[BOOK REVIEW] Vampire Knight Volume 2 by Matsuri Hino

Title:  Vampire Knight Volume 2

Author:  Matsuri Hino

Genre: Horror / Romance



Year Published: 2005



Year Read: 2013



Series: Vampire Knight #2



Publisher: VIZ Media


Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 15+ (Gory Violence)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Usually, I have a tough time reviewing manga because the stories are pretty consistent throughout their runs and sometimes it is hard to review a single volume without at least dredging up the storylines from the last volume.  But, review I shall since I have so much to say about the second volume of Matsuri Hino’s popular series, “Vampire Knight!”

 In this volume, Yuki Cross, one of the guardians of Cross Academy, realizes that her partner, Zero Kiryu is having trouble coping with being a vampire after a terrible incident where a vampire killed his family years ago.  Not only that, but when Yuki goes outside of school grounds one night, she is suddenly attacked by a vampire and since she injured herself early on, she could not defend herself against the vampire!  However, two students from the Night Class (who are also vampires) ended up saving Yuki from the attack.  When Yuki asks the two night class students (who turns out to be Takuma Ichijo and Senri Shiki) why they rescued her, they ended up telling her that once she comes to the Moon Dormitory at midnight, all will be explained.

What will Yuki find out?

Read this volume to find out!

Now, it has been awhile since I had read the first volume of Matsuri Hino’s “Vampire Knight” series and my memory is a bit rusty about what this series is all about.  So, let me just recap a bit about what the overall gist of the series is:

*Cross Academy is a school that is attended by two groups of students.  One group of students is called the Day Class where normal human beings attend during the day and the other group of students is called the Night Class, where only the vampire students attend.

*Basically, the goal of Cross Academy is to have humans and vampires live together in peace and harmony.

*Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu are the guardians of Cross Academy as they make sure that the Day Class students do not associate with the Night Class in order to protect them from the vampires.

Now that I recapped the idea about this series, I now would like to give out my opinion on this volume!  Matsuri Hino has done a brilliant job at writing and illustrating this novel as the characters are all extremely memorable and the artwork is gorgeous to look at.  I loved the way that Matsuri Hino really portrayed both Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu as they truly stood out so much in this novel.  It was really intense in seeing Zero Kiryu coming to terms with being a vampire and how he is constantly suffering throughout this volume because he does not want to give in to the allure of sucking blood from human beings.  Yuki Cross was a truly amazing character in this volume as she was the one who tried to help Zero Kiryu through his ordeal and I loved the fact that Yuki is so kind towards Zero, despite knowing that he is a vampire.  I also loved the humor in this novel and despite the fact that this series is about VAMPIRES; there are many hilarious moments between the characters especially during the scene where Yuki and Zero go shopping!  Matsuri Hino’s artwork is truly gorgeous to look at as the characters’ hairstyles are creative and just looks so smooth.  I also loved the way that Matsuri Hino put some shadowing on some panels where the characters have intense looks on their faces as it really brings in a somber mood to the scene.

There are some bloody scenes in this novel, especially with some of the vampire characters sucking blood out of some miscellaneous characters and that can be a bit disturbing to anyone who does not like seeing blood in a manga.  Also, this was something that bothered me a bit personally, but the fact that Zero Kiryu spends almost the majority of the volume brooding about being a vampire and trying to resist his urges of draining blood from humans got a bit tiresome for me.  I understand that what we are seeing is Zero struggling with his inner demons, but I would like to see Zero actually trying to overcome this ordeal and try to move on with his life despite being a vampire.

Overall, “Vampire Knight: Volume Two” is a great volume for anyone who is a huge fan of Matsuri Hino’s “Vampire Knight” series and is definitely worth checking out!