#i am Tired but also I am looking forward

[larissa-the-scribe]

Presents? Finished and wrapped

Brigadeiros? Made and plated

Dog? Washed

Laundry? Done

I am now ready for Christmas to begin

[theabigailthorn]

We just wrapped on the next episode of Philosophy Tube!

There are more pics from the set on my Patreon, so go sign up to that!

[cannibal-nightmares]

let's make trouble in the dream world, we'll hijack heaven with another memory now; i make the most of the turning tide, it just split what's left of the burning silence

[enixamyram]

I've been playing it very safe with the whole "they're both responsible" opinion for who screwed up where with Blitzo or Stolas. But now, I'm just gonna say it: I'm team Stolas.

And no, I'm not saying he's an innocent baby. In Full Moon he was just at fault for Blitzo with how things ended between them and they both obviously have their own trauma they need to work through. But as for Apology Tour, I am 100% on Stolas' side.

One of the main criticism I saw for Stolas was that he blind-sided Blitzo with his confession and then wouldn't let him come to terms with it before kicking him out. That's fair, but you can't use that same argument in Apology Tour. By this point his feelings are very clear and some time has past and now it's Blitzo who is letting his own issues and self-loathing get in the way of things.

And you know what? I saw so many fans get really passionate about the boundaries Stolas was pushing whenever he made uncomfortable inuendo's at Blitzo. Yet they've been pretty quiet about how Stolas tried to walk away multiple of times, told Blitzo to leave multiple times and even outright said her was uncomfortable with how he was talking to him. Just saying.

[pigeonclaw]

Idk man. Not a fan of the theory / headcanon about Moonpaw hearing the voice of the sibling she absorbed in utero. That gets a little too close to "fetuses have souls" for me to feel comfortable around and I seriously hope that's not what's gonna happen. Chimerism doesn't make you into two people. It's not conjoined twins. She's just one cat made with two sets of genes. We don't have to get too weird about how bodies just naturally turn out sometimes. Idk.

[oh-cramity-its-amity]

....almost done, its almost over. i just have to keep surviving. push through. one more day and then i can rest for a day. then four and then ill have an actual weekend. you can totally do this me. yeah. yep. mandatory overtime is a bitch but your gonna crush it like you always do and have a super thick paycheck. you're gonna get it done.

[neversetyoufree]

Ok gang, so while I've talked a lot on here about VnC's recurring Vanitas painting allusion, I don't think I've ever actually talked in detail about my favorite example of that reference, so it's time to do the thing.

I am obsessed with the cover of the first volume, and I think you should be too. It's the perfect introduction of Vanitas as a man doomed to death, executed entirely through symbolism.

To start off, for those of you unfamiliar, a brief introduction to the concept of Vanitas art: Vanitas paintings are artistic reminders of the inevitability of death and the futility of all earthly pleasures. A Vanitas can technically be any form of art, but still life paintings are the most common variant by far.

Vanitas still life paintings were most commonly done in 16th and 17th century Europe. They use specific symbolism to evoke the images of death, the ever-ticking clock of time, and the transience/inevitable decay of the fine things in life. They often place images of the decadent and luxurious next to the rotten and dead in order to remind the viewer that death is always there waiting, no matter what pleasures you may have. This was, of course, a deeply Christian art movement. 16th and 17th century protestants were very invested in reminding themselves and others that pleasure (and even life itself) was futile and transient in the eyes of death and god.

I promise I'm going to relate this art history lesson back to Vnc soon.

The most common symbols in Vanitas paintings include, among others, books, maps, and instruments (symbols of worldly knowledge); jewelry and gold (symbols of wealth and power); bones, especially skulls (symbols of death); fruits and flowers (luxuries subject to quick decay); and clocks, hourglasses, and burning candles (symbols of the passage of time).

Fun fact: Mochijun once did a Gangan Joker cover featuring Vanitas and Jeanne hooking up in front of a Vanitas still life.

If you think about it, the presence of the still life there kind of turns this cover into a Vanitas painting in its own right, but that's a deep dive for another day. In the meantime, let's look again at the volume 1 cover:

The frame that Vanitas is sitting in here is covered in images from Vanitas paintings. In particular, it very heavily features bones and flowers, which are two of the most common Vanitas symbols. Bones are the very direct reminders of death, especially skulls, and flowers are something beautiful and pleasant that decays quickly.

The frame also includes a crown (luxury and wealth made meaningless by the presence of death),

butterflies (living things that are beautiful but incredibly fragile and brief),

and what I'm fairly sure are pomegranates (fruit as another example of luxury subject to decay).

Plus, though you can't see it on the front cover itself, the exact same frame is replicated for volume 1's inner cover illustration, and guess what's on the bottom under Vanitas's leg.

It's an hourglass! The symbol of time's eternal running out, and one that is very deeply tied to Vanitas as a character.

Beyond the fact that these images are commonly found in Vanitas paintings, almost all of them have further significance and meaning. The traditional uses of the flowers featured are very relevant, pomegranates have the Persephone myth, butterflies have their own established symbolism in vnc, and the way that crown is bolted onto the center skull is also important. However, each of those could be a meta post in their own right, and this post is already long enough, so for now I'm going to focus on the simple fact that these are Vanitas images.

Because the thing is, the inclusion of Vanitas painting imagery in this cover is really just what sets the groundwork for my favorite part of it. By introducing the idea of Vanitas paintings via these images, then putting Vanitas the character inside a picture frame, Mochijun suggests that Vani himself *is* a piece of Vanitas art.

Every volume cover features a version of this frame motif, but volume 1 is the only one in which the featured character is within the frame in this way. Vanitas is perched on it and almost entirely contained, as though he's coming from within it, and the background suggests much the same thing. With the stark white of everything outside of the frame, it doesn't look like an empty frame that you can see through to the other side of (the way Noé looks on the volume 3 cover). It looks like volume 1's Vani has climbed out of a painting.

Thus, with the symbols decorating the frame putting Vanitas paintings in our minds and Vani himself held within the frame, he becomes a piece of Vanitas art, and that fits the story perfectly. Vanitas the man is a walking, talking Vanitas. A human reminder of death. And that's why he's called that.

I've talked before about how I suspect other vampires called Luna "Vanitas" because they served as a living, breathing reminder of futility and death for crimson vamps, and Vanitas took his name from them. So on an in-universe level, it makes sense for Vanitas to be called that because he has taken on the role of "death symbol to crimson vamps." But even more interestingly than that, on a more metal level, his whole life is eventually going to become a reminder of death and futility for those close to him.

The story of Vnc is the story of Noé and Vanitas's relationship. It's Noé's memoir of their time together and his case study of Vanitas as a man. They've only grown closer and more important to each other as the story has progressed, and I doubt that's going to change. Vanitas is a great source of joy and color in Noé's life.

Vanitas is also going to die at the end of the story. From the very first chapter, we have known that Vanitas's end is coming and that all of that joy and closeness is going to do nothing to stop his demise. And that is the futility of Earthly passion in the face of the inevitable creep of death. That is the reminder that no amount of joy or pleasure can avert the end of all things. That is the setup for a powerful reminder for Noé and the others at the end of the story. Death comes for us all and will render your pleasures moot, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Furthermore, Vani's inevitable end won't just serve as a Vanitas, a reminder of death, for the characters of Vnc. It also serves the same function for the audience. In fact, I'd argue that since Vnc is the case study of Vanitas (the character), and the character is a living (for now) Vanitas, Vnc itself functions as a piece of Vanitas art. It's Vanitases all the way down.

Vani's oncoming death at the end of the story carries the exact same lesson for the audience that it does the other characters he meets, and that's what makes Vnc a piece of Vanitas art. As a story, it's exciting and it's sexy. The art is a feast for the eyes, the settings lush and almost every character beautiful. And yet, the cold, painful reality of death waits inescapably at the end. What is that if not the manga equivalent of a painting of stunning finery with a skeletal hand lurking in the background?

And of course, it's not like Mochijun is a 17th century protestant. I don't think she's trying to teach her readers a lesson about the meaninglessness and vanity of earthly pursuits so that we'll devote ourselves to god. However, I've always read Vnc as a tragedy, and futility is a fundamental mechanic of many tragedies. All the pleasures Vani has experienced will be inevitably erased by death. All his relationships will be forever marked by one-sidedness and grief. And that's because his story is tragic, and no matter how much he heals from his traumas, he cannot take himself off the path toward death.

But it's not like every character in Vnc is sitting within the frames on their covers. And though Noé and the others will be marked by tragedy in the sense that they will suffer Vanitas's death, not every individual character arc in Vnc must necessarily be tragic.

This is the case study of one instance that encapsulates the ideas of a Vanitas. It is the story of Noé experiencing Vani the man and reacting to his death. It doesn't mean that futility and death are the only lessons that Noé learns through that experience. And though the central theme is bleak and heavy, the manga itself is about the beauty and pleasure experienced on the way to death as much as it is about the death itself.

The love and joy and sensuality is all tangled up with the death in Vnc, and neither can be extracted from the other. It is beautiful and fun and it is a piece of Vanitas art, and none of that is contradictory. You cannot have one without the other, and that means that death can never be escaped.

So on the cover of volume 1, Vanitas the man becomes a living piece of Vanitas art, sitting within a frame that is covered in Vanitas art, within a manga that is in itself a piece of Vanitas art. And that's why it's my favorite illustration from this series.

[larissa-the-scribe]

Not doing NaNoWriMo this year, but I did sign up for a shorter course on story planning. So hopefully that will be interesting, and possible to do alongside A Four-Dimensional Plot lol

Thinking about doing Loch's story since it needs the most development out of my "main" projects

Kinda also want to do it about the Time Loop story, but I think that's going to be more on the short side, so dedicating a month-long course to it feels like overkill. Either way I hope I can get to it because it is living rent free in my head at the moment lol

[natreads]

I got a job as a bookseller!!!

[conidiophore]

Intentionally fucked up my hormone schedule (put off my shot for a few days bc of travel reasons) and my body is so blehhhh. I feel drained. My life force has been extracted.

[destyni-is-me]

thanks for tagging me, @novaae!! I haven't done one of these in awhile lol

Last song: Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, NY (Bones) by Will Wood and The Tapeworms

Last Book: The Auctioneer by Joan Samson

Last Movie: Frailty

Last TV Show: Abbot Elementary

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Sweet, but I am a known spicy enjoyer as well

Relationship status: single

Last thing I googled: Types of sheer fabric

Current obsession(s): I don't think I have anything I could classify as an obsession at the moment

Looking Forward : this semester is almost over! I am excited to share my poetry project with my class and then to just chill for a couple months before the next semester starts lol

Tagging: @pendragonshoard @nomisupernova @geode-to-joy and @ramaque

[rvbrestoration]

Tired. Sad. My head hurts. Stressed??? No time to really relax at all. And my country about to be taken over by the literal devil and there is no counting on anything after that.

[forlornmelody]

.

[mintjeru]

endless suffering

open for better quality | no reposts

[autism-corner]

save me.

[starlit-roses-ships]

y'all ever just. have those times where you don't really have any energy to deal with f/o angst either from either canon or from your own scenarios you've come up with?

sometimes you just want to think about soft comfort you know? 😞