sabila's blog: Vampire Knight

Vampire Knight (ヴァンパイア騎士 Vanpaia Naito) is a shōjo manga and anime series written by Matsyuri Hino. The series premiered in the January 2005 issue of LaLa magazine and is still on-going. Chapters are collected and published in collected volumes by Hakusensha, with fifteen volumes currently released in Japan. The manga series is licensed in English by Viz Media, who has released fourteen volumes so far. The English adaptation premiered in the July 2006 issue of Viz's Shojo Beat magazine, with the collected volumes being published on a quarterly basis.

Two drama CDs were created for the series, as well as a twenty-six episode anime adaptation. Produced by Studio Deen, the anime series' first season aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 8, 2008 and July 1, 2008. The second season, aired on the same station from October 7, 2008 and December 30, 2008. The anime uses many of the same voice actors as were used for the drama CDs. The anime adaptations were licensed for release in North America by Viz Media, the DVD released on July 20, 2010.

Yuuki's earliest memory is of a stormy night in winter, where she was attacked by a vampire... And then rescued by another. Now 10 years later, Yuuki Cross, the adopted daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, has grown up and become a guardian of the vampire race, protecting her childhood crush, Kaname, from discovery as he leads a group of vampires at the elite boarding school. But also at her side is Zero Kiryuu, a childhood friend who’s hatred for the creatures that destroyed everything he held dear, is now determined never to trust them. This coexisting arrangement seems all well and good, but have the vampires truly renounced their murderous ways, or is there a darker truth behind their actions? Because in this world of secrets, nothing is as it seems. And the price of misplaced trust may even be worse than death.

Manga

The first chapter of Matsuri Hino's Vampire Knight premiered in the January 2005 issue of LaLa, where the series is still running. The individual chapters are being collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha, with fifteen volumes released in Japan as of December 2011. The series is licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. In addition to publishing the individual volumes, the series was serialized in Viz's Shojo Beat manga anthology from the July 2006 issue until the magazine was discontinued after the August 2009 issue. It is licensed for English release in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment, which has released fifteen volumes as of December 2011.

Drama CDs

Two drama CDs have been released for Vampire Knight. The first, LaLa Kirameki, was released as an extra with the September 2005 issue of LaLa. The second, Vampire Knight Midnight CD-Pack, was released only via mail order.

Anime

Studio Deen produced a twenty-six episode anime adaptation of the Vampire Knight manga, using many of the same voice actors featured on the drama CDs and directed by Kiyoko Sayama. The episodes started airing on TV Tokyo in Japan on April 8, 2008 and ran until the season conclusion on July 1, 2008. The episodes were also aired at later dates on TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Osaka, TV Setouchi, and TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting Co. The second season, named Vampire Knight Guilty, premiered on the same station October 7, 2008. The final episode aired on December 30, 2008. On July 24, 2009, Viz Media announced it had acquired the license for the Vampire Knight anime and would begin releasing it to DVD on July 20, 2010. In the UK, the first volume was officially released on DVD via Manga Entertainment on November 22, 2010. In Australia, ABC3 began airing the series (English-language version) in March 2011 and began repeats on July 3rd later that year. Many of the younger fans of the series speculate a 3rd Season, no Season 3 has been confirmed by Studio Deen, Lala Japan or Matsuri Hino herself. Some of the fan made names for this so called Season 3 include: Vampire Knight Destiny, Vampire Knight Truth, Vampire Knight Fate and Vampire Knight Obsession.

The series uses four pieces of theme music. The opening themes of both the first and second season are performed by the duo On/Off, with "Futatsu no Kodō to Akai Tsumi" (ふたつの鼓動と赤い罪) as the opening for the first season, and "Rinne Rondo" (輪廻 -ロンド-Rinne) as the opening for the second. Kanon Wakeshima performs the first season ending theme, "Still Doll", and also the second season's ending theme "Suna no Oshiro" (砂のお城). The soundtrack is composed by Takefumi Haketa and consists of 30 tracks (including the opening theme and ending theme).

Light novels

Two light novels created by Matsuri Hino and Ayuna Fujisaki were published in Japan by Hakusensha in 2008. Both novels feature two individual side-stories that use the characters of the manga, but are not specifically based on chapters from the series. The first novel, Vampire Knight: Ice Blue's Sin (ヴァンパイア騎士憂氷の罪 Vanpaia Naito: Aisu Burū no Tsumi), was published on April 5, 2008. The first story within the novel looks at an incident that occurred at Cross Academy in the year preceding Yuki's arrival, while the second story details an accident that occurred while Zero was still in training to be a vampire hunter.

The second novel, Vampire Knight: Noir's Trap (ヴァンパイア騎士凝黒の罠 Vanpaia Naito: Nowāru no Wana), was published on October 3, 2008. The story focuses on two minor characters from the manga, following their unrequited love at Cross Academy, as well as detailing the accident that happened when Kain and Ruka go to visit Senri and Rima's modeling studio.

Video game

Vampire Knight DS (ヴァンパイア騎士 DS Vanpaia Naito Dīesu) is a Japanese dating simulator based on Vampire Knight that was released by D3 Publisher in Japan in January 2009.

Fanbook

In November 2008, the official Vampire Knight, titled Vampire Knight Fanbook: Cross (ヴァンパイア騎士ファンブックX Vanpaia Naito Fanbukku Kurosu), was published in Japan. In addition to providing additional information about the series characters and story, it includes images and details from Hino's storyboard. The fanbook has been licensed by Viz Media and was released on October 19, 2010.

Artbook

A 94 page Matsuri Hino Illustrations Vampire Knight was released on July 5, 2010, the artwork included one original double page spread created for the Artbook and a compilation of 100 previously released Vampire Knight color artworks.

Images