Status Updates From The Case Study of Vanitas, ...

i usually stay away from the whole “x fell first, y fell harder” thing with ships bc there’s always more nuance than that BUT if i were to assign that label to one of my favorite ships it’d definitely be vanoé. vanitas fell first, noé fell harder (but only bc vanitas pushes his feelings down like his life depends on it)

(cont.)
it’s only when noé brings it back to the literal that vanitas is broken out of his daze and he can delight once again in noé’s innocent, clear cut goodness rather than contemplating his own

no i’ll never be over this panel of vanitas actually
he looks like a lost, abandoned kid finally being told that he’s good for the first time in his life. how could he NOT fall in love with the man who showed him that light??? i mean of course he’s also gonna deny it and push him away but that’s just more proof imo (cont.)

and this is the moment that flips the script from the other two!! what noé says here hits vanitas so much harder bc it’s basically validating his entire existence. even if the book (he) is viewed as corrupt and an abomination, even if it (he) is capable of great evil, it’s all about intent. and noé, who sees the world in straight lines of morality, has labeled vanitas’ actions as good

love vanitas’ little twitch here after luca suggests that he may be under the control of the book. he is absolutely conscious of his own actions but it is slowly rewriting his very being. one could argue that since he’s embarking on this mission to save vampire-kind as a twisted form of “revenge” on luna, is he really acting on his own accord? is his life really his? has it ever been?

(cont.)
which is a brilliant way to give us a taste of what this relationship will look like moving forward. vanitas is immediately drawn to him as if he’s an interesting specimen to examine (and maybe a subconscious way to safely reconnect with a bit of his inner child? that sense of wonder that was ripped out of him?) but as soon as noé starts examining him BACK, that’s when the dynamic begins to shift

god i just love how instantly fascinated vanitas is with noé. first it was bc of his wide eyed delight at seeing the book in action, and now it’s bc of his stubbornness in insisting that they are NOT working together. these moments of vanitas bursting into laughter at noé’s reactions create a pattern that mochizuki will break later on (cont.)

aw it’s so cute how both noé and vanitas are acting based on deep seated trauma and grief and intense feelings of regret and desire for salvation!!!! noé is the first to refer to them as a “we” and it’s after he’s triggered by the convo about amelia. suddenly all of his hang ups about working with vanitas are thrown out the window bc all that matters is saving amelia (bc he couldn’t save louis)

i really enjoy the fact that vanitas is the one to take a liking to noé first (even if he will become increasingly annoyed by him as they get closer bc for whatever reason he didn’t realize that by recruiting a curious sunshine man, said man would inevitably become curious and sunshiney about HIM) bc i feel like in these scenarios it’s usually the vanitas archetype that has to be persuaded to form an alliance

LOVE that noé asks “what are you” just like vanitas asked him before!!!!! and vanitas seems amused by the question, probably thinking to himself “i’m not even sure of the answer myself and you think i’m gonna tell YOU?? now that’s funny”

what a fantastic way to start this chapter, posing the question of if noé could still find the blue moon beautiful after encountering a cursebearer. and we already know the answer!!!! at least in the literal sense, yes he absolutely can and does still find it beautiful. the paris skyline paled in comparison. but the more symbolic version of the question, the blue moon being vanitas, is investigated in this chapter

and if we hadn’t already picked up on the inherent horniness of blood drinking in this series yet, it couldn’t be clearer here (or really in any of the scenes of noé and louis). louis is framed SO romantically as he licks his wound, his eyelashes fanning over his cheeks and the moonlight shining over him. the closeup of his tongue followed by the closeup of noé swallowing?? the gay subtext is undeniable

oh my GOD i keep trying to read on but i can’t move past that panel. what if noé kills vanitas by drinking him dry……..it’s vanitas’ last wish, so he won’t ever actually die, at least not to noé…….mochizuki you have got me firmly in your clutches for years to come

no i’m still on the “even if i’m no longer here…” line what the FUCK does that mean
is that when he’ll finally let noé drink his blood? “even if i’m no longer here, my memories can live on with/through you”????

this dialogue is presumably from the scene of noé killing vanitas, whenever that will be and however it’ll look, but i feel like based on this snippet and what i know of vanitas’ condition, he’s gonna end up as a malnomen or some other corrupted being that he wouldn’t want to live on as. i’m more intrigued to know how that last line ends……is he asking noé to do something in his absence? to live on?

(cont.) this framing is also definitely supposed to be a contrast to the legend of vanitas, which had og vanitas vowing to destroy all the vampires. but then here comes this vanitas, vowing the exact opposite but still presenting it as if he’s the villain from the storybook

this framing is SO interesting bc it seems like it parallels the pose that amelia hit when she was rampaging. it’s a distinctly, almost comically evil pose. paired with the rabid, crazed look in his eyes, his declaration of “salvation” is twisted into something darker. a hint that it’s not as it seems? that it’s more of an obsession with deeply personal roots than a purely noble pursuit

noé’s name also means rest and comfort so vanitas complimenting it (with those bedroom eyes too wtf) is even more telling

vanitas’ delight at noé’s genuine amazement at the book’s power is so fucking cute oh my GOD i see that blush you fake idgafer
noé consistently surprises vanitas throughout the course of this volume and as much as vanitas is a control freak, i think he can’t help but be drawn to that kind of surprise bc it’s safe and childlike and joyful rather than dangerous

noé’s insistence on understanding things (and people!!!!) being such an integral part of his character is so genius as a foil to vanitas’ convoluted identity and tactics that so often rely on putting on an act

the particular emphasis on “with your own eyes” in the reading of teacher’s letter is making me pause this time around…….noé’s eyes are the marker of his archiviste powers, so is teacher potentially implying that he wants him to drink vanitas’ blood? was that always part of his plan, whatever the fuck it is? or am i reading too much into it who knowssssss

this part will never not give me chills
the fact that noé was so excited to see paris but when he’s falling out of the baleine after vanitas and actually gets his first glimpse of the city, he only has eyes for the blue moon (that just HAPPENS to be full on this very night uh huh uh huh). he’s never been afraid of it, and now he just jumped out of an airship in pursuit of the physical embodiment of it

seeing vanitas consciously make the decision to put on his scary “vampire” act when he and dante are in a bind is the perfect way to end this sequence. he even reuses the same line that he used with noé at the beginning. the cracks are already starting to show, vanitas is already a mystery that the reader wants to solve, which places us right alongside noé