Vampire Knight 01 and First Impressions

1st Night: Night of the Vampires
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The series opens with a flashback from Yuki Cross' earliest memories: that of being attacked by a vampire and saved by another. The vampire's name is Kuran Kaname.

The opening theme is called: Futatsu no Kodou to Akai Tsumi (Two Beats and Red Sins) by ON/OFF [Sample]. The title and the lyrics are fitting, I suppose, although the catchy melody probably does not match the more popular use of melancholic cello pieces in most vampire stories. The clip features pretty shots of the characters as well as a foreshadowing of the "great reveal" that the story is gearing for. The ending theme is called, still doll by Wakeshima Kanon [Sample]. It's a very interesting song with its ticking clock background and intriguing concept.
Present day -- The Cross Academy's student body is divided into two: the day class and night class. School prefects, like Yuki Cross and Kiryu Zero, try to keep the two apart, with good reason since the entire night class student body is composed of vampires.

Day class students are unaware of this. The vampires are a well-guarded secret of Cross Academy. Therefore, the stringent rule against co-mingling merely serves to heighten the interest that day class students have about their night class counterparts. As a result, Yuki's job is extremely trying. Add to that the fact that she has a past connection and inexplainable attraction towards the night class students' president, Kuran Kaname, her job is well near impossible.
Thankfully, Zero helps keep Yuki from messing up. Whenever Kaname, who seems to reciprocate Yuki's interest, makes familiar advances towards her, he is always there to stop it and remind Yuki that vampires are no more than beasts who take on human form.

But Zero has a far more serious problem, because the vampires he is now obliged to protect are the very same vampires he hates and swears to kill. Worse still, he himself has become a vampire, after having been bitten by the vampire that killed his entire family.
All is not well with the vampires themselves. While the night class students all appear to be loyal to Kaname, who is a pureblood and considered one of the most powerful vampires around, there are a few who sometimes break the rules.

Hanabusa, for instance, though outwardly appearing flirtatious and charming, has no compulsion against attacking Yuki to drink her blood. Not only him, but the rest of the vampires are starting to show their discontent.

The Cross Academy tries to stave off the vampires' hunger for blood by feeding them tablets that artificially mimic the compounds found in human blood. But for some vampires, this is not enough and sooner or later, things might go out of hand.

COMMENTS:

I've decided not to recap the entire episode event for event because there are so many back stories involved, the post would end up very long. Anyhoo, this episode looks good, but then again, all pilot episodes are. I am not totally sold on the idea. I don't particularly like vampire animes, with perhaps Blood: The Last Vampire as the only exception. I didn't even take to Blood+ all that well. This anime, so far, has not changed my impression of all vampire animes.

I kind of expected, after watching the preview, that it's going to be a Yuki x Zero pairing. But, after reading up on Vampire Knight, I discovered that it's not quite what I think.

I'm not even so fond of the comedy moments. I didn't find them so humorous although I can admit that there are some shots that would make funny icons.

I have a question: why is it that in almost every romance anime with a school setting I've seen, the guys are always portrayed as perfect and accomplished while the girl is always a bit of a slob? I guess this is why I don't watch that many animes with a school setting. There seems to be little room for originality.

That said, this anime looks typical. We'll see what happens after three or so episodes.

MORE INFO:

OFFICIAL ANIME SITE (Japanese)
OFFICIAL MANGA SITE (Japanese)
Anime News Network
Wikipedia

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Vampire Knight Promo Screencaps

Vampire Knight. Looks interesting. I'm currently downloading Episode 1, fansubbed by Shoku-dan, so tomorrow will be a post on my first impressions.



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Spring 2008 Anime Previews

TITLE: Amatsuki
EPISODES: 13+
GENRE: adventure, fantasy, historical, samurai
LINKS: ANN, OFFICIAL
SUMMARY: A high schooler uses state-of-the-art museum technology that allows him to travel back to the Edo period only to end up trapped in time. There he meets another person who is in the same position as him and a female samurai who saves his life.

COMMENTS: I do so love my samurai animes.

TITLE: Vampire Knight
EPISODES: 13+
GENRE: supernatural, fantasy, vampires, romance
LINKS: ANN, TV-TOKYO, OFFICIAL
SUMMARY: (from ANN)Yuki's earliest memory is of a stormy night in winter, wherein she was attacked by a vampire... And then rescued by another. Now 10 years later, Yuki Cross, the adapted daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, has grown up and become a guardian of the vampire race, protecting her savior, Kaname, from discovery as he leads a group of vampires at the elite boarding school. But also at her side is Zero Kiryu, a childhood friend who’s hatred for the creatures that destroyed everything he held dear, is now determined never to trust them. This coexisting arrangement seems all well and good, but have the vampires truly renounced their murderous ways, or is there a darker truth behind their actions. Is Kaname's infatuation with Yuki the beginning of a forbidden romance, or is it something in her forgotten past that draws him to her. Because in this world of secrets, nothing is as it seems. And the price of misplaced trust may even be worse than death.

COMMENTS: Attractive character designs and intriguing story with the potential to be a sort of dark romance? But probably just a lot of angst. I don't mind. Angtsy vampires are just my thing.

TITLE: Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief (Nijuu-Mensou no Musume)
EPISODES: 22
GENRE: mystery, action
LINKS: ANN, Fuji Creative Corporation, OFFICIAL
SUMMARY: The adventures of a female thief.

COMMENTS: I am quite partial to thieves. I thoroughly enjoyed the Lupin series, both novel and anime version, so yeah. They must lead glamorous lives, these people, despite the danger.

TITLE: S.A. ~Special A~
EPISODES: 24
GENRE: romance, comedy, drama, school life
LINKS: ANN, GONZO, OFFICIAL
SUMMARY: Childhood rivals, Hikari and Kei, are still at it even in high school. But while Hikari considers Kei as a rival (and perhaps occasional friend), Kei loves Hikari. Only problem is Hikari is too dense to notice.

COMMENTS: It's like Kare-Kano! But without the dark undertones, probably.

TITLE: Mnemosyne ~ Daughters of Mnemosyne ~ (Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi) (OVA)
EPISODES: 6
GENRE: dark, supernatural, scifi, horror, mystery, mature
LINKS: ANN, OFFICIAL, XEBEC, TRAILER
SUMMARY: Private investigator Rin Asougi and her partner Mimi make it their job to look into various mysteries, from a seemingly harmless search for a lost cat to top-secret research projects. But their own secret which they hide are by far more sinister.

COMMENTS: It's not my usual cup of coffee but I have been following this. Maybe because it has a kind of dark appeal.

TITLE: Kite Liberator (OAV)
EPISODES: 1
GENRE: action, scifi, thriller
LINKS: ANN, OFFICIAL
SUMMARY: (from ANN) Years after the events that transpired in Kite, Sawa's whereabouts are a mystery. During this time, rumors of a new killer have begun to circulate the city. They call her the Angel of Death, an unfeeling assassin who eliminates her targets with grace and precision, leaving only a flurry of feathers as her calling card. What the public is unaware of is the fact that this notorious hitman is a actually a polite young lady named Monaka. Like her spiritual predecessor, Monaka has lost most of her family, and her father's duty as an astronaut keeps hims practically worlds apart. However, they are close despite the physical distances and Orudo promised his daughter that he would return. Until then, daily life for the timid and somewhat clumsy Monaka involves mostly school and her part time job as a waitress, but her nature completely changes once she receives an assignment.

COMMENTS: Uhm...Madlax?

Well, I'm definitely blogging about Kite Liberator. I am in fact downloading it now. Of Mnemosyne, I'm not too sure. I enjoy watching it but it's so graphic and dark that it's hard to take relatively clean screencaps. I'll be following Vampire Knight if the story holds. The rest, we'll see.

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