Vampire Knight Guilty

First and foremost, I write from the perspective of a dissatisfied audience of Vampire Knight Guilty. It was due to my positive opinion of Vampire Knight that led to me to Vampire Knight Guilty and hence my judgement cannot make dichotomies of the two (so I hope you don't mind me making reference to Vampire Knight).

As you'll probably know, VKG continues right where VK left off, retaining much of VK's good qualities at first. The characters from VK/VKG are very well-built and generally three-dimensional enough for me as an audience to relate to and hence enjoy, with the exception of Kaname-kun, who was so perfect ... in his prestige, power and popularity that there was no room for him to be anything but an admirable and incomprehensible figure.

The artwork itself was generally quite well-done, although I felt the quality didn't follow through towards the end of VKG. In terms of sound, nothing stood out as being special but nevertheless, it complimented the plot and character developments.

The one thing that I really want to talk about is the storyline. The reason why VK was excellent in my opinion was its plot. The flow of the story introduces audience to a very different and intriguing world of vampires, and as you journey through the plot progression, mysteries of the world and its creatures unravels itself through introduction of new characters, philosophies and events, that spices up and quenches curiosity of the world whilst requiting the audience a greater interest in knowledge of vampires and their existence.

And so VKG begins with this highly anticipated and built-up plot where most branches of side and main plots from VK was left wide open. However, as the story progresses in VKG, the pace of the story really dies down. Excluding a few snippets of fair back stories to some of the supporting characters, the main plot really felt mundane and hard to trudge through.

Due to an overly pretentious overemphasis on subtle foreshadowing, the climax of VKG comes about in a very poor, but surprising way, which in its own was interesting. VKG was on a road to revival, bringing back the essences that made its preceder a success. Inevitably, due to lack of pacing in the story, VKG ran out of time to wrap up properly, failing to arrive at the respectable conclusion that VKG's climax opened up for. In all honesty, the conclusion simply felt rushed, as if the writers just ran out of time and whipped up a mediocre ending and forgot about all these other things.

Having enjoyed VK, it really was a pity that VKG did not follow through. VK felt like it created so much potential for VKG, who grabbed a single point of interest and neglected the rest of VK's successful elements. To sum VKG up, it centralises on one element of a good script, then patched a drawn-out and repetitive build up to its front and a short and undermined continuity to its back.

It was not bad, but the fact that it was a mere shadow of its former annoys me, and so I give it a 6/10 (it's simply my opinion).

Nevertheless, if you have seen VK, watch VKG with an open mind. (I don't take into account that I wasn't in it for a fanciful, mystical tale about pretty boys, which was part of what VK/VKG was marketed to be.)

to describe this season in 1 word it would be, disapointing,

what really made the first season work for me was it had some amazing suspense, great cliffhangers and had a lot of twists, and even for how steriotypicaly emo zero was they handles him very well and he came off like a selfless teen that was willing to let him suffer and even die a slow painful death if he had to, to save yuuki or his father and even just people in general, and his hatred for vampires and yet him being one realy built up his charecter, why am i mentioning this, ... well i mentioning it cause zero is hardly even in the second season, and heres where the show starts to take a sudden downturn

this seaosn focused very much on kaname and yuuki, and befor ei go off i have to mention this, this show has the absoulte WORST TWIST EVER, you wont see it coming but when they reveal what it is and what they continue to do after words is just WTF worthy, but back on topic the show focuses much more kaname and yuuki, now this would of been the chance to make kaname more likable caus ein the first serise he is a total asshole that steals the spotlight and acts very high and mighty, basicly hes a asshole and the first time i saw guilty i though he was the villian cause they make him much much worse, he does some dasterdly things and he just come soff as evil till the very end and even then he still seems like he'd fuck over everyone for his own goal, which is protecting yuuki but his logic is "ill kill everything but yuuki" so yah kaname may have somehow become even more worse, yuuki isnt any different from the first serise at all

and heres the biggets problem with guilty, theres no suspense, every build up leads to a let-down, a cop out, or they just drop the plot point all together, they build up this one villian who lasts about 20 seconds of fighting, i wish i were kidding, the show just doesnt have any good cliffhangers either and for a lack of a better word its just boring, not to sound like a fanboy/girl but when zeor comes in the show does get better, mainly cause some very emotional things happen and you want this guy to get what he wants but he has everyone int he world agianst him, ide say if it werent for scenes of zero and his brother the sow would have been a 4,

the actual ending does leave not really a cliffhanger but leaves alot of things open for the inevitable season 3, its a good ending and i want to see what happens next the ending fight is a letdown but the actual ending while not satisfying will leave you wondering what happens next, the next season really needs to work on making yuuki less of a idiot, make kaname stop doing worse things the actual villians do then season 3 wil lbe good. fingers crosse dit will work out

also before i leave i just have to comment on how dated and lazy this shows animaiton is, it seriously looks like its from 2003, whenever animaiton gets good it lasts for about 4 seconds then back to outdated animation, they need to fix that aswell

I ask you not to read this review if you have not seen the whole anime. Understand? Understood.


Ok, then, Holy Mary, this anime has been a pile of cheap psychological rubbish. Let's start with Yuuki who always finds a way to faint and to apologize every time. Seriously, this girl is not repetitive, it's a broken record. I realized that Yuuki has to do stupid things so that she can be more submissive than the two guys who want her for them. This girl is a lost case and I am sorry to have to say it but she cannot understand that Kaname knows more ... about the devil and every time she tries to rebel against that fool, then she comes out with a: "I'm sorry, Kaname-sama!"
I mean, come on! But how can you make a female character so bad? Let's not talk about the fact that Zero becomes Kaname's bitch. You have a serious character like Zero, a vampire hunter who is cool like no other, yet for some reason ends up depending on Kaname. Zero literally becomes another pawn in the large chessboard of that incestuous vampire. In just one season, Zero's dignity disappears.
Kaname is Yuuki's brother.
A moment of silence. Hands up who would never have expected it. Did you raise your hand? You lied. You lied and you know it.
Kaname is Yuuki's older brother and wants to marry her so that he has a vampire offspring that has pure blood. Damn! Yuuki really had a difficult choice to make (sarcasm). After she was vampirised, she had to choose whether to have a story with Zero, the guy with whom she grew a healthy romantic relationship, or to have a story with Kaname, her older brother who manipulated her for two whole seasons. Tough choice, huh?
In the end, Vampire Knight is simply a mediocre anime on vampires.

Vampire Knight : Guilty is one of those series that makes me want to stop watching deep animes and stick to silly romance animes where the ending is always happy. The first season was awesome, but the part 2 was a let down.

[spoilers]
What is the point for the ending? The ENTIRE series revolved around a certain goal. The school, the teachers, the bonds, the story itself had the same goal. Yet with the ending given, It completely makes no sense. 10 hours of episodes spent focusing on one goal, co-existence amongst all groups, yet zero's actions at the end doesn't do anything for that goal.

The ... entire series filled me with a sense of suspense and anticipation on what was to come. Could have been rated really high, but IMO the ending destroyed EVERYTHING that the series worked for.

Be forewarned, spoilers ahead.

I was wary of watching VK when I'd first heard of it. The vampire genre is often riddled with cliches and bad writing, especially concerning the teenage demographic where, in most cases, is just a bodice ripper. But I'm willing to give anything a shot.

I started out liking VK, but when I got to VKG that started to change. The love triangle that started out as being unpredictable soon became blatantly obvious. The unexpected twist of Yuuki not only being a vampire who hadn't "awakened" yet, but was also was related to Kaname completely ruined it for me. It's like they ... exchanged taboos - the forbidden vampire/human love becomes the forbidden vampire incest love. Like somehow it wouldn't be appealing if there weren't some sort of taboo involved.

Zero's reaction to Yuuki's unknown secret also got to me. His reaction seemed more convenient than anything else; if he no longer loves her, then she and Kaname can go and live happily ever after. Whoopee.

Given the first season where Yuuki is constantly in need of saving, I was hoping that the "plot twist" of her being a vampire would be a chance to redeem herself as the damsel in distress. It didn't. She still needed saving from her evil uncle. How disappointing.

Given Yuuki's potential as a strong, textured female character, it's sad to think that she could easily fall into the Mary Sue category.

You've read the synopsis, the story basically revolves around the main heroine, Cross Yuki; however, I think damsel is a far more fitting title.

So what I really think? Pure quintessential BS.

Seriously.

It's so cliché and over melodramatic that it's practically excreting out hearts and tears.

While it might sound harsh I can only be just that: truthfully, bluntly, harsh. However does it mean that I hate it? Well, no.

It’s a cliché and corny romance involving vampires and humans. You have the fluff, the love triangle and the forbidden love. Nothing really new. Simplistic plot pumped on melodramatic steroids with cheesy characters and bishi love interests. Pretty to ... look at and easy to follow along.

The main protagonist Yuki can be quite unlikeable; she’s childish and selfish. Gasping, crying or complaining is not always cute - in fact I want to slap her a few times. Good god, grow a brain cell or two. I understand she was intentionally written to be 'a little dumb', but come on does she have to be one of those stereotypical damsel in distress? The weak demoiselle that has the need for either Kaname or Zero (the male heroes) – like in those classical romance novels, or in the more recent Teen Romance Vampire Novels (*cough Twilight cough*). You have the controlling, stalkerish males and the submissive damsel. This seems familiar. Although most vampire stories follow along those lines... so I guess I shouldn't just single out VK.

The problem with VK is that it can be so painfully annoying at times, drama added on top of the already overflowing melodrama – as I’ve been repeatedly saying because there’s no other way to explain it; it’s just there in your face all the time. Perhaps it’s best if I explain:

Yuki is bouncing back and forth between Kaname and Zero, she constantly thinks about Kaname and moans about feeling inferior. If she isn’t tearing up then she’s so shocked about everything because she’s too dense to see what’s right in front of her. While she's suppose to be a guardian, protecting the students from any impeding danger (aka Vampires snacking on them), she seems incapable and too weak to perform those duties. Instead 9 times out of 10 she's the one getting in trouble.

Zero is a plain broody b@st@r*, ok that’s a little harsh, but everything he does he does it with melancholic dismay (this is me sounding poetic). He's the anti-vampire-angry guy friend, who’s secretly lusting for Yuki.

Kaname, the elusive guy that enjoys sending mix signals – one moment he’s so friendly, next he’s lusty/touchy and then he clams up and becomes reclusive. Despite his supposed friendly persona he's a controlling, manipulative, liar.

Woe is me. Every single scene feels so over the top, the reactions are just so Shakespearean…

There’s so many long winded angsty inner dialogue or people brooding or girls crying or blushing.

Look, I like drama, it’s entertaining but when it’s always thrown in your face it gets trying. Yes I will admit some scenes are exciting, especially the showdowns involving Zero, he just adds to the angsty tense atmosphere. And while the characters are over-the-top they are at least fleshed out and given back stories.

The show tries to stay true to the gothic style, as seen with the architecture of the academy, the secrets, the supernatural element, the toned down colouring (black, white and red being the main colours), the stock characters, the soundtrack, etc, to name a few. However while it dabbles into the genre it fall flat and comes across as unsuccessful.

Because all that supposed Gothic style given to us is background, just background. They could have used it to their advantage, instead you don't pay too much mind to it. Instead it's mainly focused on the main characters - while not necessarily a bad thing - the gothic and supernatural feel just dwindles down to nothingness. A good vampire story would have uncomfortable, suspenseful and omniscient scenes, this does not, the drama and angst overshadows any semblance of mystery or suspense we're given.

But it is what it is; I know I can't really expect a convoluted plot with surprising twists. Sure the story did have some surprises, if you ignore the fact that it was heavily hinted.The story is just so predictable.

I think VK is just genre confused, it doesn't know if it wants to be a romance comedy or a paranormal-romance (mystery, suspense, supernatural). It switches back and forth and tries to find a middle between the two. While I'm all up for having some humor, I find it ruins the atmosphere at times or plain unnecessary. With a tenser atmosphere it would probably appeal to a wider audience and not just vampire-loving-teens (sorry for the stereotype but it is its targeted audience). I find there's little to no build-up of suspense or climax so you're left wanting more.

Not to complete bash the whole thing like some raving flamer, the story does have its moments. It sucks you in like those cheesy Soap Opera your dad refuses to admit he loves watching with your mom. With the overused plot lines and over the top drama, you can't stop yourself from watching with sickening interest, anxiously waiting to see what happens next (even though you know how it will turn out) like some junkie waiting for his next fix. It's sickening but true, I'm guilty of being part of said population. It’s a guilty pleasure; it’s an easy read and fun to watch. I wouldn’t take the series too seriously.

But wait, I must have something else positive to say… like I said: easy to follow, pretty to look at, they are a few select scenes that are good and sometimes the jokes can be funny. It has good parts here and there. The plot isn’t so appalling and the manga does pick up in the later volumes.

The big problem I have with the anime of Vampire Knight is the wasted potential; instead of giving us a heroine that evolves we're stuck with a whiny, weak lead. There's also a lot of potential for darker themes: obsession, self-hate, jealousy, possessiveness and violence. It does dabble a bit in the dark themes but it simply never pulls through. Instead we're given predictable melodrama.

The obsession is downplayed to 'passionate' and 'eternal' love; the self-hate comes across being excessively broody and melancholic; the jealousy card is a main factor in the story but it's more like a high school debacle - which I suppose suits the story considering they are in an academy, but it has to be pointed out that story does involve vampires which I expect a more serious and dangerous tone to said jealousy. The possessiveness of Kaname is well played, he plays the role of the manipulative and controlling smooth-operator well; however, in the end the fact that Yuki is so accepting and submissive to him you can't help but feel the shojo-iness oozing out - it's sexy when a guy is possessive and controlling. :disbelief: Not the best role model for young girls. Finally the violence, well, it's there but it really isn't detailed and as obvious. It's really glazed over.

I suppose you can say it's the Twilight of the Manga world, a love-hate relationship. Albeit personally I find it a cut above - at least the vampires don't sparkle.

In the end you’ll have those who hate it because it lacks substance and its overall predictable cheesiness, and you’ll have the fans who love the lovey-dovey teenage vampire romance (or the angsty drama). Would I recommend it? Sure, why not, despite all the short comings give it a go it can be quite enjoyable if you give the series a chance to grow on you. I give it a 6/10.

Watching Vampire Knight Guilty is a must after watching Vampire Knight. While the story line develops a lot, it becomes really outlandish and strange. It seems like the creators wanted to "surprise" you with as much as they possibly could and some of those surprises made the entire concept of the show seem weird and quite frankly a bit perverted (and not in a good way). By the last few episodes, I had no idea what was going on anymore, and I had to force myself to finish it just so I could finish it.

Unfortunately, I feel like I wasted my time watching this show. ... I loved the romance and the original concept and story, but where they took it...I do not want to go there ever again. >_____>

5/10

This will be a review for both seasons 1 and 2 of Vampire Knight.

Still a better love story than Twilight... but let's face it, Vampire Knight is similar in a lot of ways, only the vampires don't sparkle, and there are no shirtless werewolves.

Vampire Knight was clichéd in a lot of ways. One girl, a bunch of sexy guys fighting to be her lover, plot twists, and corny lines... so many corny lines... what we have here is the perfect example of what love stories should not be like if you're trying to make something original and enjoyable. But don't get me wrong, I ... didn't hate the series, but I didn't love it.

The story goes like this: Yuuki Cross, a teenage girl who attends an academy whose classes are split up into 2 different sections, the Day Class (for the humans), and the Night Class (for the vampires). Being head of the disciplinary committee, it's her job to keep all the raving teenage girls from going all fangirl on all the gorgeous night class students, while holding back feelings for the leader of the night class, Kaname. By her side, her somewhat adopted brother (I guess, don't really know a better term for it...), Zero, helps her out with her job as a member of the disciplinary committee himself, although he in no way has any feelings towards vampires himself other than pure hatred. With all of these crazy things going on, it's basically a "Who will Yuki choose in the end?" deal. There are plenty of other anime with a similar plotline, although I feel like the ones without vampires would be about 10 times more interesting.

Studio Deen! The studio that brought us hit anime such as "Higurashi", "Dragon Crisis!", "Hetalia", and the well known yaoi dream boat of an anime "Junjō Romantica", and in all honesty, there were some hints in there that made me think, "Oh, of course Studio Deen would add some similar traits to Junjō Romantica in this...". The art was one of the few redeeming qualities of Vampire Knight. The characters were well designed, enough to tell them apart at least, the scenery and effects were well done, and I liked the overall mood the design of the show gave off. One of the few things I can actually say I liked.

English Dub or Japanese Dub, whichever you prefer, both were alright in my opinion. Watched season 1 in English, watched season 2 in Japanese. Honestly, both were as good as the other. I liked Vic Mignogna as Zero in the english dub, and I liked Yui Horie as Yuuki in the japanese dub. For english dub fans, you won't be disappointed, and the same goes for the japanese dub fans. It's not extraordinary work, but it's nothing terrible like some anime.

Characters are what I had the biggest problem with. Characters are where I felt like I was watching Twilight with their behavior and their personalities. I was screaming at Yuuki to just pick someone to fall for instead of both giving me impressions that she wasn't even thinking about who she was gonna choose. Zero had issues. Plain and simple. He hates vampries, but he goes to school with them. He wants to murder them all, but he guards them. He loves Yuuki, but he's kind of a jerk to her. Which is it Zero, are you gonna be a jerk, or a man with feelings? And then... there's Kaname. I wanted him to just keep away from Yuuki so badly, cause he kept causing trouble for everyone it seemed, especially Zero. Zero is one of Yuuki's best friends, don't try and keep him away from her. Don't be a douche-nozzle... Sorry about the rant, I just have problems with some of the characters, mainly the main ones. As for the minor characters, like the rest of the vampires, I had no problems. They were funny, cool, and didn't cause much trouble, unlike the main characters.

Vampire Knight had it's moments. Mainly in the beginning, it was funny, with a little bit of a darker side every once in a while. Then it became a love triangle, plot twists, betrayal, and boom. Twilight. It wasn't terrible, but I gotta be honest, the main reasons I watched this series is because the fangirls in my class wouldn't stop yelling at me to watch it... next they want me to watch Free... God help me.

I thought the first series was pretty bad, but tolerable. The first half of this series was so bad that I wished I hadn't even watched any of it. I managed to push through to the big reveal (no spoilers in this review, sorry guys!), which managed to interest me enough to keep going. After all, the only reason I kept watching this in the first place was because of Zero, who I love for a myriad of reasons, even if he isn't written all that well. More on that in the character section.

To begin with, the story: Vampire Knight Guilty was a direct ... continuation of the first series, Vampire Knight, though it was a pretty bad sequel in my opinion. The plot was bland and slow and nobody's motivations or goals were correctly explained. What were supposed to be plot twists just ended up confusing me and in all honesty, it made me feel horribly bored and irritated.

The art was tolerable. It wasn't very pretty (I personally hate the whole bug eyes trope for heroines) but it served its purpose. The backgrounds were drab and uninteresting and the colors were all dull and blended too much for me to focus well. The drawings seemed like they were barely even outlined, and the animation was choppy and a little unnatural. The body structures of the characters were unrealistic and angular and just most things about the art didn't sit right with me.

The sound was surprisingly alright. The opening and closing themes were gothic enough to fit the setting. I actually really liked the creepy feel of the closing theme.

The characters were kind of a mess. They tried to portray Kaname as some sort of evil mastermind like Ciel Phantomhive, Kyoya Ootori, L Lawliet, Light Yagami, or Lelouch Lamperouge, perhaps (wow, look at the alliteration... so many L's...), but nothing in his plan clicked or made any sense. His ideas of making people 'pawns' just seemed to be their natural actions and his motivations weren't clear either. Besides that, Yuki is always on my nerves. She claims to be strong but can't do anything herself and continuously gets into the worst of situations. There's nothing wrong with being weak-- after all, it's a very human trait, and it's very natural that a main character may be weak. My problem is with her attitude and how her weakness doesn't seem to make any sense in regards to her position and what she's expected to do. There's so many plot holes I really can't enjoy this. Zero, however was the only one I could tolerate (alone with Aido, just because he was funny :D) This was partly because I adore Vic, Zero's English voice actor. It was also because that in a world of screwed up people, he's the only one with even a silver of common sense, even if he's stupidly violent half the time.

Anyways, I didn't really enjoy watching a lot of this. I just finished because I have this weird obsession with finishing everything I start.

I would recommend this if you: like brocon, like heroines with no character, like love triangles, like heroines that are 'special' for some random reason, liked vampire knight

I would NOT recommend this if you: are not into incest, like characters with real motivations, want a real plot, wanted something actually dark, did not like vampire knight

I'm a little disappointed on who Yuki ends up with at the end of the show, but after some research apparently she ends up with the other guy in the manga, so I'm happy now. Still no spoilers, research for yourself :D

Have a great day everyone!

"Vampire Knight Guilty" is the bookend to the "Vampire Knight" series. It succeeds in some areas where it's predecessor failed, but still doesn't redeem the series to anything more than mediocrity.

I was really, really, hoping for a spectacular conclusion. And while the second half is better than the first, I still feel left like I was a vampire given those blood tablets instead of the real thing. And that sucks. All puns intended.

The art, music, characters, and voice acting are still much the same. Japanese cast beats the English one, again. The story is a very much mixed bag. It had a pretty good twist ... at the end, but that was negated by the final big bad guy they had built up to being a flash in the pan. I was more interested in the side characters battles than the supposedly "big" one going on between the main characters.

The thing I hated most was the fail in character development that was Kaname Kuran. So bland. So boring. Trying so hard to be a bad ass. It was like watching Hayden Christensen if he was in "Twilight". I had such high hopes. Making up for it was the best part, the long-awaited emergence of Headmaster Kaien Cross as the total bad ass they always said he was. He will, by far, be the most memorable character of this show to me.

Think of "Vampire Knight Guilty" as the end of a lousy day at work. Looking back, maybe it wasn't that bad. But, the best part about it is that it's over. So, we can just pop a cold one and think about what could have been done instead to avoid so much frustration. Sadly, all we can do is wonder. Cheers!