Vampire Knight

Vampires in anime is nothing original and definitely nothing ground-breaking, in 2006, the idea of vampires had taken a back seat, Twilight didn't exist so there was a lack of screaming fangirls talking about what team they were, in fact, before there was Twilight....There was Vampire Knight. Many people, including me tend to think "oh, vampires, meh" and it takes a quality show such as Production IG's 'Blood: The Last Vampire' to turn heads and make people think otherwise, only to be kicked in the teeth by god awful vampire anime such as Fortune Arterial, Vampire Knight was a step in the right direction, but itsfar from perfect. We follow the story of Yuki Cross, who as a child, was attacked by a Vampire and saved by Kaname Kuran, a pureblood vampire (he's basically top of the vampire hierarchy). Time skip to high school because every anime seems to be set in bloody high school, she attends Cross Academy led by her father, Kaien who is determined to make Humans and Vampires live in harmony by having them attend the same school. The day class is for humans such as Yuki and her partner Zero as school guardian, and they are responsible for keeping the over-excited girls at bay when the night class strut their way into Cross Academy. The night class are (wait for it) THE VAMPIRES, and are, in my opinion the only set of characters that kept the entire series afloat during the more...dull time of the series. We have Kaname Kuran, Yuki's love interest and childhood hero and Aido Hanabusa, the comic relief antagonistic senior to Yuki who is presumably jealous of their relationship, the rest dont have much importance, but theyre all equally cool. Studio Deen took the reigns for this anime, well known for animating When They Cry (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni) and, while they've never been at the peak of animation quality, thankfully for this show it isnt utter shit either, the animation is mediocre at best and certain action scenes felt off to me, other than that, its bearable to watch, so, as of right now, Vampire Knight is a fairly solid anime. Now on to the good stuff, i'll quickly give my two cents on the opening and ending song before i get on to the 'dub or sub' argument, the opening song took me around 9 episodes to get used to, and on occasion i actually skipped it as there is absolutely nothing noteworthy on it, the song actually starts before the characters in the preview of the episodes have finished speaking leading to a clusterf**k of different voices for a few seconds. The ending song titled 'Still Doll' was more compelling, it didnt try to animate too much and it left a large sense of insecurity on me after it had finished, the voice of the singer Kanon Wakeshima was borderline perfect and the last few frames was very creepy. Dub or sub? Sub. I havent even watched it in japanese just yet, but the dub felt like it was just slapped on, the dialogue was poor for reasons i'll get onto in a moment, and i honestly think the dub is the primary reason i never enjoyed the show as much as i should have. Now its no spoiler to say that Zero's parents are dead as its explained pretty much right after he is introduced, their death is his motivation to keep fighting and the source of his hatred for vampires, Yuki is meant to be his bestfriend, just keep that in mind for the quote i'm about to give you... "You think she's the vampire that brutally murdered your entire family?" WTF? Yes, all the characters that mention Zero's parents to Zero himself seem to love reminding him of how the series' antagonist butchered his parents, which made me feel that either the characters were trying to make Zero cry or that they needed to remind him for the sake of having something to say. The voice actors do an outright poor job of expressing the feelings between the characters that the japanese dub apparently has which causes the whole romance/tragedy side of the show to be completely laughable, i honestly watched death scenes of the characters multiple times thinking "Wait, was i supposed to care?" The dub has successfully made it onto a list of english dubs i flatout REFUSE to listen to ever again in my life, and i can count the amount of such dubs on one hand. The characters, to some extent make the rest of the show bearable, not a single character that matters in the story is a cliche stereotype of any anime archetype, and for that i can applaud the idea, however thanks to the dub, the characters came off as plain with no character growth whatsoever and when the story gets 'serious' in the final 4 episodes, i felt myself struggling to even finish it, taking 30 minute breaks between episodes to cope with the inevitable cliffhanger ending. Oh, yes, normally i dont like talking about a show's ending to the point where i give it a whole section in the review, but in my belief the ending is what makes the show solid, and in this case...it wasnt, it ends on a god-awful cliffhanger which, if you were struggling to finish the first 13 episodes like i did, you are now forced to watch 13 MORE to get the full effect of the story, admittedly, however, the story is incredibly strong, making no room for your typical beach episodes or filler bullshit, everything is completely necessary and the plot twists are masterfully executed. This show is by no means for everyone, and if you want a vampire anime i would rather recommend Blood: The Last Vampire or Trinity Blood over this, but if you must, watch it, it ain't half bad, i have alot to say about it (mostly negative) but honestly i think its because i havent watched the japanese dub or even the second season, so my final opinions on the series as a whole is likely to change, but for now, the first season was a tad messy, leaving all of the explanations for the second season in typical Studio Deen fashion. I give this anime a 6/10 and the overall recommendation to stream it if you have absolutely nothing else to watch

Vampire knight was a welcome change for me in terms of the darker tone of the show, compared to the usual reverse harem, soujo anime. I loved the fact it was not the typical sweet and innocent cliche anime, it had at least a little more depth to it. I say a 'little' because to be honest it still is far from being a well, rounded, engaging, action packed and thought-provoking anime. It still is very much targeted at teenage girls with a thirst for 'twilighty' things.. The story was not a bad one, compared with many other animes of a similar genre, as therewas the element of horror and mystery. The characters were fairly interesting. Kaname was my favorite, and Zero being a troubled soul also had his quirks and complexities. Sad to say our protagonist was rather weak and oh-so-obliging. I would be the first to say I hate an overly loud, domineering and arrogant protagonist, but seriously, Yuuki takes the feminist cause back about a decade. If you have been watching Earl and the Fairy, Hakuōki, Special A etc, I think you would enjoy a similar feel but change of scenery. Other than that i believe you would find Vampire Knight rather average and perhaps best to be avoided..

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. Thesepasts, 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 =)

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.

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