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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
I like the conflict between Yuki and Zero and Kaname, and Yuki's conflicted emotions towards the both of them. But I was confused a lot during this volume regarding everything else.
I really liked Volume 3! We learn more about the characters, especially Yuki, and I really liked the flashbacks! Kaname, Zero and Yuki are all very connected. And the new transfer student, Maria...there is more to her, and I'm curious about where her story is headed. It seems a little random, a new transfer student but I feel like there's a purpose behind it. New students don't randomly show up for no reason. We are getting deeper into this world and how things outside the school are affecting things inside the school. And the concept of the Senate is introduced in volume 3. I'm wondering how much of a presence they'll have in future volumes. I really liked the art, and both art and story are getting better with each volume.
My Rating: 4 stars. I like that 3 volumes in, we are learning so much more about this world. I can't wait to see where things go.
My Rating: 4 stars. I like that 3 volumes in, we are learning so much more about this world. I can't wait to see where things go.
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
Well! That was terrible!
There's no way to put this lightly, so I won't beat around the bush. Kaname is a creep, and likely a child predator, and he should be nowhere near Yuki. Any reader thinking their relationship to be romantic is also a creep by extension. This volume is mainly focused on flashbacks showcasing the past between the two characters.
Where Yuki is explicitly a small child and Kaname is already a grown adult.
He has known her since she was about six years old and it's completely unclear when he started having sexual feelings for her. Tell me, Kaname, did you want to kiss her before or after her age hit the double digits? I genuinely want to know because this looks BAD.
So, so bad.
This man was a part-time babysitter, essentially. And he wants to fuck her.
And we as an audience are supposed to want him to fuck her.
And, from what I can see, most of the audience does want that.
What the hell?
How is anyone okay with this?
Are readers so blind? Or is the shipping so powerful they don't care that Kaname was lusting for a girl not old enough to feed herself?
The romanticization at play here is deplorable and I've officially lost my enjoyment of the "cringe" in this series.
There's no way to put this lightly, so I won't beat around the bush. Kaname is a creep, and likely a child predator, and he should be nowhere near Yuki. Any reader thinking their relationship to be romantic is also a creep by extension. This volume is mainly focused on flashbacks showcasing the past between the two characters.
Where Yuki is explicitly a small child and Kaname is already a grown adult.
He has known her since she was about six years old and it's completely unclear when he started having sexual feelings for her. Tell me, Kaname, did you want to kiss her before or after her age hit the double digits? I genuinely want to know because this looks BAD.
So, so bad.
This man was a part-time babysitter, essentially. And he wants to fuck her.
And we as an audience are supposed to want him to fuck her.
And, from what I can see, most of the audience does want that.
What the hell?
How is anyone okay with this?
Are readers so blind? Or is the shipping so powerful they don't care that Kaname was lusting for a girl not old enough to feed herself?
The romanticization at play here is deplorable and I've officially lost my enjoyment of the "cringe" in this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Violence, Death of parent
In volume 2, the focus was on Zero. In volume 3, the focus is on the relationships Yuuki has with both Zero and Kaname. We also begin to see how events in the outside world have been affecting and continue to affect all three. In other words, we finally get a better glimpse of the world they live in.
One of the things I love about this volume is that it doesn't start with a summary in the story itself for those who picked up this volume first. The actual story begins with Zero in a series of wordless panels that would probably look boring to those who don't know the events of the previous volume, or how much it took for Zero to finally decide to keep living. For readers already familiar with the plot up to this point, the way the simple act of getting ready for school is portrayed in those panels is a beautiful example of subtext in manga form. Those panels set the tone for the rest of the volume.
Also, for the first time in this story, you don't get the feeling that an event happened just to provide an excuse for exposition. The storytelling improves dramatically in this volume.
The flashbacks, when they occur, involve Yuuki's interactions with either Kaname or Zero. With Kaname, we see why she's so willing to trust him and how deep and honest their interactions originally were. We also learn when and how things changed between them to their current state. Like most changes in a relationship, though there appears to be one event, there's actually more than one. The first is obvious: Zero's arrival in the Cross household. The second isn't as obvious and, in fact, was more powerful to me than the first. It felt more true to the story/plot.
Yuuki's memories of Zero at times overlap with her memories of Kaname. The point of many of these is to show Zero's hatred of vampires as contrasted with Yuuki's willingness to believe some are good. It's only in the last flashback (in the main story), that we get a glimpse of something different from him than his usual fury against vampires. And, no surprise, the reason he softens his stance, even the smallest fraction of an inch, is because of Yuuki.
As a result, we see, long before Yuuki does, that Zero cares very deeply about her, to the point where he's willing to go along with her belief that a vampire could do something good for a human. It doesn't matter if he agrees with that belief or not, to me. For him to tolerate any toleration is huge.
The rest of the novel brings us the concept of the Senate, the ruling council of the vampires and two new characters: Asato Ichijo, head of the Senate, and Maria Kurenai. Of course, we learn very quickly that Maria isn't exactly who she claims to be. Zero knows who she is, but won't say.
I don't think I'll be spoiling anything because it was so obvious to me it was somehow Shizuka Hio it's not even funny. I'll hide this review, just in case.
In between all this is Zero's first hunt. It's something to read because, even though it's short, it's got an emotional punch that gives us a clearer view of what hunters do, why they're necessary, and of what drives Zero. As a result of the hunt, he begins to change from a scary jerk of a guardian, to the protector he was meant to be from birth. It also helped me realize why Yuuki keeps stressing that she'll kill Zero if he ever drops to "Level E".
As a side note, each volume usually has a side story, a brief story at the end of the volume. Sometimes they're cute and/or funny. The one at the end here is a microcosm of the themes of the volume. Its a flashback to when Yuuki was a preteen, after Zero has joined the household. Yuuki's sick and Kaname spends some time with her. It is one of the sweetest manga shorts I've ever read, with a bittersweet ending that hooked me more deeply into the story than anything I had read up to that point.
Overall, there's a lot of great world-building in this volume, not to mention the plot really begins to take off with Maria's/Shizuka's arrival. Also, although we get a glimpse of how Kaname actually feels about Zero feeding off Yuuki (he ain't happy, folks), it's obvious there are bigger things moving under the surface through this story, and Kaname is waiting for them to appear.
One of the things I love about this volume is that it doesn't start with a summary in the story itself for those who picked up this volume first. The actual story begins with Zero in a series of wordless panels that would probably look boring to those who don't know the events of the previous volume, or how much it took for Zero to finally decide to keep living. For readers already familiar with the plot up to this point, the way the simple act of getting ready for school is portrayed in those panels is a beautiful example of subtext in manga form. Those panels set the tone for the rest of the volume.
Also, for the first time in this story, you don't get the feeling that an event happened just to provide an excuse for exposition. The storytelling improves dramatically in this volume.
The flashbacks, when they occur, involve Yuuki's interactions with either Kaname or Zero. With Kaname, we see why she's so willing to trust him and how deep and honest their interactions originally were. We also learn when and how things changed between them to their current state. Like most changes in a relationship, though there appears to be one event, there's actually more than one. The first is obvious: Zero's arrival in the Cross household. The second isn't as obvious and, in fact, was more powerful to me than the first. It felt more true to the story/plot.
Yuuki's memories of Zero at times overlap with her memories of Kaname. The point of many of these is to show Zero's hatred of vampires as contrasted with Yuuki's willingness to believe some are good. It's only in the last flashback (in the main story), that we get a glimpse of something different from him than his usual fury against vampires. And, no surprise, the reason he softens his stance, even the smallest fraction of an inch, is because of Yuuki.
As a result, we see, long before Yuuki does, that Zero cares very deeply about her, to the point where he's willing to go along with her belief that a vampire could do something good for a human. It doesn't matter if he agrees with that belief or not, to me. For him to tolerate any toleration is huge.
The rest of the novel brings us the concept of the Senate, the ruling council of the vampires and two new characters: Asato Ichijo, head of the Senate, and Maria Kurenai. Of course, we learn very quickly that Maria isn't exactly who she claims to be. Zero knows who she is, but won't say.
I don't think I'll be spoiling anything because it was so obvious to me it was somehow Shizuka Hio it's not even funny. I'll hide this review, just in case.
In between all this is Zero's first hunt. It's something to read because, even though it's short, it's got an emotional punch that gives us a clearer view of what hunters do, why they're necessary, and of what drives Zero. As a result of the hunt, he begins to change from a scary jerk of a guardian, to the protector he was meant to be from birth. It also helped me realize why Yuuki keeps stressing that she'll kill Zero if he ever drops to "Level E".
As a side note, each volume usually has a side story, a brief story at the end of the volume. Sometimes they're cute and/or funny. The one at the end here is a microcosm of the themes of the volume. Its a flashback to when Yuuki was a preteen, after Zero has joined the household. Yuuki's sick and Kaname spends some time with her. It is one of the sweetest manga shorts I've ever read, with a bittersweet ending that hooked me more deeply into the story than anything I had read up to that point.
Overall, there's a lot of great world-building in this volume, not to mention the plot really begins to take off with Maria's/Shizuka's arrival. Also, although we get a glimpse of how Kaname actually feels about Zero feeding off Yuuki (he ain't happy, folks), it's obvious there are bigger things moving under the surface through this story, and Kaname is waiting for them to appear.
Once again, this series is not GOOD. There's a lot that I have issues with and knowing kind of how things go, it makes these even worse. But I am still having a good time rereading it so I can continue and finish the series.