An eventful arc deserves an eventful conclusion, and the Gévaudan arc certainly got one.  It slowed down enough to take on the necessary reflective tone, though, which I’m heartily glad of.  All in all it was an episode that worked very well, apart from the comedy – which, if I’m honest, hardly ever works for me with Vanitas no Carte.  The brief flashes of wit, sure, but the overtly comic intercuts almost always fall flat, and wreck the mood in the process.  Which is kind of a shame, but not a deal-breaker.

We finally have a name for Chloe’s malnomen – “Millie” (I had an aunt named Millie, but she was nowhere near this much trouble).  That information comes courtesy of the Vampire of the Blue Moon, who we’d briefly seen before but gets her first real extended run this week.  Getting Paku Romi here was a masterstroke, as she brings just the right amount of gravitas and underlying softness to the role.  I don’t know much about this character apart from that she must be hugely important based on her placement in the plot, but an episode like this one certainly makes me want to know more.

Ultimately, according to VotBM, Millie can only be neutralized if the sufferer truly desires it.  And that’s not a given here, as Chloe went into this thing planning to die.  Vanitas has to convince her, which he declines to do via sweet talk and lies.  It must be said that Vanitas is actually a pretty heroic guy – he’s absolutely dedicated to this life of saving cursed vampires, and absent any evidence that there’s a hidden reason which affords him personal gain, it must be assumed that he does so out of compassion.  Ultimately it’s really Jean-Jacques – true name Apix – who’s Chloe’s reason for choosing to live.  And he chooses to give up his own malnomen to live alongside her as they truly are, no matter the hardship.

Meanwhile the showdown between Astolfo and Noe is no walk in the park.  Despite Vanitas scolding him not to Noe clearly hesitates based on his knowledge of Astolfo’s past, and that hesitation is largely responsible for the loss of his left hand (permanent or not remains to be seen).  The intervention of Roland is what saves Noe from probably having to kill Astolfo after he recovers from Noe’s right hook, and indeed Roland is emerging as an increasingly important figure.  Uniquely positioned in the dynamics of the cast, he’s clearly enjoying his role as an outlier among his kind.

Obviously though, the main event here (as it so often seems to be) is Vanitas and Jeanne.  Vanitas’ true feelings have always been hard to read beneath his veneer of trolling, while Jeanne is an open book.  But Jeanne’s actions here seem to shake him to his very core.  We all know what bloodsucking symbolizes in these sorts of stories, and the memories this called to mind for Vanitas pretty much ensure that his usual reserve has taken a critical hit.  Yet in the end the Vanitas no Carte strongly teases the Vanitas-Noe angle.  This is hardly new – the series expertly balances the two threads, neither seeming to gain supremacy – and at this point it’s enough to keep one guessing.