You may not believe this but I have a number of friends who refuse to watch The Case Study of Vanitas no matter how much I assure them they will love it. Which once again makes me think that reviews may just not be my strong suit.

And to them, I say…you guys are missing out!!! ‘Cmooonnn, you’ll like it! Probably… I actually have a note about this week’s episode that just says “Oh that’s sooooo cool!”. Exactly like that. I bothered to write down the Oh at the beginning in my personal notes because I was that enthralled. Ok, let me tell you guys about it!

The first part of the episode was all about showing us how Vanitas is doing after the events of last week. Which is not great. After being injured and almost frozen, he’s visibly weak. And that’s a good reminder that Vanitas is the only normal human in this show. Right now at least. Compared to everyone else, he’s pretty much as weak as a newborn lamb. That’s an expression, right? I might have made it up.

So Vanitas is injured, and very cranky and Jeanne is the only one around to nurse him back to health. You know what? For a while there, while Vanitas was all meek, I really liked them as a couple. Embarrassed Vanitas was fun to watch. Jeanne was a huge goofball (or as I like t think of it, at her best)! There was something genuinely heartwarming about the first act. It made me think of the two together as an actual interesting option, instead of a comic punchline. I honestly didn’t expect that.

I do appreciate Jeanne’s effortless mix of brute force and vulnerability. And even though her day after remorse was a bit too exaggerated for my taste, it reminded me that everyone in this show is a huge dork. And that’s a compliment!

I’m also really warming up to the dhams. Specifically to Johann. I loved his silly run last week and his weird Yandere devotion to Dante was a perfect tension break this week. We really didn’t get the chance to learn a lot about them in the first cour so I hope we get some background this time. But even just as they are, they add something fun to the story.

On the other hand, Astolfo only had a brief cameo. And I was happy to see that he was subdued this time around. The jury’s still out on the character but since it seems he’s not just an uncontrollable nutjob, I’m getting curious about what he’ll bring to the table. Like I said, there is a lot of potential there.

I liked the opening act. The cabin was a surprisingly sober and earnest sequence. I liked the second act as well. It had some good rising action and set up the coming events really well. But this episode was all about act 3. This is where my notes got expressive!

There were some big questions after last week’s premiere. And I think instead of answers, I only have more questions now. This could be frustrating in other circumstances, but the questions are so very juicy!

One thing we do know for sure is that Chloé is indeed a vampire. Part of me thought she could have been a real big werewolf. We did see one of those before. We also know that she’s not too particular about who she bites but since she and Jean-Jacques brought Murr back to the castle, all is forgiven. Also, her servant/lover is called Jean-Jacques which is such a typical Quebecer name that I had to laugh.

In fact, the entire slightly pervy scene was fun. While Vanitas is obviously super worried about Noé (or perhaps the book, let’s be honest). Noé is getting assaulted then, in classic Noé fashion, forgiving all instantly and in a great mood! You gotta love this guy. It was a fun time.

But it’s the last scene. The dinner invitation. Ok, so first of all, the musical instrument automatons were what made me take that note. They were amazing! I made my gif out of a bit of that scene but you really have to see the whole thing. It’s both fascinating and creepy in a way I can’t quite explain. Like I found these things scary but for the life of me, I can’t tell you why. I like machines a lot. And these instruments stroked my steampunk affinities big time. Yet I still wouldn’t want to be in a room with them. Such a vu=isually fantastic scene.

But then, the actual invitation to dinner. I’m not basing this on anything, but Chloé is extremely old and shrouded in mystery. And for no reason at all, I thought she might be part of the Archivist Clan. Maybe that’s what the nonconsensual blood-sucking was about. Boy if you read this post without context, it’s gonna sound real weird. It really is a fun show, guys!

That may be a wild guess but what isn’t i’s that she seems to be in cahoots with Charlatan. I’m still not sure she’s an actual malnomen. She may just be… a villain. Maybe she’s helping out Charlatan for her own reasons and it has allowed her to keep her name and sanity. I say it but apparently, Charlatan is a she. I have so many questions!!! How does Chloé know? Does that mean Charlatan was at one point something with a gender? A vampire, a human, heck a bunny rabbit??? Next Friday can’t come soon enough. Because Vanitas but also because… Friday!

I hope you’re all having a great weekend! Let’s do this again next week!

Previous episodes

• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.1 – Blue Moon Rising
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.2 – There’s Always a Jeanne
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.3 – What A Jerk
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.4 – Sexy
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.5 – The Sad Sade
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.6 – Salvation?
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.7 – Jeanne’s Walk of Shame
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.8 – Read the Room
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.9 – Everything is Math
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.10 – Birds of a Feather
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.11 – Date Night
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.12 – Entracte
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.13 – Winter is Come