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
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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.
Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Watashi to Fukigen na Panya-san, The Sour-Faced Baker and Me, The Sullen Baker and Me Japanese: ヴァンパイア騎士〈ナイト〉 More titlesInformationType: Manga
Volumes: 19
Chapters: 102
Status: Finished
Published: Nov 24, 2004 to May 24, 2013
Demographic:
Shoujo
Serialization:
LaLa Authors:
Hino, Matsuri (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #36592 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #148
Members: 98,373
Favorites: 5,813 Resources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 49 / 53
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Your Feelings Categories May 31, 2013
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 ... Nov 27, 2008
I belive I'm the first one to give this a lower review.
I'm going to go through this bit by bit, please bear with me and do not give me any trouble if you're a fan, this is my right of speech. Story: At first I quite liked the story, it was easy to get into. However as it went on I think that the writer has one to many themes that are just way to smiliar to have in this type of story. Long lost family, family stituations in general, unriquited love (and lots of it), 'incest', almost yaoi. While this can sometimes mean a good story, ... Apr 18, 2010
The drawings are gorgeous, that's a given. It's a lot better than those silly flowery scenes in typical shoujo manga. I first started reading Vampire Knight yesterday, and it was really interesting enough for me to pull through all of the fifty-nine chapters (as of this writing), so I can not deny its appeal. However, there are some points that I feel need significant improvements.
For me, Vampire Knight is a guilty read. Why? Certainly not because of Twilight (okay, maybe so). But it's because of the tension in this manga. For me, the character interactions between all characters were appealing, even though their actual development ... Mar 11, 2008
i first got into vampire knight after stealing a classmate's manga in our free period, i've been hooked ever since.
there are a few key elements that i think, make this a very decent manga. the first, and probably most important, is the interpretation hino give us of vampires. i'm be blatantly honest, i truly believed i would hate this manga just from the title. in my experience vampire/horror manga all contain the same basic element which make the storylines very predictable. what i love about vampire knight is that they don't stick to vampiric rules. there is no aversion to sunlight, no fear of garlic or stakes, ... Apr 2, 2008
A friend of mine on a forum was raving about this manga and for good reason. It has a very captivating story, great (and attractive) characters, and good realistic conversation and story.
Some thing that bugs me about what people always rave about this manga (though this does not ditract from the enjoyment of the manga) is that the manga isn't as Vampire ground breaking as everyone claims. There are several, less know, stories of vampires who can go out in day light, take pills instead of drink blood, or vampires attending a boarding school in the night class while 'normal' humans attend the ... Feb 7, 2017
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 ... Apr 21, 2009
Matsuri Hino is a great artist, but unfortunately the story of ‘Vampire Knight’ is sorely lacking when it comes to story elements.
The main three of the story are completely unequal when it comes to development: Hino writes such a complete and compelling story for one male character, and get fans on his side, only to have things go to h*** in a handbasket for him. The other male character is left completely in shadow, yet is ultimately the one who makes *All* of the pivotal plot decisions. Readers don’t know about his personality during any of these decisions, though, and this leaves ... Nov 5, 2010
I've read up to the current chapter and have decided to review the series.
Story: 6/10 In the beginning, it was quite easy to understand. It wasn't complicated. It was just a simple beginning. Then, after the death of one of the antagonists, it slowly grew more complicated. There were a lot of twists and a lot of scenarios that did not make a lot of sense. A majority of the aspects slowly meld together. At the beginning, it was interesting, but, 66 chapters later, it's dull. It feels dragged on. If it wasn't so dull and repetative, ... Aug 30, 2011
Vampire Knights is the typical Vampire story with all blood stained love and unexpected crazy turns. well this is all my personal opinions as i am i pure shojo fan; here goes~
STORY: Personally i feel Vampire Knights is a really good vampire story to start with. It has a sweet atmosphere and a good concept of creating a school where Vampires and Humans study in different time periods.. Coexistence of Vampires and Humans is a good thought, really nice one but as you go deep and deep into the story it getts totally messed up!!!! Its quite complicated. once you get an analogy (or you ... May 24, 2013
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: ... Nov 27, 2008
To be quite honest, I think the only really good part of this manga is the art. However even so the talking bubbles can be confusing and all the characters are too "undeniably beautiful". It's a beautiful style but just having good art isn't enough.
It's boring. I'll admit at first I thought I was curious and found it interesting. But over time, the repitiveness becomes annoying and irritating. It seems as if the same three main characters of this manga receive too much attention while all the others, who are probably even better than the main protagonists, receives a very minimum screentime. (Or linetime, w/e) ... Jun 6, 2008
Story
The story itsself is captivating from the very beginning. The whole time I kept wondering what was going to happen next. There were things I would have never expected- excellent plot twists- and even a smidge of humor for good measure. It's got the right balance of everything: Horror, Angst, Romance, Drama, Comedy. It has it all. Art The art was beautifully executed. Each major plot scene gave just enough imagery to make it not too gory or not enough. Again, it had just the right balance. Also, there were some different angles thrown in there to make it that much more ... Mar 30, 2008
At fist, after reading the summaty I didn't think much about Vampire night.
Another silly vampire story, I though, but after reading the fisrt few pages I was hooked by the beatifull art. Moreover, not only the characters are excellently well drawn but their personalities are awesome. You cannot love them. The bonus is de plot, witch is much more complex than your usuall shoujo plot and is very enternaining and misterous. ^^ Have fun reading it! Aug 6, 2009
This was my first shoujo in quite a long and boy did I get lucky. It's fantastic! The world of beautiful vampires and school, what a combo. It wasn't too surprising that everyone in the series was drawn to be breathtakingly beautiful. The humor is well placed as well is the drama and action. It's a little bit of everything, so if you want to cross over from shoujo and shounen or vise a versa, this is a great series for it, doesn't matter which direction you want to go. Yuki's sweetness may get on your nerves, nobody's that pure especially a vampire and Kaname's
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Dec 4, 2022
I gave it a 3/10 because I was feeling EXCEEDINGLY generous today. The art is very nice. However, what started out as massive potential ended as a pile of steaming, hot trash. I stuck around every month until the very end (Ch. 93) hoping it would get better but it literally gets worse every single chapter. (The only manga that had a worse ending was Attack on Titan, which is saying something.) I literally want to sue Matsuri Hino for emotional damages.
The first 30 chapters had SO much potential. The problem was that all that set up was for nothing. The delivery was so ... May 25, 2012
To be completely honest, I never finished this manga.
There are plenty of reasons that one should read it, yet the drawbacks to this series, in my opinion, outweigh the good. ARTWORK The artwork was simply wonderful, some of the best I've seen. Everything is done in careful detail, and it's clear that a lot of time and effort went into crafting every scene. If only just for the beautiful drawings, I feel that this manga should be, at the very least, skimmed through. I did have issues differentiating some minor characters, as their depictions were very similar, but that doesn't take away from the fact that they ... Jan 24, 2021
Disclaimer: watched the first season of the anime back when it came out (season two was not out yet at the time).. A few years passes, and the final volume of the series dropped. And in my greatest error in judgement, I decided to blindly trust in the masterpiece that was the first season of the anime, and bought the first and second box set for the manga (aka all the volumes for the series) BEFORE finding out about all the mess that goes down in the second season... my disappointment was immense as I saw this beautifully written story... just.. slowly get worse and
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Oct 15, 2014
Manyyyyy people seem to not like this manga. Is it cuz it reminds them of that so-called vampire movie that every girl fangirls over? but let me get started on one of the most amazing reviews you'll ever read. leeetttsss not forget its by yours truly, dats right TOBI9790!!!! :D ..........if you die from the awesomeness of dis review please dont sue me. now shall we begin?
stooorrrryy dis story is good for a shojo its about a girl dat attends dis academy which seems normal but their is a huge secret. nope not like the dirty magazines under your big (dats not even a big ... Oct 1, 2013
Konnichiwa, Minna! This is my first review... so please go easy with me ~.~
Story: 9/10 The story is pretty interesting... It has a lot of twist and turns especially in the ending and in the middle of the story. You probably want to keep reading until its the end! Art: 9/10 In my opinion, the art to me was very good... I mean all the vampires look really gorgeous especially Zero and Kaname XP. I love the covers of each volume of Vampire Knight! Character: 8/10 The characters of Vampire Knight are okay. They look "beautiful" and "cool" but their personality isn't that great. ... Nov 16, 2009
i really like this manga, and the art is particularly compelling to me, but somehow i really feel like the story is repeating itself. something horrible happens, there's like 4 pages of meaningless dialogue, and yuuki and kaname have some sort of 'steamy' conversation. throw in a few shots of zero being miserable, and kaien being silly, and you've got all 54 chapters. i've been watching and reading for about a month now, and i really hope with all my heart that Hino-Sensei makes a bit of a turnaround for this manga, because it's rather promising.
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