Paris (パリ, Pari) is the main setting of Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas. It is the capital city of France as well as the most populous city in the country. In the story of The Case Study of Vanitas, it is the in-universe analogy for the real life city of Paris, France. While for the most part identical in every significant way, the key differences of the fictional city of Paris lies within the historical deviation the story has taken and the effects of which that show.
When Noé Archiviste receives a letter from his Teacher telling him to search for the famed Book of Vanitas, he travels to Paris via the airship La Baleine. On the trip over, Noé encounters Vanitas, the human man in possession of the Book who uses it to cure cases of Malnomen. After their fateful encounter, the two decide to stay together for the duration of their journey, sharing the same goal to save every curse-bearer they can find.[1]
This article contains plot and/or ending details for The Case Study of Vanitas.
Read at your own risk.
Description[]
Paris runs on Astermite, a new mineral and source of energy that was birthed from the Babel Incident which is far cleaner than the coal that the real life city ran on during this same time period; thus the cityscape and atmosphere more resembles the clear skies of modern day Paris rather than the smog of the steam-powered era. In addition, that which sets the world of The Case Study of Vanitas apart the most—the species Vampires, populate Paris in small numbers despite the city being of the human world.
Vampires who reside in in the world "a step beyond" in Altus Paris, refer to the humans' Paris as Vieux Paris (
Notable Locations[]
Galerie Valentine[]
The Galerie Valentine is one of the covered passages of Paris, within which contains a shopping center below its clear glass roofs. The shops that line the passage are small stores built for window shopping, including tailor shops, cobblers, wine shop, restaurants, bookstores, drapers, confectioners, print-sellers and more. One of its many little shops is a bookstore, which contains a Border that leads into Altus which only Vampires know of. Located on one of the top floors up a tall flight of stairs is the office of Count Parks Orlok, which serves as the base of operations for his work as a liaison for Vampirekind in the human world's Paris.
Because Count Orlok has been appointed by the Queen herself to preserve the balance between races while stationed in the heart of Paris, he is the first to hear of the commotion caused by Vanitas and Noé upon La Baleine. Once both of them enter into the city proper, the duo go to meet Orlok to answer for their involvement in the cases of curse-bearing Vampires. Since then, a slightly tense business relationship is established between both parties, Vanitas and Noé working in tandem with Orlok to cure curse-bearers across Paris.
Hôtel Chouchou[]
Hôtel Chouchou is a hotel located in the heart of Paris, run by and for Vampires. It is a cozy little hostel placed at the very end of one of Paris's covered passages, a short ways away from where the Galerie Valentine is placed. For a place of lodging in the center of Paris, it is humble in size and amenities, possessing average-sized guest rooms and simple yet comforting facilities such as the dining room and reception area. Hôtel Chouchou is also known for having its own pet cat named Flute who can occasionally be seen roaming the hotel grounds and greeting guests.
Hôtel Chouchou operates under Count Parks Orlok, who is appointed by the Queen herself to oversee Vampiric affairs that happen in the human world's Paris. Thus the hotel is often used by him as a refuge for Vampires who have nowhere else to go. This is what happens to Amelia Ruth, who had contracted a Malnomen and become a curse-bearer, though even after being cured she would have been stranded due to the neighbors of her old home not wanting her anywhere near them again. Thus she is currently in the live-in employment of Hôtel Chouchou where she may have a place of residence as well as stay under Orlok's watchful eye. In a similar manner, Hôtel Chouchou is where Vanitas and Noé reside for the duration of their stay in Paris, using one of the guest rooms as their base of operations for their journey to cure every curse-bearer they can.
Les Catacombes de Paris[]
The touristic part of the Catacombes
Les Catacombes de Paris is a vast, massive, labyrinthine series of tunnels built beneath the earth of Paris, within which is an ossuary which has stood since the fifteenth century. The quarries which make up the Catacombs are located twenty meters underground and span nearly two kilometers in length, within which the remains of approximately six million people are housed. The Catacombs are so overwhelmingly broad in range that the layout of the entire system remains a mystery to this day. Part of the Catacombs, the most well-known section, has been turned into a tourist attraction and frequently has visitors milling in and about the underground space. But much further deep into the tunnels are where the Chasseurs make their home base, and even deeper within among the tunnels that nearly no one knows of are the residences of the extremist faction of the Chasseurs which Doctor Moreau had been a part of.
The home base of the Chasseurs
Recently many Vampire disappearances have been occurring at a frequency which concerns even Count Orlok, and thus Vanitas and Noé set out to uncover the mysteries behind these incidents. Thanks to the Dhampir information brokens Dante, Johann, and Riche, it is found that the Chasseurs are more than likely tied to these disappearances, and the team scouts out the Catacombs as a result. Vanitas and Noé in particular set out to disguise themselves as Chasseurs and infiltrate the Catacombs which act as their home base. Even as they encounter many obstacles along the way, the duo eventually make their way deep enough into the Catacombs to find the source of these disappearances as well as the place of Vanitas's dark past—Doctor Moreau's Laboratory.
Doctor Moreau's Laboratory[]
Doctor Moreau's Laboratory is the base of operations for the mad scientist Doctor Moreau, hidden deep within the furthest depths of the Catacombs. While the Catacombs themselves are an intricate system of tunnels and quarries carved directly into the bedrock lying below Paris, having been present since the fifteenth century, Moreau's laboratory is a far more recent addition. Thus in stark contrast to the ancient and strong-standing stone hallways that lead to it, the laboratory is made of cold and clinical metal in the space between tunnels. As Moreau himself is less than organized as a person, his working space reflects that, with equipment, supplies, and devices of all kinds strewn haphazardly without a care for whoever sees it. Multiple smaller rooms are connected which are used for a variety of reasons, either as more private testing spaces, to hold test subjects, so on. There is an elevator placed in the back of the laboratory that connects up to the surface in the case that an emergency escape needed to be made.
As Moreau was formerly employed by the Catholic Church he used to share his research center in the same space as the headquarters of the Chasseurs and thus was able to utilize their manpower for protection. However those times have long since passed and after being exiled from the Church, he was run out from his laboratory and forced into hiding. But in recent times, Moreau has returned to the original site of his laboratory deep within the Catacombs, having achieved this from under the Chasseurs' noses with the help of a certain organization. And from there he has continued his experimentation which has reached new ventures entirely, this time targeting curse-bearers in particular.
Amusement Park[]
The amusement park is the site of a fair which is slated to take place sometime in the near future. The fairgrounds is above average size to take place within Paris, and is filled with a number of activities and amenities. Featured in small parts thus far has been a ferris wheel, a small roller coaster, a merry-go-round, a funhouse of mirrors, several animatronic automatons, and more to be seen. However, the amusement park is where Mikhail goes to hold Dominique de Sade hostage in order to blackmail Noé Archiviste. This leads to a deadly fight between him and Vanitas, one so explosive it destroys nearly the entire fairgrounds. As it currently stands, the amusement park is demolished and in no condition to operate.
It is heavily implied on multiple occasions that the amusement park is specifically the Exposition Universelle of 1889, the most key difference being that instead of the Eiffel Tower as the centerpiece, instead stands tall a structure named "La Tour Soleil" or "The Tower of the Sun."
Residents[]
Coming soon!
History[]
Coming soon!
Plot[]
Coming soon!
Appearances[]
- Mémoire 1: Vanitas — In the Event of Rusty Hopes
- Mémoire 2: Noé — In the City of Flowers
- Mémoire 3: Jeanne — The Hellfire Witch
- Mémoire 4: Femme Fatale — Love
- Mémoire 5: Archiviste — Fangs That Reveal Blood
- Mémoire 6: Altus — Other World
- Mémoire 13: Glissando — Glissando
- Mémoire 14: Catacombes — Where the Dead Sleep
- Memoire 15: Chasseur — Those Who Hunt Crimson
- Entracte: Chambre d'enfants — A Dream of the Sound of Rain
- Mémoire 16: Galop — At the End of the Riot
- Mémoire 17: Cicatrice — No. 69
- Mémoire 18: Dos à Dos — The Shape of Salvation
- Mémoire 19: Serment — Spell-bound
- Mémoire 20: Serment — Promise (Part One)
- Mémoire 21: Serment — Promise (Part Two)
- Mémoire 22: Hurler — A Calling Voice
- Mémoire 23: Au Pas Camarade — Pace
- Mémoire 24: Forêt d'argent — Chance Encounter (Mentioned only)
- Mémoire 25: Endroit Approprié — Melee
- Mémoire 38: Naenia — She Who Harbors Death (Part One)
- Mémoire 43: Encens Restant — Lingering Scent of the Dream
- Mémoire 44: Mal d'Amour — The Incurable Illness (Part One)
- Mémoire 45: Mal d'Amour — The Incurable Illness (Part Two)
- Mémoire 46: Un Autre — Scar
- Entracte: Jours Bruyants — Tales of Lost Children
- Mémoire 47: Hétérogène — Sneering Laughter
- Mémoire 49: Douleur — Kind Child
- Mémoire 50: Petrichor — The Thread That Reels in the Past
- Mémoire 51: Tempest — A Silent Scream
- Mémoire 52: Sens Unique — Fall
- Mémoire 53: Pleuvoir — Rain Which Doesn't Know the Sky
- Mémoire 54: La nuit sans lune — Dark Night (Part One)
- Mémoire 54.5: La nuit sans lune — Dark Night (Part Two)
- Mémoire 55: Après la pluie — His Wish (Part One)
- Mémoire 55.5: Après la pluie — His Wish (Part Two)
- Mémoire 56: Faire un gâteau — Bittersweet
- Mémoire 57: Au Revoir — Again, Someday
- Mémoire 58: Observation — The Darkness in Between
- Mémoire 60: Bonne journée — Sweets, Complaints, and Reconciliation
- Entracte: Couche — On Clothing
- Mémoire 61: Jeu de paume — Court Tennis (Part One)
- Mémoire 61.5: Jeu de paume — Court Tennis (Part Two)
- Mémoire 62: Bourdonnement — Wingbeats of Scattered Thought (Part One)
- Mémoire 1: Vanitas -In the Event of Rusty Hopes- (First Appearance)
- Mémoire 2: Noé -In the City of Flowers-
- Mémoire 3: Archiviste -Fangs That Lay Bare Blood-
- Mémoire 4: Bal Masqué -Night of Mocking Masks-
- Mémoire 5: Réminiscence -Friends-
- Mémoire 6: Salvatio -Questions-
- Mémoire 7: Femme Fatale -Love-
- Mémoire 8: Catacombes -Where Death Slumbers-
- Mémoire 9: Chasseur -Those Who Hunt Crimson-
- Mémoire 10: Cicatrice -No.69-
- Mémoire 11: Serment -Promises-
- Mémoire 12: Deux Ombres -Point of Departure-
- Mémoire 20: Mal d'amour -The Incurable Disease-
- Mémoire 21: Un Autre -Scars-
- Mémoire 22: Rencontre -Blue Night-
- Mémoire 23: Pleuvoir -Tears like Rain-
- Mémoire 24: Après la pluie -His Wish-
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Jun Mochizuki's first overseas trip was to Paris.
The original project for Jules Bourdais' Sun Tower.
- This version of Paris seems to be from an alternative universe.
- In the real world, the Sun Tower doesn't quite exist. It was a project proposed in 1885, by Jules Bourdais, to compete with the famous Eiffel Tower at the Exposition Universelle of 1889. Its goal was to "illuminate Paris" — the light was planned to beam across the city, to be then reflected off strategically placed mirrors around Paris, bathing the capital in light. However, the planned structure seemed to have a lot of instability, not to mention the gigantic cost, so the chosen project was that of Gustave Eiffel – giving us the Eiffel Tower as we know it today.[2] It would therefore be an alternative Paris, where the project of the Sun Tower was chosen instead.
- For the Sun Tower's design in the series, Jun Mochizuki chose to mix the original design — made by Jules Bourdais — with the iconic spiral design of the Tower of Babel.