Welcome, welcome. Welcome back to Otaku Thursday! I was planning to come at you with an anime review this week, but instead I have opted to come with a bit of a hybrid post–part review, part concerned musing. Today, I wanted to talk about Vanitas no Carte–and specifically my…concerns–fears–ptsd from Pandora Hearts–on if Vanitas will ever get finished in anime format. Which, you know, is only in my mind because I am an avid reader of the manga–I’ve been reading it a long time and it’s one of my favorite manga of all time. So while I’ve been overall enjoying the anime…I have some concerns. Let’s get into that.
Vanitas no Carte season 2 is set to have twelve episode and mainly cover the Beast of Gevaudan arc from the manga. Now, without getting too much into it, the Beast of Gevaudan arc was the longest Vanitas arc the manga has had so far. It spanned about 20 chapters, which yes–compared to other manga that isn’t a lot, but when it’s still ongoing with only 56 chapters, that is a lot. Now, when it was established that the Beast of Gevaudan was what season 2 would be focusing on, I had assumed that it’d likely take up the entirety of the twelve episodes–especially since the arc that followed directly after it was still ongoing. After all, Vanitas no Carte is a monthly manga, meaning we only get 12 chapters each year. So there’s no way they’d be trying to adapt more than just the Gevaudan arc…right? I thought so–and that’s what I told Star. It’d make sense–would give the manga more time to finish it’s next arc and publish more chapters so that maybe in a year or two we could get a third season of Vanitas.
That’s not what happened. So I’m concerned on the state of the Vanitas no Carte anime. Season two has already wrapped up the Gevaudan arc–which I did see coming as I watched weekly. The plot points were happening quickly, the pacing was a little fast–much like how the first season’s pacing was a bit off–and I understood there was no way they could stretch it out over the course of twelve episodes. I began to grow concerned that they might pull a Pandora Hearts and give it an anime-only ending since they were also quickly catching up with the manga. My fears were sort of assuaged when I realized they were just planning to continue into the next arc–the current arc that only just recently ended in the manga–and use that for the final few episodes of the anime. However, this created an even bigger concern for me: would Vanitas ever get a season three? Would I actually see my favorite manga fully in anime form ever? Or would it be another D.Gray-Man (original anime) that just ended abruptly and was over for many years and never truly ended for anime watchers? Goddess I hope not. Because while yes, I am reading the manga and will get an ending, I told Star–WHO NOTORIOUSLY HATE UNFINISHED ANIME AND UNANSWERED QUESTIONS–to watch it. That was my bad. Because I can see them just ending the anime with the next arc. Because that arc has a good ending–an ending I can see them using in anime. But Vanitas no Carte is nowhere near answering all the questions needed to be answered, which makes sense as it’s a story still being told. So now I’m just like great–if Vanitas ever gets a third season it won’t be for many years. But at that point, it probably won’t get a third. So I just gave Star a great anime to watch–that will never finish the true story. I am the worst.
The good news is that Vanitas no Carte is still a good anime. It’s enjoyable, it’ll tell a decent story (if they end it where I think they will), but it just won’t be it. We won’t know more about the Charlatan, or Naenia, Vanitas’ fate, or any of the other boiling questions I still have as a manga reader. Unless of course…they throw all that info into the storyline in a way that both seems natural and wraps it up with an anime only ending in a satisfying way. I have little faith… But you know, even if they don’t, even if they just end it where the next arc ends, then Vanitas no Carte still ends up being a great story about them. About Vanitas. About Noe. And I guess that can be good enough.
Well, this has been a long and ranty post. I just–I really like Vanitas no Carte (as if you couldn’t tell) and I just really don’t want it to be given an anime ending that’s unsatisfying. I also really don’t want to see it just end on a cliffhanger that has people wondering years later. There’s this trend in anime recently where they create short series based on ongoing manga just to promote those manga–which, y’know is fine. But also disappointing. Let’s hope it doesn’t go this way. Until then, I’m going to enjoy watching the anime adaption as I have–and of course reading the manga. Thanks for reading this whole rant.
Stay weebtastic,
xoxo
Luna
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