"The bloody academy of fate, do not run away from this destiny."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, Kaname Kuran. 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 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.The anime has been licensed by Viz Media and the manga is still currently running in both Japan and the U.S.Has a character sheet.
After the End: It's easy to miss the fact that the series is set in 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 three thousand years old, and the architecture and setting appears to be roughly modern day Japan, certainly within the last 30 years or so.
It's more likely that the setting of time everything takes place in is fictional. During another flashback where Juri reveals her first pregnancy, the setting here appears to be set around more ancient times again, with a horse carriage and old fashioned clothes. We don't know how long after the "Umbrella" bonus Juri and Haruka had their first child, and as most of the story centers around the Cross Academy school, Kuran's mansion and the Hunter Association's headquarters, we know very little about how the rest of the world looks like in terms of what era it is.
Ambiguously Gay: Aidou and Ichijou. Their affections for Kaname just crosses the line between platonic and romantic a tiny bit sometimes...
Animal Eye Spy: Four characters in all uses this: Kaname with bats, Shizuka as Maria with a crow, Maria with an owl, and Sara with spiders.
Animal Motifs: Kaname transforms parts of himself into bats and an occasional wolf (all dark/gothic symbolizing animals), Yuuki is often shown with a plushed rabbit in covers (her zodiac animal and personality according to it) and portrayed with butterfly wings (gentleness, arguably re/birth), while Zero's loyal and self sacrificing personality very much reminds of his zodiac: the Dog, along with having a white horse to compliment his debatable role as the Knight.
Sara frequently uses spiders as her spies, and is once even seen transforming her entire body into a big pile of the creatures. It's nothing new that spiders are usually associated with bad omens when used in such a manner.
Anti-Climax Boss: Rido. For all that build up, he gets beaten in two rounds by Yuuki and Zero with seemingly no hard effort.
Batman Gambit: Kaname is a frequent user of this trope, specially concerning Zero during the first arc.
Beast and Beauty: Possibly, as vampires are metaphorically beasts. The trope can apply for both Zero/Yuuki and Kaname/Yuuki, though probably a bit more for Zero/Yuuki as Zero have more of a crude exterior, next to his level E threat (in particular during the first arc.)
Berserk Button: Do not badmouth Zero so Yuuki hears it. Rido (almost) learned that the hard way.
Averted with Kaname and Yuuki. Kaname have always been very protective of her, though this has arguably little to do with being her foster brother.
Big Brother Worship: Yuuki with Kaname. Even though he's technically not her brother, they were raised as siblings and she refers to him as "oniisama" (big brother) during the second arc.
Also, Ichiru with Zero. Despite his inferiority complex and rather disturbing acts, he genuinly loved Zero.
Cain and Abel: Averted with Zero and Ichiru. Though Ichiru did grow significantly twisted in his acts and went against Zero, he didn't become a villain, and was revealed in the end to genuinly have loved Zero all along, ultimately giving his life to him in a very touching last moment.
Cannot Spit It Out: Any interaction between Yuuki and Zero in the second arc may count to this. It's bad, in other words.
Catapult Nightmare: Zero awakes like this after having a nightmare about killing Yuuki.
Childhood Marriage Promise: Slightly averted with Yuuki and Kaname, where their lineage expects a Kuran born son and daughter to marry each other upon reaching adult age, as is custom to most pureblood lineages.
Child Soldiers: Vampire hunters begin training already as children.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Sort of. Shindou, the braided day class girl that had a crush on Zero had her share or appearances, but disappeared from the story after the turn of arcs.
Compelling Voice: This is a stated power of all pureblood vampires, although it seems the verbal component may be unnecessary.
Cool Guns: Alot of the vampire hunter weapons are. Specially Zero's version of the Desert Eagle that eventually can be tranformed into rose vines at his whim.
Crazy Jealous Guy: Kaname, to an extent. His main dislike for Zero seem to stem from jealousy alone, and he really wouldn't mind killing him.
Done even more straight with a recent bonus, where he's threatening to kill a random day class student who plans on giving Yuuki a love letter. Arguably averted as it's Played for Laughs.
Averted with Zero as his reasons for hating Kaname have more to do with him being a pureblood, and having been used/abused by him rather than being jealous.
Rido definetely counts.
Creepy Child: Maria, especially when possessed by Shizuka. She even has a scary theme song to match. Child-Zero had his moments too.
Cryptic Conversation: many of these throughout the series, usually involving Kaname.
Curse: Apparently, when a vampire huntress becomes pregnant with twins, a curse will leave one of the fetuses to devour the other, naming it the "twin curse". So far, Zero and Ichiru are said to be the only case in which this didn't happen, due to Zero having been "softhearted before he was even born."
Cursed with Awesome: Zero arguably becomes this after having devoured pureblood's blood several times and what remains of Ichiru's life, making him the most powerful vampire hunter living and enabling him to merge with his Bloody Rose gun, creating controllable and deadly rose vines. The vines however, will proceed to drink his blood in an apparent painful manner in turn.
Cycle of Revenge: Zero hates vampires because Hiou Shizuka, a pureblood, killed his vampire hunter parents AND turned him into a vampire. He hates them so much that he vows to kill her and every other pureblood vampire, even Yuuki once it's revealed that she herself is one. He also has no issue offing himself once the deed gets done. Later we find out Hiou Shizuka killed his parents because they killed someone very precious to her — only because this person's name was put on the "assassination list" for some malevolent reason, despite the fact he wasn't a Level E. It could have gotten worse had everyone continued to believe he killed Shizuka which, if not for Kaname, would have brought down the vengeance of the vampire senate on Zero.
Death Glare: Alot of characters will give you this, though Kaname and Zero especially.
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. As of chapter 63, it is shown that it was actually a pureblood vampire who fed the hunters ancestors her own blood to give them the abilities to fight off the other vampires.
Doting Parent: Although a foster parent, Kaien Cross is pretty adorable as one.
Eccentric Mentor: 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 a former vampire hunter, even more experienced that Touga Yagari, who is ranked Number One Vampire hunter.
Freud Was Right: Although it's not obvious, the Kiss of the Vampire serves as a metaphor for sex. Especially with regard to the "secret relationship" between Yuuki and Zero during volumes 3 and beyond. In other words, Zero is "boning" both Yuuki and Kaname. Seen in this light, the final scene with Zero and Ichiru is quite Freudianly symbolic as well.
Generation Xerox: The Zero/Yuuki/Kaname love triangle greatly resembles the Kaien/Juri/Haruka love triangle.
Hates Being Touched: Zero to a degree. In the beginning, the only one he doesn't mind touching him is (eventually) Yuuki. Otherwise he'd rather avoid physical contact, even from Yuuki, after The Reveal.
Homage: A big part of, if not the entire story seems to be based upon knight tales, what with the whole "Kings, queens/princesses and knights" theme (along with the title), highly different social status/positions in society and lineage, plus the frequent use of and reference to chess games and pieces (mainly by Kaname). It makes even more sense if one looks at the dynamics of Yuuki and Zero's relationship throughout the story, where Yuuki is the "princess" while Zero is both her and arguably the serie's "knight".
Horror Hunger: The tragic state of level E's that ultimately leads to their death sentences, as it causes them to attack and feed on any human avaliable. This is the main cause of Zero's struggle in the first arc, though thanks to Yuuki and their "forbidden acts", he manages to avoid it.
Horsing Around: The horse Lily in an early chapter goes on a brief rampage apparently due to sensing vampires.
Hot Dad: Yagari Touga, Zero's shishou and father figure. (Also uncannily resembles Cross Marian from D.Gray-Man.)
Haruka Kuran as well.
Although he's only an adoptive dad, Kaien Cross is pretty hot himself, once he stops clowning around, undoes the silly pigtails and un-chibifies his face.
There's also a one-off Yay scene between Shiki and Ichijou at the latter's birthday party, complete with blood.
Also in a bonus manga in volume 4 Shiki is sleeping on Ichijou's shoulderMatsuri Hino said in a side panel that she should have had him leaning on Rima instead and that "it's difficult to develop love relationships in this manga" (Instead of Ichijo...)
Ill Girl: Maria Kurenai is said to be this. Also, Ichiru was a very rare male example as a child, due to Zero stealing much of his life force while they were in their mother's womb.
Immortality: Purebloods have this. They're not impossible to kill, however.
Indirect Kiss: Debatable, but an easy to miss one as early as chapter 2; Yuuki feeds her homemade chocolate to Zero, then as an additional page at the end of the chapter she's licking the same finger she fed him with.
Interrupted Suicide: Zero is stopped by Yuuki from using "Bloody Rose" (his anti-vampire gun) at himself shortly after becoming a full fledged vampire. Though it can be debated whether he was really going to pull the trigger or if he was just "playing with the thought."
Interspecies Friendship: Zero and Yuuki in the first arc, being a human and a vampire, though taken even further when their relationship ambiguously transgresses into...
Interspecies Romance: Yuuki and Kaname (human and pureblood vampire) in the first arc, Yuuki and Zero (pureblood vampire and level D vampire/vampire hunter) in the second, albeit the latter is yet to be canonized.
Also, Shizuka and her level D vampire lover, possibly an intentional close mirror situation to later Yuuki and Zero.
Shizuka and Ichiru as well. Though Shizuka apparently didn't return his feelings, they were still shown to share a close and rather touching bond.
Irony: Zero's vampire hunter family is killed by a pureblood vampire, next to turning Zero to a vampire himself and making his brother betray him, all in one night. This causes him to hate vampires, purebloods especially. It's then revealed that Yuuki whom he lives with for four years afterwards, who helps healing his heart and who he falls in love with, is a pureblood vampire.
Zero just can't catch a break. The first woman he had a crush on was his school's nurse. She turned out to be a level E vampire.
Not only Zero. Both of the rare vampire hunter twins ended up loving a pureblood vampire.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Kaname and Zero both about Yuuki, though Zero a bit more obviously as he several times in the first arc mentiones how he only wants Yuuki to smile. Even after The Reveal that alienates him, his main reason for separating with Yuuki is apparently because he believes she doesn't need him and will be happy with Kaname.
Love at First Sight: It's implied that this was the case for Kaname upon seeing baby Yuuki for the first time. You decide whether this is cute or creepy.
Love Hurts: Poor Zero. And Shizuka and Rido, who both apparently went crazy and turned villains because of this trope.
Arguably, Kaname was hurt a great deal upon losing the hooded pureblood woman from his past.
Don't forget Kain, who's always been hopelessly in love with Ruka. There's still no signs of her returning his feelings.
This would count for Yuuki too. As long as she can't resolve whatever feelings it is she has for Zero, she'll continue to feel "unworthy" for Kaname. Kaname is not too happy by the bond she and Zero shares either.
Heck, is there any important character this trope doesn't apply to? There's also Ichiru who fell in love with Shizuka, who while dying in his arms explains how she could never return his feelings, apparently in fear of hurting him like she did with her late level D vampire lover.
Love Makes You Crazy: Murdering your love interests' child and terrorizing a school (among other things) simply because your love was unrequited certainly counts.
Mama Bear: Juri Kuran, who is implied to have done some very painful things to herself, all of which were part of her idea of saving her daughter by turning her human; apparently, turning a vampire human kills the vampire casting the spell. Ironically, far from saving said daughter from life as what she was born, the spell malfunctioned and almost destroyed Yuuki's sanity once she tried to remember her past. Kaname had to turn her back to save her.
Martyr Without a Cause: It seems like Yuuki's only way to help others is through some form of self-sacrifice.
May-December Romance: The extreme version of it. Yuuki and Kaname are close to 10, 000 years apart.
Slightly averted in the sense that their physical appearances show themselves to be close in age however.
Mayfly December Romance: Though they've yet to be canonized, this would count for Yuuki and Zero in the second arc.
Mercy Kill: Killing level E's (ex-humans gone crazy from hunger) is technically this. Made clear from Zero's first time hunting one (not counting the novel), to which the level E expresses relief upon being captured, in the words of "... but now I don't have to kill anymore...".
Mood Whiplash: Kaien musing about his hilarious past involving his first meeting with Juri and Haruka is very sweet... until the end of the chapter, where Kaien explains in inner monologue that the reason that began his love/obsession for photography was after his shocked realization that Juri and Haruka — two precious people to Kaien — died without leaving behind a single photograph of themselves. It can double as a bit of a Tearjerker.
Muggle Foster Parents: Considering that Yuuki was a pureblood Vampire all this time, Chairman Cross definitely counts. Unlike most, however, he is still alive to this chapter.
Averted however, as Kaien isn't an ordinary human.
Murder the Hypotenuse : Although their hatred of each other doesn't have that much to do with the Love Triangle, Zero and Kaname really wouldn't mind killing the other. Possibly subverted in that the reason they don't seems to be BECAUSE of the Love Triangle more than anything.
Our Ghosts Are Different: It's a very friendly ghost/spirit image of Ichiru that appears to Zero in chapter 59. Cue a very touching moment (with some Ho Yay included.)
Parental Abandonment: This is apparently the case with Yuuki's parents, until The Reveal where we learn that her parents, Juri and Haruka Kuran died protecting her from Rido. Kaname, her foster brother, brought her to Kaien Cross.
Relationship Upgrade: Yuuki and Kaname becomes a couple at the end of the first arc.
Replacement Goldfish: After noticing Yuuki's resemblence to her mother Juuri, Yuuki's uncle Rido (who was in love with Juuri) changed his plans from devouring Yuuki to keeping her as a substitute for Juuri. Doubles as No Yay.
Also, played with in Chapter 64 when Yuuki asks this to Kaname after learning of Kaname's attachment to a woman when he was the Ancestor of the Kurans.
Maria seems to want to do this to Zero because Ichiru is inside him.
Romantic False Lead: Maria seems to have been brought back in for this purpose considering recent events.
Secret Keepers: The few Day Class students who allowed to keep their memories of the Rido attack intact and not have it erased include Yori, the president of the Day Class's girls' dorm, and the president of the Day Class's boys' dorm.
Selective Obliviousness: Zero have yet to admit of still loving Yuuki, even though the signs are very much there.
Sexless Marriage: A debate would lead to if this was the case for Juri and Haruka, seeing as they waited about 3, 000 years before having children. Of course, they could have been using contraceptive methods, but even then you're not 100% safe, specially not when that much time passes; accidents would occur. Then again, it's fiction.
Shower of Angst: Zero in the anime. Though it's only for a few quick seconds.
Sibling Rivalry: Zero and Ichiru, though entirely on Ichiru's part.
Simple Staff: Yuuki's weapon until after The Reveal 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.
Sinister Scythe: Yuuki's weapon, later on. the Artemis Rod, transformed into a scythe by Yuuki.
The Beautiful People: The vampires. Later, possible deconstructed with characters that, despite everything, still suffer and hide their pain under this.
Zero:Go, Yuuki... Go be next to... the man who can spend eternity with you. ... But the next time we meet... I will kill you, Yuuki...
Yuuki:Well then, in that case... I will keep running away from you, Zero. So that you will have a reason to live... by still having enemies to go after...
Took a Level in Badass: Yuuki becoming an Action Girl post-transforming back into a vampire, and subverted with Kaien, who was badass before, and demonstrated it in later chapters. Zero too, when arriving at the battle with Rido.
The Unfavorite: 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.
Unrequited Love: The whole reason Rido went mad in the first place, when Juri chose Haruka over him.
There's also Kain/Ruka, Ruka/Kaname and Ichiru/Shizuka.
This is the case for Zero/Yuuki for a while, until certain developments would reveal that Yuuki might return Zero's feelings after all. Not that everyone agrees.
Uptown Girl: Yuuki becomes this to Zero. She's a pureblood princess, he's a level D vampire...
UST: Not so much Kaname and Yuuki since Yuuki has always been quite open about her feelings for him (the same goes for Kaname), but there is a lot of this between Yuuki and Zero, especially given recent events.
Villain: Several. Shizuka, Rido and currently Sara.
Villainous Incest: Rido. He had a frightening obsession with his sister Juri. Then again, Juri did end up marrying their other brother, and they are not villains in the least.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Zero and Yuuki are this to some extent in the first arc.
Warm Bloodbags Are Everywhere: Averted as upon learning that Zero is a vampire, Yuuki willingly lets him drink from her on several occasions during the first arc in order to keep him from becoming a level E.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Sara uses this to try and gain sympathy and shelter with the hunters and even Yuuki, by blaming Kaname for Ouri and Hanadagi's deaths and pretend she's frightened that he's coming for her next.
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