#(I think the whole sequence in the cabin is pretty fun and sweet tbh)

[neversetyoufree]

I dunno if this is gonna make sense to anyone but me, but it’s like. Even when Vanitas no Carte is straight, it’s usually not Straight about it, and I think that’s one of the reasons this series works so well for me.

The main couple in the series is VaniJeanne, and while the initial content of them is really uncomfy, when the actual romance really kicks in, it’s in such an unexpected way. Vanitas is a creepy asshole to her at first, yes, but out of all the reasons he does that, none of them are made out as genuine love. Attraction, sure, but like, there’s a big gap between that and romance, and as far as I can tell, we’re supposed to think he’s an asshole for how he treats her at first.

And Jeanne is super easily wowed at first--in the palm of his hand on their date because she’s just not used to being treated kindly, but that’s clearly not love either. When Vani is acting all controlling, and Jeanne is acting all submissive and soft, there’s a lot of playing at romance, but never the real deal.

It’s not until Jeanne sees Vanitas acting genuine and kind and vulnerable, not until Vanitas sees Jeanne acting confident and strong, that their relationship gets validated as possibly real love, y’know? The more time goes on, the more agency and dominance Jeanne takes back, and Vani likes it. And regardless of my thoughts on their dynamic in early chapters, I vibe with that.

And like, I normally hate the whole trope of “every woman falls in love with the main character,” but even though there are 3 different women that are canonically into Noé, it never feels like falls into that gross “main character has a harem” category. For one thing, it’s not actually every woman (given that Chloé and Jeanne couldn’t seem less interested), and with the exception of Domi, it’s not really a thing. We get one scene of Riche blushing, and some gags about Amelia in the bonus chapter, but it’s not like every gal in the series is constantly drooling over him. Plus, when Riche and Amelia being into him is played for a joke, which is how it’s usually played, it’s as much a joke on Noé as anything else. The gag isn’t “haha, look at all these girls falling for him. Aren’t women so easy and silly?“ The gag is “haha, look at how oblivious Noé is. This princely-ass motherfucker can have a woman start blushing and babbling in his arms, and he still won’t pick up on the signals.

Then there’s all the casual genuine queerness that happens around the sidelines. Dominique gets to flirt with Nox and Jeanne to tease them. She gets to talk about how her sister scares away all the guys, so she’s “only popular with girls.” When Dante teases Vanitas about his and Noé’s relationship, even calling Noé his sugar daddy, the joke is never “what, you guys gay or something?” It’s, “hey edgelord, I can see you caring about somebody.” We get to see a guy/guy couple and a gal/gal couple ballroom dancing together, with lingering shots of hand-holding between them, and even if neither of those couples is romantic, that still feels important, y’know? Not to even mention Luna’s gender. Inhuman, “special and unique” enby characters are a tired trope, yes, but on the other hand, holy shit.

Unless something goes very wrong with the writing in the future, VnC will always feel like such an inherently queer series to me. Even if we don’t get a canon m/m or w/w couple by the end, it just feels to me like a universe that’s welcoming to queerness. And even the het couples are more than “he was a boy, she was a girl,” and they don’t stay bogged down the whole time in tired gender roles.

And all of this just makes it such a comfortable series for me. Like, I can just exist here, y’know? Even if we don’t get any better representation than what we have right now (though I hope to hell it keeps getting better), this is a universe where a bi/ace/enby person could exist, and I wouldn’t be the only one. It’s nice.