Vampire Knight (Generic Discussion thread)

[juss]

Originally Posted by Inujun

well vampires especially in shoujo manga have always had a bit of the erotic feel, in the sense that even the bite is considered as a vampire kiss. Look forward to how they actually animate those scenes

Heh, well yeah, I guess that didn't come out quite right. Vampires are generally considered erotic, but I guess the point that I was failing to make was that VK is....doing a good job of it. A lot of vampire narratives are just tits and gore (or in R +V's case, knickers and stuff) whereas I think that the whole design of VK, with the contrast between the blacks, whites and heavy doses of red, along with a very sexy, potential dangerous romance narrative works a treat.

[FuzzyWuzzy]

Nice episode. It wasn't great or anything like that but it was intriguing. At the ED I saw the girl having red eyes, I wonder if Kaname bit her and then erased/altered her memory when she was 5. Zero is definitely a vampire. I wonder if he is half vampire or full vampire or if there are stages to becoming a vampire and he is on stage 1.

Well I'll just watch some more. I hate anime like these that come from the manga, they are usually very limited in the ending. I hope they handle it well.

[Sheba]

I think Zero may be something like Blade or D. But I can be wrong.

[sapphire-pyro]

I watched the first episode. It's better than I expected. I SO LOVE IT xD

I am also very in love with the OP as well *_* Awesomeness xD

[SuperKnuckles]

Oh wow. I never had any expectation for this show, even lower than Zettai Karen and it blew me away.

The visuals is probably Studio Deen's best (I was shocked when I saw the ending credits), the seiyuu work is amazing thanks to its allstar cast (Yori sounding like Shigofumi's Fumika, and Zero reminded me of Setsuna F Seiei but both awesome).

The plot is already thickening by end of episode 1, and the most important of all: The vampires actually seem really threatening compared to the action-anime vampires that seem more human and don't really have the power of allure mythical, romantic vampires are supposed to have.

As for the music, it's all very stereotypically gothic, but I really wouldn't have it any other way. The ED sounds genuinely creepy and the cathedral/Gregorian chants set a pretty dark mood. I love it. Not exactly what I desired after having a nightmare just now, but the show actually was still pretty creepy despite a real nightmare. heh

[kari-no-sugata]

Originally Posted by FuzzyWuzzy

Zero is definitely a vampire. I wonder if he is half vampire or full vampire or if there are stages to becoming a vampire and he is on stage 1.

Let me refer you to my earlier comment on this:

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata

Anyway, Zero's situation will be explained pretty quickly. We'll have to wait quite a bit longer for the opening scene to be properly explained. Here's a general little note which is already seen in the first ep though not fully explained - in this series, there are multiple grades of vampire at a biological level.

Once we get into Zero's background story-arc (a few eps most likely) then we'll get the outline explanation of how things work in this series. It would be easy to spoil things so I'm trying to avoid that - besides, it's not impossible that the anime will take a different tack, though there's no indication of that so far.

[FuzzyWuzzy]

That blonde hair vampire is kind of funny. I wonder if he will die. He probably peed on his pants when he heard the gun shot. He was trying to be cool and then BAM.

[germanturkey]

^^ moments like that don't happen often much in the manga. humor goes out the window soon. (unless they change it from the source material)

so i'm looking forward to see what they'll animate in the show. there's a lot story to choose from and a whole bunch of omgwtf moments.

[sapphire-pyro]

Originally Posted by FuzzyWuzzy

That blonde hair vampire is kind of funny. I wonder if he will die. He probably peed on his pants when he heard the gun shot. He was trying to be cool and then BAM.

Aidou is freakin' adorable xD And I think he's voiced by Jun Fukuyama. FukuJun used the Watanuki of xxxHolic voice on him. DOUBLE the adorableness xD YAY!

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by SuperKnuckles

...The visuals is probably Studio Deen's best (I was shocked when I saw the ending credits)....

Studio Deen does well when they have Nishida Asako involved. She did the character design for this (adapted it from the manga), and was animation director/character designer for Simoun and Touka Gettan.

[PreSage]

Originally Posted by FuzzyWuzzy

Nice episode. It wasn't great or anything like that but it was intriguing. At the ED I saw the girl having red eyes, I wonder if Kaname bit her and then erased/altered her memory when she was 5.

According to Senestra, where bitten = turning - If Kaname had bitten her, then wouldn't she be a Vampire right now? But from episode one, one gets the sense that she isn't - otherwise, Zero wouldn't be so kind to her.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by Skyfall

Hm, good point. Thats why i said its hard for me to speculate without knowing how the vampire lore works here. But, here is a thought - being a vampire himself, it might not be impossible for Zero to have some insight regarding Yuuki's true self (assuming that is indeed the case and i am not just being delusional). If she is indeed something "abnormal"(which i find very likely) chances are high the headmaster would know and had informed Zero about some of the circumstances to avoid conflict/help cover the truth.

...

And consider this - if she indeed is a vampire (or a "doll"), that means the headmaster has been hiding the truth from her for various reasons (perhaps he wants her to live a normal life ? Perhaps her vampire self was so dangerous it had to be sealed? To protect herself from her past?). Now, given the environment she lives in, he must have considered the possibility of such accruing. We can also assume that all she knows about vampires as the "truth" has been told by the headmaster. If he indeed wants to conceal her true identity (be it a vampire or a "doll"), him telling her lies (to put it bluntly) to provide explanation for such situations is not unimaginable.

... or i might be completely in the left field, providing good material for the manga readers to laugh at. Who knows

If Zero has the faintest notion that Yuuki is a vampire (that is, IF she is truly a vampire as you speculate) then I wouldn't think he'd be so comfortable around her, least of all show such kindness to her (ie. use his tie to stop her bleeding). The hatred we know Zero harbours for Vampires is much too great for him to make any exceptions, even when it comes to Yuuki.

About the Headmaster hiding secrets, it's obvious he knows more about the current situation than he lets on. One interesting quote he said (more under his breath) in response to Zero's demand that someone else do the prefecture work was that the prefecture duties could only be carried out by Yuuki and Zero, then he continued by saying it was because they were the only ones he can trust. But from the way he said the first line, makes one wonder.

[Westlo]

Simoun or R.O.D TV (if you want to count it since it was a co production with J.C Staff) are probably the best tv shows by DEEN when it comes to visuals.

[SuperKnuckles]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Studio Deen does well when they have Nishida Asako involved. She did the character design for this (adapted it from the manga), and was animation director/character designer for Simoun and Touka Gettan.

Now that you mention it, I agree.

Touka Gettan was the singular most visually captivating one, though its plot was pretty crazy.

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by SuperKnuckles

Now that you mention it, I agree.

Touka Gettan was the singular most visually captivating one, though its plot was pretty crazy.

The most captivating thing in TG was that chicks thigh highs.... I forgot about TG it was pretty good too but I think Simoun was slightly better and ROD TV easily if it counts.

[SeedFreedom]

I dont usually watch shojo anime, but the screen caps seems interesting. i'll try out a few episodes.

[SuperKnuckles]

Originally Posted by Westlo

The most captivating thing in TG was that chicks thigh highs.... I forgot about TG it was pretty good too but I think Simoun was slightly better and ROD TV easily if it counts.

ROD had a nice, clean look (that clean look may be attributable to JC Staff). Simoun was pretty. The thing with Touka Gettan was how drastic its look was at times. Not as consistent, but when it was pretty, it was eyepopping for me. But Vampire Knight seems to be a return to form for the most part. The animation was nice and fluid too, for being a shoujo show.

[Sinestra]

im actually surprised to see so many people commenting on the limited comedy in the series, i cant wait to see the posts after the mind raping starts----------> insert evil laugh here

[PreSage]

Originally Posted by Sinestra

im actually surprised to see so many people commenting on the limited comedy in the series, i cant wait to see the posts after the mind raping starts----------> insert evil laugh here

My only concern is if they don't stick to the manga but I don't think that'll happen to a great extent, so I'm letting out a happy glee early.

[Sinestra]

Originally Posted by PreSage

My only concern is if they don't stick to the manga but I don't think that'll happen to a great extent, so I'm letting out a happy glee early.

im pretty confident about it which is why im so excited to see certain scenes animated. Plus watching everyone speculate as to what is really going on is fun too

[cindialai]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

One thing that has been bothering me - it was only a little bit, but Aido did bite Yuuki. Isn't that supposed to have some consequences ? (Though hard to tell for me without knowing how exactly the vampire lore works in VK). Or perhaps the lack of any consequences is a hint in itself ? If i assume the second, it gives some room for speculation tied together with another element - her memory loss. Obviously she didn't lose her memories prior to 10 years just like that - there has got to be something behind it.

At the moment i can think of two possibilities - first would be that she is some sort of a "doll" (this would tie nicely with the ED). Some sort of a "clone" (perhaps of the real Yuuki who would be dead?) or artificial human, created 10 years ago for some purpose, but somehow ended up being saved by Kaname. That would explain her memory lapse and maybe why she is not affected by the bite - she wouldn't be a "real" human.

The other far fetched theory i have is that she actually could be a vampire herself ... who somehow got sealed 10 years ago and lost all her memories of before, thus forgetting her vampire self. This would explain why she is not affected by the bite and would explain why the headmaster was willing to take her in - both her and Zero are special cases. The problem i have with this is that i don't think a simple memory loss would make things like bloodlust go away.

Oh well, don't mind me - just rambling here ... its just that i get the feeling there will be much more going on than a simple pseudo love triangle

Spoiler:

also only pure-bloods can turn a human to vampire... it is only mention that kaname is pureblood while others in the school are aristocrat and higher so most likely aido isn't a pureblood cuz it seems like kaname is more superior: here's the vampire pyramid: Pureblood>aristocrat> normal>exhuman vamp>failed ex human vamp