SPOILERS for last chapters. Don't read if you haven't read --->>
WARNING- This is long, lower half on best elements
And now, after many years, since I stumbled upon a teaser in another manga, Vampire Knight, one of my favorite mangas ever, is finished.
Before the last chapter was released, my sister and I continually fought over the inevitability of Kaname's death. I refused to believe it would happen and she said it would the unfortunate truth. It was so unfair that her favorite, Zero, didn't even seem in danger at the next to last chapter. I was fraught with worry for Kaname, I even said I would go into mourning for three days if Matsuri killed him. When my best friend Kira texted me to read the chapter, I told her. 'No! I'm not ready for this.' However, I had already opened another web window to do just that.
The next few minutes, I started crying, told my siblings to leave me alone, and blocked everything out while devouring what I was sure would Kaname's last breath. Then I read on.... and on... still in mouring...halted ... AND reread from the beginning again. My mom's anger for ignoring her brought me back to this reality. When I dealt with that, I was lost again in a daze of both frustration but at the same time, contentment. I couldn't process it @.@ Kira wrote back to me 'I am not commenting.' I wrote back, 'Not commenting either yet.. really mixed feelings here.'
After blinking so many times and reaching past the forming fog of my brain which resulted from my mind imploding from all she did in that one chapter, all the symbolism, meanings, and feelings, I agree and disagree with the ending. It's definitely epic and beautiful. Kaname was freed. However, the way it is done does leave you both warm and tingly inside yet also unsatisfied. Everyone is linked to the tragedy as well as the happiness and healing. And I think that is just how it's going to be. It fits this contradictory and very deep manga but it leaves you hanging, too, and recalling everything I loved about it.
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I am really going to miss waiting every month for more of this manga and the deep discussions Kira and I held together without fail after reading the updates, especially towards the end. Both of us are die-hard Kaname fans and stayed so the entire time.
He is without a doubt one of my top characters I have ever come across, and I think Takuma in the top twenty as well. Hanabusa is not far behind either.
Heck, the growth of and complications within the characters, period, are fabulous. There's a lot of symbolism in each of them towards understanding what the vampire world is. I could write a whole essay on Kaname. (I'm not kidding.) I NEVER saw how far or how important Hanabusa's growth would be to the whole story either. At first, he seems a flirt with a taste for getting in trouble, yet, his loyalty towards Kaname is pure, childlike but real, nonetheless, perking my interest. 
It is a belief constantly tested, reshaped and the meaning re-evaluated at each turn of the manga. He seems to be the most naive of the night class, too.
I didn't think of this until now, but Takuma is quite his opposite. While Hanabusa seems the most naive of what his loyalty in Kaname will mean, Takuma is painfully aware of the price of his friendship and loyalty to Kaname. Of the night class, he is the most immersed in the darkness of their world and closest to Kaname's depth. He is the most aware of what Kaname is trying to accomplish, even before he understands more of Kaname's nature. As the manga evolves and the diffuculty of his choices increase, Takuma reveals how thick that dark manipulation and sorrow goes, and reasons for the endless, long journey towards the light of Kaname.
(I don't think I explained Takuma's development enough, but I'm getting writer's block. Sorry, Takuma! )
The depth Matsuri poured into her perspectives of the vampire world is mind-blowing, wondrous, poetic, and deep. It is without a doubt my favorite aspect of this story. I hope exploring Takuma and Hanabusa helped show that, and her ending definitely delivered on that build up, in a way far beyond what I had hoped.
One of the things I definitely miss in her ending is the too short glances on the night class' reaction, especially with Takuma and Hanabusa. I wanted more monologue/feelings from them.
((I also feel a wallpaper coming on. YET another one. I will never stop making wallpapers of this series, I swear 
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Sorry, that was much longer than I planned. For those who read all that, what was your favorite part, character, aspect, twist in Vampire Knight? Did you get what you wished in the finale?
I'll update this world with my version of those reaction soon. The idea won't leave my mind, that and how Ruka/Akatsuki finally get together.
Kiki, Chero, I apologize now if you guys start crying and falling apart again after reading this.
