Book Review: Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign Vols. 1 & 2

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign Volume 1 story by Takaya Kagami and art by Yamato Yamamoto

In the not too distant future, humanity is decimated by a virus that they invented. The vampires come up from underground and kidnap children, hoping to get control of their food supply which has suddenly dwindled. The story starts with a group of orphans from Hyakuya Orphanage who are planning an escape. Mika is reluctant since he's been giving blood willingly to get favors, but that's a ruse to get access to maps and information to make the escape likely. His friend Yuichiro is a bit of a loner but goes along. The plan goes awry when the vampire Lord Ferid shows up just before they hit the exit. A battle ensues, leaving one of them to escape to the surface where all is not as it seems.

The story is an interesting and creative setup. The world is a lot more complicated than the initial premise that the orphans hear, which is a good thing. The story above ground builds a lot more structure to enable an interesting future for the series. I am hooked!

Recommended.

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign Volume 2 story by Takaya Kagami and art by Yamato Yamamoto

Four years later, Yuichiro has joined the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. The army's purpose is to wipe out the vampires, something Yuichiro is ready and willing to do. To prove he's able, he has to go through academic classes and training, which is not what he wants. Worse, the teachers want him to learn teamwork, even setting him with Kimizuki, another kid who thinks he's ready and able to take out vampires. They have to pass a test to get Cursed Gear--weapons that will kill vampires. That training is a lot tougher than it seems. Meanwhile, Yuichiro's friend Mika, who supposedly died in their escape from the underground four years ago, is revealed to still be alive, though maybe not technically since he is now a vampire working against the humans.

I was a little disappointed with the story when it shifted into the typical manga school drama that's in so many other stories. By the end of this volume, it looks like they will pull out of that narrative and get back to more direct action. The developments around the Cursed Gear are interesting, since they are weapons that are possessed by demons, thus giving them enhanced power. I guess I am sticking around for more.

Mildly recommended.

 

Movie Review: Spare Parts (2015)

Spare Parts (2015) directed by Sean McNamara

Based on a true story, this movie tells the story of four Mexican teens living in America who form a robotics club at their high school. Oscar (Carlos PenaVega) wants to join the US Army but can't since he doesn't have a US birth certificate. He sees a poster for an underwater robotics competition and decides to try for that. His high school science teacher is on maternity leave and Fredi Cameron (George Lopez) is the recently-hired substitute. He's an engineer drifting from job to job and only hosts the robotics club because the principal (Jamie Lee Curtis) said no one would show up. Oscar has a lot of heart and determination so Fredi tells him to recruit some other members and then they will try. Oscar gets a math nerd and a mechanical genius since they have skills needed to make the robot work. They recruit a fourth guy who is strong enough to take the robot in and out of the water. With the crew assembled, they have to work their way through personal and project problems to make it to the competition in Santa Barbara, California.

This is a classic underdog sports story with the sport being robotics. Fredi is the inspirational coach who helps the boys make it to the competition and also help them with their personal lives and get focus for their futures. Lopez does a good job--the screenplay leans into his comedy background. The boys' undocumented immigrant status throws up lots of personal obstacles. They also face the challenge of building a functional robot with minimal resources. The story is entertaining and heartwarming if not surprising. It gets the blend of humor and drama right and has good performances all around.

Recommended.

TV Review: Secrets of the Silent Witch (2025)

Secrets of the Silent Witch (2025) created by Matsuri Isora

In Monica Everett's world, magic is created by chanting formulas and using mana. She is a horrible candidate for magecraft since she is extremely shy and withdrawn around other people, hardly ever speaking up. But she has a lot of mana and works hard, discovering how to craft magic without chanting. So she becomes the Silent Witch. Her abilities are great enough that she becomes one of the Seven Sages, the greatest magic-wielders. But she still would rather be surrounded by books than by people. She retreats to a mountain cabin where she studies and writes. This idyll is ruined when another of the Sages comes to her with an assignment. Second Prince Felix is attending school at a prestigious academy but threats have come against his life. The other Sages are too old to pass for students at the school (and thus protect the prince in secret). But Monica looks the right age because she is the right age. She reluctantly goes to the school where she needs to befriend others and surreptitiously defend the prince from any would-be assassins. 

Monica's character is very charming and sympathetic. Her awkwardness around others is a common problem, especially among teenagers. She loves books and numbers, often assessing others based on mathematical ratios or solving problems by calculating out things. She slowly gains friends, mostly people who want to help her fit in or excel at the school. Her intelligence lets her save the prince more than once while her style of interacting helps keep suspicion off of her. The show moves at a slow pace, working through various prestigious school challenges like tea parties, horseback riding, ballroom dancing, and chess. And assassination attempts. The situations provide humor as well as character and plot development. It's a very enjoyable watch.

Recommended.

Book Review: Peace Be With You! by Pope Leo XIV

Peace Be With You! My Words to the Church and the World by Pope Leo XIV

This book collects the speeches and sermons that Pope Leo XIV gave just after he was elected pope in 2025. In addition to addresses to Catholics and the world at large, many of his speeches are to various departments of the Vatican and to groups visiting the Pope. While this book superficially seems like a cash grab (publishing a lot of thematically unrelated works just to get a book out ASAP), it does provide some insights into Leo's style and influences.

He emphasizes the need for collaboration and support when he talks to the Vatican diplomatic corps, the College of Cardinals, or the media gathered in Rome. He has a real sense of the momentousness of his task and the humility to realize that he cannot do everything on his own (what pope has?). He talks about the importance of synodality, the initiative to incorporate input from all levels of the Catholic Church into the decision making and governing of the Church. The process is controversial because it does not have parameters appropriate to its purpose or even a clearly-defined goal.  

What is clear is the influence from and admiration for Saint Augustine and Pope Francis. Before he was pope, Leo was ordained an Augustinian, eventually serving as Prior General for that order. He references Augustine as much as anyone in his talks. He also cites preaching and writings of Pope Francis often. He isn't exclusive to those two sources but they clearly have a dominant influence on his thoughts. So Leo emphasizes the preferential option for the poor and the need for humble service.

The book gives some idea of the man elected pope last year (as I write). It's not a full picture, like a biography or autobiography. It's not a coherent whole on a specific topic, like an encyclical or an extended interview. But it's a start. I look forward to learning more about and from Leo XIV.

Mildly recommended.

SAMPLE TEXT:

On the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, preaching to some men about to be ordained as priests, "...the history of Peter and Paul shows us that the communion to which the Lord calls us is a unison of voices and personalities that does not eliminate anyone's freedom. Our patron saints followed different paths, had different ideas, and at times argued with one another with evangelical frankness. Yet this did not prevent them from living the concordia apostolorum, that is, a living communion in the Spirit, a fruitful harmony in diversity." [p. 233]

Cute Kid Pix April 2026

More photos that didn't make their own posts...

Since Easter Sunday was a rainy day, we did an egg hunt inside the house before heading off to Mass. Later on, we had brunch at a friend's home.

Checking the shelves

Into the living room

Geocaching took me to one of Maryland's haunted places...Cry Baby Bridge. The legend goes that a distraught young woman threw her baby into the river below to avoid the scandal of out-of-wedlock motherhood. Another version has her driving a car off the bridge and dying though her child was not found. On dark, windy nights the baby can be heard crying, or so the story goes. The other story about the bridge is that the Maryland Goatman can be seen by people hanging around after dark.

Not so scary on a sunny spring morning

Another geocache had me discovering one of the boundary markers for the District of Columbia. The markers were put down in the 1790s when a survey team that included Benjamin Banneker marked off the 10-mile square area for the capital of the newly-formed United States of America. This particular marker is now in Virginia, part of the square given back to that state.

Imprisoned boundary marker

Yet another geocache had me visiting Brighton Dam, which blocks the Patuxent River and thereby creates the Triadelphia Reservoir. Right next to the reservoir is the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden which was in full bloom.

Triadelphia Reservoir seen from the dam

Road on the dam

Azalea garden seen from the dam

Entrance sign--do not enter!

Pink and red

White close up

Brighton Dam seen from the garden

My son was in a school production of The Comedy of Errors in the role of Antipholus of Syracuse, one of the main characters. He was brilliant. They had a big cast, so they had two different sets of actors play the main characters in alternating performances. In the other cast, my son was part of the Greek Chorus that did exposition drops at the beginning, end, and wherever needed in between.

Talking

Fighting

Chorusing

Bowing

Book Review: Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man by J. Tynion et al.

Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man written by James Tynion IV, art by Dani, and colors by Brad Simpson

A new version of the horror classic The Invisible Man is crafted by James Tynion. Jack Griffin is an obsessed scientist. He's studying monocaine powder, which has very unusual properties. Griffin wants to work in secret but he shares a lab under the tutelage (and financing) of Doctor Cranley. He's also been hanging out with Cranley's daughter Flora, who believes in him and wants to get married. But Griffin is much more interested in his monocaine-based formula which will cause a living being to become invisible. As he becomes more successful, he becomes more obsessed, more secretive, and less humane than ever.

The book does a good job creating a new storyline for the classic character. His larger story arc is familiar but plenty of details have been changed, resulting in new suspense and horror. He already has sociopathic tendencies even before he's exposed to monocaine's influence. The art underlies his secretiveness and hostility, with Griffin's face typically shaded in an environment already full of blackness, figuratively and literally. This is one of the better adaptations of the Universal Monsters canon.

Recommended.

Movie Review: Thrash (2026)

Thrash (2026) written and directed by Tommy Wirkola

A massive hurricane is about to hit the Atlantic coast town of Annieville. Most people evacuate but the story naturally follows those who stay (or are caught) behind. Dakota (Whitney Peak) lost her mom a couple of months ago and is living an agoraphobic life so she doesn't make it out. Her uncle Dr. Dale Edwards (Djimon Hounsou) is a shark expert working north of the storm and sets out to rescue her with the help of a self-serving TV crew that wants to get great footage of the disaster. Lisa (Phoebe Dynevor) is a very pregnant meat company worker who leaves the local plant too late to make it out and gets trapped in her car as the waters rise outside Dakota's house. Meanwhile, three foster kids get trapped in their home when their adoptive parents insist on waiting out the storm until its too late. The big problem is sharks. They've come in with the storm surge, partly drawn by a truck full of meat-packing waste that fills the town waters (even though the foster kids live live much further out of town). The storm and the sharks menace everyone.

Director Wirkola has a track record of high-concept/medium delivery films (Dead Snow, Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters, Violent Night). He has some interesting ideas here but so many things don't make sense. When the truck of chum breaks open, why does the blood and gore go out to sea when the storm surge is pushing everything inland? Why are the foster parents getting checks from the US Treasury and not a local foster care agency? How does their "snorkel-equipped" pickup truck even work? The execution just is not well thought out. The movie is not exciting enough to cover over the big holes in believability and it takes itself too seriously to laugh off the dumb ideas. 

Not recommended--we need a better shark movie!