Vampire Knight was one of several shoujo shows airing over the spring/summer period. Like most shows in the shoujo genre this is a classic romance title, of course being called Vampire Knight it does have a slightly different Gothic edge to it which fits in nicely with the current resurgence of vampire chic. The main protagonist is a seemingly ordinary girl called Yuki Cross who’s earliest memory is being saved from a blood thirsty vampire by the handsome pureblood vampire Kaname Kuran when she was only five.
The main story takes place ten years later at Cross Academy, a prestigious high school which is slightly different from the norm, having two classes a day class (humans) and a night class (vampires). Each catagorised by a different uniform white for the vamps and black for the humans, I’m guessing this is to make it easier to distinguish the two at first glance. Yuki is now the adopted daughter of the headmaster after being found with no family the headmaster happily took her in. She is also joined by another fellow ward, Zero who was found 4 years ago after his family too was attacked and killed by a vampire. Leaving him the only surviver of a very messy blood bath.
Here begins the love triangle between the dashing but mysterious Kaname, the innocent but always cheerful Yuki and the tormented male tsundere that is Zero. Yuki is often left torn between her loyalty to both of them and often seems unsure which way to turn, or to who she should give her heart. Woven behind this love struggle are the threads of a darker story, of how Zero became the creature he is now, what happened to his family and why Cross Academy actually exists.
Personally I wish I could say I liked Vampire Knight more than I did, it does have a very interesting premise, I personally adore vampire love stories. Yet again I will say this series suffered from being far too short with a lot of filler placed in episodes 5-7. The story only actually started getting interesting around the second arc (ep 9) when the cunningly wicked loli vampire Maria appears. I’m happy I pushed myself to watch the first 7 episodes otherwise I wouldn’t have even seen the interesting turn the series takes as we learn about Zero’s family and the pureblood vampire Shizuka. It was also interesting to see how this back story was played out on all angles and you actually felt for both Zero, his twin brother Ichiru and the mad Shizuka.
The animation and character designs from what I could make out are very faithful to the original manga, with everything looking very shoujo and bishonen abound, which I am sure made a lot of teenage girls very happy. Of course due to these designs at time the fluidity and quality of the animation does vary per episode but not drastically so. The backgrounds are particularly nice and considering most of the action takes place either during the night or at sunset the animation staff did very well in conveying a gloomy, suspenseful and often at times beautiful backdrop. The music also deserves a mention a lot of organs and latin chanting much akin to other films within the vampire genre but not overly corny and it did really work within the context of the story. The horror aspect was pretty much non existent, yes ok there was a lot of blood but all glossed over with a romantic atmosphere as vampires were generally portrayed as beautiful and commanding creatures, with the exception of the level E who in the usual guise of Japanese horror had long hair over their faces, maniacal, twisted visages and the evil cackle of a child possessed. I have to admit though for some strange reason the eyes of the vampires really remind me of red light bulbs.
A special mention has to go to the beautiful closing credits, I didn’t think that highly of the series but these were gorgeous. Then again I am a fan of Alice in Wonderland, but this was just dripping with gothic lolita charm accompanied by the very haunting ‘Still Doll by Kanon Wakeshima’ the looking glass was also a very nice touch.
Vampire Knight was enjoyable enough, I did expect a lot more from it as a series and I don’t think it managed to deliver on all accounts. I personally love the vampire genre so this would always be a show I’d find intriguing anyway. The romance never really seems to get off the ground in this one, the suspense is nice and the visuals definitely are striking at times. Considering there will be a second season airing in the fall Vampire Knight: Guilty I can only treat this as half done. There was too much of a cliffhanger ending for this to be treated as a stand alone season, hopefully after watching season 2 in the fall I may be able to gage a better idea of where the story is going, as I don’t believe any of the main characters were given enough screen time as of yet to really clarify who’s likable and who isn’t. I’m currently leaving my judgment on this title open ended until later in the year, but currently it is worth a watch if you like vampire romance or general shoujo anime but it really could have done with a lot more bite.
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