Vampire Knight: #9 & #10

It’s very easy to disregard the Vampire Knight manga as nothing more than shojo fluff with some good-looking males – who just happen to be vampires – thrown in. It doesn’t help that the earlier volumes lack plot development, half of the series consists of people standing around talking, there’s plenty of teenage angst to go round, and the premise is borderline stupid (man-eating vampires and delicious humans going to the same school and living in the same building together? Nothing can POSSIBLY go wrong!) But Matsuri Hino, over the course of time, has subtly added themes that make this shojo a bit deeper and darker than some of its competitors once you’ve sunk your teeth into it (pun intended) including vampires that do actually eat and kill humans, politics and grand intentions that will mess with your head, and a huge vampire war that finally comes to light in the latest volume, as well as sowing the roots of the gradual move away from the high school backdrop. 

After the jaw-dropping, story 180, ‘everything’s hit the fan now’ revelation in Volume 8 where Yuki finally remembers her past and struggles to come to terms with it, Volume 9 centres on her going against Kaname’s wishes and taking up her weapon to go against Rido (an ancient vampire brought back from the dead) for the grand showdown. Meanwhile, Kaname sets his plans into motion as he reveals his ultimate intentions to Zero, whilst a horde of vampires march towards Cross Academy to start a war. Volume 10 sees the conclusion and consequences of the actions committed in the previous book as Kaname and Yuki prepare to leave Cross Academy, and the vow Zero makes to Yuki that he will kill her the next time they come face to face.

It’s quite hard for Matsuri Hino to follow a very eventful Volume 8 whilst keeping up the high energy. Thankfully, Volume 9 doesn’t drop the ball and keeps the audience gripped from cover to cover as the battle against Rido finally commences. Volume 10 contains less action, but emotions run high, as the book is overblown with flashbacks focusing on our main heroes, including padding out Zero’s feelings for Yuki and building bridges between Kaname and his fellow vampires. Volume 9 is the stronger of the two, but Volume 10 does set ground for a new chapter of the story, where we say goodbye to the ‘high school’ scenery that didn’t add much to the series in the first place.  

At the centre of the strong turn of plot developments lies some great characterization. Kaname continues his run of being deceptively pretty whilst also being the puppet master, pulling everyone’s strings for his own intentions which are still not 100% clear. He’s meant to be one of the protagonists, yet Matsuri Hino brilliantly weaves him so he creeps out yet seduces the readers within the same page. Zero, on the other hand, finally steps out of the ‘doom and gloom’ shadow he’s been hiding under for the last few volumes and plays a centre part in the big battle in the latter half of Volume 9. In addition, Yuri’s character development does a good job of retaining some of previous ‘good girl’ qualities to keep the readers attached to her, whilst also introducing her darker side bit-by-bit to ease her new role in the series (don’t you just love it when good characters go all ‘goth’ on you?)

However the volumes are not without their flaws; the story can suddenly break the pace to turn to the side characters that have little to no bearing on the plot, and are not very interesting anyway. For example, Volume 8 ends with Rido resurrecting and hints that all hell is about to break loose, but Volume 9 opens with Yuki’s human friend Sayori, who has had a total of six lines during the entire run of the series so far, and doesn’t have a central role in the volume anyway. Also, fans who prefer the earlier ‘fluffy’ style of Vampire Knight will notice that these volumes lack comic relief. I personally found this a positive thing, but comedy does make a small appearance in the last chapter of Volume 9, right in the middle of a fight, again contributing to the breaking of pace at the worst possible time.

Matsuri Hino’s art continues to shine in this series; she’s especially good during the tender scenes where fewer character are involved, such as those between Yuki and Kaname, using elaborate flowing hair and close-ups on their faces to draw the audience into the chemistry they share. Unfortunately Hino still hasn’t improved much on her own flaws, as backgrounds are still uninspired and side characters continue to confuse the reader as they all look so alike. It’s very disorienting to read a scene thinking one character is involved, then go back to the same chapter realizing it’s a completely different character altogether. Furthermore, due to the fact that Volume 10 is peppered with flashbacks, it’s hard to tell when we’re in the present or have jumped back to the past again as there’s no clear sign to separate them and they happen to be close together. One thing she has improved on though is the battle scenes; it wasn’t uncommon in previous volumes for Hino to use vampire speed and puffs of smoke as an excuse to cover up the finer details of battles, therefore making it hard to work out what was going on. It’s by no means perfect but thankfully the battle involving Rido, Yuki, and Zero is beautifully detailed and evenly-paced to really build the adrenaline up until the end.

Volume 9 is a brilliant follow up to 8 as it continues the complete change of tone effectively, with plenty of story developments, as plot threads become clearer, as the characters are set up for the next conflict. Sadly, Volume 10 doesn’t follow on as strongly, but those who are very much invested in the love triangle centring the series will be tied to the pages.

Vampire Knight isn’t a series for your on-the-go vampire blood lust, or those who expect the next Hellsing, but its story direction is compelling enough to please long-term fans and make the less enthusiastic think about giving it a go. 

Pick it up if you’re already been bitten by the Vampire Knight fever (again, pun intended); for those who’ve yet to get involved, you’ll need to wade through the nothing-special, sometimes dull content at the beginning to get to the dark core.