#bemused's reply

[bemused-writer]

Hi! Ever since I read X, I always found myself leaning towards Subaru and Kamui and their relationship, even more than their respective co-stars in TB and X, although I find Seishirou to be just as fascinating a character. It was amazing to find someone who ship them in the past, I'm glad that has changed! and even more to find your fic "When the World Ends" (and the rest of your wonderful stories and ideas about the two of them!). In a way, I really hate that TB!Subaru didn't get to meet X!Kamui because I think they would have been perfect for each other, in a way. I think TRC highlights it even more, giving HOKUTO'S place (the only one who could see into Subaru's heart) to KAMUI. It always seemed to me that what Subaru craved the most was someone who understood him and Kamui surprises him precisely because he does.

Ahh, thank you so much! I'm constantly amazed and so flattered by the positive reception this fic has gotten. (^^) I know updates have been slow, but I have the next arc outlined and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you all. :D

I also would have loved to see X!Kamui meet TB!Subaru. In general, a crossover with these two series would have been so cool. The things they would have had to discuss!

The lack of Hokuto in TRC raises all kinds of interesting questions and I would have loved for CLAMP to explore it more. Was she truly never there or had she disappeared? Either way, I agree that what Subaru wanted was someone who understood, and he definitely found that in Kamui.

[bemused-writer]

Hi! Manga vnc spoilers in this ask. I just recently got into vnc and am caught up on the manga. I know how fandom and shippers are but I have a question about vanoe and vanjeanne. Do you think vanoe has any chance of being at least implied the way vanjeanne has been shown? Like both vanitas and jeanne have seemed to have realized their feelings towards each other but like it does seem like Noe feels something like that towards vanitas and clearly vanitas' feelings towards noe arent very cut and dry either.

If I understand correctly, you're wondering if Vanitas and Noé will be more or less confirmed in the same manner as Vanitas and Jeanne, right? This is something I've talked about previously, my most notable contribution being my Analysis of VaNoé. That's a bit old, I'll grant you, but my general sentiment is largely the same and my other thoughts are all... somewhere in my meta. XD

Anyway, to sum up, I think Vanitas and Noé have a chance of being "canon" but I don't know if we'll necessarily get some kind of definite "they're together" sort of scene. If we do, I fully expect that to be near the very end of the story. Either way, the entire manga is about their relationship and how it develops, so canon or not it's definitely the focus.

I've also long said that I think Vanitas/Jeanne is a "learning relationship." I expect it to last for most of the duration of the manga and I also expect it to eventually end with both parties realizing they don't work, but with each more or less content with how it went (assuming things don't go radically downhill). This isn't anti-VaniJeanne or anything, this is just what seems most likely to me at this point in the manga. I could definitely be wrong!

[bemused-writer]

Hi! :D

Could you help me with a little something, please?

The other day, while looking at a reaction at the vnc anime (to see it through the eyes of a non-manga-reader), they said that it was weird that the Marquis De Sade chose to spare Dominique and "kill" Louis: in a maschilist world, it would've likely been the opposite.

Point being is that, to me at least, *somewere* is stated that the vampire society is in fact matriarchal.

Question is: did I dream of it, was that a theory I took as headcanon or is it official and I just can't find it anymore? ^^'

Thanks in advance!

Heya! So, at the moment I cannot remember canon ever stating that vampire society is matriarchal, although it would definitely be interesting.

At the moment, we really know very little about vampire society in the manga. We know they have a queen who rules over all, but that doesn't necessarily make it a matriarchal society. Nineteenth-century England was also ruled by a queen, but no one would call it matriarchal by any stretch of the imagination.

What we do know is that something has happened to the queen and there is a cover up. The most powerful figures in vampire society outside of the queen have all been men: Teacher, Ruthven, Luca (not an adult, but inheritor to the throne), Machina, Antoine, etc. We also know Dominique's father has had several wives and children with each of them.

There are powerful women, too, and they are equally likely to be warriors (Jeanne, Dominique, and Veronica), but their presence isn't quite as common. If I had to guess, I would say that vampire society in this manga is still very similar to the actual 19th century with a bit more progressive attitudes regarding certain roles (and possibly the reverse on others).

As for why Louis was used for Teacher's experiment and not Dominique, I always assumed it was because Louis was born "cursed" while Dominique was not. That is an assumption on my part though. We don't really know enough about Teacher or his experiment to say whether there was a true reason for his (or the de Sades) choice.

[bemused-writer]

What do you think about the theory that VnC 55.5 is a dream or an illusion? I keep seeing it being brought up and personally I don't like it at all. It diminishes a lot of Vanitas' long overdue character growth re: his dynamic with Noé.

I was surprised when I saw this theory. I read the chapter a lot more straightforwardly, I suppose.

So, for me, what it comes down to is what would this being a dream achieve for the plot? At the moment, it doesn't seem like much. If it is a dream (or maybe an illusion spun by Teacher?) it answers too many actual questions posed by the arc, you know? Sure, Mochizuki could be trying to misdirect us, but to what end? It would have to be something truly groundbreaking to justify it. There's nothing inherently wrong with "it was all a dream/illusion" but it has to work and right now I'm not convinced it would.

Because once you've answered actual questions with answers that make perfect sense and tie up your arc, well, it just doesn't make much sense to backtrack! There are lots of ways to misdirect the reader without having the entire scene be false. Vanitas could be lying about what happened to Luna, for one.

No, I think it makes more sense for this to be reality and for this to be the actual continuation of the arc. I will try to address what it would mean for this to be a dream in a bit more detail when I get around to my meta, but I guess the short answer is I don't think this is a dream.

[bemused-writer]

Read a previous ask you answered, so what IS Noé's position in vampire society? If he's adopted by The Shapeless One, wouldn't that mean he's also an aristocrat? Or does that only apply if they're born into the family?

Ah, this is a very good question, Anon. You see, the truth is that we don't fully know what his position is. However, we can make a few educated guesses. While I assumed for some time The Shapeless One had adopted Noé, it's far more likely he hasn't and that the adopted person in question is his son (Dominique's father). This would mean you don't have to be related by blood to inherit the family name, but you do have to be formally adopted and given those rights. So, where does this put Noé?

Noé is never introduced as "Noé de Sade" and this is a dead giveaway that he has no rights to the de Sade name. He is "Noé Archiviste" and the troubles that follow that clan follow him as well.

Basically, if he has any legal rights whatsoever, he might be a ward of The Shapeless One. More likely he has no rights whatsoever in the de Sade household and he really is The Shapeless One's student, and the only reason he counts as that is because The Shapeless One allowed him the right. Noé was bought as a slave and that means something to a society like this. Dreary though it is, if The Shapeless One had been just a bit crueler, Noé's life could have been very different.

Furthermore, note the fact that the rest of the de Sade family has no interest in him and that he has likely never met anyone outside of Louis (also an outcast) and Dominique (who probably wanted to visit her grandfather and brother). That means he has no influence over their household and therefore they don't have to care about him.

Noé has many of the privileges of the aristocracy as we have seen. He's been given the education and funds. Yet he still isn't a proper aristocrat because he could likely never marry Dominique (he knows it would be improper for her to be associated with him in this way) and he will never inherit anything from the de Sades unless The Shapeless One allows him to. In this regard, he's more similar to Vanitas or any other non-aristocratic person.

It's a very strange place he finds himself and I wouldn't be surprised if we see this explored more later on in the manga.

[bemused-writer]

the louis and mina panels are from the 2nd dvd/blu-ray set of extras

they're a total of 4 pages:

two of them is basically mina's pov, and it's abut how she imagines herself as a princess in a fairy tale trying to find a prince, she first "thought" it's louis but after he was rude to her in that panel. she "changed targets" to noé and started paying attention to him "even though she doesn't like younger boys much" to which louis turned to domi and told her to "not lose to mina" and domi blushes.

and the other story is about amelia's observation of the difference between noé and vanitas' anger manifestation -for lack of better words- and how noé gets angry quickly, but also gets over it just as fast, while vanitas is more the type to hold grudges and remembers everything.

and the third story is a conversation between dante and noé, in which the latter says that he thinks his relationship with vanitas is refreshing, because vanitas doesn't baby him but instead treats him as an equal, as opposed to most other people who he came across (like his friends group as a child, because he's younger than them) and how noé attributes part of it due to noé being the elder between him and vanitas.

there's already picture leaks and full fan text-translations, but it has not been fully typesetted afaik, just bits and pieces of panels

Thank you for telling me, Anon! Ahh, I forgot about those extras. I really hope they make it to America at some point; I want to read them so badly...

[bemused-writer]

Im new to the case study of vanitas fan crowd but ive been thinking for a long time that Noé is a child of the Blue Moon. His eye color seems to indicate that he’s a blend of the Red and Blue Moon, or it was changed through an interaction w/ the Blue Moon. He has dark skin and white hair, which is a lighter version of the Blue Moon. Im not aiming to overthink any of this bc this has been a curveball, but tell me if uve covered it b4

I think that Noé has a connection to the blue moon but I don't think he's necessarily of the blue moon. His connection could simply be that he admires the blue moon, which is what we've seen so far.

Regarding his eyes, his purple eyes are his "default" eye color and I think symbolically represent his attachment to both red moon and blue moon individuals. Noé is often represented as being the balance between two extremes; he doesn't "take sides."

Still, his "vampire" eyes are red, which means he must be of the red moon unless Mochizuki drops some new info on us. It's always possible.

Thanks for the Ask! Welcome to the fandom. (^^)

[bemused-writer]

Both Noé and Jeanne have grown fond of Vanitas so far yet they either miss or gloss over his worst moments. Jeanne is utterly blinded by her crush, but Noé isn't as forgiving of Vanitas as her. The current arc's purpose might be that Vanitas realizes his mistreatment of Noé had serious consequences and Noé will revalue if he's really glad of the way Vanitas is. What potential do you see in that for their character arcs and dynamic?

(This was sent before chapter 53 raws were out.)

They're both very forgiving of Vanitas that much is certain, but what this arc is revealing is that Noé is actually very resentful of how Vanitas refrains from sharing information and how callous he can be towards others. No surprise on either front there. As for Jeanne, she's currently blinded by positive feelings for Vanitas, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some anger begin to peak through later in the series. I mean, it's not like she hasn't been furious with Vanitas before and given Vanitas's personality type, well, she'll probably be mad at him again eventually. (^^)"

But to answer your question, it looks like Noé is still fond of Vanitas. And yet things are far from resolved. Vanitas needs to apologize at some point in this arc because while Noé committed several wrongs, Vanitas absolutely did as well. I expect a scene where these two have to talk things out eventually, although when they'll have time to is another matter altogether. They'll each have to evaluate what they want from the other as well because that's shifting quite a bit this arc. Vanitas has cared more about Noé than he's wanted to let on for quite a while now, but can he handle being confronted with this as directly as he has been now? And can Noé handle the possibility that Vanitas might not change his ways? Food for thought.