VnC 58: the case study of astolfo

After a whole year of suspense, the Case Study of Vanitas is back with a bang and so is this tumblr blog. Time isn’t real, so let’s pretend that this analysis came out when I wrote it after reading chapter 58 rather than the day before chapter 59. Let’s go!

As always, although it’s been a while, this post will contain massive spoilers for VnC 58 and is intended for those who have read up to this point in the manga!

intergalactic tea party

Chapter 58 begins with (an absolutely stunning shot of Vanitas’s tarte tatin) a quick recap of the plot so far and where the main cast is at the moment— Domi and Jeanne tragically finish their conversation offscreen; Domi and Noé have an adorable reunion; and Jeanne leaves the hotel alone, likely to report on her successful mission to a worried Luca. Jeanne looks adorably carefree as she heads out and I pray for a flashback to her conversation with Domi in the near future.

Moving rapidly along, we cut to the Archiviste Noé caught a glimpse of last chapter, traveling through the border between worlds. We learn that she’s familiar with Comte and likely Luna as well, and she and Comte sit down to have a very Pandora Hearts flavored tea break. Comte says that mystery Archiviste hasn’t travelled to the human world in ages, making it very unlikely that she was there explicitly to see Noé, although it’s possible she was (like Comte) waiting in the shadows to intervene if the fair fight reached a certain point.

Mystarchiviste in turn reveals that Comte’s existence is “unstable”. The only context we really have for that term is Vani and Misha, artificial followers of the blue moon lying somewhere between human and vampire… Comte certainly acts like a vampire, but maybe he’s actually something much more in between? My half-theory half-headcanon is that his obsession with Luna stems partially from feeling commonality with another being who doesn’t understand their own existence…

Speaking of Luna, Comte taking their form has interesting lore implications (can he take the form of anyone he’s met, or is there another requirement that has to be met first?) and also interesting fanfic implications but let’s move rapidly onwards to the real meat of chapter 58.

the chasseurs are insane

A majority of VnC 58 takes place in an extended flashback, as Astolfo reflects on his past. This flashback confirms a lot of what past chapters have implied about Astolfo— he was consumed by self hatred and guilt following the vampire attack, to the point of attempting suicide. The whole flashback could easily read as yet another parallel to Vanitas, who, after finding himself as the sole survivor a second time in a row, turned to a path he knew would culminate in his own death.

We meet two fun new characters during this section of the chapter— a guy wearing an earring (I was half-wondering if this was a younger version of Olivier’s assistant, but their eyebrows and earrings are different, so he’s probably one of Gano’s homeboys) and Charles.

Earring guy is suspicious. He might have some sort of plot relevant past (cough cough, No. 7- [i am escorted off the stage]), he might be an average chasseur with a vampire related incident in his history, or he might just be your standard issue psychopath. My favorite Mochijun Flavored Detail this chapter is the panel where, under the guise of breaking up Mira and Gano’s brawl, he moves to block Olivier’s line of sight and path to Astolfo. It’s just so Mochijun and i missed her so much—-

Charles is neato, but he sort of has this vibe where he’s not meant to be the star of the panels he’s in. It’s like Astolfo isn’t fully looking at him. Even though Charles is trying to inspire faith in Astolfo here, the only light Astolfo sees is Roland. In his double-page introductory panel Charles is exclusively lit by light coming in through the door as Roland opens it. Roland, meanwhile, looks like a savior, the light behind him blinding, and Astolfo bursts into tears when he sees him. I’m so excited to watch their relationship collapse as this flashback continues..!

Through Charles’s conversation with Astolfo, we learn a very interesting piece of lore: when a vampire bites someone they aren’t injecting an aphrodisiac or poison with their fangs— they’re actively rewriting their world formula, and sometimes these effects are permanent. I feel like I should’ve been able to riddle this out, given the whole mark of the blue moon thing, but the fact that this happens so frequently throughout the series, and that Jeanne has rewritten Vanitas, is feckin shocking and feels like it has some very interesting implications for the series. Perhaps Archivistes are unique in that, rather than rewriting with their bite, they read what’s already there.

I honestly don’t have many other thoughts on Charles. He gets carried around and nobody’s allowed see him, possibly implying that he’s become sicker/ his existence has gotten more unstable ;) since he originally became a paladin. Maybe he’s the head honcho Roland and Olivier are working against, maybe he’s actually dead by the time we hit the main plotline. At this point, it feels like he could move in any direction.

interpretation, extrapolation, being wrong, that’s the mochijuncycle

Vampires rewrite the world formula when they bite others, often leading to devastating and permanent consequences for those they’ve bitten. Misha and Vanitas aren’t the only two unstable beings in existence— while we’ve never heard of VnC vampires turning humans with their bite, maybe once a human has been rewritten enough times they too become unstable. Maybe Comte, in constantly changing his name and shape, has been rewriting himself to the point of instability. Maybe Noé struggles to rewrite because, as an Archiviste, he was born to simply read and record.

But you probably shouldn’t trust me on any of this because, as always, this is 100% my biased initial interpretation of Chapter 58! I hope you’re all as hyped to see this flashback play out as I am, and I’ll see you (hopefully somewhat) soon for VnC 59!

Looking at this cover again in the full context of the chapter, it occurs to me that. this page comes immediately after the chapter is introduced with "this is a story."

This chapter's first two pages say: remember that this is a story, now here's the characters inside a box. Contained like they are within a narrative. Within manga panels.

Fake anime screenshots from Mémoire 58

Saint Germain really has an interesting idea of what it means to be an observer. The Cambridge Dictionary defines an observer as “a person who watches what happens but has no active part in it”. Merriam-Webster defines it as “one that observes: such as a representative sent to observe but not participate officially in an activity…or an expert analyst and commentator in a particular field” 

It’s not a word I would use for someone pulling the strings of the plot behind the scenes. He caused Noé and Vanitas to meet by telling Noé to seek to seek the Book of Vanitas. He is the one who saved Misha and told him that Luna could be revived. He is most likely responsible for Louis de Sade’s fate, which put Noé on the path of wanting to save cursebearers. Ruthven put a curse on Noé because of his fear of Saint Germain. 

Both his actions and even his mere presence drive the plot forward, so it’s odd that he defines himself outside of it an “observer”. If nothing else, this mindset explains his cavalier attitude to the suffering of those around him, if he views everything around him as a story that he gets to watch unfold. 

2am delirious here but the new chapter really solidifies (... to me) how vnc presents memories as kind of an opposing force to death, with Vanitas and Noé designed as opposites, and with one embodying death, i.e. finiteness and destruction, and the other memory, i.e. preservation and continuation

And the narrative has told us from the very beginning that Vanitas is doomed, dead at Noé's hands - but this is conveyed explicitly via a memoir written by Noé... Though Vanitas's death is inevitable, Noé retains his "story"... and though he is the one to kill Vanitas, he will not let his life be lost for good

I haven't seen anyone else point it out yet, but this line has to be alluding to something important, right?

I can't think of any context in which the description of "unstable existence" could apply to a normal vampire like Noé or Dominique, but we have seen talk of "stabilizing existence" back with Naenia in Gévaudan.

There's no way to know what's wrong yet, but something is *up* with Teacher. And based on "how long have you been like that," it's possibly a newer problem that he's developed since the last time he saw the lady Archiviste.

Vanitas no Carte – Memoire 58

New chapter has been released and translated! – 2023 May 23 [GMT+8]

Official release, so far:

Read online (unofficial):