Just for me to collect my thoughts on anything noteworthy or suspicious. I forget a lot of things in the series so this should help me keep track and anyone else who wants to look back without rereading the whole series.
Man, it feels good to have vnc back, and a very interesting chapter at that. There's a lot of characters in this one. Some new ones too. I will admit I wish the chapter had spent more time with the main 4 since we only saw them at the beginning... I don't think I'd mind so much if it hadn't been a year long hiatus but oh well.
No dialogue between the main 4 and we are given no information on what Domi and Jeanne talked about. But Domi and Noé had a reuinion hug so I'm very pleased about that. No vanijeanne interactions but that's probably for the best right now. They'd probably need a chapter dedicated entirely or mostly to their ish. Still, very cute and funny seeing Vanitas trying to run because he doesn't want to see her. It's juvenile and pretty endearing for our beloved rat bastard to act this way.
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Anyway, throughout the beginning pages of this chapter there is narration about how this (vnc itself) is a story and indeed what a story is. At first glance it may seem that the narrator of these particular lines is Lady Archiviste, particularly with how her scenes in this chapter go. However, considering we see pictures of Noé's pen this seems to be yet another message from our narrator: future Noé.
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The narration itself is pretty interesting and definitely bringing vnc's metafiction elements directly to the forefront. But the narration isn't only referring to the case study that Noé is writing, certainly not explicitly. It's talking about all stories recorded by Archivistes. And in this case a 'story' is someone's life and memories. The use of 'handed down' is interesting and indicates Archivistes may have more powers than just reading people's memories. They may be able to share them (at least with each other). Narrator Noé seems to be going over this because the following scenes focus on Lady Archiviste and therefore this information might be pertinent.
This particular line from the narration is the only one that stands out as especially sinister. It being placed beside Jeanne feels like some kind of foreshadowing. But I will say Jeanne isn't being forgotten though? Noé as the author is telling her story, she is being remembered. Perhaps it instead refers to Jeanne having lost memories of herself, because we know she has. In that sense she would have been pardoned from something that would pain her. The Jeanne theories are bouncing around my head.
