Manga Review: Vampire Knight, Volume 10, by Matsuri Hino

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: VIZ Media (Shojo Beat)

Publish Date: 2009

Volumes: 19

Spoilers?: No.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Rido is gone, but the battle rages on at Cross Academy. The Night Class is still under attack, and Headmaster Cross has joined the war to protect his students. Zero, however, has vowed to get rid of all the Purebloods--including Yuki!

Review:

Matsuri Hino is one of my absolute favorite mangakas, and I’ve collected all of her other series that have been published over her, yet seemed to have missed a lot of this series. I was reading it back when it was being published in the Shojo Beat magazine, but paused reading it back then, and never got around to catching up. I had three volumes after the magazine ended, waiting to be read. And now, years later, I’ve finally read all that I have. And augghh why didn’t I get more?

On a side note, to those people who also followed the Shojo Beat magazine: it was canceled in 2009! How has so much time passed already!? I don’t understand.

I don’t think I’m going to recount everything, or much of anything, that happened in this volume, since I read several volumes up to this one in one go. I’m just going to fangirl a bit.

A couple volumes before this one, a big bomb was dropped about Yuki’s past, and her relationship with Kaname, and I was just so surprised. For one, I’m really happy that I had no idea prior to reading it. I mean, good job internet for keeping that a secret (or good job me for avoiding anything and everything to do with the series?). I’m still waiting for the rest of Kaname’s past to get cleared up, because I’m positive that there’s more to it, and I am not very patient about finding it out.

For a long while, I was solely on Zero’s side. He was my favorite, and I didn’t even see much of the appeal of Kaname. It’s safe to say now that my views have completely changed. I’m a little iffy about Zero now, and kind of a big fangirl of Kaname. I mean, his dedication to Yuki alone is full of swoon. I’d always rather liked, or found interesting, Kaname’s manipulative personality, his power. But I’ve opened up to his sarcasm, and protectiveness, and loyalty. I just like him a lot now, and I’m kind of still getting used to it. (Also, Kaname’s a total Dom, right? Is it just me who saw this?)

I don’t know how I feel about Zero. I’m sad about what happened between him and Ichiru, because I was hoping to get to like him more, and Zero’s stance on things I’m not very happy about. I don’t really know where he’s going from here, and I don’t know where I want him to be going, either.

I like Yuki, a lot. She’s not weak, she doesn’t just barge into trouble for no reason or on impulse. But she’s also a bit naïve, and kind of a dreamer. And she’s growing quite a bit, which I am enjoying watching. I was surprised with her history, but I’m not going to spoil that, aside from saying that I really like where it’s going. I just really like her, and enjoy following her as the heroine.

There are a lot of other characters in this series, a couple Day class students, but mostly a whole lot of Night class vampires. For a while I had a hard time remembering who was who, but I’ve pretty much got it down now, and really like all of them. I like Kain and Ruka’s relationship, I like Rima and Shiki’s relationship and development a lot. Aido is fun, and I’m a big fan of Ichijo. There are others, but those are the main ones. They each get a pretty perfect amount of attention and plot and development, and I’ve really enjoyed learning about them and watching them. And they’re always really fun when they’re joking around.

At the end of this volume, there was a short featuring Yuki’s parents, and it was just adorable. I love her parents, they’re so cute. And they’re also really good parents. I hope we get more. 

Now I’m all caught up with the volumes I had, and am really hoping to get more very soon, because this series is so good.