Vampire Knight

The Vampire Knight manga series and its anime adaptation features a cast of characters created by Matsuri Hino. The series takes place at the Cross Academy, where the daughter of the headmaster, Yuki Cross, faces many different types of challenges: from a love triangle between a vampire student named Kaname Kuran and her childhood friend named Zero Kiryu; to many threats on her life and the lives of the people she is trying to protect.

While initially developing the characters, Hino reported that though Kaname was created earlier, at every step in the characters creations, she found it difficult to maintain a balance between Kaname and Zero as she struggled with fears of the former overshadowing the latter.