~vAmPiRe kNiGhT~
Vampire Knight (ヴァンパイア騎士 Banpaia Naito) is a shōjo manga and anime series written by Matsuri Hino. The series premiered in the January 2005 issue of LaLa magazine and is still on-going. Chapters are collected and published in collected volumes by Hakusensha, with eleven volumes currently released in Japan. The manga series is licensed in English by Viz Media, who has released ten volumes so far. 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 twenty-six episode anime adaptation. Produced by Studio Deen, the anime series' first season aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 8, 2008 and July 1, 2008. The second season, titled Vampire Knight Guilty aired on the same station from October 7, 2008 and December 30, 2008. The anime uses many of the same voice actors as were used for the drama CDs. The anime adaptations have been licensed for release in North America by Viz Media.
Plot
Yuuki Cross' earliest memory is of a snowy night in winter, when she was attacked by an evil Level E vampire and was saved by a kind vampire, Kaname Kuran. Yuuki 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 which has one main purpose: for vampires to coexist peacefully with humans. Her fellow guardian and childhood companion, Zero Kiryu, 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 a vampire after he was bitten by the Pureblood vampire who attacked his family, Shizuka Hio, four years earlier.
Yuuki 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 Yuuki, by her consent, to avoid becoming a level E vampire and losing himself to his monstrous instincts. To stop this, Kaname gives Zero his own "pure" blood, even though the only way for an ex-human to become a truly "stabilized" vampire is to drink the blood of the one who bit them in the first place. However, since Kaname is a Pureblood, his own blood helps keep Zero from going insane and from needing to feed from Yuuki.
Eventually, it is revealed that Yuuki is a Pureblood vampire herself, the Pureblood Princess of the Kurans and the fiancee of Kaname. It is also revealed that Kaname is Yuuki's elder brother and they spent their childhood together. Although, despite this being what Yuuki grew up believing, Kaname is not Yuuki's blood brother, but the ancient ancestor of the Kuran family resurrected by Rido Kuran. To save Yuki from being killed by Rido Kuran, their uncle, her mother had sealed her memories shortly before her own death and put Yuuki under a spell so she could live as a human and avoid being found. After Yuuki reawakens to her vampire nature, Rido again tries to kill her. As Kaname kills the corrupt vampire senate, Yuuki fights Rido. During a fierce battle, Zero aids her in killing him, but later on tells her he will have to kill her when he sees her once again. She tells him that she will keep running, so that he will have a reason to live. Although this is where the anime ends, the manga continues the story and is updated monthly in LaLa Magazine.
Characters
- Yuuki Cross (黒主 優姫 Kurosu Yūki/ Kuran Yūki 玖蘭 優姫) 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, Yuuki was rescued from a vampire attack by another vampire a pureblood, Kaname Kuran. 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, hoping to halt the degrigation of his human nature. However, Yuuki loves Kaname, who has always been protecting her and has been by her side during her childhood as a vampire. When Rido Kuran and his Clan of followers resurfaces at Cross Academy, Yuuki's memories are unlocked, revealing that she is actually a pureblood vampire, both Kaname's sister and his fiancee.[1]
- Zero Kiryu (錐生 零 Kiryū Zero), who is a year older than Yuuki Cross,[2] comes from a vampire hunter family. His parents and brother 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 Yuuki Cross, the headmaster's adopted daughter.[3] He has a never ending 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.[4] It is also later revealed that his twin brother, Ichiru, also survived the attack and willingly 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 Yuuki.[5]
- Kaname Kuran (玖蘭 枢 Kuran Kaname), A Pureblood Vampire and the current Head of the Kuran Clan, saved Yuuki from an attack by another vampire when she was five years old. He is the class president of the Night Class as well as the dorm leader, 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 Yuuki. He has shown that he cares deeply for Yuuki and loves her in a romantic sense. He allows Zero to live because he knows his death would sadden Yuuki as well as because Zero is useful, both to Yuuki and himself. He is both jealous and angry of Zero for biting Yuuki and endangering her life. Kaname has been raised as Yuuki'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.Kaname reveals to Ichijo that he is not Yuki's brother and is really the ancestor of Kuran and was resurrected by Rido Kuran to be his strongest slave, therefore making Rido his "master". Juri and Haruka Kuran raised Kaname as Yuki's brother, in place of the son that Rido took and used as a sacrifice to revive Kaname. Kaname and Yuki planned to marry as children, following the example of Juri and Haruka who were also siblings and married.
- Shizuka Hio, The Pureblood Vampire Kuruizaki-hime, the one who killed Zero's parents for revenge after they where ordered to kill her lover, a level D vampire turned by her. After this act she left, taking with her Ichiro, Zero's twin brother, leaving Zero to believe his entire family massacred.
- Rido Kuran, A Pureblood Vampire, the elder brother of Juuri and Haruka Kuran, who had ordered Zero's parents to kill his fiancee's, Shizuka Hio, lover, a level D vampire. He also resurrected the Ancient Ancestor of the Kuran Clan into the infant Kaname Kuran. He had fallen in love with his younger sister Juri, Yuuki and Kaname's mother, and fell to madness when Juuri picked Haruka over himself, then years later tried to drink the blood of Yuuki who he believed to be Juuri resurrected. He later died by the hand of Zero and Kaname.
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