First Impressions / Vampire Knight

Summary:

Yuuki remains worried about Zero, but he appears back to normal and asks her to stop wearing the bandage around her neck. He knows that she doesn’t want Kaname to see it, and he thinks that she wants her blood sucked by Kaname instead of him. Him talking about the taste of her blood makes her uncomfortable and causes her to run off, but Yuuki knows that she harbors a lot of conflicting feelings about Kaname. She remembers back to her past when Kaname had brought her to the chairman, and at the time, she had become afraid because of the sight of his fangs. Kaname had seen the look in her eyes and had decided that it’d be better if he didn’t stick around, so he went back home. However, when Yuuki didn’t warm up to the chairman and had stared out the window instead, the chairman tricked Kaname into visiting again under the pretense that Yuuki was in trouble. Kaname had been initially angry because he was lied to, but he had started laughing when the chairman discovered that Yuuki had figured out how to dress herself. This surprised the young Yuuki, and she didn’t want Kaname to leave.

The following year, Yuuki had waited outside in the snow for Kaname to come on the anniversary of him saving her. She knew that he was a vampire, but she felt that he was different from the scary ones, and she embraced him each time she saw him. Things changed when the chairman brought Zero home on day. Yuuki had found him clawing at his own neck because he could till feel the touch of the woman who killed his family, and she had reassured him that things would be okay since she’d be there with him. However, when Zero met Kaname for the first time, he stabbed the the pureblood vampire in the arm with a knife. Kaname had pulled it right back out and had stated that he didn’t intend to be killed by Zero, and this led to Zero sulking in his own room. When Yuuki came to apologize for not telling him about it earlier, he slapped her hand away because it’s the same one that touched Kaname. Sometime later, the chairman decided to form the Night Class as a class that wasn’t separated into grades so that the vampires could do high level studying. Zero had questioned what the chairman intended to do by letting vampires into the school, and Kaname had suddenly appeared to explain that it was for the peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires. Zero felt that this was impossible, but the chairman was confident that the other vampires would behave with Kaname around. At the time, Zero had realized that if Kaname betrayed them, then it’d all be over.

Once the vampires had arrived at the school, Yuuki visited their temporary dormitory so that she could see Kaname. He hadn’t been there, so she waited for him on the stairwell and fell asleep. When Kaname found her, he was tempted to bite her neck, but he refrained and put her to bed instead. Yuuki woke up a short while later and had heard Kaname in the adjacent room with Ruka, so she peeked through the door and saw him sucking on Ruka’s neck. The sight of this shocked Yuuki and made her realize that Kaname was different from her. Back in the present, Zero finds Yuuki asleep, and as he covers her with a blanket, he gets a craving for blood. It goes away when Kaname suddenly appears and invites him outside so that the two can talk. Kaname is aware of the precarious peace at the school and had felt that Zero could protect Yuuki because he wouldn’t betray her. This is the reason why he lets Zero live.

 
 
 

You’d think that Zero would be royally pissed off after being told that he’s being allowed to live since those are pretty close to fighting words, but it felt more like he just accepted it. It’s perhaps understandable given what he’s been through and his current mindset, but it’s probably not the most interesting path the writers (or rather, the author of the original manga) could have took at that point. It makes me wonder if there’ll ever be a true fight between him and Kaname or if the two will just continue to have these minor confrontations. Speaking of Zero, Miyano Mamoru needs to work on his boy voice a bit. Normally he’s pretty good with this stuff, but for whatever reason his young Zero voice this week just didn’t sound like it would naturally progress to older Zero.

Anyway, for an episode that was almost all flashbacks to the past and even some recap to previous episodes, this was pretty good. I thought they did a wonderful job weaving together the past with all three character’s viewpoints. It finally makes sense now how Yuuki got to the current point of liking Kaname yet not completely returning his feelings. If only she hadn’t seen Kaname and Ruka together, then maybe she wouldn’t be stuck choosing between him and Zero now. This still doesn’t answer the question of why Yuuki is so special though – if anything it made me more curious.

25 Comments

  3. I really liked this one b/c of the history flashbacks all placed together

    i found it kind-of annoying during the actual episodes (though that problem wasnt in the manga)

    but as usual, the animation team did a great job and the quality was nice (i saw the episode yesterday in raw)

    *looking forward to the rest*

    keep it up and thank you!!!

    Anna-chan
    Reply

  4. @Natsume Satoru

    its better if you dont refer to the manga cuz it may temp ppl or may reveal things that people want to know about that they want to wait for in the anime
    like anime watchers

    =] no hard feelings and yup your right about that but lets not spoil it for now xD

    Anna-chan
    Reply

  5. A good watch, not only getting the past out of the way but also setting up the next few episodes. Wonder if there will ever be a bishie fight between zero and kaname

    And is it only me or even after 7 episodes does anyone else every time someone says ‘zero’ you half expect a building to blow up and some people to kill themselves after being geassed?

    APsycho
    Reply

  15. 5 more episodes and they still haven’t shown Shizuka… Is this really going to be 13 eps only?! If it is, I believe the anime ending will be open (in other words, it would suck <.<) or it will end in the Shizuka arc… T___T I want MORE!

    miara
    Reply

  16. Man, this is really whipping through the manga, even with the filler stuff. Although I think they’ve skipped over the Maria Kurenai stuff so far? Its been a while since I’ve read the manga, I must admit.

    Anyway, @ miara, it’s planned to be 26 episodes, not 13.

    A Day Without Me
    Reply

  17. @A Day Without Me
    Nah, its getting there.
    we’re halfway through Book 4 already..
    Maria Kurenai comes in the last half of it
    I’m saying we’re making decent progress

    rawfish
    Reply

  21. What?! I’m not happy with this episode at all! X_X

    They messed up so many things and left out so many important lines!

    The two lines I think that were important, for sure, that they didn’t say was

    Yuki: Zero, there is no way, that I want my blood to be drunk by Kaname-Sempai, No way. Absolutely not. You are wrong Zero.

    Kaname: It will heal soon. I’m a vampire remember? And… it’s not me who is feeling ‘pain’. (to which he is talking about Zero)

    Ongaku
    Reply

  24. Like someone said previously, Kaname isn’t ‘really’ Yuki’s sibling. But…it’s different for vampires. Keep in mind they are like royalty, and in the past it’s been acceptable for people of royal blood to inbreed. And since

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    Show Spoiler ▼

    Claudette
    Reply

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