G.P.Manga Blog

I am not joking here people! If you have not read a single volume of this hit manga, get your booties over to your nearest bookstore and pick up a copy (hey, if you can afford it, pick up all 4 copies!!). I quite literally stayed up until 1am reading this sucker (er, no pun intended).

This Gothic tale of vampires and blood takes place at Cross Academy, where Chairman Cross has created two different class of students: the Day Class-filled with your average high school student-and the Night Class-filled with good-looking vampires. It is his belief, and hope, that the combined campus can create a better relationship and greater understanding between humans and vampires. Of course the vampires' presence on campus is to be kept a secret from the humans and to help protect this secret are Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu, Prefects. It is their job to ensure the safety of the Day Class and the anonymity of the Night Class.

But Zero would like nothing better than to see the vampires extinguished. On top of having come from a long line of vampire hunters, his parents where murdered four years prior by the beasts they hunted and he, himself, was bitten. He feels nothing but hatred and disgust towards them. Yuki, on the other hand, believes there are good vampires just like there are bad vampires. Her own earliest memories of being saved by a vampire from a vampire prove this. What's more, her rescuer, Kaname Kuran, is the dorm leader of the Night Class. An obvious love triangle if I've ever seen one!

Seriously folks. If you have a love for a very well plotted, well paced, action packed, heart-pounding, Gothic tale, pick this up. I would have to admit that the art work isn't top notch (namely the characters with their expressionless eyes and faces-which I am happy to say improve as the story progresses) but Matsuri Hino has done a fantastic job of creating a Gothic setting. From the school's architecture and uniforms, to the Victorian roses and scroll work, this is one manga that accurately illustrates the tone.

Now, just a warning. There are currently only 4 volumes available in English and 7 published in Japanese with an estimated 10 volumes total. The story is currently running in LaLa Magazine (one more reason to learn Japanese: chapter 39 is now out!) as well as Shojo Beat Magazine here in America. Also, as of April 7th, the official anime version has aired in Japan with 4 of the 26 episodes already shown. I would guess that it would be available to us in English sometime around winter of '09 or spring of 2010 (why so long?!) no doubt released by VIZ Media. There's also a novel based on Aidou (one of the characters from the main story) that has been published in Japan. Bets that VIZ picks this one up, too? Gods, I hope so!


Here are some links for you: The Official VIZ Vampire Knight page, The Official Anime website (Japanese), and as a special treat...