Vampire Knight I & II

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Vampire Knight Volume I & II by Matsuri Hino
Reason for Reading: Manga Challenge
Rating: 2.5/5

Quick summary: At Cross Academy, there is a Day Class and a Night Class who interact independently... what the Day Class doesn't know is that the Night Class is made up of vampires. For Yuki Cross, adopted daughter of the headmaster, her earliest memory is of being rescued from a vampire attack by one of the vampires who now attends Cross Academy. She shares the duty of being a Guardian of the academy with her brooding friend, Zero, but finds herself unexpectedly drawn towards Kaname, the vampire who rescued her.

Quick review: The first volume kept me intrigued enough that I picked up volume II, but the things that annoyed me slightly in the first book ended up REALLY bugging me by the second book, so I don't think I'll be picking up any more. Yuki is an interesting character. What kept me interested enough to read two of the novels was her conflicted relationship with Zero. He antagonizes her like they are brother and sister, but there is an undertone of sexual tension to their friendship. Plus, there is a lot more to the pretty bad-ass Zero than meets the eye. However, in the end, let's just say that this manga novel reminded me too much of Twilight, with enough plot holes to sail a ship through. (Yuki's the adopted daughter of the headmaster... why do the two of them appear excessively frightened by their Night Class? And don't get me started on the uniforms, expressly designed to reveal the neck for purposes that must be obvious in a vampire novel). The final nail in this coffin, though, was the artwork. I was struggling to tell some of the vampires apart and the action scenes are so frenzied that I literally missed the most important plot point of the second volume because I just couldn't follow the action sequences. I even went back and looked at it later, and I still think it was confusing to follow.

Should I read it? Maybe. It looks to be a relatively popular manga series, and for all I know later volumes might redeem this series.