Vampire Knight, Volume 2 (Vampire Knight) | Matsuri Hino

Vampire Knight, Volume 2 (Vampire Knight) | Matsuri Hino | A new twist on a much-used theme...

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Vampire Knight, Vo...

	Vampire Knight, Volume 2 (Vampire Knight) Matsuri Hino VIZ Media LLC, 2007 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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Cross Academy is attended by two groups of students: the Day Class and the Night Class. At sunset, when the students of the Day Class return to their dorm, they cross paths with the Night Class on their way to school. Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu are the Guardians of the school, there to protect the Day Class from the Academy's dark secret: the Night Class is full of vampires.

A great read

I thought this book was as good as its predecesior. It kept me interested and wanting to read. The art is very good with a great plot line to go with it. It is a bit more gothic than other Manga by Matsuri Hino and if you have read her previous work you may not enjoy it. The book could use more action but all in all I enjoyed it and recomend it for fans of Fruits Basket.

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A new twist on a much-used theme...

This story is, I think, a huge departure from "MeruPuri". In any event, there hasn't been any sex (actually no one has even really kissed) but the story is still erotic. Pretty boy vampires, bloodsucking, more pretty boy vampires; I guess those are the right ingredients for an erotic shojo manga. I've been following it in the Shojo Beat magazine because I am way too impatient to wait for the volumes to come out (look how far they've spaced out the releases!) and the story gets better and better. So even though I read the whole volumes in the monthly installments before the bound volumes were published, I still have to buy a copy (that is how hooked I am on this series).

I won't go into a synopsis because that has already been done but this is definitely worth a read. The story is surprising, intense, erotic, dark but very prettily drawn. Not a lot happens in each volume but that is not to say that each volume is boring. It is more like the manga-ka takes the time to convey so much without actions (or even words).

I think the manga-ka shows more depth than she did in "MeruPuri" (and I am not trying to insult "MeruPuri" because I actually enjoyed that story). But comparing "MeruPuri" to "Vampire Knight" is like comparing nonfat yogurt to devil's food cake.

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More on the Night Class

This volume of Vampire Knight shows us a bit more about the lifestyle of the Night Class and tons about the relationship between Yuki and Zero.

As it begins, Yuki and Zero encounter a berserk vampire on school ground, but are rescued by two Night Class students - Ichijo, who does most of the talking, and a gaminesque boy named Shiki. As Yuki is slightly wounded Ichijo and Shiki quicky depart so as not to trigger their bloodlust; but Ichijo calls after them that they should come to the Moon Dorm later that night once Yuki's wound has been looked to if they want to talk further about what just happened.

With a sense of foreboding but unable to resist the offer, Yuki arrives with Zero and are met at the entranceway by Aido and Kain, who escort them into the menacing heart of Moon Dorm to witness the dark secrets of...

A birthday party.

It turns out that several members of the Night Class are partying the night away, as it happens to be Ichijo's big 18th, and he warmly invites both Yuki and Zero in and even offers them some slices of cake. As Ichijo is Kaname's Veep, he presumably got the second largest number of votes in the class elections, and it's not hard to see why. While Kaname seems to inspire sheer awe, Ichijo is genuinely friendly and likeable. In fact, under his auspices the celebration seems downright human, and fun seems to be being had by all in spite of some talk of the incident earlier in the evening. Even broody Kaname apparently thinks enough of him to make an appearance.

But of course, the Night Class are still vampires with all that implies, as good intentioned as some of them seem to be they're not in fact human, and a seemingly innocent incident triggers Zero's symptoms and he's forced to leave post haste with a worried Yuki in pursuit.

It's now that the full force of her commitment to Zero hits Yuki as she's faced with the reality of his condition being ongoing and not a one-shot deal, and exactly what it's going to take both physically and emotionally if she wants him to live. And just as they're grappling with this, Zero's former master, a vampire hunter who trained and looked after him at times when his parents were on duty, arrives to see if his services are required...

Nothing new under the sun, but for some slightly darker guilty pleasure reading fun enough to keep going for those who are inclined towards this type of story - and if you got past the first volume, you know who you are.

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Still waffling on this one.

Matsuri Hino, Vampire Knight, vol. 2 (ViZ, 2005)

The second volume concerning Yuki and her classmates shows Hino falling into a trap that maybe most folks don't mind, but that bugs the heck out of me-- an author's obsessive need to retell large sections of the story (leaving, of course, less room for new material). Do we need to be reminded in every chapter that the night class is made up of vampires? (And that's just the tip of the iceberg.) Still, when we do get new material, there's a good amount of character development and revelations of past events that have brought our main characters to where they are, so if you can overlook the retelling thing, this book's just as good as the last one; I'm going to keep going with the series and see where we're being taken, at least. ***

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