Don’t worry girl! It happens to the best of us. You get real excited about a party, you put on your nicest dress and spend like an hour doing your hair just to have it look exactly like it always does. And when you get there, everything is great! It’s exactly what you wanted.
Then the night goes on, the drinks flow, you start feeling a little hawt maybe a little bothered and whamo. Mistakes happen. It’s o.k. We understand. Just don’t let it ruin you’re whole…afterlife(?). Wait how do vampires work in this universe? They’re born vampires, aren’t they? No, stay on point, Irina!
Listen, Jeanne, no one is blaming you for one little slip-up. Now do the smart thing and never ever talk to Vanitas again…
The Case Study of Vanitas is getting downright tawdry. I am here for it! This is the ridiculous slightly trashy fun I need right now. And possibly always. Just to be clear, I mean trashy as a compliment. Like my favourite junk food or cocktail. And we all know cocktails are respected around these parts!
The opening tag of the episode was some confusing BL baiting which didn’t get entirely retconned by having the episode go back and explain how we got to the point of Vanitas and Noé dancing together while talking about love. The only thing that really got established is that Vampires are thirsty in pretty much every possible way. I like what I did there. I think it fits the vibe I’m going for.
Going back to the first act we had Jeanne and Luca treating Domi, Noé and Vanitas to some tarte tatin to thank them for their help at the ball. Noé was being his usual dapper and distinguished gentleman. To be fair though, tarte tatin is really good and I also drooled a bit when I saw it then decided I would bake one later on today. Have I mentioned how much I love Noé’s simplicity? In fact, when he decided to take off after Jeanne and Vanitas, I was pretty sure he just wanted to ask if he could eat Vanitas’ slice. It’s just the sort of thing he would do.
Another running gag that I am really digging is how all the vampires just carry Vanitas around like a sack of potatoes. After all the piggyback rides and princess carries I have watched in anime, I realize that a potato sack is the ultimate visual option for carrying someone. I demand that all other animes adopt it at once. If you want to get picky, I prefer Noé’s underarm stance to Jeanne’s over the shoulder but both are good. See, it even offers variety!
Even though Noé did not ask about the tarte tatin, I still think that was at least part of his motivation. And he did end up whining about food in the end so it was all sort of the same thing.
I remember after the first episode some blogger declaring Vanitas t be BL, I think because it had two male leads. And although we are very far from BL there certainly is some teasing going on. Because that’s what any good cheese would do in this situation. The thing is, I have read my share of vampire fiction and they are traditionally sexy beasts. It’s fairly common for vampire lore to incorporate ideas of bisexuality in the fiction. Since they are debauched creatures who wouldn’t have the proper discipline to just choose one gender to be attracted to and stick with it.
What I’m saying is that I have made the executive decision to label everyone in the show as pansexual and arbitrarily decide on which gestures are romantic as the mood strikes me. I think it’s the best way to watch this show. And it’s fun! Because that’s really all The Case Study of Vanitas is. Tawdry silly fun. And you know what, it takes quite a bit of talent to do that. And it makes for a great watch.
