I’m a huge sucker for anything vampire-related. Call it the Twilight fangirl in me that is still roaring intense, more than a decade later. But there’s just something so calming about the ‘creature of the night’ aspect that vampire stories bring. The way they romanticize the darkness that the nighttime brings should be spooky, but it ends up being weirdly grounding instead. This is why I see the appeal for something like Call Of The Night, with its hazy nocturnal scenery and an unlikely friendship between two lost souls. But in that friendship, does our protagonist Kou find purpose? or is Kou only trying to become a Vampire?

In a way, Kou Yamori achieves what he started the manga to do, which is to become a vampire-like Nazuna Nanakusa. But in contrast to Nazuna, he transforms into a Half-Vampire instead, with his powers still being fleshed out. In a way, this suits Kou’s personality perfectly, with how he’s stuck between two worlds and his wants.

The way the world is set in Call Of The Night, with all the vampire tropes you can imagine, it’s honestly commendable how it manages to keep this undercurrent of calmness. Much like the numbness that comes from sleeping in a dark room, surrounded by shadows and dust. It’s really strange, but it works surprisingly well. But how? And what does it have to do with vampires in general?

Welcome To Lore Analysis, a segment where we take a gander at up-and-coming anime with interesting premises and break them down. The world-building is one of the most important parts of a story. And if done well, they can make or break the tale. This is why today we’ll be looking into vampirism as represented in Call Of The Night.

Why Is Kou Yamori Crumbling Under Pressure?

The thing that makes Call Of the Night so unique at first blush is how exhausted Kou is at just 14 years of age. As someone who is also bone-tired from life, it’s almost too relatable.

Kou was a really promising student, friendly and engaging with his schoolmates. But he realized how much he disliked the attention, how it wasn’t fulfilling him to be motivated and do better. And he could never understand the struggles of the students around him.

So, he leaves, drops out of school, and becomes more reclusive. That’s a big decision for a teenager to make, but he’s surprisingly mature about it. He starts roaming the streets at night, engaging with both vampires and humans alike until he comes across Nazuna.

Nazuna Nanakusa: Night-Walker And The Insomniac

Nazuna is weird. And she doesn’t try to hide that fact. She’s a Night-Walker, a vampire who roams the streets looking for willing humans to drink blood from. When she encounters Kou, they hit it right off.

She is laid-back, so that certainly helps with any nerves that Kou might’ve had but that’s just who she is. She’s weirdly ethical about things, not drinking the blood of those that don’t consent to it. I mean, she genuinely pays attention to not come across as a bad person, like that is important to her. This, again, is a refreshing take on the ‘sexy cute devil’ trope you see in manga like these.

Nazuna the vampire gels extremely well with Kou, getting possessive over him as time goes on. She aids him in his quest to understand his budding feelings, being an open book for him to reflect on.

Yofukashi No Uta: The Solace Of Tokyo Nights

And it’s in the camaraderie that Kou discovers the late-night dwellers of Tokyo. He’s already an insomniac, so transitioning from a daily lifestyle to a nocturnal cycle is as easy as breathing.

Together the two meet various people, with Kou having no issues talking to adults twice his age about things beyond his comprehension level. But that’s the beauty of the night, where everyone shed their skin and comes out of their caves to engage under the filter of the moonlight. It’s all very ambivalent, the nighttime is atmospheric.

It’s no wonder Kou wants to be a vampire so badly, he fits right in with strangers that walk the neon-lit Tokyo streets.