The Case Study Of Vanitas Part 2 - What We Know So Far

On Aug. 6, the English-dubbed version of "The Case Study of Vanitas" arrived at Funimation's website, bringing the steampunk-styled supernatural mystery manga series to life for a whole new audience. The vampire-based anime, set in Paris of the 19th century, is very atmospheric, what with its airships, period clothing and blue-moon and crimson vampires. It starts with the young vampire Noé, who is asked by his teacher to go to Paris to look for the titular book. In an incident on the airship, he meets a girl named Amelia — who turns out to be a vampire named Florifel, who just needs her name returned to her — and blue-eyed Vanitas himself. Vanitas enlists his help in changing the "curse-bearing" vampires back to normal using the grimoire in question. 

"The Case Study of Vanitas" has aired 12 episodes of its split-cour season, which is normal for anime shows — but now leaves fans to wonder when Part 2 will happen, and what will happen going forward, since the series hasn't exactly concluded its plot. If you're one of the fans anxiously awaiting news of the second part of the first season, here's what we know so far.

The @vanitas_anime Twitter account announced on Sept. 17 that the second cour (or quarter of a year) of "The Case Study of Vanitas" is coming in January 2022. This is good news, as it means fans won't have too long to wait: Anime News and Facts is reporting that the 12 episodes in the second part of the split-cour series will air between Jan. 8 and March 26, 2022. It should be noted that these dates refer to the Japanese release, not the English one. 

However, English-speaking fans shouldn't experience too much of a delay. The initial Japanese run premiered on various channels starting July 2 (via Anime News Network), which means it was subtitled with the first episode dubbed by the time it released on Funimation a little over a month later. Comingsoon.com said that Funimation had released five dubbed episodes by September 17 (a paid subscription is required to access the dubbed versions of newer episodes). 

Hopefully, that means U.S. fans will be streaming at least a subtitled second part of Season 1 by springtime.

The main characters of the series include Noé Archiviste, played in the Japanese by Kaito Ishikawa, and Vanitas (not the original of the book), played by Natsuki Hanae. Supporting characters include Jeanne (Inori Minase), a vampire girl also called the "Hellfire Witch"; Luca (Shino Shimoji), a polite vampire boy ranking just below the queen, who is trying to save his brother; Dominique (Ai Kayano), the aristocratic daughter of the alien lord the Marquis de Sade; Veronica (Yoko Hikasa), Dominique's sister who hates humans; Ruthven (Toshiyuki Morikawa), Luca's uncle and the hero who brokered peace between humans and vampires. 

Others include Dante (Taro Kuichi), Johann (Koji Yusa), and Richie (Riho Kuma), Vanitas' information brokers, and Noé's unnamed teacher (Akira Ishida), the one who sent him to find the book. Vampire Naenia (Kaori Nazuka), vampire hunter Laurent (Kengo Kawanishi), Holy Knight Olivier (Tomoaki Maeno) and Noé's first friend Louis de Sade (Miyuri Shimabukuru) also appear. There's also the cat, Murr (Miyu Komaki). Not all have survived Season 1, though, so they won't necessarily appear in Part 2.

The English dub cast of the series includes Stephen Fu as Noe, Zeo Robinson as Vanitas, Marianne Bray as Murr, Ian Sinclair as Dante, and Hayden Daviau as Amelia. 

As the first part of the first season ended, the Beast of Gévaudan has resurfaced, so Noé and Vanitas go to investigate sightings of it. The beast will likely figure largely in the events of the second part of the season, as will Vanitas' relationship with Noé. Viewers may also finally learn the intentions of the secret organization Charlatan because of the big reveal in the end-credits scene. As viewers know, Ruthven figures largely in the plotting that's been going on, and he has hypnotized Noé with Jeanne's unwitting help, which could all blow up in Part 2. Meanwhile, Roland is going through a crisis of faith because he has learned that not all vampires are bad, and the show will no doubt explore the ramifications of that.

"The Case Study of Vanitas" will feature 12 episodes in Season 1 Part 2, making up a total of 24 episodes in the first season. The anime has been rapidly catching up to the manga: Monsters and Critics predicts that by the 24th episode, the anime will be up to Chapter 43 of the manga. The manga is expected to publish Chapter 61, which means season 2 might be a more difficult sell than the first.