What to watch: Review of the anime “Call of the Night”

Today to your attention is a review of the anime “Call of the Night” (2022), a fantasy story all about the same vampires that have already bored many. Published by LIDENFILMS, the series is an adaptation of a manga created by the author under the pseudonym Kotoyama. The story is dedicated to the young Ko Yamori, whose life turned upside down after the fateful decision of the guy to go on his first night walk.

What is the anime Call of the Night (2022) about

The character of the anime Call of the Night – fourteen-year-old Kou Yamori has recently suffered from insomnia. This disease happened to him after one of his classmates unexpectedly confessed his love to him. The hero, who did not know how to get along with people, was confused when he found out about the feelings of the schoolgirl, and could not answer her anything intelligible, because of which the girl ran away from the guy in tears. After the lessons, Ko was found by the girlfriends of the offended girl in love and rolled over the teenager, who had so rudely hurt the feelings of their classmate.

Constant reflections on the damn girls who attacked him without even trying to figure everything out, coupled with remorse because of the “confession” that had happened, and resulted in terrible insomnia for the hero. Day after day went by, but Ko, no matter how hard he tried, could not sleep at night. At some point, the teenager got bored with long hours aimlessly and idlely lying in bed, and he decided on a non-standard act for himself. In secret from his parents, the guy left the house, after midnight, hoping that the coolness of the street would help him sort out his feelings.

In the silence of a deserted park, the hero finally felt peace and freedom, which he had not experienced for a long time. Ko enthusiastically swung on a swing and admired the banners illuminated by fluorescent lamps that hung on a high-rise nearby. The night was good, and at that moment he wished it never ended.

A little later, while passing by vending machines with drinks, the hero of the anime Call of the Night noticed beer in it. Yielding to the temptation to try a foamy drink at least once in his life, Kou threw the coins into the slot and was already reaching for the jar that had fallen out of the machine, when suddenly a girl in a huge black cloak seemed to materialize nearby. She sarcastically said that the guy does not look like an adult, and the hero immediately decided to retire. The mysterious girl laughed and said that she was not going to hand over the youngster to the cops, but wanted to bring him somewhere.

As if obeying a magical spell, Kou followed the strange stranger. On the way, the guys talked about how good the atmosphere of the night streets is when there is not a soul around. Suddenly, the girl asked if Kou suffered from insomnia. Having received an affirmative answer, she stated that she could help the guy cope with her, but for this he would have to visit the girl at home.

In general, Kou himself did not understand how he ended up in the room of a mysterious lady. He was taken aback when a stranger invited him to lie down with her on the futon. Forcibly pulling Ko to her, she said that if the guy tries to fall asleep right here and now, then insomnia is unlikely to interfere with him.

No matter how. The teenager was absolutely not up to sleep in the same bed with this strange girl in her mind. He was embarrassed to death by the current delicate situation and decided that the best way out in this situation would be to pretend to be asleep, and then try to somehow quietly slip away. However, the guy’s plan went awry when the girl, thinking that Kou really fell asleep, suddenly bit him on the neck and began to suck blood from him.

The hero immediately jumped up in pain and in complete amazement began to stare at his “insomnia expert”, while she made a crooked attempt to push everything onto a huge mosquito, which she supposedly had already swatted. Ko, of course, did not believe in such nonsense. But he easily recognized the fact that the lady herself was clearly a bloodsucker, because of which he immediately asked the vampire if he himself would turn into a ghoul after her bite. The girl realized that there was no point in lying anymore and reassured the character, saying that in order for the transformation magic to work, the victim must fall in love with the vampire who bit her.

And then suddenly Coe realized what he wants from life. The guy realized that neither the school nor the dull human society he absolutely did not need. He wanted to abandon his former life and become a monster that terrorizes rare passers-by at night. Ko immediately told his new girlfriend that he would fall in love with her and let the girl bite him again so that the magic of turning into a vampire would work. This news terribly embarrassed the vampire. She did not burn with the desire to turn someone into a ghoul, but said that the teenager is free to do what he wants.

Posing as Nazuna Nanakusa, the vampire suggested that Kou continue to have fun together after sunset, since he so badly wants to become a ghoul. The boy happily agreed, and then went out with Nazuna to the street and, embracing her, soared up.

The character of the anime Call of the Night was beside himself with happiness, flying with a new girlfriend from one roof of a high-rise building to another. Indeed, after many years of aimless existence and the absence of any interest in peers and his own future, he finally found a goal for which it was worth living.

Pros and Cons of Call of the Night

First, let’s talk about the advantages of the anime Call of the Night and, first of all, note the main message laid down by the authors. By revealing the character of the protagonist, the creators touched upon the problems familiar to many teenagers. Such as the rejection of a person by society because of his detachment and insecurity, the fixation of such people on their own problems due to loneliness, their desire to escape from reality and see the world from a different, brighter and more magical side.

Another indisputable advantage of the series is the visual presentation of the aesthetics of the night revered by the Japanese. The approach of the artists and designers to create the atmosphere of a city plunged into darkness turned out to be very bright, impressive and visually competent. The first episode welcomed viewers with a beautiful flight over buildings painted in neon colors. The combination of acidic, purple and other cool colors with the bright yellow light of street lamps created a special entourage and conveyed the aesthetics of the night streets in the best possible way.

If we talk about the characters, then the faded design of the protagonist did not impress at all. But the appearance of a daring vampire instantly hooked. Her pretty, treacherous face, with its invariable impudent smile, inexorably attracted the eye.

The music deserves all praise. The opening screensaver is accompanied by a peppy and incendiary soundtrack in the electronic pop genre, and at the end of each episode, the viewer can enjoy a good rap party to a stylish beat.

Now let’s talk about the cons, of which there are plenty of them too. The first thing that came to mind after watching – where, in fact, is the supernatural? Yes, a vampire was introduced into the plot, yes, he had some superpowers and a desire to drink blood. But flying around the city at night did not affect the surroundings given by the plot, and Nazuna’s thirst for human blood did not cause the main character any trouble and strain at all. The series did not show moments when a girl could suffer at least some slightest “breaking” from a lack of fresh blood in her “vampire body” or weaken without constant replenishment. She did not feel discomfort because of her essence, but the authors also did not show the advantages of a vampire life to the viewer. It seemed that the introduction of the ghoul into history was done only with the aim of somehow bringing Kou and Nazuna Nanakusa together and giving the hero some kind of, as we have now found out, a completely useless goal.

Indeed, this far-fetched goal has become another fat minus. For what reason did the main character have a burning desire to become a vampire? It was not emphasized that it was Nazuna’s jumps on the roofs that impressed him, and, as we have already noted, there were no other advantages of a ghoul over a person. Koh only repeated that he wanted to get rid of the obligation to live like an ordinary person and wanted to switch to a nocturnal existence instead. But Nazuna lived in an ordinary apartment and, apparently, paid for the light and other utilities.

It is not clear how and with what she earned, because the vampire never stuttered about this, but one thing was clear: the local vampires have no lair, and the girl herself never contacted someone from her clan, which means she received money and she lived like any “normal” person. In this case, Kou’s motivation to turn into a vampire seemed even more absurd, and it can be assumed that he wanted to transform into a ghoul just because it’s cool. It’s not clear why either.
Nazuna’s desire to communicate with a teenager without social skills also raised many questions. At first, her desire to get close to Kou could be justified by the fact that she liked the taste of his blood (although it also looks stupid). However, Nazuna Nanakusa could just pump herself to the bone and dump on all four, but instead she walked with the hero of the anime Night Owl Song (2022) all night long, chatting with him about literally nothing. The vampire lived in this world for many years, and for some reason did not communicate with anyone except for the young Ko, and even had frankly stupid conversations with him, in no way worthy of an “eternal being”. If you try to justify the girl’s interest in the hero by the fact that they are both lonely, then with the same success Nazuna could hang out with drinking people with whom she had a nice conversation during one of the walks with a teenager.

Conclusion

The overall impression of the anime Call of the Night remained chaotic. On the one hand, it would be interesting to know about Nazuna’s past, why she lived alone and what she went through. Yes, and the reasons why Kou turned into an unsociable teenager with an aversion to school and life, I would also like to understand. However, instead of a full-fledged disclosure of characters, we got everyday life, seasoned with a supernatural setting and constantly repeating stupid jokes. The plot could not be traced, as well as an intelligible global goal of the characters, which was supposed to appear within the framework of the shonen genre.

We would not dare to recommend this series for viewing, but to everyone who our review of the anime Call of the Night went so much that there was a desire to see what was there with our own eyes – enjoy watching and cheerful mood!