Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jul 3, 2021 to Sep 18, 2021

Premiered: Summer 2021

Broadcast: Saturdays at 00:00 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Square Enix, Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures, Contents Seed

Licensors: Funimation

Studios: Bones

Source: Manga

Genre: Supernatural

Themes: Historical, Vampire

Demographic: Shounen

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Plot: Scorned by others of his kind for being born under a blue moon, the vampire Vanitas grew afraid and desolate. According to legend, he created a cursed grimoire known as the "Book of Vanitas," and it is said he would one day use it to bring retribution upon all vampires of the crimson moon.

In 19th century Paris, Noé Archiviste is searching for the fabled Book of Vanitas. Whilst traveling aboard an airship, he is saved from a vampire attack by an eccentric doctor who calls himself Vanitas and carries the very tome he seeks. Ironically, the self-proclaimed vampire specialist is a mere human who inherited both his name and the book from his master, the same Vanitas of legend. As the odd case of the Charlatan's Parade crops up, the doctor's ability to restore sanity to vampires by recovering their true name will prove most beneficial.

User Review: Make no mistake, if there's anything of the next big thing for hardcore fans of Jun Mochizuki to receive an anime adaptation of her immaculate work that properly does its translation onto the small screen well, we finally got it in "Vanitas no Carte" (a.k.a The Case Study of Vanitas). And as someone who had watched the Pandora Hearts adaptation and felt somewhat burned by the last stretch (go read the manga, it's literally better), I'd say that how Vanitas started out (at least for the 1st half here) made me remember how much I initially love about Pandora Hearts in both AniManga forms in its deep, rich lore and constant, not-clickbait, smooth, condescending plot twists that Jun Mochizuki is famously known for.

To properly explain what Vanitas no Carte is all about from the perspectives of both sides of the coin that did and didn't read Pandora Hearts before, the basis is this: Jun Mochizuki likes to keep the setting as simple, but let the characters flow slowly but extensively with complexity, and be weaved into its intriguing story and plot that will keep you invested in the material for as long as it does service on the countless rhetorics it likes to consistently build up in its course run. And just like how Pandora Hearts had the setting of an "Alice in Wonderland" imagination, Vanitas starts out being this 19th Century steampunk aesthetic of Paris about the world of vampires and humans living alongside one another in total secrecy. Think last season's Mars Red, but better executed overall in terms of its hypotheses, which contributes to its likeness of how Jun Mochizuki likes to intersect both serious and comedic relief moments to even out her subtle characterizations to give some breathing room. It's also a detective show, which is centered around "The Vampire of the Blue Moon" Vanitas himself, creating the "Book of Vanitas" grimoire to one day bring retribution to the traditional vampires whom have scorned his existence: "The Vampires of the Red Moon". And in comes this unassuming vampire by the name of Noé Archiviste, whom seeks this illusive book to save vampires from their predicament of becoming "curse-bearers" via malnomen: name-corrupted vampires of uncontrolled blood lust. And oh look, since the human doctor-claiming Vanitas's goals and objectives aligns with Noe's, there begins their quest to be vampire doctors to save other vampires from being cursed by Charlatans. Seems simple and not overly complex enough, init?

As with any Jun Mochzuki work, she loves characterization to an insane degree, and more than the subtle story that Vanitas provides, it's the characters that shine the best in their given like-mindedness, being on either side of protags or antags. Everyone has the 5W1Hs reasoning of their existence in this story, and nothing feels displaced, adding up to the testament that the constant plot twists will always throw you off with what to expect in both action and dialogue forms. And this is very evident on no small part of the protagonists Vanitas and Noé. Right off the bat, you would think that Vanitas, the name being inherited from the same "Vanitas of the Blue Moon" legend and its infamous text of healing through his grimoire as a vampire, his name would obviously be a mainstay to those whom have heard of the legend past. But nope, as much as the self-proclaimed vampire doctor that Vanitas is, he's an ordinary looking human with a sinister past that's perfectly hidden from his usual stance of a kind demeanor. The underlying truth is that the human Vanitas was a guinea pig of vampire experiments, done in no small part of his parents being exterminated by vampires and taken in by this Church-devoted, anti-vampire slaying group known as the Chasseurs to be performed ruthless experiments on which cost him part of his humanity. It's the reason why we don't see Vanitas much being cold to the people working alongside him in human Paris, where the vampire world of the alternate Altus Paris is where much of the story actually takes place in to give some context to Vanitas's sidekick that is Noé. A member of the Archivist Clan, simultaneously a true vampire and child of the Shapeless One with his "the Fangs that Lay Bare Blood" ability to discern people's memories from drinking their blood, Noé is a true white-haired beauty of a handsome Ikemen, if like Vanitas, accounting for a similar dissonance of a past with friends being curse-bearers and having to live through a frightening situation where the execution sentence only awaits their salvation. Since then, Noé has lived through a recluse of moments trying to undermine the Charlatans and their objectives by seeking out the Book of Vanitas, which as mentioned before, is able to relieve corrupt vampires from their curses.

Download || The Case Study of Vanitas Hindi Dubbed

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