Vanitas no Carte – 05

If you followed Pandora Hearts as I did (anime-first) you kind of know this road we’re traveling on.  Everything starts out cute and zany with a heavy focus on bishounen.  But then (and it’s more accelerated with Vanitas no Carte) things starts to shift.  The prominent cast gets more gender-balanced, the tone gets considerably darker.  And tragedy begins to form a bigger and bigger part of the total picture.  I haven’t read the Vanitas manga and have no inside info on where the series is headed, but I’d be surprised if this episode isn’t more representative of what’s to come than the first four.

We has brief glimpses of Louis (Shimabukuro Miyuri) over the first few episodes, but his prominent – if abortive – role in the story comes into focus this week.  There are some interesting elements at play here, some of which come down to speculation but are nevertheless interesting.  Much of the episode takes place in the form of a flashback (where Noe is played by Nanase Ayaka), ostensibly as seen through the eyes of Charlatan as he peers into Noe’s past.  I didn’t actually see Charlatan drinking Noe’s blood, but the ability seems strikingly similar to Noe’s Archiviste ability – and he’s supposed to be the last Archiviste.  Food for thought.

Teacher’s role in Noe’s childhood comes into slightly clearer focus here, though he remains a very mysterious (and quite sinister) figure.  Noe was raised by humans (he a somewhat human-like vampire, Vanitas a somewhat vampire-like human) and bought by Sensei after his adoptive grandparents “died” (hmm) and he was taken into some sort of slavery.  Eventually he’s brought together with the two children who call Sensei “Grandfather” – if he really is or not I’m not sure – Louis and Dominique de Sade.  The three become fast friends, with Dom and Noe quickly crushing on each other and Louis looking on with a sort of bemused detachment.

When Noe playfully feasts on the siblings’ blood – only Dominique’s voluntarily – the results are telling.  In her memories he sees lots of himself, but in Louis’ he sees so much sadness that he breaks down in tears (to be fair Noe was a major crybaby).  We know already that cursed vampires can be made, but apparently they can be born too – as Louis apparently was.  He was shipped off to his grandfather’s presumably to keep him away from the main family until the moment came where he would have to be ended.  It’s implied that comes sometime at or soon after the onset of puberty, and that it’s predictable – the children’s friend Mina is slated for execution as a preemptive measure.

Noe convinces himself that Mina needs to be rescued, but that all goes horribly wrong, resulting in her killing one of their friends and necessitating Louis saving Noe and Dom before she can do the same to them.  But he then gives in to his bloodlust and kills two more.  He begs Noe to kill him – as he’s symbolically been doing for months with his constant carving of stakes as “gifts” for Noe.  Eventually Sensei shows up in time to save Noe and Dominique by the only means possible, and presents a truly horrifying figure in the process.

Well, that’s certainly a lot to unpack.  Louis is beautifully drawn in classic Mochizuki fashion, a truly tragic figure aware of his own fate and powerless to prevent it (that’s her staple, basically).  Noe’s passion for saving cursed vamps has obvious roots in this traumatic incident, as he loved Louis like a brother.  Sensei’s role here is the most troubling, and it did strike me for more than a moment that he might himself be Charlatan (whose name has been conspicuously left off the cast lists).  I’m not seeing a motive for his current activities there and I’m leaning against that hypothesis, but I’m far from ruling it out.

As for Vanitas he’s almost totally missing from the episode, which no doubt contributes to its much more somber tone – he’s such a ludicrous popinjay that he can’t really play it straight for more than a moment or two.  His contribution is as important as it is brief though, as he saves (having extricated himself from Jeanne, perhaps reluctantly) Noe just as he’s seemingly about to tell Charlatan his true name.  This tonal contrast is another staple of Mochizuki’s writing, and it does have a way of sweeping you along in its wake – something, I find, which is starting to happen with Vanitas no Carte.

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5 comments

  1. A

    Its interesting and surprising to me that despite only having seen Pandora Hearts anime you are so accurately on point about Louis being classic Jun writing and her staple, because he’s pretty much a copy of a very crucial character of Pandora Hearts who comes into play in its 2nd half far ahead of where anime stopped. Which means great observation of what little material you did saw

  2. D

    I think Enzo read the manga after the anime, or at least that’s what I gather from anime-first comment.

  3. That is correct.

  4. N

    Hmm… I don’t think it’s likely Louis was born with a curse- Charlatan probably got to him when he was a few months old or something.

    Nice to see that I’m not the only one questioning Sensei’s motives here.

  5. Whole episode of backstory on Noe’s past with Dominique and Louis.

    Noe’s teacher is made out to be quite a sinister chap. By being so deliberate in leaving the note out in the open for Louis to find out why Louis had been exiled to his place. Even Louis knew he did it on purpose. He just wanted to watch to see how Louis would eventually succumb to the curse. What makes it worse is that by letting Louis find out, that set mental feedback loop within Louis to the verge of a mental breakdown.

    Seeing Vanitas step in to the breech to stop Charlatan from getting Noe’s true name, I do see a slight resemblance of Vanitas with Louis. Vanitas has a more vivacious personality over that of Louis brooding. The series keeps on piling the sexual/erotic imagery – particularly in terms of how Charlatan is going to get Noe’s true name by locking lips with Noe.

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