What is love? Baby, don’t bite me. Or do, I guess.
What They Say:
“Love”
Vanitas and Jeanne’s “encounter” during their battle in Paris comes to light. Vanitas offers to keep Jeanne’s secret on two conditions. Noé and Vanitas prepare to meet Lord Ruthven. Noé ponders the meaning of love, but Domi throws a wrench into the works.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After the endless intensity of last episode, starting this one off with a peaceful little tea time featuring Vanitas, Noe, Domi, Jeanne, and Luca eating tarte Tatin at a luxurious table makes it feel like an entirely different series. The series hasn’t been letting up for quite a few episodes now, so it seems that it’s finally taking the time to decompress and recover before we’re back in the thick of it.
The tone of this scene recalls the fun times we had with Vanitas and Noe early in the series. It wasn’t long ago at all, but so much has happened in these last several episodes that it was starting to feel like we’d never return to those times. Despite the baggage of recent events and how they changed the increasingly complicated dynamics of these five, there’s at least an attempt to act just as flippantly as ever.
As the group jokes around, characters are filled in on happenings that they weren’t present for, presented in a lighter manner than when we saw them play out. Everything is funny in hindsight, after all. It starts with an earnest plea from Luca, demanding that Vanitas apologize for his assault of Jeanne that certainly warrants such outrage, but is treated comically, and Vanitas uses his charisma to steer it into being a joke and using it as a setup to publicize Jeanne’s bloodlust-fueled assault of her own. Of course, in that case Vanitas egged her on and took advantage of her loss of control to eat it up and maintain his sense of power and superiority. Laying it out to the rest of the group continues to be not a great look, but he does twist the facts a little to protect the one secret she wants to keep under wraps.
As the characters hop out of the window one by one, we continue on a somewhat humorous and relatively lighthearted trend, but we also start to dig into more serious subjects a bit more. After embarrassing Jeanne out of the room, Vanitas chases her down to confront her about the secret she’s trying to hide and lays out his terms. None of this makes him any more likable, but it’s consistent with the characteristics that have made him intriguing to watch, and his relationship with Jeanne continues to be worthwhile to explore, particularly because of all of its problems.
Noe feels a little left behind by all of this. At this point, it’s pretty easy to see much of the main cast in a bisexual, polyamorous relationship. Noe feels actively jealous of Jeanne getting to feed off of Vanitas, who smelled so delicious, before him, while simultaneously engaging in a much more intimate mutual bloodsucking session with Domi. All of this sexuality is viewed through the lens of vampires and their unique manner of feast, but the concepts are all laid pretty bare.
This is true to the extent that the episode ultimately leads to the scene teased at its beginning, in which Noe and Vanitas wonder to each other what love really is. Vanitas has his idea, but Noe is significantly more confused. The series has a lot going on, and a lot going for it outside of this specific realm, but there’s a lot of potential for discussions on the connection between love and lust, sexual orientation, and exclusivity. It’s only scratching the surface, but it’s still putting forth more thought than it had to.
In Summary:
After a long string of harrowing chaos, this episode is largely a breather before we head into the next big plot point. Vanitas and the way he treats Jeanne aren’t very likable, but that doesn’t mean it’s not interesting. Similarly, simple vampire concepts open up the door to more nuanced discussion of sexuality.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Funimation