Vampire Knight Volume 3   Starring (voice): Daisuke Kishio, Mamoru Miyano and Yui Horie Manga Entertainment RRP: £12.99 MANG9042 Certificate: 12 Available 17 January 2011

Yuki Cross finds herself stuck between two worlds as a ‘Day Class’ Guardian at the Cross Academy, run by her adoptive father Kaien Cross. Her job is to protect the female students of the day class from the boys of the night class. It’s not just their womanhood that needs protecting as the attractive boys of the night class are all vampires, led by Kaname Kuran. The principle, Kaien Cross, hopes to foster understanding between the two races, but some cannot forgive the vampires for what they are, including Yuki’s partner and childhood friend, vampire hunter Zero Kiryuu...

Vampire Knight: Volume 3 (2008) is a gothic romance, based on a manga written by Matsuri Hino. The show was directed by Kiyoko Sayama, and produced by Studio Deen and Nihon Ad Systems. Once again the show scores high on style but the discs lose on only having three episodes and no extras. The quality of the animation continues to be maintained with audio options for either an English or Japanese 2.0 track.

The three episodes seem to move the show into the realms of soap opera, wherein a lot of people meet, talk, but ultimately very little appears to happen. We do find out a little more about the background to the vampire society, but it all feels like too much fluff wrapped around a show which is basically a romantic comedy for young girls.

So this volume sees the show still looking great, but the narrative has started to tread water a bit.

5

Charles Packer