English Dub Review: The Case Study of Vanitas “Blue Night”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

While drinking Mikhail’s blood, Noe is transported back in time as he observes the boy’s memories. After being captured by Chasseurs, Mikhail was transferred to Doctor Moreau’s lab where another kidnapped kid took him under his wing: Vanitas himself. When Moreau’s lab blows up, the two of them are taken to safety by the Vampire of the Blue Moon, but they’re bound to die unless they become one of his clan.

Our Take:

The Case Study of Vanitas is definitely one of the more hit or miss shows I’ve seen this year, and that trend continues with this week’s new dubbed episode, Blue Night. Whereas last week’s ep was one of the worst in recent memory, this new one is much closer to being watchable. It’s a flashback episode, but unlike some of the show’s other flashback moments, this one actually paints a picture of both the external and internal to give us a more complete look at what makes Vanitas tick—and giving us a preview of how much different Mikhail has become.

Starting with the start, it’s really awful just how much trauma Mikhail has been put through in the last two episodes. Not only was he captured by the church, but then they gave him to Doctor Moreau to join his short list of experimentees. That’s where the kid meets the guy we know as Vanitas. One of the more interesting parts of the ep is getting to see how Vanitas acts back then. While there’s still plenty that annoys me about him, I think I like his flashback self a little better than the insufferable wretch he’s become in the present time period.

Mikhail is probably the most different now, even only seeing him for a few minutes in the present. Back then, even after being traumatized by some of his life events, he did stereotypical cute kid shit like snuggling up to Vanitas and calling him his big brother. Now he tortures curse-bearers and forcibly drinks peoples’ blood. I definitely am not in love with his portrayal in either time period, whether it’s the obnoxious child trope or the creepy fixated sibling thing.

There’s a third major player in the flashback, and that’s the Vampire of the Blue Moon himself, who Mikhail takes to calling father. This mysterious figure rescues Vanitas and Mikhail from the rubble of Moreau’s lab, and takes them to a safe house where we learn that Vanitas would rather die than be made a member of the vampire’s clan. Mikhail, on the other hand, is all too eager to belong to someone, which is a good way of summarizing their viewpoints so far and setting up what their conflict will be next week.

Overall, Blue Night is definitely one of the better episodes in this half of the season. Even though I usually don’t love stopping the storyline for flashback episodes, this one actually felt necessary to the plot and did a good job of telling us new things about Vanitas and Mikhail without resorting to outright exposition dumps. There’s still plenty I would change (especially Dr. Moreau, because good god is he annoying), but this episode certainly has me looking forward to next week with a little more of a positive outlook for where things could go.