Product Details

• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Viz Media
• DVD Release Date: July 20, 2010
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003JSSPU2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,750 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

At prestigious Cross Academy, there are two sessions of classes, the Day Class and the Night Class. As the school's Disciplinary Committee, Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu keep watch over the Day Class students, who are all infatuated with the beautiful, elite Night Class students. As Guardians, Yuki and Zero must also protect the secret of the Night Class--they are all vampires!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent, but Japanese is better., July 24, 2010

By 

Jane's Girl - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vampire Knight 1 (DVD)

This is a review of the English Dubbed version of Vampire Knight so far. As someone who has seen the entire Vampire Knight series in Japanese, I was very excited to hear that it was being dubbed in English. I have now watched the first four episodes of the English dub. Many people were worried about the choice of Vic Mignogna for the role of Zero, but in my personal opinion, Vic's performance is the strongest of the the three leads. While his voice may not be 100% perfect for Zero, his great acting skills make up for it, and he does pitch his voice to a lower register (a tone reminiscent of his performance as Ikkaku in "Bleach). Yuki's English voice is a pretty decent fit, but the acting fluctuates in skill - sometimes it is good and sometimes it is lacking. Kaname's English actor was, in my opinion, the weakest choice. His voice does not really match the character and the acting is very flat. I can only hope that he will improve as the series progresses. The supporting cast is actually pretty good. Headmaster Cross, Aido, Seiren, Kain, Yori, Ruka, and many of the other smaller characters are well-acted and enjoyable.

Overall, the series is decent. It is nice not to have to read subtitles and the English dub helped me understand certain plot points that confused me in Japanese. The leads could be stronger, but the supporting cast is quite good.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vampire Knight!!, July 13, 2010

By 

dhernan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vampire Knight 1 (DVD)

I'm really excited for the dubbed to be finally coming out. I enjoy the sub version so much but it will be nice to be able to listen to it in a language I understand more. Like many people I am a little worried about the dubbed voice actors. Not so much Vic, who will play zero, because the character he voiced in the Air series was also a pretty "depressed" character. But I'm wondering how Yuki's voice is going to sound. The voice actresses for her in the sub I feel is just so perfect. But all in all I'm excited for the dub because this is one of my favorite animes, just because I enjoy the characters and their relationships. =D

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little something for the vampire romantics out there, June 23, 2010

By 

trashcanman (Hanford, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Vampire Knight 1 (DVD)

"Vampire Knight" is the story of a high school girl torn between two platonic lovers; or four fangs, in this case. After all, when it comes to vampire fiction, any horror noob knows that a vampire's bite is essentially synonymous with sex. And since so many romantic anime are so annoyingly coy about physical expressions of affection, that makes vampires a welcome addition to the shojo (girlie anime) genre. Now the heroine is free to get her rocks off and the boys have to do all the sucking for once. Now I know what you're thinking: "is this an anime version of Twilight? Well, sorta kinda, yeah. But it isn't all that bad. In fact, it wasn't far from being really good. The vampire mythology is unique without deviating too far from established genre norms and some of the characters are quite likeable. As far as vampire anime goes, you could do worse. There have been two seasons, with the second titled "Vampire Knight Guilty". This is a review of the first 13-episode season.

Yuki is the adoptive daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy; a social experiment where humans go to school during the day, and vampires attend at night. Yuki is a Prefect (guardian), which is to say it's her job to keep the peace along with her partner Zero, who comes from a family of renowned vampire hunters that were slaughtered by a powerful ladyvamp. Since every girl in the day class is smitten with every boy in the night class-who are prone to temptation- this is a rough job. While Zero's fierce demeanor is enough to keep the screaming throngs of wannabe Bellas in check, the diminutive and soft-spoken Yuki has a comically hard time with crowd control. The vampires and hunters work together to exterminate any stray vampires who go out of control, known as level E's. The problem is that Zero was bitten by the pureblood who killed his family and has been devolving into a type E ever since due to his body's rejection of the blood tablets that the other vampire's use for sustenance. Yuki has a mad crush on the pureblooded leader of the night class, Kaname, who saved her from a level E when she was little, but she feels obligated to help the suffering Zero which leads her to break the school's deepest taboo and reject her longtime friend and protector.

The series mixes splashes of amusing character comedy with some heavier-toned drama. The results are mixed on this. Any scene with Yuki and Zero is likely to be several minutes of a trembling anime girl with ultra-puppy dog eyes whimpering his name every five seconds and telling him she'll take care of him no matter what. Then there's the scenes with Kaname and Yuki which is usually her blushing and stammering his name every ten seconds as he cooly stares at her. Gets old fast. And on the other side, Headmaster Cross's buffoonish demeanor and nearly incestuous enthusiasm for his adoptive daughter is nothing but irritating. Most of the time, Vampire Knight strikes a pretty good balance, but it regularly tips too far one way or the other. The biggest problem with the first season is that it often doesn't play to it's strengths. There is an entire cast of interesting vampire characters that are barely paid lip service in spite of the fact that they are the main draw. Most of the time is spent on the Zero/Yuki/Kaname love triangle plot which drags the series down often. But whenever a level E is onscreen, major animated creepiness ensues. If they'd focused more on the vampire hunting aspect, this would have been an outstanding show.

In Vampire Knight the vamps fall into four levels. Level E's are essentially beasts in human form with no self control and will feed on humans every chance they get. Most of the cast are noble vampires who are able to control themselves to some degree, though are often tempted to partake in the delicacy of human blood. They each have a superpower, such as controlling an element or one who can use his blood as a weapon similar to the excellent Night Walker anime. These powers are rarely used in the first season. Pureblood vampires are rare and directly descended from the vamps of old with no human blood mixed into their lineage. They are the only vampires capable of turning a human into one of them, and their status is so exclusive that only they themselves know the extent of their powers. Ex-human vampires have been bitten by a pureblood and slowly devolve into type E's unless their sire decides to bestow the gift of their blood upon them. All of the characters of Vampire Knight can walk in the day, though it's implied that vamps can get a nasty sunburn from doing so. Biting somebody is a very intimate affair to these guys/gals and can lead to some jealousy, which goes without saying considering the sexual implications. Prep for drama.

Sanctioned vampire hunters have a list of targets that are cleared for extermination. They are not allowed to run amok as there is a human/vampire truce going on. Only type E's or murderers are executed and nobles or hunters are cleared to do the deed. The main hunter is actually one of the night class teachers at Cross Academy. Gotta love a sensei who jokes about killing his students that fall asleep during his lectures. Great character; way underused, though. In fact, every cast member who isn't Zero, Kaname, Yuki, or Headmaster Cross are underused for most of the season. And I just named the four lamest characters in the show. I wish they'd focused on the night class more; now there are some interesting characters. But things pick up big time as the first season climaxes. A new cast member shows up with ties to Zero's past (you've already guessed, I'm sure) and she is absolutely fantastic onscreen. Saved the entire series for me, in fact.

The soundtrack to Vampire Knight is pretty good, with lots of traditional gothic organs setting the appropriate mood. The opening and closing credits are solid as well. The art is very nice to look at and somewhat resembles a darker Death Note, which is high praise. And as always, I love the creepiness of the glowing red eyes. Overall, the series is probably a must for anime fans who are into gothic vampire melodrama, and a casual recommendation for general nosferatu freaks like myself. I could name at least half a dozen vampire animes that are better off the top of my head, but with the success of Twilight, this one is all set to break big when it comes to America. It may even create a new wave of otaku. Don't know how I feel about that. The horror and violence in this is pretty light and there are but a few action scenes in the 13 episodes of the first season, but there is a good story here with some outstanding supporting characters so as long as you aren't expecting Hellsing you'll probably have a good time with Vampire Knight.