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Title: Vampire Knight Vol 9

Author:  Matsuri Hino

Publisher:  Viz

ISBN: 9781421531724

May Contain Spoilers

From the back of the book:

Cross over to the night. Meet your knights in shining darkness.

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 dorm, they cross paths with the 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!

A war among vampires has started at Cross Academy, and even Day Class students are being attacked. Kaname finally reveals his hidden plan to Zero, and Zero must choose on which side he will fight. But in order for Zero to defeat the enemy, he will have to take part in an atrocious act…

Oh, Vampire Knight, how you dazzle the eyes and confound the brain.  Reading each new volume of your enticingly beautiful artwork confuses and astounds, and makes me wonder if you will ever make much sense.  I don’t mind your reckless presentation, with jarring changes in perspective and unsettling shifts in location.  I don’t even mind that I occasionally have a hard time telling your cast apart, and usually have to rely on those elegantly tousled mops of  hair to identify your characters.  You are so pretty that I will learn to adapt, and I have confidence that I will soon decipher your actions with the clarity of an archeologist finally understanding the complexities of the Rosetta Stone.  I have the patience, as well as plenty of time to ponder the mysteries swirling throughout your panels.

Okay, so maybe the plot isn’t quite that mystifying, but there is certainly the feeling that the look and feel of Vampire Knight means much, much more than something as mundane as having a coherent plot.  For a dark, brooding atmosphere, there aren’t many titles that can top this one.  The love triangle is one full of torment and pain.  None of characters are very happy, and with a vampire war brewing, they are about to become even more discontented.  As old traditions battle with new loyalties, who will live, and who will turn to dust?  In a world where an agonized glance communicates more clearly than the loudest scream, I find myself unable to look away.  And very, very happy that I am not a citizen of the eerie and bleak universe that is Vampire Knight.

Grade:  B