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The story begins with a young girl waking up in the middle of a snowstorm. Seconds later she is attacked by a rather scary vampire, and then saved by another, Kuran Kaname. She is brought to Cross Academy and is adopted by its headmaster, Kaien Cross, and is given the name Yuuki Cross. Ten years later she is the prefect of Cross Academy, a school divided into two classes: The Day and Night Class. While the Day Class are normal humans, the Night Class are actually Vampires, who take classes at Night and are known [[TheBeautifulPeople for being absolutely gorgeous.]] This also leads to a large number of Day Class girls to have crushes on them. Yuuki and Zero are prefects, but their actual job is to protect the secret that the Night Class is full of Vampires.

VampireKnight has recently been Licensed by VizMedia.
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'''This series provides examples of:'''
* ActionGirl: Yuuki [[TookALevelInBadass becomes this]] to some degree after [[spoiler:Kaname transforms her back into a vampire, and after TheReveal.]] However, with her sheltered upbringing, other characters being much more experienced, and both of the guys in her LoveTriangle prone to pushing her out of the way and defending her, she hasn't made much of a difference in fights yet, making her something of a FauxActionGirl so far.
* AdaptationDecay: The anime is generally viewed as worse both aesthetically and qualitatively than the original manga.
* AfterTheEnd: it's easy to miss the fact that the series is set in [[TheFuture the far future]], after the apocalypse, long enough after for things to have been rebuilt to about the same level. In a recent flashback, Juri tells a story of her adolescence to the young Yuuki; we've heard before that she was about two thousand years old, and the architecture and setting appears to be roughly modern day Japan, certainly within the last 30 years or so.
* ArtShift: You'll notice the progress in quality of the art as the series progresses.
* TheBeautifulPeople: The vampires. Later, possible deconstructed with characters that, despite everything, still suffer and hide their pain under this.
* BlackAndGrayMorality
* BlackBlood: In the anime, which ruined some scenes for this troper. The manga actually has red blood in the colored pages.
* BloodyMurder: Shiki is able to throw his blood around rather like a whip.
* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler:Yuuki and Kaname. And their parents, Juri and Haruka. Seems to be the done thing in pureblooded vampire families.]]
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: Yuuki VS Rido]]
* ChainsOfLove
* CompellingVoice: This is a stated power of all pureblood vampires, although it seems the verbal component may be unnecessary.
*CreepyChild: Maria, especially when [[spoiler:possessed by Shizuka]]. She even has a [[OminousMusicBoxTune scary theme song]] to match.
* CreepyCoolCrosses
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: [[IKnewIt Somewhat easy to see coming.]] Cross is a complete clown who proved himself a ''very'' badass [[spoiler:vampire hunter]] in chapter 45.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The whole premise.
* {{Dhampyr}}: The vampire hunters are these; it's widely theorised that the ancestors of the hunters actually ''ate'' a vampire and that this has been passed down through their genes.
* TheDumbledore: Chairman Kaien Cross. Spends most of his onscreen time as a comic relief, providing humour and generally looking like an idiot, and is also revealed to be [[spoiler:a former vampire hunter, even more experienced that Touga Yagari, who is ranked Number One Vampire hunter]].
* DracoInLeatherPants: [[PerpetualFrowner Zero]]. Also [[spoiler:Kaname]], though he's not as popular as the former ''and'' his morality is generally unclear. [[spoiler: On the other hand, he outright stated 'I'm not a gentle Vampire at all.'...]]
** This may be bad for Yuki.
* ElaborateUniversityHigh: Cross Academy
* EmotionlessGirl: Yuuki's best friend, Sayori.
** Actually Sayori does show quite a bit of active concern for her friend Yuuki. Kaname's bodyguard Seiren (seriously, we don't even know her last name) and the flat-voiced fashion model/Night Class member Rima Touya are probably better examples.
*EvilUncle: Rido.
* [[FanGirl Fangirls]]: The Day Class seems to be ''filled'' with fangirls who like the night class.
** The series itself also has a really large amount of {{fangirl}}s, but that's a given with shoujo.
* FauxActionGirl: This troper, who has at this point only read the first five volumes, found Yuuki to be one after she constantly seems to be saved by Zero, never really participating the fights and getting injured a lot.
* FoeYay:
** ''Yuuki x Shizuka''
** ''Zero x Ichiru''
** ''Sara Shirabuki x Takuma''
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires: The night class, with particular emphasis on Takuma Ichijou.
* FreudWasRight: Although it's not obvious, the KissOfTheVampire serves as a metaphor for sex. [[spoiler:Especially with regard to the "secret relationship" between Yuuki and Zero during volumes 3 and beyond.]] In other words, [[spoiler: Zero is "boning" both Yuuki ''and'' Kaname.]] Seen in this light, the final scene with Zero and [[spoiler:Ichiru]] is quite Freudianly symbolic as well.
* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: Yuuki makes her own psycho weapon shortly after TheReveal.
* GoAskAlice: "Alice" is mentioned in the EndingTheme "Still Doll".
* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Senri Shiki is hijacked by Rido Kuran.]]
** Also [[spoiler: Shizuka Hiou, the vampire who killed Zero's family, does this to Maria Kurenai. Said vampire is also Rido's fiance...]]
* HotShojoDad: Yagari Touga, Zero's shishou and father figure. (Also uncannily resembles Cross Marian from D.Gray-Man)
**[[WTFMate This troper]] would like to put in a vote for Haruka Kuran as well.
* HoYay
** ''Yuuki x Shizuka''
** ''Zero x Ichiru''
** ''Aidou x Kaname''
** ''Zero x Kaname''
*** There's also a one-off Yay scene between Shiki and Ichijou at the latter's birthday party, complete with blood.
* IAmWho: [[spoiler:Yuuki is the pureblood vampire Kuran Yuuki.]]
* IKnewIt: [[spoiler:Yuuki is a pureblood vampire]]. This was somewhat easy to see coming, but the exact manner was still something of a surprise.
* IllGirl: Maria Kurenai is said to be this. Also, Ichiru was a very rare male example as a child, due to [[spoiler: Zero stealing much of his life force while they were in their mother's womb.]]
* [[JapaneseVampire Japanese Vampires]]: Implicitly justified by OurVampiresAreDifferent.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Zero is this at times, but YourMileageMayVary.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: In several forms.
* LoveTriangle: Zero, Yuuki and Kaname.
* MamaBear: Juri Kuran, who is implied to have done some very painful things to herself, all of which were part of saving [[spoiler: her daughter by turning her human; apparently, turning a vampire human kills the vampire casting the spell.]]
* MuggleFosterParents: Considering that [[spoiler:Yuuki was a pureblood Vampire all this time, Chairman Cross]] definitely counts. Unlike most, however, [[spoiler:he]] is still alive to this chapter.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Although their hatred of each other doesn't have that much to do with the LoveTriangle, Zero and Kaname really wouldn't mind killing the other.
* MyHeroZero: Obviously.
* MysteriousPast: Yuuki, until TheReveal.
* OneHeadTaller: It seems that about every male character is significantly taller than Yuuki.
* PerpetualFrowner: Zero and Kaname.
* TheWoobie: Although [[YourMileageMayVary some would consider it wangst]], considering the increasingly horrible things Zero gets subjected to, yet somehow doesn't go ''comatose'' from a despair overdose, he fits pretty well into this trope.
* SimpleStaff: Yuuki's weapon until after TheReveal is a collapsible ''bo'', the Artemis Rod, which she keeps hidden strapped to her thigh under her skirt. Since the skirt's pretty short, albeit flared and pleated, it's hard to tell how it doesn't show all the time. The Rod is powerful against vampires, with an arcing, electric-like energy.
* SinisterScythe: Yuuki's weapon, later on. [[spoiler: the Artemis Rod, transformed into a scythe by Yuuki.]]
* TomatoInTheMirror: Yuuki
* TookALevelInBadass: Yuuki becoming an ActionGirl post-[[spoiler:transforming back into a vampire]], and subverted with [[spoiler:Kaien]], who was badass before, and demonstrated it in later chapters.
* {{Twincest}}: Zero and Ichiru receive quite a share of [[HoYay Bro Yay.]]
* TheUnFavorite: Ichiru believes he is this to his parents after overhearing a conversation they had comparing him to Zero. This prompted many of his actions later on.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent
* [[YouWatchTooMuchX You Read Too Much X]]: Ichijou reads too many vampire and regular mangas.
* {{Wangst}}: Zero's fairly emo. More "dark and brooding" than "crybaby," though.
* ZettaiRyouiki: A prominent feature of the Cross Academy's girls' uniform.

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