The Case Study Of Vanitas “Cour 1” Review
The Case Study Of Vanitas “Cour 1” consists of the first 12 episodes of the anime adaptation. Folliwng the story of Noe Archiviste and his unlikely and unexpected adventures with Vanitas. An average human who’d been gifted the powers of “Vanitas of the Blue Moon.”
The Beginning
The anime spends at least the first 5 episodes setting up the scenario and characters. The story begins with Amelia who has become a curse-bearer because of the Charlatan parade. She contacts Vanitas as she’s worried what will happen to her and he encourages her to come to Paris where his clinic is so he can cure her. On the way there she loses all control but Vanitas is able to cure her with the Book Of Vanitas. Giving her back her true name and ridding her of the curse.
The first five episodes also reveal Jeanne, Luca and Dominique De Sade. Jeanne is introduced as Luca’s guardian and knight. Luca is revealed to be the Grand Duke for Vampires. The Queen’s advisor. And Dominique is Noe’s childhood friend who cares deeply for him who is also from a noble family.
Setting Up The Chess Pieces
Episodes 6-11 set up the “big bad.” Show what Vanitas is up against and more or less tell the viewer who the real enemy is. Though, why they’re creating curse bearers is still a mystery. August Ruthven, a war hero has clearly put some sort of curse on Jeanne and does so to Noe in episode 12. For now, Naenia, the Charlatan is what all our heroes need to worry about.
That and the “Beast Of Gevaudan” that caused so much death in the 18th century apparently coming back. Vanitas thinks the beast is just curse-bearing vampires but episode 12 ends with Vanitas and Noe on the train there.
Review
I have to be honest, when I first watched the first few episodes of “Vanitas” I was underwhelmed. As time went by it was being lorded as surprisingly good by almost everyone who saw it and I didn’t understand. So I gave it another shot. Noticed though that the episodes only really pick up and become interesting after episode 6, for me at least. Anything before that was pretty run of the mill, seen it all before, nothing special here.
However after becoming hooked after episode 6, I soon found myself on the “cour 2 hype train” after watching episode 12. I wanted to see more of the characters I’d grown to like. And wanted to know more about what the beast was. Vanitas was a difficult anime to get into as it was way too stereotypical for me and I dismissed it early. I shouldn’t have. It’s a great anime, if only one that has a slow and bumpy start.
