#and it all starts because of kaname's mom's actions

[mihai-florescu]

I need enstars to be over because i need to know what akira's plan for himeru is so so badly (cue eichi's quote about asking an author how they plan to end their tale is poor manners). I can imagine various ways in which id consider his arc completed but there are too many variables that can change...

[ineedglasses]

VK Character Analysis: Rido Kuran

Rido is a complete, messed up, SOB, but I still like him as a character because he is simply such a fun villain. If I were to place him in that alignment chart thing, he would be “chaotic evil” without a doubt.

While he is generally seen as a creepy, sister-obsessed, maniac, I really believe he was different earlier in his life. 

This analysis is based off the Rido we see in the manga and the light novel, NOT the Rido in the anime, since the anime was trash and deviated from the manga when it came to his arc. Anyway, at the start of the post, I will go over the info from the light novel and manga, next will be my headcanons of him as a young man and at the end is my interpretation of him when he was crazy, as we see him in the original series.

                                                               XXX

The Deranged Love story in the Fleeting Dreams light novel talks about Rido’s obsession with Juri and gives some info on their past. However, when compared to the original VK series there are several points that don’t add up, and some parts of the light novel simply make no sense.

First, Both VKM and the light novel mention that Rido killed his parents and presumably devoured them to take their powers. That makes sense, it seems like something he would do. What doesn’t make sense to me is the timeline. When exactly did he kill his parents? 

All the light novel tells us is that he killed them immediately after they engaged him to Shizuka. Is this around the time Haruka and Juri got married? I always assumed Haruka and Juri have been married for a while, like at least 1000 years. If this is the case, within that time period, how can they not notice that their parents are dead and that their brother killed them? 

Or does their murder occur closer to the time Juri got pregnant? But this doesn’t make sense either because Rido referred to Shizuka as a “small child” when he killed his parents, and by the time Juri was pregnant with Yuki’s real brother, Shizuka was probably already at least one or two thousand years old. Unless Shizuka is much younger than we thought? So when exactly Rido kills his parents is quite the mystery.

Secondly, How did he kill his parents? 

I assume the older a pureblood, the more powerful they are. So how can he, by himself, kill his parents, both of whom are older and more powerful than him? I doubt his dad was a weakling because as former king of vampires, he should be quite powerful. In the light novel, it seems his parents were already wary of him and wanted to keep him away from Juri. Thus they wouldn’t completely let their guard down around him. And its not like Rido could carry around a hunter sword with him without it being noticed. Even if he was carrying something small like a dagger, his parents should have been able to overwhelm him in a fight since its 2 vs 1. 

Kaname has commented that “purebloods have equal powers, so they would only exhaust each other in battle”; basically it is hard to kill another pureblood unless you have some advantage (e.g. Shizuka being already wounded by Zero’s hunter gun). So the only logical way Rido can kill his parents is if he catches them off guard, such as when they are taking a centuries long slumber in the family mausoleum, basically doing what Sara did to Hanadagi. 

Thirdly, another point that makes no sense is that Rido in the light novel says:

“My parents had taken my precious Juri far away from me and made it so that we could never meet.” 

How exactly did his parents take Juri away and stop them from ever meeting again? Send her abroad with no intention of ever letting her return? And yet the manga clearly contradicts that, because Rido is still in contact with Haruka and Juri, he was there to see their firstborn baby!

Fourthly, this is a small detail that has always irked me: In the manga, when Yuki’s brother peed on him, Rido mentions that he used to change his siblings’ diapers when they were babies. 

However the light novel kind of contradicts that, because young Rido upon being called in to meet his baby sister says: “I will confess that newborns seemed very uninteresting to me at that time”; does this sound like an older brother that would change his younger siblings’ diapers? It sounds like a guy who would leave baby care to the nannies and stay far away from soiled diapers. 

Finally, we get to the biggest illogical point in the light novel: Rido was a psychopath that just randomly developed an obsession upon seeing the newborn Juri.

“ It was in that moment – somewhere in the depths of my being – something abruptly flared to life. […] I was overwhelmed by the urge to devour her.”

No normal person just out of the blue feels the urge to consume a baby, only crazy people do. The rest of the light novel story continues depicting Rido as a psychopath. Their parents notice there is something wrong with their son because the mom slaps Rido and starts to keep him away from Juri. Adding on to this portrayal of him as batshit crazy, after he (somehow) kills his parents, he says the following:

“That’s what you get for getting in my way, you naughty things…” 

LOL, who in their right mind would call their parents “naughty things”?

My issue is this: I highly doubt Rido was crazy from the start, because it would make no sense. If Rido was crazy, how the hell could Juri and Haruka not have noticed for over 3000 years?! Even the dumbest person would get a clue that their brother was crazy after just 30 years, much less 3000 years. They trusted him enough to let him hold their baby, so they clearly believed Rido was not crazy. There is no way that Juri and Haruka were that stupid and blind. Thus, I doubt that Rido was crazy at the start of his life. So, this aspect of the light novel is just total BS to me.

IF Rido really was crazy from the start, then his mom and dad were bad parents. Yes, it makes sense to keep Juri away from Rido if he really were a psychopath, but their other actions were just extremely irresponsible and selfish. If you know your son is dangerous, maybe you should address this issue properly. After all, he is a pureblood and if you don’t deal with the problem, there will be huge repercussions for everyone given the destructive powers of purebloods. 

But instead of taking their son to see a mental health professional like any decent parent would do, Papa and Mama Kuran decided to solve the problem by engaging him off to a “tiny child”. I’m no parenting expert, but I’m sure if your son has mental issues, you definitely should NOT marry him off to any girl. Even if they didn’t get him some help, they should have at least locked him up like Shizuka to ensure he didn’t harm anyone... but they just let him roam free.

If this is the extent of their problem-solving ability, then it’s for the best that they ended the monarchy because they must have been cruddy rulers. But who knows, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they believed the “tiny child” they chose for him has a PhD in psychology and can provide their son with the help he clearly needs. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, I consider the light novel to be only pseudo-canon since it was inspired by Hino but written by someone else (Ayuna Fujisaka), so I will just ignore the parts that don’t make sense and keep the parts that do.

                                                              XXX

This following section is what I believe Rido to have been like when he was a (sane) young man, based on the info in the manga and the few bits that do make sense in the light novel.

Since Rido was the oldest son and born in a time when the Kurans were still the ruling family, he probably grew up with a lot of pressure and expectations as he was the crown prince. Given these conditions, he was most likely serious and hardworking, doing his best to live up to those expectations and preparing to be the next king (kinda like Eins in The Royal Tutor LOL).

He was also probably a bit older than Haruka and Juri (because according to the manga he has experience changing their diapers and taking care of them). And since he was probably busy with his princely duties, he did not spend a bunch of time with his siblings and thus Haruka and Juri were naturally closer to one another than Juri was to him. She probably saw him a respected older brother but not as reachable and easy to connect to as Haruka.

Rido was probably arrogant, possessive, and entitled even at the start (though at much milder levels than towards the end), which makes sense given his background. Not only was he a pureblood, but the crown prince too. And since he was prince, he probably had to deal with the dog-eat-dog world of politics from a young age, so that probably made him more cynical and darker than his siblings who had much less pressure and responsibility. It would almost be shocking if he was a humble and kind person instead.

Anyway, according to the custom of primogeniture, both the throne and Juri should have been his. Since it was tradition of the Kurans to marry their siblings, it only makes sense that as the oldest son and legitimate heir, he was the one that Juri should have married. Yet for whatever reason, their dad decided to end the monarchy, which must have been a huge blow to Rido who spent his whole life preparing to be the next king. He probably drove himself to despair questioning why and if there was something wrong with him that his father would pull such a move.

Then Rido probably got another big slap to the face: Juri choosing to marry Haruka instead of him, with his parents probably giving them their blessings. So not only has he lost the throne, he also lost the fiancée that should have been his according to precedent. And Juri choosing Haruka probably made Rido lose face among their society, since people would naturally wonder why Juri spurned tradition and married the second son instead.

(Actually, it wouldn’t matter if the monarchy getting dissolved took place first or if Juri choosing Haruka took place first, the point is both happened and it screwed him up.)

Rido most likely didn’t love Juri, but simply believed he did. He probably conflated Juri with what he lost/ what should have been his by birthright and became unhealthily obsessed with the idea of her. It didn’t help that the one Juri chose was Haruka, who we know has a mild and kind personality. To someone like Rido, those are traits probably considered “weak”, and thus he probably never thought of Haruka as his rival. Therefore, the fact that he lost to Haruka of all people shocked him, and there might have been some anger and sorrow at being betrayed by a sibling. So anyway, Rido’s emotions as well as his ego got clobbered.

But fate is not done with him yet! His parents most likely decided to engage him to Shizuka “without his consent” around the time that Haruka and Juri got engaged/married. They might have rushed to engage him off to whoever was available at that time (unluckily for Shizuka it happened to be her), hoping to get him out of the way of his siblings’ happiness. Rido probably was pissed, since not only does he not get to choose his new fiancée, the one chosen for him hails from a clan with a history of supposedly going insane, instead of someone with a less problematic pedigree. His parents really doing him dirty lol.

I think he really had some deep-rooted problems with his parents. Sometimes parents just don’t like their child, because of personality and ideological differences…Anyway, they were definitely in a strained relationship which would explain why Rido could go so far to kill his own parents and feel no guilt over it.

                                                                XXX

Finally, towards the end of his life he really just lost it.

Rido probably tried to keep up appearances and act like everything is okay and that his world is not falling apart, thus allowing Juri and Haruka to still trust him. But over the years he just stewed in his anger against his parents, his siblings and the world in general and turned into a very bitter and hateful person on the inside. And although he probably tried to suppress his growing darkness, his bad traits got amped up while his better traits died. It was probably extremely infuriating for him to see his siblings so happy in their pink glittery world while he himself was drowning in darkness.

(Even Kaien was annoyed by Haruka and Juri’s “pink world”, imagine an already salty and bitter Rido seeing this type of scene for centuries and just frothing with rage on the inside LOL)

So Rido became a sadistic ass towards the end, taking his anger out on people that have nothing to do with it. He tried to make Shizuka miserable and force her to be docile and had no luck with that but succeeded in breaking Senri’s mom and driving the poor woman crazy. Though if you think about it, in a way he did succeed in breaking Shizuka too… he caused her lover’s death and when she lost her lover, she basically lost her will to live.

Hino showed how talented Rido is at antagonizing others. While he possessed Senri, he intentionally hurt Senri’s body to toy with Takuma.

Even after his death, his dregs were tormenting Kaname by pointing out all his inner concerns, taunting Kaname about how he has no hope left. 

In VKM, Yuki mentions Rido as someone “with overwhelming desires that only plunge the world around [him] into misery.” Overall, Rido probably got his giggles by making others miserable.

Besides getting high off ruining the lives of other people, he was just a bastard in general. He used everyone around him as tools, even his own sons. Unlike Shizuka or Kaname, he did not care about his subordinates at all, to him they were just “appetizers” and expendables. He also had zero reservations about forcing lower vampires to submit to his will.

Anyway, Rido probably was already a bitter jackass but he really snapped when he found out Juri was pregnant and would start a happy little family with Haruka. Maybe he was idiotically holding onto hope that as long as Juri didn’t have a kid, he still had a chance? Regardless, it was at that point that he gave up any vestiges of humanity he had left and decided to just pursue power instead.

With no hope left he just decided to give in to his primitive instincts and lust after power, at the expense of family ties. In a way, he might have felt betrayed by his family, and reasoned with himself that unlike the throne and Juri, at least power won’t be stolen away.

BTW, I think his decision to sacrifice Yuki’s real brother to ancestor Kaname was spontaneous and not premeditated. After all, crazy people are unlikely to plan things in advance and just do as their whims dictate...

Maybe it came to him right when he stared at Juri holding her newborn. 

“It’s such irony that this baby was named ‘Kaname’ like you. That’s what got me started thinking of this.”

Because his plan (if he had one) sucked. He should have known that the famished, revived ancestor would attack him, since the blood of a tiny baby was clearly not enough. And yet he made no preparations to fend off such an attack and ended up getting drained by Kaname.

As a side note, Haruka could have killed Rido right then, when Rido was badly wounded by ancestor Kaname. 

But he didn’t, and chose to have Rido imprisoned by the Senate instead. Haruka should have known that Rido would never give up on destroying his family as long as he lived, so the logical thing would have been to kill him. Even Rido mentions this later when he returned for Yuki.

While Haruka’s pacifist nature played a part in this, I think he also restrained himself from giving in to vengeful rage partly out of the fact that they are family, and more likely out of guilt. Perhaps Haruka had always felt guilty for marrying Juri and realized that he was partly responsible for driving Rido insane.

Anyway, Rido crossed the line by killing a helpless baby and basically burned all his bridges. At this point he didn’t really give any fucks anymore. 

Asato mentions how Rido was like a child, even though he has lived so long. I think the analogy fits, because Rido acted like a child throwing a tantrum, trying to destroy everything and doing whatever he pleased with no regard for consequences or others.

In a sense, like Shizuka, Rido had already lost his will to go on living. The only thing keeping him hanging on was the need to lash out. Even though he acted like he was pursuing greater power, aiming to consume Kaname and Yuki to become more powerful, he wasn’t actually trying. 

If he was serious, he would not have gotten easily distracted, suddenly deciding to have Yuki replace Juri instead of continuing with the plan to devour her. Rido also didn’t bother trying to fight seriously at the end and Zero comments on this.

Otherwise Zero and Yuki together could not have beaten him, given how Rido is much older/powerful and consumed at least 2 other purebloods. Even Sara said that Rido was acting foolishly reckless, saying he was just having fun.

                                                             XXX

Overall, given this interpretation of Rido, I actually feel bad for him. I believe that he drove himself crazy wondering why his parents ended the monarchy instead of letting him be the next king, and wondering why Juri chose Haruka over him. Those questions probably haunted him for centuries.

That feeling that you tried your best, did everything you were supposed to, but still ended up with nothing is something I can relate to. Sometimes one just wants to watch the world burn given how unjust life usually is (even though logically we know it is wrong to feel this way). So yeah, these are my headcanons and analysis of Rido, who I prefer to see as a deeper/more interesting character than just a sis-con psychopath LOL.

[precioustinkie]

Vampire Knight

❣❣❣❣❣General Information❣❣❣❣❣❣ Name: Zara Kin Kiyoshi

Name meaning: ▫Zara= princess ▫Kin=golden ▫Kiyoshi= pure

Nickname(s): ▫ZK ▫Z ▫Yoshi ▫Zar

Alias(s): ◾The Witch ◾ Hybrid

Nationality; English/England

Gender: Female

Height: 4'11

Sexual Orientation: Straight

Relationship Status: Single

Species: Pure-blood, witch, doll

Occupation: Disciplinary committee

Human Age: 16

Vampire Age: 150+

Witch Age: 145+

Birthday: October 31st

Blood type: ???

Personality: Zara is a very rebellious individual who will do and say what she wants with or without thinking sometimes. She is also very mature for her age and expressionless but when something is bugging her, stressing her out or she is with someone she trust, she acts out of character (as in being more childish, using her powers more and being even more rebellious). She is childish at times but is a natural born leader.

Likes: ☑Drawing ☑Pranking ☑Breaking the rules ☑Singing ☑Rain ☑The Night

Dislikes: ❎Bullies ❎Snobs ❎Fans ❎Loud noises ❎Being alone ❎Losing control/losing her mind ❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣❣ 🔮🔮🔮 Appearance 🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮 Hair color: Dark blue on the top and light blue on the bottom

Eye color: Yellow

Hair style: Twin buns with the rest down

Skin Tone: Light brown

Tattoos: All on body 🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮

⭕⭕ Relationships⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕ Yuki: Zara sees Yuki as someone who doesn't know what she wants. Zara doesn't like Yuki only seeing her as a nuisance but cares for her only because of Cross. Yuki wants to be friends with Zara but is afraid of her power.

Kaname: Zara and Kaname have bad tension with each other, he doesn't like her actions and is still upset about what she said to Yuki when they were younger, he also doesn't like how she is always trying to challenge him and blames her for his parents murder with Rido. Kaname will not admit the other true and real reason why he has some tension with her and also finds her secretly amusing.

Zero: Zero originally did not trust Zara sensing that she was a pure-blood and thinking that she was somebody who can hurt or turn against them but after talking with her and hanging out and learning more about her, they became siblings.

Cross: Kain knew Zara since she was young and searched for her when he heard the burning of her village, he found her, thanks to the Hunter's Association, and invited her to the school where he could watch, protect, and train her. Kain sees Zara as a daughter but is more close to her than Yuki.

Yori: Zara and Yori get along with each other greatly, especially when it comes to Yuki's behavior.

Senri: Senri did not like Zara in the beginning, finding her annoying, rude and troublesome until she yelled at Aido telling how she feels about her situation and started to feel bad and decided to get to know her more and making her a pocky buddy with Rima.

Takuma: Takuma didn't really talk to Zara, but he got to know her and tried to cheer her up but watches out for Kaname and her just in case they fight

Aido: Aido hated Zara because  he felt jealous of her and thought she was an attention seeker. After yelling at each other, he finally understand her pain and what she went through but they still argue.

Ruka: Ruka never liked Zara and still doesn't, like Aido she thinks that she is an attention seeker and that she is very dangerous with her being a witch and pure-blood, also thinking that she should turn into a doll like her mom and be forgotten.

Rima: Rima found Zara to be dangerous but eased up trying to get to know her and become pocky and fashion buddies with Senri.

Seiren: Sees her as a little sister and will always try to cheer her up with Kai.

Rido: Rido sees Zara as a weapon, thinking if he can drink some of her blood he would become powerful and rule.

Kain: Kain sees Zara as a close friend and cares about her well being.

Kai: Zara and Kai are best friend and sisters and always will be. They have been through so much that together they can get through anything

-------------------------Extras-------------------------- •Zara's eyes glow when she is angry •Because she is a doll, if she uses to much power she will crack and it will take an hour to a day to heal •Zara has a spell book that was given to her by her mom on her birthday •In order to gain her vampire powers she must be bitten by a pure-blood, kill a pureblood or find a spell •Zara makes her own clothes •Zara and Kaname were suppose to marry •The Hunter's Association wants to use her as a weapon against vampires •The Vampire Council wants to kill her for being a hybrid •The night class did not like Zara at all to the point of hating her until they got to know her

//Sorry if I got the Characters wrong it has been a while since I have seen this anime. Hope you all like her, I have worked really hard on her ALSO KAI IS NOT MINE IT IS A FRIENDS OC THAT I MET IN AMINO//

                         ⬇

When she is a cracked/broken doll

[kanamesengoku]

If it's not much of a trouble, can you tell me what happened in the BEY manga till now?

OOOOH WOWOW this might take a bit, but I will do my best anon! I’m putting this under a read-more cause it’s more than likely gonna get really long even if I try to be as simple in my summary as possible. it got long. Really, really long. Actually, I think I’m gonna do this via bullet points, and try to group it by story arc if I can. 

ok HERE WE GO ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

we meet Fujita Tatara, a middle schooler with no special interests/sense of purpose, who gets bulled, rescued by Sengoku Kaname, and pulled into the Ogasawara Dance Studio. There he meets Hanaoka Shizuku and eventually gets inspired to learn how to dance

Shizuku is paired with Hyoudou Kiyoharu, the Junior dance champ, who Tatara at first believes is too aloof and indifferent, but eventually realizes is very dedicated and extremely hardworking.

Shizuku and Kiyoharu compete in the Mikasa Cup, a big deal tournament, but we find out that Kiyoharu has a leg injury and he falls down some stairs, leading to Tatara standing in for him (on Sengoku’s suggestion, and completely against the rules) to dance the waltz with Shizuku. Kiyoharu recovers enough to dance the Tango, but then collapses again and their pair is disqualified and banned from competition for several months

     - - -

Shizuku is without a partner as Kiyoharu’s leg recovers, and suddenly in swoops Akagi Gaju (and his little sister Mako), who are also dancers and a pair of their own. Gaju is tired of dancing with Mako, who is having trouble keeping up with him, and therefore wants to snatch Shizuku as his new partner. Shizuku agrees, and since Mako is left in the dust, Sengoku pairs her up with Tatara.

Tatara eventually challenges Gaju to dance at the Tenpei Cup, an informal “competition”, on the condition that if Tatara & Mako win, then Gaju will have to leave Shizuku and partner with his sister again. Gaju agrees and everyone starts preparing (which involves a lot of Tatara actually learning how to dance in competition and with a real partner)

At the Tenpei Cup, lots of stuff happens- Kiyoharu shows up because his mom (a former pro dancer) is a guest judge for the Cup, Tatara and Sengoku realize that Tatara doesn’t have the stamina of a dancer who’s been doing competitions for years (like Gaju), Gaju taunts everyone, Shizuku shows that she’s amazing, and Tatara and Mako show everyone an amazing waltz

After a heated finale, Gaju and Shizuku end up taking first place- however the wager between Tatara and Gaju wasn’t necessarily about who would take first, but who the better partner was! Mako ends up taking the prize for Queen of the Ballroom due to their epic waltz, Gaju has to break up with Shizuku and pair with his sister, and everyone is more or less happy with it

     - - -

Three days later, Shizuku and Tatara are at the studio practicing together. Shizuku praises his dancing at the Tenpei Cup and encourages Tatara to find a permanent partner of his own, telling him she wants to compete with him again. This lights a fire in Tatara and makes him want to try even harder. He also devotes time to school, studying hard so that he can get into a good high school.

Tatara’s first day of high school ends up with him being made fun of by a girl in his class for having ballroom dancing as a hobby (as she calls it, “lame”) and meeting bullies (again) but being rescued by none other than Gaju, who is a year ahead of him at the same school. They begin to hang out at school and any hard feelings are mended. They both get invited by Sengoku to see him at a pro competition, which they eagerly attend.

at the competition, Tatara eagerly watches to see what he can learn from Sengoku. Both he and Gaju meet Sengoku’s partner, Hongou Chiduru. Then Tatara is surprised to run into the girl from his class who had mocked him for dancing, who warns him not to talk to her at school and leaves in a hurry.

Tatara learns later at school that the girl is Hiyama Chinatsu, and is confused by how much she knows about dance/dancers and muses that she carries herself like a dancer. She later follows Tatara and Gaju to the Ogasawara Studio since she overhears that the Sengoku pair will be there (we find out that she has crazy admiration for Chiduru and wants to be just like her). Sengoku invites Chinatsu to “try” dancing with Tatara, which she hesitantly does, which only furthers Tatara’s belief that Chinatsu has danced before.

We find out that Chinatsu used to dance, but since the ratio of boys to girls is very low in young dancers, she was made to take the part of the leader in her pair. Her partner (Koumoto Akira) has since moved on and found a new leader, but Chinatsu decided to give up dancing. Tatara senses she doesn’t really want to stop and invites her many times to practice with him.

Eventually, Chinatsu’s rivalry with Akira spurs Chinatsu into action and she decides that she will pair with Tatara, become and amazing pair and crush Akira in competition. Tatara and Chinatsu register as an official pair and begin practice, but continually run into problems based around Tatara’s overall passive skills as a leader vs. Chinatsu’s more finely honed and aggressive ones (aka she’s a better leader than he is and they fight constantly)

     - - -

Tatara and Chinatsu enter their first competition to move up in the dancer rankings (which is necessary for Tatara since he still wants to compete with Shizuku and Kiyoharu before they leave in a year to study abroad, meaning he’s on a strict time limit to reach high level competitions)

during the competition (where Akira is also present as a competitor), Chinatsu once again flares up and takes the lead. In order for them to even have a chance at moving up, Tatara ends up following her but simultaneously trying to look like he’s the one leading

Hyoudou’s mom (Marisa) is there since another pair of her students are competing (the pair that coincidentally wins) and sees Tarara, noticing what he’s doing and calling him “sly”. Tatara and Chinatsu win runner-up in the competition.

Tatara decides to pay a visit to the Hyoudou studio to get advice on how to be a proper leader. He meets Kiyoharu there (who has since healed and is killing it once again in competitions with Shizuku) and also meets the pair that won the other competition, Kugimiya Masami and his partner Idogawa Tamie. Tatara tries to dance with Kugimiya (on Marisa’s request) but ends up getting shoved back into the role of partner again (lol)

Tatara and Chinatsu end up moving studios to be coached by Marisa

     - - -

Because Tatara has his self-imposed deadline and wants to move up through the ranks quickly, he and Chinatsu decide to take part in another competition, the Shizuoka Grandprix- but since Marisa doesn’t approve of it, they enter without her permission

At the competition the usual issues present themselves (Chinatsu leading, Tatara not knowing what to do, etc.) and they find themselves competing not only against Akira and her partner, but also against Kugimiya and Idogawa again. 

after Tatara has a bizzarre out-of-body experience (where he feels like he has 4 legs), he and Chinatsu miss their next heat and are dropped in the preliminary round, so they leave. What they don’t know however is that they were awarded full checks for the dances they completed.

Marisa knew the whole time that they were going to enter, and though she’s displeased she tells them she will prepare them properly to enter the next competition. She invites them to a training camp at her family home, which they accept.

     - - -

At the camp (which the Kugimiya pair is also attending), they meet up with the Akagi siblings, Kiyoharu and Shizuku who are all there resting up. Everyone trains together and tension grows between Chinatsu and Tatara, who just can’t seem to get it right.

The pressure builds up to a huge blow-up and Chiantsu won’t speak to or practice with Tatara. Kiyoharu (at his mom’s insistence) becomes their “coach” and tries to give them advice (which 99% of the time just confuses Tatara further)

Shizuku has another talk with Tatara where she initially tells him not to worry about reaching competition with them by the deadline (ex. to ignore what she told him before), but ends up with her praising his dance again and telling him that she truly does want to meet him as a competitor. Tatara renews his decision to work hard and fight for his goal

Eventually Chinatsu decides to give it another shot and she and Tatara begin practicing in earnest- still arguing constantly, but at least making progress. Their next competition is the Metropolitan Tournament, where they will be once again competing against the Kugimiya pair (who have been winning every competition they enter) and Akira’s pair

      - - -

The Metropolitan Tournament begins. The usual difficulties present themselves. Akira and her partner are eventually dropped, but first we get backstory about Akira and Chinatsu (they attended elementary together, became friends, began dancing, and Akira wanted to keep Chinatsu to herself *, Akira’s feelings got hurt when she felt Chinatsu didn’t value her as a dancer, and then Chinatsu quit dancing, leaving Akira indignant and solo)

(* basically Akira’s totally in love with Chinatsu, there’s not really another way to explain it succinctly lmao)

The Kugimiya pair is crushing it

Gaju, Mako, Shizuku and Kiyoharu are all there to watch and Kiyoharu once again gives “advice” to Tatara, but this time he also stretches out basically every muscle in Tatara’s body to help him be more flexible. This pretty much backfires and Tatara can’t dance the way he wants to, with Chinatsu left to pick up the slack

Chinatsu finally decides to up her game and match Tatara, thinking about how much she owes him for being the one to match her this whole time

Tatara once again experiences the weird 4-legged feeling, which he now associates with partners matching up and a sense of unity

Tatara and Chinatsu are finally putting up a real fight against Kugimiya and Idogawa….

AND THAT’S THAT UP TO THE LATEST CHAPTER

……. PHEW

[ineedglasses]

VK Character Analysis: Shizuka Hiou

Once in high school, an old friend who also read VK asked me who my favorite character was, and when I said Shizuka, she was shocked. Now her favorite was Zero, and she thought I hated Zero since I liked Shizuka, his enemy.

That is not true, I don’t hate Zero. For some reason, some Zero fans seem to think anyone that likes Shizuka hates Zero. There is NO correlation between liking Shizuka and hating Zero. Some people love them both, while some people hate them both.

Anyway, my friend seemed appalled when I told her my fav character and she asked me why. At that age I wasn’t the most articulate or the most patient, so I simply told her, “just because.” So, now that I have free time and because her question had bothered me for a while, I decided I should write down my thoughts on why I love Shizuka.

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First of all, Shizuka was NOT actually insane.

Medically speaking, “insanity” is associated with conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. There is no indication in the manga or anime that she exhibited any signs or symptoms of those diseases, such as hallucinations or delusions.

The regular definition of insane is to exhibit a severely disordered state of mind or to be affected with mental illness. Even by this definition, Shizuka was not insane.

She was aware of her actions and of what is right and what is wrong. The only time she can be considered “insane” is right after her lover was killed, when she was so overcome by grief and anger she could not think straight and focused on revenge without stopping to think who the real enemy was (cough, Rido). And in that state of severe emotional turmoil she went after the Kiryuus. But I do not think that can be considered true insanity, because it was a onetime occurrence.

Shizuka knows that she was wrong to kill the Kiryuus, because they were simply following orders and doing their job, and also because the real mastermind behind her lover’s death was Rido. She even acknowledges that her actions in regard to the Kiryuu parents and Zero were “sinful”, whereas a truly crazy person probably is unable or unwilling to admit that. If anyone were actually insane in VK, it would probably be Rido.

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Secondly, she did NOT attack the Kiryuus out of a random whim or desire to do evil things.

All readers should already know this, since Hino explicitly states that Shizuka was motivated by revenge. Shizuka ONLY went after the Kiryuus because they wronged her first.

They killed her ex-human, the only person she ever loved. Hunters are only supposed to kill crazed level E’s and vampires that have harmed humans, but her lover was none of that. He should not have been killed by those standards.

But the Kiryuus were simply following orders without question, and killed someone they shouldn’t have, and thus they were killed in return.

For hunters, being killed by vampires seeking revenge is not a shocking end. Even Zero’s mom mentioned that, when they were packing, saying they should move soon so vampires do not find out where they lived. People who kill tend to get killed too, that’s just the reality of that sort of life. Zero’s parents were not normal, innocent civilians, they were people that killed vampires for a living. Thus, I don’t think Shizuka killing them is so shocking and unforgivable. I can understand why she attacked the Kiryuus, although it is still wrong (because hate breeds more hate, and the idea of an eye for an eye is not good).

What was truly unforgivable was that Shizuka turned Zero into a vampire, to hurt his parents as much as she can. This is where she went too far in her vengeance because children are innocent, it was only the parents that should be punished. And yes, I acknowledge that these actions are bad, even if I am her fan, I am not blind to her flaws.

Anyway, Shizuka would never have bothered crossing paths with the Kiryuus if they had never killed her lover.

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Thirdly, although she was an antagonist in the story, she had her own moral code. She was not evil, and rather more of a neutral grey, and I appreciate characters like that.

She wasn’t like Rido, who used even his own son as a tool, and who did not care for anyone. Shizuka cared for Ichiru, despite the fact that he was her enemy’s son. She felt a sort of kinship with him because they were both alone and had nowhere to go. She gave him her own blood and flesh and refused to turn him the whole time they were together, even when she was dying, because she knew he would have been in more danger if he was a vampire instead.

Ichiru understood that she genuinely cared for him, because even when he was dying, he asked Zero to not hate her, even if Zero can’t forgive her.

Shizuka also kept her promise to Maria and gave the sickly girl her blood to make her better (in comparison, Rido just took over Senri’s body without asking for permission or giving him anything in return).

And thus Shizuka is a sympathetic villain, and Hino points that out in the interlude chapter where Ichiru comments how Shizuka was “beautiful even as she was dying”, in contrast to Rido, who Kaname once referred to as “the dregs of an ugly obsession.”

Even Kaname felt sympathy for her, because when he killed her, he didn’t just let her drop to the floor but caught her and laid her down carefully on the floor. He also assured her that he would not let her life be wasted, and that he would definitely end Rido.

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And finally, she was a very tragic character, a victim of circumstances herself.

(This is her history, taken straight from her character profile in the official fan guide)

Shizuka was locked up in a cage as soon as she was born, because apparently some members of the Hio clan had also gone berserk before.

(On a side note, I doubt the Hious had a genetic defect leading to mental illness, it was probably a circumstantial thing, like how Rido most likely started off sane but life took directions that pushed him off the edge towards the end. After all, they are purebloods and their genes are supposed to be flawless. And Rido…I have so many thoughts about that dude, but I will save them for another post.)

Hino never stated how old Shizuka was, but since we know that Rido, Haruka, and Juri are “over 3000” according to the guidebook, she is probably around that age. If we treat the Fleeting Dreams novel as canon, then Shizuka is probably even younger than Juri, because Rido mentions that Shizuka was still “a tiny child” when his parents kept Juri away from him and engaged him to Shizuka instead. So, I assume that Shizuka spent almost 3000 years, her whole life, locked up in a cage with barely any company, except maybe the occasional visitor (like how child Kaname visited her once).

3000 years is a long, long time. To put it into perspective, the USA as a country is roughly 250 years old. So she was locked in a cage, all by herself for the timespan it would take 12 USAs to rise and fall. It is really a wonder how she did not actually go crazy and end up more damaged than she was!

Besides the tragedy of having her freedom taken away, no one loved or cared about her, something mentioned by both Maria and the guidebook. Shizuka herself commented that she was envious of Yuki, who had been cherished, unlike her.

(A bit of a tangent, but I am quite curious what happened to Shizuka’s parents. Why did they just let her be locked up? It is very irresponsible to bring a child into the world if you aren’t going to bother taking care of it. And it seemed she had family members because Kaname later on killed the head of the Hio clan. IDK what her familial relationship with that particular Hio man was, but she seemed to have been neglected by her own clan.)

Anyway, everyone probably treated her warily, like a bomb that might explode at any time. She was basically an outcast. Take for example how Aidou says it is unlucky to even mention her.

If there was someone besides her dead lover, Ichiru, and Maria, who did not treat her with suspicion or fear, it was probably Rido, and he certainly did not treat her well either. Ichiru mentions that Rido was the one who imprisoned her and changed the hunter list. Based on that, I assume Rido directly ordered her locked up, or used his influence with the Senate to have them lock her up. Either way, the dude had something to do with it.

Besides locking her up, Rido most likely treated her poorly, him being the way he is. His main issue with her is that she refused to become obedient like Senri’s mom. And IDK about the rest of you, but whenever a man says he wants to make a woman “obedient”, I get bad vibes. He probably did some shady and questionable things in his attempts to make her docile.

If Shizuka had been engaged to someone else other than Rido, someone more normal, like Isaya, her life would probably have been more bearable. Although Rido did not want her because he was unhealthily obsessed with Juri, he had to ruin Shizuka’s life and happiness instead of just letting her be. He did that out of some petty reasoning, basically “If I can’t be happy, you can’t be happy either”. His decision to put her lover on the execution list led to many tragedies. 

This man is really the root of all evil in VK, LOL.

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Finally, after all those centuries of loneliness, Shizuka met someone who treated her well, for the first time. Thus, her attachment to her ex-human lover was extremely strong, and it made sense why she could not move on, why she was so consumed by revenge. Unlike normal people who can find solace being comforted by friends and family, she doesn’t have that kind of support. And furthermore, she is a pureblood, all of whom have been shown to form extremely strong attachments to the ones they love, and have trouble moving on.

And regarding her lover, we can’t even be sure if he loved her back. Shizuka said that he most likely never forgave her until the end for turning him, and that he never yielded to her, but went with her when she proposed running away together because remaining with her was his only option. Honestly, her lover didn’t seem too happy being with her, or if he did care for her, their relationship was still strained and angsty, not the simple, lovey-dovey relationship Haruka and Juri had.

Overall, her romance was ill-fated, they simply would have never worked out because they were supposed to be predator and prey. I have a feeling that even if the Kiryuus hadn’t been assigned to kill him, she and her ex-human would not have had a happy ending regardless.

Anyway, after Shizuka lost him, she also lost her will to live. She only hung on to life out of the desire to kill Rido, but she wasn’t even seriously trying. Her biggest desire was to die, and we can see that in how she didn’t bother resisting when Kaname killed her. When she laid on the floor dying, she looked the most peaceful she had ever been. Later on, Maria (mistakenly thinking it was Zero who killed her) also commented that Shizuka probably wanted Zero to kill her. Sara also said Shizuka lost her will to live and mentioned how she doesn’t want to become like her.

Finally, Shizuka was definitely tragic, because even Kaname who killed her pitied her, commenting: “It’s sad isn’t it? I wonder if anyone truly understood her.”

I love this character partly because I feel so bad for her. While Zero suffered early on, he eventually got to marry the girl he loved and had a daughter with her. Kaname also got to be with Yuki, had a daughter with her and got to meet both daughters and experience being with family when he was revived. But Shizuka…her whole life was a tragedy, and the only time she was happy was that brief period when she was with her lover. However, the time she spend with him was a tiny drop, almost nothing compared to how long her life was overall.

A lot of characters in VK had sadness in their lives, but her life struck me as the worst. If I had to pick someone to be in VK, it would definitely not be her.

IMO, her life was screwed the moment she got engaged to Rido. Even though she wasn’t crazy, she was still locked up and treated like she was. Her circumstances/fate pushed her to make the choices she did and end up a villain. If fate had been kinder to her, she would not have become a villain at all.

Other reasons I love her are because of how beautiful and elegant she is, how she has an air of mystery and sadness, and how her story just interested me the most.

And I get that other people still hate/dislike her regardless of everything I mentioned, and that is alright. This is not meant to convince people to like her, but to explain why I personally love her. So don’t come at me trying to tell me why she is evil and I should be ashamed for liking her okay? (ง'̀-'́)ง

So! If you ever read this long post, Hazel, now you know why she is my favorite character.ヽ(ಠ_ಠ)ノ