REVIEW: volume 10 - case study of vanitas (manga)

NOTE: this review is about the manga series, not the anime adaptation. despite this, please take note that there are spoilers mentioned in this entry for scenes that are also adapted in the anime.

REVIEW #9: Volume 10

Content Type: Manga 

Media/Franchise: Case Study of Vanitas 

• THE PAIN CONTINUES FROM VOLUME 9 😭💔 
• oh I cannot get over the fear on Noé's face when he realized that he looked terribly close to a monster while fighting Vanitas 🫠 
• ALSO DOMI SPOTLIGHT!! I was so so proud to see her overcome her insecurities 💗 and the phantom Louis helping her ground herself... ohh I can't bear the thought that Louis has always been within Domi's soul 🥺
• the panel where Domi's sword splits her appearance in the middle and it's like one side visually represents her and the other side visually represents Louis just further proves my point 😭 I absolutely adore how Domi is trying to unlearn the mentality that Louis should've been the one "who's alive right now," and instead is accepting that Louis is a part of her and that she'll carry on his memory 💞
• DOMI'S POWERS WERE SO COOL TOO!! I love love Luca's description of Domi being delicate but powerful - I literally got shivers seeing those panels where she's so graceful despite the intensity of the fight, like she's performing 🥹 also her hair!! her hair just being so flowy and ethereal the whole time!! truly a queen ☝️
• a detail I found intriguing (but also disturbing) about Misha is how his dialogue boxes/bubble texts when he's screaming are illustrated in a jagged and fragmented manner - it's haunting because Misha is just a kid, so it's expected when he screams and cries a lot if he's upset, but his state of being upset is chaotic and dangerous. there's so much trauma within him that even he can't understand 
• OHH my heart just melted when I saw the way Noé looks at Domi 😔 the faint blush on his cheeks... oh he just loves her so much
• ALSO SHAPELESS ONE APPEARANCE!! I remember getting chills when I first saw them in the anime, and the 2-page spread in the manga highlighting their face was genuinely terrifying 
• I am so so intrigued to know more about the Shapeless One's lore because him saving Misha + him convincing Misha that there's a way to "bring Luna back from the dead" (I honestly thought that was Naenia he made a deal with, we haven't seen her in a while - but the Shapeless One doing this instead makes it even more intriguing!! he's never appeared out of his own volition in the manga aside from flashbacks) + I also just want to know what his whole deal is?? 
• I remembered seeing this scene in the anime and thinking that the Shapeless One's eyes look very much like Murr's lmao 
• side note but I'm super happy that we still get to see Mme Amelia every now and then since she works at the hotel Vanitas and Noé stay at 🥹 she was so cute too when she stopped Noé from leaving his room because Jeanne and Domi were having a heart-to-heart in the hallway 💞 I adore the girls of VNC so much 
• OUUU Vanitas/Noé rooftop scene... 
• I feel so bad for Misha y'all I know he was really cuckoo for the most part but he really is just a kid who yearns to have a family 😔 the way he broke down when Vanitas implied that he chooses to stay with Noé oh gee 
• ALSO AAAAHHH THE WAY VANITAS SAID THAT IF HE WANTS ANYONE TO KILL HIM IT WOULD BE NOÉ 💔😭 that's the Vanitas no Carte equivalent of professing your undying love for someone (similar to how Vanitas says that he'll be the one to kill Jeanne ouuu) 
• I love how Noé telling Vanitas amid their fight that he'll "never set him free" resonated so deeply within Vanitas like he's spent so many moments alone and pushing others away and now he has someone who's stubbornly, fiercely staying by his side 🥹
• also them just sitting back-to-back on the rooftop is so cute!! such silly beans <3 
• as traumatizing that fight-in-the-rain scene was I'm genuinely so glad that that scene strengthened Vanitas' and Noé's understanding of each other, like it was meant to test how far they'd go and how much of themselves they're willing to change for one another 🥹
• AND THAT'S THE END OF THIS ARC 🥳 finally finished reading all of the manga that was adapted in the anime!! 
• side note I find it somewhat diabolical that both Volume 9 and Volume 10 had a lot more wholesome fanservice-y extra pages at the end 💀 like MochiJun will throw us about 150 pages of hurt and trauma then give us an additional 30 pages of the characters having a party and being cute chibis (well at least she knows that we all needed a comfy reliever after everything we'd just witnessed 😭) 
• also the extra page of the Vanitas no Carte characters being "interviewed" about their thoughts on the anime adaptation coming to life!! 🥹 it was such an adorable fourth wall break (also Noé just stuttering in overwhelming excitement was so endearing ohh my baby 💞) 
• am incredibly excited to read the following chapters of the manga and see more of how the characters and the lore develops!! 🤩 will be back with a review for Volume 11 hehe