While on my quest to get back into the current anime swing, I kept finding site after site talking about Vampire Knight. I have been following Vampire Knight in Shojo Beat since they added it to their magazine and I have always found the art beautiful and the storyline interesting. The only thing keeping me back from watching this anime was after enjoying the manga, would I be too harsh and expect too much from the anime? I often compare the two and more often than not, the manga wins. However, after watching like…EIGHT AMV’s at the last anime convention devoted to VK, i decided to give it a whirl.Spoilers may lie ahead...
The basic plot of VK starts off 10 years ago in the middle of a forest. A young girl named Yuki is almost attacked by a vampire when another vampire, Kaname, comes to her aid and leaves her in the hands of Kaien Cross, an ex-vampire hunter and now headmaster of an academy for humans and vampires. She has no memories before the forest and it is believed that vampires also killed her family. Four years ago, another child, Zero, comes to live with the Cross family after his family is also killed by vampires. Together, Zero and Yuki are to help keep the peace at school and that the young vampires in the Night Class do not break the rules by feasting on the Day Class. Kaname also attends the school and being a pure blood vampire, rules over the night class and has a weird attraction to Yuki, which upsets Zero to no end, with his hating vampires with a deadly passion. This is a bit of a problem, as Zero is from a family of vampire hunters, but during the attack 4 years ago, was bitten and is slowly turning INTO a vampire.
After watching the whole series, I think the anime did a very good job following the manga storyline. There are small differences, but I think they help the plot along. One of the major differences is that Zero’s old master ends up teaching at the school instead of trying to kill him and leaving. I also think the Night Class was created to be a little more sinister, which is what I would expect from noble vampires anyway. A downside though is Yuki’s character, I think she came across weaker in the anime, especially in episode 12. Episode 13 however, was different from the manga. That was probably due to the fact they ran out of manga material to use. I actually liked their ending though. It didn’t feel forced and it made sense with the plot. It also left it wide open for season two and the possibility to use more available manga chapters.
I can see why this anime became very popular. Vampires are often portrayed as very sensual creatures and in VK, being a vampire also means you are drop dead gorgeous as well. There is a love triangle, something that always attracts an audience. The vampire storyline might be an old plot, but they spice it up with having different levels within the vampire community. Zero becoming a vampire becomes more dire because he would be a “E-level” or one what would be hunted down and killed for being crazy.
One weird thing I did not like about this anime was the town near the school. This anime is about old concept meets new twists. However, I found the “creepy old town” resembled Transylvania or a town that was supposed to represent it very played out. It just seemed very obvious to me, vampires all gathering in a dark, old fashioned town. Don’t these young vampires want to live it up in Tokyo or something? I would think the older vampires on the council would live in an area like that, but the younger ones? Also, the horse drawn carriages were a weird touch too. :P
Another thing that bothered me was that fact that Yuki knew …nothing about vampires? She acted shocked when she saw a level-E for the first time. Flashbacks show her acting horrified when Kaname was snacking on his school mate. How can she be in charge of protecting the school from the Night Class if she has no idea what a vampire….does? She acts way too clueless on the situation, as if she thought being vampire was just about being hot and eating blood tablets. Being educated on something you are responsible is common sense to me. But, without the naive character, how could we possibly explain these conditions to the audience? :O But despite these few minor roll eye moments, it is still a good anime.
Today I watched the trailers for season two and I must say I was very impressed. I am only current up to whatever has been shown in Shojo Beat for the manga, so it is hard to say if it is going to follow the manga plot or if it is going to go in a new direction. However, if the plot is interesting and well thought out, I might enjoy both storylines. :) I will have to wait a few weeks to see if the new season lives up to expectations, but for season one, I think it was a great anime that reaches a large fan base.
After watching the whole series, I think the anime did a very good job following the manga storyline. There are small differences, but I think they help the plot along. One of the major differences is that Zero’s old master ends up teaching at the school instead of trying to kill him and leaving. I also think the Night Class was created to be a little more sinister, which is what I would expect from noble vampires anyway. A downside though is Yuki’s character, I think she came across weaker in the anime, especially in episode 12. Episode 13 however, was different from the manga. That was probably due to the fact they ran out of manga material to use. I actually liked their ending though. It didn’t feel forced and it made sense with the plot. It also left it wide open for season two and the possibility to use more available manga chapters.
I can see why this anime became very popular. Vampires are often portrayed as very sensual creatures and in VK, being a vampire also means you are drop dead gorgeous as well. There is a love triangle, something that always attracts an audience. The vampire storyline might be an old plot, but they spice it up with having different levels within the vampire community. Zero becoming a vampire becomes more dire because he would be a “E-level” or one what would be hunted down and killed for being crazy.
One weird thing I did not like about this anime was the town near the school. This anime is about old concept meets new twists. However, I found the “creepy old town” resembled Transylvania or a town that was supposed to represent it very played out. It just seemed very obvious to me, vampires all gathering in a dark, old fashioned town. Don’t these young vampires want to live it up in Tokyo or something? I would think the older vampires on the council would live in an area like that, but the younger ones? Also, the horse drawn carriages were a weird touch too. :P
Another thing that bothered me was that fact that Yuki knew …nothing about vampires? She acted shocked when she saw a level-E for the first time. Flashbacks show her acting horrified when Kaname was snacking on his school mate. How can she be in charge of protecting the school from the Night Class if she has no idea what a vampire….does? She acts way too clueless on the situation, as if she thought being vampire was just about being hot and eating blood tablets. Being educated on something you are responsible is common sense to me. But, without the naive character, how could we possibly explain these conditions to the audience? :O But despite these few minor roll eye moments, it is still a good anime.
Today I watched the trailers for season two and I must say I was very impressed. I am only current up to whatever has been shown in Shojo Beat for the manga, so it is hard to say if it is going to follow the manga plot or if it is going to go in a new direction. However, if the plot is interesting and well thought out, I might enjoy both storylines. :) I will have to wait a few weeks to see if the new season lives up to expectations, but for season one, I think it was a great anime that reaches a large fan base.
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