Vampire Knight

May 31, 2013

hippokrys

Mixed Feelings

VK is not a manga to be taken seriously. After 93 chapters of devotion: hoping that characters would evolve, that you would get some satisfaction or at least closure, you get absolutely nothing - only the bitter taste of disappointment.

Story 6/10:

There’s a great sense of mystery in the beginning, and the relationship between Yuki, Kaname and Zero is so deliciously mysterious and drama-filled that it’s easy to get hooked. You have the basic ingredients for a love triangle and lots of angst. You have the taboo vampire/human relationship and the beauty of longing for something out of reach. There was a sort of self-deprecating ... love/frustration going on with the characters that made you bounce back-and-forth between your feelings for them. So there's initially a lot going on for the story. With that being said, the beginning relied a lot on unknown factors of each character – so their past and motivations – but once that gets cleared (to a certain point) the intrigue drops significantly.

The premise is a no brainer and isn’t too convoluted: vampire school and the stigma between vampire/human relationships; perhaps that’s why it worked. As the story progressed it feels as though the author tried to take her story a little too seriously and added way too many subplots. It became too messy and a lot of characters were lost along the way (no closure) because Hino tried to have too many things happen at once.

After the first arc ends (so approximately after the first 10-12 volumes) that’s when things go completely downhill. The plot begins to become inconsistent with too many plot holes, things are introduced and never fully explained. There are too many scenes that seem to have deeper meaning but they really don’t – they’re for pure ascetic reasons or simply ‘filler’. The last arc until the very end is a complete waste of time. It just became boring and the sense of the mysterious forbidden was practically non-existence, becoming simply ‘a race against time story’. There was too much re-hashing and it became all too glaringly obvious (or confusing since Hino DOESN’T explain). A lot of things took place that seemed to have no impact or significance to the story as a whole.

For anyone who was a fan of the manga, many feel disappointed and angry (such as me) because we invested in the story only to be left with utter BS. So many questions are not solved and there are a lot of things you are left to presume.

It had potential and it started off well enough; however, it feels as though Hino gave up after the first arc ended and didn’t know what to do with the second part. It’s a bit of a mess, but the beginning is worth a look.

Characters 5/10:

This is where disappointment hits you the hardest. I can initially accept characters’ faults in the beginning, so Yuki is a naïve and helpless girl that seems to be a little too clueless. She has a contradicting mix of selflessness and selfishness that sometimes leaves you mind boggled at her daftness. Initially it works for the story; however, when the story progress and the plot ‘thickens’ there has to be some character development, so some maturity on Yuki’s part. Well there’s little to none that happens. Instead I would say Yuki becomes even more transparent, selfish and desperate, to the point that you forget that she’s even the main protagonist and not a crutch for the main male leads to fight over or protect.

The focus turns to the only decent character in the story, Kaname, and you wonder if VK is truly about Yuki. Kaname is a redeeming quality of the manga; he’s vastly superior because he’s such a complex and contradicting character. His manipulation, intelligence, obsession, selflessness and mystery, is what drives the story. He’s really the only character that is never fully predictable and every decision he makes impacts the story and all the other characters. The other male characters are not as engaging or interesting as Kaname. Zero constantly remains the broody, revenge-driven emo that remains very much pathetic until the very end. Everyone else remain the same predictable stock characters, they’re there for exposition sake.

Art 10/10: It is a truly beautiful manga, perhaps it’s one of the reason why I stuck around reading the story until the end (without counting Kaname). All the characters are beautifully drawn and there's a lot attention to detail. The scenery and the character design is a real treat.

Enjoyment 5/10: Beginning is all good but the second part is pure rubbish. It will leave you ripping your hair in frustration and end with great regret or disappointment.

Overall 6/10: The first arc is worth the read but the enjoyment drops significantly that once it ended, it left me feeling sad and frustrated. There’s little closure, the character development is poor and it leaves you hating the manga more then you should.