Series: Vampire Knight – Part 3: Episodes 09-13
Release date: 17th January 2011
Certificate: 12
Running time: 72 mins
Director: Kiyoko Sayama
Starring: Daisuke Kishio, Mamoru Miyano, Yui Horie, Fumiko Orikasa, Hiroki Yasumoto
Genre: Anime
Studio: Manga
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Based on Matsuri Hino’s 2005 Japanese manga series, Vampire Knight is a curious mix of animation with fantasy, horror and romantic elements. The series features an interesting spin on the traditional (and well-worn) path of vampire folklore, with some passing thematic similarities to the hugely popular Twilight series.
At the prestigious Cross Academy, classes are divided between the Day Class and the Night Class. As the school's protective prefects, Yuki Cross (Yui Horie) and Zero Kiryu (Mamoru Miyano) keep watch over the Day Class students, who are all infatuated with the alluring and elite Night Class students. As Guardians, Yuki and Zero must also protect the secret of the Night Class - they are all vampires.
Yuki is a human dealing with a traumatic vampire attack from her youth, where her childhood friend Zero has been recently turned to vampirism and attends the Night Class. When a new student arrives at the Night Class bearing an uncanny resemblance to the vampire who turned Zero, he begins to lose his grip on sanity, where Yuki is faced with a great dilemma if she wants to save her friend…
The central premise of Vampire Knight is certainly an intriguing one; where a school divided by Day and Night Classes hides the secret that the latter classes are filled with vampire students. The basic tenets of vampire folklore and mythology are well established in modern times, particularly with the current resurgence in the popularity of the ‘vampire romance’ genre propagated by the Twilight craze. Thus the twist in this anime series gives traditional elements of vampirism a new lease of life in a well animated and greatly stylized form.
However, the story itself does bear similar elements from the Twilight series, and as such carries over many of its more irritating traits (which is unlikely to be an issue in the case of Twilight’s army of predominantly teenage female fans). For instance, there is an implied love triangle between Zero, Yuki and Kaname Kuran (the pureblood vampire who saved Yuki from attack in her childhood) that evokes some Team Edward versus Team Jacob-esque rivalry. Again this might be to the delight of the hardcore Twilight fan base, and much to the chagrin of everyone else.
Still, the animation is wonderfully drawn, and the vampires have a distinctive, different aloofness about them that suits their Night Class elitism well. There is a complexity to the characters – particularly Zero and Kaname – that is fairly intriguing in the series. Zero’s descent into madness and Yuki’s struggle to save him from his traumas are well developed plotlines, where cliff-hangers at the end of each episode hold over interest as to what may happen next. Kaname is somewhat mysterious and unpredictable in terms of his motives, with the animated design of the character effectively reflecting this in terms of the character’s vampiric movement and appearance.
In Episode 10 – Princess Of Darkness - Zero’s memories of his trauma at the hands of the vampire who turned him is conveyed particularly well. This is most evident in his showdown with Maria, who reveals her true name and face as the innocent looking perpetrator behind Zero and his family’s suffering. However, there is still a little too much melodrama in terms of the over-the-top musical tone or the expositional dialogue of Yuki wondering aloud about Zero’s condition (where a line such as “...but is it (Zero’s strange behaviour) just today? No...it has been since...(gasp) since Maria came!” is quite typical). Indeed, the series as a whole features stilted dialogue between characters, as well as many sincerely read character soliloquies creating unintentional laughter. Also, scenes where Yuki and other day students undergo exams are a little less enthralling than a vampire versus vampire showdown, with thinly veiled elements of teen drama being all too unfortunately familiar and derivative of countless other teen stories in film or television.
While Vampire Knight is an anime series with an intriguing central premise, and an interesting take on traditional vampire folklore, it is also likely to irritate and isolate those who do not subscribe to the school of Twilight-esque vampire romance. It is, however, a well animated story with some hidden character depths, with the characters of Zero and Kaname having some development in the series even amidst the wooden dialogue. DB
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