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REVIEW: Vampire Knight DVD 1


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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 12:44 am Reply with quote
But how does it compare to Twilight? Wink
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mufurc



Joined: 09 Jun 2003
Posts: 612
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:42 am Reply with quote
Every time I see Vampire Knight I think of this.

Seriously, every single male looks the same, and every character has the exact same intense, angsty facial expression. Except for the girls who are sometimes allowed to smile innocently or look like a deer in the headlights.
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mannyperson



Joined: 22 Feb 2010
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:57 am Reply with quote
mufurc wrote:
Every time I see Vampire Knight I think of this.


Hilarious!

But anyways, I'm just annoyed by the fact that Yuki is clearly not exactly qualified for her position in the disciplinary committee and that's why she always gets her @$$ kicked. And also, how she shows no fear despite the fact that that one vampire with a man-crush on Kaname seems to have it out for her several different occasions. I know that this is a shojo, but c'mon....(and this is coming from a fan who actually adored Meru Puri, which ANN seems to hate with a fury of 1000 suns)
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InnocentSorrow59



Joined: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 156
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 5:02 am Reply with quote
I never did understand why this series was popular to begin with. Yuki is annoying and useless, all the guys look the same (even though I think Zero is smexy Anime smile + sweatdrop ) and the anime is boring as hell. I'll summarize episode 1 for you: Ditzy girl is ditzy, handsome guys are handsome.spoiler[ I can't say the manga was any better since the speech bubbles and panels were all over the damn place.]

I will admit that the opening and ending themes are good though. The dub is okay since the voices take some getting used to.

So I guess if I were a fan, I'd buy it. spoiler[(But I'm not so I guess Imma go buy me some Hellsing.)] Laughing Very Happy
Overall this series gets a B- at best.
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Kelly



Joined: 17 Nov 2003
Posts: 868
Location: New York City
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 5:21 am Reply with quote
mannyperson wrote:
But anyways, I'm just annoyed by the fact that Yuki is clearly not exactly qualified for her position in the disciplinary committee and that's why she always gets her @$$ kicked. And also, how she shows no fear despite the fact that that one vampire with a man-crush on Kaname seems to have it out for her several different occasions.


That Yuki is severely underqualified for her position is indeed the greatest weakness of the first part of the story. But if the anime stays faithful to the manga (I'm holding out for a box set), keep an eye on Yuki's interaction with Aido, the character I'm assuming you're talking about. Without giving anything away and assuming Guilty is also going to be released and covers the material I think it does, their relationship eventually becomes, in my opinion, the most interesting in the story.
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jenthehen



Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 835
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 5:42 am Reply with quote
What I loved about Vampire Knight was that unlike some other super popular vampire fiction coughTwilightcough ... Vampire Knight is just DRIPPING with sex and sexual subtext - which is how vampire lore and stories should be. Everything about VK is super sexy, which is another reason it works so well!
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rinmackie



Joined: 05 Aug 2006
Posts: 1040
Location: in a van! down by the river!
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 7:30 am Reply with quote
Just for the record, the vampires in VK are not undead, they are actually a seperate race of beings. Nice to see some kind words for the anime, but once again we got the same old, well it's-just-another-twilight-clone dismissal of the story. I'm sorry but as someone who's been keeping up with the manga, I can tell you Vampire Knight is far superior to Twilight. Yes, it has some of the same elements and is aimed at teenage girls, but the storytelling is far better. Also, Yuuki's amnesia IS important to the plot and lasts through about 9 or 10 manga volumes.

And yes, the VK vampires are beautiful, but at least they don't sparkle! And they do bite, as well.
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Jaymie



Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 7:43 am Reply with quote
A surprisingly good review coming from ANN!

Vampire Knight is an above average shojo series. Make of that what you will.

It's definitely enjoyable if you watch it for the "guilty pleasure" instead of taking it seriously like those insane fangirls who think they're amazing cosplayers by buying a school uniform off of eBay.
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sepherest





PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 8:08 am Reply with quote
mufurc wrote:
Every time I see Vampire Knight I think of this.

Seriously, every single male looks the same, and every character has the exact same intense, angsty facial expression. Except for the girls who are sometimes allowed to smile innocently or look like a deer in the headlights.


Vampire Knight isn't her only series with that problem. You'd think she has some alternate universe thing going on with the characters from all her manga - the majority of the guys look the same.
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 10:29 am Reply with quote
mufurc wrote:
Every time I see Vampire Knight I think of this.

Seriously, every single male looks the same, and every character has the exact same intense, angsty facial expression. Except for the girls who are sometimes allowed to smile innocently or look like a deer in the headlights.


I have my problems with this (Dragon Knights. If it weren't for the hair, I'd have been lost), but I'm lost you see it here. I fell far behind & need to catch up (Zero's issue had surfaced but Yuki-moth was pretty close to Kaname flame), but I never had any problem telling anyone apart outside of the supporting cast vamps at that point were still so support cast as to be indecipherable. And if it's the emo (which I have never really seen in Ulquiorra. He may look like he's emp, but he's pretty straight-up devoted to Aizen), hell one of the cool things about Dracula & Alucard & vamps like them is they are pretty damned unapologetic. It's the Branabas Collins school of "I didn't ask for this!" the guilt comes form (Although Barnabas was probably much more of a monster & an ass compared to Dracula)

I never thought of vampires as necrophilia...that's more ghouls. Even the ones who have risen from the grave have some sort of life. so it's more revived from a serious coma(dead) & it's part of the allure (power to overcome death. Power to control elements. Power to transform.)

However, I am impressed. I was looking to see the genre & the audience ripped because vamps are a pretty popular hate object now. I've liked vamp stories since I was at leawst 12 (Dracula). For me, it's the romantic, historical side. THis guy that's lived for more than the gal's been alive is willing to chuck it all in a battle to win the woman he desires. It's history & power made flesh. I love Saberhagan's Dracula series (Thorn, Dominion, Old Friend of the Family). Rice's take on vamps never did anything for me so I never tried to read her & I have no desire to read the Twilight series. The authors are welcome to their interpretations on the myth, but I'm not a big enough vamp fan to force myself to read them.
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Aura Ichadora



Joined: 25 Apr 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 10:49 am Reply with quote
-twitches- The dub got a B-? I couldn't even sit through the first episode of the dub without feeling like half of my braincells were dying. I felt like much of the cast were speaking as if they were talking to third graders or trying way too hard to act like their seiyuu counterparts to try and make the dub anywhere close to being decent. After the first episode, I went back to the main menu, switched it over to subtitles, and enjoyed the rest of the DVD.

Anyway...I do love Vampire Knight, for all of its ups and downs. The series, both anime and manga, is beautifully artistic, the characters are loveable and I think everyone that watches or reads the series can find one they like, and the storyline is interesting enough to keep you hooked for awhile, even through its slower moments.
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JohnnySake



Joined: 22 May 2008
Posts: 582
Location: Auburn Hills, MI
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 11:09 am Reply with quote
Another great review. Unfortunately I cannot be so eloquent with my words. The Viz booth at San Diego Comic Con was making a big to-do about premiering this dvd there. Sometimes you can't help to get caught up in the moment and I picked it up, although I didn't know if I would like it enough past the first volume. When I finally watched it I was surprised at how I was taken in by the show. Yes, the love triangle is quite evident, but there is more than meets the eye with everything. At the end of the last episode I was left wanting to see what happens next, a sure sign they are having the desired effect on me, the customer. I kept watching the ED sequence in its entirety as well, it's kind of beautiful and haunting, in a broken doll sort of way.
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BunnyCupCakes



Joined: 02 Apr 2008
Posts: 224
Location: The Sunshine State
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 12:17 pm Reply with quote
Aura Ichadora wrote:
-twitches- The dub got a B-? I couldn't even sit through the first episode of the dub without feeling like half of my braincells were dying. I felt like much of the cast were speaking as if they were talking to third graders or trying way too hard to act like their seiyuu counterparts to try and make the dub anywhere close to being decent. After the first episode, I went back to the main menu, switched it over to subtitles, and enjoyed the rest of the DVD.

Same here.
I watched the first 4 episodes dubbed and I couldn't help but laugh how unintentionally funny everyone sounded Laughing
The dub is basically full of narm. I usually watch my anime in English but I gotta say the sub wins for this one.

I'm also surprised that this got such a high rating.
Personally, I didn't think the anime was all that great. (I've read the manga btw)

And I thought it was pretty easy to tell the guys apart since everything is in color unlike the manga.
But that's just me -shrug-

p.s The Twilight jokes are getting pretty old. Harharhar.
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Senna



Joined: 14 Oct 2003
Posts: 99
Location: Somewhere, USA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 2:26 pm Reply with quote
The only thing that kept me going through this was the not-quite-overt (but still hardly subtle) equation of vampirism to sexuality, which made things slightly more entertaining than they would be otherwise. Yuki is a typical terrible shoujo protagonist (not to knock all shoujo heroines as I am definitely a fan of the genre, but there are a lot of stupid ones out there, and Yuki is definitely in their ranks), and Zero and Kaname are definitely pretty to look at but that's about it. "Guilty pleasure" is right on the mark, but it wasn't enough of a pleasure for me to watch the second season or pick up the manga.
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doctordoom85



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 2091
PostPosted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 2:54 pm Reply with quote
I've only read the first 3 volumes of the manga, but I think it's decent so far. I admit, I picked it up initially because one of the volumes' covers made Yuki look really hot. So far, I only really like Yuki, Zero, and the headmaster, I hope the rest of the cast gets more fleshed out as the series goes on.

Also, there's no point in comparing Vampire Knight to Twilight, since VK actually came out first.
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