First Impressions / Vampire Knight

Yuki is thinking about her first memories from 10 years ago (again). She wonders why Kaname was there that day, and why she can’t remember anything before that. She starts to leave but is deeply startled by a sudden bloody illusion on the doorknob as she turns it.

While performing her disciplinary committee duties, she constantly hears voices from her past and sees bloody visions as she monitors the night class students leaving the classroom. Kaname says he’ll see her afterwards to talk, and before long she runs out of the empty classroom, frightened by another blood-splattered scene.

In the school office, Headmaster Cross cuts his finger cleaning up a broken cup and offers his blood to Zero only to face instant rejection. Feigning jealousy, Cross accuses Zero of preferring Yuki’s blood instead, so Zero gets it out in the open he’s been drinking her blood since last season, and “don’t act like you didn’t know.” Not surprised, the headmaster thinks it’s acceptable since they’ve been through so much suffering together. Even though he knows it’s taboo, he just wants to protect and watch over them. So long as Zero doesn’t fall to level E anyway… Zero has a quick flashback to his intimate moment with Kaname from the end of last season, and irritably turns to leave. But before he can go, Cross has one more urgent matter to discuss regarding the Day Class.

Meanwhile, Yuki waits for Kaname alone in an empty hallway and sees another bloody illusion. Pieces of her lost memory taunt her, and she hears a malicious voice in her mind as something inside her begins to stir. Caught up in fear and panic, Kaname’s sudden presence behind her causes her to attack him without realizing who it is. He embraces her and tosses aside her all-but-useless vampire weapon (Artemis). He tells her to calm down, and asks what was it that she wanted to talk about that was so important. As she’s getting up the nerve to confront him about why he was there on that fateful snowy day, he renders her speechless with a confession. The “L” word. And not that superficial “suki da!” crap, but a very romantic and rarely seen in real life “Aishiteru yo… Kimi no koto.” Elusively copping a feel, he says he’ll do anything to erase her pain and anxieties.

Zero walks up after he’s left and she’s sulking miserably in the hallway, regretting that she was unable to say anything after he confessed. Zero reaches out and almost touches her for support but his angst stops him. Not being a total jerk, he encourages her by suggesting she find better timing and ask again.

Later that night, Zero appears uninvited at the night class dorm and Kaname invites him to his boudoir for some private conversation. I think you know where this is going. Zero accuses him of erasing her memories, and asks why he doesn’t answer her, why won’t he ease her anxieties, and why are you looking at me with those sultry eyes? Kaname decides to “ease” one of her “anxieties” right now.

Without warning, he aggressively throws and presses Zero against the wall in a sudden burst of passion, and Zero pulls out his weapon. Confessing his deep feelings (hatred), he suggests they take this into the next room (broke through the wall into the bathroom), and takes a shot to the face.

Ahem. Kaname would love to kill Zero but Yuki might get upset, and unfortunately he needs him around to protect her. Zero’s eyes turn red at the scent of the blood dripping from where he.. shot Kaname in the face. Kaname grimly offers his blood to Zero again (*cough*) because it will delay his descent into a level E vampire. Confessing their mutual feelings for Yuki, they engage in some clandestine blood-sucking. Kaname commands Zero not to forget who the hell gave him this blood, and also asks politely if he could please hop out the back window on his way out to avoid, you know, getting caught. Incidentally, Aidou does catch him sneaking out, but tells him to hurry and escape when he realizes it’s Kaname’s private matter.

Ichiru gets dropped off in front of the school the next morning while Yuki sleeps in a bit because she’s not feeling well after Kaname’s confession. As Yuki sneaks in late trying not to be noticed, Ichiru introduces himself to the class. She almost gets away with her late entrance, but she jumped up in shock when she realized Zero’s twin brother was joining her class. As he walks by and sits down he says some nasty insults that piss her off, so her good friend Yori realizes they’ve got some “history” together. She thinks his attitude might be even worse than Zero’s, but at least she’s discovered that Zero really does cherish Yuki, despite his bad attitude.

Back in the school office, Yagari is about to leave but Headmaster Cross stops him because he’s lonely. Kaien repeats his desire for mutual understanding between vampires and humans, and Yagari confirms his support, steals Kaien’s food, and says goodbye to Yuki on his way out. Kaien asks her if she knows about Ichiru yet, but she’s only surprised to hear that Zero permitted his entrance in the first place.

Girls are already flocking to Ichiru in the classroom, and even the class president blushingly falls for him, but acts like he just got caught cheating on his girlfriend when Zero walks in emitting black waves of energy. Zero wants to talk privately about the curse of the twin vampire hunters so they chat outside. Ichiru doesn’t explain very much, but covers up his true reasons for entering the school with a shallow pretense.

That night while Yuki and Zero are on guard duty, they speak privately on the roof of the school. She praises him for accepting his brother into the Day Class, taking it as a sign that he wants to work things out. Zero takes it like a man while she confesses that she’s loved Kaname deeply throughout these last 10 years. As she’s about to jump off the building, Zero reaches out to stop her, and really does grab her this time before letting her go anyway.

Kaname was waiting for Yuki in front of a fountain not too far away. Yuki begs him to tell her the truth, and not to treat her like a child – Don’t dodge the question this time with a confession of love. Even though it was meant as a distraction, Kaname insists that it’s true. Wondering if it upset her, she strongly denies that she could possibly be unhappy about such a thing. But no matter how she looks at it, a plain human girl like her is not a proper match for someone of Kaname’s status.

She asserts that he must know about her memories from before 10 years ago, and this time his answer is only a soft smile. Flustered at his silence, she becomes upset and pleads for an answer. He urges that it’d be better for her to be blissfully ignorant for just a little while longer. Would she still want to know the answer even if the truth is filled with blood and tragedy? Since her answer is a confident yes, he says he’ll tell her the truth on one condition… She must officially become his ‘lover’.

Shocked at such a bold and cheesy request, Yuki thinks he’s still just distracting her and avoiding the question, but he insists that this is the only way he’ll answer. If she were to hate him after learning the truth, at least he would have her promise to stay by his side.

Meanwhile, Zero is sulking on the roof, recalling his own bloody visions that he saw while drinking Kaname’s blood. He thinks it’d be better if she doesn’t find out about her dangerous past, so he runs off to find her. As Yuki gives in to Kaname somewhat against her will, Zero walks in on their special moment. Kaname tells Zero not to look at him with those worried eyes, because from now on he will also be properly protecting Yuki, only this time as her lover.

“Preview”

Though I’ve been keeping up with this wonderful manga for almost 2 years now, I will try to keep complaints about the anime adaptation to a minimum (after this one time!). When I first found out that they were turning Vampire Knight into an anime, I was ecstatic. Then I found out who the production studio was and my enthusiasm dropped a little bit. Unfortunately, my suspicions weren’t entirely unjustified, but my love for vampires keeps me watching.

The reason I mention this at all is because I thought it was weird logic that Zero would need to drink Kaname’s blood *two* times in order to stop from falling to level E. I’m betting they weren’t positive that they’d have a second season when they wrote the first season, and they wanted to spice it up a bit back then. That should have never happened, but it didn’t seem to hurt the main story line too badly, except that the urgency to receive Kaname’s blood this time around feels a little forced. He’s nowhere near level E anymore, so this sudden concern seems out of place. But I’m happy they tried to reconcile with the original plot a bit. If anything, I hope that this could develop into a good discussion about what makes a great manga-to-anime adaptation, and what constitutes utter failure.

Some people have also mentioned that Yagari is much more prevalent in the anime than in the manga, and my theory behind this is that Japanese people love that dark cowboy bishie style. Or at least, Studio Deen thinks so. I’m not sure which.

Also, there is never a preview for the next episode, so you’re left to pine for next week’s show entitled “Lovers” without any eye-candy. Sorry about that.

Yuki’s visions are getting worse this episode, so I know things are about to get serious pretty soon. I’m not at all positive how they intend on ending this season with so little source material left, but I’m holding my breath. Zero’s concern for Yuki drove him to approach the source of her worries without even letting her know. He’s so in love with her it’s almost painful to watch him let her go to Kaname without fighting back at all. And as of this point in the series, Kaname’s true intentions are less than clear. It’s hard to tell whether or not you can even trust him. I’m looking forward to seeing how things develop.

Oh! And by the way, in case you were wondering, I have no interest whatsoever in yaoi, but for the life of me I couldn’t resist joking about it. God, they were just begging for it.

-Trillian

38 Comments

  3. vampire is almost like a melodrama with little breakouts once in a while i was suprised that zero couldn,t resist kaname’s blood in my opinion kaname could have killed him at anytime but yuki keeps gettin in his way he wants zero to protect her but kaname wants yuki for himself somehow yuki is torn apart between both of them right now zero is still a threat to the council and as we know that dude with the crimison and blue eye is planning somethin big he has already taken over his son body by comin to that school a lot of bad things are going to be happenin at that school.

    3nny FisHar
    Reply

  6. I find it stupid for zero to suck kanames blood again. If they were planning to have this scene then they why didnt they get rid of the other one?! (>_>”) (btw the other scene annoyed me so much bcoz it was just so gay). they should’ve jst ended last season using the original scene, then it wouldve been HEAPS better and certain fans (like me) wouldn’t have felt so pissed off about it. And yeah I was disappointed hearing studio Deen was gonna animate VK too. I’m also getting a bad feeling of how they’re going to end this series too…on that note, do u think they’ll continue to make a 3rd season after the manga finishes?

    lalarhs
    Reply

  7. A little criticism Trillian, and I mean it to be constructive.

    Don’t make “jokes” or any kind of word play in the episode summary, in fact don’t put your own take on it, it takes away the objectivity of the post (and for some reason it ticked me off, maybe I’m used to the previous blogger style). Leave that for the after summary thoughts, then you can and should say whatever is that you want to say.

    Aside from that, I liked the post, good job.

    Don945
    Reply

  8. @Don945
    Just be grateful that there is someone blogging.
    And stop talking about being objective… this is not some kind of formal blogging company!
    For crying out loud!
    If you continue with your attitude, why don’t you blog for us?!

    Anonymous
    Reply

  9. Good job Trillian! I wish you luck in continuing your blogging!

    PS I just noticed both of the series you blog had some yaoi in the episodes you’ve written about. X_X I have no idea what that means 😛

    Giantrouble
    Reply

  11. I agree with Don945. You can’t let your personal feelings play into the summary.
    Especially when everyone doesn’t have the same view.
    It’s best to remain neutral to be professional and avoid conflicts.

    Anyways,I’m hoping for a Kaname x Yuki ending.
    It’s truly obvious that he loves Yuki.

    Neuro
    Reply

  12. Yayy I’m so glad to see Vampire Knight being blogged on here again!! ^_^ Thank you very much for your summary & impressions~ as for this episode, boy are things going by quickly. xD I just hope we see ‘Shiki’ in episode 6.. they can’t hide him for that much longer!!

    happyhippo
    Reply

  17. While there are definitely heavy yaoi undertones to the scene with Zero and Kaname (in my summary, if not the episode itself), I tried to summarize what was happening as accurately as possible, despite the suggestive word choice. Even if I had used a straight, non-sexual tone, I think there still would have been (PLENTY of) people twisting the scene with a yaoi bias..

    I guess my writing style was partly in jest, and partly serious commentary on the unavoidable yaoi connotations. It really has nothing to do with my personal feelings one way or the other. (But thanks to Don/Neuro for your criticisms.)

    @Giantrouble: PURE COINCIDENCE!!! I’m not into yaoi, I promise. It doesn’t bother me, but I swear it’s just a coincidence ; ) I hope *that* answers your question! I better be careful if/when I choose another series to follow.

    Trillian
    Reply

  19. Thanks for blogging this one again. I hav read some of the manga but not all of it.

    Not sure what they are going to do, not much manga material left unless they go back and do previous stuff reset in this time or do original material.

    draksig
    Reply

  21. I usually don’t say this too often but shit anime is shit…I don’t even care about the manga, never read it, never will…but this shit haven’t made any sense from about episode 8 of season one til now.

    Megas
    Reply

  22. This series started out very slowly last two episodes …. currently speed= waterfall xD

    I really like this series but this is… 😛

    “all-but-useless vampire weapon (Artemis)”

    So true ….. -_- 😛

    Thanks for the blog ^_^

    teutates
    Reply

  27. Well… Trillian Congratulations! i like your style ( I enjoied reading the review A lot), you don’t have to do yours ( the reviews) necessarily as other people do.
    But the guys ( Don and Neuro) also have a point about your personal feelings etc… whatever anyhow do it as you like it, i won’t complaint.
    See ya

    lyn
    Reply

  31. It all kinda boils down to, how you see manga will determine how you feel about the anime. Since at (many tines) the original story is changed slightly or dramicly!! For either convince (cutting a 8 chapter battle ,down to 2 episodes) for the animator. Or its an attempt to apply to a wider audience. (turning a adventure manga, into a ecchi harem) What ever the case may be it will determin how view the adaptation.

    -Sorry if is a off, English was never my strongest subject.

    Anyway, about this episode, it seems that there trying to create some more drama in this series. (like is doesn’t have enough already) That is all fine and all, but theirs something really bothering me. Kaname & yuki look way too much a like, i’m starting to believe that there related some how. And no i haven’t read a single page of the manga, so i wouldn’t know. I bring this up since, it looks like its turning into more then just some child like crush, but something more and possibly dark if they have some family ties.

    Azar
    Reply

  34. I tried to do a spoiler before on this board but can’t seem to get it to work. If I could, I’d respond to Azar’s comment…

    But in truth, in most anime/manga I follow, most of the characters look alike, only their hair or cloths tell them apart. For example, I have a really hard time telling the guys apart in Special A. So just becasue Yuki and Kaname look alike, it doesn’t meen anything.

    Really!

    draksig
    Reply

  36. @Anonymous… Didn’t you learn that when you have nothing good to say it’s better to be quite? Your comments don’t contribute in any way to the discussion. Don’t pollute the board.

    In another light, yes, so far Vampire Knight has been crap, and the manga it’s not that much better. But, it may be because its intended/main audience (I think, it’s the vibe I get from the series) is the yaoi community. Maybe they appreciate a little better the way the story is been played out. The rest of us are used to other types of series, have come to prefer other kind of story play (the telling of the story that is, not the story itself).

    I almost didn’t start watching the second season, but I just had to see how the story unfolds. Couldn’t bring myself to continue reading the manga, maybe I’ll drop VKg if this continues. I’ll give it a few more episodes before making a decision though.

    Don945
    Reply

  38. Trillian, you left out a lot of stuff in this blog, like yuki’s feelings, when she hit kaname she was really upset about that. also “such a bold and cheesy request” insulting kaname and you called zero a jerk “Not being a total jerk” i think thats a little harsh what do you think kaname and zero fans will say, it’s best not to bash in blogs it only causes a fight! I don’t care much about who ends up with who, by the sounds of it your a zeki fan, you seem to be bashing kaname’s love for yuki a lot, but too go this far its not nice. if you want to make a blog of an episode but with a couple that you like then imform your viewers that the blog is more on zeki side that way you wont cause fighting!

    yukikuran25
    Reply

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