Vampire Knight

The cheerful Yuuki Cross and the gruff Zero Kiryuu are members of the disciplinary committee at Cross Academy, which houses two very distinct classes: the Day Class and the Night Class. Their job consists of upholding order between the classes when they switch out. While that may not seem like an especially difficult task, the Day Class is unaware of the truth behind the Night Class—their utterly gorgeous students are vampires.

Ten years ago, Yuuki was saved from a vampire attack by Kaname Kuran, a Pureblood vampire. Now, Kaname is the leader of the Night Class, and Yuuki's disciplinary committee position allows her to see him again, making her feelings for him grow complicated. Meanwhile, Zero bears a white-hot hatred of all vampires and believes they can never live in harmony with humans. But a secret from Zero's past soon threatens the fragile peace of all at the academy, and things may never be the same again.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kiryuu, Zero Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Kuran, Kaname Main

Kishio, Daisuke Japanese

Cross, Yuuki Main

Horie, Yui Japanese

Aidou, Hanabusa Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Shiki, Senri Supporting

Hoshi, Souichirou Japanese

Cross, Kaien Supporting

Gouda, Hozumi Japanese

Tooya, Rima Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Ichijou, Takuma Supporting

Chiba, Susumu Japanese

Kiryuu, Ichiru Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Kain, Akatsuki Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Takahashi, Tomoko Producer

Azuma, Fukashi Producer

Matsuda, Keiichi Producer

Kyoutani, Tomomi Assistant Producer

Reviews

Jul 21, 2008

TheLlama

Recommended

If you think that shojo series are all flowery, romantic (comedies) and cheerful, you're quite wrong, and Vampire Knight will prove that more than anything else. Keywords for VK are drama, emotional struggles and tragic pasts. Throw in a dash of vampire, and there you have Vampire Knight in all its glory.

The story revolves around the students of the Cross Academy, which is divided into the Day Class for humans, and the Night Class for Vampires. The main characters, Zero and Yuki, both have very sad pasts; Zero had his family killed by a vampire, and Yuki's first memory was a vampire attacking her. These ... pasts, which are revealed fairly early in the series, make a good base for their relationship and their emotional struggles.

During the course of the story, the characters face one event/experience after another, which makes room for emotional struggles, lots of character development and, of course, some romance (hey, this is a shojo series after all), though the latter is overshadowed by the other stuff.

The artwork is both standard shojo and something else at the same time. We have the pretty bishonen boys in place, complete with all the fallen-head-over-heels girls, and there's also the standard shojo eyes; large, with pupils that are almost larger than the actual eyes. But since the series has a darker, sadder tone to it, there's no lack on that end either. The coloring is often very dark, and the occasional lighting effect helps on this aspect of the series.

The soundtrack is good, with sad pieces helping the sad mood, and overall good quality. There's nothing spectacular about the soundtrack though, and while the OP theme is very good, the ED theme isn't very cool, though it fits with the dark mood of the series. Voice acting is perfect; the moods are portrayed very well and there's an overall good quality.

One of the things I love about this series is the characters. I mean, I really love them. They're very deep, with their pasts and emotional struggles. Off course, there's superficial characters as well, but they're mostly supporting characters; the main characters are mostly deep and they have a lot of character development for such a short series. Their relationships with eachother are very deep too, and a pleasure to watch.

Overall, I enjoyed the series very much; this is a candidate for the best Spring 2008 anime. It's a bit open at the end, but I just read that there's a second season coming in October, so I'll accept that, and look forward to it.

To 'Not Helpful' voters (and you 'Helpful' voters too): Feedback greatly appreciated =)

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 16, 2009

Dorothea

Mixed Feelings

Story
Some aspects of the setup I liked, like the school divided into day class human students and night class vampire students. I would have loved the human heroine who patrols the grounds and night, making sure the vampires are in line, except...Yuki was TOTALLY lame. Episode after episode was her chasing after Zero, stupidly getting herself into danger, being saved by a male lead, and then feeling guilty. Really weak story, with few redeeming features. The characters didn't grow, events didn't build up into a climax, and the resolution was contrived and lukewarn. It was very much one of those ... animes annoyingly full of longing, melodramatic gazes and characters saying each others' names in quiet, tortured voices.

Art
The art was all right. Yuki was cute, Zero was handsome, and Kaname was gorgeous. The other vampires were pretty lame though, just a bunch of generic bishounen who were totally loyal to Kaname cuz the mangaka said so. I found Yuki's absolutely massive eyes irritating. I've seen a lot of anime by now so I'm used to the huge eyes, but hers actually distracted me at times, maybe because the story had so little pull.

Sound
Good soundtrack. Lots of classical, which I enjoyed, and I like both the intro and ending songs.

Character
The characters are what I disliked the most, especially Yuki. She was an extremely boring protagonist. She carried around a cool-looking staff that seemed to have magical properties, but never once used it well. Usually, she'd just bring it out only to drop it when someone said something upsetting or when she tripped. She was then promptly rescued by Kaname or Zero. Maybe the next season will explain why she is in the middle of all of this, but I think season 1 should give the heroine SOME value. Sure, she was very generous with Zero, but I hate shoujo heroines who only stand out because they're SO good at being martyrs. As for the other characters, they weren't much better. Zero spent most of his time wanting to die. Kaname constantly rescued Yuki, yet never explained her importance to him. A little mystery is good, but too much "she's so precious to me but I won't say why" gets boring and annoying. The "villain" only appeared at the very, very end, and I found their behavior inconsistent and what happened to them way too abrupt and anticlimactic.

Enjoyment
I don't have high standards. I might've adored this show, if Yuki hadn't been such a weakling. What I usually enjoy in anime shows is watching the protagonist learn and grow. It's okay if the protagonist starts out ordinary or weak or with a massive crush, so long as they become stronger. Yuki really didn't, though. Kaname kept protecting her without explaining anything. Zero usually pushed her away and also refused to share things. She had a big heart, but I like heroines who're genuinely strong, not just good at sacrificing themselves. Sorry, but anyone can say, "Bite me."

Overall
Maybe this is a good show for teenage girls, but I think anyone who just finished Ouran Host Club or Hana Yori Dango or other such shows will be disappointed by the heroine. Most shoujo is so entertaining because the heroines are so intelligent, or plucky, or independent. Yuki was none of those things. Of course, fangirls who just want to see a cute big-eyed girl get bitten by various bishounen will still love it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jan 25, 2012

xMintyPie

Not Recommended

WARNING-- before reading this review, please take into account the fact that I disliked Vampire Knight. If that one statement offends you, please do not read onward. I do not assume any responsibilities for broken monitors, laptops, or mobile devices.

Also, if you like dark romance or any romance dealing with vampires, I recommend this to you. See if you like it. Though, if you prefer adventures or are not a fan of things dark, or of soap operas, this is not recommended.

..:::..:::..

No matter what anime it is, the very first question that ever comes to my mind when writing review is this-- ... "Where do I start? What do I say?"

With Vampire Knight, that question never occurred. I know instantly where to start. Since I'm such a freak about certain things, when I write reviews I have to write them in this order-- Story, Art, Sound, Character, All in all. but with this anime-- JUST this one-- I'm going to start with Character, because that is where I know to start and where I feel I need to.


Character~
Yes. Here we go. /deep breath/ Vampire Knight's characters are... awful. Hate me if you wish, but honestly, they're just annoying. This show isn't *insanely* popular, but it is well known, and I have a large share of romance anime-loving friends, and each one of them referred me to this. I don't see why. The characters all have their own tortured pasts and this makes it pretty much uninteresting. It's ok if people have a hard enough past to make them interesting-- and not to mention STRONGER-- but Vampire Knight does not do this. They just get weaker because of how hard their past is. I'll... show you.

Yuki~
The supposed heroine, an amnesiac with the only memory of when she was being attacked by a vampire when she was littler. Anything before that, she does not know. She carries around a weapon and is a night guard of sorts, keeping the Night Class and Day Class separate. Does she do a good job at this? ...No. Yuki must always be saved, and whenever she cries someone's name they will come. The plot and characters were all so predictable that, when Yuki fell over and dropped her weapon, the next thing she'd do would be call someone's name. That person would then come and completely kick the butt of her attackers. Yay. I predicted this every time, and every time it happened just as it happened in my mind. Yuki was not a heroine, but was nothing more than a weak girl who supposedly wanted to help Zero by sacrificing some of her blood to him. People regenerate blood, vampire (...probably) or human, so it's not too much of a sacrifice. They'll just get it back later. Nothing special there. And in return for giving her red liquid to him, Zero would come save her. Her weapon's only purpose was to be flung around or dropped when she was surprised or something. She irritated me so much that-- ...No, I won't say.

Zero~
...Oh heck. He's just a suicidal guy who has a "secret". He's a vampire. Wooooo. Who knew that was coming? /sarcasm/ All he does is regret his past and be all pathetic over it, and instead of developing he just sits and sighs sadly. Oh, and when Yuki calls out, he rescues her. I think he's rather torn between liking Yuki or not, or maybe it's just his oh-so-pathetic-feel-bad-for-me past, but he just bugged the crap out of me. Perhaps I am being much too critical for anyone's taste, but I feel I need to agree with some of those that gave this a bad review, and point out why. There's really no character development here, and when the characters are supposed to develop, it actually just makes them more annoying. There are so many things to dislike about this overused type of personality that I won't even point them out, or nobody would read my review because I could make a book out of it. But I'll share a few-- as I've stated earlier, he's suicidal, yes, but he's also a bit cold and unsociable and fights with his own emotions. Doesn't he have another side to him? He never really reveals one. At least not in this series. So far, I don't think even Vampire Knight: Guilty could bring to life this pathetic show, but I have high hopes for it...

Kaname~
Do I HAVE to talk about him? Auuugh... He's just your average super strong, top of the class, well-liked guy with a "soft side" for the protagonist, Yuki. It seems that Kaname and Zero's roles are equal-- to "provide drama" (yeah, great job at that.) and save Yuki all. the. freaking. time. Yes, he's a vampire, and all this other purely annoying stuff, so why does he like Yuki so much? She's cute? She's helpless? She's "kind"? I don't know, I'm hoping it will be revealed in Vampire Knight: Guilty, but I really don't know. Though, I'm sure it will, because how could an anime go on like this? He seems so obsessed with Yuki (and Yuki so obsessed with him) that it's just stupid. Why? I want answers, and I want them in the next season. If I don't get them, this show will be in my list of "Worst 5 anime I have ever seen". So, yes, if they reveal some of their secrets, I'll be... uh, happy. I guess. But for the most part, Kaname is a guy who doesn't make sense, and he's too much of a mystery. Mysteries, yes. But I can only take so much of "I'm keeping everything to myself and acting cool yet obsessed with this girl for no reason". Auuuugh. I just... no. Never mind. If I go further, I'll be ranting for the entire day, which I don't have time to do, so let's move on.

Other characters~
Wait, there were other characters? Wow! I hadn't even noticed! Oh, now that you say it, I do remember some of them. they were Kaname's followers, right? And they had such cliche personalities that I could die? Yeah, them! Right... If your brain is working properly, you should already know my opinion of the supporting cast by now.


Story~
It seemed to be just slightly unique, and it had many places it could have gone, but it decided to stay as a stupid soap opera. It never really got deeper or darker than that, and the bad guy was sort of non existent until the very end. Weird. I like to be introduced to my antagonist at the very beginning, if possible. This was just one of the thousands of things that disappointed me in this show. Why everyone loves this is just something my brain can't grasp. I dunno, maybe your brain can't grasp why the heck I love Higurashi or Death Note, so let's leave it at this-- it's an opinion. The end.


Art~
All in all, it was typical, yet with a darker sense of feeling. It really made me wonder how the heck the creator(s) did this. I mean, how do you take cliche art and give it a darker feeling to it? all in all, it was nice and enjoyable... but then the fight scenes came on. I mean, really? Just because it's a supposed romance doesn't mean the movement of the battles has to be completely awful. And trust me, ohhhh-- when mistakes in a frame are made, it was dang obvious. Most of the time in anime, I can tell when a mistake is made yet I can't always place it, but I know it's there. With Vampire Knight, that never happened once. I always knew where the mistakes were-- Yuki's face was too long. Her mouth was in the incorrect place. Zero's eye shape is wrong (and no, not because he's making a different expression, his eye shape is literally wrong). So many other things. So, when it is bad, it is very bad.


Sound~
I enjoyed the opening, and... I actually have the ending on my iPod. I loved it. I have no idea why. There was something creepy yet mysterious and beautiful about it. It's not super special, but I liked it, and that's my opinion. The overall soundtrack for the movie was actually very nice, and I noticed *most* of it. It kind of helped enhance the mood, but most of the time it made it cheesier and more annoying. On its own, though, it's a fairly good soundtrack. The voice acting for the Japanese isn't necessarily anything super special-- each voice actor fits their role. And you know my opinion on the characters, so sometimes the voice acting was really annoying too. They sulk in the darkness of their rooms, softly calling out the name of the other character, their heart aching-- yeah, yeah. It gets annoying. If there's an English version, I didn't watch it, so...


All in all, Vampire Knight to me was very annoying and cliche in some of its parts. I hoped that it would go in a different direction since the overall setup of the plot was enthralling, but it went absolutely nowhere-- and I could only groan at the screen and slap my forehead.

Depending on your taste in anime, you might or might not like this. I'd say, just to be safe, read the other reviews and build an opinion of your own before you watch this anime. Mostly, read as many reviews that give it a bad score, then read a few that give it an 8 or above. Decide what you want to do, and watch or don't watch this. If you've already seen it, then... good for you. Write your own review. If my review upset you in any way, please read the statement at the very top of this review. :P

Overall, I just disliked this anime, and I'll stick with what I usually like. There were so many ways it could have gone, and so many twists it could have taken-- but it stayed annoying, predictable, and just... Ugh.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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