Disclaimer: watched the first season of the anime back when it came out (season two was not out yet at the time).. A few years passes, and the final volume of the series dropped. And in my greatest error in judgement, I decided to blindly trust in the masterpiece that was the first season of the anime, and bought the first and second box set for the manga (aka all the volumes for the series) BEFORE finding out about all the mess that goes down in the second season... my disappointment was immense as I saw this beautifully written story... just.. slowly get worse and worse with each chapter.. I honestly reaally really enjoyed Vampire Knight, so I was extremely disappointed by what direction the author chose after season one.

The first 10 volumes (which I'd like to dub it "season one" for the manga) was honestly the best shit I've ever read! The characters, the premise and mystery was super intriguing and on point. I was excited every chapter to find out what would happen next. I was immensely invested in the mystery surrounding Yuki, Zero and Kaname. I also really liked how well-written the three main characters were. They really felt unique and alive. I especially loved the relationship between Yuki and Zero, especially if you read about their past of how they met. Not to get into too much details, but basically something happens and Zero, in his past as a child, didn't care for his life at all, he didn't care about living. But Yuki, our adorable shoujo protagonist, was the one to bring back happiness into his life. And from then on, he decided keep on living because of Yuki. He basically lives for the sake of Yuki.. it was really beautifully written, and I was digging for what will happen next.

Now.. everything is beautiful, up until you reach the end of volume 10... where the author drops a bomb. And from volume 11 onwards, all the way until the final volume (which I'll dub the "season two" of the manga), changes drastically. Everything that I absolutely loved about this series, the relationships, characters and the premise that was slowly built up throughout volume 10 felt like it was THROWN OUT THE WINDOW...! Now, something BIG happens in volume 10, which was super shocking, but that wasn't the problem. The issue was that I kept reading every chapter, and much to my dismay, the situation just gets worse and worse, and the story feels like it's being dragged on for the sake of things being dragged on. Everything felt like it was on halt, and I kept wishing chapter after chapter that SOMETHING will happen and bring this series back to how "season one" felt.. and then, I reached the final chapter, and realized.. "oh.. it's over."

Honestly, for anyone hoping to check out Vampire Knight, I do HIGHLY recommend you read it.. but ONLY "season one" (i.e. vol. 1 until vol. 10).. because after "season one," it's far from the fun and enjoyable atmosphere it had. The artwork, funnily enough, gets better as the series progresses... and as gorgeous as vol. 11 - 19 were art-wise.. the story has left a gaping hole in my heart (it's been years.. and I still think about it). "Season two" took this story with the characters I absolutely loved, and butchered them until they were unrecognizable. After reading "season two," I badly questioned myself "why did I like these characters again????" In "season two," Yuki was consistently hesitant and indecisive and she no longer was the same cheerful girl from before. Zero who used to have a semblance of a heart, became entirely emotionless and was now edgy for the sake of being edgy. As for Kaname, he also has his own sort of edginess just for plot convenience, and everything that was alluring about him before is gone now. In some ways, I really felt like "season two" killed them off... which really hurts me to say :(

"Season one," Vol. 1 - 10 was a 10/10 for me, super enjoyable, awesome story, lovable characters
"Season two," Vol. 11 - 19 was a 3/10 for me.. honestly, I want to give it 1/10 cuz it was really hard to read through, but out of my sentimental attachments to the characters in "season one", I'm giving it a 3.

For anyone hoping to check the series out, I highly recommend reading the first 10 volumes, it's super enjoyable. Just be warned that from vol. 11 until the final volume, the story deviates completely from the first 10 volumes and has a completely different feel.



P.S. If you decided to read this far, I just want to quickly bring out my biggest gripe that I personally felt was the first sign that this series was killed off after "season one." Remember when I mentioned how Zero's ONLY reason for living was because of Yuki? Just to re-iterate, Zero didn't want to live prior to meeting Yuki. He only decided to continue living, BECAUSE of Yuki. However when something happens at the end of vol. 10, Zero UNCHARACTERISTCALLY abandons Yuki. This to me... was just the BIGGEST NONO because Zero can give up ANYTHING (including his own life), EXCEPT for Yuki. He was written as a character who would love and protect Yuki no matter... and YET the author (for plot convenience) has Zero abandon Yuki and basically regard her as his number one enemy (for basically the entirety of the series </3)... which just BREAKS MY HEART...!!!! CUZ THIS BOY WENT THROUGH A LOT...! HE HAD ZERO LIFE PURPOSES AND DIDN'T WANT TO LIVE FOR HIMSELF.. AND HE ONLY DECIDED TO KEEP LIVING BECAUSE HE WANTED TO BE BESIDE YUKI... AND YET HE JUST UP AND ABANDONS HER, MAKING HER HIS ENEMY NUMBER ONE. GREAT..!!! MAKES A LOTTA SENSE [HEAVY SARCASM]. For real though, at that moment in the manga, it was a true tragedy for the series. A beautifully written character was killed, and subsequently, everyone else was spiritually killed off as well, and thus the beginning of a very long dry story that keeps snowballing into a jumbled confusing mess to give us "angsts", only to be "nicely" tied off in the end.

There is a new manga at work, "Vampire Knight: Memories", which is a sequel to the series, released a few years after the final volume for the original. However, personally I am done with this series. My heart has been broken enough by Vampire Knight. I don't think the new series will mend my heart any time soon, so I will just leave this heartfelt review here and say my peace to Vampire Knight. Absolutely loved it, and will try to pretend I only read "season one" and forget that I bought the second boxset for the atrocious "season two"