Call of the Night | |
よふかしのうた (Yofukashi no Uta) | |
---|---|
Genre | |
Manga | |
Written by | Kotoyama |
Published by | Shogakukan |
English publisher | |
Imprint | Shōnen Sunday Comics |
Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Sunday |
Demographic | Shōnen |
Original run | August 28, 2019 – January 24, 2024 |
Volumes | 20 |
Anime television series | |
Directed by |
|
Produced by |
|
Written by | Michiko Yokote |
Music by | Yoshiaki Dewa |
Studio | Liden Films |
Licensed by | Sentai Filmworks |
Original network | Fuji TV (Noitamina) |
Original run | July 8, 2022 – present |
Episodes | 13 |
Call of the Night (Japanese: よふかしのうた, Hepburn: Yofukashi no Uta) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kotoyama . It was serialized in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from August 2019 to January 2024. In North America, the manga is licensed for English release by Viz Media. An anime television series adaptation produced by Liden Films aired from July to September 2022 on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. A second season has been announced.
In 2023, the manga won the 68th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category.
Unable to sleep or find true satisfaction in his daily life, Ko Yamori stops going to school and begins wandering the streets at night. He encounters a girl named Nazuna Nanakusa, a vampire who shows Ko the joys of being a night-walker. This results in Ko wanting to be a vampire as well, but in order to achieve his goal he must first fall in love with her.
Call of the Night is written and illustrated by Kotoyama , his second manga series after Dagashi Kashi. Kotoyama named the series after the song of the same name by Creepy Nuts, which later became the ending theme song for the anime adaptation.[10] It started in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday on August 28, 2019,[11][12] and finished on January 24, 2024.[13][14] Shogakukan has collected its chapters in 20 tankōbon volumes, released from November 18, 2019,[15] to March 18, 2024.[16]
On July 3, 2020, Viz Media announced an English release of the manga in North America.[17] The first volume was released on April 13, 2021.[18] On May 9, 2023, Viz Media launched their Viz Manga digital manga service, with the series' chapters receiving simultaneous English publication in North America as they were released in Japan.[19]
On November 11, 2021, a website opened to announce an anime television series adaptation produced by Liden Films. The series is directed by Tomoyuki Itamura, with Tetsuya Miyanishi serving as chief director, Michiko Yokote writing the series' scripts, Haruka Sagawa designing the characters, and Yoshiaki Dewa composing the music.[56] It aired from July 8 to September 30, 2022, on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. The opening theme is "Daten" (堕天, "Fallen Angel"),[57] while the ending theme is "Yofukashi no Uta" (よふかしのうた), both performed by Creepy Nuts.[2][5] Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series in North America, Europe, Oceania, and selected Latin American and Asian territories.[58] The first season consisted of 13 episodes.[59] At their Otakon panel in July 2022, Sentai Filmworks announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered on September 8, 2022.[60][3]
At the Fuji TV Anime Lineup Press Conference 2024 event on March 11, 2024, a second season was announced.[61]
Michiko Yokote wrote the script for every episode, with Haruka Sagawa being the lead animation director.
No. | Title [59] | Directed by | Storyboarded by | Original air date [62][b] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Night Flight" Transliteration: "Naito Furaito" (Japanese: ナイトフライト) | Satoshi Takafuji | Tetsuya Miyanishi | July 8, 2022 | |
After rejecting a classmate's love confession, 14 year old Ko Yamori becomes increasingly depressed. Unable to sleep at night, he takes to wandering the streets at night. He meets with a beautiful girl named Nazuna, who identifies his night time restlessness as lack of satisfaction with life and decides to help him find it again. Taking him to her apartment to sleep, she insists they share a bed. Nervous, Yamori pretends to be deeply asleep. Nazuna reveals herself as a vampire and sucks his blood, finding him to be unusually tasty. Yamori confronts her but she assures him he will not become a vampire, as the only way for a human to become a vampire is to fall in love with a vampire and then have that vampire bite them. This confession embarrasses her so she drinks a beer. Yamori is relieved, but then disappointed once again. Unable to face returning to normal life and believing he has found something to finally excite him, he asks to spend more time with Nazuna with the goal of falling in love so he can become a vampire as well. While reluctant, Nazuna agrees to spend more nights together in exchange for his blood, and if he happens to fall in love with her, so be it. | |||||
2 | "Do You Do LINE?" Transliteration: "Teka Rain Yatteru?" (Japanese: てかラインやってる?) | Jutarō Sekino | Jutarō Sekino | July 15, 2022 | |
Nazuna once again embarrasses Yamori when she explains her blood drinkage is basically the same as having sex. However, Yamori reiterates his desire to become a vampire. He then embarrasses Nazuna when he offers some of his blood. The next night, Yamori becomes jealous when he discovers from Nazuna that she does drink blood from random people. As such, he offers to exchange their contact information, but she tells him she does not have a phone. However, she takes him to her apartment, where she shows him her vintage brick phone. Afterwards, she gets ready for sleep, and invites a nervous Yamori to join her. He initially refuses to let her drink his blood, but he lets her after she admits that she had actually been looking for him that night. The next night, he gives Nazuna a wrist receiver to communicate with him, who has the transmitter. Yamori then tells her from afar that they act like a couple, embarrassing her. In his school's rooftop, he calls her "Nazuna-chan", and formally asks her be his friend. Later that night, while asking himself where Nazuna might be, the other transmitter in his wrist receives a signal, just as another girl, who has the other receiver in her wrist, appears beside him. | |||||
3 | "A Lot Came Out" Transliteration: "Ippai Deta ne" (Japanese: いっぱい出たね) | Shōgo Ono & Takashi Yasui | Takashi Yasui | July 22, 2022 | |
Akira Asai tells Yamori about how she waited for him to contact her, but he never did. Nevertheless, she tells him that she is happy to see him. Yamori then recalls how Akira befriended him. The next day, Nazuna teases him about leaving to see another girl, but his reaction confirms her suspicion. After leaving, Yamori meets with Akira, but Nazuna appears and teases them. Nazuna then proves to Akira that their relationship is merely physical when she drinks his blood in front of her. In a café, Yamori tells Akira that he allows Nazuna to drink his blood due to his dissatisfaction with school. She tells him that she feels the same, and asks him to return to school with her. After Nazuna introduces herself, both her and Yamori leave. After Yamori asks Nazuna is she is angry, she leaves upset. Yamori trips on some stairs and then calls Nazuna, apologizing for seeing Akira in secret. However, Nazuna appears, and tells him that she was worried they would see each other less if he returned to school. Yamori tells her that he was unable to tell Akira that he cannot return to school due to his dream. A relieved Nazuna then drinks from the wound in his mouth, before jumping away, leaving him speechless. | |||||
4 | "Isn't This a Tight Squeeze?" Transliteration: "Semakunai?" (Japanese: せまくない?) | Nobuhiro Mutō | Yūichi Itō & Tetsuya Miyanishi | July 29, 2022 | |
While he ponders about what happened previously, and after witnessing a couple kissing nearby, Yamori assumes that he has already fallen in love with Nazuna. After she finds him, Yamori eagerly lets her drink his blood, but after he does not transform, Nazuna explains that he is confusing love with lust. After they both reveal it was their first kiss, Nazuna believes kissing is something friends do. The next night, Yamori invites Akira to hang out at Nazuna's apartment. There, they play videogames, as Nazuna offers kisses to whoever can beat her. A flustered Akira discovers of Nazuna and Yamori's kiss, and tries to dissuade him from falling in love with a vampire. However, Nazuna explains that Yamori does not like her yet. After they play a dating sim, they lie down to sleep, despite Akira feeling weird with all of them sleeping in the same bed. After Nazuna explains their mutually beneficial relationship to Akira, Yamori finally tells her of how he will become a vampire if he falls in love with Nazuna. After Nazuna falls asleep, Akira tells Yamori that they can still be friends even if he becomes a vampire, also saying she will not give up in trying to make him return to school. | |||||
5 | "Well, That's a Problem" Transliteration: "Sorya Komatta Yatsu Desu ne" (Japanese: そりゃ困ったやつですね) | Keisuke Ōnishi | Keisuke Ōnishi | August 5, 2022 | |
Nazuna ends up in a bathhouse, where she instructs the clerk to alert her if her wrist receiver begins beeping. She bolts out of the bath when it does, meeting Yamori outside wearing nothing but a long jacket. After he has taken a bath himself, Yamori begins experiencing new feelings due to Nazuna's new look, which she teases him about. After she drinks his blood, they decide to rest, but unbeknownst to Yamori, they enter a love hotel. There, Nazuna explains that she can make an idea about what a person is thinking due to the taste of their blood, saying that she teases Yamori's emotions to get more taste. After leaving, Yamori gets jealous when Nazuna spots a person from which she has drunk blood before, but she says he is the only one at the moment. They then head to her apartment, where Nazuna reveals she runs a home massage parlor. She massages Yamori free of charge, but focuses in the more relaxing pressure points of his body, before trying to drink his blood. However, they are interrupted by the arrival of a client. Yamori is forced to greet her, and after he finds Nazuna playing in her room, she promises to give him a kiss as a reward for attending her in her place. | |||||
6 | "Might as Well Have Fun" Transliteration: "Tanoshī Hōgai yo" (Japanese: 楽しい方がいいよ) | Satoshi Takafuji | Satoshi Takafuji | August 12, 2022 | |
Kiyosumi Shirakawa recalls the first night she took Nazuna's massage services. Back in the present, Yamori undertakes her massage. After learning his age, Kiyosumi asks him his motivations, and he explains he got fed up with school, and just wants to enjoy his nights. Kiyosumi then suddenly realizes how she is genuinely unhappy at her work, and breaks down crying. A worried Yamori then refuses to let her answer a call from her boss, and to make her feel a near-death experience thrill, he has Nazuna throw her from her window, saving her just in time. Yamori apologizes for the scare, and tells Kiyosumi his and Nazuna's secret, saying he wants to become a vampire. He then takes her to walk down the middle of the street, from which she gets a sense of freedom. She thanks Yamori for alleviating some of her stress, and encourages him to achieve his goal. However, Yamori tells her he will turn her into a vampire as well, delighting Kiyosumi, and embarrassing Nazuna. Sometime later, they attend a night pool resort, where Yamori angrily pulls Nazuna away from two guys hitting on her. Sensing his jealousy, Nazuna flies him to another pool, where they enjoy themselves and she drinks his blood. | |||||
7 | "Reproduce" Transliteration: "Kozukuri" (Japanese: 眷属作り) | Jutarō Sekino | Jutarō Sekino | August 19, 2022 | |
After running into Kiyosumi, Yamori is approached by a blonde, slender woman, who flirtatiously talks and teases him. After she tells him she is bored with her recent life, Yamori tries to console her by saying they are the same. She then jumps and embraces him, ready to suck his blood. However, Nazuna saves him just in time, as she explains she should just drink all of his blood and kill him. However, another vampire captures him and takes him atop a building, where 3 other vampires are. They introduce themselves as Nico Hirata, Midori Kohakobe, Hatsuka Suzushiro, and Kabura Honda, as Nico tells him to choose amongst them, saying his choice will make him fall in love and convert him. However, he rejects all their advances in favor of Nazuna. Meanwhile, Seri Kikyō, the blonde vampire, tells Nazuna to stop playing with Yamori if she does not intend to mate with him, but she says she actually wants to, stunning her. Yamori keeps spurning the vampires, finally yelling that it will be Nazuna who conquers him, just as she arrives. Seeing her newfound interest to leave descendants, the girls accept Yamori, who says he will fall in love with Nazuna, no matter how long it takes. | |||||
8 | "All of Us" Transliteration: "Doitsumo Koitsumo" (Japanese: どいつもこいつも) | Michita Shiraishi | Junichi Sakata & Tetsuya Miyanishi | August 26, 2022 | |
The vampires explain to Yamori that a human has exactly one year to become a vampire after they first get their blood sucked. Nazuna brushes it off, and repays Yamori the kiss he was promised. Yamori briefs Akira about his predicament, and she explains that he will probably be killed after the year passes. Back home, Akira runs into a drunk Mahiru Seki, an old friend, who exclaims he is in love with a woman with whom he hangs out at night. Yamori runs into Kikyō, who asks how things are going with Nazuna. He asks what falling in love feels like, so she tries to help him. She advises him to go on a date, but Nazuna refuses, finally agreeing after he shuts off her game. However, she realizes later on the date that Kikyō influenced him and leaves, disappointed. While a depressed Yamori reflects on his room, Nazuna finds his date plan, and returns to his house, where she takes him on a flight, drinking his blood mid-air. Later on, Yamori runs into Seki hanging out with his friends. He then hangs out with him and Akira at the park, inadvertently encouraging him after expressing his own friendship with Nazuna. Sometime later, Nazuna holds hands with Yamori so they will not get separated again, just as Seki passes with his new girlfriend. | |||||
9 | "No Fair" Transliteration: "Zurui" (Japanese: ずるい) | Shōgo Ono | Tomoyuki Itamura & Takashi Yasui | September 2, 2022 | |
Yamori runs into Kikyō, but Nazuna violently stops her. Nazuna then exclaims that Kikyō herself condemned friendships between humans and vampires. Later, Yamori finds Kikyō again, so they go to a karaoke bar, where Kikyō explains how harsh people can be, which Yamori understands. Just then, one of her admirers begins knocking at the door. Yamori opposes to her killing him, but she explains that her antics are not wrong if his death does not affect him. She attacks, but Yamori gets in her way, and escapes with him. Yamori deduces Akihito Akiyama likes Kikyō, and he recalls how they met after she found him drunk on the street. Kikyō arrives, and she goes to kill Akiyama and Yamori for interfering, but Nazuna stops her from above. Akiyama reveals they used to be friends, but he accidentally fell in love with her, which collided with her hatred for romance. Kikyō confirms this, and agrees to never see Akiyama again. However, she breaks down crying, exclaiming she had fun being his friend, and wants to continue. Akiyama then offers to become her progeny, to which Kikyō agrees, converting him. They all go to the karaoke to celebrate, with Nazuna exclaiming she and Yamori can take their time. | |||||
10 | "Enlarge the Peeping-Tom Photos" Transliteration: "Totogazō o Kakudai Shite miru" (Japanese: 盗撮画像を拡大して見る) | Jutarō Sekino, Yuki Komada, Yasushi Tomoda, Ouri Yasukawa, Minami Honma & Tetsuya Miyanishi[c] | Tetsuya Miyanishi | September 9, 2022 | |
Midori needs to find someone to work a shift at the vampire-themed maid cafe where she works who will not upstage her, and ends up convincing Nazuna to do the job while she is out on another stroll with Ko. Ko decides to stay at the cafe as a customer, and is served by another waitress named Arisa, who tells him about her own love of maid cafes. As Midori plans to post photos for the cafe's social media, she notices several creepshots of Arisa uploaded to the same folder, and asks Ko to help her find the culprit. Ko and Nazuna spend some time surveying the scene, trying to figure out how the voyeur could achieve the angles featured in the photos. Suddenly, Ko has an epiphany, and sets up a sting with Midori later that night, catching the real culprit in the act, who turns out to be Arisa herself. Arisa admits to taking risque photos of herself out of a narcissistic desire for recognition after losing the top maid spot to Midori. Arisa then plans to quit the cafe, but Midori forgives her, saying that all the cafe maids are working there out of some desire for recognition themselves. | |||||
11 | "Do You Know What a Vampire Is?" Transliteration: "Kyūketsuki tte Shitterukai?" (Japanese: 吸血鬼って知ってるかい?) | Jutarō Sekino, Satoshi Takafuji, Yū Agata & Tetsuya Miyanishi[d] | Satoshi Takafuji | September 16, 2022 | |
Nazuna uses the extra money earned from working at the cafe to upgrade the furniture in her own place, and asks Ko to find some new clients for her sleeping business. Ko sees a tired woman smoking on the bridge and tries to strike up a chat with her. She then takes him to a cafe where he tries to sell her on Nazuna's business, but she half-jokingly threatens to inform the police that his boss is violating Japanese child labor laws. The woman introduces herself as Anko Uguisu, a private detective, and she tries to get information from him on Akihito, showing Ko a photo of the man who was involved with Seri the other day. Ko lies about not knowing him, and after a tense moment, Anko lets him slide. Anko pays for the coffee and leaves, letting Ko take the change, which he spends on beer for Nazuna. However, he is unaware that Anko is stalking him from afar. Later that night, Ko meets up with Mahiru and Akira to investigate the "seven mysteries" of their school. Most of them are either nonexistent or have mundane explanations, but while checking a "haunted" classroom they stumble upon an old man who pounces on Akira and tries to drink her blood. Ko manages to fight him off long enough for the three kids to escape, but the man follows them into the hallway. At the other end, Anko shows up and lets him "die as a human," letting him turn to ash as the morning sun shines through the windows of the hallway. Ko asks why she could not let him perish in peace, and Anko chastises Ko for being naive about vampires. | |||||
12 | "My Mom's Out Tonight" Transliteration: "Kyōuchi Oya Inai nda" (Japanese: 今日ウチ親いないんだ) | Keisuke Ōnishi | Keisuke Ōnishi | September 23, 2022 | |
Ko, shaken by the incident of the previous night, reconsiders becoming a vampire. Nazuna, noticing Ko's discomfort, assures him that the starved vampire at the school was not a typical case. Ko speaks to Mahiru about the previous night, and is asked why he wishes to become a vampire and advised to consider if it is a good idea. Nazuna, visiting Ko's apartment, tells him that she has been a vampire for a long time, and that it is not as exciting as it may seem. Unsure what to do, Ko meets with Uguisu seeking counsel. Uguisu says she is opposed to Ko becoming a vampire, as she believes that vampires are a threat to humanity, and presents him with an ultimatum; demanding that he promise to abandon his hope of becoming a vampire, at which point she will protect him from the vampires and tell him how to kill them. Ko staunchly refuses to comply with Uguisu's demands, insisting that not all vampires are bad. At this, Uguisu calls the police and reports Ko for breaking curfew. Ko flees the area before the police arrive, and hides at a playground, where he is found by Hatsuka. | |||||
13 | "Call of the Night" Transliteration: "Yofukashi no Uta" (Japanese: よふかしのうた) | Shōgo Ono | Tomoyuki Itamura | September 30, 2022 | |
Hatsuka takes Ko to his place and lets Ko sit in a chair while Hatsuka takes a shower. When Hatsuka asks Ko for a towel, Ko discovers that Hatsuka is actually male. Meanwhile, Nazuna thinks that Ko does not want to become a vampire anymore, and asks Nico and the other vampires to let him live. Nico is furious that Nazuna wants to let him break their deal, and smashes the table, then threatens to kill Ko herself. Back at Hatsuka's place, Ko begins second-guessing himself as he recounts his encounter with Anko and the old male vampire that she killed. Hatsuka offers to turn Ko into a vampire himself after seeing a picture of the smashed table, saying it would be the quickest way to ensure both Nazuna and Ko's safety. Though Ko feels a slight attraction to Hatsuka, he declines, saying that he wants to be turned by Nazuna, even though there might be consequences for them both. Ko rushes to the rooftop where he met the other vampires before, with Nico trying to dissuade him from finding Nazuna, stating that she left and will not talk to him. Ko runs away and decides to look for Nazuna on his own after angrily telling Nico to shut up. Ko finally reunites with her at the vending machine where they first met. Nazuna quietly promises to become a vampire worth falling in love for, and kisses him. |
In 2020, the Call of the Night manga was nominated for the sixth Next Manga Awards and placed seventh out of the 50 nominees with 15,134 votes.[64] The series ranked eighth on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2021" by the Honya Club website.[65][66] In 2023, the series won the 68th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category, along with Ao no Orchestra.[67]
The anime adaptation was nominated at the 7th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in three categories: Best New Series, Best Ending Sequence ("Yofukashi no Uta" by Creepy Nuts), and Best Romance.[68]
In Anime News Network's Summer 2022 preview guide, contributors generally responded positively to the series, praising the narrative, unique take on the common trope of vampires, and high production value, comparing it favorably to the Monogatari series, which series co-director Tomoyuki Itamura had previously worked on at Shaft.[69]