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Characters / The Case Study of Vanitas - Vanitas

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Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae (Japanese), Zeno Robinson (English), Cherami Leigh (English, child) note  Other languages: Brieuc Lemaire (French), Ricardo Bautista (Latin American Spanish), Tim Kreuer (German), Renan Alonso (Portuguese)

• Abhorrent Admirer : Poor Jeanne is freaked out by Vanitas' unwanted advances towards her, mainly the whole Forceful Kiss incident, and while he's very handsome, his unpleasant pushy personality is a major turnoff for her. However, she does begin to feel attracted to his hidden kinder side.
• Adaptation Dye-Job : Vanitas' hourglass earring is colored blue like his piercings in most colored illustrations. The anime makes the earring golden instead.
• He pats Jeanne's head in the moments where he stops acting like a jerk to win over some affection points.
• In a much subtler expression of affection, Vanitas wipes the blood in Noé's face with his hand while asking him to convince him to cure Chloé and Jean-Jacques.
• Afraid of Doctors : When he falls "ill" because of Jeanne's "curse", Vanitas absolutely refuses to let Noé take him to a hospital because he would rather die before letting a doctor do him a physical. His past with Doctor Moreau must surely have something to do with this.
• Aggressive Submissive : The very rare male example. For all of his overt forwardness towards Jeanne, the actual act of intimacy scares the hell out of Vanitas. When Jeanne has to cuddle half-naked with him to warm him up , the dynamic of relationship goes through a complete 180 , with Jeanne being the one to take charge and Vanitas at a complete loss on how to respond.
• Allergic to Love : Getting kissed on the cheek by Jeanne causes Vanitas to feel such emotion that he spends ten entire days in bed and feeling like he's dying.
• Aloof Big Brother : In contrast to his protective behavior towards his adoptive brother in the past, Vanitas shows himself as very cold and distant whenever he sees Mikhail after their reunion. It's Justified ; Vanitas is wary about Mikhail's manipulative and possessive nature, and he's also suspicious about why Mikhail is alive when he's supposed to be dead.
• Ambiguously Bi : He kisses Jeanne and proclaims he's "in love" with her. On the same night, when Noé questions Vanitas' "love" for Jeanne, Vanitas asks him if he's interested in kissing with a gesture that very strongly implies he's offering Noé a kiss. It's unclear whether Vanitas would really be alright with kissing people of either gender for anything other than trolling , though.
• Ambiguously Human : Despite claiming to be an "ordinary human", he's associated with the Vampire of the Blue Moon and commands related powers. He's also abnormally resistant for a human , being able to come out unharmed after falling from very high places and at a young age, he could survive human experiments that killed almost every other child test subject. It's later revealed he was injected with the blood of the Vampire of the Blue Moon, making him an artificial half-vampire.
• Bats. His black coat's long sleeves resemble bat wings, he hangs upside down from the roof when waking up Noé, and has Cute Little Fangs despite not being a vampire. The anime drives it home by having Vanitas cast a giant bat's shadow in one scene.
• Cats, too. He has feline fangs, long claws on his gloves that he can use to scratch those who annoy him, and likes wearing bows a lot.
• Anti-Hero : He proclaims he doesn't heal Curse-Bearers out of any goodwill; it's just his revenge against Vanitas of the Blue Moon. His personality and manipulative methods are also way too nasty to call him a proper hero.
• Apology Gift : In Mémoire 56, Vanitas is about to prepare a tarte Tatin for Noé as an sign of reconciliation after their fight at the amusement park.
• Asleep for Days : After the Gévaudan arc, Vanitas spends ten whole days resting in bed, utterly shellshocked from being kissed on the cheek by Jeanne .
• Attractive Bent-Gender : This man looks gorgeous in a dress. Noé and the Dhams surely agree with that.
• Badass Boast : Vanitas: "I'll do as I please... Use the methods I choose... And no matter what you people want... I will save you without fail!!"
• Became Their Own Antithesis : He originally was a Chasseur trainee who was determined to kill all vampires to avenge the murder of his father. After humans used him as a test subject and the Vampire of the Blue Moon adopted him, his worldview changed drastically. Now, he's a vampire doctor whose goal is to save the vampire race from extinction.
• Because You Were Nice to Me : As a member of the Blue Moon clan and current owner of the Book of Vanitas, Vanitas is used to vampires treating him with hatred and fear. Noé is the only vampire he has met who thinks the blue moon is beautiful and called the power of the Book of Vanitas to cure Curse-Bearers "phenomenal" and "righteous". Vanitas quickly takes a liking to Noé and asks him to be his partner.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension : With Jeanne. He gets turned on making Jeanne get annoyed and embarrassed from his unwanted sexual advances. To his own bewilderment, Jeanne showing him physical affection is the only thing that makes him blush.
• Beneath the Mask : Vanitas shows himself as overly cheerful, goofy, and somewhat maniacal when he first meets people. However, it soon becomes apparent this is merely a mask both to distance himself and annoy people. After he starts opening up to Noé, the mask slips and Vanitas reveals his true personality; ill-tempered, jaded, and incredibly lonely.
• Berserk Button : Dominique implying he's in league with the original Blue Moon Vanitas makes him lose it for a bit.
• Big Brother Instinct : Back when he and his adopted younger brother Misha were Moreau's test subjects, Vanitas would reluctantly volunteer for the most painful experiments in order to protect Misha. Even with how much their relationship has soured in the present, Vanitas still can't help to reach out to Misha when the latter is in pain.
• Blackmail : When he learns that Jeanne occasionally loses control of her blood cravings, Vanitas practically blackmails Jeanne into agreeing to a pact that dictates she can only drink blood from him. If she doesn't, he'll tell Luca about her condition and she could become unfit to continue serving as Luca's chevalier.
• Blemished Beauty : His body is badly scarred because of the human experimentation inflicted on him. Not that this takes away from his stunning beauty.
• Blue Means Smart One : Vanitas has a blue Color Motif , contrasting Noé's purple. They form a Brains and Brawn dynamic with Vanitas being the Brains, as he's a vampire doctor and Guile Hero who is very knowledgeable about the World Formula and Curse Bearers. While Noé mostly relies on brute strength for a fight, Vanitas prefers to use his wit and deception.
• Brainwashed and Crazy : At some point, he put himself under a hypnotic effect that causes him to try and kill anyone who wants to steal his memories. Even if that someone is a friend like Noé.
• Break His Heart to Save Him : When Misha takes Dominique hostage and threatens Noé into drinking Vanitas's blood, Vanitas says the cruelest things he can say to Noé, denying they have ever been anything but strangers and proposing to kill Dominique himself to "free" Noé from his attachment. While he was being callous, Vanitas was trying to protect Noé in his own way by doing his damnedest to get him to leave since Vanitas knew Misha wants to activate Vanitas's hynopsis that'll force him to kill Noé if he tries to drink his blood . This backfires spectacularly and instead of making Noé get away, Noé is so enraged at Vanitas's cruelty that he goes for the bite and the hypnosis activates, which was what Vanitas didn't want to happen .
• Byronic Hero : A perfect example. He's a very amoral, selfish, arrogant, rude, smart, charismatic, and beautiful young man with a mysterious dark past and highly conflicted emotions stemming from it. As he says so himself, he does whatever he pleases and uses the methods he chooses to accomplish his goals regardless of what other people want. He has such lack of respect for authority that he badmouths the vampire queen and gets himself kicked out of Altus for it. He's noted to have very little regard for his own safety and a lot of his behavior is self-destructive to the point of almost coming off as suicidal. Bonus points for being the protagonist of a vampire story.
• Cannot Kill Their Loved Ones : Even though Vanitas killed Luna and has promised to kill Jeanne, both who are people he's fond of, Vanitas is shocked to discover he can't bring himself to kill Noé. Note that Vanitas hypnotized himself into killing anyone who tried to see his memories, but when Noé does so, Vanitas breaks out of the hypnosis and stops himself at the last minute. This makes Vanitas realize Noé is important to him in a way no one else is.
• Can't Hold His Liquor : He's wasted after only one drink of alcohol.
• Cathartic Crying : During his time as a test subject at Moreau's lab, Vanitas did his best to stay strong and not cry for the sake of protecting Misha. After being rescued by Luna and collapsing from a fever during his escape, however, he couldn't hold back his tears in front of Luna and Misha as he told them about his parents' tragic deaths and the pain he endured at that horrific lab.
• Children Do the Housework : He was responsible for cooking and cleaning during the time he lived with Luna and Misha because Luna, the only adult among them, sucked at doing chores.
• Circus Brat : His mother was a member of a troupe of traveling performers. After his mother died in childbirth , he and his father traveled with his mother's companions until the entire troupe was killed by vampires.
• Claimed by the Supernatural : Vanitas of the Blue Moon's mark of possession on his right forearm. He later receives another mark from Jeanne on the juncture of his neck and right shoulder.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder : He plays this role when he accompanies Noé in their walks around Paris. Since Noé gets sidetracked at the sight of anything even slightly amusing , Vanitas must keep an eye on him at all times or Noé will get lost if he gets careless even for one second. He eventually has perfectly memorized Noé's patterns that cause him to get lost.
• Color Motif : Blue. He's kin of the Blue Moon clan, fittingly his clothes, eyes and sometimes hair are all blue.
• Combat Pragmatist : He uses tricks involving wires and traps to gain advantage in his fights with Noé. But anything is fair when he's a human fighting against a vampire.
• Consistent Clothing Style : Vanitas wears ribbons in every of his outfits, be it as a belt, hair accessory or even a scarf. Noé thinks Vanitas feels uneasy unless his outfit includes a ribbon.
• Conspicuous Gloves : While wearing gloves is to be expected in the 19th century, Vanitas's gloves are conspicuous even for that setting. He wears dark black gloves that are long enough that they can be covered by his sleeves, the fingers have artificial Absurdly Sharp Claws beneath it. It's later revealed he wears those gloves to hide his mark of possession from the original Vanitas and the scars on his arms.
• Consummate Liar : The only ones who can't be fooled by his lies are Noé and Roland.
• Control Freak : He always needs to feel in control of whatever situation he's in and the people around him. This is why he hates dealing with people like Roland who are impossible to influence by anything he says or does. Whenever he finds himself in a situation where someone else is in charge and he can't turn it around, he has a very bad Freak Out .
• Covered with Scars : He has scars all over his back and arms. It appears to be a combination of Dr. Moreau's vivisections and claw marks left on him by something.
• Crazy Jealous Guy : He follows Noé and Dominique to Altus because he knew Dominique was trying to take Noé away from him and seems to get jealous that Noé only drinks blood from Dominique (since he already drank it when they were children and his Archiviste powers won't make him see her memories without permission), which is part of the reason why he pressures Jeanne into drinking from him later. He also looks very angry when Roland and Noé openly say they like each other in front of him.
• Creepy Blue Eyes : He has bright blue eyes like the vampire of the blue moon. While he's not evil and acts as one of the main heroes, his personality is very twisted because of a traumatic past and his actions tend to be morally questionable at best.
• Cry into Chest : At the end of Mémoire 53, Vanitas sobs into Noé's chest as he lightly punches him for making him care so much about someone that now he can never kill Noé without the effect of hypnosis .
• Cute Little Fangs : Despite not being a vampire himself, he is frequently drawn with fangs to highlight his nature as an impish trickster.
• Cynicism Catalyst : The death of his father at hands of vampires made him see vampires as evil monsters, but watching the researchers of Doctor Moreau's lab using vampires and humans, including him, for horrifying experiments convinced him humans are no better than vampires.
• Dark and Troubled Past : His father and their traveling troupe were killed by vampires. After that, he was trained as a Chasseur until he was kidnapped by Doctor Moreau and became a victim of heinous human experimentation. When he was about to be potentially killed in one of the insane experiments, he was rescued by Vanitas of the Blue Moon who let him follow them. After that, he and Misha were adopted by vampire Vanitas and they lived mostly happily until he killed the vampire of the blue moon, something that causes him much grief to this day.
• Dark Is Not Evil : He dresses in primarily black clothes, is kin to the feared vampire of the blue moon, and uses a grimoire that can corrupt vampires' true names. Although he isn't morally clean and his main motivation is revenge, his quest is healing vampires from their curses with his grimoire and he can act like a decent person when he wants to.
• Death Faked for You : Dr. Moreau killed a Body Double of Vanitas so the Chasseurs were fooled into thinking Vanitas died in battle, all in order to kidnap Vanitas and use him in his sick human experimentation.
• Death Seeker : Much of his reckless actions imply Vanitas doesn't really care whether he survives or not. He let Jeanne bite him despite being told the poison of her fangs could kill him, simply stating it didn't matter to him. Noé also calls him out on how he acts like he's ready to throw his life away at any moment.
• Vanitas deconstructs the Tsundere . His severe mood swings are the result of a traumatizing childhood that left him unwilling to show vulnerability. He pushes Noé away because he's afraid to care about others after he lost all of his loved ones. At one point, denying his closeness to Noé in an outburst nearly destroys their bond beyond repair and things between them significantly improve only after Vanitas starts openly expressing trust and affection for his partner.
• His relationship with Jeanne is meant to make him a deconstruction of the "handsome jerk" love interests that became heavily romanticized by Shoujo anime and manga. Vanitas' "romantic pursuit" of Jeanne starts with a Forceful Kiss from him that leaves Jeanne in tears while Vanitas gets turned on by seeing her acting so weak and pathetic. Jeanne isn't attracted at all by Vanitas' sexual harassment and jerkish behavior, but her uncontrollable blood cravings enables Vanitas to coerce her and basically blackmail her into staying in a physical relationship with him to let her drink his blood. Although Vanitas does seem to treat her nicely during their date, he's just playing into Jeanne's weakness to kindness and affection to emotionally manipulate her. Instead of portraying Vanitas' behavior as romantic or seductive, he's a highly tormented character with a traumatizing past whose treatment of Jeanne is an outlet for his self-loathing that drives him to pretend he loves someone who he believes will always hate him in return.
• The Defroster : Done accidentally with Jeanne. Initially, Jeanne hates Vanitas for threatening to hurt Luca and forcing a kiss on her. In the Gévaudan arc, Vanitas is inspired by Noé's emotional support to him and this leads to him encouraging Jeanne to follow her own wishes and rescue Chloé. In the aftermath, Jeanne has fallen head-over-heels in love with Vanitas and becomes super affectionate with him. Vanitas, who isn't comfortable with receiving any expression of affection, enters a state of panic and denial at seeing his relationship with Jeanne taking a positive turn that he never intended for.
• Defrosting Ice King : At the beginning, Vanitas puts up a haughty and mean front to keep people at a distance because he doesn't want to get emotionally close to anyone. As he interacts with Noé, however, Vanitas slowly starts to open up to him and comes to care about him a lot. He still makes some attempts to push Noé away for a while, but it proves useless as Noé refuses to leave him. Eventually, Vanitas accepts Noé to stay by his side and shows strong affection for him as time goes on.
• Determined Doctor : If he hears there's a Curse-Bearer, Vanitas will go anywhere to cure them and won't let anything stop him.
• Devious Daggers : His main weapons are two short daggers that he keeps in his belt. Fittingly, he's the sneaky and pragmatic one of the main duo.
• Does Not Like Spam : He has a distaste for sweet food. He gives his tarte Tatin to Noé when they eat together at a restaurant because he doesn't want it, but knows Noé loves the dessert.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me! : Roland's Condescending Compassion enrages him to the point of violence.
• Doomed Protagonist : The story follows Vanitas and his journey with Noé, while letting the audience know from the start that it will end with Noé killing him.
• Dr. Jerk : He calls himself a vampire doctor and has the determination to heal cursed vampires with his Book of Vanitas, but his ill-mannered and unscrupulous personality doesn't make him a very admirable person otherwise.
• Dream Reality Check : When he finds Noé at Chloé's castle, Noé has just seen Jean-Jacques's memories and is having trouble telling the memories apart from reality. Vanitas then punches him to clear any doubt that he's real to Noé.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady : Due to his beautiful face, long hair and the fact that he's the only man Murr likes snuggling up to, Noé once asked him if he's a woman, to Vanitas' annoyance. When he puts on a dress, Noé excitedly points out Vanitas totally looks like a woman.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness : Tends to get these when Noé calls him healing vampires using the Book of Vanitas the right thing to do or basically any reminder of his past.
• Dynamic Entry : His introduction in the very first chapter has him bursting out of the window of a Cool Airship on his way to finding his vampire patient.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette : Black-haired, pale-skinned and often leaning towards mysterious and devilish behavior.
• Effeminate Misogynistic Guy : He has a very feminine appearance and is proficient at traditionally feminine tasks like cooking and cleaning. His interactions with Jeanne and Dominique show an unsettling inclination for harassing, manipulating, and belittling women.
• Embarrassing Rescue : Vanitas is extremely embarrassed by Jeanne saving him when he's poisoned and nearly dying in the snow. Besides hating to be seen in a vulnerable state, Jeanne's Intimate Healing treatment forces him to get stripped by her and cuddle half-naked with her. Vanitas feels so humiliated that he tries his best to pretend nothing happened between him and Jeanne.
• Establishing Character Moment : His introduction scene has him breaking through the window of a Cool Airship to reach his current vampire patient Amelia. When Noé interferes due to not having any idea of who Vanitas is or what is happening, Vanitas doesn't bother to explain that he's there to cure Amelia and opts to attack Noé with a knife instead. This establishes his eccentric character, determination to find Curse-Bearers, and poor communication skills.
• Experienced Protagonist : At the start of the story, Vanitas is already the owner of the Book of Vanitas and has been healing Curse-Bearing vampires for a while.
• Evil Wears Black : Downplayed. His black coat, pants, and gloves directly contrast Noé's white clothes to identify Vanitas as the morally dubious of the two main heroes.
• Eye Colour Change : His eye colour used to be deep blue, but becoming kin to the Vampire of the Blue Moon caused his eyes to turn bright blue.
• Femme Fatalons : Invoked . It looks like he has very long, sharp nails to illustrate his dangerous and slightly twisted nature, but they're actually part of his gloves and his real nails are normal.
• When Jeanne point-blank tells Vanitas to strip out of his soaking clothes, his response is a very stunned and dead-eyed 'qoui?' .
• He has the exact same reaction when Chloé tells him the Book of Vanitas she took from him is "somewhere" among the books in her big library.
• Following in Relative's Footsteps : He calls himself a doctor and later reveals his deceased father was a doctor too. Although, Vanitas is a magical doctor who heals vampires with a legendary grimoire instead of a medical doctor.
• Forceful Kiss : He forces a kiss on Jeanne to delight himself in seeing her mortified face.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble : Melancholic. Among the four main characters, Vanitas is mostly characterized as depressed, grumpy, pessimistic, secretive and scrupulous.
• Freak Out : He loses it when Misha reveals he's helping someone who can bring Luna back to life, something that would make Vanitas' efforts to erase that existence go to waste .
• The Friend Nobody Likes : Noé, Jeanne, Luca and Domi are all annoyed by Vanitas' rude and arrogant attitude. They only let him hang out with them because he saves vampires and they feel obliged to tolerate his presence in return. Eventually, Noé and Jeanne do come to genuinely like him for his better side, and Domi learns to get along with him once they bond over their mutual connection to Noé, but Luca still hates him.
• Friendless Background : He never had the chance to make friends throughout his life, having spent his early childhood with a traveling troupe, then taken in by the church to be trained as a Chasseur, used as a test subject, and adopted by an ostracized vampire. Noé eventually becomes his Only Friend , although he'll never say it outloud.
• Friendship Denial : Played for Drama . In Mémoire 50, Vanitas callously tells Noé to stop acting like they're friends because they're "strangers" who just happen to be working together towards the same goal, even claiming he will kill Noé when he's no longer useful to him. Noé is very hurt and angered to hear Vanitas dismissing their bond like that.
• The Gadfly : There's nothing that he enjoys more than getting reactions out of people by pressing their buttons.
• Gender-Concealing Voice : In the High School AU Drama CD, Vanitas is disguised as a female student and Natsuki Hanae does a very high-pitched voice for "Suzuki". However, "Suzuki" frequently slips when he's annoyed.
• Gender Vocabulary Slip : In the High School AU Drama CD, "Suzuki Vanitas" slips back into masculine vocabulary in front of Noé. Amusingly, Noé just assumes "Suzuki" is an Ore Onna .
• Go Through Me : He places himself in front of Noé to protect him from Roland's attack in Mémoire 15, knowing Roland won't attack a human.
• Good Is Not Nice : Vanitas is the main hero who saves Curse-Bearer vampires with the power of his Book of Vanitas. However, many find his personality detestable because he's rude, condescending, and not above using intimidation to get what he wants.
• The Grunting Orgasm : In the anime, the scenes where Jeanne drinks his blood come with Vanitas making lots of moaning sounds.
• Guile Hero : When he's up against much stronger vampires, Vanitas must use his wit and manipulative skills to get the advantage. In his fight with Jeanne, he distracts her with his claims about having a hidden power to then control a Curse-Bearer into attacking her and tricks Noé into taking Jeanne's master Luca hostage to make sure she surrenders. People call him a jerk for his sly methods, but it can't be denied they're effective.
• Hair Color Dissonance : His hair is black, but is often colored blue in official art.
• Handsome Lech : In most of his initial scenes with Jeanne, he takes the opportunity to flirt with or playfully tease her. Even though Vanitas is very beautiful, his arrogant, pushy and manipulative behavior makes Jeanne wish he would just leave her alone. He's also invoking this; he deliberately acts like a gross skirt chaser around Jeanne especially to entertain himself with her reactions. Jeanne does become attracted to him when he starts being nice to her.
• Happily Adopted : He was adopted by Vanitas of the Blue Moon who rescued him from Moreau's lab. His feelings for the vampire were complicated because he thought vampires were monsters who killed his father, but the former Vanitas was so kind and caring to him that he still thinks fondly of the former Vanitas in his most vulnerable moments.
• Harmful to Minors : He witnessed his father being murdered by vampires in front of his eyes. When training as a Chasseur as a young boy, he ended up in the clutches of Dr. Moreau and became one of the crazy scientist's favorite test subjects for his human experiments.
• Hate at First Sight : Vanitas and Dominique take an instant dislike for each other from the moment they first meet, mainly because neither wants the other near Noé. Vanitas's opinion of Dominique only gets worse after she accuses him of worshipping the Vampire of the Blue Moon. This eventually culminates in Vanitas refusing to help Noé in saving Dominique after Misha hypnotizes her and goes as far as to threaten to kill Dominique himself to "free" Noé.
• Hates Everyone Equally : He states that both humans and vampires are all ugly and selfish creatures in his eyes. The only notable exceptions are Noé and Jeanne. Vanitas: Humans, vampires, dhams... I hate them all equally.
• Heal the Cutie : Vanitas' harsh life changed him from a kindhearted boy to a callous man who is tormented by trauma and self-loathing. The main point of his character arc is him allowing himself to care about others again, despite the possibility of losing them, which results in him finding his self-worth and happiness in those positive relationships, mainly Noé. Most importantly, Vanitas slowly accepts that he does deserve to be happy and loved thanks to Noé swearing to be by his side to the end.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend : Dante jokingly calls Noé Vanitas' "sugar daddy/husband" and Vanitas threatens to kill him for annoying him.
• Hero with Bad Publicity : Because of the vampires blaming the Vanitas from legend for the existence of Curse-Bearers, Vanitas tends to be met with disbelief at his treatment of Curse-Bearers being effective or is accused of using the Book of Vanitas to spread the curse rather than healing it. Noé is the only vampire who believed in the book's power and Vanitas's cause to save Curse-Bearers from the beginning.
• Heroic BSoD : He nearly goes catatonic when Dr. Moreau asks him how "No. 71" is doing. Thankfully, Noé snaps Vanitas out of it.
• Heroic RRoD : After Noé breaks the effect of Vanitas's hypnosis to put an end to their fight to death , the overuse of Chasseur drugs, all the injuries, and the accumulated exhaustion from the battle finally catch up to Vanitas as he collapses on top of Noé.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation : Even though Noé believes Vanitas is doing the right thing by curing Curse-Bearers and thanks him for it, Vanitas can't be glad about it because he's ultimately motivated by revenge and believes Noé's kind words are wasted on him. In fact, Vanitas has such a low opinion of himself that he is utterly convinced that no-one could ever actually love him and if someone does love him, they must be awful and disgusting like him.
• Hidden Agenda Hero : Vanitas definitely has the goal to cure curse-bearers and save the vampire race from extinction. Still, he won't share his personal agenda nor his true motivation for anything he does. All he says is that he wants to "take revenge on Vanitas" which Noé is sure must be true, but he wants to know the true meaning of Vanitas' revenge. Once he decides to fully trust Noé, Vanitas confesses he's looking for the one who stole the true name of Luna, the Vampire of the Blue Moon and Vanitas' mentor.
• Hide Your Otherness : His long gloves are meant to hide the mark of possession that Luna left in his forearm. He never wants to take the gloves off except for the time he exposed himself as kin of Blue Moon Vanitas at a ball of vampires.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs : His hair often conceals one of his eyes. He's also a very mysterious man with many secrets and a tendency to use underhanded methods to get what he wants.
• His Own Worst Enemy : Due to his intense self-loathing, Vanitas has very self-destructive tendencies that regularly make him needlessly endanger himself and damage his personal relationships when he pushes people away because he doesn't want anyone to care about him and give him affection.
• His Quirk Lives On : Some traits of his clothing like the long kimono-like sleeves are inspired by the deceased Luna's clothing. He also wears black gloves with long claws at the fingers. Luna happened to have black skin and long claws.
• Hopeless Suitor : He says he pursues Jeanne precisely because it's unlikely she will ever fall in love with him. He turns out to be wrong about that, though.
• Humanizing Tears : In Mémoire 53, Noé snaps Vanitas out of his hypnotized state by swearing to never leave him alone and now back to his senses, Vanitas finds that he can't kill Noé, unable to deny anymore that Noé has found the way into his heart. This causes Vanitas to crumble and Noé sees Vanitas cry in front of him for the first time. It's an incredibly touching sight for both Noé and the audience.
• Hypocrite : Early in the series, Vanitas taunts Jeanne's devotion to Luca and tells her that giving herself someone to protect has made her weak. Over the course of time, however, Vanitas grows protective of Noé as they bond and he gradually lets himself be vulnerable around him. Vanitas knows Noé has made him go soft and tries to deny that to no avail.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming : He constantly calls Noé a naive fool and an idiot. When an ignorant statement concerning Dhampir discrimination from Noé causes Dante to call him stupid, Vanitas glares at Dante and defends Noé by clearing up he was being naive like usual, rather than deliberately making light of the mistreatment dhams get from vampires as Dante seems to be implying.
• I Didn't Mean to Turn You On : While Vanitas and Dante are having a serious conversation about the Beast of Gévaudan, Noé is having an internal struggle with his unbearable urge to drink blood from Vanitas who keeps waving his bloodstained arm in front of Noé, not having any idea of why Noé looks so troubled. Noé later calls Vanitas out on not realizing how he was tempting a thirsty vampire with his delicious smell.
• I Have This Friend : When consulting Roland and Olivier about his new feelings for Jeanne, he claims to be talking about an acquaintance who is conflicted about a lady. However, the moment Roland identifies the symptoms as love, Vanitas completely forgets about pretending he isn't talking about himself.
• I Have Your Wife : He gets Jeanne to surrender to him by making it seem like Noé took her master Luca hostage and will kill him if she doesn't obey. All the witnesses call Vanitas a jerk for this.
• I Know Your True Name : Part of how he "heals" Curse-Bearers is recovering their true name that was stolen and corrupted by Charlatan.
• Iconic Item : His hourglass earring is his most distinctive accessory. The anime closes up to it during his introduction to emphasize this.
• Idiot Hair : He has an ahoge sticking up from his head, emphasizing his silly behavior when he pretends to be a goofy character.
• I'll Kill You! : Before Luna took him away from the lab, he yelled he would kill Dr. Moreau for injecting him with the blood of the vampire of the blue moon .
• I'm Cold... So Cold... : After having managed to save Chloé successfully, Vanitas just lies in the snow, looking at the possession mark on his hand. As he gets up, he softly murmurs, "It's cold...", though the thought is immediately cut off when he sees Jeanne rushing towards him.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes : His outfit includes several showy accessories like bows and black gloves with claws embedded at the fingertips. What stands out the most is his oversized black coat with a wide collar and a single button, large enough to frequently fall over one shoulder. Its sleeves are based on those of a furisode kimono. The author joked that Vanitas's coat floats and takes the shape of a balloon "through some mysterious power."
• Inconvenient Attraction : In the aftermath of the Gévaudan arc, Vanitas has begun to truly fall for Jeanne. And he hates it, freaking out over how being in love is "agonizing" and "disgusting".
• Inferiority Superiority Complex : He comes across as arrogant, overconfident, and annoying. In the rare occasions where he lets his guard down, however, it's shown that he has extreme self-loathing and borderline suicidal urges.
• Infinite Supplies : Unlike Noé, Vanitas doesn't appear to have a real job besides his vampire doctor business. Even though he doesn't ask his vampire patients to give him monetary rewards, Vanitas is never concerned about money and is regularly seen buying food.
• In Love with Love : He claims to be in love with Jeanne because it's "interesting" to see how she reacts to it, but admits to not really know what's like to be in love and prefers to keep pining for an unrequited "love" rather than experience mutual true love. Ironically, when he and Jeanne start thinking they might really be in love with each other, Vanitas is abhorred at the idea that what's he's feeling is real love.
• In the Blood : His father was also a doctor (albeit one for humans instead of vampires) and like Vanitas, he exhibited very self-sacrificing behavior, to the point he died while protecting his son from vampires.
• Insecure Love Interest : He finds it ridiculous to even consider that Jeanne (or anyone for that matter) could ever love him back because he views himself as an utterly unlovable person.
• Iron Butt-Monkey : He falls from an airship, landing head first into the ground with only his lower body visible and gets up no worse for wear. Noé also throws Vanitas at some of their enemies or roughly hits him away, knowing that wouldn't be enough to kill him, let alone harm him.
• Ironic Fear : He calls himself a vampire doctor, yet his trauma with the resident Mad Doctor makes him hate the mere idea of going to see a doctor himself even when he thinks he's dying.
• Irony : Vanitas decided to proclaim the fascination he had for Jeanne to be 'love' because he thought that it was more interesting than mere intrigue. But when he starts feeling genuine affection towards her, he vehemently can't stand the idea it might be love .
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique : After Noé and Roland blow his cover in front of Moreau, Vanitas just says "Screw it" and pulls out his dagger. He tries interrogating Moreau to find out who is the benefactor behind his vampire research and almost cuts the crazy doctor's nose off to get his answers, but Monsieur Spider interrupts and takes Moreau away.
• Jealous Romantic Witness : At Dominique's carriage, Vanitas eavesdrops on Noé accepting Dominique's offer to drink her blood and stays listening quietly with a contemplative look on his face. What he heard bothered him enough as to later accuse Noé of "canoodling" with Dominique. Curiously, he also recalls Noé biting Dominique while telling Jeanne to bite him to know "what it feels like".
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold : He can be abrasive, arrogant, and cruel as a result of his past. In general, however, he repeatedly proves himself to be a more good-hearted person than even he realizes. He often helps and protects Noé and sometimes Jeanne, even at the risk of himself.
• Jerkass Ball : Being faced with an unexpected reunion with his supposedly dead brother Misha and hearing that there's someone trying to resurrect Luna , Vanitas loses it quite a bit and this causes him to act like a scumbag to Noé who is currently being threatened by Misha into drinking Vanitas's blood or Dominique will be killed. Noé tries to reason with Vanitas and begs him to simply tell the truth of Luna's death, but all Vanitas does in return is coldly deny their friendship and suggest he should kill Dominique himself to "free" Noé from her. Noé then goes berserk and attacks Vanitas, starting a very violent fight between them.
• Karmic Butt-Monkey : Noé frequently throws Vanitas around. Dominique chains him to a wheel and practices knife throwing on him. When Vanitas insists on taking a hostage to deal with Roland, Noé ends up making Vanitas his hostage for insulting him when he disagreed. Astolfo poisons him and Jeanne's Intimate Healing leaves him mortified. Given his tendency of being a big jerk to everyone around him, Vanitas has all of that coming.
• Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge : His memories hide information that he was asked to never reveal to anyone. Whatever that information is, it's so indispensable to never allow it to be stolen that he hypnotized himself into killing anyone who tries to read his memory.
• Kick the Morality Pet : In Mémoire 50, Vanitas cruelly tramples on a desperate Noé's feelings by refusing his pleas to reveal the truth of Luna's death so Noé doesn't have to forcefully bite him, utterly denying the friendship they had built so far, and finally crosses the line when he suggests killing Noé's childhood friend, Dominique.
• Kidnapped for Experimentation : Dr. Moreau kidnapped him and Mikhail for the sole purpose of using them for experiments in order to forcibly open the Book of Vanitas.
• Kill the Ones You Love : Even though he hated vampires, Vanitas was attached to Luna who saved him and adopted him. When delirious from a fever, he admits he didn't hate Luna and killing Luna is still tearing him up inside.
• Kiss of the Vampire : Vanitas proclaims that the reason he blackmails Jeanne into drinking only his blood is because of how 'divine' it felt when she bit him. However, after the Gévaudan arc, he admits he didn't really enjoy the first times Jeanne drank from him and is freaked out at how good it felt when she bit him after Chloé's rescue.
• Large Ham : He loves doing theatrical mannerisms. At the start of the series, he introduces himself to Noé and declares his wish to save vampires as if he was in a stage play.
• Laughing Mad : He starts laughing like a madman after Dominique accuses him of worshipping the original Vanitas.
• Lecherous Licking : On top of the disturbing Forceful Kiss , Vanitas licks Jeanne's finger as he gets off on seeing her panic and embarrassment.
• Legacy Character : He claims he's the inheritor of the original Vanitas, possessing the vampire of the blue moon's name and book.
• Licked by the Dog : Noé's cat Murr is unusually fond of Vanitas and likes resting on his lap, despite Murr generally preferring to cuddle with women and disliking Noé. That Vanitas doesn't mind Murr getting so close to him is one of the displays of his softer side.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy : He has a rat tail falling down his back, as if his face wasn't feminine-looking enough.
• The Lost Lenore : Vanitas is implied to become something of this effect to Noé after his death in the future. The entire story is Noé reminiscing their journey together and mourning the people he lost, especially Vanitas who he killed "by his own hands".
• Love Hurts : Vanitas claims to be used to pain, but he describes his newfound romantic feelings for Jeanne as an unbearable agony.
• Love Is a Weakness : He believes affection and attachment are weaknesses that should either be exploited or avoided. He mocks Jeanne for how she can be easily subdued if her dear master Luca is taken hostage and is convinced that Dominique is dragging Noé down with her unrequited love for him. Vanitas hates becoming attached to people so much that he vehemently denies he cares about Noé despite all that they've been through together, and is disgusted when he starts having real feelings for Jeanne. Eventually, after he realizes that he can't bring himself to kill Noé, Vanitas can't keep denying that Noé has become someone so important to him that he couldn't bear to lose him and curses this fact because he sees this as Noé becoming his weakness.
• Loves Secrecy : He amuses himself in keeping secrets to leave Noé wondering. Noé finds this one of the most annoying things about him.
• Luminescent Blush : You wouldn't expect it from a guy who is usually so unflappable, but when Jeanne ends up catching Vanitas off guard with some unexpected boldness, the full-faced blush he displays is impressive .
• Magic Knight : Besides bearing the power of a magic grimoire that can interfere with the world formula, Vanitas was trained as a Chasseur in his childhood and is proficient with daggers.
• Manipulative Bastard : He knows how to trigger certain reactions in people and get them to act like he wants. This trait is seen most often in his interactions with Jeanne where he adjusts the persona he enacts around her to see her getting freaked out when he pretends to be an obnoxious wooer or make her melt from treating her a little nicely as he knows Jeanne is super weak to any form of kindness and affection because vampire society mistreat Bourreaus. When peeping at Vanitas and Jeanne's date, Dominique can see the situation as Vanitas having Jeanne dancing on the palm of his hand.
• Martyr Without a Cause : When he was a child, he never tried to escape from Dr. Moreau's lab because he didn't want the Mad Scientist to look for a replacement to torture in his place and went as far as offer himself for the most painful experiments so Misha could be safe. Even in the present day, he'll readily throw himself in harm's way to prevent others from getting hurt.
• Master Actor : He displays impressive acting skills during his reunion with the despicable Doctor Moreau, being able to flawlessly pretend that he's on the Mad Doctor 's side and happy to see him again. The truth is Vanitas is using all his willpower to hold himself back from killing the bastard who almost killed him.
• Master of Unlocking : He's very good at picking locks.
• Maternal Death? Blame the Child! : He believed his father hated him because his mother died giving birth to him . However, his father dying while protecting him from vampires left him wondering how he felt about him.
• Meaningful Name : "Vanitas" can mean "vanity" (exhibited in the self-serving way he talks about saving the vampires) or "emptiness". A vanitas is also a particular style of painting, a reminder of death and the frailty of life which demands that we cannot be obsessed with trivial things. This may also be a factor in the meaning of Vanitas' name.
• Mercy Kill : If he finds a Curse-Bearer when their bodies are too corroded, getting their true names back turns them into dust. He still goes ahead with the procedure to end their suffering. He claims he killed Luna because the latter had their true name stolen and had turned into a monster as a result.
• Mercy Kill Arrangement : The power of the Book of Vanitas is slowly taking away Vanitas' humanity and rewriting his very being into something else. Vanitas wants Noé to kill him before the book fully transforms him.
• Mind-Control Eyes : Perceiving the threat that an Archiviste vampire could drink his blood and see his memories causes his eyes to lose shine and darken as he enters a trance where he'll kill the vampire that tries to steal his memories.
• Mix-and-Match Weapon : His main weapon is a pair of daggers that double as a whip with a wire that comes out of the pommel.
• Muggle in Mage Custody : Vanitas is a human orphan who became ward and apprentice to the legendary Vampire of the Blue Moon. After the vampire died, Vanitas inherited the power of the blue moon and the Book of Vanitas.
• My God, What Have I Done? : After Noé breaks him out of his hypnosis during their fight at the amusement park, Vanitas drops his knife and breaks down crying in front of Noé, as it finally dawns on him that he almost killed his Only Friend . Afterwards, he feels so guilty about what happened that he apologizes to Noé for the first time.
• My Greatest Failure : His failure to protect Misha and forced murder of Luna have burdened him with a lot of guilt. He became a vampire doctor in order to help people he can still save.
• My New Gift Is Lame : In a Drama CD, Noé gives Vanitas an "ugly" kimono with a cat tail to apologize for being a messy roommate. Vanitas is amused by the gift, but still thinks it's dumb and demands Noé to get rid of it.
• Mystical High Collar : He wears a coat and shirt with a high collar and his grimoire has the power to alter the World Formula by interfering with True Names.
• Mythical Motifs : Quite ironically since he's the human protagonist, Vanitas' design makes him look like a Classical Movie Vampire more than any real vampire in the series. He has long fangs, a black coat with a high collar, an overly dramatic behavior , and a sinisterly bewitching aura. He even wears a vampire costume in official Halloween art. The author states that Vanitas originally was going to be a vampire and Noé a human; she switched the species but not the designs, which is why Vanitas looks so vampirish.
• Neat Freak : He dislikes messiness and is very good at cleaning. In fact, he was the one who did all the house chores when he lived with Luna and Misha since the vampire of the blue moon was so bad at it that the house they lived in was full of spiderwebs and rats until Vanitas took charge of cleaning it.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased : Vanitas was perfectly fine with flirting with Jeanne when she hated him, but as soon as she starts pulling very aggressive physical advances on him, he completely freaks out as he can't even start processing his body's reaction to Jeanne's overt displays of affection. Manga extras portray Vanitas feeling like a bunny hunted by a lion in front of Jeanne's lustful boldness.
• Non P.O.V. Protagonist : Vanitas is the eponymous character of the story, and the narrative largely revolves around him, but we rarely if ever get a peek into what's going on in his mind. The story instead is mostly told through the eyes of his peers, chiefly Noé but others as well. Much of it involves observing Vanitas and uncovering the mysteries surrounding his actions and the incidents he gets himself involved in, while he remains enigmatic, secretive, and unpredictable.
• No Social Skills : His method for trying and befriending Noé is asking him to work as his shield, refusing to take "no" for an answer, and basically stalking him across the city until he hopefully agrees.
• No Sympathy : He's shocked to hear Noé's childhood friend Louis was decapitated after becoming a Curse-Bearer, but Vanitas has no time to give his sympathies to Noé and Dominique when he's dealing with Misha telling him there's someone trying to resurrect Luna .
• Not So Stoic : He usually presents himself as a composed and calculating guy, but that facade completely falls apart when he's dealing with people and/or situations out of his control. For example, he's very creeped out when interacting with Roland or a kiss from Jeanne sends Vanitas into a week-long Heroic BSoD followed by unmitigated panic.
• Oblivious to Love : Jeanne kisses him on the cheek and smiles at him like a maiden in love, yet Vanitas continues to be incredulous at the mere idea that she even likes him. He also doesn't catch on that Noé doesn't dislike him like he claims until Noé indirectly spells out that he's fond of the person Vanitas is now. Although, rather than mere obliviousness, Vanitas's self-loathing is so extreme that he's in absolute denial that anyone can have positive feelings for him.
• Occult Blue Eyes : His bright blue eyes are a side effect of inheriting the power of the Vampire of the Blue Moon.
• An Odd Place to Sleep : He chooses to sleep on the Hôtel Chouchou's roof rather than the bed of the room he and Noé share. After the catacombs arc, however, he does start sleeping at the room because that's how much he has come to trust Noé.
• Oh, and X Dies : The very first chapter/episode closes on the reveal that Noé will kill Vanitas at the end.
• At the end of his date with Jeanne, she mentions Lord Ruthven was the one who gave her permission to go out with Vanitas and Vanitas paralyzes in shock for a moment. Fearing for Noé's safety, Vanitas sprints back to the hotel to check on Noé.
• He has a look of absolute terror in his eyes when he makes the big mistake of threatening Dominique's life in front of Noé and an enraged Noé tries to bite him by force .
• Only Known by Their Nickname : Vanitas is the name he took from the Vampire of the Blue Moon. His original name remains unknown.
• Only the Chosen May Wield : Only him, a kin to the Blue Moon clan, can use the power of the Book of Vanitas and cure Curse-Bearers.
• Orphan's Ordeal : His mother died when she gave birth to him and his father was killed by vampires while protecting him. Feeling somehow responsible for the death of both his parents deeply scarred him.
• The Paralyzer : He can use the Book of Vanitas to paralyze vampires for short amounts of time. Although, it doesn't work on highly tough vampires like Jeanne.
• Phlebotinum Overdose : During his fight with Noé at the amusement park, Vanitas injects himself with the Chasseurs' Super Serum that he bought from Dante. As the fight gets more intense, blood starts coming out of Vanitas' head and yet, he keeps overdosing himself with the Super Serum .
• Photographic Memory : He can memorize every single detail in the information Dante gives him and already remembers everything that causes Noé to get sidetracked after taking walks with him a few times.
• Politically Incorrect Hero : Although he's one of the protagonists and cures Curse-Bearing vampires, Vanitas displays misogynistic behavior as he acts notably condescending and dominating towards women. When he can tell Noé clearly doesn't reciprocate Dominique's romantic feelings yet she stays devoted to protecting him, he pettily insults her by calling her a "convenient female". Vanitas also enjoys exercising control over Jeanne through sexual harassment and emotional manipulation.
• Poor Communication Kills : Vanitas keeps all the crucial information he knows to himself, causing Noé to reproach him when they could have avoided certain problem if Vanitas had told him what he knew. This comes to a head when Misha kidnaps Dominique because he wants Noé to see Vanitas' memories of Luna's death and despite Noé's attempts to talk things out, Vanitas still refuses to tell the truth of Luna's death, choosing to dismiss Noé and insult Dominique instead. Unsurprisingly, the conflict quickly escalates into a bloody fight.
• Power at a Price : The mark of possession he got from Vanitas of the Blue Moon gives him access to the power of the blue moon. However, the cost is a big one; the more Vanitas uses the power of the blue moon, the mark of possession spreads in his body and with it, Vanitas's very self is being rewritten, leaving him at a risk of literally losing himself.
• Pragmatic Hero : His preferred tactics for dealing with enemies include trickery, manipulation, and taking hostages.
• Psychotic Smirk : He's a little prone to these.
• Punched Across the Room : In his first meeting with Noé, Vanitas is sent flying by the vampire's punch and crash-lands on a bench on the other side of the room. The anime adds Vanitas flying through a fountain on top of it.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin : He's a gorgeous man with black hair and pale skin.
• Real Men Hate Affection : While he's fine with physical intimacy with Jeanne as long as he's the one who initiates it, Vanitas hates receiving any expression of affection, like hugs. This is one of the reasons why he can't stand Roland .
• Rebuilt Pedestal : Noé initially envisions Vanitas as the hero who can save vampires from the same tragic fate that Louis suffered. He briefly becomes disillusioned and angry when he sees Vanitas turn a Curse-Bearer into dust because he arrived too late to restore her true name. After doing some self-reflection, however, Noé realizes he was putting too big expectations on Vanitas, who is a flawed person like any other. Despite Vanitas' flaws, Noé still finds him an interesting person he wants to understand and help in reaching his goal, as he can sense Vanitas has a good heart deep down. Vanitas is surprised by Noé choosing to stay with him after what happened, but easily accepts to keep him by his side and they start becoming close friends.
• Rejection Affection : Deconstructed . Vanitas makes advances at Jeanne and says he loves her when she clearly hates him because he wants her to keep rejecting him out of disgust at him. That way he can prove to himself that he's an abhorrent person who'll never be loved. When he does start having real feelings for Jeanne, he is spiteful towards the idea that she *might* love him back, because Vanitas wants nothing to do with a relationship that makes him feel worthy of love.
• Revenge : He claims to the vampires at the ball that he's going to save the vampires of the Red Moon to spite Vanitas of the Blue Moon who despised them. It's unclear how much of this is true, but Noé does believe Vanitas has a desire for revenge. Eventually, Vanitas reveals to Noé and Misha that he's curing Curse-Bearers to find and take revenge on the one who stole the true name of Vanitas' adoptive parent, Luna, which forced him to kill Luna.
• Romantic Fake–Real Turn : At the beginning, Vanitas only plays at being in love with Jeanne because her flustered reactions are very entertaining to him. After the Gévaudan arc, Vanitas is forced to realize that he has developed genuine feelings for Jeanne due to seeing her more assertive side.
• Safety in Indifference : After losing his father, Luna, and Misha, he doesn't want to care about other people out of fear of suffering through grief again. This is why he initially tries so hard to deny he cares about Noé and also why developing genuine affection for Jeanne causes him to spiral into emotional turmoil.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl : An interesting example. Vanitas at first puts up a cheery façade when he's actually jaded, grumpy and deeply depressed. In contrast, Jeanne's past has turned her submissive and oppressed, but her real self is spirited, feisty and affectionate. This is best shown at the end of the Gévaudan arc where Jeanne is ecstatic from the group having been able to rescue Chloé, and enthusiastically hugs Vanitas and kisses him on the cheek. Meanwhile, Vanitas's mood is much more subdued and contemplative in the aftermath.
• Secret-Keeper : Vanitas is one of the only characters who knows that Jeanne has cravings for blood that occasionally flare up and cause her to behave in a manner similar to a Curse-Bearer, although it is currently unknown exactly what her condition is. After Vanitas finds out, he promises Jeanne that he won't tell anyone, although Vanitas does it under the condition that she never drinks blood from anyone else but him.
• Self-Proclaimed Love Interest : He claims that he and Jeanne are in love with each other after she unconsciously marks him while drinking his blood. Jeanne disdainfully tells him to save his sleep-talking for when he's asleep.
• Shallow Cannot Comprehend True Love : Vanitas has a very shallow and twisted view on relationships, especially romantic ones. He confesses to Jeanne that he "loves" her, right after threatening her precious master Luca and forcing a kiss on her just to get a kick out of her flustered reaction. After he overhears Noé drinking Domi's blood, he can't believe they genuinely care about each other, accusing Domi of being a "convenient female" who Noé strings along because of her status as an aristocrat. When Noé asks him what true love is, Vanitas admits he has no idea, but he's attracted to Jeanne because she's beautiful and fun to tease, so he claims he loves her because it's "interesting". Later on, his feelings for Jeanne become deeper after the events in Gévaudan and he gets absolutely freaked out by it because he sees no point in truly loving someone when he's convinced no one will ever love him.
• Sibling Yin-Yang : With Misha. Whereas Vanitas is secretive, distrustful and wants to keep caring people at distance, Misha is open to share all information he has, trusts people way too easily and actively seeks out people who treat him kindly.
• Sitting on the Roof : He's frequently found brooding on top of a building. Noé assumes Vanitas must like high places.
• Slasher Smile : At the end of the first chapter, Vanitas makes his declaration that he'll save vampires from their curses. However, the maniacal smile on his face as he says that indicates an unhinged personality and not very noble intentions for that nice-sounding goal.
• Sleep Cute : At the end of the catacombs arc, Vanitas falls asleep while resting on Noé's back as a sign that he now feels safe enough around his partner as to leave himself defenseless in front of him.
• Smells Sexy : His blood smells so sweet that catching its scent causes Noé's head to become filled with thoughts about wanting a taste.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside : He acts like a total asshole, but beneath that mask of arrogance lies a man who is plagued by traumas, self-loathing and crippling guilt over something that happened in his past.
• Stepford Smiler : He puts up a happy-go-lucky façade to hide his depression and self-loathing. When he drops the act, he's very irritable and brooding. Eventually, he starts smiling for real as Noé gains his trust.
• Stepford Snarker : Whenever he drops his usual cheery and happy-go-lucky façade , he switches to using bitterness and sardonicism to cope with his painful emotions.
• Strong Girl, Smart Guy : Vanitas is a cunning human who knows how to manipulate people and Jeanne is a powerful vampire who burns her enemies with a gauntlet that shoots fire blasts.
• Superhuman Transfusion : Moreau injected him with a medicine mixed with the Vampire of the Blue Moon's blood as part of an experiment to create artificial kin of the Blue Moon that could use the Book of Vanitas. Vanitas heals faster than regular humans as a result.
• Supernaturally Delicious and Nutritious : Apparently, his blood is "very sweet" to vampires. Jeanne loved it so much that she unconsciously marks him and the mere scent of it causes Noé to barely be able to control himself.
• Supreme Chef : He's an amazing cook.
• Sympathetic Murder Backstory : It's eventually revealed he killed Luna, also known as the previous Vanitas. He's badly traumatized by the event and feels tormented by guilt since he deep down never really hated Luna.
• Take Me Instead : In the flashback of Mémoire 48, when Vanitas was a young child and under Dr. Moreau's thumb, he had experienced enough of the Mad Scientist 's inhumane experiments to know what would happen to Mikhail, so in order to try and protect him, Vanitas willingly offered himself up for the most painful experiments.
• "Take That!" Kiss : After Jeanne surrenders to him and begs him to not hurt Luca, Vanitas kisses Jeanne while mocking how weak and docile she has become.
• The Tease : He gets his kicks from making Jeanne go crazy from embarrassment by making unwanted sexual advances towards her and saying innuendos. Funnily enough, when Jeanne gives him the Intimate Healing treatment and strips to her underwear in front of him, Vanitas is the only one panicking.
• Through His Stomach : Cooking pastries is his way to express affection for those closest to him. When he was younger, he baked a galette des rois for his adoptive family, Misha and Luna. Later, once he finally accepts Noé as someone he trusts and cares about deeply, Vanitas makes him a tarte Tatin.
• Took a Level in Kindness : Following the catacombs arc, Noé's influence causes Vanitas' personality to start changing for the better. In contrast to his formerly arrogant and annoying behavior, he acts very caring and encouraging towards Noé and Jeanne as he grows truly fond of them. At the end of the amusement park arc, Vanitas honestly regrets dismissing his relationship with Noé and apologizes for hurting him . Afterwards, Vanitas is acting more considerate and kinder than he has ever been.
• Touched by Vorlons : He's a human who was marked by the Vampire of the Blue Moon, making him their kin. With this, he acquired the power to use the Book of Vanitas to alter the World Formula and restore vampires' true names.
• Trademark Favorite Food : He loves oysters enough as to eat a pile of them at a restaurant.
• Tragic Keepsake : His hourglass earring originally belonged to Vanitas of the Blue Moon.
• Trauma Button : Mentioning his younger brother reminds him of the day where Vanitas killed their adoptive parent Luna . The pain of the trauma is so bad that Vanitas almost had a breakdown when Dr. Moreau asks him about "No. 71".
• Trauma Conga Line : From the moment he was born, his life has been a series of traumatic event after another. His mother died at childbirth and the boy grew up thinking his father hated him for existing. His father was murdered by vampires to protect him. Orphaned, he was taken in by the church to be trained as a Chasseur, but to his bad luck, he's kidnapped by a Mad Doctor who uses him for very painful experiments that nearly kill him. Things started to look up a bit when the vampire of the blue moon Vanitas/Luna took him and his adoptive little brother away from the lab. But that happy time didn't last long, he had to kill Luna after their true name was stolen , and also believed his little brother was dead.
• Troll : He likes to screw with people's heads, though sometimes it serves a purpose.
• Troubled, but Cute : He has a ton of problems and a nasty personality that annoys everyone around him, but he's very beautiful. His intriguing mysteriousness and hidden nicer side make him highly attractive.
• Tsundere : Harsh type. Vanitas is surprisingly soft and vulnerable behind that exterior of abrasiveness and arrogance. Due to his problems with attachment and affection, he has a very hard time accepting that he cares about Noé and Jeanne. He especially tries to hide his fondness for Noé through insults and aggression. Lampshaded by Dante who can tell Vanitas worries about Noé way more than he wants to admit.
• The Unapologetic : He refuses to apologize sincerely for forcing a kiss on Jeanne during their first meeting, even though the one demanding the apology is the vampire with the highest authority after the queen. A big sign of his Character Development is when he gives his first heartfelt apology to Noé after he let the conflict with Misha escalate out of control and hurt Noé's feelings by trying to push him away .
• Unknowingly in Love : After Jeanne kisses him in Gévaudan, Vanitas can't get her out of his head for over a week and his chest hurts whenever her smile comes to mind. The only explanation he can think of is Jeanne poisoning or cursing him. When he talks about the "symptoms" with Roland, however, Vanitas gets told that he's in love which he finds worse than what he thought.
• Unwanted Rescue : He isn't grateful to Noé for rescuing him from Lord Ruthven, which Noé finds weird as Vanitas said he wanted Noé to be his shield. Noé then realizes Vanitas can't stand to see other people potentially being killed because of saving him.
• Virtue Is Weakness : Noé opposes to Vanitas taking a hostage and insists they should try and talk things out with Roland. Vanitas snaps at Noé, calling him weak and foolish for letting his morals hold him back so much that it could get them both killed someday. Noé proves Vanitas wrong by explaining himself to Roland and befriending him.
• Voluntary Vampire Victim : After discovering Jeanne suffers from vampiric impulses very similar to those of a Curse-Bearer, Vanitas allows her to feed on him whenever she comes close to losing herself.
• In his first meeting with Noé, Vanitas tells him to leave Amelia with him or he's going to get hurt. Noé takes this as Vanitas threatening him and refuses to give Amelia to him, not knowing that Vanitas is the doctor who Amelia is going to meet for him to cure her curse. Vanitas pulling out a knife at Noé added to the misunderstanding, though.
• When Noé asks him if he could drink his blood, Vanitas bluntly tells him that if an Archiviste vampire as much as tried to drink his blood, he would kill them. Understanding what a privy person Vanitas is, Noé then knows he shouldn't press the issue. Turns out that was more intended as a warning than a rejection for Noé. Vanitas put a hypnotic effect on himself that causes him to think of nothing but killing those who try to take his memories if an Archiviste tries to bite him.
• Wasted Beauty : Vanitas is drop-dead gorgeous, but his obnoxious and manipulative personality causes everyone to see him as nothing but a big jerk. When he flirts with Jeanne, she's majorly creeped out and disgusted by him. Even Noé, the only one with a positive interest in him, often gets pissed off by Vanitas' poor treatment of others. Noé and Jeanne get a better opinion of him only when Vanitas becomes capable to act like a decent person.
• Weak, but Skilled : While he calls himself an ordinary human, he was trained as a Chasseur and his clever tactics along an analytical mind make him formidable enough as to give Noé trouble fighting him when Vanitas is serious.
• Weakness Turns Her On : Gender-swapped and subverted. Seeing Jeanne's vulnerable, flustered expression fills him with thrill and fascination at seeing the once fearsome Hellfire Witch has become so easy for him to mess with. However, despite his claims, he doesn't love her and only wants to see her troubled reactions. He really develops feelings for Jeanne after he discovers she's more assertive and bolder than he thought.
• What Is This Feeling? : He spends a large portion of Mémoire 44 whiplashing between near-catatonia and tearing his hair out over the feelings he's been having related to Jeanne . He wallows in a combination of confusion and denial over the fact he might actually love her, claiming instead that she must have poisoned or cursed him.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"? : Despite the fact Vanitas is very quick to proclaim that he 'loves' Jeanne, when Noé asks him what love is, Vanitas is forced to concede he doesn't really know. Thereafter, Vanitas himself ends up pondering the same question, especially when he starts to realize that he genuinely feels something for Jeanne, and frantically questions himself what that means .
• When He Smiles : Noé and Jeanne look dazzled when Vanitas makes a genuine happy smile instead of his usual fake or smug ones.
• Withholding Their Name : He took the name of the vampire of the blue moon Vanitas and hasn't revealed his real name to anyone because of how much he hates to share information about himself.
• The Worsening Curse Mark : The more he uses the power of the vampire of the blue moon, the mark of possession on Vanitas's right arm expands and some integral part of himself is getting rewritten with it.
• Would Hit a Girl : He doesn't hold back against Jeanne, who is a powerful and dangerous opponent. He also knocks out Maria when she aims a crossbow at him. When Noé reproaches that's no way to treat a lady, Vanitas says that gender doesn't matter in the battlefield.
• You Are Number 6 : He was No. 69 during Dr. Moreau's experiments.
• You Killed My Father : The core motivation of his revenge is the death of Luna, his adoptive parent whom he was forced to kill because someone stole their true name . It's ironic since he originally wanted to be a Chasseur in order to avenge the death of his father at hands of vampires.
• You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You : Noé calls out Vanitas on not telling him that Naenia is the Malnomen of the Vampire Queen Faustina . Vanitas states that he wasn't totally sure about it until Chloé gave Naenia a physical form and a vampire like Noé wouldn't have believed a human with such a crazy theory about the vampire queen anyway. Noé responds by headbutting Vanitas as he affirms he would have definitely believed him.
• Your Days Are Numbered : Getting injected with the blood of the Vampire of the Blue Moon during Dr. Moreau's experiments doomed Vanitas to die young because a human body can't handle carrying vampire blood.

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Who is the Strongest Character in the Case Study of Vanitas?

Who are the strongest characters in The Case Study of Vanitas?

Published: 28 Feb 2022 12:05 PM +00:00 Updated: 01 Mar 2022 9:10 AM +00:00

The Case Study of Vanitas might be one of the anime season's best-looking anime , but there's action there too.

Table of Contents

2) noé archiviste, 3) jean jacques chastel, 5) dominique de sade, 6) roland fortis, 7) astolfo granatum, 8) lord ruthven, 9) chloé d' apchiers, 10) queen faustina/naenia.

True to its shonen roots, the show, which is based on Jun Mochizuki's ongoing manga of the same name , features plenty of stylized battles that are fun and tense to watch. Featuring overpowered vampires, humans, and monsters. But who are the strongest characters in The Case Study of Vanitas?

As the human of the group, the titular Vanitas, who derives his name from an old vampire whose grimoire he now uses, isn't as physically strong as others in this list. While he introduces himself as "an average human being," however, he's revealed to be anything but. Equipped with a cursed grimoire, Vanitas is capable of curing vampires that would otherwise be beyond saving.

Vanitas prefers to avoid fights. Instead, he uses his intellect to face vampires whose true names have been corrupted, while others do the fighting around him, but many vampires would have to be eliminated if not for his use of the book of Vanitas. In a world of overpowered shonen protagonists, it's refreshing to see a character do their fighting with a book. And when he does have to fight, he's quite skilled with a dagger too!

Noé isn't the most strong in the series, as he's beaten up or captured a few times over the course of the series, but he can be pretty awesome in battle. As a vampire, he's equipped with enhanced speed and strength. If possible, he will try to befriend his foes to avoid fighting them, but he will land some blows when he must.

As is the case with Vanitas, Noé's most interesting abilities are intellectual, however. Noé is a member of the Archiviste clan and endowed with the ability to access other people's memories by drinking their blood. This has been the source of interesting flashbacks and insights throughout the anime.

While not a very powerful vampire in himself, Jean-Jacques spread some terror as the Beast of Gédauvan in his attempt to protect his beloved Chloé D' Apchier. While bearing the malnomen of the Beast, his powers included shapeshifting and as well as speedier healing than most vampires can achieve.

At the end of the Beast arc, Jean-Jacques chooses to have his true name restored, and rely on his regular vampire strength to keep himself and Chloé safe.

Jeanne is also known as the Hellfire Witch, which already suggests she's not to be messed with! Like most vampires, she has enhanced speed, endurance, and strength, and she's strongest than most due to her combat training, leaving the two main characters impressed after their first encounter. Moreover, a pair of crimson gauntlets, known as Carpe Diem, allows her to deal increased damage.

Dominque de Sade can be a menace in battle, being proficient in knife throwing and sword-fighting. She's very agile, which makes for impressive acrobatics, while she's also able to manipulate ice, which she shapes into ice waves or shards.

Related: The Strongest Female Anime Characters of All Time

Roland is a human, so he's not naturally endowed with superhuman speed or fast healing. As a Chasseur, he uses perfromance-enhancing drugs when battling against vampires, which can make him a difficult opponent. He can cause real damage with Durandal, his weapon of choice, which can be used as one entity or separate, to accommodate long-range and close-range combat both. Thankfully, like Noé, he can also be open to dialogue and make unlikely friends, which tones down the damage.

Astrolfo is only in his teens, but the anger he fosters against vampires, paired with his paladin training makes him one of the most difficult opponents in the anime. Like Roland, he has access to performance-enhancing tonics, but, unlike him, he tends to abuse them in order to keep fighting for longer, which occasionally causes him to pass out in battle. His weapon of choice, Louisette, is one of the most prominent and scary ones to fight against.

So far, Ruthven hasn't been seen unleashing his rage very often, but when he does, things can get scary. Ruthven has shown himself capable of knocking out everyone in the room, including Jeanne and Noé, who aren't powerless themselves.

In the past, Ruthven was rather idealistic about human and vampire relationships, but this ended abruptly when his attempts to bring them together fail. In the narrative present, he has aligned himself with Charlatan, making him a particularly frightening foe.

Related: Why Does Noe Kill Vanitas in The Case Study of Vanitas?

Despite her youthful appearance, Chloé d' Apchiers is the oldest vampire in the anime, and she has definitely picked up some skills along the way. Her endless youth comes with enhanced strength that allows her to overpower vampires with adult bodies, including Noé and even Augustus Ruthven.

As is the case with other characters in the series, especially Vanitas, much of her power comes from her dedication to research. However, her desire to become a normal human eventually led her to a dark path, as she adopted the malnomen "Millie" which gave her the ability to manipulate gravity, create sealed spaces made of her memories, and create time loops that bend reality.

With her true name restored, Chloé loses many of these powers, as these were associated with her descent to a dark path, but her research and physical strength will hopefully still leave her well-equipped to face dangers yet to come.

Queen Faustina, who has been corrupted into the malnomen Naenia, is the source of many of the problems characters encounter in Season 1 of The Case Study of Vanitas. Now a mysterious entity without physical form, Naenia is responsible for the corruption of many vampires, who would end up beyond saving if not for the book of Vanitas.

Naenia's strength lies in her manipulation of vampires' minds, as she uses their worst memories and regrets to coax them into giving up their true names, thus corrupting them.

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Vanitas no Karte Part 2

The Case Study of Vanitas Part 2

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The Case Study of Vanitas Manga Unveils Volume 11 Cover

The Case Study of Vanitas (Vanitas no Carte) series revealed the cover illustration for Volume 11 of the manga, which is set to release on April 22, 2024. The regular edition features an illustration of Vanitas holding a plate of Tarte Tatin with Noe and Murr behind him. Meanwhile, the special edition features the “Archiviste girl” with Noe at the back. The manga series is written and illustrated by Jun Mochizuki.

As described by Square Enix , the plot of the 11th manga volume of The Case Study of Vanitas is as follows (spoilers ahead): “Another “fang that reveals blood.” After the fierce battle that Mikhail set up, Vanitas and his friends take a moment to rest. Behind the scenes, Count Saint-Germain approaches the Archiviste girl —This is a “story.” The promised hope and despair of vampires, humans, and half-breeds are set in motion once again. Volume 11 of a steampunk fantasy woven by human and vampire buddies that unravels memories.”

Special illustrations and postcards will also be given away as bonus gifts in selected stores in Japan. Pre-orders for Volume 11 of The Case Study of Vanitas manga are still available on Amazon , Rakuten , and Square Enix. Additionally, the special edition will include a 128-page “Brocante” booklet featuring comments and rough drawings of Vanitas and Noe’s character designs, taken from the author’s original 2000-page sketchbook before the series began in 2015.

Also Read: The Case Study of Vanitas Manga Returns From Hiatus on May 22 The Case Study of Vanitas Episode 24 – A Profoundly Momentous Finale

The Case Study of Vanitas  is a steampunk-vampire-themed manga series by Jun Mozuchi. It has been serialized in Square Enix’s Monthly Gangan Joker magazine since 2015. Studio BONES animated the series in 2021 and has a total of 24 episodes. Afterward, the series went on hiatus in May 2022 and returned a year later in May 2023. Yen Press  releases the English versions of the manga and describes the plot: “ Rumors revolving around The Book of Vanitas, a clockwork grimoire of dubious reputation, draw Noé, a young vampire in search of a friend’s salvation, to Paris. What awaits him in the City of Flowers, however, is not long hours treading the pavement or rifling through dusty bookshops in search of the tome. Instead, his quarry comes to him…in the arms of a man claiming to be a vampire doctor! Thrust into a conflict that threatens the peace between humans and vampires, will Noé cast in his lot with the curious and slightly unbalanced Vanitas and his quest to save vampirekind? “

Source:  Square Enix , Gangan Joker X, Jun Mochizuki X (Formerly Twitter) ©Jun Mochizuki/SQUARE ENIX

Carla Carreon

Hello, I'm Carla Bianca! Just a fluffy bean with introverted energies. Reading, watching, drawing, playing Genshin, and sleeping mostly take up my day. Someday, I will have my manga library and Rimuru shrine!

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10 Anime That Need To Get Darker To Get Better

While not every series needs to be dark, some modern anime like Black Clover or MHA could benefit from adopting more daring narratives.

A recent trend in anime has been a growing demand for darker, more mature storylines, even in genres that have previously been labeled lighthearted. Anime has featured plenty of grotesque stories throughout its long history, with some of the medium’s most influential works, such as Akira or Berserk , being extremely violent and gruesome. Yet, never before has the darkness been so sought-after in the mainstream.

The explosive popularity of gritty, fatalistic series like Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man , which, despite belonging to the shonen genre, take a lot of inspiration from seinen, signals that fans are done with bright and jolly anime clichés of the past. Today's audience is actually more interested in shows that dare to be violent and realistically macabre. And while not every series, or even every genre, needs this added layer of darkness to succeed, some modern shows would benefit from adopting the daring disquietude of their bleaker counterparts. An unwillingness to defy conventions and allow their plots to get harsher holds many excellent anime back, and they can’t truly become modern classics unless their stories embrace the darkness.

25 Darkest Anime That Only Get Darker

10 fans are getting tired of bungou stray dogs’ death scares, characters in bungou stray dogs have a lot of plot-armor, 25 must-watch detective anime.

Despite being a seinen series, Bungou Stray Dogs is a fairly lighthearted story by the genre’s standards. A thrilling fantasy centered on a group of superpowered detectives protecting their home city of Yokohama, the show became popular, first and foremost, thanks to its memorable characters. Yet, in how Bungou Stray Dogs chooses to approach their development lies the series’ biggest flaw.

Despite featuring multiple death scares, from fan-favorite Chuuya Nakahara almost drowning to Akutagawa Ryuunosuke near losing his head in the latest season, the show has been adamantly refusing to part with any major character for good. And while no fan wants to see their beloved heroes die, many are wondering just for how long Bungou Stray Dogs can continue getting away with fake deaths before it starts hurting its narrative.

Bungou Stray Dogs

Follows Atsushi Nakajima as he joins the Armed Detective Agency in battling the Port Mafia and other superhuman threats to public safety.

9 The Case Study of Vanitas Has Been Teasing Darker Developments for Long Enough

The case study of vanitas has yet to reach the soul-crushing darkness of its predecessor.

An aesthetically glorious shonen fantasy, The Case Study of Vanitas is commonly praised for its delectably alluring ambiance, memorable characters, and unique interpretation of two seemingly clichéd themes - vampires and Victorian-era mystery . Focused on the adventures of an unlikely duo - the noble vampire Noé and an enigmatic “vampire doctor” Vanitas - The Case Study of Vanitas has a reputation to uphold.

Coming from Jun Mochizuki, the mangaka behind Pandora Hearts , one of the most gut-wrenching shonen stories in history, the series, despite featuring plenty of unsettling themes, is yet to reach the same levels of soul-crushing darkness that made its predecessor famous. Thankfully, few doubt that Mochizuki will disappoint the fans of her dark and gut-wrenching storytelling style with the future direction of The Case Study of Vanitas .

The Case Study of Vanitas (2021)

A human wields a magic book that can cure vampires of their bloodlust, and sets out to find vampires to cure with the book.

8 My Hero Academia’s Cheerfulness Couldn’t Be Maintained till the Very End

Mha's kind-hearted nature would have been more popular decades ago.

The current shonen landscape is ripe with dark shows. As such, My Hero Academia always stood out from the rest as almost childish in refusing to abandon the genre’s lighthearted canons. Unfortunately, this also caused many to lose interest in the series over time, as, without an element of apprehensive tension, the plot about a group of superpowered high schoolers striving to become the best Heroes felt like it was going nowhere.

The aspects that would’ve made MHA a monumental shonen a few decades ago, like its kind-hearted underdog protagonist or whimsical high school setting, gradually stopped resonating with fans, who moved on to more mature shows. Yet, the most recent developments in the MHA manga might point to the show veering in an unexpectedly morbid direction .

My Hero Academia

7 spy x family needs to address the darker elements of its premise, spy x family seems to ignore the grander conflicts of the world.

Despite being, first and foremost, a family comedy , Spy x Family always possessed an underlying element of darkness. From its Cold War-esque setting to one of the main characters, Yor, being an assassin, the show allowed some macabre themes to peek through its facade of jovial fun. However, the series’ development might benefit from finally putting these dark story beats in the spotlight.

Many of the biggest mysteries and unresolved plot threads in Spy x Family - the truth behind Loid’s past, the grander conflicts of the show’s world, and, most importantly, the future of the Forger family - revolve around these bleaker themes. And, as the series nears the point of confronting these questions, it will have no choice but to get darker.

Spy x Family

A spy on an undercover mission gets married and adopts a child as part of his cover. His wife and daughter have secrets of their own, and all three must strive to keep together.

6 Classroom of the Elite Needs to Take Character Development More Seriously

Cheap drama interrupts moments where classroom of the elite could be darker, 10 best anime like classroom of the elite.

Dark anime doesn’t necessarily need to include gore or excessive violence, and some popular series would benefit from incorporating more realistically mature themes into its writing and character development. One of the aspects of Classroom of the Elite that made it stand out from other power fantasies with a genius protagonist is the series’ seeming willingness to give its characters grounded depth.

Yet, more often than not, the show’s attempts to explore Ayanokoji’s dark, troubled past or his schoolmates' macabre interpersonal problems are interrupted by cheap melodrama and childish harem antics. Even the protagonist’s infamous mind games, the part of the series fans find the most entertaining, waste much of their potential if there’s nothing substantial for the characters to lose.

Classroom of the Elite

When Kiyotaka enters government-sponsored elite high school, he finds out just how merit-based this education system is.

5 Black Clover Can’t Commit To Killing Characters

Black clover has excessive use of plot armor.

Inspired by such shonen classics as Hunter x Hunter, Bleach, and Yu Yu Hakusho , Black Clover has always maintained the same happy-go-lucky attitude in its storytelling the shonen franchises of the past were famous for. Yet, for this reason, many couldn’t take Asta’s underdog adventures in the world of magic.

The lack of meaningful character development, as well as excessive use of plot armor, has been holding Black Clover back from joining the ranks of the modern shonen greats since the very beginning. Deaths of significant characters are basically nonexistent in the series, and even if an important hero faces mortal peril like Julius Novachrono did in his fight against Patolli , their demise gets undone too easily.

Black Clover (2017)

Asta and Yuno were abandoned together at the same church and have been inseparable since. As children, they promised that they would compete against each other to see who would become the next Emperor Magus.

4 Mashle: Magic and Muscles Pulls Its Punches in Serious Moments

Mashle's comedy clashes with the tonal shifts.

When it comes to masterfully executing comedy beats, few modern shonen titles can compete with Mashle: Magic and Muscles. Watching Mashle, an overtrained boy with not an ounce of magical energy in him, beat powerful wizards into a pulp with the sheer strength of his muscles is always hilarious, and if the show chose to stick to just comedy, few things could’ve made it better.

Unfortunately, Mashle insists on pairing its humor with semi-serious shonen storytelling, and that aspect of the series could really benefit from improvements. Clichéd and needlessly edgy, serious plots like headmaster Wahlberg’s fight against Innocent Zero lack real stakes or grittiness that makes darker shonen comedies work.

Mashle: Magic And Muscles

Into a world of magicians is born Mash, a young boy who lacks magic but is the strongest person around. His existence and destiny will change his world.

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Oshi no ko contained all its bleakness in one episode.

A thrilling drama about the dark side of Japan’s entertainment industry , Oshi no Ko initially captivated everyone with its shocking first episode. The plot twist finale of the series’ opening act made everyone anticipate Oshi no Ko as a dark, mature drama that doesn’t shy away from the bleak realities of its subject matter, similar to Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue .

Regrettably, most of the series’ darkness was contained in that shocking first episode, and Oshi no Ko turned much more lighthearted as it went on. While following Aqua’s investigation doesn’t ever get dull, the series could really benefit from going back to its initial premise of exploring the darkness within show business.

A doctor and his recently-deceased patient are reborn as twins to a famous Japanese musical idol and navigate the highs and lows of the Japanese entertainment industry as they grow up together through their lives.

2 Dr. Stone’s Optimistic Storytelling Makes It Less Believable

Dr. stone refuses to take darker narrative turns.

For having one of the most original premises in modern shonen history, Dr. Stone does regrettably little with the tension and stakes that come with rebuilding civilization from zero in the Stone Age. Initially keeping the audiences captivated with Senkuu’s eccentric inventions and vibrant interactions with the people of the Stone World, the series turned less appealing as its focus shifted from science to quite predictable, low-stakes shonen battles.

Even death, something that seems infinitely more pressing and unavoidable in the Stone Age, is always preventable in Dr. Stone , be it thanks to Senkuu’s inhuman ingenuity or simple plot armor. As the world of Dr. Stone continues to expand, it actually loses much of its appeal due to the series’ unwillingness to take darker narrative turns.

Awakened into a world where humanity has been petrified, scientific genius Senku and his brawny friend Taiju use their skills to rebuild civilization.

1 One Piece Is at Its Best When It’s Allowed to Be Dark

Fans want one piece to lean into its darker tone.

While One Piece has a reputation for being extremely jovial, basically embodying the age-old “power of friendship” trope, the series has its fair share of dark moments. In fact, One Piece’s darkest storylines, from Ace’s death in Marineford to Sanji’s disquieting backstory in Whole Cake Island, are universally recognized as the series’ best.

Fans yearn to see the show take itself seriously more often. The Straw Hats’ voyage through the expansive seas of the Grand Line saw its fair share of tragedies. However, with the series now in its Final Saga, fans can’t help but anticipate One Piece leaning into its dark side more.

Created by Eiichiro Oda, the One Piece franchise explores the adventures of pirate Luffy D. Monkey and his crew, the Straw Hats. Since the manga first debuted in 1997, One Piece has been adapted into an ongoing anime that has seen multiple movies. Most recently it was adapted into a live-action series by Netflix.

• View history

Amelia having her True Name restored

True Name ( 真 ( しん ) 名 ( めい ) , Shinmei ) is a concept from Jun Mochizuki 's The Case Study of Vanitas . Just as the World Formula is the constitutive, foundational force that shapes every aspect of the universe as it is known, a True Name is the "formula" that shapes the existence of each individual Vampire . It is the manifestation of every Vampire's very identity—thus, interfering with it means gaining access to a Vampire's entire self.

In all cases, invasive interference with a Vampire's True Name results in that Name's corruption and as a result the corruption of the Vampire's self, from their normal demeanor and personality into a crazed, bloodthirsty, rampaging beast. When a True Name is corrupted and a Vampire's essence tampered with, this creates a Malnomen , and those who have had their True Names stolen are called " curse-bearers " ( 呪 ( のろい ) 持 ( も ) ち, Noroimochi ).

In recent times, more and more Vampires are having their True Names stolen and corrupted into Malnomen, which may lead to the destruction of the entire race. Vanitas , a human being who is in possession of the Book of Vanitas which allows him to interfere with True Names, aims to prevent this and save all Vampirekind by curing every curse-bearer he can find. Noé Archiviste encounters him by chance and witnesses him curing a curse-bearer before his very eyes, prompting him to join the man in his quest.

• 2.1 Charlatan
• 2.2 The Book of Vanitas
• 3 Known True Names
• 5 References
• 6 Navigation

History [ ]

Following the events of the Babel Incident , caused by the human alchemist Paracelsus , numerous Formulae were altered, creating a race of beings with a penchant for blood and red eyes that could alter the World Formula - strengthening their bodies and producing magic as a result - called Vampires. [1]

In one night of Blue Moon, Vanitas , a Vampire, was born. After being shunned and later exiled by their peers, Vanitas swore that they would exact their revenge on the Vampires born under the Crimson Moon. They created a grimoire capable of interfering with the True Names of Vampires, as well as rewriting the World Formulae. Vanitas proclaimed that when The Book of Vanitas was opened, a curse surpassing even death would befall their betrayers. [2]

Corruption [ ]

So far, only two things have been shown to interfere with a vampire's True Name:

Charlatan [ ]

By means yet unknown, Charlatan — mainly Naenia — is capable of invading the subconscious of vampires in order to inflict them with Malnomen and distort their true names. It is not presently known what are their motivations for doing so.

The Book of Vanitas [ ]

The Book of Vanitas is a set of cursed grimoires created by Vanitas of the Blue Moon with the ability to interfere with the World Formula. It is capable of entering a Vampire's subconscious in order to interfere with their True Name, although in the hands of Vanitas it is only used as a cure, to liberate the True Names from the Malnomen generated by Charlatan.

Known True Names [ ]

• Amelia Ruth : Florifel , She Who Guides Spring ( 春導く者 ( フローリフェル ) , Haru wo Michibiku Mono — Furōriferu )
• Thomas Berneux : Bucolicus , He Who Composes Idylls ( 牧歌紡ぐ者 ( ブーコリカス ) , Bokka Tsumugu Mono — Būkorikasu )
• Chloé d'Apchier : Canorus , She Who Plays Snow Crystals ( 雪花奏でる者 ( カノーラス ) , Sekka Kanaderu Mono — Kanōrasu )
• Jean-Jacques Chastel : Aprix , He Who Nestles Close to the Last Snows ( 雪の果て寄り添う者 ( アプリクス ) , Yuki no Hate Yorisou Mono — Apurikusu )
• Occasionally the English localization by Yen Press will mistakenly render True Names incorrectly, due to a misunderstanding of the Japanese pronunciation and an unfamiliarity with Latin. These include "Florifel" and "Aprix"—these are meant to be read as " Florifer " and " Apricus " respectively.
• Florifer translates to "flowery."
• Bucolicus translates to "pastoral," "bucolic," or "of or pertaining to shepherds."
• Canorus translates to "of or pertaining to melody," "melodious," "harmonious," or "euphonious."
• Apricus translates to "sunny," "having lots of sunshine," or "warmed by the sun."
• So far there have been three Vampires who have contracted Malnomen but whose True Names remain unknown. Mina and Louis de Sade , who could not be cured by Vanitas at the time and place, and Catherine , whose speaking of her True Name was muffled by Noé's screams of distress at Vanitas mercy-killing her.

References [ ]

• ↑ Mémoire 7: Bal Masqué
• ↑ Mémoire 1: Vanitas

Navigation [ ]

• 2 List of Characters (The Case Study of Vanitas)