Feeling the call of the night

I’ll be the first to admit that the first three or so episodes of this show didn’t really grab me that much when it comes to the story. Call of the night feels like it’s going for vibes over substance and although there’s definitely nothing wrong with that, without a proper story I’ll quickly start to lose interest. That’s why I was so pleasantly surprised when the show started introducing more characters. In this colorful night in an uninteresting town with an uninteresting main character, a story takes place that has such good vibes that you can’t help but feel good. Let’s talk about Yofukashi no Uta, or Call of the Night.

Anime: Yofukashi no Uta
Manga by: Kotoyama
Studio: Liden films
Runtime: 13 episodes
Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy, Fantasy

Yamori Ko is a middle school student who has just about gotten bored of his daily life. He feels almost dissociated (Spelled that wrong three times before I let autocorrect take the wheel) from the people around him until one night he decides to wander out in the street, marveling at the difference in feelings this brings with it. That’s where he meets Nanakusa Nazuna. Initially he thinks she’s just a young person like he is who is also bored of daily life. She seems fun to be around so Ko doesn’t mind. Unfortunately for him, or fortunately, there is more to Nazuna than Ko originally thinks. She reveals to be a vampire and ends up sucking his blood. Ko is not unhappy about it, thinking he’ll now become a vampire as well. Unfortunately it’s not that simple. To become a vampire yourself, you need to be in love with the vampire that sucks your blood and Ko seems to not have many feelings of love for anyone right now. We join Ko and Nazuna as they become better friends while Ko tries to figure out his feelings. Along the way we meet other vampires and slowly start learning about their intricate interpersonal relationships as well as the unwritten rules of vampire society.

Now for those with a particularly keen eye and a vast amount of knowledge on Japanese music, something has become apparent. Yeah, I didn’t know this either before I was told about it. There is a Japanese band called Creepy Nuts (what a name), who wrote a song called Yofukashi no Uta. Kotoyama asked if he could use that title for his manga, to which they agreed. And now that this same manga has been adapted to an anime, this same song is used as the ending theme for it. Things have come full circle. Both opening and ending are done by Creepy Nuts and both are absolutely fantastic songs. They also really fit the vibe of the show, which I always like. Sometimes an opening sounds good but it doesn’t match the show, and sometimes (like in Mashiro no Oto for example) the opening theme feels like a part of the story itself. That’s the case here as well.

The animation is fine, everything looks good when it’s in motion, but it doesn’t blow you out of the water like a Ufotable or Mappa show. For what it needs to do it suffices though. What they put this energy into instead, is the artstyle. Taking some hints from both Jojo and the Monogatari series, this show creates a unique color palette which adds to the vibe of the show. The night feels like a magical time and if they’d just used darkness with street lights I don’t think they’d have created an effect as powerful. With the purple and pink hues you feel like you’re transported to a magical world and you never stop to question why there’s vampires everywhere.

The characters are fun. The vampires each have their own quirks and personality and although they are a group, they have different ideas about how vampire society should work. It makes sense that a small group of outsiders that have been brought together kind of by coincidence doesn’t work together amazingly. Nazuna is free spirited and doesn’t live by the rules while Niko is strict and wants to protect the safety they have. Everyone else seems to be somewhere in between all that and I’d honestly love to learn more about these characters. Time to buy the manga I guess.

Overall this show was a lot of fun to watch each week. The music gets you ready, the artstyle keeps you engaged and the characters do the rest. Like I said before, the show has a little bit of a slow start but once you get past those initial handful of episodes things pick up properly and you won’t have time to look back at all. If you like atmospheric shows with interesting characters and a fun fantastical plot, then this show is definitely the one for you. I therefore highly recommend this show, and I’m confident it’s going to be one of the more memorable shows from this year. And that’s saying a lot with how stacked this year has already been. Thanks for reading!