Pushing Vampire Knight...
I know I've pimped it before but...
Do you like Vampire stories? Of the angsty, romantic kind? That are actually good and not Twilight-ridiculous? Then you simply must check out Vampire Knight, an anime based on a hit manga which is set in an alternate universe where vampires exist and fight against humans who are largely unaware of their existence. The story revolves around three characters: Yuki (the heroine protagonist), Zero and Kaname (two male characters). It's what Twilight wishes it was but is not.
Yuki is a high school student at an elite academy and the adopted daughter of the schoolmaster. She has no memories of the time before she was found wandering in the snow as a child and saved from a vampire attack by one Kaname Kuran, a pureblood vampire himself, who now attends the academy as part of a radical initiative between some vampires and humans to coexist. Yuki's best friend is Zero Kiryu, who comes from a famous family of vampire hunters and who lost his entire family to a vampire attack. Zero and Yuki are the only two students at the school who know about vampire existence and thus are charged with protecting the human student body. Yuki is happy to do so, as not only she is a good-hearted optimist by nature, but ever since she was saved, she has had an (understandable) crush on Kaname. Zero, also understandably, hates vampires more than anything. Only...he is slowly turning into a vampire himself as a result of that childhood attack, no matter how he fights it.
VK has everything I love: cheese, gorgeous artwork, super-melodrama, hot men who are suicidal and self-loathing, angsty angsty love (Zero/Yuki is one of my all time favorite ships), assassinations, politics, rigid hierarchical society, a love triangle, family relationships that make Dysfunction Central seem healthy...
Also, I am amused how it sucks to be a shoujo heroine: normally I'd say Yuki is quite lucky, having two gorgeous, capable guys madly in love with her. Except leaving aside the fact that they both need decades of therapy, one is slowly turning into a vampire who will have to be executed before he goes mad (the only way Yuki could keep him from killing himself is to promise him she will kill him before he goes mad) and the other one is not only too manipulative for Yuki (the playing field is not level) but is also happens to be the spirit of her ancestor trapped in her brother's body by an evil sorceror type. Yikes!
Also, I've never seen a show so explicit in its metaphor that biting = sex. A bunch of biting scenes from first season:
Here is a cool Zero/Yuki vid:
Zero dirnking Yuki's blood. Sound is odd and off but whatever. Look at the emo!
More emo:
More cool MVs:
Do you like Vampire stories? Of the angsty, romantic kind? That are actually good and not Twilight-ridiculous? Then you simply must check out Vampire Knight, an anime based on a hit manga which is set in an alternate universe where vampires exist and fight against humans who are largely unaware of their existence. The story revolves around three characters: Yuki (the heroine protagonist), Zero and Kaname (two male characters). It's what Twilight wishes it was but is not.
Yuki is a high school student at an elite academy and the adopted daughter of the schoolmaster. She has no memories of the time before she was found wandering in the snow as a child and saved from a vampire attack by one Kaname Kuran, a pureblood vampire himself, who now attends the academy as part of a radical initiative between some vampires and humans to coexist. Yuki's best friend is Zero Kiryu, who comes from a famous family of vampire hunters and who lost his entire family to a vampire attack. Zero and Yuki are the only two students at the school who know about vampire existence and thus are charged with protecting the human student body. Yuki is happy to do so, as not only she is a good-hearted optimist by nature, but ever since she was saved, she has had an (understandable) crush on Kaname. Zero, also understandably, hates vampires more than anything. Only...he is slowly turning into a vampire himself as a result of that childhood attack, no matter how he fights it.
VK has everything I love: cheese, gorgeous artwork, super-melodrama, hot men who are suicidal and self-loathing, angsty angsty love (Zero/Yuki is one of my all time favorite ships), assassinations, politics, rigid hierarchical society, a love triangle, family relationships that make Dysfunction Central seem healthy...
Also, I am amused how it sucks to be a shoujo heroine: normally I'd say Yuki is quite lucky, having two gorgeous, capable guys madly in love with her. Except leaving aside the fact that they both need decades of therapy, one is slowly turning into a vampire who will have to be executed before he goes mad (the only way Yuki could keep him from killing himself is to promise him she will kill him before he goes mad) and the other one is not only too manipulative for Yuki (the playing field is not level) but is also happens to be the spirit of her ancestor trapped in her brother's body by an evil sorceror type. Yikes!
Also, I've never seen a show so explicit in its metaphor that biting = sex. A bunch of biting scenes from first season:
Click to viewHere is a cool Zero/Yuki vid:
Zero dirnking Yuki's blood. Sound is odd and off but whatever. Look at the emo!
More emo:
More cool MVs: