written by Matsuri Hino

Cross Academy holds a dark secret. While the day class consists of normal students, they have no idea that the night class is made up of vampires! Both groups are pushing the boundaries of interaction, and it’s only a matter of time before someone crosses a line.

Yuki Cross is the adopted daughter of the quirky headmaster at Cross Academy. As a prefect, it’s her job to keep the students safe . . . from each other. Ten years ago, Yuki’s family was attacked by a vampire, but she was rescued by a charismatic and kind pureblood named Kaname Kuran. It is her earliest memory. After that, Chairman Cross took her in and raised her as his own. Together with Kaname, Cross strives to teach peace between human and vampires through education at his school.

A few years after Yuki’s adoption, Cross took in another child, named Zero Kiryu. He was only a year older than Yuki, and the only surviving son from a family of vampire hunters. For their first few years together, both Zero and Yuki cooperated to keep the peace at Cross Academy, being the only other human students to know the secrets of the night class.

But now Zero is starting to change. The vampire who slaughtered his family left him with a cruel and horrifying destiny to face: to become a vampire himself. However, when humans are turned into vampires instead of being born as one, they often fall into madness and must be destroyed. Yuki will do anything to slow the process and give Zero a chance to regain his humanity, but the path is dangerous and full of treachery.

The love triangle that forms between Yuki, Zero, and Kaname adds another layer to the story that most female readers will appreciate. Both Zero and Kaname have flaws and secrets that make them dangerous, but Yuki is a light that keeps their darker sides in check. There is a large cast of characters in Vampire Knight, and it would be nice to see Hino take us a little deeper into their personalities rather than simply let them serve as background. The secondary characters who do some things but never really get the spotlight deserve a little more.

The plot grows and thickens naturally, with a few twists and surprises thrown in, but it doesn’t get too drawn out. The anime version of Vampire Knight really stretches everything and loses the compelling grip that the manga holds so well. The manga is concise and supplies information only as it becomes needed, leaving an air of mystique that serves the series well.

Even the artwork casts a haze over certain moments and acutely directs the eye to witness an event at a very specific angle to add cinematic drama. Hino’s art style also lends so much beauty to this manga. Although the story would likely succeed without it, the shoujo style pushes the manga above and beyond most other gothic romance titles. Images flow well and there’s something very sexy when it comes to the visual dynamic between Yuki and Zero. Just seeing their hands at certain times speaks volumes more than their faces would. On the other hand, Hino often falls victim to the “two faces” flaw, which can make it difficult to differentiate between characters because they’re so similarly drawn.

-- Courtney Kraft

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