Legend tells of a powerful Grimoire that all Vampires
fear. One lone Vampire, Noe, has come to
Paris to find it. To his shock and awe,
he finds the Grimoire is in the hands of a Human named after the Vampire who
created the Grimoire long ago: Vanitas.
This eccentric and mysterious doctor enlists Noe’s help to deal with a
string of Cursed Vampire outbreaks, hoping to find their source and use the
Book of Vanitas to cure them all. It’s
the noblest of quests…if these two incompatible souls can stay alive and not
kill each other in the process.
What happens when you take Sir Aurther Conan Doyle’s
legendary investigative duo, keep one human and make the other a Vampire, and
then send them on adventures involving magically made berserker monsters?
You get the Anime we’re starting with today
at the Gundam Anime Corner: The Case Study of Vanitas. After doing a First
Impression on it back at the start of the year, I knew I had to look into it
further.
I hadn’t even heard of The Case
Study of Vanitas until my friend told me they were working on cosplays from
it.
Turns out, I might have been missing
out on another hidden gem classic lost in the seasonal Anime shuffle.
Vanitas might still have some growing pains
to sort out but four episodes in, I’m ready to bite into more of it.
Which is good because sometimes it can be
tough to get me into new/non franchise established IPs.
Which means it’s already off to a promising
start.
The Case Study of Vanitas is a little out of the ordinary
for a Vampire centric epic.
There’s
scares and creepy imagery for sure but I think the true test of its
entertainment power is going to come down to it’s two leads: Noe and
Vanitas.
Vanitas is easily my favorite
of the pair.
From his very first
appearance, this blue eyed gentleman makes it clear this is his show and the
entire world is his stage.
He’s got a
flair for the dramatic, a penchant for getting in over his head, and the guise
of a crazy eccentric that everyone takes for granted.
He’s charismatic, devious, kind of a jerk but
all the while he’s a thrill to watch.
His hella hot romantic tension with Jeanne, one of the many femme
fatales in this show, is classic steamy Vampire lust at its finest.
Forget the cheesy teen drama stuff, this his
how Vampires are supposed to get it on, be it with one of their own kind or
with a human.
As for Noe, yeah he’s no Vanitas.
It seems the intro episodes have the Vampire
who looks like Loran from Turn A Gundam in one of two settings: wide eyed
wonder at the sights of Paris or a very Final Fantasy looking airship (this was
worked on by Square Enix so big shock there), or just blank stare in
shock.
There’s little in between and
when Vanitas has all the energy to make you forget Noe is even a character a
times, that’s kind of a problem.
It
doesn’t help that Noe has some very bare basic character tropes like having
lost a childhood friend to the dark side or death or both, who is likely still
alive and will probably be an enemy he and Vanitas have to confront in the
future.
The most interesting aspect of
Noe’s character is his Vampiric heritage.
While seeing memories from blood isnt totally new to Vampire lore, those
from Noe’s clan are the only ones who can do so and it runs the risk of him
draining someone dry depending on how far back he has to dive to find a
particular memory.
I’m just saying, give
the guy some energy and not just having him staring like he’s in standby mode
while Vanitas takes all the on screen glory.
But this show isnt just about handsome bishonen boys
going on adventures in Paris.
The Case
Study of Vanitas also introduces a pair of potential love interests for both
leading me and theyre both bad ass and easy on the eyes.
For Vanitas, it’s Jeanne, a lethal bodyguard
for a young Vampiric Noble.
She bears
the sickly designed Crimson Gauntlet which she can use to rip anything to
shreds while it drives her into a bit of a frenzy.
Honestly, I’m with Vanitas on this one.
Jeanne is so beautiful and deadly that it’s impossible not to fall for her at
first sight.
And as I said, the couple
of up close and personal encounters they have are hotter than hell.
As for Noe, he has the drop dead gorgeous
Dominique, or Domi as he nicknames her.
It’s hard to get a read on Domi.
She and Noe have history, being childhood friends and Domi calling
herself Noe’s “fiancée”.
She even
leashes him with a dog collar…because Vampires are kinky like that?
But is playfully playing her own game or does
she truly care about Noe?
The scene
where she allows Noe to drink her blood is as intense as any of Vanitas and
Jeanne’s scenes.
Still, need a bit more
time to feel out this lovely creature of the night.
There’s a lot of expositonal backstory told through
fairytale and folklore books in the premeire of the series.
The world of Vampires is split between those
of Red and Blue eyes, with the Red casting out the Blues for their rare
“genetic disorder”.
There’s also a bit
where Vampiric origins come from an alchemist fooling around with formulas
between worlds?
Yeah that one kind of
went over my head.
And even though the
Vampire City of Altus, aka Vampire Paris, is pretty, still don’t see why we
need two separate worlds for Vampires and Humans when theyre supposed to be
living in semi harmony in the Human world.
That said, the corruption of a Vampires name by Charlatan is no joke and
easily provides some of the scariest visuals on the show. So it’s a good thing,
and a truly epic moment, when Vanitas declares to the world of Vampires at
their ball that while he possesses the book that can curse them, he isnt
planning on doing that.
He instead wants
to use the Vanitas Grimoire to save Vampire kind and stick it to the OG Vanitas
who gave him his book and name…if that’s even really the case.
I’m fine with his goals but I doubt the OG
Vanitas would let Vanitas have his Grimoire if he knew he wanted to save the
creatures who cast him out…is the OG Vanitas even still alive btw?
Before I close out, I’ve gotta say that the overall
presentation of The Case Study of Vanitas is gorgeous, shouldn’t be a big
surprise since Studio Bones (Rahxephon, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood) are
handling it..
The shining lights at
night and the always great vistas of Paris go hand in hand in creating a stage
like atmosphere for Vanitas’ stage of choice.
There isnt a tremendous amount of action in the first four episodes but
what’s there is fine, if a bit too brief. Noe facing off against Jeanne and her
Crimson Gauntlet was probably the highlight of the premiere for me.
As if that wasn’t enough, I’m getting another
major bonus with Vanitas with my girl Yuki Kaijura handling the music.
It’s been a minutes since I’ve heard one of
her OSTs and she’s perfectly fit to handle a world of eccentric Vampiric
Noblemen and the dangerous and sexy adventures they find themselves in.
If most of the review hasn’t spelled it out, I have high
hopes for this show after the first four episodes.
Noe could do a bit more to stand out rather
than just stand around when a fight scene isnt going on.
But Vanitas is doing the heavy lifting and
more with ease as the more interesting of the two characters.
With a powerhouse studio handling the
visuals, a top notch Anime music composer and a few lovely femme fatales
backing it up, I think we’re in for a wild ride with Vanitas and Noe this
month.
Check back Next Monday for more
of The Case Study of Vanitas right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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