VAMPIRE KNIGHT (VOLUME 2)
December 16th 2010 21:23
Based on the original Vampire Knight manga by Matsuri Hino
Director: Kiyoko Sayama
Writer: Mari Okada
Producers: Fukashi Azuma, Tomoko Takahashi & Yumiko Masushima
Starring: Mela Lee (Yuki Cross), Vic Mignonga (Zero Kiryu), Ethan Murray (Kaname Kuran), Troy Baker (Akatsuki Kain), Christopher Corey Smith (Kaien Cross), Bryce Papenbrook (Hanabusa Aido), Megan Hollingshead (Ruka Souen), Carrie Savage (Rima Toya), Stephanie Sheh (Sayori Wakaba), Steve Staley (Senri Shiki), Colleen O’Shaughnessy (Day Class Girl), Spike Spencer (Takuma Ichijo), Travis Wallingham (Toga Yagari) Wendee Lee (Shizuka Hio), Jamieson Price (Asato Ichijo) & Derek Stephen Prince (Class Rep)
English Version produced by: VIZ Media LLC
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 100 minutes Rating: M
Apparently the Vampire Knight manga is Australia’s best selling manga if the pundits at Madman Entertainment are to be believed. That means there is a heck of lot of shojo manga fans out there who love the whole gothic romance mixed with teenage angst and the general ambience of the whole story that drips and oozes with tension and the possibility of unleashed bloodlust. Certainly the anime series sticks pretty much to the manga storyline although as I said in a review of the first DVD volume in the series my own feelings indicate that there is much of the tragic in this story as there is of love and romance, albeit a rather dark, brooding romance. No doubt though there is much of tragedy in any good romance so perhaps it’s only natural to see tragic elements in this tale.
Our three protagonists in this story are Zero Kiriyu; scion of a family of vampire hunters, Kaname Kuran; a pureblood vampire and Yuki Cross; the adopted daughter of Cross Academy’s headmaster and as a young girl she was rescued from death at the hands of a vampire by Kaname. All three are students at Cross Academy, a school established for both humans and vampires by Kaien Cross in an effort to promote harmony and coexistence between the two species. A noble sentiment, the kind that leads to a better world, improved interspecies relations, a new era of peace and prosperity and other such jazz – trouble is such things don’t happen overnight and have to be worked at constantly. The enmity between Vampires and Humans runs deep, it’s been something that is centuries old so it’s a tough job to achieve a modicum of peaceful coexistence. Still nothing is ever achieved if you don’t try...
Now the vampires in this particular series are not what some purists would describe as genuine vampires, they are capable of moving about in the daylight, some would decry this is silliness. The interesting thing about this angle is that apparently the whole vampires having an aversion to sunlight and bursting into flames with the dawn only began when Dracula was first published. It was the source for such vampiric weaknesses, up until then vampires apparently had no such weakness or aversion. This means if you’re a vampire story writer and/or anime producer having your characters able to walk around during the day gives you an extra bit of manoeuvring room for plot development. You aren’t as constrained as you would be if you stuck to the ‘traditional’ vampire oeuvre.
In this particular volume we see the continuing tension between our three protagonists evolve as well as get a glimpse into their past and how things began to become entwined between them all. As I said each character in this triangle has to some degree been affected by the other two, their lives have not been separate and isolated affairs, which is true for a person’s life; no one is an island, not even a hermit on some remote mountain top. Thrown into the mix though are the arrival of two new characters; one who appears fairly early on in the drama and the second who makes her debut at the end. The first is Toga Yagari, an eye patch wearing, rifle bearing vampire hunter who was originally Zero’s master and guardian. It was Yagari who taught Zero the ways and skills of being a vampire hunter and who in turn saved him from a vampire. The other character who appears at the end of this volume is Shizuka Hio, a vampire who has some mysterious connection to Zero...
Yagari is an interesting character in that he; unlike everyone else who shows up at Cross Academy he is not fazed by the Night Class in some way shape or form. In fact he offers a rather refreshing change from girls or boys screaming over various Night Class members. A vampire hunter with a substantial reputation he knows just exactly what the Night Class students are and is more than capable of handling their shenanigans, he doesn’t take any shit to use the vernacular and it makes an enjoyable counterpoint to the angst and confusion. Strangely it seems as if his reason for being at Cross Academy isn’t so much to keep an eye on the vampires but rather from concern at the fate of his one time student; Zero. If you’re one of the countless fans of the Vampire Knight manga then this anime should be right up your alley, if you love a gothic romance story with vampires in it then this is right up your alley. Definitely worth tracking down and watching...
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