We be bloggin'

Hello and welcome back to Niji Nights, day number six! Can you believe that we’re nearly at the end of Niji Nights? It seems like it just flew by. Tonight, on this sixth Niji Night, I’m going to be bringing you another installment of queer coded– a blog series that looks at an anime and takes note of things that feel queer-coded within the series. Because let’s be real, some anime just aren’t as straight as we’d like to believe. Today, I’m going to be looking at one of my favorite anime/manga: The Case Study of Vanitas.

The Case Study of Vanitas. Where to begin here? That’s the real question. I say this because it feels like there’s so much to unpack, and yet so little at the same time. See, in this anime, both main characters–Noe and Vanitas–have female love interests. But this is one of those manga that also focuses heavily on the relationship between the two male leads, therefore making it pretty heavily queer-coded. Our POV character, Noe, honestly talks like he’s infatuated with Vanitas when he first meets him. At the beginning of the story, Noe tells us that the manga is a story of his relationship with Vantitas and the eventual death of Vanitas at Noe’s own hands. To Noe, Vanitas is a strange human–a human he doesn’t understand but who he wants to understand. He irritates Noe, but also amazes Noe at the same time–the feelings he has for the human feel very much like the beginnings of a hate-to-love romance story. And Vanitas? Kinda feels like a manic pixie girl pulling Noe along on this journey of revenge on the blue moon. The entirety of their relationship honestly echoes that of another rather subtly homoromantic pair–Sherlock & Holmes. And boy do we all know how homoerotic that relationship is often portrayed.

Anyway, the thing about these two is that there are multiple moments that seem a little sus. For instance, when Noe dances with Vanitas while having a conversation about love. It’s so interesting too because prior to this, it seemed very clear that the male leads had their female love interests at play in the scene, but what does the chapter come down to? Vanitas and Noe sharing a dance instead. It’s definitely an interesting choice. Another thing that can be seen as romantic subtext is Noe’s pursuit of understanding and getting to know Vanitas. More than anything, Noe shows he wants to know Vanitas more–and he wants to learn his secrets and even stand by his side. During their large fight in the manga/anime, Noe is berating Vanitas for never telling him anything or leaning on him. While yes, this can be seen as friendship, it’s more emotionally charged than that. And the resolution to this? Noe telling Vanitas he will never leave him alone even when he asks for it. And in return, Vanitas can’t kill him because deep down, he knows how deeply he cares about Noe despite everything.

The entire resolution of the Noe/Vanitas fight also hints at a much deeper relationship and understanding of one another. Vanitas’ attitude towards Noe definitely changes–becoming visibly softer and more vulnerable than he was before. And Noe is over the moon with it. Vanitas even goes as far as to say that if he’s ever to die, he wants it to be at Noe’s hand and nobody else’s–signaling his trust with the vampire has almost become ironclad. The final pages of the chapter in which these two have an honest talk showcases really beautiful art and this touching moment where Noe offers Vanitas a hand and Vanitas smiles back at Noe before taking it. It’s such a pretty set of panels–one you would almost expect to see in a shoujo when the romantic love interests share a big moment to get closer to one another.

What’s even more interesting about these two, is that the female love interest, Jeanne and Domi, while having plenty of truly romantic scenes between them and their respective male lead, both seem to acknowledge that there is something about the relationship between Vanitas and Noe that is special. For instance, during that fight between Noe and Vanitas, while Vanitas is basically brainwashed, Jeanne shows up instead of helping Vanitas get out of it, she encourages Noe to — knowing and trusting that their bond will be more effective than her presence. And it works. Meanwhile, Domi always seems a little jealous of Noe’s infatuation with Vanitas. A later chapter even has Domi and Vanitas finding common ground over all of Noe’s quirks and annoyances–almost like two girls gossiping over a guy. All of it is just very…interesting in the format of these bonds.

While the series doesn’t necessarily feel as though it’s fully baiting us with homoerotic subtext, it certainly feels very queer coded. With the way Vanitas seems so reluctant to let Noe in, and his overly affectionate infatuation with Jeanne, he can almost be read as a closeted man trying very hard to be straight and rejecting another man who may or may not be in love with him. But of course–that is probably a more extreme reading that needs more evidence to truly pursue. Despite that, Vanitas feels very BL coded with the entirety of the relationship. At the end of the day, it could end up being a very tragic love story.

xoxo

Luna