Vampire Knight Volume 3
Disc 3 takes a dive into Zero’s past whilst also introducing us to the first season’s main antagonist. Starting with episode 8; we’re given more flesh to the vampire folklore as Takuma’s grandfather makes a surprise visit to the Academy, but not without making a few controversial actions in the process. The latter half of the episode sees Zero taking up his first assignment as a hunter, taking out a newly turned Level E vampire. Episode 9 marks the debut of the mysterious student Maria Kurenai, who seems to take a keen interest in Yuki, whilst also creating tension in the Night Class. As soon as Zero sets his eyes upon her, he realises her true identity and makes it his mission to get rid of her, once and for all.
After spending the past 7 episodes trotting around the love triangle and school atmosphere, we’re now slowly making our way into the driving force of the first season, the woman who made Zero the creature he is today with blood set to spill in the next volume. Being Zero-centric episodes, we get a deeper look into his vampire hunter origins thanks to the anime-exclusive story in the latter half of episode 8, and a meaty scene of his tragic past. The moments where the story drifts from the manga are surprising strong, it’s nice to see Zero being active outside the school and giving the audience an insight to the man we could have had if his destiny had not been altered by the PureBlood that murdered his family. The flashbacks are also better treated compared to episode 8, where they were thrown at the audience with no room to breathe, however as Zero’s past is spread across the last 2 episodes we’re given more to time to digest it. This disc also sees the content of bloodletting between vampires as a much more sexual experience. Although it was hinted with the close up camera angles and highly lustful descriptive terms into the first few episodes, disc 3 really starts to turn up the heat and we can no longer just call it ‘subtext’. This becomes very apparent in episode 8 when vampire Ruka leans over Kaname, begging him to drink her blood and letting her essence trickle over his face to tempt him. Her desperation and following tearful rejection will echo of a woman’s anxiety over a one-night-stand with a former lover.
The story however still isn’t providing much outside of the flashbacks and dialogue. Sure, the new student Maria makes her presence known and it’s interesting to see how everyone reacts, but the only action provided is in the latter half of episode 8, and a tease in the episode 10 barely lasting a minute, with everything else being conversation after conversation. This is no Death Note (another exposition and dialogue heavy series) where even the longest monologues can seem epic. Vampire Knight relies a little too much on it’s pretty art, fan service and “hey look vampires!” tag to keep the audience involved.
On the subject of vampires, they continue to provide bluntly delivered exposition for the series. Aido brings up the main villainess randomly in conversation to introduce her to the audience, but in context of the script it made no sense for him to discuss her apart from slapping the audience with information as apparently we’re not smart enough to connect the dots ourselves. This also counts for Takuma’s grandfather, Asato Ichijo; you’d think that being one of the eldest, most powerful and respected vampires in the community that he’d know better than to antagonise Kaname in a forbidden act to ask for his blood in public. The younger Night Class have to remind him of the taboo. Why? Because we’re not going to learn of the priceless nature of a Pureblood’s power without his out-of-character performance, it seems.
Either the English dub is becoming more tolerable or actually improving, because with every episode that passes there seems to be one less annoying voice. Ethan Murray provides the grave and presence to the high-prolific vampire Kaname, but still needs a little to work on bringing the darker, dangerous side to the creature he’s playing. Laura Bailey does a fantastic job as Maria Kurenai, hitting it on the nail from the get-go and able to portray her cute side and hidden darker agenda in the same sentence perfectly. In regards to the English script however; I’d like to interview the person involved in episode 9 and ask 2 questions. One; why bother rewriting ‘Pocky’ as ‘choco biscuits’? Every anime fan and Japanophile knows what ‘Pocky’ is, so what was the point? Secondly; there’s a line Aido says when he speaks to Zero, insulting him for not using honorific’s when speaking about a Pureblood. In the Japanese dub it makes sense as it’s part of their language and culture; it’s considered rude not to use a honorific at the end of names as it’s a mark of respect and a sign of the nature of the relationships between them. However in the English language it doesn’t work in the same context; we don’t use honorifics at the end of names in everyday conversation, and even within the series only the occasional ‘Lord Kaname’ is used, so it makes little sense for Aido to correct Zero in this way when watching the dub.
Although the presentation is above average, has great atmosphere and interesting story twists, it’s the dialogue-driven plot that will divide fans. There’s little action to speak of and the show seems to think we need every plot development spoken directly to us, living little to the imagination or time to just get on with it. However, the fan service will keep the vampire fans intrigued and the plot elements will prove this disc to be vital as we head towards the season finale.
