Vampire Knight: Anime Review
Vampire Knight
Another Yma Revew
Summery:
The Cross Acadamy is a school devided into two halves, the Day Class (human students) and the Night Class (Vampires.) It exists in order to encourage peace between the human and Vampire worlds, but is there more to it?
The action surrounds a girl named Yuuki. A child rescued at the age of five from a vampire, by another, more powerful, ‘Pure Blood.’ vampire. She was raised by the head teacher of Cross Acadamny and has lived there all her life. With her is another, a boy known as Zero, who’s family was also murdered by Vampires and so who hates Vampires in return, and who harbors a dark secret.
What is Zero hiding? What is this ‘Pure Blood’ vampires intensions and why is he so obessed by Yuuki? Is there more to the Night Class than there seems? Come closer, watch, and I’ll show you a pleasant dream…
Type: Gothic Drama/Romance/Boddie-ripper
Technical: The animation on Vampire Knight is of a good, if not outstanding quality. The character design and scene set is generally wonderfully realized. It’s very ‘pretty,’ which suits both ambiance and me just fine. Some of the characters looked a tiny bit ‘same-ish,’ but not too bad. In general the animation is good, and the voice acting is also pleasant, if not outstanding.
The music works well enough, but is not terribly catchy. Any background tunes were so background that I didn’t notice them much.
Plot: Like most 13 ep anime Vampire Knight has a tight and well formed plot. The pace, whilst never break-neck, is general brisk enough to keep you watching and whilst I can honestly say the show never really gripped me with it’s plot, it did keep me watching.
The story is very easy to follow, at no point was I particularly flummoxed but, by that same token, it is also somewhat predictable. That said there are still some mysteries that remained unanswered (and will have to wait for the second season I imagine.) It felt neither too short nor too long to me.
The ‘world’ however was quite well fleshed out and I must admit I rather enjoyed the concept as a whole, it’s somewhere I’d like to revisit.
Characterisation: Characterisation is simple, bold and again pleasant. Don’t expect any sort of subtly though, you just won’t get it. Almost every major character is dripping with angst and Secret Motivations which, if it’s your style, is a lot of fun. But it often felt like most of them were typical archetypes, and unchallenged archetypes. None of them really grabbed me and their motivations, in most cases, were fairly obvious. None the less characterisation was fairly consistent and fun to watch. The other comments about the plot can be better and more eloquently put in the ‘theme’ section.
Theme:
Let’s be honest. Vampire Knight is a vampire bodice ripping pretty boy anime aimed at young teenage girls.
What it doesn’t isn’t, by any means, high art. That said, what it does it does well.
I have to respect Vampire Knight for not pretending to be anything else other than what it is. And for it’s type it seems to do an OK job, though it has all the subtly of a brick to the face. But that’s *all* it does. A lot of the plot twists, a lot of the characterisation and a lot of the theme is dreadfully, dreadfully clichéd. But then, clichés happen because they are well liked, and I have to admit that for all it’s faults, I did watch Vampire Knight right up to the end. There is something quite enjoyable, if sinful about it.
Also it’s use of the ‘Blood-Drinking as sex’ metaphor is not even slightly subtle. Though towards the end, events do make it quite hilarious in it’s own way. In general I think it sets out what it wants to do fairly well.
The Good: Excellent design, OK plot, does what it does well.
The Bad: Very predictable, very clichéd.
Rating: ***
Summery: I could see from the anime site I watched this on that it was very well liked, and I can understand why. It doesn’t do anything very sophisticated, but it does do it well. For a first anime, for someone who doesn’t mind a good bodice-ripper, it’s good. If I had a teenage daughter, this would be one of the first animes I might show her. It’s simple, easy to understand, gripping and without too much of the ‘weirdness’ factor of some animes. But it is very cut and paste, and by keeping it simple and ‘popular’ it sacrifices a lot.
Agree? Dissagree? Put your thoughts here!
Another Yma Revew
Summery:
The Cross Acadamy is a school devided into two halves, the Day Class (human students) and the Night Class (Vampires.) It exists in order to encourage peace between the human and Vampire worlds, but is there more to it?
The action surrounds a girl named Yuuki. A child rescued at the age of five from a vampire, by another, more powerful, ‘Pure Blood.’ vampire. She was raised by the head teacher of Cross Acadamny and has lived there all her life. With her is another, a boy known as Zero, who’s family was also murdered by Vampires and so who hates Vampires in return, and who harbors a dark secret.
What is Zero hiding? What is this ‘Pure Blood’ vampires intensions and why is he so obessed by Yuuki? Is there more to the Night Class than there seems? Come closer, watch, and I’ll show you a pleasant dream…
Type: Gothic Drama/Romance/Boddie-ripper
Technical: The animation on Vampire Knight is of a good, if not outstanding quality. The character design and scene set is generally wonderfully realized. It’s very ‘pretty,’ which suits both ambiance and me just fine. Some of the characters looked a tiny bit ‘same-ish,’ but not too bad. In general the animation is good, and the voice acting is also pleasant, if not outstanding.
The music works well enough, but is not terribly catchy. Any background tunes were so background that I didn’t notice them much.
Plot: Like most 13 ep anime Vampire Knight has a tight and well formed plot. The pace, whilst never break-neck, is general brisk enough to keep you watching and whilst I can honestly say the show never really gripped me with it’s plot, it did keep me watching.
The story is very easy to follow, at no point was I particularly flummoxed but, by that same token, it is also somewhat predictable. That said there are still some mysteries that remained unanswered (and will have to wait for the second season I imagine.) It felt neither too short nor too long to me.
The ‘world’ however was quite well fleshed out and I must admit I rather enjoyed the concept as a whole, it’s somewhere I’d like to revisit.
Characterisation: Characterisation is simple, bold and again pleasant. Don’t expect any sort of subtly though, you just won’t get it. Almost every major character is dripping with angst and Secret Motivations which, if it’s your style, is a lot of fun. But it often felt like most of them were typical archetypes, and unchallenged archetypes. None of them really grabbed me and their motivations, in most cases, were fairly obvious. None the less characterisation was fairly consistent and fun to watch. The other comments about the plot can be better and more eloquently put in the ‘theme’ section.
Theme:
Let’s be honest. Vampire Knight is a vampire bodice ripping pretty boy anime aimed at young teenage girls.
What it doesn’t isn’t, by any means, high art. That said, what it does it does well.
I have to respect Vampire Knight for not pretending to be anything else other than what it is. And for it’s type it seems to do an OK job, though it has all the subtly of a brick to the face. But that’s *all* it does. A lot of the plot twists, a lot of the characterisation and a lot of the theme is dreadfully, dreadfully clichéd. But then, clichés happen because they are well liked, and I have to admit that for all it’s faults, I did watch Vampire Knight right up to the end. There is something quite enjoyable, if sinful about it.
Also it’s use of the ‘Blood-Drinking as sex’ metaphor is not even slightly subtle. Though towards the end, events do make it quite hilarious in it’s own way. In general I think it sets out what it wants to do fairly well.
The Good: Excellent design, OK plot, does what it does well.
The Bad: Very predictable, very clichéd.
Rating: ***
Summery: I could see from the anime site I watched this on that it was very well liked, and I can understand why. It doesn’t do anything very sophisticated, but it does do it well. For a first anime, for someone who doesn’t mind a good bodice-ripper, it’s good. If I had a teenage daughter, this would be one of the first animes I might show her. It’s simple, easy to understand, gripping and without too much of the ‘weirdness’ factor of some animes. But it is very cut and paste, and by keeping it simple and ‘popular’ it sacrifices a lot.
Agree? Dissagree? Put your thoughts here!