“”Vampire Knight Guilty Volume 2″ is the second to last volume of the series and the most exciting yet. The many secrets that filled the series are finally revealed in this volume. A must see!”
Image courtesy of © Matsuri Hino, Hakusensha/Vampire Knight Project, Studio Deen, VIZ, All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Vampire Knight Guilty Volume 2
DURATION: 100 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 WIDESCREEN, JAPANESE & ENGLISH STEREO
COMPANY: VIZ
RATED: 16+
Release Date: May 17 2011
Original Manga by Matsuri Hino
Directed by Kiyoko Sayama
Music by Hozumi Goda
Art Direction by Kazuhiro Ito
Character Designs by Asako Nishida
Produced by VAMPIRE KNIGHT PROJECT
Featuring the following voice talent:
Yui Horie/Mela Lee as Yuki Cross
Mamoru Miyano/Vic Mignogna as Zero Kiryu/Ichiru Kiryu
Daisuke Kishio/Ethan Murray as Kaname Kuran
Hozumi Goda/Christopher Corey as Kaien Cross
Junichi Suwabe/Troy Baker as Akatsuki Kain
Jun Fukuyama/Bryce Papenbrook as Hanabusa Aido
Junko Minagawa/Dorothy Elias-Fahn as Ruka Souen
Susumu Chiba/Spike Spencer as Takuma Ichijo
Souichiro Hoshi/Steve Staley as Senri Shiki
Eri Kitamura/Carrie Savage as Rima Touya
Hiroki Yasumoto/Travis Willingham as Toga Yagari
Risa Mizuno/Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Seiren
Kana Ueda/Stephanie Sheh as Sayori Wakaba
Mariko Kouda/Michelle Ruff as Juri Kuran
Hirofumi Nojima/Tony Oliver as Haruka Kuran
Tarusuke Shingaki/Patrick Seitz as Rido Kuran
Fumiko Orikasa/Wendee Lee as Shizuka Hio
Continually haunted by visions of blood, Yuki is determined to discover the secrets of her past, but Kaname repeatedly evades her questions. Zero confronts Kaname at the Moon Dormitory, and the two end up fighting. Then Kaname advances his relationship with Yuki to an entirely new level, which has the members of the Night Class in a bit of a tizzy. But Yuki’s dreams only intensify – will her past be forced into the light at last?
“Vampire Knight Guilty Volume 2” contains episodes 5-8 of the second season of the popular anime series by Matsuri Hino. Many secrets surround the students of both the Day and Night Classes of Cross Academy, and many of them get revealed in this volume. Yuki is haunted by nightmares where she and her surroundings are covered in blood. Soon she starts seeing these visions when she’s not asleep. Meanwhile Ichiru Kiryu enrolls into Cross Academy, with full intention of killing those who he believes is responsible for Shizuka Hio’s death, even his own twin brother, Zero. The school gets one more visitor, Rido Kuran, Kaname’s uncle who seems to be after something Kaname has been protecting from him for years…
“Vampire Knight Guilty Volume 2” focuses on the following main characters:
Yuki Cross – Yuki Cross is one of the main characters of the series. She is a member of the Day Class and is one of the members of the Disciplinary Committee in charge of keeping the Day and Night Classes separate. She is cute and clumsy despite being a member of the Disciplinary Committee. Yuki is the headmaster’s daughter and one of the only ones that knows the identity of the Night Class. Her earliest memory is of her about to be attacked by a vampire but being saved by Kaname Kuran. She has very strong feelings for Kaname Kuran but she also deeply cares about Zero, but more as a best friend. In this volume, she is constantly haunted by terrifying nightmares where everything around her is covered in blood. She gets much closer to Kaname in this volume and is finally able to unlock her mysterious past… but what is revealed may destroy her relationship with Zero.
Zero Kiryu – Zero is a member of the Day Class. He is also a member of the Disciplinary Committee with Yuki. The headmaster brought him in four years ago after his parents were killed by a vicious vampire. Because of that fact, he hates vampires and clashes with the members of the Night Class quite a bit. He is rather cool and sarcastic, but can manage to drop a few jokes with Yuki, who he’s rather close to. Despite being a hunter who hates vampires, ironically because he was bitten as a child, he is a vampire himself. Over the course of the series, Yuki and Zero have gotten closer… but something that happens in this volume may change their relationship once and for all.
Kaname Kuran – Kaname is a member of the Night Class. He is the leader and the most powerful out of the Night Class. He saved Yuki from a vampire when she was a child and is even still very protective towards her. He has very strong feelings for Yuki even though she’s rather oblivious to that fact. For the most part, he keeps the other vampires out of trouble and is the one who helped establish this school with Kaien Cross. There is a lot revealed about Kaname’s past in this volume and what happened to his parents. His relationship with Yuki and her past is also revealed and exactly how much he really cares for her.
Kaien Cross – Kaien is Yuki’s father as well as Zero’s adoptive father. He is the headmaster of Cross Academy and a former vampire hunter. He opened Cross Academy in hopes to bring peace between humans and vampires. His personality for the most part is rather eccentric. In this volume, it becomes a bit more apparent why he gave up hunting in this volume.
Akatsuki Kain – Akatsuki is a member of the Night Class. He is a pretty calm and loyal vampire who seems to always get in trouble only because he’s around his cousin, Hanabusa who causes trouble. He never loses his temper and seems to have insight on all of his friends and their feelings.
Hanabusa Aido – Hanabusa is a member of the Night Class. He is considered an idol (which is also a pun off of his name) by the girls of the Day Class. He is cute like a child but can be very jealous and throws tantrums just like a child would as well. He is very protective of Kaname and gets jealous of anyone that gets too close to him. He is Akatsuki’s cousin.
Ruka Souen – Ruka is a member of the Night Class. She is sophisticated and beautiful and she is the idol of males of the Day Class. She has very strong feelings for Kaname.
Takuma Ichijo – Takuma is a member of the Night Class. He is from an aristocratic family and is one of Kaname’s closest friends. He is rather cheerful and friendly unlike most other vampires.
Senri Shiki – Senri is a member of the Night Class. He rarely speaks and when he does, it’s usually a single sentence. He works as a model with Rima. In this volume, we get to see a bit more out of Senri and we find out a lot more about his family.
Rima Touya – Rima is a member of the Night Class. She is petite and pixie-like and works as a model with Senri. Also like Senri, she doesn’t speak very much and is not very energetic.
Toga Yagari – Yagari is a renowned vampire hunter and is sent to Cross Academy by the Hunter Association to see if everything is running as it should be. He is also Zero’s mentor as a vampire hunter from when he was younger. He saved Zero from a Level E vampire (humans that were bitten by vampires who turned into violent monsters that thirst for blood) which resulted in him losing his right eye. Despite being ruthless in killing vampires and knowing about Zero’s situation, he still seems to have hope in him.
Seiren – Seiren is another member of the Night Class and Kaname’s unofficial bodyguard.
Sayori Wakaba – Sayori is a member of the Day Class as well as Yuki’s best friend and dorm-mate. She is kind and always worries about her best friend.
Ichiru Kiryu – Ichiru is the younger twin brother to Zero. Years ago when Shizuka killed their parents, she turned Zero into a vampire and took Ichiru. Since then, he had been serving her until her death. Even before he was taken by Shizuka, he had always held a strong grudge against Zero. Ichiru was a sickly child and even though Zero and his parents loved him very much, he always felt inferior and slowly that overwhelming love just made him resent them even more. Despite being with Shizuka, he is still human which is another reason he hates Zero. Despite being reunited with his brother, the only thing on his mind is to avenge Shizuka’s death and kill anyone who he thinks is involved, including Zero.
Juri Kuran – Juri Kuran is a pure blood vampire, Kaname’s mother, Haruka’s wife and sister, and the sister of Rido. She was also very close to Kaien and was the reason he stopped hunting. She died when Kaname was younger along with her husband.
Haruka Kuran – Haruka Kuran is a pure blood vampire, Kaname’s father, Juri’s husband and brother, and the brother of Rido. He died when Kaname was younger along with Juri.
Rido Kuran – Rido is a pure blood vampire, the brother of Juri and Haruka Kuran, Uncle to Kaname Kuran and the father of Senri Shiki. He appears at Cross Academy looking for something he wasn’t able to obtain from Juri and Haruka Kuran at the time of their death, something that is very precious to Kaname.
Shizuka Hio – Shizuka is the pure blood vampire that killed Zero and Ichiru’s parents and turned Zero into a vampire.
“Vampire Knight Guilty Volume 2†features a total of 4 episodes on one DVD. Here is a spoiler-less summary of each episode:
Volume 2:
- Episode 5- The Subordinate’s Trap – Cross Academy gets a new student: Zero’s twin brother, Ichiru.
- Episode 6- Fake Lovers – Yuki and Kaname are supposedly a couple now, but they seem to have completely different ideas about their relationship…
- Episode 7- Kiss of Thorns – Senri comes back to Cross Academy, but seems like a totally different person…
- Episode 8- Spiraling Recollections – Yuki’s true past is finally revealed.
VIDEO & AUDIO
“Vampire Knight Guilty Volume 2” is presented in 16:9 and audio options include both Japanese and English. Just like the rest of the series, the art in this volume is pretty but the character designs are indeed Shojo so that may attract or detract viewers. But overall, the art is great and the animation is smooth and backgrounds look great. Everyone is very pretty in this series.
Throughout the series, the Japanese cast as well as the American cast both do a wonderful job. All of the voices seem fitting and don’t seem out of place. The Japanese cast includes big names like Yui Horie, Mamoru Miyano, Daisuke Kishio, Jun Fukuyama, and many others. The American cast is also full of big name voice actors including Mela Lee, Ethan Murray, Vic Mignogna, Troy Baker, Stephanie Sheh, and others.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The only special features available on the discs are Viz Trailers and DVD Credits.
Drama, angst, revenge, and questionable relationships sum up this volume of “Vampire Knight Guilty”. If you love soap operas, then you’ll love this series and particularly this volume. Secret pasts revealed, plot twists, revenge, love triangles… (Maybe even love squares): all happen.
The main event that happens in this volume is Yuki’s mysterious past is finally revealed and that throws her relationships with Kaname and Zero into a tailspin… This is the exciting volume where everything changes.
I won’t reveal the big secret in my review, but if you’re watching this volume before any other volume: stop. Nothing will make sense and too much has happened in the story. “Vampire Knight Guilty” is the second season and prior to the four episodes in this season, there are thirteen episodes in season one. This volume starts off seventeen episodes into the whole series. This series is very story driven and for the most part the story is linear, so it’s not a series you can pick up a random volume to start watching. Not to mention there are a lot of main characters to keep track of and this particular volume reveals one of the biggest secrets of the series. If you have been watching the series, this is the volume you want to watch.
The “Vampire Knight” series pretty much has non-stop drama. The whole story is rather dramatic and serious, so I am very happy that they have the breaks with the funny little moments, which I probably enjoy the most out this series. There are a lot of great characters as well and they vary in types so most viewers can find at least one character they like and or can relate to. I personally like the banter between Yuki and Aidou as well as the moments where Zero, who is usually rather serious, can have a silly moment.
The target audience for this series will probably be mostly girls, considering it’s full of drama, angst, romance, and pretty vampire boys… (of course guys can like that too) the series does have some action in it, but this particular volume is full of drama.
This was also a very big character development volume. Yuki’s past is revealed, bringing much more depth to her character. Kaname’s past is revealed a bit more and we get to see more of exactly who he is and what exactly Yuki means to him. Zero’s self-loathing continues in this volume, but seems better when he is with Yuki… until her secret is revealed. Ichiru… still hates his brother (as well as pretty much everyone else), and is still annoying. On the other hand, one thing I enjoyed a lot was the fact that we got to see a little more of the background characters like Senri and Rima, instead of them just being in the background all of the time. They are two of my favorite characters so it was nice to see them get a little more spotlight.
As I’ve mentioned, this volume is exciting story wise, but brings to light some very, very questionable relationships among the pure blood vampire folk… I know that there are some Shojo manga series fans that LOVE this kind of stuff… but it might be a little too much for me. With that being said, if you are looking for a series full of pretty vampire men, messy love triangles, angst, revenge, drama… congratulations! You have found the perfect series for you. If you’re not looking for any of the above, this series does offer some action and quite a bit of comedy too, and the funny parts are truly funny, but the other themes are still much stronger and may be too much for some.
This volume is the final step before the conclusion of the anime series, so most of the secrets throughout the series get answered in this volume so if you have been watching the series up until this point, it’s very exciting. If you have not seen the rest of the series up to this point or know nothing about the series, I emphasize again that this volume will be confusing and full of spoilers so I definitely recommend watching the rest of the series first.
Team Kaname or Team Zero: one of them definitely takes the lead in this volume and you’ll have to watch to see which one it is. All of your questions will be answered in this volume. Be sure to pick up this climactic volume leading up to the exciting conclusion!
