feeney.sam - 2017-01-08 21:59:26

Vampire Knight

I have to admit, this isn’t the proudest anime I’ve ever watched, nor was it the worst. I think it started better than how it ended, whence I dropped it. First of all, this is only my opinion. There are plenty of VK fans out there who will be able to tell you an array of positive feedback on this anime. Don’t let my opinion alone sway your decision to watch this. Secondly, this review contains spoilers, because I want to review to the best of my abilities. Thirdly, and finally, although I dropped this anime, I want to give it a fair review, but at the end of the day, I did drop it, so there’s a chance my view may be a little biased. At the same time, it does mean I haven’t watched to the end (although I did watch 11/13 episodes), which means I can’t say what the finale was like.

Story: 3/10

The story of ‘Vampire Knight’ was… wait… what was the story? Unfortunately with this anime, the plot was overshadowed by handsome vampires and the like. It’s a vampire anime. No matter how many times one might want to deny it, vampire anime do tend to be about handsome vampires and romanticized scenes of drinking blood. Sadly, ‘Vampire Knight’ is no different. It’s plot is to prove that vampires are no longer evil and murderous. The two protagonists, Yuki and Zero, aim to hide the identities of vampires who attend their school- the Night Class- from the Day Class. Yuki was attacked by a rogue vampire in her childhood and was adopted by the academy’s headmaster, and Zero’s family were murdered by vampires. Zero hates vampires, but turns out to be a vampire… and then things get a little clouded after that.

I suppose it’s the concept of ‘Vampire Knight’ that I mainly liked. There wasn’t much substance, though, and that really let it down. It could’ve been really good, and actually, it started very well. It was really funny, but this humour was lost later in the series… In other words, I thought ‘Vampire Knight’ was really promising, and I did enjoy it for a while whilst watching it. But nothing really substantial happened, and a villain or issue of some kind didn’t really appear until episode 7 or later, even. Needless to say, said problem wasn’t even wholly substantial. It didn’t really interest me as the series progressed: nothing really happened. Even the romance seemed a little less in focus, and for a romance anime, that was a little disappointing. I feel ‘Vampire Knight’ ought to have remained humorous, but it didn’t take that direction. It began to take itself too seriously, so the atmosphere and tone in both the plot and characters changed completely. In some ways, that change covered up that very little had actually happened across the 11 episodes I watched… It’s received such a low mark for ‘Story’ purely because there wasn’t much of one. Even the revelation that Zero’s brother was alive wasn’t enough to keep me watching. I liked ‘Vampire Knight’s’ concept, though.

Animation: 8/10

Stylistically, I enjoyed watching ‘Vampire Knight’ for its aesthetics. The characters were well designed, and their colouring was nice. The scenery was also atmospheric. There was a big effort to change the mood through night and day. I suppose this especially fitted because it was a vampire anime: the time of day is therefore important. It looked nice, which I suppose also helped to obscure a lack of the story.

There were some flaws: repeated scenes, lazy shadows, and times when as little movement was attempted in scenes as possible to prevent varying the animation. Nevertheless, I liked the animation, so I can’t really criticize it all that much.

Sound: 6/10

I don’t know if it changed the way I may view things, but I watched ‘Vampire Knight’ in the Dubbed. Actually, I quite liked the Dubbed voices. There are times when the VAs just aren’t right, but I actually felt they chose decent voices for each character here. There were times when they sounded a little robotic, but other than that, they were perfectly fine.

The opening was probably more impressive than the ending. It had a little more life to it, and it was slightly catchy, but that was probably about it. The ending theme was weaker, although it did have a nice eerie quality to it that should be expected when watching a vampire anime.

Character: 5/10

Yuki:
She’s the main character, and leading protagonist. I liked Yuki at first. She was funny, doe-eyed and cute, but with a touch of fierceness in her- just what one can expect from a leading female in a typical romance. Sadly, as the anime continued, her character did become a little feeble at times, and as the seriousness settled in, the humour just vanished. That was one of Yuki’s best characteristics, so when it began lacking, her whole character began to slip away. Still, I liked her, and she was much better than a certain female protagonist/blood vessel from ‘Diabolik Lovers’…

Zero:
Like Yuki, Zero was also better at the start. He was a little angsty, but not so much that he became a dull character. He was included in the dry side of the humour, which I liked, but once more, when they took away the funny aspects of the anime, he, too, became a little bland… It was a shame, because he and Yuki were perfectly likable characters, and I didn’t dislike them still even when I chose to drop the anime.

Kaname:
Hmm, Kaname… I was never sure what to think of Kaname, but as one of the leading characters, I have to assess him. There wasn’t a whole lot to him. He was good looking and kind, but that was about it, and even his kindness seemed to hide some underlying, unspoken truth. I didn’t really like Kaname, although Yuki’s crush on him made him a little more endearing, for sure. Still, there wasn’t much to him, so I perhaps preferred Zero as a potential love interest for Yuki. Unfortunately, I don’t think that was intended, considering Kaname and Yuki both hold feelings of some kind for each other.

Other characters that stand out include Aido, Kain, Ruka and Kaien. Although there wasn’t a whole load to Ruka or Kain, I really liked Aido and Kaien. The latter was very funny, and the former had a big and egotistic nature that made him a noticeable character. Supporting characters possibly aren’t ‘Vampire Knight’s’ strongest point. There aren’t many minor characters in focus: in fact, ‘Vampire Knight’ has a relatively compact cast, which I quite liked. Ideally, in scenes like that, the viewer gets to know each character and likes them more. That didn’t really happen in ‘Vampire Knight’; supporting characters tended to be quite faceless. I mean, there wasn’t a whole lot to Rima. She only seemed there to be Shiki’s friend, because I didn’t detect a particularly prominent personality from her. Sadly, ‘Vampire Knight’s’ characters did let it down, because there was only a main focus on three of them.

Enjoyment: 6/10

I can’t say I hated it, nor can I say I loved it. I liked ‘Vampire Knight’. It was a standard vampire-romance anime. I watched 11/13 episodes, and may have been inclined to watch more, had the story let it down. And that was the problem: ‘Vampire Knight’ lacked a story, which really put me off wanting to finish it and then follow on to its second season. It became a little ordinary as the season progressed, but I did watch a lot of it, and I never disliked watching it.

Overall: 5.6/10

There was nothing wrong with ‘Vampire Knight’. It was (and maybe still is?) a very popular anime, and it did get a second season. Sadly, it’s plot was weak, and I didn’t have enough interest to see it through to the end.

lorenzo03 - 2016-04-11 15:28:39

OH MY GOD.
Now I am 17 and 7 whole years passed of me prograstinating and watching this show.
My mother actually watched it and I, as a 10 year old kid watched it then too and thought it was the greatest thing ever. This was my 'first' anime after all the douchy anime like naruto and pokemon that gets all the first timer on board.
But dude...this got me hooked on anime. I loved this. Hot edgy vampire dudes and lot's of unnessecary drama over a plain-project-yourself-on-her-girl? hell yeah.

But now...looking back on it...omg what is this....WHAT. It is SOOOOOOOOO cheesy it hurts. Everything that could be good was overshadowed by all the blant characters that acted so boooring.
But oh well, it can't be that bad since at one point in my life i enjoyed it. And my mother did too.

ijenkins - 2015-05-09 18:18:02

Vampire knight is an Anime that i had high hopes for, story looked promising, characters seemed good so what could have gone wrong, well let's get started then.
STORY

The story is simple, read the bio for a good summery but, the concept is a high school girl named Yuki is infatuated by a vampire named Kaname who had saved her 10 years earlier. Yukis father is the principle of a school which unknown to to most including the students who go there also has a night class for vampires. This story is simple but could prove effective however it does not manage to do this because it doesn't focus on any interesting aspects of the vampire lore or even tells the story well, and the main issue for this if you didn't already guess is the characters.

CHARACTERS 
Im not going to go through the characters individually because it would take to long and you wouldn't be interested. To be short the characters had promise but they were executed very terribly, they are boring, idiotic and painful to watch them interact with another. Very little development and no development with some.

ANIMATION
The animation and art was average at best, nothing stands out and it all looks dull, even the characters don't make an impact. Comparing this to other shows such as Spice and Wolf, Persona Trinity Soul, the second season of Code geass, Macross Frontier, im gonna stop there. Needless to say it doesn't make a big impact.

SOUND
Let me get this out of the way, the soundtrack is boring and forgettable, nothing makes an impact, as a big fan of music of all kinds i was very disappointed because they had a setting that could have made for good music, but alas they didn't. I would like to credit Vic Mignogna for his performance, was about the only good thing to come out of it, but other then him the dub isn't something I would recommend.

Overall I can say i didn't enjoy it, story wasn't interesting, characters were bland, animation was lackluster, music and dub were disappointing. I can stay away from this Anime just trust me. 

That all i can say thanks for reading.  

chris.kuphal - 2015-02-03 21:36:26

 review 

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white.devin - 2014-09-30 00:52:22

I dropped Vampire Knight after season one, but I need to let out all of my pent up frustration about this anime. If you're not interested in a rant, don't even bother with the rest of this rant/review.
Let's just start with the characters. Yuki is extremely annoying, useless, dumb, weak, and, did I mention, annoying? She has made it to the top of my list of "Anime Characters I Would Like to Burn With Fire." It blows my mind that somebody thought it was a good idea to let her be on the disciplinary committee! She can't even fight and she just melts and becomes useless at the sight of Kaname. Leading us to another character. Kaname is your typical dreamy, mysterious, dark vampire that isn't actually that great, and is very suspicious. I can't wrap my head around why Yuki likes him! He's just so... suspicious. And it annoys me how she knows next to nothing about him yet still loves him. Just because he's dark and mysterious. Let's just say Yuki and Kaname end up going on a date. Wouldn't it be extremely boring? Just imagine it; Kaname's sitting there looking all mysterious, and Yuki sitting there focusing all of her energy on not looking clumsy or stupid in front of Kaname. Sounds like a blast. Zero's no better. Sure, he's less mysterious and it's obvious that he has Yuki's best interests, but he's just so dark and moody. Not only do I wonder why Yuki has fallen for Kaname and Zero, but why Zero and Kaname have fallen for her. Seriously, it's just annoying. I like the supporting characters though. That vampire hunter guy and the headmaster and some of those other night class students... I don't know any of there names, but they're much better than the main characters. I guess the story's alright, but with characters like these, it just isn't that great. The biggest reveal in season one, I guessed a few episodes in. I can't believe Yuki didn't see it coming... I just want to slap her...

I'm not a big fan of the art, but that's probably because I personally don't like the shojo art style. I didn't pay much attention to the music. It could be good, could be bad.

I came to Vampire Knight expecting cheesy romance, but I thought there might also be some action involved. WRONG. Any action that shows up, (and that's not much), isn't that entertaining. So many chances for epic vampire battles, but there are none. What a shame.

boehm.quincy - 2013-10-24 19:35:17

I am a big Vampire Knight fan but I won't include my fan things into this review.

Story 9/10

At the start we see a small little girl, lost somewhere probably in the snow. This is shown before the anime OP and explains the whole story in few seconds. Well the summary really. Like every anime the story has it's bad points. Things you want to scream about or throw your computer out of the window. But overall it's a amazing story line. Coming to the start. As a vampire (age 40-60 who knows) tries to bite the small girl (This girl is the main character of the anime ''Yuki'' Yuki stands for Snow in Japanese. This name and it's meaning have a big effect on the anime later. You should remember this while you watch the anime.) A young vampire suddenly steps in the action bringing the enemy vampire to death. He reaches his hand to the small girl, and helps her stand up. From this point you can see he is the main character of the anime. As this couldn't be a accident for him being there at that time right? His name is ''Kaname'' Yuki is known for loving him a lot. He rescued her years ago (wich is the scene before the OP) from the vampire.

As the story goes on. It starts to show how hard it actually is to be a vampire. A Yuki's step-brother Zero is intruduced. He seems like a normal person. But later you will find out a secret about him. Not a ''I hide lots of 18+ games under my bed'' something different. Something wich will twist the story around and put it on a different track. It's kind of a intro to the story, something that will make a introduction to other deeper things in the anime.

Animation 10/10

I will start with this: This is not a new anime. The animation is not animation like from K-ON or Puella Magica Madoka Magica or Kill La Kill etc. I gave this a 10 because of the detail. You can see how much work there was put in into drawing these characters. To make their personality's obvious just by looking at their faces or even sometimes clothes.

The details of the uniforms are kinda amazing.

(Sorry I know this render isn't good I took the best example on the internet I could find... I am too lazy to render today lol)

Anyways as you can see the uniform's design is pretty amazing. The black one is for the Day Class and the white one is for the Night Class. I will use this picture for other things. Right now you can see how the characters are designed. They have a lot of details especially in the hair and face. You can see that the designers worked a very long time to achieve this.

+ The school doesn't change often. Meaning you might learn the places like you are actually the character in the anime.

Sound 7/10

A Vampire Knight fan giving 7/10 for the sound of the anime? wtf? yeah I know. The Japanese voices are really good and they show the emotions they are feeling. But some sounds like the water splashing or a vampire biting into someone weren't 100% good. They sounded a bit cheap (Sorry) Though I admit the OP and ED song is awesome. After that ED song I am scared of people named Alice *jk

Character 10/10

I think the character's personality's are really well made and designed. Each character has their own unique personality. Not all of the characters go with the ''I am a Vampire'' ''Let me bite you'' lol it happens a little bit differently you can check this clip out to see for yourself (This is from EP 1 no spoilers):

(Please watch to 1:56 ) In this clip you can see these friends different personalitys. One just wants blood and the other one reminds him how Kamane will get angry for this act (especially how Yuki is the one who is being bitten *Kaname is known for being very protective of Yuki*) You can see Zero coming in the action. With a gun. Like he wanted to shoot all his hate at the Vampire. But why? He is just a student council not a killer. This is more connected to his past. And will be explained later. As you can see Kaname comes right away. Like he knows when to come right away, this could be a introduction to how much Kaname loves Yuki. Watching her all the time. But as you can see Zero and Kaname aren't on very good terms. Mostly because Kaname is a Pureblood, There is a reason Zero hates those. It's also explained later in the anime.

Enjoyment 10/10

I really enjoyed this anime. This was one of my first anime I have watched few years ago. I never will forget this anime. I remember I got so hooked on it I couldn't take my eyes of the screen.

Overall 10/10

I have given this anime 10/10 because of everything in total. Good details, Good music, Unique personalitys, Amazing uniform design etc. I recommend this anime for other people.

mraz.maegan - 2013-09-15 20:56:37

Story: 7

Shōjo manga series written by Matsuri Hino

A lighter version of a normal dark vampire story. It shows vampires in a normal life time not a creature that should be afraid of or people know about. They give a feeling of how a legend live on without the knowledge the it was real the whole time. With a Love triangle playing alone with the story there something for you from a school romance story to a supernatural action story.I say that this anime is good for a person that just getting into anime.

Animation: 10

Produced by Studio Deen Co., Ltd.
Also known for Cowboy Bebop and Fruits basket

Beautiful animation, color and lighting give the perfect mood for what the show is going for with light filled moment that everything is balance, and dark mood moment giving a atmosphere that match. The show animation it beautiful that i feel more that it more of a painting then other shows. You are able to see the finer details. Art that beautiful.

Sound: 8

Opening: Futatsu no Kodō to Akai Tsumi
Ending: Still Doll by

Music if so fitting for this show that i cant say there should ever be better music. The music only problem is that there is not much to hear it will be most likely that you will hear the same song again

Character: 6

Main only

Yuki Cross:Is the main female protagonist of the series.Yuki is generally a cheerful and a rather comedic girl.Her weapon is Artemis throughout the entire story. Artemis is an anti-vampire weapon given to her by Kaien Cross after she assumes her role as the school's guardian.

Opinion: she seem more like a kid that was forced to become a costume to everything but didn't question anything like she it was going to happen

Zero Kiryu:is one of the main characters of Vampire knight and the only Vampire Hunter/Vampire in the entire series. Zero is Yuki's childhood friend and the only other Cross Acadeny Guardian. As a Vampire Hunter, Zero wields the Bloody Rose as his main weapon, an anti-vampire gun.Zero is generally a composed person, though occasionally he can act with coldness and hostility, especially towards Kaname. Though he appears otherwise, he is a gentle person.

Opinion: Cold hearted but over what happen in the past i think that he has a right to be like that i would if that ever happen to me

Kaname Kuran:
is a Pureblood Vampire and Head of the Kuran family, one of the seven remaining Pureblood families.Kaname is generally a calm, elegant, stoic and authoritative individual. However, he becomes a completely different person with Yuki; to her, Kaname is very gentle and warm.

Opinion: too mysterious not even Yuki can tell but he is caring when he has to seem more like the person that would push you away but with a reason

Enjoyment:8

A good show that will bring in new comers and people that just didn't know what to watch next i say that the show do have flaw but not that big that you can enjoy if you don't then maybe your not into vampire or it doesn't carry the element that you were looking for but all in all it a good show that you should check out

Overall:8

check it out and if your looking for other shows try Blood+ it is darker then vampire knight or Karin that more for just a laugh