So I thought I would share my thoughts on the anime Vampire Knight, since Aki and I just finished it.
From the beginning it kind of looks like the anime version of the teenage mainstream "Twilight" saga without the werewolves. Yuki, the main female character, seems to be caught between Zero and Kaname. She loves them both for different reasons. The show immediately separates its viewers into categories of different shippings because of Yuki's confused heart.
Kaname is a quite complicated character. He is only gentle with Yuki and the viewer finds out quickly that he really does love her. He has always protected her for as far back as she can remember. He hates Zero, which can be expected because of his love for Yuki. As the president of the night class, Kaname is in charge of all the vampires at Cross academy. I love his thought process going into the whole show, which the viewer doesn't completely understand until he explains it at the end of the second season. It proves his complete devotion for Yuki, while at the same time making him seem totally careless because of his treatment toward his friends.
*Spoiler Alert* My thoughts on Kaname Kuron include too many spoilers for anyone who hasn't finished the anime, so please do not read the next paragraph if you don't want the spoilers.
I'm glad that Yuki ends up with Kaname at the end. After seeing how he protected her from Rido for so long and how he put Cross Academy together the way he did to continue protecting her, I feel like he deserved Yuki. I mean, consider it this way: what kind of man would spend his entire (immortal) life trying to get the girl when he could have literally anyone? He fought hard for her, although she continually broke his heart, so I personally think that the writers did good by letting that be the cannon ship. (I was a Zero/Yuki shipper until "Guilty.") He is so complicated because the viewer isn't allowed into his head until the end of "Guilty," where Yuki finally finds out who he is and what all he has done to protect her. It's hard to understand a character when you aren't allowed to know them or their true intentions.
Zero is somewhat more complicated than Kaname, but at the same time he is more understandable. He loves Yuki because of her gentle heart and compassion, especially toward him. He sees himself as a monster so it is natural for him to be in love with the only person who knows everything about him and still treats him decently. He is like Kaname in that he will do anything to protect Yuki, even though he knows that she is truly in love with Kaname. He has had more of a chance to get to know Yuki as they grew up together--like brother and sister.
*Spoiler Alert* Once again, please do not ead the next paragraph if you do not want spoilers from this show.
The show is actually about Zero, not Yuki. No matter how much you want to argue that, it is true. Zero is the "Vampire Knight." He himself is a vampire
and a vampire hunter. Kaname used him all through the show to prepare him to kill Rido, because Kaname knew that Zero was the only one who could. Zero's got more power than the viewer could have imagined by the end of the series, because he has blood from three different pure-blood vampires running through his veins. That means that he has obtained the power from these different vampires. Also, because he was born a twin vampire hunter and he consumed half of his brother's power, he has unimaginable hunter skills. He can't really be controlled by anyone. The thing that kills me about Zero is his compassion. As much as he tries to seem like a sad, lonely, mean jerk-face he really is a softy. Especially for his brother, whom he pretended to hate more than anyone. The story that goes with his brother actually had me in tears, because I really can't imagine being forced to kill Aki, even if she asked me to kill her. In the end, his brother's sacrifice to him made him stronger. And, to be honest, I now ship Zero/Elsa instead of Zero/Yuki. I don't even like Disney's Frozen (because of how mainstream it has become. People ruin everything.), but those two have a lot in common. Only real difference is that Zero's brother can't be saved in a Disney make-everything-okay kind of way. It makes more sense for him to die.
Yuki is probably my least favorite person in this anime. Aki and I like to call her the "plot threat" (because she has the heart of both Zero and Kaname. If you are a true anime-fan, you will understand the humor in this statement). She is so useless as well. The only cool thing about her is Artemis, her weapon. She doesn't remember anything before Kaname saved her when she was little. She can't make up her mind if she loves him or if she loves Zero, because both of them are very dear to her. She doesn't really want to fight off vampires because she assumes they can all be good (or because she is afraid of them. It is unclear which because she switches back and forth too often). She is the cause of all of the drama and bad things that happen at Cross Academy, especially in "Guilty." I guess I can't dislike her too much, because with out her there would be no show. But I feel like she could have been more useful in some way! Instead, she goes about her day seeing how many different ways she can try to get people killed.
Ruka, Akatski, Rema, Senri, and Ido are a humorous and fun addition to the vampire group. I love Ruka and Akatski's love-hate relationship! I ship them (Aki does too--more than me). Akatski acts like he doesn't care, but he still never gives up on her. That's an inspiring man, right there. Rema and Senri are adorable as well. My favorite part of their relationship comes from "Guilty," when she tells him he needs to love himself more (if you have seen the show, then you know what I am talking about. If not, then you should watch it to find out). Ido is more fun in the end of "Guilty" than through the entire season, in my opinion. Especially when he is forced to watch over Yuki. He seems to gain a new respect/friendship for her then and it's adorable to see how he takes care of her. The other blond guy didn't have much of an impact on me, since I can't even remember his name...
Overall, I would say that this was a pretty good anime. It had a lot of different plots developed that didn't quite make sense until everything was explained in "Guilty," so one season can't really go without the other. The author was quite the genius overall, though, after you learn all the reasons for the different plots. Not a single thing that happened in the show did not have a reason and all of it was planned by Kaname. That is either complete devotion or complete crazy and I'll leave that up to you to interpret. If I had to grade the show, I'd give it an
A because everything had a purpose and it was explained nicely in the end.
Thanks for letting me share!!
~Heiwa Kibo Hane
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