I haven’t seen anyone talking about this. And imo. This is one of the most important shots of the whole video.
I keep seeing people say how crazy Mizi is and how innocent Sua was in comparison, but that’s just not true. I adore both Mizi and Sua, by the way. This isn’t criticism of either of them. But you can’t ignore what Sua does here if you want an accurate portrayal of their relationship in this world.
When Mizi becomes an idol, she’s manufactured into a sex symbol, crafted into something that can appeal to the male gaze despite how we KNOW she’s a lesbian. Specifically, we can see how Mizi’s breasts are often framed promiscuously to further her objectification:
So this shot where Sua finds Mizi, tied up and helpless, incoherent, and the first thing she does is frame an unaware Mizi’s breasts as if in a photoshoot—bitterly, ironically, before relief takes over—it goes to show something major about Mizisua’s relationship in both the ALNST and ZOMST verse.
In ALNST, Sua enables Mizi’s infantilization (something often levied against women in a misogynistic context) of herself by keeping Mizi “in the dark” (although Mizi is more aware than either of them want to acknowledge). People rightfully criticize Till for his innocent vision of Mizi to comfort himself with, but Sua has a version of Mizi in her head that she uses to comfort herself, too. She and Till aren’t incredibly different in this regard.
In ZOMST, this translates not to infantilization, but to objectification. Sua is bitter over Mizi’s decision to let the industry use her in this way, she’s disgusted by it, but then she wields it herself when Mizi is finally helpless and incapable of pushing Sua away again by miming taking a photo of Mizi’s breasts.
Mizi is objectified in ZOMST by everyone: the industry, herself, the crowd, and even the person she loves the most.
Real thing that changed how i write: I started asking "what does this character think is wrong with them" and separately "what is actually wrong with them." Those two things are almost never the same. She thinks she's too much. She's actually terrified of being too little. He thinks he's bad at commitment. He's actually just never met someone he trusted enough. The gap between their diagnosis of themselves and the real thing, that's your character arc right there. you don't have to explain it. just write both.
Hi! I recently stumbled across your account and have really been enjoying your posts. It’s refreshing to see constructive criticism of a piece of media you once loved (haha, I say this because I’ve grown quite bitter toward VK myself).
One of the things that interested me most about VK, aside from the romance, was its vampire lore—which, in my opinion, had a lot of untapped potential. We’ve seen so many different interpretations of vampires in series like The Vampire Diaries, Twilight, True Blood, and Interview with the Vampire. Each of them adds unique elements to their lore, whether it’s vampire politics, religious origins, blood bonds, or social status.
For example, I always found traditional takes of vampires a little more interesting and a bit funny. (Not being allowed into someone’s home without being formally invited)
I guess my question is: what aspects would you have added or changed in VK’s vampire lore? What elements do you think worked well, and which ones fell flat? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Hello there, kind anon!
Firstly, thank you so much for perusing through my blog and enjoying my content! I’m really glad it was entertaining for you. ;)
Ah, yes, this series… gosh, it does inspire such difficult feelings when concepts are intriguing but execution falls flat… Alas, can only such issues lend to thoughtful analytical postulation on how to fix said problems—and I do love theorizing what could shape the story to be more satisfying for the narrative, plot and characters! It’s what keeps me going for my own story writing of the series. ^^
Oh, boy! Synthesizing and analyzing vampire lore was once my greatest hyperfixation when I was younger! It’s just such a fun mythos to delve into since it keeps evolving as the genre of monster changes with almost each new iteration. I completely agree, too! Original vampire lore used in modern media is quite funny at times but at least has more logical sense to how the vampires tick. They’re the undead, the methods of transformation to vampirism is widely the same—usually. Though I did find Hino’s vampires of being more.. human-like fun, too, and a subversion of the traditional vampire lore. Only problem, however, she doesn’t flesh out her changes correctly and creates more problems than solving her own issues.
So, yes, I definitely agree with the untapped potential and all the issues Hino had with her own lore.. so much was left to interpretation or fan theories to grasp her concepts because she didn’t take the time to shape her world building.
Take magic, for example, it had been one of the issues for me to conceptualize in the series when I was reshaping the worldbuilding for my writing. There’s also the lack thereof religious elements or spirituality, as well… and since you brought up other series that do use such things like paganism—meaning witches! Such supernatural entities help shape the world’s magical attributes which would’ve aided to explain the original purebloods than just.. Darwinism.. pseudoscience.. mutations..
Honestly, it’s the lacking details for her vampire origins on how her vampire lore works that’s such a conundrum for the series. Take purebloods—as a concept—they’re god-like beings with magnificent power, however, we never understand their limitations in magical prowess and the only grounding aspect is simply: they turn humans into vampires (slaves), they live infinitely, their blood is a medicine and/or poison, and they can control lesser vampires in the caste system.
But logistics really matter when you get down to it—what makes them magical? Is it really just a biological mutation, so more science based? Why the magical powers?
I had to explain away that a vampire’s blood is the magic—blood magic. If you’re familiar with DND—the mechanics usually have it that vampire’s power is from their blood. In doing so, I solidified that all magical spells and seals are used with vampire blood which can be used in alchemy. Though, that was my only way to make proper sense of Hino’s version of things when it comes to hunter’s using spells or seals—or even the pureblood sealing ritual to make a pureblood human.
However, I started to ponder the method of turning humans into vampires—what makes pureblood fangs have some kind of magical property to turn humans into vampires, then? I don’t like this dissonance in logic why purebloods are the only vampires to turn humans via their “special fangs.” It creates another problem of: “why is that the only way to turn vampires and that leads to level-Es”? It makes these mutated species more snake-like if their fangs are so special that it’s a poison/venom or disease they’re spreading? It’s less vampire like, of course, than typical vampire lore because the method of transformation is to be on the brink of death via being drained of one’s blood and being given the blood of your sire to complete the ritual—essentially, you die and come back a monster, the undead. Hino’s vampires are quite human-based—they’re alive, they can procreate, they can walk in the sun (albeit, it’s uncomfortable, but they’re alive and well), holy water isn’t an issue or stakes—no religious iconography in use to say they’re demons or children of the damned. Hino paints her vampires as monsters and beasts but they’re the least beastial than any vampire lore out there. There’s even a solution to their feeding problem—blood tablets (I take issue with this despite liking the concept—it solves the problem but then it shows how much of a paradise it is for vampires? There’s no side-effects to blood tablets, it’s just that they’re not appetizing. Otherwise, it’s a solid living choice to blend into society without having to deal with true bloodlust problems. No conflict = no fun for the story! They’re monsters—act like it! But that’s only reserved for level-Es and the manipulative machinations of purebloods.)
The fact that vampires—on the whole—can procreate means they don’t need purebloods! They’re just ruled by this royalty system and stick to such ways—out of pride? Obligation? We don’t know. There should’ve been so much more conflict in the caste system!
Hino’s vampires also don’t suffer much despite the disparaging leveling within the caste system. Taking that tablet solution from earlier—how much more intriguing would it have been to explore level D and Cs that aren’t as rich as the Bs and As, and so they can’t afford this blood tablet solution. There could be some level D vampires that were forcibly turned that just want to live comfortably and not feed off humans like a beast. So petty crimes in blood banks (actually have them? Like, come on, it’s in modern vampire stories everywhere! VK has hospitals!) or robbery/recreation of blood tablets that have bad side-effects can hit the black market for those lesser in the caste system to obtain. Have “drug” lords over these less-than-savory tablets to hand out to the lower caste system. Have the Cs and Ds HATE the Bs and As! Have the Bs try to kill the As! Why would aristocrats WANT to be subjected under pureblood rule? They can get by on their own merit! Such political conflicts make for a fun story! Adds mystery, intrigue, crime, political machinations, etc.
Anyways, I’ve touched on most bases on how Hino’s vampires work, so as for your true question: what aspects would I change or keep. It’s funny, cause I wrote a lot here of what I’m doing for my fanfic to make sense of Hino’s world: essentially, what I’d actually change would be quite a lot but not as much because it’s the technicalities I’d like to alter.
As I mentioned, I like this subversion to vampire lore by making them human-like: procreation, not burning by sunlight, can eat/drink human food, don’t need to be invited to enter homes, no weakness to holy water/stakes. All such fun takes! But, I’d like to add witches or gods to the vampire origin lore. I’d also keep it to two types of vampires, kind of like TVD/Originals: a family of progenitor vampires and the rest are vampires (no other class differentials). However, all vampires can turn humans into vampires—it’s not selective to the progenitor family. The progenitor family can be the same in lore wise to the Mikaelsons—they can control every vampire but no vampire can control them. Having two separating sects in the vampires completely simplifies everything without going into that disparity of the caste system or lore discrepancies with the purebloods.
IF we keep purebloods as an entity with multiple families and they’re the only ones to change vampires—I’d probably change the method of how they create vampires: their fangs aren’t what makes a vampire, it’s their blood. Only the blood exchange with a pureblood blood in your system can you become a vampire, thus this cancels out the:
They can never bite any human because their fangs make vampires
The creation of Level-Es
So, I’m eliminating the level E issue entirely and the hunter’s main objective is more police force to keep the vampires in line and human safe, less having to deal with the mess of purebloods making level-E beasts. This also simplifies the lore greatly without facing the whole: what makes their fangs different? Otherwise, you’re having to explain: is it a poison/venom on their fangs, and if it is, does it mean their saliva is tainted with it? If so, doesn’t that mean even a kiss or any saliva contact could make you a vampire? It gets more into.. snake attributes as I stated earlier… I don’t like it, lol.
Now, this means purebloods have fantastical powers via blood magic and they can make vampires but it’s not tied to their fangs but that very blood magic—almost disease-like of a spread. I did think they can still cause a former human pain if we link psychological effects onto the victim—say, if the subject being transformed has a will to reject becoming a vampire and that mental fight causes them to go insane—this refusal manifesting in the body can cause issues and be the level-E substitute.
I do think keeping the pureblood pheromones as a proponent to subjugate the vampires below them is a nice touch. Though, adding in hypnosis via compulsion would be a nice psychological twist that doesn’t just need to be sire-fledgling bond. I also don’t think we should make it towhere the purebloods are prey to other vampires—it’s silly. Keep to the narrative that they’re the dominant ones that control, not victims we need to feel sorry for except their own hubris and mental erosion that leads to lack of humanity/compassion. They’re pitiful beings but ultimately, they’re monsters.
I think the last issue is blood drinking, aka: “Only the blood of the one you love can quench your thirst.” In theory, it’s romantic and poetic but really—the logistics of it, once again, falls flat. It feels like a mind-over-matter type deal while also being a oxytocin/serotonin/dopamine junky kinda thing. That’s how I’d explain the need to drink from the one you love, at least. I don’t mind it but shaping it as a taste preference: I’ve seen vampire lore have vampires addicted to the taste of humans with adrenaline or cortisol (fear) running through their veins—I see no difference for the other hormones, really.
Okay! I think that’s all my thoughts! There’s definitely some points I didn’t get to but I think I got to the ones I held big issues with so I hope you enjoyed my long-winded meta building of vampire/Hino’s lore nonetheless, anon. I certainly had so much fun with this discussion cause it’s constantly on my mind on how to reshape the series and what I can play with. Thank you so much for your ask, your input, and your presence cause it’s so nice for me to see such people that want to discuss things outside of the LT/shipping/fandom nonsense. LOL
Thank you so, so much again, anon! Please drop by any time! Hope to see your asks in the future and if you ever want to, feel free to drop me a message, too. I’m always up for a discussion on vampire lore, this god forsaken series, or anything in between! ^^ Have a good one!
You can try and avoid him, but he always finds you and annoys you
He'll even come to your dorm room- of which you have alone, because you were roommates with Maria [Before she got her dorms change], but... Well, you know [You always get the worse roommates]- and will bug you
Type of guy to poke you while being like "Y/n. Y/n. Y/n. Y/n."
^ He would also put his finger near you and when you complain he'd be like "I'm not even touching you"
He tends to get jealousy pretty easily
^ It's something you find much joy in since he's always a dick to you
His father likes you, which Hana also hates, so you tend to use it to your advantage
For two people hate each other, you spend an awful lot of time together
^ And by that I mean, he forces himself in your personal space
^ Will come into your dorm during the day and sleep in there [You're usually already asleep, so you don't know he's in there until you wake up]
^ It's just a way for him to invade your space and privacy [You get a lock]
He has nicknames for you, but none of them are nice
updated May 3 2026. I'm separating the dialogue prompts into their respective sections. Went through Anger & Angst Lists the last few days & separated them into smaller lists. Will be working on the horror/Apocalyptic list next!
PLEASE reblog if you use any of these/wanna share with your writer friends!!
I was prompted to draw this because I feel so plagued by The Main Love Triangle ™ that I've been wanting to explore other dynamics in Vampire Knight. I really adore the relationship between Hanabusa and Zero. Their rivalry is so fun and their reluctant respect for each other and eventual friendship is so interesting. Aidou's facade of being a confident bratty flirt, while truly being the sensitive, intelligent inquisitor-- is such a wonderful foil to Zero's facade of being a grumpy, violent delinquent while truly being the kind, gentle knight-in-shining-armor. Plus the shenanigans of Hanabusa drawing Zero and then scribbling it out (we all know Hana has a crush on each of the main three at one point or another), Zero chasing after him with rope to then make him dinner, and the iconic scene of them in the hunter-mobile folding their arms and glaring at each other while secretly having a heart to heart. They mean so much to me ♥
Hello Anony-mouse! Your ask has been sitting in my inbox for AGES, it took a while to have time to sit down and make art of it, which I insisted on as I ADORE Avatar the Last Airbender and would want to do it justice even with just a mini cross-over into my work!
Without further ado:
Ratticus would be a Firebender and Dr. Zo would be a Waterbender!
There was debate that Dr. Zo might be an Airbender because of his mindset and ability to think outside the box, but him being a Waterbender with healing hands and his go-with-the-flow attitude felt more appropriate.
There's also the argument that Ratticus could be an Earthbender, because he's stubborn and hard-headed, but having an element that is often feared by its wielder (ex. Jeong Jeong vibes) felt most fitting. Also green doesn't exist in the Theratpy universe, so, erm....,, thank goodness I went with fire loll.
I made them almost entirely while streaming on Twitch, here are links to those vods- <♡u♡> if you want to check them out or drop a Twitch follow B)
10,000 years ago, climate change caused the apocalypse. Because of lack of food and resources, vampires are at the top of the food chain, preying on humans. Kaname is a pureblood and the progenitor, we first see him as the Lord of a village, in which he gives the villagers his blood to sustain them and keep them healthy, but in secret he takes their blood to sustain himself. Eventually, he run-out the village when they suspect he is a vampire.
He is in a position of power over his people and while it is framed as benevolent that he is healing them and helping them live, he is also stealing from them in secret. I think it is a fair comparison to equate this to money or goods. Serfs work the land for their lord and in return he offers them protection. While the lord may be a good one, he is still partaking in a power structure that ultimately benefits him. A lord still takes their livelihood as payment and in the way of secrets, may be oppressing them in ways they are not aware of, taking things they did not agree to give away.
Kaname along with The Hooded Woman observe how their kind, pureblood vampires, have taken to turning many humans into vampires. But the hooded woman says this is not for equality, the purebloods are turning humans to make slaves of them. So purebloods are explicitly abusing the power structure as the upper class and abusing the lower class (humans) turning them into slaves (Level D).
As the story continues The Hooded Woman and Kaname oppose the purebloods, rebel against them, and also search for a cure to vampirism. They recognize that the system that they are both a part of, needs to be dismantled.
Through their research, Kaname becomes disheartened but wishes to make the necessary sacrifice to liberate humans from vampire tyranny. The Hooded Woman however is the one who has been working with a group of humans, having them ingest her blood to gain her power. In doing this she creates Hunters. Hunters who are human yet possess the strength of vampires given to them by a pureblood. She then casts her heart into a fire that will produce the Parent Metal which they can then make weapons to defend themselves against the vampires.
Which I find to be such an interesting dynamic as we can view this as a royal who despises the royal class, donating all of her funds to lower class people for a rebellion. The upper class woman willingly sacrificed herself “Viva La Revolution!” style for the lower class. However for me, this feels a little weird subtextually. The Hunters having their genetics changed by her pureblood makes them have similarities to vampires, like Kaien living an unusually long life, or the Hunter Twins curse. I will return to this thought later.
Kaname fights the revolution with Artemis for a period of time, but eventually loses hope that vampires will ever be stopped or cured. He abandons the cause, abandons the humans, abandons the Level D/E vampires to their doom.
Let’s now focus on the time period that Vampire Knight takes place:
In VK we now have a very literal class system of vampires as illustrated by the pyramid in the manga:
Level A: pure bloods that are the reigning class (born vampires, beautiful, precious, powerful, manipulative)
Level B: the noble/aristocrat class (not as powerful as purebloods but still beautiful and have specialized powers)
Level C: common vampires (that we see very little of … I can’t think of a single named character that is one)
Level D: vampires that used to be human (can only be turned by the pure bloods, seen as lesser and generally not accepted as part of vampire society)
Level E: vampires that used to be human who have lost their humanity and sanity (ugly, bestial, outcast, thought of as murderers, violent, often dressed like they are poverty level).
And finally humans (viewed as a food source, but strangely are treated socially above Level D and Level E vampires, almost a Level C/F combo???).
Let’s break down this pyramid:
Purebloods are reflective of royalty. At one point Kaname was formally titled The Vampire King, and even though they are not per se a legally recognized monarchy, the role of the Kuran family is the same. They are a hierarchy based on ancestry and bloodlines exactly like a monarchy. “Pureblood” is very obviously a classist ideal. Blood unmixed, blood not dirtied by “lower classes” or also in this case, human blood. Royals were thought to have “blue blood”; that they were called by divine right as sovereign, and that they were special and above everyone else. It is very much the reason why incest in royal families was practiced to “keep the bloodline pure”.
Incest is a reoccurring theme in Vampire Knight that is controversial and something I have always been confused by and wildly uncomfortable with. We have themes of incest with Kaname and Yuuki, Haruka and Juri, as well as Rido, and later with Ai and Ren.
Incest between Rido and Juri is framed as assault and not right, but the incest between Juri and Haruka is framed as loving and pure. When Yuuki finds out Kaname is her brother she remarks that it’s strange that she was in love with her brother this whole time, to which Kaname says: ‘Vampires are just beasts in human form. We are already betrothed. Our parents before us were siblings.’ He justifies the incest as bestial and a system that she was born into as a pureblood. (Which is an interesting contradiction as animals do not often practice incest as it is not good for genetic diversity. However, selective breeding can be something that humans force animals to do which does have parallels with royalty practicing incest. There is a different theme in VK that is “Humanity VS Beasts (in human form)“ that I will hopefully write about separately but right now we are going to focus on Classism)
I think having this correlation between royalty and incest makes the presence of it in this particular series make more sense and as a part of the horror genre (and generally) incest is supposed to be uncomfortable and grotesque. Vampires often manifest our social anxieties with class and sexuality.
I also want to touch on the term “pureblood” and how it is a clear link to eugenics.
Japanese vampires have distinct differences in interpretations from western vampires, there is a wonderful video about Vampire Hunter D that explored some of those differences (UNFORTUNATELY, It was by @thegamingmuse on YouTube and IT HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWN but have this one ‘History of Vampires in Japan’ instead). Like how Japan’s view of classism is very affected by the country’s long history with feudalism and subsequently their past with fascism. I want to stress that these may not have been the author’s clear intentions but rather things that affected her writing subconsciously.
Eugenics began to gain popularity in Japan around the 1880s when scientists introduced a theory that through selective breeding they could make the people of Japan (the Yamato race) stronger and smarter to dominate over other cultures including the west. They valued “junketsu”--pureblood and looked down on “konketsu”-- mixed blood. Social Darwinism, forcible sterilizations and abortions began occurring more and more in the early 19th century and specifically in the 1930s at the height of imperialism. They deemed certain traits to be undesirable such as disability, genetic disease, criminal inclinations, and even race (look up the indigenous people of Japan like the Ainu), etc. Ableism and xenophobia are still very much ingrained in Japan’s culture today because of this.
It is hard to talk about purebloods and not talk about Level E’s at the same time. Only Purebloods have the power to turn humans into vampires so they are therefore responsible for all Level D and Level E vampires that come into existence.
Level D vampires in Vampire Knight are treated with disdain, they are usually servants or scandalous lovers to their higher class pureblood masters. As we see with Shizuka, she took a human lover that ended up being a target because society did not approve of her relationship to him. As well as Shizuka’s master bond over Zero. He physically has to fight to harm her because the power of the bond, Master vs Servant, Creator vs Creation, is so strong. They are meant to be slaves with no will of their own.
Vampires that used to be human need the blood of a pureblood to remain stable and sane and when that blood isn’t given they lose their humanity. They roam the streets with insatiable thirst, killing to barely survive a cursed life. Food that did not die, only to be used and discarded. Level E vampires are those that are discarded, plaguing the humans with violence and fear.
So purebloods, like royalty, are framed as desirable, beautiful, fashionable, the peak of society versus Level E’s that are portrayed as starving, ugly, bestial vermin that need to be slayed. They both prey on humans but one is deemed more villainous because of their lowly state. The Level E’s are the lower class created by the upper class. The upper class took their resources and left them in the streets to die. They are othered and thought of as a plague to both human and vampire society. Does that remind you of the eugenics that I was just talking about?
The Level E’s are also portrayed as mentally unstable, mirroring Japanese disdain for mental illness. Hikikomori is a phenomenon in Japan of severe social withdrawal. One of the reasons this could be happening is because it is not socially acceptable to have a disability, visible or not. It is more acceptable to remain inside your home. Much like ‘The Ugly Laws’ in the United States: “These laws targeted poor people and disabled people. For instance, in San Francisco a law of 1867 deemed it illegal for "any person, who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or deformed in any way, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, to expose himself or herself to public view.”
I’ve always thought it was interesting and really sad that in VK they search for a cure for vampirism, but they never specifically say that it’s to help Level E’s restore their humanity or their sanity. It’s almost as if the cure is more geared toward curing purebloods and the acceptable parts of vampire society. But that view was most certainly influenced by a group.
Aristocrats are exactly like they sound, they are privileged in high society. In VK they hold a lot of power though they are not as powerful as the Purebloods they are subservient to. Still they pull the strings and abuse their station. In many ways they control what is socially acceptable and what is not. Vampiric Aristocrats are as their nature is, greedy and hungry for blood. Pureblood is coveted by them and held as a rare and precious commodity. They are the ones encouraging incest to keep their blood stores full. In Shizuka’s case it was her family and the aristocrats that kept her caged after deeming she was unstable (there’s that disdain for mental illness and disability again, even though inbreeding can cause such things even in royalty) The Aristocracy is also responsible for supplying humans for Purebloods to feed on, such is the case with Kaname meeting Seiren.
The Aristocracy benefits most from how society has been set up, even with their dealings with humans. The secret of vampire society is best kept, and that is why they sneer at vampire/human coexistence. Humans are just food and tools. Like the Hunter Society.
The Hunter Society as it is in VK’s time is corrupt, we find out the President has been in league with the leader of the Aristocracy, Ichio. In exchange for protection they get pure blood for their drinking pleasure. Though it is not explicitly said, the Hunter Society is basically an extermination system for the victims of purebloods. Hunters only kill targets on the list curated by the corrupt President who with their ties to the Aristocracy would know what humans were turned into Level Ds and Es. The real world equivalent for hunters is the police. The police are funded by the government, are easily corrupted, and often unfairly discriminate against the lower class, arresting them for stealing food when the upper class hoards it all to themselves.
So like I said before we have this really interesting view of the Hunters as being like vampires: being a part of the leech, upper class, and feeding into a system of oppression.
I might do more parts to this as a series, such as analyzing the class system and how it pertains to certain characters, but those were all the thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head for the last two months. Let me know what ya'll think or feel free to request a take!
2. 'I didn't account for the rotation of the planet and how that affects the constalations while my characters stargazed at different times of year, I have failed as a writer, and this entire thing is trash'
