Bite me! a review of Vampire Knight (the manga)

Rated 16+

Vampire Knight is a pretty interesting shojo manga series. (Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. I tend to dislike all shojo mangas, so if I like this one, it's got to be good.) This is actually pretty interesting.

Vampire Knight is about...vampires.

It's okay! Don't freak out! These vampires don't sparkle or anything. In fact, the Twilight vampires kind of look like younger, inexperienced kids next to these vamps. In a fight, Edward would definitely lose. (Especially the movie-Edward.) Unfortunately, it does follow the same girl-likes-vamp kind of theme. But that one has recently made a comeback, so we should all just get used to it.

Yuki Cross can't remember her past. All she knows was that a vampire attacked her as a young child, and Kaname Kuran, another vampire, saved her. She was taken in by Mr. Cross. She was raised to like vampires. Mr. Cross is all about everyone getting along, and he tries to instill that value into Yuki Cross. Zero Kiryu, the child of a vampire hunter, also ends up living there. His entire family has been attacked and killed by a revenge-hungry vampire. They become friends (though one might call their relationship a bit...strange).

Then, Mr. Cross comes up with a brilliant idea. He'll open up a school for vampires! (Which is pretty strange, considering that his adopted daughter was attacked by one, and so was Zero. Kind of makes you wonder if he honestly cares about them.) Of course, regular kids can come to the Cross Academy as well. But they (dubbed the "Day Class" since they go to school during the day), mustn't know that the "Night Class" is full of vampires-he wouldn't want the lawsuits. That's where Yuki and Zero come in. They are the school guardians, protecting the Day Class from the Night Class. And vice versa.

It doesn't quite help that Yuki seems to be in love with Kaname Kuran, one of the top kids in the Night Class. It also doesn't help that Zero has his own...issues.

This series, created by Matsuri Hino, is pretty interesting. The illustration style is wonderful. But it's a good thing this series isn't in color. It would be the creepiest book ever, and would have gotten a bad review instead of a good one. (There's quite a lot of blood.) The only problem I have with it is that Yuki seems to be annoying energetic and optimistic. How many times does she have to be attacked by a vampire to learn her lesson? Vampires are bad. She needs to stay away from them. And some scenes make this vamp series worthy of its rating, so be on the lookout for those. Other than that, it's a good series.

Will Yuki stay away from the vampires? What's up with Zero?

These are questions that can only be answered by...reading!

Check out Vampire Knight at Amazon.