"I will also show you a sweet dream next night" (Vampire Knight)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	Vampire Knight
Date:	08/11/08 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: beautifully drawn artwork, faithful to the manga, excellent plotlinees, characterisations, and music

Disadvantages: somebody license it already! :::banghead:::

Vampire Knight is the name of the first series of the anime based upon the Japanese manga of the same name (see my earlier related review for more on the actual manga). Comprising 13 episodes, it covers exactly the same ground as the first several chapters of the originating manga, with the storyline and art exceptionally intact. Yuki Cross is a 15 year old student at Cross Academy, an elite private boarding school which caters for students from high school right up through university level (look up escalator schools for more information on this concept). Yuki is the adopted daughter of the Chairman (and headmaster), having come to him one snowy night 10 years previously, lost and amnesiac. All her memories begin from that one night, when the dark night was lit only by the brillance of the snow and she met a vampire who decided she would make a nice little snack. Luckily, a young man stepped out from the swirling snow and dealt the ravenous creature a fatal blow. Turning, she saw this young man too had blood lit eyes and fangs, though he smiled kindly as he reached his hand towards hers. This young vampire was none other Kaname Kuran (or Kuran Kaname as the Japanese put last name first), a veritable pureblood prince of sorts amongst vampire society. Just what he was doing there, and why he saved Yuki and took her to Kaien Cross, no one precisely knows.

It is known that Kaien Cross believes that vampires and humans can co-exist peacefully, and that Kaname is a pacifist, wishing to end the secret millenia old war between humans and vampires, and towards that end co-founded the Night Class at Cross Academy. During the day, the lecture halls are used by the human students, who at the end of the day must cross the bridge and return to their dorm to stay, crossing paths with the elite Night Class students. These students are exeptionally beautiful and possess a subtle charisma that mesmerises humans, so that the Day Class students all tend to clump at the gates hoping to get a glimpse of them and perhaps even hope to be noticed by the one they adore from afar. This of course endangers the secret of the Night Class and also puts temptation in their way, surviving as they do on their own specially developed blood tablets as it is forbidden to drink blood on school grounds. To help guard against the discovery of the nature of the Night Class students and preserve the safety of the Day Class, Yuki and her foster brother Zero act as guardian prefects, patrolling the grounds to ensure that nothing is amiss, as the vampires learn to integrate with humans in the first steps towards peace and expand their own education.

Unfortunately, Zero also sees it as the opportunity to keep an eye on the Night Class in order to be able to destroy them. For Zero's lineage is from a long line of powerful vampire hunters, slain when he was about 12 before his very eyes. The killer was a disturbed pureblooded vampire, whose final act of revenge was to not kill Zero Kiryuu, but to bite him so that he would either bleed to death or transform. These 13 episodes follow the manga along to the point where Zero's struggle to remain human has been lost, and he faces the fact that he has become the very creature he despises with all his being. Can he reconcile with himself and overcome his bigotry towards himself and the other vampires, or will he destroy the fragile peace and seek the final grace of his own anti vampire weapon, the modified 45 known as Bloody Rose?

The anime itself is well presented, with a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack provided by Takefumi Haketa. The opening theme song Futatsu no Kodou to Akai is catchy, with lyrics sang by the twin duo On/Off. As each episode ends on a bit of a cliffhanger followed by a black screen that simply reads in scarlet, "I will also show you a sweet dream next night", it is suitably accompanied by a moodier peace of music featuring string instruments with a soul touching set of lyrics performed called Still Doll, performed by newcomer artist Kanon Wakeshima. All lyrics are in Japanese, as is the anime, but if you like vampires, a touch of romance, lots of intrigue, and don't mind the odd bit of bloody violence and gore, then this is a sure fire winner even if you do not speak Japanese. Currently only the printed manga's English translation has found a licensed distributor outsiide of Asia, but the epiodes can be watched legally, with subtitles added by fans, via both Vampire Knight Heaven and Veoh's own websites. You can also purchase a professionally made DVD with English subtitles, but thus far the only distribution outside of Asia seems to eBay as a licensed distributor outside of that area does not yet exist (very common thing though for anime, so nothing unusual!).

Currently the second series is airing in Japan, Vampire Knight Guilty, which up to this past week's episode brings the series a mere few chapters away from being level with the manga released thus far. This can be watched in the raw, that is without subtitles, live via web streaming TV provided free around the world by Japan's own government. To view it, one does need to download the Keyhole TV application they provide, but again, a few days later, Vampire Knight Heaven has the broadcast fan subbed and free to rewatch. I myself like watching it live, in order to help my Japanese along, and then rewatch the subbed version.

Due to some very dark content scattered along the way, including clips of what appears to be a bloody child sacrifice, I would not recommend this for persons who are under the age of 15. It is scattered however, and most of it typical shojo in essence with lots of lovely bishie eye candy and a large eyed slightly naive heroine. The high levels of intrigue, multilayered story arcs, well considered soundtrack, and sophistacted anime artwork raise this beyond the pedestrian though to something truly special.

Summary: Deceptively simple premise hides a story full of multiple dark intrigues and a tragic secret