18 Years Later, The Definitive 2000s Gothic Cult Classic is Still a Divisive Guilty Pleasure

Twilight became a cultural phenomenon in part because it tapped into the adolescent fantasy of all-consuming first love. The messy, often toxic love triangle at the center of Twilight only enhanced its appeal, with Bella Swan serving as a relatable blank-slate protagonist caught between a vampire and a werewolf. The anime equivalent of Twilight also centers on a messy love triangle in a dark supernatural world, but it takes its story to even more controversial places. Based on Matsuri Hino’s classic shojo manga, the 2008 Studio Deen anime Vampire Knight is a unique relic of the late 2000s.