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Vampire Knight 1
Vampire Knight is a series with a pretty
cool twist that is the essence of the tale and what will keep viewers
watching with somewhat baited breath. This premise is one that I have
not seen executed before, and therefore it was the thrill of watching
something fresh that kept me viewing from start to finish in the one
sitting of this DVD. It's pretty simple. And involves vampires.
As much as Hogwarts is a character unto itself in the Harry Potter
series, so is the Cross Academy to the Vampire Knight saga. The Academy
is also a place of learning but with two schools residing at the same
building with very different students! There are the Night Classes and
Day Classes and it is the responsibility of the Academy and it's
guardians (who are also our main characters in this series) to make sure
that the two schools do not come together. You see, it's pretty simple
but the Day Classes are human girls who are all infatuated with the
dashing VAMPIRE students of the Night Classes!
I thought this was an awesome premise and it certainly makes for some
suspenseful viewing as you wonder just what might happen if the Day
students got caught up in some after hours activity with an entire
school filled with potentially bloodthirsty vampires.
The story opens up showing a young Yuki Cross, one of our previously
mentioned guardians, as a child in the snow. In a sequence that
impressed me, Yuki is about to be attacked by a vampire when in a flash
she is actually saved by another vampire! It's a good scene and well
animated. She is adopted by the headmaster of Cross Academy, Kaien Cross
along with another child, Zero Kiryuu who unlike Yuki, has an abiding
dislike and distrust for vampire due to his own personal background
which is revealed in the later half of this DVD.
The story carries nicely with a lot of twists and turns outside of the
main premise to keep you interested. Both Yuki and Zero have great
character development as the episodes progress, along with the story of
the vampire Kaname who saved Yuki all those years ago. There is an
uneasy relationship between the three that gets strained once a major
plot point is revealed. I would be wrecking a nice reveal by telling you
here but it's a doozy!
The quality of the video in this series is champion with little to
nothing to complain about. The style of the animation is gorgeous and
perfectly suited to the story. I was really impressed. Audio was a 2.0
dolby affair in both English and Japanese and sounded great. There are
no extras which is kind of a shame, however if the series is compiled at
some point for a box set, I hope that there are some extras planned for
that.
This is a cool series and I was left wanting more when the last episode
finally finished. I have no problems recommending this disc.
Episode Listing:
1. Night of Vampires
2. Memories of Blood
3. The Fang of Penitence
4. Trigger of Condemnation |
