Vampire Knight

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Vampire Knight
Cover of first volume of Vampire Knight released in Japan by Hakusensha on July 5, 2005
ヴァンパイア騎士 (Banpaia Naito)
Genre	Romance, Supernatural
Manga
Author	Matsuri Hino
Publisher	Hakusensha
English publisher	Viz Media Madman Entertainment
Other publishers: Carlsen Verlag Planet Manga Bongkoch Comics Waneko
Demographic	Shōjo
Magazine	LaLa
English magazine	Shojo Beat
Other magazines: Daisuki
Original run	January 2005 – ongoing
Volumes	11 (List of volumes)
TV anime
Director	Kiyoko Sayama
Studio	Studio Deen
Licensor	Viz Media
Network	TV Tokyo
Original run	April 8, 2008 – July 1, 2008
Episodes	51 (List of episodes)
TV anime
Vampire Knight Guilty
Studio	Studio Deen
Licensor	Viz Media
Network	TV Tokyo
Original run	October 7, 2008 – December 30, 2008
Episodes	13
Anime and Manga Portal

Vampire Knight (ヴァンパイア騎士, Banpaia Naito^?) is a shōjo manga and anime series written by Matsuri Hino. The series premiered in the January 2005 issue of LaLa magazine and is still on-going. Chapters are collected and published in collected volumes by Hakusensha, with eleven volumes currently released in Japan. The manga series is licensed in English by Viz Media, who has released eight volumes so far. The English adaptation premiered in the July 2006 issue of Viz's Shojo Beat magazine, with the collected volumes being published on a quarterly basis.

Two drama CDs were created for the series, as well as a twenty-six episode anime adaptation. Produced by Studio Deen, the anime series' first season aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 8, 2008 and July 1, 2008. The second season, titled Vampire Knight Guilty aired on the same station from October 7, 2008 and December 30, 2008. The anime uses many of the same voice actors as were used for the drama CDs. The anime adaptations have been licensed for release in North America by Viz Media.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Media 3.1 Manga 3.2 Drama CDs 3.3 Anime 3.4 Light novels 3.5 Video game 3.6 Fanbook 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Plot

Yuki Cross's earliest memory is of a snowy night in winter, when she was attacked by an evil Level E vampire and was saved by Kaname, Kaname Kuran. Yuuki is the adopted daughter of the Headmaster of Cross Academy, Kaien Cross, who is an ex-vampire hunter that now wishes for vampires and humans to live alongside peacefully. She has grown up and become a prefect for the school which has one main purpose: for vampires to coexist peacefully with humans. Her fellow guardian and childhood companion, Zero Kiryu, whose parents were killed by a pure-blood vampire, is now determined to kill them all and refuses to trust them. Zero himself is now manifesting vampire traits, having been turned into a vampire after he was bitten by the vampire who attacked his family, Shizuka Hio, four years earlier.

Yuuki tries to help him fight his bloodlust while also seeking to recover the memories she lost. As the series progresses, Zero's thirst for blood leads to his drinking from Yuki, by her consent, to avoid becoming a level E vampire and losing himself to his monstrous instincts. To stop this, Kaname gives Zero his own "pure" blood, even though the only way for an ex-human to become a truly "stabilized" vampire is to drink the blood of the one who bit them in the first place. However, since Kaname is a pure blood, his own blood helps keep Zero from going insane and from needing to feed from Yuki.

Eventually, it is revealed that Yuuki is a pure blood vampire herself and the fiance of Kaname. It is also revealed that Kaname is Yuuki's elder brother and they spent their childhood together. Actually, Kaname is not Yuuki's blood brother, but the ancient ancestor of the Kuran family resurrected by Rido Kuran. To save Yuki from being killed by Rido Kuran, their uncle, her mother had sealed her memories shortly before her own death and put Yuuki under a spell so she could live as a human and avoid being found. After Yuuki reawakens to her vampire nature, Rido again tries to kill her. As Kaname kills the corrupt vampire senate, Yuuki fights Rido. During a fierce battle, Zero aids her in killing him, but later on tells her he will have to kill her when he sees her once again. She tells him that she will keep running, so that he will have a reason to live. Although this is where the anime ends, the manga continues the story and is updated monthly in LaLa Magazine.

[edit] Characters

• Yuuki Cross (黒主 優姫, Kurosu Yūki/ Kuran Yūki 玖蘭 優姫^?) is the adoptive daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, and a Guardian, one of the members of the school's disciplinary committee. Ten years prior to the start of the series, Yuki was rescued from a vampire attack by another vampire, Kaname. She lost all memory of her life from before the attack, and was adopted by Headmaster Cross. After Zero's vampire nature is revealed, she begins giving him her blood to drink. However, Yuki loves Kaname, who has always been protecting her and has been by her side during her childhood as a vampire. When Rido Clan resurfaces at Cross Academy, Yuki's memories are unlocked, revealing that she is actually a pureblood vampire, both Kaname's sister and his fiancee.^[1]

• Zero Kiryu (錐生 零, Kiryū Zero^?), who is a year older than Yuki Cross,^[2] comes from a vampire hunter family. His parents and brother were killed by the pureblood vampire Shizuka Hio after they were ordered to assassinate her lover, a former human that had not yet fallen to level E. Zero was taken in by the headmaster of Cross Academy and became a Prefect (Guardian), alongside Yuki Cross.^[3] He has a never ending hatred for vampires because of what happened to his parents, but it is later revealed that he himself is a vampire as a result of Shizuka's attack.^[4] It is also later revealed that his twin brother, Ichiru, also survived the attack and lived at Shizuka's side. After he consumes Shizuka, Kaname lets Zero drink some of his blood to keep Zero from losing control of himself in order to protect Yuki.^[5]

• Kaname Kuran (玖蘭 枢, Kuran Kaname^?), a pureblood vampire, saved Yuki from an attack by another vampire when she was little. He is the class president of the Night Class as well as the dorm leader, much feared and respected by the other Night Class students. While he is cold and authoritative towards his fellows in the Night Class, he is always kind and sweet to Yuki. He has shown that he cares deeply for Yuki and loves her in a romantic sense. He allows Zero to live because he knows his death would sadden Yuki as well as because Zero is useful. He is both jealous and angry of Zero for biting Yuki and endangering her life. Kaname has been raised as Yuki's older brother. At a young age they had pledged to marry each other when they grow up, just like Haruka and Juuri, who were siblings yet married to each other. It is common for pureblood siblings to marry as it is essential to keep the bloodline pure.

• Shizuka Hio, a pureblood who killed Zero's parents for revenge and took his twin in which left Zero to think that his brother had died also.

• Rido Kuran, a pureblood who had ordered Zero's parents to kill his fiancee, Shizuka's lover. He also resurected the Head of the Kuran clan into the infant Kaname Kuran. He had fallen in love with his younger sister Juri, Yuki and Kaname's mother, and tried to drink the blood of Yuki who he believed to be Juri resurrected. He later died by the hand of Zero and Yuki.

[edit] Media

[edit] Manga

The first chapter of Matsuri Hino's Vampire Knight premiered in the January 2005 issue of LaLa, where the series is still running. The individual chapters are being collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha, with ten volumes released in Japan as of June 2009^[update]. The series is licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. In addition to publishing the individual volumes, the series was serialized in Viz's Shojo Beat manga anthology from the July 2006 issue until the magazine was discontinued after the July 2009 issue. It is licensed for English release in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment, which has released nine volumes as of October 2009^[update].^[6]

[edit] Drama CDs

Two drama CDs have been released for Vampire Knight. The first, LaLa Kirameki, was released as an extra with the September 2005 issue of LaLa. The second, Vampire Knight Midnight CD-Pack, was released only via mail order.

[edit] Anime

Studio Deen produced a twenty-six episode anime adaptation of the Vampire Knight manga, using many of the same voice actors featured on the drama CDs and directed by Kiyoko Sayama.^[7] The episodes started airing on TV Tokyo in Japan on April 8, 2008 and ran until the season conclusion on July 1, 2008. The episodes were also aired at later dates on TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Osaka, TV Setouchi, and TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting Co.^[7] The second season, named Vampire Knight Guilty, premiered on the same station October 7, 2008.^[8][9] The final episode aired on December 30, 2008. On July 24, 2009, Viz Media announced it had acquired the license for the Vampire Knight anime and would begin releasing it to DVD in 2010.^[10]

The series uses four pieces of theme music. The opening themes of both the first and second season are performed by the duo On/Off, with "Futatsu no Kodō to Akai Tsumi" (ふたつの鼓動と赤い罪^?) as the opening for the first season, and "Rinne: Rondo" (輪廻 -ロンド-^?) as the opening for the second. Kanon Wakeshima performs the first season ending theme, "Still Doll", and also the second season's ending theme "Suna no Oshiro" (砂のお城^?). The soundtrack is composed by Haketa Takefumi and consists of 30 tracks (including the opening theme and ending theme).

[edit] Light novels

Two light novels created by Matsuri Hino and Ayuna Fujisaki were published in Japan by Hakusensha in 2008. Both novels feature two individual side-stories that use the characters of the manga, but are not specifically based on chapters from the series.^[11] The first novel, Vampire Knight: Ice Blue's Sin (ヴァンパイア騎士 憂氷の罪, Vanpaia Naito: Aisu Burū no Tsumi^?), was published on April 5, 2008.^[11][12] The first story within the novel looks at events that occurred at Cross Academy in the year preceding Yuki's arrival, while the second story details an accident that occurred while Zero was still in training to be a vampire hunter.^[11]

The second novel, Vampire Knight: Noir's Trap (ヴァンパイア騎士 凝黒の罠, Vanpaia Naito: Nowāru no Wana^?), was published on October 3, 2008.^[11][13] It details some of the Cross Academy romances, as well as detailing the accident that happened when Kain and Ruka go to visit Shiki and Rima's modeling studio.^[11]

[edit] Video game

Vampire Knight DS (ヴァンパイア騎士 DS, Vanpaia Naito Dīesu^?) is dating simulation game using the characters from the series, but telling a unique story. It's in Japanese. It was released by D3 Publisher in Japan in January 2009.^[11]

[edit] Fanbook

In November 2008, the official Vampire Knight Fanbook, titled Vampire Knight Fanbook: Cross (ヴァンパイア騎士 ファンブックX, Vanpaia Naito Fanbukku Kurosu^?), was published in Japan. In addition to providing additional information about the series characters and story, it includes images and details from Hino's storyboard.^[11] The fanbook has been licensed by Viz Media and will be released in September 2010.^[14]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Vampire Knight

• Hakusensha's official manga website (Japanese)
• Official anime website (Japanese)
• Official Viz Vampire Knight manga website
• Vampire Knight (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia