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Vampire Knight: Fleeting Dreams – Ayuna Fujisaki & Matsuri Hino

January 14, 2015

Novel Cover. The inside cover has the clean art that you can see in the post feature.

Vampire Knight: Fleeting Dreams is actually a novel, not a manga. It a set of short stories involving characters from Matsuri Hino’s Vampire Knight universe but written by Ayuna Fujisaki. There are some sketches included in the book done by Matsuri Hino, but overall it’s mostly text.

Vampire Knight: Fleeting Dreams is being brought to North America in one novel by Viz’s Shojo Beat imprint. It was released in December 2014.

The synopses from publisher:

Deranged Love – A dying Rido reflects on his obsessive love for Juri.
Gifts for Yuki – Kaname rewards Yuki for doing well in her studies with tutor Aido.
Hidden Love – This is the story of Sara’s first love.
Queen of the Abyss – After Zero parts ways with Yuki and returns to being a vampire hunter, he encounters the vampire Shien.
A Maiden’s Melancholy – White Lily reveals her true sentiments for Zero.
In a Thousand Years – A year after the final battle, the Day and Night Classes find themselves on a hunt at Cross Academy.

The Review: I dare say this book is only for fans of Vampire Knight. My reasoning being because you would never understand the stories if you don’t know the characters before reading. Having a pretty good understanding of the universe myself, I picked this up to see if there were any extra tidbits of information dropped into the stories that we might not have gotten in the manga. My verdict – It’s not much extra. The short stories are kind of bland, really. There’s a few more dots to connect between characters but other than that it’s just more stories that have little to do with the main plot. The first three stories I could have done without. Queen of the Abyss was intriguing because it introduces a new character, but again I’m wondering, what’s the point in that? I found A Maiden’s Melancholy to be the most entertaining story, simply because it’s told from the point of view of a horse that loves Zero. The last short, In a Thousand Years, is the only one that comes after the manga timeline. It does not include any of the main protagonists, but all of the supporting characters that attended Cross Academy have a role. Still, there were no revelations that weren’t already in the manga.

Zero and White Lily by Hino

I haven’t read many light novels, but this one seemed like it would have been better if read in the native language. Some things just don’t translate to English easily, and I could sense that as I read this. Don’t get me wrong, I believe the translators and editors at Viz did a fine job of making it accessible to native English speakers. But I think some of the eloquence of the imagery was lost in translation.

The Art: As I mentioned, there are a few images by Hino-sama in the book. Not many, though. They have a sketchy feel to them. They look more like raw drawings than a finished piece you would see in a manga panel or spread. Just a hint of toning to add some dimension. They’re nice and simple, really. My favorite is the one at the left.

The Audience: Unless you’ve read Vampire Knight, you will be lost. This is aimed at fans of the manga series. I see it as a carrot dangled out there to garner some more change from fans, but hey, whatever helps get more books on the shelves is great. If you are a die hard Vampire Knight fan, then you’ll probably want to add this to your collection.

Heart of Manga Rating: ♥♥♥

5 Comments

Can this pleeease be made into the 3rd season of vampire knight?? I miss the show so much!!! Makes me sad every time I rewatch it or re-read my mangas.

Rei-chan Apr 13, 2016
- Well, I have good news for you! Matsuri Hino will be drawing the sequel to Vampire Knight. It was announced in LaLaDX earlier this week. So that could potentially become an anime. Exciting, right?
  
  Laura Apr 14, 2016
Where I can get the books?

Ian Mitchelle Custorio Feb 01, 2016
- What country are you in? North American distributors can be bought on amazon.com or other book retailers.
  
  Laura Feb 02, 2016
GREAT review! I really hope we get more romance novels down the road. Yen Press has made a separate business in the same company dedicated strictly to light novels, called Yen On. Pandora Hearts is getting a light novel on June 23 and I am very excited! Apparently Maid sama and Toradora were originally light novels too. I hope we get some.

Mary Jan 18, 2015