Vampire Knight [Season 1] - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[White Manju Bun]

This thread is to be used for discussing the entire 13 episodes of Vampire Knight ... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions etc.

A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:
General impression of the series.
Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.
Thoughts about the animation quality.
Characters/Character Design


How did the anime compare with the manga?
Whether there should be more footage (DVD only) that you think it might be worthy.
What the show meant to you.
What could the creators/animators/writers could have done better.
And so on.

The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:

Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Adaptation from Manga: 1-10
Editing: 1-10

Average = Total Series Rating

Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.

Please remember this is just for Season 1 any talk of Season 2 should be kept in the Spoilers and Speculation threads.

[SkoolRumble4Ya]

I gave it an 8/10 because it was lacking in some areas in my opinion. Second season might change my opinion though.

[Nvis]

Shouldn't this subforum be put in the older series?

[Eps~]

Animation Quality: 7. Some episodes/moments were really poorly done.
Voice Actors: 10. Perfect.
Script: 8. The story itself was very well written. However I can't justify that since I haven't read the manga.
Adaptation from Manga: / Abstrain from vote, didn't read it.
Editing: 9

Average score: 8.5. And since I'm feeling generous today, I'll give it a 9 :D

[Aizu]

Vampire Knight was good enough for me, but they spoiled manga. Ah, i think, that this is a modern feature now. Starting from Zero no Tsukaima, Shana and ending with Rosario to Vampire. But it was not so terrible, because last episode in season 1 was good and I'm waiting now for the second season. Now, my ratings :

Animation Quality: 8. A lack of animation-quality sometimes.
Voice Actors: 10. Perfect.
Script: 8. Nice.
Adaptation from Manga: 7. They changed it, yes, especially in the second half, but they changed the story not so bad.
Editing: 8

And my overall rating (i will not count it like average from script, adaption ratings and so on) will be 9 (but really, it deserves something around 8, but I like it), because I like this story. It's good and interesting.

[Zaseka]

Although I love the manga very very much, they just fucked up with the anime big time story and animation wise.

Animation Quality: 5 no really, sometimes it's good but mostly it was really bad. The faces were especially bad.
Voice Actors: 10 I think they were the only really good thing about the anime, Mamoru's Zero was just delicious.
Script: 8 The script was mostly from the manga anyway, but the original one..some was actually fun.
Adaptation from Manga: 5 No really just cutting half of the manga out to end the first season "logically"...disappointment. Why do they need a hiatus anyway? I'd rather wait half a year and watch the whole anime altogether, without mixing everything up.
Editing: 8

A 7 it is, but since I'm on my period, I'll make that 6 :heh:

[The Lord of Dark]

i don't love this type of anime , although it's realy good ..

[Taler]

6/10.

While the execution was good, the show as a whole had nothing for me. The lead girl was also far underused, but then the plot was nearly non-existent here, so there was nothing for her to do. Zero emoness was boring boring, creators should realize that after 200 years of vampire stories vampires that doesn't want to drink blood don't need 3 espisodes worth of time to explain!

How I would've fixed it if I were the editor: Compress/combine episode 1+2. Start with vampire lady's arc from episode 3. Cut out Zero no want blood/Level E entirely, make the vampire hunter even more minor as a character, and proceed from there to the next arc.

[LKK]

Music = 10. Moody, atmospheric -- everything the music for a gothic vampire series should be.

Voice acting = 10. Zero's voice actor in particular deserves high praise, but everyone did a great job as well.

Story as pure anime = 9. As a manga reader, I know that there were parts skipped over. Parts whose absense may prove problematic for season 2. But looking at the show based purely on what was presented in the anime, the story flowed remarkably well.

Story as a manga adaptation = 8. Some vital parts of the manga were dropped. As I said, this may prove problematic eventually.

OP/ED = 7. The good: the songs were excellent. The bad: the animation dropped several times within the songs. The offensive: too many spoilers for a season 1 set of credits.

Animation quality = 5. VK's animation was the most consistently inconsistent I think I've ever seen. One minute the animation would be top-notch. The next minute the animation would be horrid. Back and forth, often within the same scene. I never knew from minute to minute whether I'd be agog with appreciation or dismay.

Averaged score for the series = 8.17 --> 8

[Sorrow-K]

I had this reviewed (http://www.nihonreview.com/anime/vampire-knight/) a while ago. I gave this "Above Average", which translates closer to "7" on the ASuki scale than it does to "6".

The plot itself was decent, and it had a good dollop of drama and mystery, and the characters were given enough justification that their decisions made sense, even if they weren't always completely likable (the obvious exception being Kaname, who is still a complete enigma). I also liked some of the show's concepts, such as its willingness to play up the angst and dark romanticism of the vampire world, and the genre mixing.

What I didn't like included the fact that it ended when it did, and that it has almost as many unanswered questions as string theory. Yes, I know they'll probably be answered in the next season, but the break in continuum is jarring. Also, the aesthetics were woefully inconsistent. And I couldn't stand Chairman Cross. He was so dedicated to comic relief that when his time came to be important to the plot, he was almost impossible to take seriously.

It's a hit and miss show overall, but there's enough good stuff in it to make it salvageable.

[CMHerrera]

I liked it pretty much gave it an 6

[King Lycan]

Animation Quality: 6
Voice Actors:10
Script: 8/10
Adaptation from Manga: 10
Averaged score: 8

[Prov1]

Animation Quality: 1 The characters looked... Well horrible
Voice Actors:1 The girl's voice really annoyed me. The main char girl
Script: 1 The dialogue was so horrible and so unnatural... That girl was really pissing me off. The guy who refused to drink blood had horrible lines. Wouldn't really be surprised if he commited suicide from working on Vampire Knight.
Adaptation from Manga: -(can't say)
Averaged score: 1

[King Lycan]

>_>...pretty harsh

[Stardust Romance]

Animation Quality: 7-it needs to be more consistent.The animators need to work on Kaname more ( i think its his hair lol ) The fight scenes ( Ichiru/Zero ) weren't the best either even though this isn't an action anime but I guess the budget was very limited.

Voice Actors:9.5-the only voice I was iffy with was Yagari.It was sexy in all but too deep for me ^^

Script: 7.5

Adaptation from Manga: 8.5-with only ONE filler,I'm pleased.I'm glad they sticked to the manga fairly well & kept the characters in check.The only thing that I didn't like were some of the bite scenes.Sometimes it felt like Studio Deen backed off from all the bloody-goodness of it even thought they're the same people who did Higurashi ( i thought it would be no problem but i guess i'm wrong )

Editing: 8

Average =7
I definately digg the music
;D

[Sinestra]

Animation Quality: 1 The characters looked... Well horrible
Voice Actors:1 The girl's voice really annoyed me. The main char girl
Script: 1 The dialogue was so horrible and so unnatural... That girl was really pissing me off. The guy who refused to drink blood had horrible lines. Wouldn't really be surprised if he commited suicide from working on Vampire Knight.
Adaptation from Manga: -(can't say)
Averaged score: 1

WOW:twitch: i think in all my years of watching anime i have never given an anime that bad of score break down and that includes Dragonaut.

[Shizuka Hiou]

^
Lol dragonauts
haha
ya that series was quite random and rushed in many aspects.

Animation Quality: 6 (near the end it was getting bit bad...)_
Voice Actors: 8
Script: 8
Adaptation from Manga: 10 (i think they followed it really well)
Editing: 8

overall: 8

[lovescent]

i gave it an 8 .. very good

animation: 6 , started out good but then.. :(
voice actor: 10, loved them all
Script: 7
Adaptation from Manga: cant say, havn't read it
Editing: 7

i guess it should've been about a 7 .. but i gave it an 8 for the amazing score
i really liked the music , so ..

overall: 8

[Rainmaker]

Animation Quality: 6. It deteriorated along the way, towards the end, in particular.
Voice Actors: 9
Script: 8
Adaptation from Manga: - [didn't finish the manga]
Editing: 8

I agree with BunnyCupCakes. The music was pretty good, for the most of the time.

[MercFH]

I gave it a 7.
mainly because while it was a good show, like from beginning to middle......the animation changed a bunch (it was still good) but towards the end.....i dunno it just lost some steam, and ended up not being as good as it should've been.

and No anime deserves all 1's. i respect everyones opinions but usually when someone gives all 1's for something....it means they have some ANTI-whatever about it. and I wonder if they even watch it......oh well.

but yeah a Solid 7........i mean IT being VK made it cool, but alot of the stuff was overdramatic+angst, and they kinda continued with that too much.

[$akura]

Animation Quality: 8.7/10
Voice Actors: ???
Script: ???
Adaptation from Manga: ???
Editing: ???

I've only read the manga, so I don't have a whole lot of criticism for the anime (though I've watched the opening/ending and have seen AMVs, which was what I based my opinion on the animation on).

[MooMooFarm]

They named Zero Zero so he could try to score brownie points from the viewers using a cliche "cool" name, but all that did was add to his awkwardness and inferiority.

Later in the show, they pretty much put scenes in to make it look like Kaname is a bad guy.

And they hinted Yuuki as a vampire when the Cross Chairman grouped her and zero together saying I DONT CONSIDER THEM VAMPIRES. It's like, WOW BUDDY WAY TO SPOIL? It's like as dumb as putting fox whiskers on Naruto and having someone say in the first episode, ARE YOU A KYUUBI? Oh wait they did half of that already.

:] scenes were done a lot cuter than special A though, so I'm happy I could actually watch. Fight scenes were dur dur dur, should focus less. And less zero, it's like a vampire sasuke but is GIMPIER than his rival. I'm not saying these type of characters shouldn't exist, but you've gotta get away from the mold and at least give them something over others. Kaname, if you take out the scenes that make him look evil, is a completely superior person in EVERY WAY. So if Zero wins Yuuki, you get people like me going, DUR PLOT DEVICE OR RETARDED PEOPLE? and if Zero doesn't win, he's pretty much the rival that never was, though there were lots of scenes where he pretty much did win like with him sucking on Yuuki.

>.> and yeah, the anime looks better than the manga by quite a bit, to the point where I rather wait for S2 than to read. That's quite a compliment, considering I'm the guy who jumps ship on anime when fillers pop and read manga and never go back, or worse, read manga first, and don't even bother with anime T_T even if I wanted to.

Best part of this season/series so far, is the episode when they had Yuuki/Kaname's past. That was Kawaii =] enough to make this a 8/10 alone not including anything else positive. Lil girl with tiny mittens on = ^_________^ and there's even snow! And the show also was done silly enough where I'd never question why 100 students could be kept back by 2 people across over 200 meters of ground.

[LastOrder]

I prefer the manga over the anime. The manga has much more depth than the anime.

[incube]

While the execution was good, the show as a whole had nothing for me. The lead girl was also far underused, but then the plot was nearly non-existent here, so there was nothing for her to do. Zero emoness was boring boring, creators should realize that after 200 years of vampire stories vampires that doesn't want to drink blood don't need 3 espisodes worth of time to explain

Totally agree with you. It was really boring to watch but since it only has 13 episodes and the music / voice were really good i managed to finish it somehow... the story felt as if it didnt go anywhere.

Music: 8
Animation: 5
Voice Actors:10
Script: 6

Overall rating: 7

[saku-san]

well i gave it a 6 n this is y
there r good important points not used from the manga n i think i would be better if they used them n then the one episode that doesnt happen in the manga i think it was episode # 6 or so
then it skiped alot!!!
but then agein its a good story n eazy to follow n i hope that the 2nd season is a bit better that this one but thats just me other ppl might hate me for this n its kool
also i would of likes to see a bit more from the manga n not add-ons
its turning into fruits basket alover agein then agein its only wat i think

but i still love it n all n cant wait till the next season comes out ^_^

[Kittycountess]

I didn't read the manga (at least not the parts that were in the anime,) so I can't compare. What I can say is that there was a lot of potential for "goodness" in the anime that got wasted. One glaring one that keeps nagging at me still is that, like MooMooFarm mentioned, for a moment towards the end I thought they were going to make Kaname evil. That, IMO, would have been a superb development considering how much he was glorified throughout the story. I kept thinking about the delicious possibilities this would present now that Zero was going to be the only nice suitor for Yuuki and the bad guy would be someone she'd be in love with but has the good guy in his claws...and so on and so forth. Alas it all fell apart in the last scene and put things back to square one. It really disappointed me. I know it's not the fault of the animators since the story is from the manga but I can't get it out of my head what a great opportunity for story development got lost there.

I am now reading the rest of the story in the manga and frankly getting tired of it. It's like the same thing over and over: Kaname gushes over Yuuki, Zero angsts/gets ill, Yuuki can't seem to decide which one she wants but surprisingly keeps both of them at arms length with little effort, the day class froths at their mouths over the night class, the chairman acts goofy, the hunter guy is the only teacher in the night class...rinse, repeat.

[Lilith]

So... Who's "Vampire Knight"? Yuuki? :heh:

This was a good anime: 7/10.

I like Zero a lot. To me, the main character of Vampire Knight is Zero not Yuuki. Everything is revolving around him: his hatered to vampires, his transformation, his agony after transformation, his past of his twin brother and Shizuka, his feelings toward Yuuki and Kaname and finally becoming a Level E.

I also liked the almost-erotic bloood sucking scenes.

Although it might be unfair to say this now since the story is still going, the use of "vampire" plot is weak and many things are too cliched, silly or not explained. So, sometimes I regard Vampire Knight as a pure romantic story in which the main girl (Yuuki) can't decide between her best friend (Zero) and her chilhood crush (Kaname).

...make Kaname evil. That, IMO, would have been a superb development considering how much he was glorified throughout the story.
I disagree. There's more development when we're not entirely certain if Kaname is good or evil (like someone said, Kaname is gambling on both sides).

[Morier]

After I saw this anime it went instantly to the top of my all time favorites list.
There is something about it that grasped onto me like no other.
Perhaps its my fetish for vampires and anime combined?
But there are other vampire animes out there... >>;
Honestly. I have no idea why I am so drawn in.
But. I am. And hence a perfect 10!

[MaiHikari]

3/10 points: 1 for op, 1 for ed, and 1 for animation.

The only thing this anime had was the op and ed. Love love love the music. The good animation was wasted over an awful plot that seemed like it could go somewhere but went nowhere. The rinse & repeat comment was so true. Yuuki has got to be the worst main girl ever.

Come on! They're VAMPIRES! There are millions of stories about them because they're so fascinating, erotic, and intriguing. But the story managed to FAIL. That's saying something.

And then I watched the first ep of season 2, primarily for the op and ed. If I ever had hope for the plot, I would have been disappointed.

Rinse & Repeat.

[Morier]

o_O Strong personal opinion...
But I thought the plot was amazing...
It was centered around Zero becoming a Level E as much as
Yuuki was main, to me she wasn't really main... Zero was the main character
in my eyes... It was all leading up to his transformation... that was shockingly
stopped by Kaname... I see that highly interesting. >>'

But then again we are all entitled to personal opinions.

[vicki.kitty]

Animation Quality: 8.5 [not bad]
Voice Actors: 9.5 [always room for more improvement^^]
Script: 9 [very interesting]
Adaptation from Manga: 8.5 → haven't read the whole manga yet
Editing: 8

overall: 9