Noooo! You Can’t do This. Listen to me The Case Study of Vanitas, you can’t leave us on a cliffhanger, is that understood!?! I get that not everything is going to get resolved. I made my peace with that. And by peace I mean I’m going to use whether black magic necessary to get another season. That’s my job. Your job is to not end your first 24 episodes on a cliffhanger.

Do we understand each other??? You are definitely going to spend the next episode mending Vanitas and Noé’s relationship and giving all the characters a little bit of temporary closure. Right? Right????

Wow… this episode sure had a lot of blood and a loooooooOOOOooooot of drama. Normally, I have a tough time with drama but I find that I enjoy it more when it commits to being operatic and/or it’s mixed in with a lot of action. And The Case Study of Vanitas did both. The drama here is so over the top it becomes something else.

But this doesn’t mean that it didn’t get me to feel bad for the characters. Noé and Vanitas have always been the backbone of the series and seeing them at odds is bound to be troubling. At the same time though, Vanitas has always been presented as a shifty character who is on no one’s side but his own. I wonder if they will pit Jeanna and Vanitas against each other next week. That’s going to be difficult for him. They haven’t met since that episode after all.

The thing is, when an episode is really full of action, I find I don’t have a lot to say. There were some bits of character development driving home the point that all these characters are really brought together by this deep sense of guilt. Maybe not Misha. I think that kid is just not all there. But the rest of them all have heavy regrets and they crash against each other in an effort to calm the unending guilt. The thing is, we knew that already. There’s consistency but nothing new for me to talk about with you guys.

At least storywise. I feel like we got this real treasure trove of information last week and they are letting it settle a bit this week. And that’s a good move. Not to mention that when the narrative takes a small step back, the production is right there to shine brighter than ever.

There have been some wonderful fight choreographies throughout The Case Study of Vanitas. I remember the first episode, Vanitas’ entry played out like a ballet. It was gorgeous. And the first time we got a good look at the Beast of Gévaudan, the camera kept on moving around and giving us bottom-up dutch angles to really drive home the scale of the beast as something monstrous that couldn’t quite be contained on the screen and the while never letting the action stop for a second. I’m saying bones does some pretty decent animation, I don’t think I’m teaching anyone anything.

Well, I got that same sense of breathless awe this episode, especially in the first half when it was concentrated on the fight between Vanitas and Noé. Noé’s constant jumping forward while Vanitas falls back without letting go of his aggression. There was a sense of movement that went beyond the characters, the entire world was moving with them. On top of that, the dark rainy night interrupted by explosions, light gleaming off soaked surfaces and glittering off raindrops. The dynamic use of light brought everything to another level and it was already pretty high.

I try to give The Case Study of Vanitas the production props it deserves. It’s a very well-made show that has remained consistent throughout. Something I simply can’t say about some contemporary anime. And even though I am very nervous about the possibility of a cliffhanger ending, I was happy we got such a splendid showcase of the studio’s prowess before wrapping things up.

I guess all that’s left to say is see you all 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
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.14 – Cabin Fever
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.15 – Bird on a Wire
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.16 – Birds of a Feather
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.17 – A Noble Woman
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.18 – Epic
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.19 – In Broad Daylight
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.20 – Lovesick
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.21 – Brothers
• The Case Study of Vanitas ep.22 – Family