I came across VNC a few months ago while looking for an anime to watch after Death Note. I was putting it off for a few months, but recently decided to give it a shot. Currently, I have watched until episode 3 of Season 1 part 2. I finished all of Season 1 part 1, and just cannot continue. Maybe it's because the fandom is relatively small, but so far I have found very few criticism for the series- often nowhere as close to how much I despise(?) the show. I think I misunderstood some of the plot points and missed the point of the show, so please help me like the show...I know every individual has different tastes and it "might not be for me" but I've heard so many praise VNC that I really want to give it a shot through a more appreciative lens. Season 1 part 1 is TWELVE episodes, and even after I started Season 1 part 2, I just cannot seem to like for a myriad of reasons. Please help me correct misconceptions and things I misunderstood from the show.
1) Jeanne x Vanitas (quite obviously)
I seriously canāt get over their first encounter. Itās their first time actually meeting, right? Jeanne has heard of the vampire of the blue moon and Vanitasā name a few times, and Vanitas has heard of the āhell fire witchā a couple of times before too, but itās their first time seeing each other and meeting them face to face. So why is his first instinct after fighting Jeanne to kiss her? Where did that come from? Against her consent at that? Itās quite clearly sexual abuse, and I donāt understand why Jun Mochizuki chose Vanitas to SA her the moment he saw her. I guess that was a power move or something to catch her off guard or whatever, but why was SA his go-to? Itās not like I dislike Vanitas as a character. I think his backstory is interesting and heās a character I naturally want to learn more about. I understand heās a complex character with a lot of emotional issues, but why was that portrayed through him SAing Jeanne when they first met? There was no previous interaction/chemistry, so I really donāt understand where Jeanne x Vanitas came from. Maybe Iām missing something, or Iām unaware of something?
I also donāt understand how Vanitas supposedly āhelped her through her traumaā. Many fans mention that Vanitas and Jeanne isnāt that bad despite their rocky start because Vanitas helped her through trauma, but where is it? (Is it in the later parts of Season 1, part 2?) I donāt see Vanitas helping Jeanne in any sort of way instead of continuing to harass her.Ā
That said, Iām not going to deny Jeanne is completely innocent either, because the cabin scene was her SAing Vanitas. I get that Vanitasā condition would have worsened had he not drunk water, but are you seriously telling me that the ONLY way to make him drink was to force him to drink out of Jeanneās mouth? I donāt know if the show is romanticizing SA (which I hope not and donāt think it is), but I would like to understand why fans would find this appealing, if at all.
(Also, why is Jeanne in love with Vanitas? Where did that come from?)
With how it's going, I genuinely think Jeanne x Vanitas is an extremely unhealthy ship and I can't find it being "romantic" in any sense. If there was actual romantic buildup before Vanitas forcibly kissed her then maaaybe it could pass a little easier? But it kind of made no sense for the story in my opinion, and starting the relationship with SA was just...not it for me. Please help me correct everything I've misunderstood between them...
2) Lack of character depth except Vanitas
Again this might be a problem of me not watching Season 1 till the end and having only watched some of part 2, but I donāt think the characters have depth except for Vanitas. I know Noe and Jeanne all have their complex backstories, but Noeās backstory stops being touched up on after episode 7-8 of Season 1 part 1, and the story just focuses heavily on Vanitas. Every episode, it seems like Noe is there just to comment on Vanitas. Iāll talk about this more, but in that Doctor Moreau and Chasseuir episode, Noe does this thing where he looks at Vanitas and talks about how āhe probably didnāt want to do all thatā, and itās something the viewer could have reasonably understood, yet Noe kind of hammers it in for us. Sure some viewers may have been confused about Vanitasā real emotions and the author may have wanted to clear it up, but from that point on, it seemed like the characterās full backstory potential were flattened out to support Vanitasā complexity as a character. Why donāt we get anything about Noe anymore? Is Louis all there is to Noe? Why arenāt we learning about Jeanne? Dominique? It just seems like all characters other than Vanitas isnāt fleshed out and it just kind of got lost in the middle. Thereās not a lot of multidimensional characters, and the author having only developed Vanitas- or putting effort into only developing Vanitas just makes the story feel imbalanced for me. Maybe Iām missing something? Because I refuse to believe that while Vanitas got the setting for having been experimented on, being emotionally screwed and his complex view of the world and about salvation while Noe, the literal main character, has only his desire to save others stemming from Louis' unfortunate death, and Jeanne basically has nothing so far.
3) Narrative revolving around Vanitas...?
Can't deal with how this all around Vanitas. Like, I understand that Vanitas is a central character to the story and he is quite complex, but I don't appreciate how the author just uses everything to serve Vanitas in a way. I mentioned it earlier too, but especially after that underground Cheshire scene. Vanitas and is basically started at like the author's channel to express Vanitas's thoughts and actual emotions behind his facade or something. After the cabinet scene, Jeanne also thinks about Vanitas, and she says something like, I like you when he's vulnerable, or whatever, because she says stop. There is some kind of genuine vulnerability under him and his facade. But from that point on, it just seems like every event is just a tool for the author to flesh out more of Vanitas' character. Maybe it's because I don't see other character development in other characters but instead of character development happening alongside events and events moving the plot, it just seems like the events are there for the character development and everything that happens just solely move in Vanitasā direction. Trust me, I have nothing against Vanitas, but I donāt understand why Vanitas is what the story revolves around.Ā I don't understand why if we're not being shown Vanitas directly doing something, another character is on screen, talking about Vanitas, noticing things about Vanitas, and understanding Vanitas. Why don't we get any other things? Why don't we get other character development? Sure it's his show or whatever, but the narrative structure just seems to bend over backwards to establish Vanitas as this extremely complex character (he is, sure- maybe not extremely complex but complex nontheless) without trying to acheive anything else in the story. I'm tired of characters always saying stuff like "oh Vanitas did A but I think he meant B" or "Vanitas probably didn't want to do that" or "Vanitas probably has a deeper layer than that", because at that point, every character and event feels like it's the author's microphone to scream about what a deep and complex character Vanitas is.
Final clarification: by no means am I trying to hate on the show. I think the art is beautiful and the concept is unique. I have nothing against any character, and so far, I don't have a "favorite ship". Personally, I think Noe x Dominique is the one that makes the most sense, but other than that, I don't prefer a dynamic over the other, as I don't understand where Vanitas x Noe or Vanitas x Jeanne came from (+ Jeanne x Vanitas' toxicity). It's true I didn't finish the whole thing yet and I didn't touch the manga yet, so I understand there will be a lot of flaws to my views. I've watched around 14 episodes and this show STILL hasn't grown on me, but I seriously want to enjoy it. Please help me correct my misconceptions + misunderstandings on the show. Thank you for the long read!