This Week in Anime

The Horrific Beauty of Case Study of Vanitas

Nicky
This is my face now that I finally get to talk about The Case Study of Vanitas, one of my favorite shows of this and last year simply for its pure dedication to being "equal opportunity steaminess" aimed to cater to thirsty bisexuals of the world (i.e. me).

What other show could rip a situation like "nakedly trying to avoid hypothermia alone in a cabin" straight out of fanfic and pull it off SO lovingly? And with Studio BONES making it look damn good.

Don't forget one of the most resting bitch-face'd cats to ever be drawn on a screen.

Funny enough, "What is god to a non-believer?" Could really describe a lot of the ethos behind the characters in Vanitas. As much as we joke about the cutesy elements, The Case Study of Vanitas is first and foremost a serious historical fantasy setting with a lot of drama and brooding plots and some really good action to boot (and vampires, of course). While this part of the show features a new arc, the previous half features enough character and plot building that it's worth checking out before jumping in to this one.

I'm SHOCKED how well they work considering how they...erm...met. I did not expect to warm up to their relationship as much as I did, especially in this arc.

Every character in Vanitas is such a unique little knot of twisted complexes. It's super endearing to watch these little microcosms of trash emotions interact. And the new characters introduced are no exceptions.

Yeah, I'd be a disaster too if I had to share a name with THAT Fate/Grand Order character.

Vanitas really trying to steal the title of fav "Black-Haired Blue-Eyed Smirk Boy Drawn by BONES" in my heart from previous champ Yato from Noragami.

It's got impeccable aesthetics that exude both beauty and horror! Really makes a girl feel spoiled to see in a TV anime production nowadays.

And as displayed previously, the characters also remain similarly gorgeous.

and simultaneously, HUGE DORKS!!

My only gripe about the OP is that even after weeks of watching it, I still have no idea about this strange artifact Noé bought and nobody can tell me what it is supposed to be. Otherwise, I like that it primarily focuses on Vanitas and Noé being lost and separated from each other, a roundabout way of mirroring the story of this arc.

Searching for the Beast of Gévaudan also plays with Vanitas' folkloric and historical elements, while also being just absolutely nuts. The gang heads out to the little province upon hearing strange reports but once there are completely transported from green pastures back to the snowfalls that time forgot with seemingly no explanation, get separated, and run into various dangerous parties, including paladins, the beast itself, and terrifying clown ghosts!

That same special book and Noé immediately get picked up by our antagonists and Vanitas is fortunate enough to be taken in from the cold by Jeanne, who is out here to slay the beast herself. She claims it's simply her duty but it's immediately clear that she has some sort of deep personal history with the whole situation.

Jeanne trying hard to save Vanitas's ass from freezing to death is an extremely funny and intimate character moment as it is sexy. Real-life rescue tactics aren't very hot but finding whatever awkward excuse to get two characters naked and alone together is a romance classic. In front of a warm fire Jeanne is able to unload her baggage about Chloé d'Apchier, whom she believes to be the beast. And then we get to top it off with a steamy somewhat kiss! Gotta stay hydrated to sate the thirst.

Bonus Jeanne only realizing what went down after the fact having previously gotten swept up in her totally not-horny intentions.

Poor Noé! He also immediately makes Chloé's boyfriend-butler, Jean-Jacques, jealous when he didn't even do anything. Otherwise, he ends up being physically unharmed. His new hosts, despite having murdered hundreds, don't seem to plan on killing him any time soon.

And the spooky clown ghost is there and she's just vibing! Y'know? The one that mysteriously RUINED NOÉ'S LIFE?!

Chloé also isn't exactly the same kind of vampire like the rest of them. In fact, despite her young appearance, she's probably one of the oldest vampires we've encountered. She was once a human daughter of the d'Apchiers and was one day transformed. Her family mourned this occurrence and swore they would take back her humanity by any means possible. Then they proceeded to keep her a secret, she became isolated, and eventually she simply outlived them. She never had any say.

But he has baby Jeanne around with him! Aww, isn't she cute! Her and Chloé quickly become close friends.

This also hints that there was a time where Ruthven might've actually had noble intentions to find peace between humans and vampires vs whatever supremacist he is now.

Vanitas is the kind of story that's all about just fully selling you on the characters and their feelings. We're lead to believe that whoever the beast is must be some sort of monster or irreparably damaged individual. The audience labels Chloé as guilty before we even really get to meet her. But brief little moments like this also emphasize her tragedy. Soon after, Ruthven assaults her. Betraying her and leaving her to feel all so alone. Enough to give into the seduction of a sweet-talking specter.

Outside of flashbackville, Noé and Jean-Jacques, despite getting off on the wrong foot, actually become fast friends. He tells her about the situation with Chloé. But unfortunately for Noé he has to get assaulted again, this time with his new bro feeding him some of his blood and send us tumbling into yet another flashback so we can get his memories about what happened.

It's the only way we can fully build up the characters though and it's effective. Even Mr. Pink, who I probably care about the least out of the cast, got quite a juicy bit of emotion out of me just from his backstory. There's something a little magical about watching yourself go from apathy to tears over a character before and after you learn their whole deal.

And with the time element there's also something to be said about being hung-up on things from the past. While everyone was pointing the finger at Chloé for being the beast, Jean-Jacques decides to scapegoat her by transforming himself into a real monster. Creating the legend we all know today.

And as an audience, we go from being ALL suspicion on Chloé to roundabout accepting her innocence. Even Jeanne fully believed that Chloé was responsible for all the blood she didn't spill.

Also just taking a second to appreciate Jeanne's look here.

Trying to re-sew the very fabric of time and space likely isn't without consequences, and if you think it's a drastic revenge plot, you'd be right! But not in the way that you'd expect. Remember out little ghost friend, Naenia, bestower of malnomens? So if Chloé's bad name isn't The Beast? Well then what is it?

But this also turns out to be a terrible idea when the true identity of Naenia turns out to be the missing vampire queen whom all vampires must obey.

And being y'know, the queen, she basically gets out of this scot-free and flies off to go take more names, leaving and triggering Chloé's malnomen that starts sucking everything up into a hell dimension of her own making!

Except they actually start helping by protecting the townsfolk from all the roaming demonic beasts just flying around ravenously now?

Vanitas and Noé also finally get back in touch, head first I might add!


That's kissing distance right there.

Just totally breaking through his carefully placed defenses. Our two boys don't spend a whole lot of time together on-screen but you can still feel the story pushing them closer together.

But this arc isn't about healing Vanitas of his traumas. He's the one who's supposed to be doctoring others! So we shift focus back to Jeanne, who has been struggling and yet determined that it is her right to kill Chloé even though she doesn't want to. She's fighting off in her mind palace when Vanitas comes to save her in what is probs one of my fav moments of the whole show now. And regardless of whether this version of Vanitas in her mind is the "real one" it shows how sweet, important, and healing their brief relationship has been.

Squeezing my tissue box because I adore when even "messy" relationships still have positive outcomes where you feel the characters growing as people.

or y'know, just punch 'em! Nothing wrong with plain ole fisticuffs.

I think this applies to the general struggle between humans and vampires as well. Everyone wants to get along but how could you when there's just so much bloody history there? People don't like to think of themselves as wrong, especially after they've been hurt.

And we've see how other people take advantage of him for his empathy. It's both his weakness and strength. But it's the thing that powers him to really put his foot..err fist?..whatever, down so people can actually start healing and moving the fuck on. When we move to Jeanne and Jean-Jacques too, they see Chloé all tied up in her baggage and desperately tie to pull her out of it instead of dying alone. According to her malnomen, it's something she has to figure out herself though, or else she'll perish.

These final moments of this story arc is so sweet. It's so cathartic seeing Jeanne come up and thank Vanitas even if she also just decides to jump him and I'm 100% certain he jizzed his pants in the process. But ultimately, it's still wholesome and blissful where once what stood before was only tragedy.

And it's not just Jeanne that Vanitas should be letting in, but someone else too. Mayhaps, in time.

Even if the season ended here I'd be pretty satisfied. People really seemed to have slept on the first half after a point but there really isn't a better time to catch up since all the pay-off is truly rewarding. I can't stress enough how much more people need to be checking out this show. It could have a ton of mass appeal if properly recognized.