Hello, Hello! Did you actually rewrite VK in a fic? I need to read this! Link, if so? ❤️ /sorry, I might’ve stalked your vk tag on ur blog and all the content you had in the past almost decade lol/ It truly is a mind-boggling ride trying to fill in all of Hino’s plot holes once you start plotting the narrator for a rewrite. You end up seeing how haphazard she was at focusing on certain aspects of her story, lol. The mental gymnastics… I can relate heavily if you had the same problem, too! Now, if you never did get around to it, I’d love to just hear you talk about the ideas you had if you remember them/feel like talking about them! ^^ Cheers!
Omg hi, hi!! Don't worry about the vk tag stalking, right back at you! I adore your blog and I've been enjoying the tidbits I've been hearing of the Tifa x Zero crossover fic you've got going! TWO OF MY FAVORITE ROMANTIC LEADS!!
So here's the deal, I set out to figure out what I would change somewhere in 2023. I reread the manga, rewatched most of the anime (cataloguing the differences between them), and then I started writing a document of things I would like to change and things I'd like to keep. This research and questioning led to my post about VK and Classism. I found that I really like the bones of VK, a post apocalyptic story about vampirism and it's nuanced existence on the world. Vampire Hunters being created by Vampires, very cool, and the struggle between peace and destruction. But many of my gripes are that these themes were not utilized to their full capacity. Watching Vampire Hunter D and Castlevania really brought these themes to my attention and how Hino lightly dances around them instead of facing them head on.
First thing on the list:
Fix the incest problem:
Fixing the incest problem doesn't mean erasing the theme entirely from the narrative. I think Rido be a creepy, incestuous villain, brings up the themes of vampire royalty being AWFUL just great. However I'd personally just prefer for Juri and Haruka to not be incestuous, and for Kaname and Yuuki as well. I think Yuki and Kaname already have a forbidden, doomed romance angle that's really strong and doesn't need the incest to be interesting. The way I changed some of this around was going really hard that Pureblood Vampirism when it started was not just a blood line thing, it's a mutation. At the beginning Kaname may have been the first, but there were other purebloods, making Level E's which means that Kaname doesn't have to be "The Father of all Vampires" but he was just the first of many vampire mutants. He wouldn't need to procreate for purebloods to descend. Let's have some secondary characters other than The Hooded Lady tm (and for god sakes I would just give her a goddamned name too) I personally love Isaya, let's throw him into Kaname's past. I thought it would be interesting for him to be The Hooded Lady's brother, something that would compell him to care about Kaname. So when Rido sacrifices Juri and Haruka's child to wake Kaname, I'd have Isaya (who would be a close personal friend of theirs) find the scene. Return the baby's body to Juri and Haruka (make it really clear that Kaname and Kaname JR. ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON OR IN THE SAME BODY) , and take Kaname under his wing. Juri and Haruka would be motivated to have Yuuki because of the loss of their child and feeling safe enough to again. BADABING BADABOOM!
And I even ideally wouldn't want Cross to raise Yuuki and Zero together! They don't even acknowledge him as a parent so WHY?Proximity! LET'S SLAP A WHOLE BANDAID ON THAT. Let Yagari raise Zero and when he's hunting drop him off at Cross' house for playdates, PROBLEM SOLVED.
Cross Academy- Human relations:
I feel like Vampires being secret to Humans, while that is a fun, often explored theme, should have been different. Given VK's Post Apocalyptic past and Vampires becoming a dominant race BECAUSE of climate change, I feel that vampires should be widely acknowledged by human kind. And a powerplay with segregation, and livestock humans, vampire aristocrats etc. becomes so much more interesting. Especially because Cross Academy is a radical step towards peace! Vampires and humans going to school together! I feel it's strange that human politicians would lightly send their children in BLIND for this experiment! Does the secret serve a fun, romantic edginess for teens? I'd say yes. But are the ethics behind it KINDA HORRIBLE? ALSO YES. So that's a change I'd make. Let this be the first experiment to co exist, let the human kids MAKE that step! Because ultimately they do, when the secret is out, they choose coexistence.
Magic System:
Something really cool about VK is that it's not tied to religion in anyway like a vast majority of vampire media. However it's magic system is never fully explained, lacks clear rules, etc etc. There's a surprising amount of rituals, spells, and symbols in VK with little to no explanation-- It just works because it's the way that it is. I want more explanation of the "waking the progenitor with blood sacrifice, he cannot kill me" ritual or the "I'm turning you human so I the pureblood casting have to die" ritual. Even the hunters use magic, vampire sense, Zero's subjugation tattoo and bracelet, and obviously anti vampire weapons. And then the vampires having specialized powers, like ice, fire, illusions, etc. I actually love, Twilight also utilizes this one special ability system and I ADORE IT. It's distinct, it's fun. But then it's also weirdly underused. Like what is Takuma's ability? Sword???
So I want more clear rules and consequences for the magic.
Vampire Society:
I just wanted Hino to go HARDER. Let's see how this corrupt vampire society works. We have Ichio and The Hunter President (GIVE THEM A NAME TOO) in cahoots, great! LET THE STORY DEVELOP, TELL ME THEIR ATROCITIES. Ichio develops unbalance in the pyramid, he has usurped purebloods, keeps them in cages or on leashes as his precious blood bank for other aristocrats. He has livestock humans for the pureblood's food source, so human trafficking, slavery, etc. And all these purebloods biting humans-- and doesn't kill them creates what? Level E Vampires! They are loosed into the world, Ichio creates chaos. Hunter President sees the problem (humans calling for aristocrats to be responsible and they should be held accountable) and makes a deal with Ichio, in exchange for Pureblood and only a certain amount of humans can be taken each month let's say-- the hunters will execute the Level E's that the aristocrats have created as a cover up. No aristocrats need be put to trial! No elite vampires to be questioned! The Hunter Society only curates a list based on Level E's that Ichio wants destroyed, not actual justice. The facade of peace because the Hunters are on the human's side for sure!! SHADY! Basically I want the viewer to HATE Ichio for the corrupt politician he is, and HATE the Hunter President for selling out and creating a corrupt police system. I want to cheer when they die, not feel vaguely like "what just happened?"
Also Ichio's control should face some tension with Rido. Rido believes in His own Superiority and EATS other purebloods (a limited supply) Ichio would be EXTREMELY THREATENED BY RIDO, not like "All hail Plankton". That would just be a juicy negotiation, drama, because how can little aristocrat Ichio stand up to HORRIBLE VAMPIRE VAMPIRE EATER RIDO. And Ichio hates (Secret Anti Hero Overthrow the Government Revolutionary) Kaname, so he's hoping they kill each other.
This extreme shifting of government/society would aid the floundering story of VKM, you need to show us how bad it is before the changes!
A Cure for Vampirism:
Kaname would be born with the vampire mutation. Case 0.
We know there was climate change which would have caused famine and illness. They needed A) food alternatives and B) ways to cure illness. Vampirism came about A) blood as a food alternative and B) their blood could cure illness. Vampirism was an evolution, and/or a brief outbreak of a mutation.
Purebloods can cure vampirism but the caster of the spell always dies. It requires sacrifice.
The Hooded Lady pumped a bunch of humans full of her pureblood to create Hunters. Hunters have the pureblood mutation in them BUT REMAIN HUMAN(or at least more human than vampires). So it would make sense to look for the cure there, and that’s why Kaname couldn’t find anything in his search for the cure, because hunters hadn’t been made yet. And you wouldn’t think to look for the cure there *wink wink* ThEN ON TOP OF THAT we have LOOSE THREAD GENETIC ANOMOLY Cross Kaien who has unnatural long life like a pureblood but is still human. HIS BLOOD could be the cure (has concentrated pureblood magic), and he will live as long as purebloods exsist (until they’re all cured) because of that cure. And Cross has killed so many vampires that it fulfills the magic sacrifice needed for pureblood sacrifice! Cross can be one of the original Vampire Hunters and that’s why he’s friends with Isaya, and Kaname! That just feels so much more satisfying than Hino going, Cross is like really weird.... WELL ANY WAY YUKI'S PREGNANT!
And I think it's important in VKM that they use the cure to help Level E and Level D vampires FIRST. PRIORITIES PEOPLE.
Character changes:
The characters in VK are mostly very successful! I care about a lot of them and they're complex! There are little tiny tweaks I'd make for Zero (I need more asking for consent my dude, and who gave you a gun?) , and Kaname (more dialogue about his struggle and motives, have him yell at a hallucination of Rido if he's not gonna vent to Takuma, TELL ME YOUR PLANS AND THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS KANAME BE DIRECT).
However as it has been noted by MANY fans, Yuuki needs help. I want to give her hobbies SO BAD. She needs things that define her aside from romantic interests. I think her Human VS Vampire Yuuki conflict is ESSENTIAL to the story and should have been explicitly resolved (SHE IS BOTH).
Yuuki has few interests that we actually know of, so lets lean into her sporty girl, tomboy stuff. MAKE HER A HORSE GIRL! SHE LOVES P.E. and GYMNASTICS! (this will also increase her skill with Artemis) Let her actually win some fights with Artemis!!! She keeps being saved by everyone.) So we’ll go a natural route, and use the girl from Wolf Children as an example. Cross lives off grid, so she’ll be a child of the forest. She loves animals, hiking, climbing trees, stick sword fights, bugs, and she and Cross keep a garden together. She loves life. She’s the antithesis of Kaname and Zero who have a focus on death. She’d be kind of country-bumpikinish, and when she goes to middle school she becomes painfully aware of this, as she’s socially shunned for it. So she tries hard to fit in, but by the time high school rolls around, she’s tired of pretending, and cuts her hair and embraces her boots but likes being like other girls (wearing skirts, going to cute cafes, etc). She has a hard time with math and school because she’s a daydreamer (not because she's stupid), and she likes application and action rather than theory and numbers.
She’s very internal with her struggles and bottles things up, because she doesn’t want to appear ungrateful or acknowledge the hole in her identity. And for god sakes, she recognizes Cross as her dad, he deserves that after all he’s been through for her, but she can still be like “Ugh daaaaad”)
For Her Pureblood Powers I'd love her to have Empathetic powers as her specialty (feeling the emotions of others, being able to put others at ease - Even calm the insanity Level Es to return them to Level D).
And after that Shizuka is the other character I need more definition from, there were just a lot of question marks around her.
Shizuka is born into her pureblood family, and Rido eats her parents and Rido CLEARLY the one who cages her NOT her family so that he can eat her when she fully matures (so she can get revenge on him for that, keeping Ichiru’s death p much the same) She is taken by the senate after Rido disappears, and she’s been starving and alone, they trade her cage for a locked room, and they give her humans to eat. One of the humans looks at her with such hate, and she’s taken aback. So she talks with him, they talk, and they have led very hard lives, and have parallels (they both want true freedom). They fall in love, Shizuka turns him, they escape together, he fully realizes that now he’s a Level D, he has to be with her to remain sane and resents her for taking his freedom away permanently. So it makes her think being human is the only way to be free (which is why she damns Zero and not Ichiru) She’s separated from the man. And he’s immediately put on the list (I prefer by Kaname and not Rido or Ichiru) . After news of his death by the Kiryuus, Kaname lets her out, and she seeks revenge on them. Shizuka is a cautionary tale.
Now I could go on more but I think all the changes I would make are smaller than that, or things to support those changes.
You’re in love with him, and he’s in love with you,
but it’s like a goddamn tragedy,
because you look at him and see the stars,
and he looks at you and sees the sun.
yet you both think the other is just looking at the ground.
“he is a kind of person who could come knocking on the door of somebody’s heart so easily, however, he never lets anybody do the same thing to him at all”
was drawing pregnant Eddie Brock fanart on my 2024 to do list? no!! it’s just what happened ok? I wholeheartedly blame V3 for being so symbrock baby coded
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