of seeing characters go chibi at the drop of a hat bring a smile to your face then you’ll feel right at home with this one.Video QualityThis is another solid release from Funimation. The video bit rate hovers in the mid 20Mbps range, and there aren’t any noticeable anomalies. This is a nice-looking series that incorporates some interesting visual elements when exploring the minds of some of the Servamps, and it all looks solid.Audio QualityBoth the English and Japanese language tracks come in Dobly TrueHD 2.0. Both casts do a good job, however some of the performances are a bit uneven in both languages. It feels like some characters might have been miscast. Fortunately, the majority of the voice work is well done. Just go with whichever you feel most comfortable with.ExtrasThis set has a decent amount of extras. It has more than the usual Funimation trailers accompanied by clean opening and closings. The best part are the slice-of-life shorts entitled Sleepy Life of Servamp and All the World’s a Stage. The extras are the following:

• Episode 1 commentary
• Episode 11 video commentary
• Sleepy Life of Servamp #01 - #03
• All the World’s a Stage
• Clean Openings
• Clean closings

PackagingWe received the Limited Edition release of Servamp and it comes housed in a nice, compact chipboard art box. The box houses a blu-ray case that has two Blu-ray discs and two DVDs. A small soft cover art book is also included, which has black and white along with color character art. Anyone looking to add this anime to their collection will be pleased with the packaging.Servamp is an anime that treads familiar ground without adding anything new. If your sense of humor closely aligns with the humor put forth here then you’ll get more enjoyment out of it than most. If you’re interested in picking it up then click here.