Chapter 55 Luca appreciation post

Y’all remember this??? Aged just like we thought it would with the last manga chapter 😉

Okay, wait, what if it turns out Domi actually turns into her curse bearer form in the next chapter, saving her fall with a cost to stop the fighting? (Assuming that Misha messed with her name like Charlatin is doing)

Vanitas no Carte Volume 9 covernalysis

VnC volume 9’s cover has been revealed and it’s incredibly beautiful and I love it. What does this cover say about Mikhail and the story of VnC…? Let’s try and find out!

Volume 9’s cover features Mikhail, grinning widely at something behind him while holding a golden frame. Inside of the frame is a sleeping Vanitas, who is surrounded by a bunch of butterflies. We’ll get back to the butterfly thing later but first let’s talk about the frame.

Mikhail’s frame is designed like a butterfly pinning board. Its borders feature butterflies in various states of distress— some of them are whole, but most are destroyed in some way. Some are torn in half, others are missing part of a wing… could these be the butterflies Mikhail destroyed before pinning his prize butterfly (Vanitas) on the board? Mikhail’s frame is also tied with chains, keeping Vanitas trapped inside of it. Interestingly, while the butterflies on the frame are all right- side up, Vanitas alone is upside down. I have no idea what this means but it’s probably important

This frame seems to be a representation of Mikhail’s desire to go back to the time when he, Luna, and Vanitas lived as a happy family. Vanitas isn’t the only person in Mikhail’s frame— there’s a strand of long white hair next to Vanitas, suggesting that Luna is also part of this picture. Mikhail wants to pin Vanitas on a board, wants to lock him up so that they can be “happy” again… and he’s willing to destroy anything that gets in the way of his goal, including Vanitas’s mental state. I don’t think Luna would be too happy about being reincarnated by some very sus benefactor, either.

My insane overanalysis spidey senses are tingling at the placement of the pins on Mikhail’s butterfly board frame. Some of them are holding the chains in place, but others are pinning the butterflies on the frame. I feel like the two pins on one butterfly in the upper right corner are distinctly sus, but have no idea what they represent, or if they represent anything at all… so until further notice I think the pin placement is probably just an aesthetic choice.

Mikhail’s posture on the volume 9 cover makes it look like he’s been staring at the frame of Vanitas, but has noticed someone standing behind him and turned around to look at them. He could potentially just be looking at the viewer, but the weird shadows on Mikhail’s face and the frame make me feel like there’s someone there behind him, just out of view. Or he could just be in a gallery with harsh lighting or something.

Now, moving on to the butterflies inside of Mikhail’s frame. In the frame we can see Vanitas surrounded by a bunch of blue butterflies and a single glowing magenta one. This is a very cool parallel to some older official art that was on the cover of chapter 34.5… (this image was cropped)

Both the volume 9 cover and the chapter 34.5 cover feature one of our protagonists lying (or sinking) upside- down, surrounded by a bunch of butterflies of one color and a single glowing butterfly of another— a copper sulfate blue butterfly hovering above Noé, and a magenta butterfly next to Vanitas. Based on the colors our two protagonists have been associated with throughout vnc, we can assume these butterflies symbolize each character’s respective partner protagonist.

What does this mean for Volume 9? Wellll……

Firstly, butterfly Noé is looking at Mikhail’s frame— similar to how he looks into Mikhail’s memories during the chapters of volume 9. I’m pretty sure that he’s outside of the frame (based on the sparkle effect and the reflections on the frame and chains)— Noé isn’t part of Mikhail’s memories, he’s just looking in. He can’t reach Vanitas, he can only look.

Butterfly Noé is trying to approach Vanitas, but he’s separated from him by the frame— Mikhail’s presence and memories are keeping them apart. Noé wants to rescue Vanitas (just like how Vanitas saved him in chapter 34.5), but Vanitas is asleep in the frame. And Mikhail? Mikhail is so confident that Noé isn’t a threat that he’s letting Noé look.

BRO WAIT, WHAT IF NAENIA ENDS UP BEING IN CHAPTER 53 AND IS HOW DOMI SURVIVES? That would stir up even more drama with Noé

A nice unsmooshed version 🥰🥰🥰

I was wrong

A pure Vanitas

Reposting with clearer pic. At this point of where we’re at now, I think the purple blood really will be Noé

Me after the chapter came out

This all I can see them arguing about in these two panels Pic taken from Gangan JOKER’s twitter

going feral not only over Noé still reaching out while turning his head in shame but also Vani's jacket hanging off of his shoulder as if to signifiy he still somehow trusts Noé enough to let his guard down around him

Staring anxiously at the new VnC spoilers waiting for the English version of the new chapter to drop and I have to say while I’m here that like. I’m suspicious of whatever the hell Mochijun is doing right now because I remember what happened last time in Pandora Hearts, where like with all mangas we get character backstories in ascending order of Fuckeningness where the characters with the least amount of plot-relevant stuff to hide get their backstories revealed first, and Oz’s real backstory got hidden by his fake backstory getting revealed immediately to make us think we knew all his stuff already before the real backstory hit.

and what I’m saying here is like. The fact that we’re getting so much of Vanitas’s backstory now, but we still don’t know Noe’s backstory prior to his teacher taking him in? Especially when Vanitas’s backstory and a lot of the content related to it have been driving questions? That’s deeply sus to me. Unless Mochijun decides to bait us and save the really important stuff for a later arc, the implication here is that Vanitas’s backstory and all the secrets with Luna are lower on the scale of mysteries in this series than the gut punches to come. Vanitas’s backstory if we get it all now is on Headhunter arc levels of plot spoilers. If Mochijun feels safe revealing Vanitas’s whole tragic backstory now what the hell else is she going to have in store for us? My big fear is that there is going to be an Oz-level punch in the face when it comes to Noe and it’s making me go hrmmmmmm.

Alright VnC fandom time for our monthly angst 

Vanitas no Carte on the Gangan Joker May issue cover

And yet, even so, you persist in reaching out for them. Why?