Status Updates From The Case Study of Vanitas 1...

OH WHAT A REVEAL
so i assume no one else knows that marquis machina is an archiviste????? what is her history with teacher??? the pieces are coming together but at the same time i have more questions than ever before

i love this exploration of the hierarchy in vampire society and how it effects different individuals of different rankings. for dante, his instinct is to get defensive and close rank around his people bc of how they’ve had to stick together for so long, but for riche, she was able to see the genuine curiosity in noé’s question and appreciate his candor

subtly protective vanitas i see you!!!!! he said don’t get all mad at noé for asking a genuine (if ignorant) question when orlok and the other noble vampires are the ones ACTUALLY looking down on the dhams

i love sweet naive noé so much and also how amused vanitas is by his innocence

…..world peace
he wants world peace
of fucking course he does
so did makima and we all saw how well that turned out

DANTE BACKSTORY GIMME GIMME GIMME OH MY GOD????? the only thing i knew about this arc is that it highlights the dhams and i cannot WAIT to see what that entails

domi’s scenes with women are so charged and i’m expected to believe that she’s NOT a lesbian????? babygirl free yourself from the clutches of heteronormativity i am begging you

AND THEN THEY BOTH REALIZE WHAT THEYVE ADMITTED AND SHAKE HANDS??????? and domi compliments vanitas’ ability to read noé after knowing him for just a few months (?) and now they’re gonna GOSSIP oh my god noé you have no idea what you’re in for

(cont.)
and for vanitas, he’s ranting about noé’s consistent attempts to get him to open up and how his ungodly stubbornness practically forces vanitas to bend and allow himself to be seen and understood.
they’re both frustrated about the same thing: how dare this man be so easy to love despite all of our attempts to resist?
noé’s power is truly unmatched, he only pulls the HOTTEST people

okay. this page is insane.
the formatting very clearly frames domi and vanitas’ lines as them simultaneously admitting their feelings for noé. for domi, she’s ranting about noé being so open with his love despite not realizing that she has true romantic feelings for him, and her frustration with the fact that that sincerity only makes her fall for him even more
(cont.)

domi and vanitas commiserating about noé’s lack of survival instincts and incessant good-naturedness is FANTASTIC oh my god????? i feel like they really haven’t had a convo with each other on the page since the masquerade ball when domi was literally throwing knives at him and accusing him of manipulating noé for some grander scheme. this growth is everything to me, they’re so besties now

I LOVE NOÉ ARCHIVISTE SO FUCKING MUCH i love how openly he expresses his affection, i love how he wastes no time reassuring domi that he loves her for HER, not for her relation to louis, i love that he does it all unabashedly
the vanitas reaction is super interesting too, why even include it if not to show some sort of…jealousy? resignation?

vanitas you are so obvious babe
but i mean who can blame him when noé is all blushy and complimenting him on the tarte tatin that vanitas specifically made FOR HIM. i’m honestly shocked he can even stand to be in the same room with all this affection

LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GOOOOOOO oh i love them so much i’m glad they got to clear the air and that domi was honest about her insecurities and how much she admires (loves) jeanne. the contrast to the vanoé rooftop scene from last volume is hilarious cause that apology had to be physically ripped out of vanitas ajxnsmxkkskdks

i KNEW there was something up with olivier and mira ajsnsmxkskdkd so he never even gave her a chance at all huh
she’s not his type cause she’s vulgar and immodest and crude but hm i wonder who’s the exact opposite of that….

“forgiving these people means forgiving myself” and that’s exactly why clinging to hatred for survival might not have been the best tactic

what a fucking page turn. my heart DROPPED i genuinely feel sick even though i knew it was coming
how could this poor child possibly cope with the fact that he’s now responsible for other people losing their families, just like he lost his own? of COURSE his only coping mechanism was to push it all away and see everything in stark blacks and whites. he had no fucking chance, not even with roland’s guidance

oh this is devastating. right after being reminded that roland’s strength comes from his faith in HIMSELF rather than god, we get this moment of astolfo calling roland his god. it sets up the tragedy of their relationship so concisely, you can picture how it all went down in just that single panel. they said it in the previous volume!! when you put someone on a pedestal, the smallest fault tears them down

i wouldn’t be surprised if roland did originally become a chasseur to get off the streets but who fucking cares??? his faith is not flimsy just because it lies with himself and not god, in fact i think that makes him the strongest of them all. but undoubtedly also a threat to the church’s brainwashing

okay unnamed asshole is ogier and gano has the bloodstone seat. can we get a full list of all the paladins pls cause i’ve lost count of how many we know of

god the more we get from olivier the more i become completely enraptured with him as a character. who does he hate? does that hatred still linger and push him to persist even in present day?
i do agree with him to an extent, but it's a dangerous road to go down (and we know it doesn't end well). i wonder exactly how roland inevitably lost control of astolfo and what olivier had to say about it

hold up......i disagree with their methods but maybe gano and unnamed asshole were onto something by trying to prevent astolfo from becoming the symbol of the faction of the chasseurs that wants to eradicate vampires entirely. cause they can already see that he'll be molded into the perfect vampire-hating pawn, which is exactly what ends up happening

OKAY so i think i was right about olivier coming from a long line of chasseurs, specifically the obsidian seat, and that's why he was close to astolfo. garnet and obsidian were big players in the war with the vampires, and that would explain why gano and unnamed asshole would be jealous of astolfo and want to kill him off before he could advance. he's the last granatum, losing him would mean the fall of the house

why are teacher and lady archiviste telling the story of astolfo in particular?
also i know NOTHING about the differences between canons and fugues but likening astolfo's "tragedy" to a freely developing and flexible repeating melody has the gears turning, albeit very slowly. it's a story that's been seen many times before, but his is somehow distinct?

the "non-consensual blood drinking as an allegory for sexual assault" theme is STRONG with astolfo's backstory and my heart is aching for him. all the guilt, feeling like he's been defiled, wanting to scratch away at his skin where the vampires marked him, it's all so visceral.
if vanitas had been taken back in by the chasseurs after moreau's lab was destroyed, i feel like this would've been his path....

....and what's the backstory with mira and olivier?? why am i getting the vibe that they had a fling but olivier broke it off (bc he's in love with roland)

oh my god????? i need an entire volume about olivier and roland's backstory and i need it NOW. by paralleling his relationship with roland to astolfo's with his vampire friend, was he saying that roland was seen as a bad influence, someone he wasn't supposed to be hanging out with? maybe just cause he wasn't part of a chasseur family? is olivier even part of one? i assume so but i have SO many questions

AND NOW WHO THE FUCK IS THIS???????? is this just a petty plot to try to usurp astolfo's position in the chasseurs or what???? i need olivier to kick both of their asses STAT

genuinely what the FUCK is gano's problem???? who is this freak and what does he have against astolfo????

WHAT IS TEACHER'S END GOAL???? he keeps talking about how he's an observer, like how he wanted to sit back and watch what happened with louis and noé and again with vanitas, mikhail, and noé. what does he gain from these observations?? does he really just want stories to talk about bc he's that bored of immortality??? or can he somehow USE the energy or knowledge of these collected stories for some larger plot?