Vampire Knight

Anime Review

Vampire KnightGenre Romance, Supernatural

Plot

Yuki Cross's earliest memory is of a snowy night in winter, when she was attacked by one vampire and was saved by another, Kaname Kuran. Yuki is the adopted daughter of the Headmaster of Cross Academy, Kaien Cross, who is an ex-vampire hunter that now wishes for vampires and humans to live alongside peacefully. She has grown up and become a prefect for the school with one main purpose: for vampires to coexist peacefully with humans. Her fellow guardian, Zero Kiryu, a childhood companion whose parents were killed by a pure-blood vampire, is now determined to kill them all and refuses to trust them. Zero himself is now manifesting vampire traits, having been turned into vampire after he was bitten by a pure-blood vampire, Shizuka Hio, four years before.

Yuki tries to help him fight his bloodlust while also seeking to recover the memories she lost. As the series progresses, Zero's thirst for blood leads to his drinking from Yuki, by her consent, to avoid becoming a level E vampire. To stop this, Kaname gives Zero his own blood, making him a normal vampire which will prevent Zero from going insane and from needing to feed from Yuki. Eventually, it is revealed that Yuki is a pureblood vampire herself, the sister and fiancee of Kaname. To save Yuki from being killed by Rido Kuran, Kaname's uncle, her mother had sealed her memories shortly before her own death. After Yuki reawakens to her vampire nature, Rido again tries to kill her. As Kaname kills the vampire senate, Yuki fights Rido. During a fierce battle, Zero aids her in killing him, but later on tells her he will have to kill her one day.

Main Characters

• Yuki Cross (黒主 優姫, Kurosu Yūki^?) is the adoptive daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, and a Guardian, one of the members of the school's disciplinary committee. Ten years prior to the start of the series, Yuki was rescued from a vampire attack by another vampire, Kaname. She lost all memory of her life from before the attack, and was adopted by Headmaster Cross. After Zero's vampire nature is revealed, she begins giving him her blood to drink. However, Yuki loves Kaname, who has always been protecting her and has been by her side during her childhood as a vampire. When Rido Kuran, their uncle, resurfaces at Cross Academy, Yuki's memories are unlocked, revealing that she is actually a pureblood vampire, both Kaname's "sister" and his fiancee.

• Zero Kiryu (錐生 零, Kiryū Zero^?), who is a year older than Yuki Cross, comes from a vampire hunter family. His parents were killed by the pureblood vampire Shizuka Hio after they were ordered to assassinate her lover, a former human that had not yet fallen to level E. Zero was taken in by the headmaster of Cross Academy and became a Prefect (Guardian), alongside Yuki Cross. He has a great hatred for vampires because of what happened to his parents, but it is later revealed that he himself is a vampire as a result of Shizuka's attack. It is also later revealed that his twin brother, Ichiru, also survived the attack and lived at Shizuka's side. After he consumes Shizuka, Kaname lets Zero drink some of his blood to keep Zero from losing control of himself in order to protect Yuki.

Kaname Kuran (玖蘭 枢, Kuran Kaname^?), a pureblood vampire, saved Yuki from an attack by another vampire when she was little. He is the class president of the Night Class, much feared and respected by the other Night Class students. While he is cold and authoritative towards his fellows in the Night Class, he is always kind and sweet to Yuki. He has shown that he cares deeply for Yuki, and loves her in a romantic sense. He allows Zero to live because he knows his death would sadden Yuki, and because Zero is useful. He is both jealous and angry of Zero for biting Yuki and endangering her life. Kaname has been raised as Yuki's older brother. At a young age they had pledged to marry each other when they grow up, just like Haruka and Juuri, who were siblings yet married to each other. It is common for pureblood siblings to marry as it is essential to keep the bloodline pure. Also, a fact yet to be revealed to Yuki is that Kaname is not her "true brother". He is actually the ancient ancestor of the Kurans, and Rido is his master who awakened him from his grave, and put the ancestor's spirit in the 'real' Kaname's body, making him unable to kill his 'master'.

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