The French and Japanese (English) titles for these episodes don’t always complement each other, but this one is spot-on: the French, “mal d’amour,” translates to “lovesick,” while the other title is “incurable disease.” That certainly reflects the way that Vanitas feels about his emotions where Jeanne is concerned – like he’s contracted the illness to end all illnesses and that his life will be forever ruined by it. (Oh, Vanitas. There’s about twenty more years before that sort of thing is doomed to hit the streets of Paris. Incidentally, the mention of the Expo puts us at some point before May of 1889.) The contortions he puts himself through in trying to figure out what’s wrong with him stand in very funny contrast to Jeanne’s similar realization – he’s having a total freak-out with Roland and Olivier at a café while she’s happily stuffing profiteroles in her…
