English Dub Review: The Case Study of Vanitas “Hands Upon a Nightmare”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Chloe has used the Alteration Engine to manifest a physical form for Naenia so she can kill her for taking Jean-Jacques true name. But killing the physical Naenia is harder than she expected, and Vanitas calls for her to stop. But it’s too late, and Naenia turns into Queen Faustina, the first vampire of the Crimson Moon, being used as a vessel to be Death’s Keeper. Chloe’s powers cause a crazy explosion in the area and suddenly the immediate vicinity is transformed into a magical wasteland. Can Vanitas and Noe stop Chloe from losing control and do something about Naenia before it’s too late?

Our Take:

Every week is pretty crazy when it comes to the Case Study of Vanitas, but this week’s new dubbed episode takes things to a whole new level. Chloe tries to kill Naenia, who turns out to be the first vampire queen, and then everything goes downhill from there for Vanitas, Noe, and the people of Gévaudan. Between the chaotic Chloe and the evil unleashed of Naenia, it’s a wonder that Vanitas and Noe aren’t losing their own minds right now.

The episode starts out where things left off last time, aka Chloe in murder mode. It was a nice twist last week that Chloe’s true target turned out to be the mysterious Naenia, who I still don’t really know anything about, but Chloe’s plan stops being so perfect at this point. Turns out, it’s really hard to kill a godlike super vampire evil overlord? Chloe does seem to kill the manifested form, but Vanitas says something about how now Naenia will remember who she really is, which is, surprise, the vampire queen. I’m not clear on exactly how this happened, or what the implications are, but it sure sounds like a big deal.

What is immediately clear is that Chloe can’t handle all this pressure that’s been mounting upon her back for so many years. There’s a Big Bang and now the landscape is made up of floaty bits of land like in a video game—only this is all too real. Vanitas tells Noe that if Chloe doesn’t get her defensive powers under control, the entirety of Gévaudan could go up in flames soon. He and Noe set off to help her, but first they run into Roland, who has arrived with a bunch of fellow Chasseurs. I’m not sure how I feel about all the previous characters also showing up in this storyline, but it is somewhat interesting that Roland is working for the church while also being suspicious of its true motives. Guess we’ll see how that plays out.

There’s also a large portion of the episode focused on Jeanne, and it kind of sucks. It’s all just a big mishmash of stuff we’ve seen before, like how she failed to kill Chloe when she was ordered to, and how she has lost her sense of self due to being told she’s nothing more than a pawn for Lord Ruthven. It’s pretty cliche ’emotionless warrior’ stuff like thinking she has no purpose, is just a tool, has no will of her own. Like, yeah, we get it already.

Overall, this episode had some interesting bits to it, but it doesn’t feel quite as epic as it could have, mainly due to two things: Naenia not being as well explained as she could have been, and reductant and pointless Jeanne flashbacks and inner monologues stealing focus from the craziness currently happening.