This was a tough review to write. Not only because Hino Matsuri-sensei's Vampire Knight is a popular, fans will write their own critiques provided a Comment button to press title, but more so because you can charge it with possession of plot.
Don't get me wrong; I adore shoujo, but you gotta agree that the genre is known more for character and relationship development than story. It's a defining trait, and you'd be hard-pressed to find shoujo manga bucking that norm. In fact, when I started hunting for titles that similarly transcend mere romantic subplot resolution, I could only come up with two others: Ono Fuyumi-sensei's Ghost Hunt and Watase Yuu-sensei's Alice 19th (and even then, the latter's a li'l iffy).
In any case, here's a third that tears through the predominantly-relationship drama stereotype. Vampire Knight or VK uses at least three master plots—metamorphosis, rivalry, vengeance— from the definitive list of 20 identified by Ronald B. Tobias (cited by TV Tropes Wiki) to underpin its tale. Not that writing by numbers detracts from enjoyment of this title; deft employment fulfills the expectation and surprise contract (that supposedly guarantees emotional investment) between reader and author in You go! proportion.
So while still populated with the requisite pretty boys (who at least don't walk around with bishie sparkles because they're just so pretty that light, like members of the opposite sex, behaves strangely around them), VK actually seems to be headed somewhere, with deliberation aforethought.
(I can't write the rest without SPOILAGE and further side commentary, so tread carefully. Scans and quotes are from the ChuangYi English translation, the VIZ Shojo Beat Online Manga preview, and Wikiquote.)
Cross Academy harbors a secret: during the night, it undertakes the academic education of vampires. Only the headmaster and two student councilors, Cross Yuki and Kiriyu (or Kiryu) Zero tasked to hide the truth from the human day students, are privy to this info bit(e).
Yuki and Zero's promotion to secret keeper accrues from first-hand experience with deadly vampire attacks. Both view their charge differently: Zero detests all undead because of the fatal strike against his family while Yuki, despite having lost her parents, was rescued by the regal true-blood Kaname and thus, inclined to be more open-minded about vampires. Additionally, she shares headmaster Cross Rijichou's vision—that of creating a peaceful world where the undead and not live and cooperate—a view reinforced by her savior Kaname. Kaname also believes that understanding is the key to coexistence and his position at the apex of the vampire social pyramid and enrollment into the boarding school persuades other brethren into giving Cross Academy a chance.
So where does conflict enter in this dreaming-of-ideal world? Beyond the obvious racial clash, it immediately bares its fangs (in the first chapter to be exact) in the introduction of the predictable but much-embraced love triangle. Yuki worships her deliverer Kaname and Kaname, in turn, cherishes Yuki. It's a relationship that rubs the arrogant followers of Kaname-sama the wrong way. Night class student Aido Hanabusa puts it ominously, succinctly: Who are you to Master Kaname, Yuki?
It is Kaname who, without dissembling, clues us in to who desires this closeness: You're always so polite. Your formality... feels cold, he chides Yuki in the first chapter. This attempt at expanded intimacy infuriates the anti-social Come on vampires. I've been pissed off lately Zero who only thaws in Yuki's company. In that same scene which has Kaname patting Yuki on the head, Zero steps in and forcibly removes Kaname's hand, much to the latter's amusement.
Secondly—and this is the more significant—humans bitten by a true-blood turn into vampires. While Yuki's attacker was a human-turned-undead, Zero's assailant was a true-blood.
So Zero, descended from a proud line of vampire hunters, has been turned. Yuki is unaware of this, until blood thirst forces Zero to sink his fangs into her oh-so-available neck.
To say that Zero overflows with remorse and self-hatred after would be an understatement. He loathes what he has done; abhors what he has become. But his refusal to drink the blood pills given by Cross Rijichou (Yuki and Zero's adoptive father now that the pair are orphaned) to prevent the thing that terrifies him from happening has backfired. The only avenue left open now is for Zero to entrust his weapon, the gun Bloody Rose, to Yuki with the directive, I want you to kill me.
Post shock and initial resistance, Yuki comes to accept a changed Zero, thereby ensuring that she's not about to blow his brains out. They grew up together, after all. Yuki even gave Zero, not Kaname, the sole Valentine chocolate she succeeded in making. Furthermore, much to Kaname's disgust, Yuki (Let the most unforgivable act of all be committed) decides to break that most forbidden of taboos—feeding a most reluctant Zero.
The shoujo concessions are apparent: the bishounen, the love triangle, the insertion of light-heartedness to relieve the bloodied angst, the sensuousness of the feeding—they're all here. As are the wonderfully pretty pictures that is Hino Matsuri-sensei's trademark. But the story remains the draw. Given that all human vampires eventually turn into mindless bloodthirsty beasts, what's going to happen to Zero? What is Kaname (I thought only you wouldn't betray her. That is why you're still alive, Zero. You're alive because I'm letting you live.) really planning? To keep Yuki "safe," will Kaname succumb to the temptation of turning her? Which vampire is the "Vampire Knight"? These are just some questions that endorse continued emotional outlay.
And it looks like protracted speculation will remain the order, seeing as the manga published in Japan by Hakusensha is up to volume 6 and still current. (VK is licensed for English distribution by VIZ (two volumes out) and ChuangYi Singapore which has already published volumes 1 to 5.)
Granted, VK is a more serious outing for the manga-ka who brought us MeruPuri and Toraware no Minoue (Captive Heart) but that's not reason enough to eschew, even if you're not a vampire fan (which I'm not, BTW, regardless of a 4 out of 6 VK read meter). And funnily enough, I think even the manga-ka surprised herself with this story. She reveals in the first quarter column:
I wanted to try writing a 'campus love story' or a 'tragic vampire love story', but somehow I just felt really awkward about the idea of writing such stories about vampires... And then I started writing Vampire Knight...
What she let remain unsaid may ultimately be the je ne sais quoi that resonates emotionally and explains why VK succeeds in pulling you in for the long haul. In my limited view, I can only squeak out, Plot?
Aside: I hope someone options this for anime adaptation and with the same cast as the drama CDs': Horie Yui-san as Cross Yuki; Kishio Daisuke-san as Kuran Kaname; and Miyano Mamoru-san as Kiriyu Zero *beams*.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10 vampire-powers-sealing tattoos (the additional 0.5 comes from Hino Matsuri-sensei's phone call to her editor, shared in one of the quarter columns: Boss, I think I really like to draw comedies after all. Stuff like MeruPuri, which, like the Blood-drenched vampires aren't allowed on this page! fillers, introduces a bit of welcome levity.)
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