Bryce's Blog

I hope everyone is doing well, now that the equinox has past, even if
life has become monotonous.

With the recent
troubles I have been experiencing getting resolved, things are
improving, and I can start getting things back to normal.

A while back, I was
looking through Amazon’s catalogue, to keep up with the series that
I follow and managed to secure some titles.

Recently, one of
those title arrived, which means that it is time to get off my butt
and take care of it.

Today, I will be
reviewing that title, which is called The
Case Study of Vanitas Volume 11 by
Jun Mochizuki.

As
I have given a series synopsis in an earlier
post, I will not go over it again.

After
things with Mikhail got resolved, everyone tries to go back to their
normal lives, while still curious about what Noé’s teacher has
been scheming.

However,
after hearing from Jean-Jacques that Chloé knew about Noé’s kind,
he starts wondering if he really is the last of his kind, which might
end up getting Vanitas and himself wrapped up in another strange
incident.

While
I did enjoy the previous
volume, that does not mean that I should let this or any other
volume go without so much as a glance.

After
reading this volume, I have to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit.

From
the moment that I opened up this volume and started reading the first
few pages, I found myself engrossed that I did not want to stop
reading for any reason.

As
I have said a countless number of times before, one of the most
important things in a work of fiction is how things begin, as the
beginning is supposed to help transport the audience to another
world, thereby giving the audience the temporary escape that they
desire.

While
there are numerous ways in which this can be done, depending on the
genre and the medium used to present the work, manga like this is
usually published as part of a serial publication, which means that
things need to start in a way that makes sense based upon where the
previous installment ended.

In
the previous volume, the Comte de Saint Germain showed up at the
conclusion of the events at the amusement park, just like it did in
the anime adaptation, and then Mikhail talked with Vanitas, who
reveals some rather interesting details, along with his desire for
Noé to kill him, reminding the reader of what Noé said at the
beginning of the story, before going to Vanitas making sweets and
then Jean-Jacques appears on the scene with Chloé in his arms.

In
this volume, after what I want to call a brief flashback occurs,
things pick up from there, with Noé curious about Chloé’s
condition and Jean-Jacques revealing that Noé might not be the last
of his kind.

Even
though I’m not too fond of the very start of the chapter,
considering that there was nothing to really suggest that a flashback
was necessary, having things start off this way provides a nice
transition point from the last major incident to what we are likely
going into starting with this volume, since the Mikhail stuff just
felt like a minor scuffle with some interesting tidbits about the
possible reason that Noé will be forced to kill Vanitas.

However,
the part where it is revealed that Chloé knew about Noé because she
had known about his kind was what really drew me in, because the
words Jean-Jacques told Noé that he heard from Chloé were all words
normally used in present tense, while all the previous times we heard
about the Archivistes were in past tense, thereby automatically
capturing my attention.

If
Jun Mochizuki had not started off the first chapter of the volume the
way she did or Square Enix, or whoever they had put this volume
together, had chosen to start the volume off elsewhere, I’m not so
sure that things would have been quite as good because Jun Mochizuki
is typically good at drawing people in with questions and the last
volume did end off with things ultimately at peace.

Thankfully,
that modus operandi was maintained here, which makes me want to give
Jun Mochizuki and the people at Square Enix a lot of praise for
starting off the volume as well as they did.

Hopefully,
more volumes will be able to start off as well as this one did, as
that will help bring in more readers and keep the old ones, but
because everyone involved in bringing this series to the masses are
human in of themselves, I would not be surprised if there was a bit
of a slip up.

I
also liked how Noé’s teacher once again appeared in this volume.

From
the very beginning, when Noé stated that he went looking for the
Book of Vanitas, back when we did not know there were multiple books,
we had no idea what his teacher was up to, but because he wanted Noé
to find out for himself, I did not really give it much thought.

After
all, a teacher that encourages their student to figure things out for
themselves, not forbidding any sources, as long as they know how to
vet those sources, is the sign of a good teacher.

However,
when he showed up in the previous volume, I got the feeling that he
wanted the Book of Vanitas for his own nefarious purposes by the way
he acted, as well as his reputation for hurting those who don’t use
his preferred name, which piqued my interest in the teacher.

In
this volume, after Noé learns that Chloé told Jean-Jacques of his
kind using present tense and spots a woman who shares the same
features as him, who looks at Noé in a way that she knows he saw
her, we see her talking to Noé’s teacher and she asks him what his
ultimate aim is, which he claims is world peace.

Even
though he could be telling the truth here, much like how Jack
Vessalius from Pandora Hearts
turned out to be the one behind the Tragedy of Sablier, when everyone
believed it was the Baskervilles, the fact that he changes his name
constantly and how shady he has been acting makes me want to think
that he is up to no good and not take that claim at face value.

If
the Comte de Saint Germain had not shown up here, even though he was
mostly in the background, I think I would have been fine with it, as
there are other shady groups already, like Ruthven and Charlatan,
that could have added a lot of intrigue, especially after finding out
back in volume
7 that Naenia is the queen of vampires, but the mystery
surrounding the Comte de Saint Germain is much more interesting.

Hopefully,
he is fleshed out enough to where his true motives lie are revealed,
as I am certain that I am not the only one that wants clarification
on whether he is the big bad, like Jun Mochizuki probably wants us to
think, or if he is more like the Baskervilles from Pandora
Hearts, who turned out to
have been framed, but considering that he, like Charlatan, is a big
mystery, I would not be surprised if this will take a while, since
Jun Mochizuki is usually good about tying up lose ends by the end of
her works.

Another
thing that I liked was how Noé spoke out about discrimination and
then was chastised for it.

While
Noé did not exactly have a problem with the discrimination exactly,
like how the LGBTA+ community and their supporters do these days,
though the events of the Stonewall
riots does make the feeling understandable, he did speak up about
how confusing things were because there were so many dhams, yet only
one human and that they should be calling the individuals by their
names.

Even
though Vanitas does stand up for Noé and commends him later on, he
states that it is not the norm for people to look at individuals as
individuals and that Noé could do it because of his upbringing,
while everyone else sees people as categories
and that is not necessarily a bad thing, as the information is
important.

I
like this of two reasons.

First,
with the exception of matters regarding organized religion and other
instances where beliefs are forced down people’s throats, I find
myself mostly likely Noé, though not quite as much as my younger
self, in that I tend to mostly view people as themselves and accept
the person for who they are.

Yes,
I do have my own biases, but a lot of the time, it is rooted in the
objective realm, like the belief that people should love and accept
themselves, rather than look for it from other people, because we are
the only ones who will be around our whole lives, whereas in
instances like what is seen here is more about tribalism and
perception.

Still,
this is the way that I think we should all act, and many religions do
preach this ideal, many fail to because human being are tribalistic.

The
other reason I like this was how it reminded me of what I had to
contend with and recognize as I walked away from Mormon culture and
what I see in society.

When
Vanitas described that the perceptions of the dhams were not exactly
bad and that Danté saw people like Noé as vampires, or oppressors,
before they saw Noé himself, it reminded me of how my peers and
elders would give somebody a pass just because they were Mormon,
while they would view people that, like me, had walked away with
contempt, saying that we have gone blind and plead for us to return
to the fold.

Now,
I have not been mistreated by walking away, like how Dante and his
fellow dhams were treated as less than human, but upon learning the
importance of being able to think and what it means to think, I do
see the church that I grew up in an oppressive place that does
nothing but perpetuate mankind’s tribalistic nature and seeing
things explained here just reminded me of all of that.

If
this was not present in the volume, I think I would have been
disappointed, as Jun Mochizuki does a great job of making you
understand characters and why they do the things they do, as well as
showing her characters grow, and by not having this, that would have
taken away the very reason why I enjoy reading her works, aside from
how well she incorperates mystery into her works.

Thankfully,
that was not forgotten and we see Noé learn something about the
world, which makes me feel like giving Jun Mochizuki a lot of praise.

Hopefully
this trend continues in future volumes, as that will help attract
more eyes to Mochizuki’s work, by giving it a bit of a realistic
feeling, but considering that Jun Mochizuki is human, I would not be
surprised if she start slipping in this department.

The
thing that I liked the most though was how this volume ended.

As
I have said on many occasions already, aside from how things begin,
another important aspect of fiction is how things end, as the ending
is supposed to either leave the audience feeling statisfied, in the
case of a standalone work or the final installment in a series, or
give them a reason to want to read more, in the case that is is an
installment in a series.

While
there were no big overarching questions, beyond those brought up in
the previous volume that spilled over to this volume, it still did
its job well by introducing a new problem for Vanitas to cover, with
some questions regarding what is happening and how this new
archiviste is going to go involved, as her name was mentioned
multiple times, with the last being the revelation that it was her
name, and the two ooking for her were stopped in the last panel of
the volume.

Seeing
all of this, it makes me wish I could preorder the next volume right
away, but considering that the last chapter published so far, as of
the writing of this review, was chapter 63 from nearly a year ago,
according to a page
on the Jun Mochizuki wiki,
and there are reports that Jun Mochizuki’s health is not doing so
well at the moment, I’ll likely being in for a long wait before
there are enough chapters for a 12^th volume.

If
either Jun Mochizuki had not ended the final chapter of the volume as
well as she did or Square Enix, or whoever they had compile this
volume, chose to end the volume elsewhere, I don’t think it would
have been as good, as the only other chapter that this volume could
have realistically ended was in the aforementioned chapter 63, which
does not feel like a great way to end the volume.

Fortunately,
the volume ended at a great spot, which akes me feel like giving both
Jun Mochizuki and Square Enix, or whoever they had comoile this
volume, a some resounding applause.

Hopefully,
future volumes will be able to end just as well as this one did, as
that will help maintain interest in this series, but because I know
that it can be difficult to tell where one volume should end and
another should begin, I would not be surprised if there is a volume
that does not end well.

Outside
of those things, I cannot really think of anythig else that I
particularly liked, at least that could not be shoe horned in to what
was already mentioned or stood out as much.

Because
the volume began fairly well, Comte de Saint Germain appearing made
me think that he is either going to be or Jun Mochizuki wants us to
believe that he is the big bad of this series, Noé learned a little
lesson about discrimination that can reflect reality, and the ending
has me anxious to read the next volume, this was a great read.

Although
I liked the volume, there are some issues.

However,
aside from things that are too minor to talk about, such as typos,
nothing bothers me too much.

As
a result, I will have to say that there is nothing worth mentioning.

Considering
that there was quite a bit to like and nothing to really hate, unless
you want to be nit picky, this was definitely worth reading.

I
mainly recommend this to fans of The Case Study of Vanitas, as
they will like this the most, though fans of Jun Mochizuki’s other
works may enjoy it as well.

As
for everyone else, this might be worth giving a try, but because Jun
Mochizuki’s work is more narrative driven and builds upon each
installment, I recommend reading the previous volumes first.

If
you liked this review and would like to see more, please consider
supporting me on either Patreon
or SubscribeStar,
so that I can continue following this series and maybe find more
worthwhile reads for you guys to check out.