Matsuri Hino

Another day, another Vampire Knight Volume. My binging continues!!

I'm still really digging this series, especially since we're getting into the meat of the drama and action. Maria is definitely NOT who she said she was, and man is she causing some drama for our leads. Yuki cares for Zero and wants to make sure he's safe and well, but she might have to go too far to make sure that happens... Also, Kaname is way smarter than he lets on. He knows something is going on, and clearly is going to show more make a move of his own... Also, a person from Zero's past makes an appearance and changes the trajectory of his story....

The suspense is amped up in this volume. It's totally pulling me in as a reader and I can't wait to grab the next volume. The cliffhanger drove me absolutely wild, but thank goodness I already have the next volume within reach! To add to all of this, the romantic lines in this book KILL ME. They are so cute and are totally the swoon worthy YA romance I needed in my life. Gah! So cute!

Overall, this gothic fantastical romance is definitely what I needed to fill in my time. I will continue to binge this series until I run out of books in my hands. Any recommendations for series similar to this? Send them my way! I am eating this series up!

Four out of five stars! show less

It's been many years since I've picked this series up, and since I'm stuck with only studying and staying indoors I might as well pull out the old books. I have the first 15 volumes in this series, so it's time to do some binge reading and sink into the world of Vampire Knight.

I was OBSESSED with this series as a kid. I went to my local Wal-Mart every week to see if there was a new volume. I'm not kidding, I searched the book section like there was a pot of gold hidden.

So, the basic summary show more of this series: there's a school where the day class are humans and the night class are vampires (shh, it's a secret). Kaname is a hot vampire who's the lead of the night class. Yuki is a human and is guarding the day class and making sure those pesky vampires aren't up to their old tricks. Oh, by the way, everyone has some deep, dark secrets.

There's pretty pictures (because seriously, Matsuri Hino's art is STUNNING), a potential love triangle coming, lots of fantasy lore with vampires, some action, and lots of teenage drama. It's your YA addiction all wrapped into a manga! It's one of the better YA vampire adaptations, if you ask me. I still need to check out the anime of this too...

This first volume in this book isn't packed full of action, it's more story telling to set up this massive series. Don't be scared off by that though, this series does get better once you know everyone and get into it.

Yuki is kinda silly and annoying for me as an adult, but I adored her as a teen. It's seriously based on your reading preferences with how you're going to take this book. Go back into your YA mindset and you'll adore it. There is blood and a little rough action in this book, but it's nothing a teenager couldn't handle.

Four out of five stars! It was such a delight to grab this series again! show less

Yuki Cross is a member of the Disciplinary Committee at Cross Academy and a Day Class student. She and the other member of the Disciplinary Committe, Zero Kiryu, have been given the task of keeping the Day Class away from the Night Class as much as possible, not an easy task considering the beauty of the members of the Night Class. What most of the Day Class students don't know is that the Night Class is composed of vampires - the headmaster of Cross Academy hopes that this school can foster show more peace between humans and vampires. This volume introduces the main characters and sets up a lot of the relationships between the characters.

Kaname Kuran, a pureblood vampire, found and rescued a bloody and amnesiac 5-year-old Yuki from a vicious vampire. Since that day, Yuki has had something of a crush on Kaname. Yuki was adopted by the headmaster of Cross Academy, and their "family" grew a bit when the headmaster took in Zero, whose entire family was killed by vampires. Although Yuki has a crush on Kaname, she also cares for Zero, which complicates things. In addition, Zero is hiding a terrible secret.

I first started reading this series in the magazine Shojo Beat, so I know a bit more about where the plot is going to go than is revealed in this volume. As far as the artwork goes, this is a lovely manga. Hino does a wonderful job at capturing the beauty of her vampires. Even when Kaname and Zero do things that I don't like (I believe one of the editors for Shojo Beat mentioned that Zero's nickname among some of the staff is "Neck Rapist" - he earns that nickname in this volume, by the way), I can still appreciate their character designs. I recently found out that this series has been made into an anime that I think has only just started airing in Japan [back when I originally wrote this review] - I hope that it eventually makes its way to the US, because I think this would be an enjoyable series to see in action and in color.

As far as the story goes, it's sometimes hard to tell what Hino is trying to do. I've never seen any of Hino's other works, but her freetalks in the sidebars of this volume indicate that she's mostly done romantic comedies. It's still possible to see that influence in Vampire Knight, which is part of the reason why this volume is so odd. It's clear that Hino is trying to write a serious story, with dark character pasts and lots of blood. However, there are lots of panels in this first volume where Yuki and Zero are like some kind of comedy team. The headmaster is also a big source of comedy, as he teases Zero, gushes over Yuki, and sparkles with the force of his apparently naive dream to promote peace between humans and vampires. The difference between the more light-hearted scenes and the darker scenes is so great that the more infrequent light-hearted scenes become jarring.

Readers who are looking for a lot of action may be disappointed by this series. Although there are occasional action scenes throughout this first volume (and later in the series), the focus is on character development and the relationships between the characters, making this a slower-paced story than some might expect.

I'm sure every reader will have their own preferences for how things should turn out with Yuki and her guys (at this point, Zero and Kaname - no idea if the number will grow). Despite my love of tragic characters like Zero, I, personally, am rooting for Kaname - he's just so cool and elegant. I do worry, though, since there are indications, even this early in the series, that Kaname might not be the nice, trustworthy vampire Yuki thinks he is. I sometimes wonder if he wasn't responsible for whatever it was the wiped 5-year-old Yuki's memory - if, in some later volume, I find out that he was, I imagine I'll end up siding with Zero. Until then, yay for the long-haired vampire aristocrat!

As far as the extras go, there's author freetalks in the sidebars focusing on how Hino developed this series and its characters, notes on the Day Class uniform, a 3-page humorous continuation of the volume focusing on the Night Class, a few humorous 4-panel comics, notes explaining the kanji used in several characters' names (Aido Hanabusa, Kain Akatsuki, Souen Ruka, Kiryu Zero, and Kuran Kaname), plus notes on a couple terms (-sama, Xocolatl).

I kind of wish that the notes for the names had gone into a little more depth - as far as I can tell, the order of the names in the notes reflects the original Japanese order (Kuran Kaname), while the order used in the manga reflects Shojo Beat's decision to use a Western order (Kaname Kuran). This sort of thing is really confusing, especially when Shojo Beat decides not to even mention anything about their decision to go with a Western name order everywhere but in the explanations in the back. Another thing I would've liked is a few cultural notes - I believe that the magazine had several useful notes that weren't included in this volume (like a little bit about Kaname's comment to Yuki: "You always speak so formally to me. It makes me feel a little lonely...").

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Vampire Knight, Vol. 2 continues on with the consequences of Zero's secret from Vampire Knight, Vol. 1. Two volumes in, the series overall is starting to find its depth, but is still somewhat plagued by an uneven balance between drama and comedy personified primarily by the character of Headmaster Cross. It takes a skilled author to add moments of levity within a drama heavy story. Or else, instead of lightening a mood, it ends up giving the literary equivalent of a record scratch. show more Unfortunately, Hino seems to lack that delicate touch (so far).

Another thing that seems to come in heavy doses, is the goth romanticism that oozes every pages to the point that seems cloying. However, nitpicking a vampire story over saccharine romance aimed for teenagers is like complaining that vanilla doesn't taste like chocolate. Basically, 'it's not you, it's me'.

One thing that still needs explaining are the 'rules' these vampires follow. So far the only thing that seems to be a given is the fact that they survive on blood (something which Yuki conveniently provides from scrapes, literally). We still don't know whether they age or are immortal, or how they became vampires in the first place. Based on the target demographic, it might be easier to assume they're like the Twilight vampires (without the sparkle), than Bela Lugosi. But one gets the feeling that everything is explained on the fly as long as the author finds it convenient.

Overall though, Vampire Knight, Vol. 2 does succeed in adding depth to the characters by the time the volume ends, especially as the comedy stops halfway through. It's enough to make me want to try Vampire Knight, Vol. 3. show less