manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series written by Matsuri Hino. It was serialized in
Hakusensha
is a Japanese publishing company. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo.
The company mainly publishes manga magazines and is involved in series' productions in their games, original video animation, music, and their animated TV series.
The com ...
LaLa
''LaLa'' is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Hakusensha on the 24th of each month. The magazine's bonus contents are usually calendars for New Year issues, drama CDs, and so on. In a 2006 survey conducted by Oricon, Japanese girls ...
'' from 2004 to 2013, with its chapters collected in nineteen volumes. The manga series is licensed in English by
Viz Media
Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series.
The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
, which has released all nineteen volumes. The English adaptation was serialized in Viz Media's '' Shojo Beat'' manga magazine from 2006 to 2009.
The story takes place in the prestigious Cross Academy, which is home to two distinct classes: The Day class, which applies to only humans, and the Night Class, which applies to only vampires, of which the day class is unaware. Much of the plot revolves around Yuki Cross, the headmaster's adopted daughter, as she is being drawn into a conflict concerning the overall coexistence between humans and vampires and the twisted reality concerning her childhood friend Zero Kiryuu, who, despite having a hatred for vampires, is revealed to be slowly turning into one of their kind.
Two
drama CD
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...
s were created for the series, as well as a twenty-six episode anime adaptation based on the first two sagas. Produced by
Studio Deen
is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1975 by former Sunrise producer Hiroshi Hasegawa, along with a team of ex-Sunrise animators. The studio owns three subsidiaries: Danny Donghua (), a Chinese sub-contracting studio; Megumi (め組), a di ...
, the anime series' first season aired in Japan on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Matsuri Hino, ''Vampire Knight'' was serialized in
Hakusensha
is a Japanese publishing company. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo.
The company mainly publishes manga magazines and is involved in series' productions in their games, original video animation, music, and their animated TV series.
The com ...
LaLa
''LaLa'' is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Hakusensha on the 24th of each month. The magazine's bonus contents are usually calendars for New Year issues, drama CDs, and so on. In a 2006 survey conducted by Oricon, Japanese girls ...
'' from November 24, 2005, to May 24, 2013. The individual chapters were collected and published in nineteen volumes, released from July 10, 2005, to November 5, 2013.
In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by
Viz Media
Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series.
The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
. The series ran in the publisher's '' Shojo Beat'' manga anthology from the July 2006 issue until the July 2009 issue; the magazine's final issue. The nineteen volumes were released from January 2, 2007, to October 14, 2014. In Australia and New Zealand the manga was licensed by
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...
.
Sequel
Since the manga's conclusion, Hino began releasing a series of special chapters, which take place after the end of the final volume. On November 8, 2013, Hino released the first special chapter titled in ''LaLa Fantasy'', which was licensed and released digitally by Viz Media on December 9, 2014. Following chapters were released in '' LaLa DX''. The second special chapter, titled , was released on February 10, 2015. On December 10, the third special chapter, titled , was released. On February 10, 2016, the fourth and final special chapter, , was released. The chapters were collected as the first volume of a sequel manga, ''Vampire Knight: Memories'', released on June 3, 2016; ''Vampire Knight: Memories'' itself officially launched in ''LaLa DX'' on June 10 of that same year. Ten volumes have been published as of October 2024. The series is scheduled to end serialization on August 5, 2025. The series is also licensed for English release by Viz Media.
Anime
''Vampire Knight'' was adapted into a thirteen episode
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series by
Studio Deen
is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1975 by former Sunrise producer Hiroshi Hasegawa, along with a team of ex-Sunrise animators. The studio owns three subsidiaries: Danny Donghua (), a Chinese sub-contracting studio; Megumi (め組), a di ...
, which was broadcast on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.
The series uses four pieces of theme music. The opening themes of both the first and second season are performed by the duo On/Off, with as the opening for the first season, and as the opening for the second one. Kanon Wakeshima performs the first season ending theme, "Still Doll", and also the second season's ending theme . The soundtrack is composed by Takefumi Haketa and consists of 30 tracks (including the opening theme and ending theme).
In North America, the series was licensed by
Viz Media
Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series.
The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
. In the UK, the first volume was officially released on DVD via
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1991, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...
on November 22, 2010. In Australia,
ABC3
ABC Entertains is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched on 4 December 2009 as a children's channel called ABC3. It was rebranded on 19 September 2016 to ABC ME. It rebra ...
aired the series in 2011.
Light novels
Three light novels created by Matsuri Hino and Ayuna Fujisaki were published in Japan by Hakusensha in 2008 (the first two novels) and 2013 (the third), respectively. The novels feature side-stories that use the characters of the manga, but are not specifically based on chapters from the series. The first novel, , was published on April 5, 2008. The first story within the novel looks at an incident that occurred at Cross Academy in the year preceding Yuki's arrival about a Day Class student named Fuka Kisaragi, while the second story details an incident that occurred while Zero was still in training to be a vampire hunter alongside Kaito Takamiya, another boy training under Toga Yagari to be a vampire hunter.
The second novel, , was published on October 3, 2008. The story focuses on two minor characters, Nadeshiko Shindo and Kasumi Kageyama, from the manga, following their respective unrequited love at Cross Academy, as well as detailing a case that happened when Akatsuki Kain and Ruka Souen go to visit Senri Shiki and Rima Toya's modeling studio.
The third novel, , was released in 2014, featuring side-stories about Rido Kuran, Sara Shirabuki, and Yuki's and Zero's activities during the timeskip. The third novel is the only novel thus far to have been licensed by Viz Media and released in North America.
Other media
A
drama CD
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...
, titled , which features audio dramas for five ''
LaLa
''LaLa'' is a monthly Japanese manga magazine published by Hakusensha on the 24th of each month. The magazine's bonus contents are usually calendars for New Year issues, drama CDs, and so on. In a 2006 survey conducted by Oricon, Japanese girls ...
'' titles, including ''Vampire Knight'', was included with the magazine's September 2005 issue, released on July 23 of that same year. Three drama CDs based on the series have been produced: ''Midnight CD-Pack''; ''Moonlight CD-Pack''; and ''Pureblood CD-Pack''.
is a Japanese dating simulator based on the series that was released by
D3 Publisher
is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher founded on February 5, 1992. The company is known for the ''Simple (video game series), Simple'' series of budget-priced video games. Their games have been released for the G ...
in Japan in January 2009.
In November 2008, the official ''Vampire Knight'', titled , was published in Japan. In addition to providing additional information about the series characters and story, it includes images and details from Hino's
storyboard
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding proce ...
. The fanbook has been licensed by Viz Media and was released on October 19, 2010.
A 94-page artbook, titled , was released on July 5, 2010. The artwork included one original double page spread and a compilation of 111 previously released ''Vampire Knight'' color artworks. It was licensed by Viz Media and released on September 6, 2011.
A musical adaptation was announced and staged at the Hakuhinkan Theater in Tokyo from January 21–25, 2015. Another musical took place July 1–5, 2015.