Vampire Knight

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I could write lots of good and bad things about this manga. It had its own downhills and uphills, but have finally finished with a - in my opinion - beautiful ending.

Let's face it, the story wasn't that original to start with and the characters were stereotypes or idealized men and women. Although Yuuki - our heroine - is like that too, she was my favourite character in the beggining, but that changed when an important incident occurred(don't want to spoiler it for you, although it's quite obvious). She is cheerful, hard-working, always trying to do her best. Kaname and Zero are typical male characters: ... the sexy, elegant, kind man and the sexy, stubborn, hard-working bad guy. They're not anything special, but you may start liking them if you're into massive shoujo stuff. :)

If you want to read an awesome review about this manga, there are a lot of honest and true writings out there. The only reason why I wrote this, is because I've just finished reading VK, and I really liked the ending, which was IMHO far better than the last, like 30 chapters. It was a human ending, many people who loved this manga and its characters probably shed tears over it. Of course, when you get to the, for instance, 15th chapter, you can already guess the story will be a bit gloomy and without a true happy ending. That couldn't happen, who has read the first few chapters should be able to figure that out.

Anyway, it leaves me with no sorrow, no grieving for another volume, not even a side story – although that is really likely to happen. Overall, I give it an 8. I’m really glad I didn’t stop reading it halfway through, its end lived up to my expectations – far more, it was much better than I first thought it would be. I recommend you to read it even after you’ve watched the anime.

(sorry for my english, I’m not native)

VK is not a manga to be taken seriously. After 93 chapters of devotion: hoping that characters would evolve, that you would get some satisfaction or at least closure, you get absolutely nothing - only the bitter taste of disappointment.

Story 6/10:

There’s a great sense of mystery in the beginning, and the relationship between Yuki, Kaname and Zero is so deliciously mysterious and drama-filled that it’s easy to get hooked. You have the basic ingredients for a love triangle and lots of angst. You have the taboo vampire/human relationship and the beauty of longing for something out of reach. There was a sort of self-deprecating ... love/frustration going on with the characters that made you bounce back-and-forth between your feelings for them. So there's initially a lot going on for the story. With that being said, the beginning relied a lot on unknown factors of each character – so their past and motivations – but once that gets cleared (to a certain point) the intrigue drops significantly.

The premise is a no brainer and isn’t too convoluted: vampire school and the stigma between vampire/human relationships; perhaps that’s why it worked. As the story progressed it feels as though the author tried to take her story a little too seriously and added way too many subplots. It became too messy and a lot of characters were lost along the way (no closure) because Hino tried to have too many things happen at once.

After the first arc ends (so approximately after the first 10-12 volumes) that’s when things go completely downhill. The plot begins to become inconsistent with too many plot holes, things are introduced and never fully explained. There are too many scenes that seem to have deeper meaning but they really don’t – they’re for pure ascetic reasons or simply ‘filler’. The last arc until the very end is a complete waste of time. It just became boring and the sense of the mysterious forbidden was practically non-existence, becoming simply ‘a race against time story’. There was too much re-hashing and it became all too glaringly obvious (or confusing since Hino DOESN’T explain). A lot of things took place that seemed to have no impact or significance to the story as a whole.

For anyone who was a fan of the manga, many feel disappointed and angry (such as me) because we invested in the story only to be left with utter BS. So many questions are not solved and there are a lot of things you are left to presume.

It had potential and it started off well enough; however, it feels as though Hino gave up after the first arc ended and didn’t know what to do with the second part. It’s a bit of a mess, but the beginning is worth a look.

Characters 5/10:

This is where disappointment hits you the hardest. I can initially accept characters’ faults in the beginning, so Yuki is a naïve and helpless girl that seems to be a little too clueless. She has a contradicting mix of selflessness and selfishness that sometimes leaves you mind boggled at her daftness. Initially it works for the story; however, when the story progress and the plot ‘thickens’ there has to be some character development, so some maturity on Yuki’s part. Well there’s little to none that happens. Instead I would say Yuki becomes even more transparent, selfish and desperate, to the point that you forget that she’s even the main protagonist and not a crutch for the main male leads to fight over or protect.

The focus turns to the only decent character in the story, Kaname, and you wonder if VK is truly about Yuki. Kaname is a redeeming quality of the manga; he’s vastly superior because he’s such a complex and contradicting character. His manipulation, intelligence, obsession, selflessness and mystery, is what drives the story. He’s really the only character that is never fully predictable and every decision he makes impacts the story and all the other characters. The other male characters are not as engaging or interesting as Kaname. Zero constantly remains the broody, revenge-driven emo that remains very much pathetic until the very end. Everyone else remain the same predictable stock characters, they’re there for exposition sake.

Art 10/10: It is a truly beautiful manga, perhaps it’s one of the reason why I stuck around reading the story until the end (without counting Kaname). All the characters are beautifully drawn and there's a lot attention to detail. The scenery and the character design is a real treat.

Enjoyment 5/10: Beginning is all good but the second part is pure rubbish. It will leave you ripping your hair in frustration and end with great regret or disappointment.

Overall 6/10: The first arc is worth the read but the enjoyment drops significantly that once it ended, it left me feeling sad and frustrated. There’s little closure, the character development is poor and it leaves you hating the manga more then you should.

When I was much, much younger I actually was a fan of this series, but as I grew older I started to dislike it and I'll try to explain why.

First of all, the artwork is beautiful. The characters are well-drawn and the whole drawings are wonderful. But I think that's the best I can say about Vampire Knight.

At first the story started quite mediocre. The idea of a Night Class seems as a kinda desperate attempt to integrate Vampires in the Story. I do not agree with the concept of Vampires going to school even though they don't have to. But that's just my ... preference. Despite that it was easy to get in the story but however, as it went on a lot of themes appeared that are just similiar with this kind of genre. Long lost family, love-triangle, the family situations in general, the "fanservice" with all the pretty boys. A setting outside of a school would have been better in my opinion.

I can't be the only one who just dislikes Yuki. She is a Mary Sue and most of the time useless and even a crybaby. Throughout the story Yuki loses her personality and what made her in the beginning. She can't choose between two characters and this it was really bothers me. Her background story wasn't surprising at all and even so her relation to a certain vampire. The only character I really liked was Hanabusa and I appreciate the fact, that the Manga-ka gave further consideration to other vampires besides Kaname later on in the manga.

It may have just been me but I found this manga hard to enjoy when the character stories and characters were all so similar. This left me bored and also disappointed. The ending was really ... I actually don't know how to describe it. I hated it. It was kinda obvious in the first place but I really hoped that it wouldn't happen. I'm really wondering why Hino-sensei thought that this would be a good idea in the first place. But maybe that's just my opinion.

I think that younger reader could actually enjoy Vampire Knight but I don't recommend it to anyone. If you are seeking for a dark vampire romance or a fluffy cute vampire romance - Vampire Knight is neither.