It is a nice 3P cover spread. ^^ First off, Kaname throws his heart into the furnace. From
that first drawing, I burst into laughter. At first glance, looking at the
shape from the leftmost side, my first thought is didn’t it look like a toilet
bowl. I thought, oh no, he just flushed his heart into the toilet with that
sound effect. ^^; So, as usual, Yuuki
goes to Kaname and Zero follows Yuuki. ^^;; The story of their life since the
start of the series. It does seem awkward to see Zero acting like he didn’t
want that to happen after everything but I guess it is a continuation of the
last chapter that he wanted Yuuki to be Kaname = don’t sacrifice yourself, to
make her happy. Zero seems to have the fate of not being able to extract
revenge on the persons who caused him misery with his own hands. ^^; But since
the weapons won’t last long, Kaname just has to do what he has to do aside from
treating this as ‘a way of paying for my crimes’, ‘contribute in the fight’ and
‘want you two to be together’. I cannot relate though over how dazzling
light-presence Yuuki is. In terms of being a lover, she is a failure in my
opinion. In terms of fulfilling his ‘research’ and fighting bad vampires, she most
probably did it during his hibernation. Maybe Kaname is fixated on thinking of
Yuuki as this ‘baby girl whom he has to protect at all cost’, and he did
‘baby-ed’ her over how overprotective he was..dressing her up, painting her
nails..^^; What Zero said here about the reason why he cannot forgive Kaname
reinforces my thoughts that for Zero, the pain Kaname gave Yuuki is more
unforgiveable than the pain and hardship Kaname caused on him and his family. The
three had become self-less in the end. And until the last chapter, Artemis
didn’t get to be used in a useful way, maybe aside from the Rido arc. So, after
the battle, Kaname becomes frozen delight courtesy of Hanabusa. That had
prevented him from suffering the same fate as the hooded woman since he is
‘preserved’. The way Zero asked Yuuki to be with him seems more like
pleading..something like one sided. Even if it is understood, it would be nice
if Yuuki at least say, yes or something, rather than just cry because of being
moved[?] that he still wants her and say nothing. About giving her time, that
is a bit strange because she didn’t have problems quickly switching back and
forth before.
So, like in the other love triangles wherein we have an
indecisive girl..one of the guys has to ‘give up’ and push the girl to the
other. Actually, that is what Kaname did before the ‘supposed killing of Aidou
papa’ but it didn’t work for Yuuki kept on chasing after him, even if she’s already
together with Zero. Heck, Kaname even got one last hurrah – consolation prize?
Though in other stories, it would have been a stolen kiss. The way Kaname did
this reminds me of Parfait Tic, wherein the guy has to literally push the girl
to the other guy and he ‘moved on’ to the train. Here, Kaname had to put the
two together and verbalize what he wanted then ‘sleeps’. Is that another part
of his guilt trip – ‘I must be punished’ or ‘I’m not worthy since I’m
darkness’? And since the metal thingie went broke, that was a good opportunity
for him to the ‘play hero’. Time passed and everyone had more or less moved
on..continued on struggling until Hanabusa and others completed Kaname’s
research on turning vampires into humans. So, the solution for this ‘war’
between humans and vampires is ‘cannot totally defeat them, turn them into
humans’. ^^; Easy way out and for Kaname to do that is indeed the deus ex machina-type
element of the series. He directly and indirectly resolved the love triangle
including Ruka’s and the war. I would like to assume that Zero lived a long
life but then, Yuuki could have been just visiting after he passed away a long
time ago. Bloody Rose is broken and I’m starting to assume that Zero died
fighting unless weapons go broke after the owner dies. Well, that is irrelevant
since she was happy with Zero and surely, he did too. Since the ice melted,
does it mean that Hanabusa is no longer there anymore or Yuuki and children
‘unsealed’ him? I had bit of problem on Yuuki’s timing of waking Kaname up. Her
children look young unless they only look young but are actually older than how
they look. I’ll assume that they are of age that Yuuki has no qualms of leaving
them behind since they can take care of themselves. And strangely enough, her
children are totally unfazed about it as if it is okay with them. Or, one can
just presume that Yuuki was a bad mother =P Actually, there are many questions
about that ‘turning vampires into humans’ cure. Like, if you turn a century old
vampire into human..how long would his life span be? Same as before? Or else,
he might instantly turn into dust. Or they would retain a somewhat long life
but they can now be easily killed like humans and they no longer need to suck
blood to live. And, are all willing to become humans or they would have to be
forced? Edit: Does having 'emotionless expressions' a side effect? =P
Because the children related Yuuki’s message to Kaname and
he didn’t look confused at all, I think it is safe to assume that Kaname didn’t
lose his memories at all. So, Yuuki’s final gifts for Kaname are: a new life as
a human, the gift of having an ‘end’ as a human rather than sleep eternally,
see the outcome of the future that was started by his research and probably,
companions = the children who can be with him, so that he won’t be all alone at
first. And, of course, the possibility of having a new love after the two
failed ones. Third time is the charm, right? Overall, I think the series is
okay as long as you don’t focus too much on the love triangle, leave your brain
in the closet, go with the flow and don’t expect too much. So, what’s left?
Look at the good looking characters, some fan service and WTH cliffhangers, it
will be over before you know it. =P Because of the loopholes, how ambiguous
things are presented and strong attachment/hate towards the characters, the
series has a unique ability to keep people discussing, raving and ranting about
it until the end. I haven’t seen it like this in any other shoujo series and
that is one part of VK that I’ll miss. Even in the end, it does seem a bit
debatable as to who Yuuki truly loved the most. It does seem like a ‘forced’
choice because of what Kaname did. It does seem to speak volumes that she would
give up her life for Kaname to have a ‘new life’ and her last message. And, the
last scene has to be Kaname and the butterfly unless that butterfly is a
symbolism for Kaname’s ‘new life’. But then, it can be interpreted as, might as
well do this for she wants to follow Zero after his death, children are old
enough and can’t keep Kaname sleeping for so long. I think some of the concepts
and the storyline is good but the delivery and execution of the in between of
the start and the end is really bad. Too many things are left for the readers
to fill out. It doesn’t help that we have an indecisive useless heroine when I
think most of us had high expectations of her after she became a vampire. I
think the ending can be somewhat predicted based on the second popularity poll
and what the mangaka said before. It is a tragedy. Zero x Yuuki tops the favorite
couple so they will end up together. Since Kaname tops the character poll, he
would most likely not die. So, the ones who’ll die to keep it a tragedy are...
I would view this story mainly on Kaname as main lead like this: There
was once a scientist-doctor who wanted to cure these vampirish-tendencies of
some people. Things go bad and so his beloved was forced to sacrifice herself
to make weapons for humans to defend themselves against people who became
vampires, whether by choice or not. Disappointed over the outcome, he decided
to sleep over it. He got a rude awakening and renewed his goal through his
desire to protect this cute baby girl whose brother he has taken over. [I will
assume that] Kaname knows that the metal thing won’t last long so as a
safeguard, he has to get someone to take care of Yuuki. That is unless, he did
plan to be the one to take care of her but because she was made into a human
so, she needs a human protector for vampires cannot really live together with
humans. Found twin vampire hunter..time to train him and ‘harden him up’ with a
family tragedy. Make him strongly attached to sister but unfortunately, he also
fell in love with her and so did she in a way. When Shizuka came for revenge
and threatens, bye-bye. Then, Rido arrive to cause trouble. Time to test the
‘hunter weapon’. Success. But since Yuuki is still useless helpless who
turned into a vampire [ahead of time?] so at least, lessen the bad guys by
killing off the ones who got Rido out. After a year, Kaname failed in making
Yuuki’s heart wholly his even if he turned her back into a vampire. He also
failed in trying to keep her out of trouble since she actually went out looking
for it. In his overzealous to keep her safe and since she can never be fully
his after all that, he decides to leave her and get rid of the presumed bad PBs
and whatever. He must be lamenting..ah, maybe I should have just stayed
sleeping if this is all there is to it..someone kill me already. And when I finally
let go, that girl is now chasing after me. WTH. Opportunity presents itself.
Yes, he remembered the metal thingie is at its limit. Free from this accursed
love triangle and at least be helpful to mankind which is his original goal. Before
I go, at least one last hurrah with her. Try to make her human before I go to
let things be before all this mess that I had more or less created, but she
doesn’t want to. Shrug, whatever, do what you want, I’ll be ‘free’ soon. Toss
heart and acted like a mature adult/ancestor: sayonara everyone, doing this for
all you people, zero, you can have her, and be happy together, you two. After
decades had pass, he wakes up again thanks to Yuuki. This lucky guy gets to see
his goal fulfilled through the fruits of his research that Hanabusa continued
and finished. Thank you, Yuuki..you weren’t so useless after all..I’m glad you
existed contrary to what you’ve said, and my first awakening wasn’t a total
waste. It is like a three phase for him: 1. Start research. 2. Get others to
finish what he started. 3. Enjoy the results. This time around, he hopefully
finds happiness during his ‘retirement’ in this presumably more peaceful world
among humans and formerly humans. He’ll be some doctor-scientist or
beautician/fashion stylist or something totally new and different. Since his
charisma is quite high, maybe try becoming some sort of leader. Find some girl
who won’t easily leave him behind, and will love him whole-heartedly. Have lots
of kids. Live a more productive and happy life than before, and then, die. Now,
with that point of view, it wasn’t that bad, right? Now..where would the title
Vampire Knight fit and be related to this story? ^^;; Scans by 玖玖爱枢♀汉化
PS. Anyway, to those who had
been reading my summaries before and reactions on it recently, thank you. ^-^ Whatever
one might think of the series, it was fun discussing it to death as long as one
doesn’t take it too seriously. ^^
Quote of the day:
Some things just couldn't be protected from storms. Some
things simply needed to be broken off...Once the old thing were broken off,
amazingly beautiful thing could grow in their place. ~ Denise Hildreth Jones