Vampire Knight

Vampire Knight (ヴァンパイア騎士) is a shōjo manga and anime series written by Matsuri Hino. The series premiered in the January 2005 issue LaLa magazine and is still on-going. Chapters are collected and published in collected volumes by Hakusensha, with eight volumes currently released in Japan. The manga series is licensed for an English language release by Viz Media. The English adaptation premiered in the June 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 premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 7, 2008 and is still airing. The anime uses many of the same voice actors as was used for the drama CDs.

Story
Yuuki's earliest memory is of a snowy night in winter, when she was attacked by a vampire and was saved by another, Kuran Kaname. Ten years later, Yuuki Cross, the adopted daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, has grown up and become a prefect (or guardian) for the school, with two purposes: To protect the Day class students (humans) from the Night class students(vampires) fangs and to protect the true identity of the Night class students from being discovered by the Day class students. Her fellow guardian, Zero Kiryuu-kun, a childhood companion whose family was killed by a pureblood vampire (Kuran Kaname is a pureblood, but not the murderer of Zero's family.) is now determined to kill them all and refuses to trust them. Through a cruel twist of fate, Zero becomes a vampire himself, having been bitten by the pure blood vampire four years before.

Kaname, Yuuki's savior, leads the group of Night class, with the help of Takuma Ichijou.

Setting
The vampires in Vampire Knight have the characteristics of a separate species, which contrasts with most vampire stories which portray vampires as transformed humans. In Vampire Knight, vampires can have children among themselves and with humans, and they age, albeit at a much slower rate than humans. Vampires are nocturnal and they dislike sunlight, but exposure to it does not harm them. They are likewise immune to most of the traditional vampire weaknesses such as crosses, garlic, and holy water. They can also regenerate quickly and easily when wounded, therefore, making them very hard to kill unless a weapon made especially for vampire hunting is used. This weapon is a gun called Bloody Rose. In episode 6, an example of a bullet that contains anti-vampire magic can also be used to kill a vampire.

Vampires organize their society based on the purity of their blood. Level A are the Purebloods - a very small but very powerful minority. Only a bite from a Pureblood can change a human into a vampire. Pureblood siblings sometimes marry each other to keep the bloodline pure, which is not a rare practice. Level B refers to Noble vampires with advanced powers. Ordinary vampires make up Level C, by far the largest group. Level D is comprised of vampires who were once human; they are a small group, as turning humans into vampires is forbidden and only a handful of Level A vampires would dare to. The final designation, Level E, is separated from the others because it is reserved for former human vampires who have become violently insane. Falling to Level E is considered the inevitable fate of all former human vampires, who can never completely accept their vampiric instincts and their need for blood. Level D or E vampires are left in the care of Level B vampires and purebloods, so they can keep them in check.

Vampires have warred with human vampire hunters for centuries, though the existence of vampires, and the war itself, is kept secret from most humans.

Yuki Cross (黒主優姫)
Yuki is the adopted daughter of the Head master at Cross Academy and is a member of the Discipinary Committee, also known as a Guardian. She, like Chairman Cross, believes that vampires and humans can live together peacefully. She also faces the challenge of trying to save Zero from becoming a Level E, a mad and bloodthirsty vampire. Yuki has no memory of her life before she was 5, due to the work of her mother, Juri Kuran. Yuki now seems distant to Zero and Kaname when she found out Kaname is her brother and is engaged to him...

Zero Kiryu (錐生零)
Zero's family was killed by the pureblood vampire Shizuka Hiou. He was taken in by the headmaster of Cross Academy, and became a Guardian. Yet he has a great hatred for them even though he is now one himself (Level D), due to Shizuka's attack four years ago. It seems that Zero likes Yuki much more than a sister or a friend that it is possible he is in love with Yuki.

Kaname Kuran (玖蘭枢)
Kaname is a pureblood vampire (Level A)that saved Yuki from a Level E vampire 10 years prior to the events of Vampire Knight, when she was 5, and brought her to the headmaster. Also, he is the president of the Night Class and Moon Dormitory, both respected and feared by the members of the Night Class. He has a deep love for Yuuki and hurts him to see that she has been giving blood to Zero

Manga
Vampire Knight, written by Matsuri Hino, premiered in the January 2005 issue LaLa magazine. Chapters are collected and published in collected volumes by Hakusensha, with eight volumes currently released in Japan. The series is licensed for an English language release by Viz Media. The English adaptation premiered in the June 2006 issue of Viz's Shojo Beat magazine, with the collected volumes being published on a quarterly basis. The English translation of the manga appears once a month.

Drama CDs
Two drama CDs have been released for Vampire Knight. The first, LaLa Kirameki was released as a bonus with the September 2005 issue of LaLa Magazine. 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 as was used for the drama CDs. The anime premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 7, 2008 and is still airing.