Beth's Reviews > Vampire Knight, Vol. 11

NOTE: this review contains some spoilers for Vampire Knight's story up until now.

***

I almost decided to give up on this series after reading through the story summary at the beginning of the book and recognizing next to nothing. Once I got into the main part of the book, I still didn't remember much, but there were enough context clues to keep me reading through the rest.

I enjoyed it! It's still fun to read. There are still far too many characters to keep track of, much less care about. I still don't give a crap about the vampire politics or the hunters. It's still all about Zero for me. Oh and Yuki and Kaname I guess, since without them Zero would have no motivation, or rather, no source of angst.

Now that our secret princess Yuki is a full-blown real princess, she's more languid than chipper, and that is also true of Headmaster Cross, who's changed from a spacey weirdo to an ultra-somber emo dude like the rest of the cast, so the story's taking itself way more seriously. But that doesn't mean *I* am taking it more seriously. At least half of my enjoyment comes from how ridiculous it is. I can't read lines like

"If I am to let you go, I'd rather kill you myself... or have you kill me."

or

"Whether it is a cruel request, something distressing--even the blade of death... they all give color to my grey heart."

and not chuckle just a tiny bit.

Vampirism continues to feel like a one-to-one metaphor for sexuality, especially when it's stated explicitly that a trueblood vampire can't be fully nourished unless their heart entirely belongs to the one they're drinking from, or something like that. With that in mind, over half the scenes between Yuki and Kaname in this volume read like a couple negotiating terms when one is monogamous and the other is polyamorous.