Lemme just start this review off by saying this - God, this series was demotivating to watch. I had to take week-long breaks between episodes, to the point that I had almost forgotten about finishing the series, and as such, I am coming to you today, on the 4th of June, 2021, with a bit of booze in me cause writing something that actually makes me think, unlike my college essays, takes a bit of time.
Anyways, I was conflicted about the final score that I gave the series in the end - I'll probably get to that later. For now, let's take a quick dive into, well, what I actually thought of Vampire Knight.

Minor spoiler warning. If you haven't watched Vampire Knight yet, you know what? Give it a watch. You might never know. Don't blame me that I spoiled something for you in case you read the review and THEN watched the anime, though.

Appearance: 6/10 Vampire Knight looks fine for the year it released in. There's some decent art pieces, character designs are pretty cool and I am a fan of the uniforms, which look _just _about what I'd expect for this genre. However, actually looking into the characters' faces made me think that this released two years _before _it actually did, cause it's giving me a mid-2000s vibe with the kawaii sugoi desu eyes. They're fine, I am just not a fan of the style. But for the setting that this is, the mood is set pretty well with both the day and night scenes. A pretty competent job, though it was missing some more exotic designs or concepts.Sound: 5.5/10 The opening song is a bloody banger. I do really like the opening song. It's unfortunate that the ending song is the exact opposite for me, but I digress. Aside the opening and ending songs, I actually can't remember any of the music. It is genuinely that forgettable. In my mind, I have this scale of forgetful anime soundtracks. Gundam AGE, despite being the mediocre disappointment ride that it is, has such a nice soundtrack that I cannot forget it. Vampire Knight may be the next competitor for the most forgettable soundtrack in anything that I have ever watched. Owari no Seraph was kind of the benchmark anime there, but from that I can at least remember a few tracks. Aside the lack of any memorable music, the sound is inoffensive and sounds perfectly fine.Characters: 6.5/10 I am assuming that this one will bring in the most question marks from people. I don't really like a considerable amount of characters, but not because they're one-dimensional a lot of the time. That is only one part of it. A lot of the cast hadn't been given enough time to develop itself, outside the main characters, like Yuuki, Zero, Kuran and a few others. Out of all of them? I probably like Yuuki the most, she tries to stay innocent and help others despite all she has to go through. I wasn't a fan of Zero at first, but he developed out to be actually rather conscious of his actions and went further down the road to become my probably second-most favorite character. It's disappointing, cause I expected a lot from the vampires. I expected them to be cunning, cold, merciless and such - how Castlevania made me think of vampires, to an extent.

Spoiler, click to view

However, only Kuran really applies to that.

Kain is probably the most interesting of the other vampires to me, as he seems rather aware and calculated - he strikes me to be one of the characters I'd associate the most with a vampire. And I think that these characters could've been brought out, weren't it for one glaring issue I have with the..Story: 6/10 The only and really only reason I haven't dropped the story to a 4 or 3 is cause the final episodes redeem the entire thing to me. I do really like some of the lore snippets thrown around the episodes - I was kind of surprised, cause I'd expect it to go like "bite, haha, bige teethe, bam", but there's a little more to the process. And the story's development and pacing is actually pretty alright! Nothing fantastic, but it's good enough. One thing that absolutely kills a lot of areas is the absolutely bizarre switching from dramatic to comedy within LITERAL seconds. I wish I was joking, cause this really detracted from my score for the initial eight to nine episodes. Something serious could've been conveyed, and within the next scene bam haha funni please laugh. This not only destroys my mood and desire to watch further, as I wish to watch a drama/mystery anime and not comedy, but it also hampers character development. The only real reason I think the main cast has actual development is cause they had the most on-screen time. And granted, mostly this comedy is cause of the headmaster, but that's his schtick! That's what his facade is all about, and if he doesn't do that, his character isn't much better! And it absolutely frustrates me. There is a good story here, and you can see it pretty often, but the comedic tone just tries to smother that with a pillow. The last few episodes thankfully have next to no of that, and the sequelbaiting is obvious. To the point it detracts as well, cause it's being extremely obvious about it.Enjoyment: 5/10 Even though I just spilled my spaghetti all about the story, I did kind of enjoy watching some episodes. Granted, it was more of a coin toss, and the reason that the score is relatively high is cause the last few episodes were genuinely enjoyable, but I did have some enjoyment.Overall: 6/10 // 60/100 Vampire Knight tries to do a drama and mystery, and genuinely succeeds in a lot of regards there. But there's also so many areas it tries to undermine itself, damaging the overall fun I've had with watching it. I don't think the series is bad, and I've been motivated enough to watch the sequel as well. However, you should be aware of these flaws before you give it a watch.How to do, and also not do, a vampire drama/mystery series. Look no further..than Vampire Knight.