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.

And this is very evident on no small part of the protagonists Vanitas and Noé. 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. Seems simple and not overly complex enough, init?Īs 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. 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.

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. 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'. 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. 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.

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. its deep, rich lore and constant, not-clickbait, smooth, condescending plot twists that Jun Mochizuki is famously known for. 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 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).

Diabolik lovers season 2 episode 1