Manga & Anime Review: A Case Study of Vanitas
This series, which is both dark and humorous, has an intriguing take on vampires. These vampires are not inherently monstrous; They like blood, but they don’t need it – the main POV character, Noe, is extremely fond of tarte tatin! They are, in fact, rather like the fey: immortal unless killed and with some magical abilities, but otherwise just people. Unless, that is, they are cursed and their true name corrupted, in which case they become one of a variety of ravenous blood-thirsty monsters of legend. The vampires blame these curses on the Vampire of the Blue Moon, called Vanitas. But then a (mostly) human man appears, announcing that he has taken on that name and will use the book of Vanitas to cure curses and save the vampires – whether they like it or not!
The elements that hooked me were the gorgeous art style – which is even more spectacular in the anime! - and Noe. Unusually, it is the vampire MC who is the audience surrogate, since our impression of him quickly shifts from “elegant courtly gentleman” to “endearing country bumpkin spazzing out over his first trip to Paris”. He also has an adorable but arrogant-looking cat named Murr. Vanitas, by contrast, very much lives up to his name, being rather flamboyant and full of himself. He wants Noe to be his “shield,” since an early misunderstanding between them makes it clear that the vampire is really strong. But Noe thinks Vanitas is super annoying and will just drive him crazy. On the other hand…Noe has lost people he cares about to these curses, so he’s quite interested in Vanitas’ apparent ability to cure them. Their odd-couple dynamic is really fun, and it is clear they soon start to care about each other, even if they are reluctant to admit it. I kind of love how Noe tucks Vanitas under his arm if they need to move fast, and occasionally just throws him like he’s a weapon! Which brings up an interesting point: it seems like Vanitas can survive a lot more impact without broken bones than a normal human, and his teeth look slightly pointed as well (though I won’t spoil why!). Noe himself has an interesting ability. He’s an archivist, meaning that the first time he drinks someone’s blood he gets a glimpse of their memories. Some of the other important characters include Noe’s mysterious “teacher”, who sent him to Paris to look into the Book of Vanitas; his childhood friend, Dominique De Sade (AKA “Domi”), a lady vampire with strong Julie D’Aubigny vibes; and the child vampire Luca/Lucius and his chevalier and former borreau (vampire executioner) Jeanne, AKA “the hellfire witch”; and the disconcertingly cheerful Roland, who is a chasseaur, one of the church’s vampire hunters.
Is it weird that I ship Noe, Vanitas, Domi, and Jeanne just…all together? In my defense, vampires tend to have massive bi vibes by default and these are no exception! (Hey, there may be different flavors, but to a vampire everyone’s potentially tasty, right?) I should say that I definitely don’t love Vanitas kissing Jeanne without permission…but, it should be noted, she was trying to kill him and Noe, and it was part of his ploy to disarm her. Then Dominique makes her theatrical entrance, leading Noe on a collar and chain back to the parallel world where most of the vampires live, and we get this (read right to left):
Jeanne ends up drinking Vanitas’ blood, which he is very much into! Then Noe is annoyed that Jeanne gets to bite Vanitas (because the human does smell yummy!) and Domi gets jealous and bites him:
There is a dance scene where Domi sweeps Jeanne off her feet, while Noe asks Vanitas to dance just so he can ask what he thinks love is. Then Jeanne goes on a date with Vanitas (trying to make him LESS interested) and Domi stalks them the whole way: “Vanitas, you louse, if you try anything funny with my Jeanne, I’ll make you pay for it!”
I mean…it’s perfect sedoretu material: Jeanne/Vanitas, Noe/Vanitas, Domi/Noe, and Domi/Jeanne, but no Jeanne/Noe (although Domi seems slightly worried about that for reasons I don’t understand) or Domi/Vanitas (they’re honestly a bit too similar!).
One of the
longest story arcs to date makes use of the legend of the Beast of Gevaudan, a
series of killings attributed to a werewolf-like creature. Noe finds himself
separated from the crew and in the castle inhabited only by a child-like
vampire1 named Chloe and her retainer Jean Jacques. It is a very
creepy place – and not just because Noe wakes up to find Chloe drinking his
blood without permission, which is not something considered OK in
vampire society! The castle is full of musical automata, as well as some big
engine of mysterious purpose that Chloe has apparently been working on for
centuries. Her story proves to be not what we suspect, however.
1. I’m a little unclear on why Chloe and one other character don’t seem to age, given that Noe and Domi were child vampires who then grew up. My best guess is that it is because Chloe was born human and was a child when she became a vampire – a rare spontaneous event! – rather than being born into a vampire family.
At the time of writing, there are still a lot of unanswered questions that make me want to read or watch more. Are the marginalized dhampirs really the offspring of humans and vampires, or did they originate in some less obvious way? Why are some high-ranking vampires apparently working with the entities that are cursing their own people? Why did Vanitas kill the Vampire of the Blue Moon, and why doesn’t he want Noe to see his memories? Also…why does Noe eventually kill Vanitas, as he tells us right from the beginning? There is a hint that this doesn’t mean quite what it initially seemed, but it seems likely to be a true tragedy, given how much closer the two are growing.
Overall recommendation: If you like vampires, gorgeous historical costumes, and a mix of humor and angst…this is the story for you!
