The Case Study of Vanitas

During an airship ride to Paris, the vampire Noé Archiviste meets Vanitas, a human claiming to be a vampire doctor curing them of the malnomen, which causes vampires to behave predatorily against their will. The book with which he heals, The Book of Vanitas, is connected to the original Vanitas, the Vampire of the Blue Moon, hated by the Vampires of the Red Moon who form the traditional vampire society. Noé and Vanitas join forces to heal vampires, but there lurks a threat of some unknown force named Charlatan, which may be responsible for corrupting the sick vampires. ==Production==

For her next work after the manga Pandora Hearts, Jun Mochizuki wanted to draw vampires in a high school setting. Vanitas was the first character she created during a trip to France. While sightseeing in Mont Saint-Michel, she mused about drawing the story of a single vampire who had watched over an island for about a hundred years. Everything else about The Case Study of Vanitas came from that one idea, and the general forms of Vanitas and Noé were then concluded. There were multiple things she thought about doing after Pandora Hearts, like increasing the number of romance and battle elements. The head editor told her to cut down on them since she was not skilled at them. She started to draw more, believing they would be more appealing the more she practiced. The usage of a steampunk setting was done because the author has been a fan of it for a long time and wanted a contrast with her previous work. The director notes that both Hanae's Ishikawa's plays complement each other's character nature. Hanae makes full use of all the cool, uncool, and sexy parts to bring out the charm of Vanitas whereas Ishikawa is good at playing the reaction of natural's boke's. Hanae was cast as Vanitas for his vast experience as an actor and also because of the sex appeal he can bring even when reading simple lines like "It's a secret". Inori Minase, who plays Jeanne, said her character is quite rare for her, and that she has played a lot of protected characters, but not the defender role. The scenes where Noé takes Dominique's blood and Jeanne takes Vanitas' blood were done to emphasize a sex appeal even though the characters are clothed. The music was played in these scenes to convey an erotic feel. Themes The series deals with the themes of existence and identity. The author found identity to be more crucial in Vanitas than in Pandora Hearts and in her other work Crimson-Shell, which also uses these elements. The author wished to show little by little what is hidden deep in the hearts of her characters. When they explored more in this direction, she inevitably arrived at the question of identity and the meaning of existence. From the start, for the author, Vanitas had to be a character inspiring a feeling of freedom and eccentricity. He also does about anything that intrigues him. In addition, it allowed her to strike a balance with Noé, the other main character, who is pure, kind, and has a strong sense of justice and responsibility. Finally, both are complementary. Possessing a grimoire capable of saving cursed vampires, Jun Mochizuki has claimed Vanitas' duties are the main aspect of the manga as the manga author wants to portray the themes of identities which a person can lose and recover. Then in terms of the idea of the real name of vampires, she thinks in video games and anime and fantasy manga in Japan is a concept that is used quite often, so it's not a "novelty" created by her. However, she chose to introduce it for specific reasons. Initially, the concept of Vanitas as a vampire savior was already established, but then she had to think about how to visually show him healing the vampires in the story. Making him perform pure medical procedures did not interest her, and she does not think her readers would have liked it very much. So she thought about something more conceptual, and that's where the idea of using this real name story came to her. Anime News Network stated that such earrings reflected his mortality and short lifespan which also comes across as the message the author aims to give. ==Media==

Manga Written and illustrated by Jun Mochizuki, The Case Study of Vanitas started in Square Enix's Monthly Gangan Joker on December 22, 2015. In April 2020, Mochizuki announced that the manga would be on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic; it resumed publication in November of the same year. It went on hiatus again in June 2022 and is set to resume in May 2023. Square Enix has collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first volume was released on April 22, 2016. As of April 22, 2024, eleven volumes have been released. On December 3, 2015, Yen Press announced on its official Twitter account that it would be publishing new chapters of the series concurrently with Japan. The manga is also licensed in Taiwan by Sharp Point Press, in Hong Kong by Sparkle Roll, in South Korea by Daewon C.I., in France by Ki-oon, in Germany by Carlsen Manga, in Italy by Star Comics, in Spain by Norma Editorial, in Russia by Istari Comics, in Thailand by Siam Inter Comics, in Vietnam by Kim Đồng Publishing House and in Poland by Waneko. Anime On March 28, 2021, it was announced at AnimeJapan that the series would be receiving an anime television series adaptation by Bones. It was directed by Tomoyuki Itamura, with scripts overseen by Deko Akao and character designs by Yoshiyuki Ito. Yuki Kajiura composed the series' music. The series is a split-cour anime, with the first half airing from July 3 to September 18, 2021, on Tokyo MX and other channels. The second half aired from January 15 to April 2, 2022. The first opening theme is "Sora to Utsuro" by Sasanomaly, while the first ending theme is "0 (zero)" by LMYK. The second opening theme is "Your Name" by Little Glee Monster, while the second ending theme is "salvation" by Mononkul. Funimation licensed the series outside of Asia. On August 5, 2021, Funimation announced the series would receive an English dub, which premiered the following day. Plus Media Networks Asia has licensed the series in Southeast Asia and released it on Aniplus Asia and IQIYI. ==Reception==

Manga By June 2021, The Case Study of Vanitas had over 5.5 million copies in circulation. Upon its release, the Japanese volumes appeared in charts from Oricon. Critics enjoyed the handling of Vanitas and setting and praised the mix of action, humor and adventure, while at the same time praising his relationship with Noe. Melina Dargis from The Fandom Post also wanted the manga to be adapted into an anime in 2017. The focus on romance between arcs was praised for its handling of Vanitas as hilarious character considering how poorly he reacts to his feelings towards Jeanne. Manga News praised the handling of Vanitas through his tragic backstory, and noted that Mochizuki's handling of narrations is hard to follow. In a following review, The Fandom Post enjoyed the mix of action and multiple events occurring in the manga's seventh volume and that while the art was not that detailed, the action scenes made up for it. El Palomitrón said while there is no boys' love between the two leads due to the focus on other, more explored relationships, the reviewer found the connection between Vanitas and Noé deep and comparable to the one between Vanitas and Jeanne. The art was praised by Otaku USA for its handling of a steampunk setting as well as the characterization of the title character. Manga News enjoyed the multiple character designs, spanning from bishonen types to built bodies who interact together. Although the manga is published in a magazine, the art was compared with "beautiful shojo-esque art style" by Comic Book Resources, making it equal to Pandora Hearts. The Fandom Post claimed the art was "stunning", praising the details of every page, including the fight sequences. The handling of vampirism between Jeanne and Vanitas as well as Dominique and Noé was listed by Caitlin Moore from Anime News Network as the best moment in anime from such year due to amount of sex appeal they portray directly. The Fandom Post agreed in regards to the sex appeal featured during the episode where Jeanne sucks Vanitas' blood, comparing it directly to sex, hinting it as an example to why their misrelationship could progress in following episodes of the series. The Fandom Post found the early fight scenes of the series were the most appealing parts of the series based on how unpredictable Vanitas was, especially when dealing with Jeanne, but the series was less eventful in other areas where there was criticism over the handling of science fiction elements. Several reviewers focused on Vanitas' relationship with the vampire Jeanne. Vanitas forcing a kiss with her was criticized as being inappropriate as comedy. The massive violence displayed in the series' fifth episode resulted in Funimation warning sensitive viewers to avoid watching it. Bones' animation has been generally praised for making the settings and character details appealing alongside Yuki Kajiura's music. Natsuki Hanae's performance as Vanitas brought major praise from Anime Feminist for how he conveyed different sides of Vanitas' twisted personality to the point he comes across as "peak trash". The Fandom Post noted that Vanitas and Jeanne's comical date is more enjoyable than the main plot which is later foreshadowed. The series' second half also earned a positive reception from Anime News Network writers due to the character arcs of the main cast as well as the production value, to the point that they considered it to be one of the best anime of the Winter 2022 season. In 2022, the series was nominated for the 6th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in the category of "Best Fantasy". The characters of Vanitas, Noé, and Jeanne were popular on Anime Trending, with Vanitas and Jeanne being nominated in the couple category in 2022. The series was also nominated for the 7th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in the "Best Fantasy" category in 2023. ==See also==