Manga: The Case Study of Vanitas 4

The Case Study of Vanitas Vol 4
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Deep within the bowels of Paris, Noé and Vanitas race through the catacombs with an elite team of chasseurs, the Church's anti-vampire unit, in hot pursuit. Their search for the missing vampires takes the pair down a path all too familiar to Vanitas, bringing them face-to-face with not only an overwhelming curse-bearer, but also with Vanitas's past. Confronted by the horrific menace, what will Noé and Vanitas fight for, and whom will they save...? 

Volume 4 is quite the chunky volume so I don't mind the fact I've waited a million years for the latest volume to finally be released! 

We rejoin Noe and Vanitas right where we left them, lurking in the catacombs of Paris in search of the missing vampires but as we start the volume the Chasseurs are in pursuit. 

I have to say...I fully cackled at one Chasseur being 100% dead serious as he said "It's like we're the one's being hunted" I could fully see that line being said in the trailer for Jurassic Park or something, or a horror movie. Then shortly after I fully died laughing when we cut to Noe losing his lunch because apparently going full Dracula and walking on ceilings makes him nauseous. Priceless. 

This volume is full of plenty of funny moments, and Noe and Vanitas do make me chuckle a lot with their banter although Vanitas sees Noe as quite naive so it was nice to see him take charge of the battle against Roland and try to talk things out with him after his little display. Things could have been sorted a lot earlier however, if Vanitas had just opened his mouth and spoken but he "didn't want to". Interestingly we did glean a little more knowledge of his past and get to see glimpses of it and more pieces are falling in to place.  

Roland is one of my new favourite characters, he's fully Team Vanitas and him wanting to be friends with Noe and Noe's reaction to it is freaking hilarious. Bless him. We also meet Dr. Moreau who is....interesting. And totally cray cray. He provides even more clues to this whole scheme and some connections are made. The plot definitely thickens but some of it is starting to come together. 

Our good old pal Lord shady-ass Ruthven pops up again. I'm not even surprised by his involvement anymore. We all know he's up to no good and unfortunately he does something nasty to Noe that I can see coming back to bite he and Vanitas in the future, all while Vanitas is getting asked out on a date by Jeanne. Come on man, help your bro out?! It would also appear the same thing has happened to Jeanne, but it's a matter of Vanitas putting it together at this stage. 

All through this volume we've seen allusions to someone from Vanitas' past and it would appear the low-key cliffhanger ending is bringing that character in! We're getting more pieces of the puzzle and more pieces of his past, this volume has a steady pace to it with doses of intrigue to go with the action and humour. Not to mention the gorgeous art work and rich storytelling.