The Beast of Gévaudan, a creature feared by both Humans
and Vampires alike. Convinced it might
be a Curse Bearer, Vanitas and Noe set off for the French Countryside to
investigate. Waiting for them is a land
tormented by legends and teeming with danger.
All eyes are set on capturing or killing the Beast to their own ends and
Noe and Vanitas are caught in the middle of a struggle between multiple
parties. Old allies and new foes appear
as the age of mystery of the Beast of Gévaudan reaches its bloody conclusion.
Last week’s Case Study of Vanitas episodes left things on
a pretty big cliffhanger.
Not only did
we get a tease as to how and why Noe might be responsible for killing Vanitas
sometime in the future, but the duo also got word of a big mystery in the
frozen French countryside and the promise of a showdown with a big bad
wolf….who might also be a Curse Bearer.
The question is, can a change in scenery and a longer mystery with new
players help The Case Study of Vanitas keep up its fast paced fun while also working
on improving issues I had with the first half?
The new case is afoot, let’s break down how it all gets started, shall
we?
I love the change of location from the glitz, glamour and
ominous fog of Paris and Altus Paris for the frozen tundra of Gevaudan.
The city was a place teeming with danger but
also lots of life.
Gevaudan is the exact
opposite from the moment Noe and Vanitas arrive.
It’s cold, borderline desolate and devoid of
a lot that could be classified as living.
This region has history and while one could assume a lot of it is tied
to the titular Beast that haunts it, theres a greater feeling that Gevaudan’s
issues go back much further.
Then
there’s the Beast itself.
The size of a
building and looking like it was composed of thousands of red scribbles, this
thing is pure terror and visually amazing.
A+ work from Studio Bones isnt uncommon but they’ve really outdone
themselves with how scary and imaginative they can be with the creatures,
spirits and other supernatural beings they’ve crafted for this show.
Turns out that the greatest tragedy in Gevaudan belongs
two of our newest series regulars, Chloe and Jean Jacques, a pair of Vampires
cursed to remain in an old castle with only each other to depend on…which saw
them slip under the sway of our old evil Charlatan buddy Naenia.
Both Chloe and Jean have some of the toughest
stories to watch in the show but Chloe’s edges out her companion for a couple
of reasons.
First, she’s been stuck in
the body of a child for centuries of existence and forced to watch generations
of her family grow old and leave her.
No
matter how much Highlander you watch, that’s a fate worse than death.
Second, she has connections to Ruthven, once
seen as her closest friend but eventually driven to be her mortal enemy
because…well Ruthven is pure evil, we saw that last week with Noe but Chloe
managed to fend off Ruthven’s Mental Pact attack.
And why is Chloe so hellbent on doing whatever she’s
doing…well I need to backtrack a second and talk about an important part of the
lore of this world I’ve not touched on in full.
Way back in the first half of Vanitas we learned about the World
Formula, an unseen string of computations that make up the fabric of life.
Altering it can have serious impacts on the
world…like birthing Vampires.
We learn
that Chloe’s family was looking into the Formula in order to save Chloe from
her Vampiric nature and came up with a machine capable of futzing directly with
the World Formula…so of course something that potentially powerful is gonna be
sought out by every major power in France from the Church to the Vampires.
But as we learn, Chloe’s intentions are a bit
more…complex and I’ve gotta say, the stinger we got at the end of this set was
one I did not see coming and I’m looking forward to how it’s possibly resolved
next week.
I’ve been talking a lot about the Gevaudan setting and
cast, how are Noe and Vanitas doing?
Well Noe’s kind of back in his usual “Deer in the Headlights” mode,
where everything amazes him and he refuses to actually fight someone.
He did wisen up later and we finally got to
see him forced to do a deep dive into the history of someone whose blood he’s
drinking, in this case Jean Jaques.
Having
to wrestle and contend with all that pain and horror Jean experienced in his
life, why the hell is Noe so desperate to drink Vanitas’ blood?
Jean Jaques has a messed up past, but there’s
a reason Vanitas doesn’t want his history known and I don’t think Noe is ready
for that.
Speaking of, Vanitas is at a
new level of vulnerable having lost the Grimoire at the start of this set in a
battle with Charlatan and The Beast.
He’s still the smart ass we all love but without arguably the source of
his power, the brilliant Doctor will have to think on his feet a bit faster to
overcome the dangers of Gevaudan and potentially save Chloe and Jean
Jacques.
Though in one of the better
bits of humor, I loved that while Chloe did get the Grimoire, she immediately
lost interest and had Jean Jacques just chuck it into her library like it was
another book.
But Noe and Vanitas aren’t alone on this country side
adventure.
Jeanne and two of the
Damphirs (Dante and Johann) have also tagged along.
I still hate the Damphirs and their forced
humor.
They serve merely as exposition
machines but aren’t much more relevant than that (also having Chloe tell her
own sad story had more of an impact than two of the three stooges trying to act
like theyre relevant to anything).
Jeanne is here on a personal mission and it was great to see her back in
action again after so long.
The issues I
talked about with her character are still alive and well here.
For every moment where Jeanne has a tender
moment with Vanitas or we see her sad history with Chloe, there’s a long
stretch of Jeanne being love sick puppy for Vanitas and that routine is getting
kind of old (her calling herself a Pervert for drinking water to force into
Vanitas to keep him from dying, that was funny).
Oh and there’ another Chasseur named Astolfo
causing mass mayhem and senselessly slaughtering anything in his path.
Yeah I like it when Vanitas mocked the vain
and self absorbed murderer but there’s no way in hell he and Roland are any
better than the other.
I don’t even
perceive Roland as much of a threat and if Vanitas doesn’t think Astolfo is
much better, then he really isnt.
Just
another whiny baby with delusions of grandeur given the ok to slaughter at the
behest of the church, classy.
The mystery of Geveaudan is off to a pretty damn good
start as the Case Study of Vanitas continues.
Much of the success of this set of episodes comes from the well written
story Chloe and Jean Jaques, which is both sad and always has you on your toes
with new facts leading to even wilder guesses as to how it could wrap up.
With Noe finally ready to get off his ass and
fight Astolfo and Vanitas at a loss for words as to Chloe’s true intentions,
man this show knows how to hold your attention and keep you wanting to throw
yourself into the next set…which I shall do immediately.
See you Next Monday for more of The Case
Study of Vanitas right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
No comments:
Post a Comment