Vampire Knight


 * For the episode, see Episode 26: Vampire Knight

Vampire Knight (ヴァンパイア騎士 ,Vanpaia Naito?) is a shōjo manga and anime series written by Matsuri Hino. The series premiered in the January 2005 issue of LaLa magazine and is still on-going.

Plot
Years ago, Yuki Cross, a high school student at the age of 15 in the Cross Academy of the Day Class, was attacked by a vampire and saved by Kaname Kuran, another vampire. She has no memories of her past before this day. Thus, she was adopted by Headmaster Kaien Cross and later on became a prefect for his school which has one main purpose: that vampires would coexist peacefully with humans. Her job as a prefect includes guarding the tranisition between the Night Class, a class of strikingly beautiful people, actually vampires, and the Day Class. Zero Kiryu, fellow prefect, who also was adopted by Cross and therefore becoming her "brother" has a tragic past: his parents were killed by a pureblood vampire and now he's determined to kill them all. Upon discovering that Zero was bitten by a vampire 4 years ago, Yuki tries to save him from falling to Level-E vampire by offering her blood to him and therefore deepening their bond. Yuki's quest is now to discover her past and what really happened that night that Kaname, leader of the Night Class saved her and what he's really hiding from her.

Main Characters

 * Yuki Cross
 * Zero Kiryu
 * Kaname Kuran

Supporting Characters
For more characters, see Characters 
 * Kaien Cross
 * Hanabusa Aido
 * Takuma Ichijo
 * Ruka Souen
 * Akatsuki Kain
 * Rima Toya
 * Senri Shiki

Manga

 * Main article: List of chapters

The manga currently consists of 73 chapters and is ongoing with monthly releases on the 24th of the month in LaLa magazine in Japanese. As of July 2010, eleven books have been released in english up to chapter 54. The individual chapters are being collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Hakusensha, with eleven volumes released in Japan as of June 2009. The series is licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media. In addition to publishing the individual volumes, the series was serialized in Viz's Shojo Beat manga anthology from the July 2006 issue until the magazine was discontinued after the July 2009 issue. It is licensed for English release in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment, which has released ten volumes as of March 2010.

Drama CDs
Two drama CDs have been released for Vampire Knight. The first, LaLa Kirameki, was released as an extra with the September 2005 issue of LaLa. The second, Vampire Knight Midnight CD-Pack, was released only via mail order.

Anime

 * Main article: Vampire Knight (Anime)
 * Main article: Episodes

Studio Deen produced a twenty-six episode anime adaptation of the Vampire Knight manga, using many of the same voice actors featured on the drama CDs and directed by Kiyoko Sayama. The episodes started airing on TV Tokyo in Japan on April 8, 2008 and ran until the season conclusion on July 1, 2008. The second season, named Vampire Knight Guilty, premiered on the same station October 7, 2008. The final episode aired on December 30, 2008. On July 24, 2009, Viz Media announced it had acquired the license for the Vampire Knight anime and would begin releasing it to DVD in July 20, 2010. Although it is currently unconfirmed, Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" is said to be in talks to air the show. If this happens, Vampire Knight will probably be put on the anime block of Saturday nights-Sunday mornings. It will join Bleach, Kekkaishi, Fullmetal Alchemist, etc.

Light novels
Two light novels created by Matsuri Hino and Ayuna Fujisaki were published in Japan by Hakusensha in 2008. Both novels feature two individual side-stories that use the characters of the manga, but are not specifically based on chapters from the series. The first novel, Vampire Knight: Ice Blue's Sin (ヴァンパイア騎士 憂氷の罪Vanpaia Naito: Aisu Burū no Tsumi), was published on April 5, 2008. The first story within the novel looks at events that occurred at Cross Academy in the year preceding Yuki's arrival, while the second story details an accident that occurred while Zero was still in training to be a vampire hunter.

The second novel, Vampire Knight: Noir's Trap (ヴァンパイア騎士 凝黒の罠 Vanpaia Naito: Nowāru no Wana), was published on October 3, 2008. It details some of the Cross Academy romances, as well as detailing the accident that happened when Kain and Ruka go to visit Shiki and Rima's modeling studio.

Video game
Vampire Knight DS (ヴァンパイア騎士 DS Vanpaia Naito Dīesu]) is a dating simulation game using the characters from the series, but telling a unique story. It is in Japanese. It was released by D3 Publisher in Japan in January 2009.

Fanbook

 * Main article: Vampire Knight Official Fanbook

In November 2008, the official Vampire Knight Fanbook, titled Vampire Knight Fanbook: Cross (ヴァンパイア騎士 ファンブックX Vanpaia Naito Fanbukku Kurosu), was published in Japan. In addition to providing additional information about the series characters and story, it includes images and details from Hino's storyboard. The fanbook has been licensed by Viz Media and will be released in October 19, 2010.

Artbook

 * Main article: Hino Matsuri Illustration - Vampire Knight

Lala magazine announced the upcoming release of a Vampire Knight Artbook, released on July 5th in Japan simultaneously with the release of volume 12.