There’s something about the night, strolling the streets at 2 in the morning… The feeling that you are the only person alive… That the world could have ended and no one noticed… Call of the Night mines this very territory in a new blu-ray release from the folks at Sentai Filmworks.
Ko Yamori feels apart from the world. He has abandoned going to school and instead roams the streets aimlessly through the night, looking for some kind of meaning to his life. He finds it when he meets the similarly nocturnal Nakuna who is quick to tell him that she is a vampire. This is music to Ko’s ears. He so desperately wants to become a child of the night that he immediately begins imploring Nakuna to oblige him and make him a vampire. She gives in and drinks his blood, and Ko discovers that in order to become a vampire, one must be in love with the vampire you are being bitten by. Well, Ko just doesn’t have those kind of feels for Nakuna yet but he’s gonna try his hardest so he can also earn his fangs. Complicating matters is the other vampires, a tight knit group that looks down on Nakuna. They also don’t like humans knowing about the existence of vampires, so now Ko’s got a time limit to fall in love or they will promptly kill him. I think Ko will agree that this situation sucks.
The prospect of a vampire love story isn’t the most thrilling in this post-Twilight world. Fortunately Call of the Night most eschews the mooning eyes and tortured glances of that angsty series, instead replacing it with an acerbic kind of nihilism and a sense of humor to the whole situation. Nakuna is a vampire, yes. She’s a very eccentric vampire though, more comfortable just chilling in her apartment playing video games than prowling the streets looking for new prey to turn. Ko is also something of an awkward kid, a little single-minded and determined but also detached from reality and just trying to find a place in the world. It makes for an interesting dynamic between the two and makes the series feel a little different than the average rom-com. One other interesting aspect of Call of the Night is the singular art style. If you watch as much anime as I do, you’ll notice these days that a lot of anime, with the exception of distict auteurist styles like Masaaki Yuasa and Studio Trigger, tend to look pretty much the same. Call of the Night has a straight up weird-looking art style that takes a bit to get used to but is actually kind of endearing in the long run. Some of the side characters feel a bit superfluous and the last few episodes of the season feel a little rushed despite ending with unanswered questions, but overall I liked the series.
As you’d expect, Sentai delivers another nice, clear transfer, all the more important due to the series’ extended nighttime scenes where issues would be much more noticeable. This series includes both an English dub and the original Japanese audio, both in 2.0 stereo, and both tracks sounded crisp and clean. For extras, we have the usual clean OP and ED animations and Japanese promos. Also included is a karaoke version of another song featured in the show, “Loss Time”.
The world needs more fresh and unique anime like Call of the Night. It’s easy to get lost in the endless harem, isekai and shonen action series out there, so when something off the beaten path comes along, I feel it’s always nice to stop and check it out. And Call of the Night is certainly worth a look for those who want something a little different.