yet another one of my fav mangas have become an anime!
Vampire Knight
ヴァンパイア騎士
Yuki’s earliest memory is of a snowy night in winter, when she was attacked by a vampire and was saved by another, Kaname Clan. Ten years later, Yuki Cross, the adopted daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, has grown up and become a prefect for the school with two purposes: to protect the Day class students (humans) from the Night class students (vampires) and to protect the true identity of the Night class students from being discovered by the Day class students. Her fellow guardian, Zero Kiryu, a childhood companion whose parents were killed by a pureblood vampire, is now determined to kill them all and refuses to trust them. Through a cruel twist of fate, Zero becomes a vampire himself, having been bitten by a pureblood vampire four years before, Shizuka Hiou. Kaname, Yuki’s savior, leads the group of Night class, with the help of Takuma Ichijou (the vice president).
Vampire Knight (ヴァンパイア騎士) is a shōjo manga and anime series written by Matsuri Hino. The series premiered in the January 2005 issue LaLa magazine and is still on-going. Chapters are collected and published in collected volumes by Hakusensha, with seven volumes currently released in Japan. The manga series is licensed in English by Viz Media. 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 thirteen episode anime adaptation. Produced by Studio DEEN, the anime series’ first season aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 7, 2008 and June 30, 2008. The second season will start airing on the same TV station in October 2008. The anime uses many of the same voice actors as were used for the drama CDs.
Vampires
In Vampire Knight, vampires can have children among themselves and with humans, and they age, albeit at a much slower rate than humans. Vampires are nocturnal and they dislike sunlight, but exposure to it does not harm them. They are likewise immune to most of the traditional vampire weaknesses such as crosses, garlic, and holy water. They can also regenerate quickly and easily when wounded, therefore making them very hard to kill unless a weapon made especially for vampire hunting is used. An example of a vampire weapon is a gun called “Bloody Rose”. In episode 6, an example of a bullet that contains anti-vampire magic can also be used to kill a vampire.
Vampires organize their society based on the purity of their blood. Level A are the Purebloods - a very small but very powerful minority. Only a bite from a pureblood can change a human into a vampire. Pureblood siblings sometimes marry each other to keep the bloodline pure, which is not a rare practice. Level B refers to Noble vampires with advanced powers. Ordinary vampires make up Level C, by far the largest group. Level D consists of vampires who were once human; they are a small group, as turning humans into vampires is forbidden and only a handful of pureblood vampires would dare to. The final designation, Level E, is separated from the others because it is reserved for former human vampires who have become violently insane. Falling to Level E is considered the inevitable fate of all former human vampires, who can never completely accept their vampiric instincts and their need for blood. A Level D vampire can prevent itself from ever becoming a Level E if they drink the blood of the Pureblood who made them. Level D or E vampires are left in the care of Level B vampires and purebloods, so they can keep them in check.
Vampires have warred with human vampire hunters for centuries, though the existence of vampires, and the war itself, is kept secret from most humans.
Main characters
Yuki Cross (黒主優姫); later revealed to be Yuki Clan (玖蘭優姫)
Yuki Cross has been the adopted daughter of Headmaster Cross, a former vampire hunter, and she is a member of the Disciplinary Committee, also known as a Prefect (Guardian) ever since Rido Clan, Yuki’s uncle, killed her parents, Juri and Haruka Clan. Yuki however has no memory of this or any part of her life before she was “5″ which is when Kaname saved her from a Level E because Juri Clan used vampire magic to put Yuki’s vampire side (and all her memories along with it) asleep. She, like Chairman Cross, believes that vampires and humans can live together peacefully. She also has been giving her childhood friend Zero her blood to save him from becoming a Level E vampire. She and Kaname were raised as siblings by Yuki’s parents, Juri and Haruka Clan, who were also heads of the Clan line of pureblood vampires, and with Yuki’s parents and her real brother gone, she is the apparent heir of the Clan vampire throne. She is also Kaname’s fiance, whom she remembers as her brother, and Kaname has yet to tell her the truth about his real history. We are told that Juri and Haruka Clan were also siblings. When Rido Clan, Yuki’s uncle, resurfaces at Cross Academy, Kaname awakens her vampiric side and pureblood powers.
Kaname Clan (玖蘭 枢)
Kaname is a pureblood vampire (Level A) that saved Yuki from a Level E vampire ten years prior to the events of Vampire Knight and brought her to the headmaster. Also, he is the president of the Night Class and Moon Dormitory, both respected and feared by the members of the Night Class. He has a deep love for Yuki and it hurts him to see that she has been giving blood to Zero. He has loved Yuki ever since they were children and he was raised as her sibling. They are also engaged which is a common practice of pureblood siblings to marry as it is essential to keep the bloodline pure and their parents were also siblings. Also, a fact yet to be revealed to Yuki, Kaname is not her “true brother”. Rido Clan killed Yuki’s real brother and placed the soul Kaname, who is actually an ancient ancestor of the Clan’s, in his body (which their parents mentioned in a flash back later in the manga) making Rido his master and making him unable to kill him.
Zero Kiryu (錐生 零)
Zero’s family was killed by the pureblood vampire Shizuka Hiou. He was taken in by the headmaster of Cross Academy, and became a Prefect, (Guardian) alongside Yuki Cross. He has a great hatred for vampires though he is revealed to be himself a Level D due to Shizuka’s attack four years ago. He also has a younger twin brother named Ichiru who was living by Shizuka’s side. Even though Kaname killed Shizuka, Ichiru thought it was Zero and blamed him. Zero assumed that Ichiru wanted revenge but instead he wanted death so he let Zero “eat him” making Zero complete putting him at a tier of power above vampires and hunters and possibly saving him from becoming a Level E indefinitely. Zero later seems to develop feelings for Yukki, always protecting her, and almost kissing her twice.
