Blog

PRESS RELEASE

VAMPIRE KNIGHT ANIMATED SERIES PREMIERES ONLINE AT VIZAnime.com!

Fates Are Sealed In A Tale Of Gothic Romance And Bloodlust In New Animated Series Based On Smash Hit Manga by Matsuri Hino!

San Francisco, CA, May 7, 2010 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, beckons fans to sink their teeth into the gothic romance of the animated series VAMPIRE KNIGHT, launching online today on VIZAnime.com.

VIZ Anime is the official online home to some of VIZ Media’s best-loved animated series and a burgeoning social network for fans to connect and form an interactive community. Over 400 episodes are currently available and new content is added on a weekly basis. VIZ Anime is accessible at: www.VIZAnime.com.

Cross Academy is attended by two groups of students: the Day Class and the Night Class. At twilight, when the students of the Day Class return to their dorms, they cross paths with the mysterious Night Class on their way to school. Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu are the Guardians of the school, protecting the Day Class from the Academy’s dark secret: the Night Class is full of vampires! Yuki Cross has no memory of her past prior to the moment she was saved from a vampire attack ten years ago. She was adopted by the headmaster of Cross Academy, and now works alongside Zero to guard the Academy’s secret. Yuki believes that vampires and humans can coexist peacefully, but her partner has different ideas…

“With its cast of edgy and engaging characters combined with a dark sexy storyline, VAMPIRE KNIGHT is destined to be one of the most exciting anime releases of 2010,” says Brian Ige, Director of Sales, Home Entertainment. “Fans can also look forward to the release of VAMPIRE KNIGHT on DVD, under the Shojo Beat imprint, on July 20th. Stay tuned for more details coming soon on some hot VIZ Media anime summer releases!”

VAMPIRE KNIGHT (rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens) is based on the best-selling manga series created by Matsuri Hino, who burst onto the scene in Japan with her debut title, Kono Yume ga Sametara (When This Dream Is Over) in LaLa DX magazine. With the success of subsequent series such as CAPTIVE HEARTS and MERU PURI (both published domestically by VIZ Media), Hino has firmly established herself as a major force in the world of shojo manga. VAMPIRE KNIGHT is currently serialized in LaLa magazine in Japan.

For more information on the VAMPIRE KNIGHT manga and to read free previews online please visit www.shojobeat.com. For more information on other animated titles from VIZ Media please visit www.VIZAnime.com.

_______________________________

I’m fairly fond of the manga myself, which was pretty fantastic…up to a point.  Then it really got out of hand….  I still enjoy it, but Hino really took it off the deep end.  One thing I can say for the anime, is that it’s beautifully animated.  The animation style is perfect for the story and setting, and the colors….  Oh, the colors.  Gorgeous, vibrant, glossy, and a myriad of other similar adjectives….  Also, fantastic theme songs, particularly the ending themes, which are performed by the spectacularly talented Kanon Wakeshima.  What’s online right now is in Japanese, so I assume they’re still dubbing the episodes.  Which is a shame, because I’d like to be proven wrong about casting Vic Mignogna as Zero.  I think he’s a good voice actor, but I’m skeptical because I don’t think his voice fits the character.  Basically, I think he’s been miscast.  Mela Lee will voice Yuki, and I think that’s fairly solid; I’m not super familiar with her, but what I have heard makes me believe she’ll do well.  I’m even less familiar with Kaname’s actor, Ethan Murray, and can only vaguely recall him from the little bit of the English dubbing I listened to in Gankutsuou.  Occasionally it feels like something is missing from the anime…and that’s because it is.  You’ll get more depth from the manga (which isn’t unusual).  The series is divided into two 13-episode seasons, Vampire Knight and Vampire Knight Guilty, both of which are licensed by Viz.

Kris
kristin@comicattack.net