Vampire Knight

I’ve only been reading Vampire Knight for about a week but it has a complete hold on me. Its another one of those manga that appeals to girls in every way possible. Its make up is very similar to Fushigi Yugi, its a romance story but, although we won’t admit it, we’re not actually reading it for the story. We’re reading it cos we want to know who the main character will end up with! Screw the story! We want wangsty love scenes, bishies and tension! Did I mention bishies?

Well Vampire Knight delivers on all these things, it is a Shoujo title after all! And not only are there bishies but the bishies are vampires! Even better!

Vampire Knight takes place in Cross Academy, a school that has two classes: the day class and the night class. But Cross Academy has a secret – the night class are all vampires! Muahaha! The story centers around Yuki Cross, the adopted daughter of the Academy’s Chariman, who was saved 10 years ago from an evil vampire. Her rescuer was Kaname Kuran, a night class student and pure blood vampire. Yuki has no memories from before the attack and has been at the academy ever since. She looks up to Kaname and obviously has a big crush on him.

To protect the secret of the night class from the day class, Yuki, along with fellow day class student and angst-king Zero Kiryu, was made a guardian of the school. But Zero has a secret too. Brought to the school by the chairman four years before, Zero never smiles and holds a deep grudge for the vampire race.

And that is where the story begins. To be honest I’m not even completely sure what the story is. I’m usually too busy cheering on the love triangle between Zero, Yuki and Kaname to even notice that there’s a plot. I’m a Zero x Yuki fan and I’m dying for them to get together. I’ve just finished reading a chapter where Zero went to kiss Yuki and then said “Nevermind”…..nevermind? NEVERMIND?!! AAaaahhhh!!

But you see, that is the power of Vampire Knight. Everything has been done on purpose to pull you in, entangle you and force you to keep reading until you get some sort of reward for all those sleepless nights thinking about it! The whole thing is cloaked in mystery so that we never really know whats going on. Even the relationships between the characters are vague.

I’d like to be able to come to a conclusion about the three main characters feelings towards each other but the mangaka is clever and never gives it away. I’d like to say that Kaname is in love with Yuki…but then there will be a scene where Kaname is talking to another vampire and you will get a completely different impression of him. We don’t know what his real intentions are.

In my opinion, Zero is the best character. He has so much personality, and he tends to stick to the same set of rules, the opposite of Kaname. I would also like to say again that he is in love with Yuki as Kaname points out “You are so lucky that you can protect the girl you love” but Zero would never admit to that for fear of putting Yuki into a painful situation. I also can’t help but love the scenes where Yuki offers him her blood. You can’t help but imagine that he wants to ravish her rather than suck her blood.

And then we get on to Yuki. She’s really just your typical, kind, naive Shoujo girl. There’s not really much different about her. She’s perhaps a little stronger and less whiney than some Shoujo characters and she has a lot of potential for character development. I believe that she is confused over her feelings for Kaname and Zero. I think that she has it mixed up. She says that Zero is like a sibling but Yuki has never experienced what its like to have a brother or sister. She cares for Zero a lot more than I think even she realises but she’s too hung up on Kaname to see it.

Yuki is also too naive when it comes to Kaname. He obviously has something bigger planned, he can’t just be what he appears to be. He must be more than that. But Yuki is a lot like myself in the sense that she doesn’t see the bigger picture when it comes to her feelings. If she feels love then thats all she needs to know, why does it have to be complicated? If she loves Kaname then she loves Kaname, the fact that he’s a pure blood vampire has nothing to do with it. She’s just a girl that likes a boy.

The romantic plot line of Vampire Knight is gripping. If you’re looking for a deep, meaningful, serious story about vampires then don’t bother picking it up. Its more for simple minded people that don’t want to think too much about it, they just want straightforward smut and wangst.

Don’t get me wrong, Vampire Knight is beautiful, but its not Trinity Blood. As I said before I’m not even sure what the main story is. As far as I know it follows several plots surrounding each character:

1. Yuki’s determination to save Zero from turning into a E-Class Vampire and to discover her past.
   
2. Zero’s revenge on the vampire that murdered his family.
3. Kaname’s intentions with Yuki and his apparent interest in keeping the peace between vampires and humans.

VK is a wonderful manga and is still ongoing. I would recommend it to anyone that is a fan of Shoujo. The artwork itself is a give away. Bishies!

~ by seraphimcry on August 20, 2007.