To breifly summarize, 90% of Vampire Knight's plot centres on a love triangle between heroine Yuki Cross and her childhood friend Zero along with school idol Kaname. Which all sounds pretty bland, only they are at a school full of vampires. Kaname is vampire God and Zero is a vampire hunter. And if you can't tell, yes, Twilight was a very big deal when this series was being released.
In my opinion, Vampire Knight is peak shojo and brilliantly executed. I was deeply obsessed with it when I first watched it in high school. Years later when I rewatched it as a more mature (?) person, I still found it very entertaining. Recently I watched it again with my partner and he enjoyed it thoroughly. Of course he offered many sarcastic remarks but he enjoyed it nevertheless. I think the score on MAL is quite unfair, but it's part of a very understanding phenomenon (like the hate on Twilight). Vampire Knight achieved exactly what it tried to do. We asked for a love triangle, a useless protagonist lacking personality for self-insert, handsome boys fawning all over her for inexplicable reasons, and Vampire Knight DELIVERED. Vampire Knight is a series designed to be enjoyed, not reflected upon. It gave me many of the things I wanted as a teenage girl, presenting a world I wanted to live in and a romantic situation that uh, let's just say would have been pretty great.
I was trying to think of a shonen-equivalent series to illustrate my point, and the one I think parallels it is Food Wars. It literally has women who orgasm when they eat... and it consistently has a decent score (ranging from ~7.3 to ~8.1). Clearly there is no justice in the world. Ultimately, fantasy for boys is allowed but for not for girls.
I understand though, I was for the longest time, trying to distance myself psychologically from the part of me that enjoys things like Vampire Knight, Fifty Shades of grey etc. And yes, as a teenager I was not aware of the toxicity, so the criticism on that front is valid. For example, Kaname is emotionally unavailable and patronizing, does not particularly respect consent, not to mention the 1000-year old age difference. He is more like a father figure than a viable romantic partner, but is explicitly spelled out as a main love interest. And my 14-year-old self who thought he was dreamy, shipped Yuki with Kaname. So for people criticizing "it's toxic", yes it absolutely is, it's what a 14-year old girl imagines healthy relationships look like. Just let them be happy. And if you are older, and need to indulge yourself every now and then, Vampire Knight is guaranteed to be a good time. And for people criticizing the plot... come on, as if we are watching it for the plot...
The animation is good for a series of its era and budget, the voice acting fits all the characters, the music is well done, and the story moves along at a healthy pace episode to episode. There is no real reason it won't be enjoyed by shojo or romance fans. Overall, I think the low score for Vampire Knight reflects that people think a series so shamelessly designed to be wish fulfillment should not be rated high, and that in order to be "good", something must be profound. What Vampir Knight accomplishes is that it entertains you and keeps you interested, and going in expecting an intellectual experience is like going to McDonalds and getting upset they only serve hamburgers and not filet mignon.
