Mikaela Hyakuya

Mikaela Hyakuya (百夜ミカエラ, Hyakuya Mikaela) is a character from Seraph of the End (終わりのセラフ, Owari no Seraph). The series' manga has run from 2012 to present, with a two-season anime which ran from December 2014-December 2015. The series also includes the three light novel series (Guren Ichinose - Catastrophe at Sixteen, The Story of the Vampire Michaela, and Guren Ichinose - Resurrection at Nineteen), two spinoff games (Seraph of the End: Bloody Blades and Seraph of the End: Unmei no Hajimari), and a gag manga (Serapuchi). He is the series' deuteragonist.

Appearance
Mikaela is a pale boy of average height and slim build with blond, slightly wavy neck-length hair. He is mixed race, from a Japanese mother and a white Russian father. He looks visibly mixed or possibly white-passing as he is asked by both Yuuichirou and Ferid early in the manga whether he's Japanese at all. He has also been noted for having a pretty and somewhat feminine face, but has broader shoulders and more muscle than Yuuichirou.

As a child and after becoming a vampire but before drinking human blood, he had blue eyes. After drinking Yuuichirou's blood, his eyes turn red (as happens to all vampires upon ingesting human blood, turning them from a fledgeling to a full vampire). As a vampire, his upper canine teeth are elongated into fangs and his ears are pointed.

As a child, he wears regular clothing at the Hyakuya orphanage. During his time in the vampire city Sanguinem as a human, he wears the clothing given to all children kept as 'livestock'. As a vampire, he wears a series of three vampire military uniforms. He carries a European-style sword, which can release thorned vines from its handle to pierce his skin and take blood from him to increase its strength, turning the blade from silver metal to red.

Personality
Mikaela is responsible, and frequently self-sacrificial for the sake of others. In early childhood, Mikaela is physically and verbally abused by his parents, which he responds to by fawning (telling them he loves them, acting happy, and attempting to be the "perfect child") in the hopes that if he's good enough, he can make them happy and they would love him back.

He seems to take quickly to his "big brother" and later parental role for the younger orphans, while continuing his upbeat facade and selling his blood for their sake. In the Michaela light novels, he also saves a girl from being assaulted by a group of older boys, using his status as Ferid's favourite blood donor to save himself when they attempt to make him take her place. Despite his claims of hating humans, when Guren attempts to persuade Shinoa's squad to re-attempt the experiment that caused the apocalypse virus the first time to bring their loved ones back to life, Mikaela is the most adamantly against it due to it requiring the sacrifice of most of humanity.

His intelligence is both a blessing and a curse, as it leads him to believe he can outsmart a vampire as old as Ferid, and his plan results in their deaths, which he is plagued with guilt for. According to the author, he is a fast learner of almost any skill, aided by his vampire strength, speed, and grace after his turning. Mikaela is often irritable and generally distrustful of others and their intentions on both the human and vampire sides, and he attempts to be a voice of reason for Yuuichirou after their reunion against Yuuichirou's blind trust of people he knows. Most of Mikaela's judgements of situations and intentions of people turn out to be correct.

His self control is incredible, demonstrated by holding off drinking human blood for four years after his turning, but is also proof of his deep-seated insecurities and fear of rejection by Yuuichirou. As much as he can take comments aimed at himself, his protectiveness of Yuuichirou also makes him impulsive and quick to anger.

As a vampire, he drops his cheerful act. He shows many opposing sides to his personality, and can be both compassionate and cold, egotistical and self-deprecating, confident and insecure or anxious, over-cautious and reckless.

Special Abilities
As a vampire turned by a third progenitor, he has the strength of an eighth or ninth progenitor, ranking him in the top ~36-45 vampires worldwide. He possesses the seraph gene, he and Yuuichirou being the only children experimented on by the Hyakuya sect to carry it, but has not displayed any powers from it yet. He also possesses the Michaela gene, and is connected to the dead child of the fallen angel and first vampire. Much of this is yet to be explained. As a demon, he has been stated by Krul to be a "rank one" demon, presumably meaning his strength, but he has yet to use his demon abilities.

Pre-Apocalypse
At eight years old, Mikaela is sent to the Hyakuya orphanage after his parents throw him out of their moving car on the highway, after which they crash their car in a double suicide. When Yuuichirou arrives at the orphanage, he has already been living there for a few months.

Sanguinem
On the same night that Yuuichirou arrives, a virus breaks out and kills the majority of the human population. Children under the age of thirteen are unaffected by the virus and are brought into the underground vampire city, Sanguinem, to be livestock for the vampires.

Vampires drinking directly from humans is prohibited and all children are required to have blood withdrawn regularly. Because of this rule, many vampire nobles pay children in living supplies or toys to drink their blood directly from them. Mikaela notices he has caught the eye of a seventh progenitor, Ferid Bathory, and begins selling his blood to him in an attempt to secure resources to take care of the other Hyakuya children. He also explores Ferid's residence during these visits and begins planning for them to escape the city.

At twelve, he comes home one night with a map of the city and a gun stolen from Ferid. He and Yuuichirou wake the other kids, and they attempt to escape, but Ferid had noticed Mikaela's plan and waits for them by the exit. Yuuichirou eventually manages to shoot Ferid in the head, but the younger six Hyakuyas are killed, and Mikaela is left with one arm torn off and a wound through his torso. He begs Yuuichirou to leave him behind and escape while he can.

Fledgelinghood
Before Mikalea dies, the third progenitor Krul Tepes feeds him her blood, turning him into a vampire. He is forced to follow the orders of Krul, but refuses to drink human blood for four years and feeds on hers exclusively, during which time he still grows in age but is effectively starving, as blood of the sire can only sustain a new vampire for a short period. Yet, he refuses to drink human blood, fearing that Yuuichirou will hate him for being a vampire. He participates in missions with the vampire corps and waits for the day he can reuinite with Yuuichirou.

First Reuinion with Yuuichirou
Mikalea goes along with Ferid to a battle in Shinjuku against the human Japanese Imperial Demon Army, where he attacks Guren. He succeeds in stabbing Guren through the chest, but fails to kill him, and is interrupted by Mikaela himself being stabbed through from behind. Turning around, he realizes it is Yuuichirou on the other end of the sword, and Yuuichirou recognizes him as well and is surprised that he is alive. Mikaela attempts to pick up Yuuichirou and flee from the battlefield with him, begging him to run away with him. Yuuichirou refuses, and a "supplement" given to him under Guren's orders takes effect, causing him to turn into a warped version of his seraph form. He goes berserk and begins saying that all humans must be killed. When he attempts to kill Shinoa, Mikaela puts himself between them and is stabbed through the chest again.

As the humans calm Yuuichirou and revert his transformation, Mikaela is forcibly removed from the battlefield by Ferid and brought back to Sanguinem. Thankfully, by virtue of being a vampire, these injuries are not life-threatening. The demon curse from the blades is purified once in the city.

Second Reuinion
A short time later, Mikaela participates in the battle with the JIDA in Nagoya with the intention of finding Yuuichirou and separating him from the humans for his safety. He extracts information on Yuuichirou's whereabouts from the Moon Demon Company Sergeant Aiko Aihara, and is then forced to kill her as she attempts a suicide attack at the vampires. He successfully finds him, and fights his way through a wave of JIDA soldiers to reach him, but is badly injured. Yuuichirou is unconscious and being carried and protected by his squadmates. Shinoa, seeing Mikaela's care for Yuuichirou and having heard about him from Yuuichirou, chooses to protect him from the oncoming soldiers and tells him to take Yuuichirou and requests the two meet regroup with the squad at the Nagoya Airport.

Close to death, Mikaela drags Yuuichirou into an abandoned supermarket, intending to talk to him and give him information on the humans' ploys to use his powers before he dies. He instinctively jumps a child he sees in the supermarket in his thirst, but stops himself and lets the child go free once he realizes what he has done. Once Yuuichirou wakes and calls out to Mikaela, he jumps him too and pins him too the ground, but again stops before he drinks his blood and reels back, attempting to stop Yuuichirou from coming close to him. Yuuichirou notices that he's in desperate need of blood, and offers his own, saying he would rather that Mikaela live on as a vampire than die here. Mikaela attempts to refuse, saying he won't become a monster only for Yuuichirou's sake, but after three times gives in and drinks from Yuuichirou's neck. The blood heals his wounds, saving his life, and he becomes a full vampire. He begins crying, and Yuuichirou reassures him that he doesn't care even if Mikaela is a vampire, and says that if it's really that painful, he will find a way to turn him back into a human.

After Yuuichirou refuses to not rejoin his squadmates, Mikaela drives the two to the Nagoya Airport, during which he gives Yuuichirou information on the Hyakuya sect and the JIDA's human experiments with seraphs, called the Seraph of the End Project. He also warns that the experiments the JIDA is toying with were the cause of the apocalypse eight years ago.

With Shinoa's Squad
The two meet Shinoa's squad at the airport and stay with them, as Yuuichirou has convinced Mikaela to save only those four along with him and escape from the army.

->more info here, forgot the exact details of some of the plot stuff

The squad goes on the run for a few months from both humans and vampires, during which he feeds mainly off of Yuuichirou and occasionally is given bottled blood by the other squad members. Yuuichirou begins transforming into a demon for longer and longer periods each day, not connected to his contract with Asuramaru, until the group is picked up by Crowley Eusford and brought to Ferid's mansion. Yuuichirou is given an injection that stops the demon transformations. He and the squad participate in a rescue mission to save Krul and Ferid from the humans, who have them burning in the sun on crucifixes.

Mikaela is the most hesitant of the group to trust Ferid or Guren's intentions, and attempts to disuade the squad from trusting them either. He specifically begs Yuuichirou not to cooperate with Guren multiple times, insisting that he is only being used by him, but Yuuichirou refuses to listen and states that he doesn't care even if he is being used.

->more info also

"Death" and Demonhood
Mikaela and Yuuichirou face Guren together, clasping hands. -> more here

Mahiru Hiiragi injects Mikaela with some kind of serum, and Guren slashes his sword, cutting him in half. Mikaela attempts one final all-out blow using the last of his energy, as being severely wounded by Guren's sword with the demon curse activated is deadly even to vampires. Yuuichirou cradles Mikaela in his arms as he's dying, and Mikaela confesses his love for Yuuichirou.

Strangely, instead of turning to ash like most vampires do upon death, Mikaela's body begins rising into the air and is surrounded by lightening, which develops into a "black sun" around his body. Krul tells Yuuichirou that Mikaela is still alive, and forcibly drags Yuuichirou away from Mikaela, stating that they would die if they stayed close to him. Mikaela transforms into a demon, and loses his memories. This event has some connection to the first vampire and a plan of his involving his dead child, who looks like Mikaela.

Yuuichirou Hyakuya
Meeting at the Hyakuya orphanage from which the two take their names, Yuuichirou is MIkaela's "precious family" and reason for living, as well as his love interest. On their first meeting, Mikaela attempts to welcome Yuuichirou to the orphanage with the other children, but Yuuichirou refuses his welcome, stating that he doesn't need any family after his parents tried to kill him claiming he was a demon child. Mikaela punches Yuu in the cheek, helps him up, and tells him that all the children here have faced abuse from their parents, and tells him to call him Mika. He affectionately refers to Yuuichirou as Yuu-chan starting from their time as children.

In Sanguinem, the two of them are the oldest children from the Hyakuya orphans and are thus now the caretakers of the younger ones. Yuuichirou is still angsty and distant, playing a "big brother" role for the younger kids yet refusing to refer to the others as family, until the night of their deaths when he is forced to accept how much they mean to him. His personality stays as it was as a child until he undergoes a major shift after learning that Mikaela is still alive, going from depressed and angry to much happier and easier to get along with.

Yuuichirou's acceptance towards Mikaela during their second reuinon, saying he doesn't care if Mikaela is a vampire and being willing to give his blood for Mikaela straight from the neck both then and while on the run, strengthens the connection after Mikaela's fears that Yuuichirou would hate him now are proven false. He regularly asks Mikaela if he's thirsty and offers his own blood, seemingly even eager for Mikaela to drink from him. He also often initiates physical contact with Mikaela, including hand-holding. Mikaela frequently refers to him as a kind person, and affectionately as an idiot.

To Mikaela's irritation, he also refers to the rest of his squadmates as family, and says they and Mikaela should consider each other as such too. He insists that he will turn Mikaela back into a human, but Mikaela first protests that it is impossible, and then begins not responding to the comments altogether, though his reasons have not been stated. He also struggles with Yuuichirou's blind trust in others and his willingness to put himself in danger for and be used by the people he cares about, which leads up to Guren's second betrayal of Yuuichirou and Mikaela's transformation into a demon.

While he believes Mikaela is dead, Yuuichirou immediately begs Asuramaru to kill him, saying he has no reason to live withouth Mikaela. He immediately perks up when Krul reveals to him that Mikaela is not gone, and that she has a plan to save him. He begs her for her help on his knees at her request, stating that Mikaela's life is more important than his own.

Shinoa's Squad
Shinoa and Yoichi are fairly quick to welcome Mikaela into their squad despite his status as a vampire. Kimizuki and Mitsuba are more wary of him, but don't protest as they know he is important to Yuuichirou.

Makoto Narumi is also a member of their group for a couple of months, during which he blatantly distrusts Mikaela and is rude to his face, questioning both his life story and anything he says on the basis of him being a vampire.

Krul Tepes
Krul is Mikaela's sire and supplies him with blood until he drinks from Yuuichirou. She likely turns him due to him possessing a functioning seraph gene, breaking vampire law stating that no new vampires are to be made, which could get her in serious trouble. Thusly, she also hides Mikaela's background from the other vampires. Her treatment of him is soft and motherly at times and harsh at others, but she puts herself in harm's way multiple times for his sake and has been tortured and imprisoned as the result of this. Despite her seemingly cold nature, she genuinely cares for Mikaela, and shares information on the true state of the world, apocalypse, and the JIDA's experiments with him.

Ferid Bathory
Ferid is the noble that Mikaela sells his blood to as a child in Sanguinem. He is notably predatory towards children, Mikaela not being the only one he was known to have a deal with, shows a distinct preference for their blood, and attempts to convince Mikaela to "halt his growth at its best place" at sixteen. Understandably, Mikaela is very defensive of Yuuichirou around him and threatens to kill him if he lays a hand on him.

He possesses the Michaela gene himself, as does Crowley who he turned because of this, and seems to have used Krul as a piece in his plan to turn Mikaela for this as well. Bottled blood from the second progenitor and Ferid's own sire is used to turn Crowley, and Krul is manipulated into turning Mikaela as her third progenitor status means a vampire turned by her would be stronger than one turned by Ferid. His grander schemes have yet to be fully explained, but he is a major player in the events in the story. After killing the rest of the Hyakuya orphans, he intentionally allows Yuuichirou to escape as part of a plan with Guren, who is waiting for Yuuichirou when he leaves Sanguinem.

Controversies
Due to both taking the Hyakuya orphanage's name as their surname and referring to each other as family, there has been notable discourse in the fanbase about whether Mikaela/Yuuichirou is incestuous. The term "family" is used somewhat loosely by the two, more in line with the concept of found family, and Yuuichirou also refers to his squadmates, Guren, Krul, and a few others as his family. He and Yuuichirou share no blood relation, never spend time under a shared parental figure, never use familial terms for each other besides simply "family", and are more co-parents and friends ithan siblings while living with the younger Hyakuya orphans in Sanguinem.

Confirmed Influence
Takaya Kagami confirmed Devilman as an influence on Seraph of the End in a JumpFesta 2018 interview attached to chapter 65:

SJ: What artists or writers have inspired you?

Kagami Sensei: Go Nagai's Devilman is an inspiration. In terms of writers, I really like Mario Puzo, the writer of The Godfather.

Unfortunately the interview is very brief and does not elaborate further.

Seraph of the End also appears on the bottom of the ring finger of the Devilman genealogy hand released along with the advertising for Devilman Crybaby.

Speculation
While Kagami has not stated that Mikaela is influenced by Ryou, his confirmation of taking influence from Devilman along with many obvious parallels between the two are notable. From our checklist:


 * Plays a large role in the story
 * Appears to support and oppose protagonist at different times (less so opposes Yuuichirou himself and more his goals and trust of the human army; may be more opposition yet coming with his state as a demon and having lost his memories)
 * Protagonist has a soft spot for him
 * Close friend of the protagonist at some point
 * Morally gray
 * Knowledge of plot events before other characters
 * Multiple lives in some form
 * LGBTQ+ or frequently interpreted as such (canonically gay for Yuuichirou, has never expressed attraction to any girls)
 * Has feelings for protagonist
 * Separated from love interest by death of one (by his death, twice)
 * Causes love interest's death or vice-versa (somewhat; his death at Guren's hands can be partially attributed to Yuuichirou's blind trust of Guren)
 * Love interest is an Akira expy
 * Special powers
 * Nonhuman
 * Pale hair (specifically shares Ryou's blond hair and blue eyes as a human)
 * Attractive
 * Relation to angels
 * Smart, strong, skilled, generally capable
 * Unhappy childhood or abusive parental figure(s)

Not included in the checklist as it is not widely applicable, but Mikaela, like Ryou, is also specifically mixed half white and half Japanese, and is noted for his somewhat feminine appearance.

Trivia

 * The anime's first ending song, scaPEGoat by Hiroyuki Sawano, is written to be from his perspective speaking to Yuuichirou.
 * Emerald is the birth stone for May, matching Yuuichirou's eye colour. Yuuichirou is born in October, which has two birthstones: opal (similar to Mikaela's blue eyes) and tourmaline (which can take various colours including a red mistakable for rubies, matching Mikaela's eyes as a full vampire).