OP Sequence

OP: 「ふたつの鼓動と赤い罪」 (Futatsu no Kodou to Akai Tsumi) by ON/OFF
Watch the OP! Mirror 1, Mirror 2

Summary:

One snowy day many years ago, a young girl named Yuuki was attacked by a vampire in the woods, but she had been saved by another vampire named Kaname. Years passed, and Yuuki is now attending Cross Academy. One of her duties as a member of the school’s disciplinary committee is to make the Day Class go to their dorms when it’s time for the Night Class to show up, but on this particular day, the girls of the Day Class stick around long enough to catch a glimpse of the beautiful students of the Night Class. One of these Night Class students is Kaname, and he helps Yuuki back up after she gets knocked down during the rush of girls. However, one of the other members of the disciplinary committee, a boy named Zero, gets between the two of them to keep Kaname’s hands off Yuuki. The truth is that the entire Night Class is comprised of vampires, and it’s up to Yuuki and Zero to protect that secret from everyone else.

The man who calls himself Yuuki and Zero’s father, Kaien Cross, is actually the head of the school, and his dream is for peace between vampires and humans, but he knows that there are still bad vampires who attack humans. Despite this fact, Yuuki maintains the belief that there are good vampires like Kaname. She doesn’t have any memories from before she was five years old, and the night that Kaname had saved her, he had brought her to Kaien Cross – that’s who raised her all these years. Yuuki still views what happened ten years ago as her beginning. On the other hand, unlike Yuuki and her adoptive father, Zero does not believe that the vampires of the Night Class have agreed to pacifism. Yuuki can still remember how Kaien Cross had brought Zero home with him one day four years back and had told her that Zero’s family was killed by evil vampires. At the time, Yuuki saw hatred in Zero’s eyes.

On this particular night, Yuuki discovers two girls of the Day Class hanging in the woods outside the school building trying to take pictures of the Night Class. She tries to return them to their dorm, especially since one of the girls has an injured leg, but before she can, they are found by Night Class students Aidou and Kain. Aidou had smelt blood, but it’s not that of the injured girl – it the smell of Yuuki’s blood from when she bruised her hand getting to the two girls. When he starts sucking blood from her hand, the other two girls faint, and he then goes for Yuuki’s neck. Fortunately for her, Zero arrives with a gun and scares Aidou by firing it at a nearby tree. Kaname shows up shortly thereafter to defuse the situation by taking custody of Aidou and Kain, and he identifies Zero’s gun as the Bloody Rose. As for the two Day Class girls, Kaname has one of his subordinates change their memories of that night.

Kaname also apologizes to Yuuki for all this scaring her, but Zero drags her away before the two can talk much further because Zero dislikes the smell of blood that’s everywhere. What’s more, he views the fact that the vampires like the smell of blood as proof that they’re beasts. The smell is gone from Yuuki by the time morning rolls around while she and Zero are sharing use of a bathroom. As she blow-dries her hair, Yuuki suggests that according to legend, she could become a vampire since she was bitten, and she wonders if her blood really is delicious since there was that vampire that attacked her 10 years ago too. Unbeknownst to her, Zero is having an adverse reaction to something and bites his lip as he begins breathing heavily. What Yuuki thinks about instead is how vampires drink people’s lifeblood, how they’re beasts of prey in human form, and how people shouldn’t go near vampires.

ED Sequence

ED: 「still doll」 by Mana
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2
I really didn’t find much to like about either the OP or ED. The opening song, performed by the twin brothers of ON/OFF, sounds like a very average pop song. The ending meanwhile succeeds at setting a creepy and dark mood but it’s for that very reason that it’s not the kind of song I’d listen to on a regular basis.

Vampire Knight turned out to be quite good. I would say it beat my expectations, but I had decently high expectations, and this more or less just met them. If there was one area that beat my expectations, it was probably the voice acting. Horie Yui fits Yuuki’s role a lot better than I thought she would, and all of the male cast members did a good job (hard to go wrong with the likes of Miyano Mamoru and Fukuyama Jun). The animation quality for the first episode was also fairly good, but there was relatively more cause for concern there. The style and the way it was drawn gave me a distinct feeling that the quality will dip considerably as the series progresses. Hopefully that’ll turn out to be not the case.

As I’ve mentioned before though, the main draw of this series for me is the story. I read the first couple of chapters of Vampire Knight to get a feel for the series, but I intentionally stopped because I didn’t want to spoil myself for the anime version. The story looked very promising with the triangle of Yuuki, Zero, and Kaname plus the vampire aspect. I get the feeling that everyone’s going to be a vampire eventually since we already know Kaname is one, there are hints that Zero is one (I don’t remember those being there so early in the manga), and the ED seems to imply that Yuuki could be one too. Regardless, I’m excited to see what happens and will likely be following this series regularly from now on.

80 Comments

  1. Thought the OP was average/unspectacular (was hoping for something more), but the song seems to fit this series. And yeah, the ED is a bit creepy. =O

    But I can’t wait to watch this nonetheless. Hope it follows the manga as closely as possible, ’cause the manga’s awesome. =)

    omchan
  2. why does it seem that a lot of their hair got shorter compared to the manga? but i whaa! i can’t believe it came out!! XD but i think this anime might be short for some reason… like around 12 episodes maybe…

    baka-chi
  3. I just watched it!! (without the subs.) I was neither dissappointed nor totally satisfied with it. the manga is awesome! ^__^ and it’s obviously a little hard for the anime to completely “stay faithful” to it. but I think they did a good job. I’m SO looking forward to the next episodes! 🙂

    Denise
  4. This is the only series that I was looking forward to apart from Code Geass, and I am really, really, truly glad that you are blogging it 😀 The animation quality really was disappointing, although I did like the ED song. Maybe I’m just overly biased but I think this awesome manga deserves a bigger animation budget :/

    As for your gut feeling… any comment would probably spoil the story for you. Let’s just say that there’s quite a number of mysteries about all three main characters that this show needs to deal with.

    lightbringer
  5. I’ve read the manga, and the story is a bit intriguing, but I’ve read up to the latest chapter, so I might not get that whole “what happens next” excitement while watching it. But I guess it’ll be fun to see it animated.

    Final
  6. I listened to tracks from the drama cds and I love this series, Mamoru miyano is incredible as Zero. Can’t wait for the subs and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

    Phoenix
  7. I read some of the manga but stopped i started to hate Zero with a passion. Its not because of the emo aspect of him (since most of the characters i like are kinda emo). Maybe once the anime ends i’ll watch it 😀

    Nams
  8. I’m disappointed by production quality and both the OP and ED.
    The OP and ED have really little animation, have too many stills and plenty of them are without a character in it. BGM wasn’t any cool either.

    I was looking forward to Vampire Knight because the manga was really good, so when I heard it was going to become an anime I got excited… and forgot that shoujo manga-adapted-anime usually don’t satisfy. I guess Ouran was truly exceptional, I loved the anime even more than the manga.

    But I am going to watch this to hear the voice-acting.

    And yes.. if you haven’t been following the manga already, this series does have some cool plot to offer… in time. The story moves slowly though. I’d be happier if they’d make 13 episodes instead of 26 and speed things up a bit.

    Yukiruchan
  9. Well, since the storyline of the manga sucks for me, the only thing worth reading it for is the beautiful art which is now in the anime turned ugly than I thought. So GOOD BYE vampire night.

    saris
  10. Eh,Omni,the op song really not good? My siblings also tell me the same thing. But it’s because the song I went finished the manga until the latest chapter and plan to watch this anime. I kind of like the rytheme,it’s very fix to the show.
    Btw, I have heard a lot of your comment about Gonzo. Is they really sucks? Don’t they famous for their cg art? I don’t watch Dragonaut but I’m very confident with them since they’re the one doing Trinity Blood, R x J and some noticeable anime. This season they’re also helping in Code Geass R2 also.
    Just my two cents. ^^

    Kaede
  11. nice. anime goes like the manga… so in about 16 or 17 episodes we knew that Show Spoiler ▼

    i mean we have 8 volumes in japan so far and if they only use 3 episodes per volume it will end rather quick. On the other hand, because its an anime – they probably kick in a “Bathhouse” episode and ruin it, with either senseless anime-only ending or an open end for a 2nd.

    nothingknow
  12. godddddddddd….artwork kills it all >.>
    Ep was above-average…lots of bishonens, stupid girls, vampires, nothing unusual…
    Will watch if there’s nothing what to watch…

    Unknown Voice
  13. yuuki’s got red eyes!!! kyaa!!! she must be some sort of vampire-human hybrid…

    Anyway, nice episode. Art is a little poor, now that I’ve watched Soul Eater, though it wasn’t too bad. I particularly love the ending song. Sets a really nice mood.

    Jayars
  14. kyaaaaaaaaaa…^^I like it very much, yea!!! i waiting for this, i collect this manga^^, this is my favourite shoujo manga among of many of my shoujo manga and finally become anime^^ I love it….^^, kaname and zero is so cool!!! but i like yukixkaname pair^^

    Kiri
  15. finally we have it on TV; it has been long since i 1st read vol.1 so you can imagine my eagerness to watch this ( me the liar ). hope they dun go thru the manga plot too fast like they did with Negima series 1 and end up with an Anime only original ending.

    tonbo
  16. hmm ok so the 1st ep is out..hmm there’s sumthgn bout the coloring of the anime that makes it..uhmm how should i say this…”flat” i mean look at the other animes their “coloring” or watevr makes the characters “alive” or sumthng lyk that..but here..dunno it looks..ahhhhhh…cnt find any appropriate word…nd i hate the color of akatsuki’s hair…>.

    yUkishin
  17. ;___; I REALLY DIDN’T LIKE THE ART… SO COMPUTERIZED… NOTHING LIKE MATSURI AT ALL… REALLY UGLY BLEHHH. I wish they stopped ruining anime like this and like these…

    Mumu-san
  18. YAY!!!!!!! thanks for blogging this omni you won’t regret it.

    Vampire Knight is one of my favourite series of all time!! the plot is amazing, you should read the manga..the art quality is a lot beetter…the eyes kinda bother me in the anime…

    allie
  19. hey, no spoiler leh… sum ppl got no class… as this story involves night class going nightwalkers, most things will appear less vivid for apparent lack of sunlight( animesyon sciences, cuz its all happening at night ); true-blood , half-blood and bad blood…

    tonbo
  20. Well…to me it was quite a disappointment. D:
    Maybe mainly because I admire the beautiful art of the manga. ^^; And also…I read the manga till the latest it isn’t that very exciting for me anymore. But still I’m going to watch this. I’m going to give this a chance on the next few episodes. I hope their animation gets better too. :’o
    I agree about the voice actors. They’re all very well picked. ^_^
    I kind didn’t get to the mood when it was Kaien Cross who’s speaking though. :’o I thought it would’ve been great if he was voiced by Takehito Koyasu. -wipes tears- (Coz I’ve listen to the drama cd and loved how he voices him there. T_T)
    Er…well I guess I’m just asking for too much. :’p

    Wija-chan
  21. lol the artwork its cool, you cant expect the same artwork of the manga be animated at least not this manga artwork, however this anime is very very good, the seiyuus choices are spectacular and probably one of the best selections ever… if you ask me i would say this anime has a very good start, and i hope it get better.

    Dark-Zombie
  22. The main problem i had with VK manga was that besides Kaname i could hardly remember any other member of the night class- they seem almost a depersonified mass of similar characters 😉 That’s why i was quite happy that at least Aidou stands out in this show. As for the hints of vampirism- although it’s true that there weren’t as many in manga but then again Zero’s problem was revealed in what, 3rd chapter? It pretty much means he’ll change in next episode so no amount of such hints changes anything.

    Void
  23. Oh my god I love this anime already!

    The music, the story, the characters so far show a lot of promise. I don’t mind the way they drew them either. I’ve gotten used to this style since Fruits Basket and Ouran High School Club, which is the closest resemblance.

    The ending music is my favorite so far. Mmmm… sounds sexy and stylish, heartbreaking and moody.

  24. This first episode was surprisingly good, no matter how cliche I found the manga to be even though I do enjoy it to a certain extent.
    Still…I cannot believe Miyano Mamoru is voicing someone as emo as Zero.. Its just so hard to believe :\ I thoght Seki Tomokazu would be voicing him, given his angsty-styled voice. Oh well. I think Horie Yui voiced Yuuki really well though. And so did Kaname’s voice actor. Jun Fukuyama sounded wierd here though, even though he’s a talented voice actor.
    All in all, this first episode was more impressive than SA’s. But story wise (in the manga), SA is better from my point of view.

    Tiff
  25. After seeing the first episode…I realized something from both the episode and opening and ending.

    There’s A LOT…and I mean A LOT…of foreshadowing on this one. Like with the opening it tends to refer a lot to Yuuki being a vampire and the fact that her real past was somewhat locked away along with her powers.

    And I kind of felt that this part was a bit unnecessary, yet…like I said…it’s a foreshadow.

    https://randomc.net/image/Vampire%20Knight/Vampire%20Knight%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2028.jpg

    However…I realized that it is just showing the fact that Zero is undergoing that vampire transformation. (Though…technically…it shows a bit later in chapter 2 of volume 1 in the manga, and becomes one in chapter 3 of volume 1).

    Though it seemed pretty good how they portrayed Zero’s struggling with the vampire instincts and the transformation.

    aotatsu
  26. My friend just introduced me to VK and I’m somehow engaged by the story plot. Watched the first episode too. And yes, Zero’s a human-turned vampire while Yuuki actually turns out to be a pureblood vampire like Kaname and her real name happens to be Yuuki Kuran. She reveals her vampire powers much later. Kaname’s sort of like the ancestor of the Kuran family too.

    xdarkwingsx
  27. What’s wrong with a shoujo heroine being kind and helpful? Do all anime girls now need flaws for us the viewers to relate to them? I adore the shoujo heroine personality no matter how cliche it is. I mean do we all want anime girls to go emo on us?

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