Jun Mochizuki's epic vampire tale continues after a season's break, and is it just as good as the 1st Cour back in Summer last year? I mean, come on, it's gotta be good, and I assure you that it delivered the same and more. In the 2nd Cour, right after the events of the Chasseur Hunters, the two main focal events are The Beast of Gévaudan and Amusement Park arcs, which covers the manga progression continuing from Volume 6 to the most recent Volume 10, meaning that the anime has fully caught up with the source material, which in my mind, sums up the perfect adaptationof an esteemed series by an esteemed author like Jun Mochizuki. Spoilers be warned for intensity.
The Beast of Gévaudan arc, which takes up 2/3rds of Part 2 / 2nd Cour, this arc really displays the magnificence of Vanitas no Carte's world-building as a whole, which combines both vampires, humans, Charlatan, Chasseurs, and the diabolical plan of the Beast: the Silver Witch known to all as Chloé d'Apchier. As the daguther of Marquis d'Apchier and being a "curse-bearer" vampire herself, she was the hidden vampire of the family, and her presence mattered because Jeanne's parents were Lord Ruthven's students when she was young, and Jeanne got to know Chloé because Ruthven introduced the former to her, taking care of her well-being until it was found out that she was the Beast, and you can imagine that all hell broke loose right after that fateful incident. And this time, the Book of Vanitas becomes a lot more relevant as it's used to create the Alternte Engine in an effort to make her human again, and there will be none to stop her, other than getting past her protector Jean-Jacques Chastel, which he is always prepared to sacrifice his humanity to play the scapegoat game as the Beast to lure people off Chloé from her oppressors. Along with the inner conflict of the Charalatan that continues to haunt people's past, makes for one hellish nightmare that requires a lot of sacrifice, reconciliation and realization to turn people to the truth, that like Noé friends turned curse-bearers before, it's the same story but on a larger, grand scale.
And if you'd thought that was enough, the Amusement Park arc which displays the final 1/3rd of the 2nd Cour, is where I like to call: personal friends settle grievances towards each other. Vanitas's past is on full display this time, since we the audience never really got the chance to dive deep into his psyche in the 1st half, and it's forced through this little boy known as Mikhail. Not just Vanitas's, but combining Domi, Louis and his past, paints a picture of a moment in that time the human of the Blue Moon would not want to diverge and forget about all that's happened between him and Mikhail. If you remember the eccentric vampire doctor that is Moreau, he was employed by the Chasseurs to research on vampires, and declared Vanitas as No. 69. But, BUT, there was actually another person hiding in the sidelines: the young kid Mikhail, whom like Vanitas, is subjected to inhumane research. Why do I say this, is because both Vanitas and Mikhail were rescued by the original Vampire of the Blue Moon, being raised by him/her and teaching the young-uns all about the world of vampires consisting of the malnomen, astermite, and most importantly, the Book of Vanitas, which is why Mikhail has another copy of it as well. The past that Vanitas wishes not to be digged into, forces Noé to confront him and save those he cares about fondly, and ultimately understand Vanitas as a whole in his most vulnerable stage.
As I've said in my 1st Cour review, Jun Mochizuki really knows how to use character development to her advantage, and using that to course and piece the events of her epic story, it's just as well done as Part 1, if not on par with it since this is a continuation after all. Her stories are fearsome, yet have balance at stake to weigh the pros and cons, and this is the mark of a very talented writer that I honestly just have no words to say, but even more jaw-dropped at its capability to warp understanding even in the most intense manner. It's ambition at its most darkest, yet gleaming with light at the end of the tunnel.
Vanitas's core staff team from Bones are back, and the quality retains its action-packed violent gore that simply just is breathtaking to watch. The OST is just as great under the invincible woman of flare that is Yuki Kaijura, but I feel it's a tad under for Jun Mochizuki's standards when it comes to the OP/ED. Little Glee Monster's 2nd half OP isn't bad, but compared to the 1st half with Sasanomaly's, I really gotta take the latter's anyday. For the ED, I would like to believe that Momonkul's ED song is without a doubt, purposeful. As is by the song title of "salvation", this 2nd Cour's teaching point is that everyone deserves salvation, regardless of the right or wrong actions done addressed towards themselves or others' lives.
Vanitas no Carte a.k.a. The Case Study of Vanitas is more than just a work of art, it's about the allegory and juxtapositions of life, and the extent of putting others at risk just so that you could preserve your history. That's why this show is a play on the classic case study teaching quantum, and will be a Case Study worth examining that I will never forget.
Recommended
Say what you want about the quality of this season of anime, at least the sequels lived up to their respective hypes. That should tell you already how I feel about the new season of The Case Study of Vanitas. The first season was one of my favourites from last year thanks to its great cast of characters, great production values and an absolute brilliant ED. So naturally, I looked forward to this second season and to see where the story would end up next. Starting with the story, my main complaint with Vanitas season one was the lack of an overarching narrative to tieall these stories together. Season two sort of addresses this but doesn’t fix it. This season does start tying all these plot threads and storylines together, as if to say season one was just setup and season two is putting it all together. The plot threads start to connect and come into more effect as the story goes on. Yet the show doesn’t give a clear reason as to where the story wants to go. It still focuses on dealing with the now, rather than any potential problems that can come later. Like these two arcs don’t have any prior buildup besides a cliffhanger before it starts but are significant in terms of the plot for the majority of the core cast of characters. There is also a massive plot revelation surrounding the dark spirit Naenia that doesn’t leave an impact on the story as I would’ve liked. Sure, the way it was delivered was fantastic but It’s pretty significant plot revelation and the characters act like it doesn’t matter much after seeing it. This is where I think the show’s comedic tone at times, as much as I find it amusing, can hinder some pretty important narrative beats.
That’s not to take away from the arcs themselves, they are still well told and are very engaging to watch. The first arc takes the bulk of this season and acts as as a sort of narrative high where the stakes get higher than they have before and the characters must act in order to stop it; with the second arc being smaller but very significant for character development. It continues the show’s story strengths, which is their direction, pacing and how our characters interact with it. Only now, character development has taken a step up from season one. I am more interested in these characters in this season than in season one. Now that could be because I already like these characters before the season started but this season continues to go in the right direction when it comes to the characters. So while the story still has the same problems, it still has the same strengths and continues its good but flawed narrative.
The Characters though were always the strongest point when it came to this show. I love this cast of characters and their interactions with one another. But one of the main themes when it comes to season of Vanitas is character backstories. Noé and Domi were the only ones that got a dedicated backstory but this season gave us backstories for Vanitas, Jeanne, Domi again, Astolfo and newcomers Chloé, Jean-Jacques and Mikhail. They are thankfully engaging and help us get attached to the characters even more, while also being crucial to the narrative as they give more clarity into the situation as they do answer some very important questions. While I feel like they could’ve spread them out better over the course of these two seasons, they do contain plot points that would’ve been spoilers for what is to come so I get why they are clumped up here. But then again, you could’ve done some good foreshadowing for what is to come.
In terms of the characters themselves I am so glad that the relationship between Vanitas and Jeanne has developed this season. Season one had its fair share of development between the two, but this season is where I think it has truly blossomed and I love the interactions they had with each other this season. Chloé and Jean-Jacques act as interesting antagonists because while they are the main threat in the first arc, they aren’t strictly evil as we soon learn, the situation is more than just being black and white and there is some complexity to it. By the end, you aren’t rooting for them to be stopped, you are rooting for them to see if they can be saved. Mikhail acts more antagonistic as a thorn to Vanitas’ side but you can clearly tell that something has warped this young boy’s mind. But he wasn’t as compelling as Chloé and Jean-Jacque but still good.
Going back to the story quickly, I like how the show portrays how humans and vampires can both be monsters, especially in the first arc where you can clearly see how Humans affected Chloé’s life and how Vampires affected Astolfo’s through their backstories. It just goes to show that Vampires aren’t just bloodthirsty creatures of the night, they have their own flaws that makes the difference between Humans and Vampires not that much different. It doesn’t go into depth about the human, vampire dynamic than a show like Shiki, but does just enough to make it subtle and interesting.
In terms of production values, it remain unchanged from season season one. It still looks great and sound great and I’m glad Studio Bones is able to keep it up. Although I do want to say the soundtrack has gotten some very notable new tracks that make the scene they are used in much much better. This season has made me like the ost more as its usage is very good. But I want to talk about the OP and ED since they are obviously new.
Let’s start with the ED first. It was going to be VERY hard to top “Zero” by LMYK from season one for me. To me, that ending was my pick for best ending sequence from 2021. I loved the song and it was a great contrast to season one’s more upbeat OP with Noé trying to reach out to Vanitas at the depths of isolation, with Vanitas just simply waiting to grab his hand. It had a great rhythm, it looked great and…...hold on a sec, I need to go listen to it again………...”Was it you that I have been searching for? Spend my life alone and waited for?”…….Ok, I’m back. While I do admire the attempt by "Salvation" by Mononkul, it just doesn’t hold a candle to Zero. While the visuals are on par, forshadowing Noé and Vanitas’ strenuous relationship, the rhythm and pacing of the song just feels weaker than Zero. It really is just the case that Zero was the better song by a mile that doesn’t make this ED as good as season one’s ED.
The OP however, I do think is better than season one’s OP. Titled, "Your Name" by Little Glee Monster, the OP is not as light hearted as "Sora to Utsuro" by sasanomaly, the OP does a better job at showcasing the, “I need you, I don’t need you” relationship Noé and Vanitas has where they are off doing their own thing and end up just looking for each other anyway while the synthesized lyrics and calm instruments play in the background. While season one’s OP was more fun, I feel like season two was more clear and realistic with the relationship between our two main leads. Overall a great OP.
So where does this lead to where to how I feel about season 2? Honestly, I got the same amount of enjoyment as I did with season one. The story was the main aspect of this show I wanted to see happen next and while it does take steps forward, it also takes some steps back and doesn’t address some of the criticisms I had with season one. The characters though are the heart and soul of this series and to see them still being fun and engaging to watch with the new characters not brining it down does make this season still worth the watch. While I would like to know where the narrative ultimately wants to go, the arcs themselves through good pacing, direction and character development do help make up for it.
The Case Study of Vanitas still remains one of my favourite Vampire themed anime alongside Hellsing Ultimate and Shiki and even after I did my review on season one and now with season two, it’s still worth the watch.
Story: 7/10 (While the arcs are engaging to watch due to good direction and pacing alongside some payoff with these plot threads, there is still a lack overarching story to drive the narrative forward)
Characters: 10/10 (This is still a great cast with fun and interesting interactions, only now, their development has gotten better)
Animation: 8/10 (Remains unchanged from season one. Bones still nailed the Aesthetics and animation of this series)
Sound: 8/10 (While the ED has taken a backseat, the new OP and some new OSTs make up for it)
My Personal Enjoyment: 9/10 (This still remains one of my favourite vampire anime and most of the things I loved are still great)
Overall Score: 8.4/10 Recommendation: Watch It
Not Recommended
When I reviewed part one, I talked a lot about the director, the studio, the production—that was a mistake. Because who cares? That shit is boring. And fuck the “plot” too. What people really want to read about is hot goss, and Vanitas no Karte continues to deliver. This show reminds me of Gossip Girl. There was always stuff going on at the school, and there was always some pretense that what you were watching was a young woman’s coming of age story, but the only reason people really watched it was for the juicy teen drama, and I think Bones putting less effort intothe fight scenes than they put into the kissing scenes says a lot. The user Sarwan111 created a forum thread where he asked a question which, whether intentional or not, served as a scathing critique of this show’s flawed characterization. What he asked was, “Can anyone explain me who is the protagonist in this?” And no one could give him a straight answer. After all, there isn’t one.
If this were a boys’ love manga adaptation structured like a shoujo manga, especially one written by an author like Jun Mochizuki, then the answer would clearly be Noé. At the end of the day, you experience most of the story with essentially the same information he has, and most of the internal monologging we get is from his perspective. Shoujo protagonists are typically introduced living very reserved, plain, innocent lives, and the story begins with a dashing, mysterious, domineering older male love interest suddenly appearing out of the blue, spicing up her mundane life, and sweeping her into a new world of wonder and passion. This handsome heartthrob would of course be Vanitas. Initially, the plot usually focuses on her arc of self-discovery, and the story usually then moves on to her new boyfriend’s hidden past and the melodrama that comes with resolving it. The problem with this understand of the story, though, is Vanitas and Noé don’t fit these roles.
The author is merely shoving them together to make the audience ship them and draw yaoi doujins. The real love interests are Jeanne, who Vanitas just sexually harassed until she liked it (which is actually great, but don’t pretend it’s anything more than a fanservice device), and Domi, who’s whole existence is frustrated by the author’s deliberate refusal to explain why Noé hasn’t fucked her yet. They both like each other, and they have seemingly no reason not to hook up. The result is an awkward story with no real protagonist, but rather two “main characters” who compete for the right to undergo even the slightest bit of a character arc. To top it all off, despite the shoujo-style characters, the actual plot progresses much more like a weekly shounen manga, with no well-defined goal and endless meandering between tensionless fight sequences, tactless exposition dumps, and meaningless reveals to nebulous mysteries which could’ve come at any time.
The term “comedy relief” is a literal phrase; if executed correctly, jokes add levity & help scenes flow. This show, however, uses chibi regardless of the tone or atmosphere, even cutting into life or death situations. This art style is obviously being abused so Bones can put as little effort as possible into the drawings. The overuse of chibi screams laziness, and considering that whole incident back in part one where just episode nine itself needed eighteen different animation directors working on it just to stay afloat, the state of the production is obvious. People were impressed when they saw a show that didn’t immediately and outwardly look like total trash and then overpraised it before they could realize it was just any other inconsistent, otherwise decent-looking romp. Ultimately, the visuals continue to look mediocre at best, and despite all the show’s actual attempts at comedy, that CG book continues to be the funniest, most memorable thing on screen.
Thank you for reading.
