Summary

As someone who didn’t pay much attention to the original series, much of what took place in this episode was completely incomprehensible to me, as the writers took no time to reintroduce what was going on.

From what I could decipher, Zero, Yuuki’s partner in guardianship to their unusual school with a night class comprised of closeted vampires, returns unexpectedly after an absence. He’s in danger of becoming a “class E,” something which I can only assume is some evil vampire being with powers OVER 9000. Zero is also blamed for the death of a pure-blood vampire named Shizuka. One night, Yuuki is attacked by a vampire who showed up to punish Zero for his crime.

Fortunately for Yuuki, Zero appears to defend her, and luckily for the both of them, Kaname, the bishie vampire noble, arrives at just the right moment to send the attackers away. Zero accuses Kaname of being the one who killed Shizuka, and they have a conversation that essentially goes nowhere. Back in the dorms, Zero has a nightmare about killing Yuuki, and wrestles with the fact that he has feelings for her.

Thoughts

Having had to suffer through the Twilight phenomenon lately, I’m really not in a position to feel anything about this series other than eye-rolling scorn. The whole episode seems to be a blame game about who sucked who’s blood, who’s a murderer, the angst about having to be a vampire and yet be in love with a human being... getting tired of hearing about this yet? This being a show about vampires, how appropriate that I feel like my life was sucked away having to watch this. I even tried to piece together bits of the story so that I could try to write a semi-coherent review, until I realized that I didn’t really care that much about it, and neither should anyone else. Unless of course they really are fans of stuff like Twilight, but that would just make me cry.

The show appears to tackle the same themes that romantic fiction has been wrestling with for years, not the least of which is the forbidden love between the main characters. Frankly I’ve seen it all before, and while I don’t necessarily like to bash a show for lacking in complete originality, a feat which is all but impossible considering the number of stories that have been told to this point, I swear I’ve seen this series many times before, under different names and with different-looking characters. Anne Rice called, she wants her pretty, emo vampires back.

The character designs are entirely too pretty. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a series where the characters have such pronounced eyelashes and huge eyes, especially when it’s not meant to attract the moe crowd. The school uniforms are insanely detailed, causing them to come across as something no normal person would wear, though cosplayers will love them, for sure. Sadly, the animation is a bit too clunky to keep up with all the details. I mean, who can blame the poor, overworked animators for not being able to keep up with drawing all the little seams, buttons, hairstyles and pouty lips these characters possess? I feel like it must be some sick form of torture for them.

Essentially, this series continues to be nothing more than just another shoujo show, with a little action thrown in to try and make stuff interesting. Vampires, unfortunately, are old and tired, and I’m really sick of watching them be portrayed as angsty, tragic figures with otherworldly beauty. Boooring.

Pros

• Everyone is just so darned pretty

Cons

• Angsty vampires are a dime a dozen
• The story is very uninspired
• Not for people who didn’t watch the first season