Adventures in Anime #2: Vampire Knight

Alexa and I are reviving are an old collaborative feature we used to have called Friends with Anime and renamed it Adventures in Anime! The idea is simple – we watch anime together and then we answer 6 questions about what we enjoyed most. We'll do our best to keep it spoiler-free but we will be mentioning our favorites so keep that in mind!

We recently watched Vampire Knight, which was certain different from my usual anime. There are two seasons and its main heroine is Yuki Cross. She's the adopted daughter of Kaien Cross, the headmaster of Cross Academy and one of its guardians. What makes this boarding school special is that allows vampires and humans to co-exist, although the latter don't realize it. But Yuki's role as guardian to keep the peace and safety and helping her is Zero Kiryu, another student and her childhood friend. He actually came to live with Yuki and her father as a child after his family has a deadly encounter with vampires. He never hides his distrust of those creatures where Yuki and her father believe they can be good. Yuki especially believes this as her earliest memory is of a pureblood vampire Kaname Kuran saving her as a child and he's been in a fixture in her life ever since. The anime as a whole is darker and more mature than I expected it to be and much more character-driven. It made it difficult for me to binge at first but by season 2, I couldn't stop watching. And now I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a season 3!

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For each of these posts, we will answer these questions!

Favorite character(s)
Yuki Cross, Zero Kiryu, and Hanabusa Aido. Yuki is the main heroine and one who is truly good and kind at heart. She can also be frustratingly oblivious and reckless with her safety but I am willing to overlook that. Zero is a close friend of Yuki's and together they are guardians at their school, Cross Academy. They are the epitome of messy, complicated relationships and I was totally here for all the angst, particularly on his side. Zero is so my anime guy type. And lastly, Aido. I actually was not a fan of his in the beginning but at some point during season 2, he completely won me over.

Favorite episode
"The Kiss of Thorns" which is episode 7 of season 2. It's hard to say why without spoiling but let's just say that I thought I had this anime figured out and turns out, I had no idea.

Favorite scene 
The first scene that came to mind I'm saving for the last question, but my second answer is still a Yuki and Zero scene. She's walking away from him when he grabs her hand from behind, stands very close to her and says, "I think I was able to live on because you were beside me." Swoon! I love when he's all angsty, vulnerable and affectionate with her.

Favorite quote
"She's not small. To me, her existence is not small." - Zero Kiryu

Favorite setting
Probably the home where Yuki, Zero and Kaien Cross (her adoptive father, his legal guardian) live together.

Bonus! Favorite kiss
Technically this is an almost kiss but they're only two people I want to see kissing on this show so I had to say it! There's a moment when Zero leans in and I thought OMG it's finally going to happen but it didn't. I still love that scene though.

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So fellow anime fans, have you watched Vampire Knight?

And if so, what did you think?