English Dub Review: The Case Study of Vanitas “Where Death Slumbers”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Vanitas and Noe meet with Lord Riven and discuss their next move. Noe is surprised to learn that Luca is a Grand Duke, while Vanitas gets them kicked back into the human world when he offends the vampires by asking to examine their Queen.

Once returned to the human realm, they learn that vampires have been going missing and go in search of the group responsible’s hidden base. They don’t find it, but Vanitas already knows where it is, and sneaks out by himself to go after the church’s anti-vampire unit. Luckily, Noe tags along with him, because it’s going to take both of them to make it out alive.

Our Take:

Last week’s episode of Vanitas was all romance focused and didn’t fare too well in my review. For the eighth episode this week, the show switches things up and returns to the action of hunting for vampire hunters when Vanitas and Noe return to the human realm. It’s certainly not a great episode, but it’s definitely a lot more interesting than the previous one.

The opening scene isn’t a promising start, as Vanitas does his usual annoying Vanitas thing and takes things too far in his desire to examine the Queen. It’s a little hard to tell if it’s just serial sarcasm or if he’s genuinely unhinged, but it’s probably a combination of both. I’m less surprised about Vanitas getting them booted from the realm and more interested in the reveal that Luca is the Grand Duke, but we don’t get to spend much time processing that before the series kicks its next storyline into gear.

Back in the human world, more vampires have been going missing and Noe, Vanitas, and their associates are eager to put a stop to it. Or are they? The group goes into some underground catacombs that turns out to be nothing more than a tourist trap. It’s kind of pointless, and especially so because it turns out that Vanitas knew where they should’ve been going all along. Maybe some will enjoy the chaotic nature of having a main character like Vanitas, but I am not among them.

He and Noe eventually break into a church and Noe comments that it seems like Vanitas already knows who’s responsible for the kidnappings and where to find them. He confronts Vanitas about it, and wouldn’t ya know it, Vanitas just ignores him and spews some unrelated bullshit. It’s frustrating for Noe, but also as a viewer. I did enjoy it a bit more once the two of them ran into a paladin named Roland. He seems like a naive young worshipper at first, but manages to trick Vanitas into a trap and then goes on the attack against Noe in the cliffhanger ending.

Where Death Slumbers is a solid improvement over last week’s episode for sure, but there’s still plenty I would’ve liked the show to have done differently. Pacing, for one thing. If we could’ve gotten into the final catacombs more quickly instead of spending time on false alarms and Vanitas’s queen fetish, maybe more answers would’ve been found. But then again, the show is perfectly content to let Vanitas keep all his secrets to himself… for now, at least.