Call of the Night Season 2

Episode 8

Whew, this episode is one hell of an emotional tour de force. From the highs of high school romance to the lows of domestic horror, Call of the Night closes out Nazuna and Kyoko's backstory with the season's strongest episode to date. It makes you laugh. It tugs at your heart. It doesn't flinch while delving into some of the series' darkest material yet. And it looks confident and polished in a way that behooves this mid-season climax.

As a manga reader, I forgot that so much happens in such quick succession before Nazuna wraps up her flashback. If we just take stock of the more dramatic scenes, it goes like this: Kyoko breaks down crying in front of Nazuna, Nazuna and Kyoko passionately elope, Kyoko's dad asks her for forgiveness, Kyoko's entire family falls apart, and Kyoko breaks it off with Nazuna. All in all, that takes about ten minutes of runtime, and in less capable hands, it would be whiplash-inducing. In fact, it's a reasonable criticism to want more room to breathe here. However, I also think the writing and adaptation handle themselves expertly, and the rollercoaster of emotions fits its adolescent cast.

Kyoko/Anko is the main character in this section, and that's important to keep in mind. Nazuna gets her to open up, and through their conversations, we learn that her fear of abandonment drives Kyoko's actions. She may not use those exact words, but it's clear to the audience. She wants her dad to stop cheating on her mom because she doesn't want to lose her family. She agrees to become a vampire when Nazuna promises that they'll be together forever. And ultimately, she walks away from both her family and Nazuna, perhaps reasoning that she can't be abandoned if she doesn't have relationships in the first place. In each situation, the unifying factor is Kyoko's rashness. She's smart, but when her feelings overwhelm her, she goes with her gut without thinking twice. The big problem is that her last decision cuts her off from anybody who might be able to talk her out of it.

Still, we sympathize with Kyoko. Who wouldn't be afraid of vampires after that scene? It's also worth noting that this episode focuses a lot on vampirism as a metaphor for sex. The camera frequently follows Kyoko's eyes and lingers on exposed parts of Nazuna's body—her legs, her collarbone, her hands, etc. This hormonally charged gaze comes to a point when Nazuna proposes to turn Kyoko, and the show treats the blood-sucking scene exactly as one would treat a sex scene. Nazuna even jokes afterwards about Kyoko being her “first,” and Kyoko follows that lead by asking for a kiss. On the flip side, this adds an even darker layer to Kyoko's dad going berserk, sharpening the sense of shock and betrayal Kyoko must have felt in that moment.

Like all symbols, though, we shouldn't pigeonhole vampirism as meaning one thing and one thing only. Call of the Night doesn't ask us to wholly conflate Nazuna and Kyoko's relationship with her dad's affair. Rather, it draws a more complicated pattern of connections, resembling the many variant forms that relationships and sex take in real life. A partner who is close enough to love you is also close enough to drain you. That is the unavoidable risk of intimacy. We know Nazuna would not have hurt Kyoko, and I think Kyoko knows that, too, but when she loses her family, she can't focus on anything except the impossibility of ruling that out entirely. She can't see clearly now, and she mirrors that statement literally when she dons her father's glasses. Kyoko would rather blind herself than risk being hurt like that. Eventually, she even abandons her name, further distancing herself from her past and anybody who might reach out to her.

It's not like Nazuna has all the answers either. I like how the anime emphasizes that Nazuna's response to Kyoko's plea for help isn't some carefully considered romantic gesture. It's something she blurts out after a moment of panic spurred by her friend's crying face. She means it, of course, but she doesn't think it through any further than Kyoko does. They both choose to simplify the situation. In that moment, they become two bodies doing what feels right. The adaptation especially (and literally) shines here with the soft glow and blurred focus of adolescence. I wouldn't be surprised if someone on the team used Liz and the Blue Bird as a visual reference for that scene, given the similar aesthetic, sapphic pining, and other parallels like the abstract shot of swirling colors. That's a good movie to crib from!

The rest of the episode looks great, too. There's an extra layer of finesse that distinguishes it from the season's rougher spots, so clearly the crew set this one aside as special. Supporting that, assistant director Nao Miyoshi and main director Tomoyuki Itamura reunite for the first time since the premiere. While the storyboards hew closely to the manga panels, Itamura and co-storyboarder Rei Nakahara add their own poignant flourishes. I like the still life shots when Kyoko talks about her dad, emphasizing that, in his absence, she can only speak of him in the abstract. Later, details like the birthday candles emerging out of the dark and the dripping red syrup on the cake portend the night's grisly conclusion. And when her dad loses his mind, a spinning 3D flower and discordant sound design accent the dissociative horror of the scene.

The bottom line is that all of the big emotions worked on me this week. I knew these developments and twists going into it, and the anime still swept me into the drama. While I have lots of praise to throw around, Miyuki Sawashiro is the episode's MVP. She adapts her voice deftly to all of Kyoko's moods and gives a thoroughly affecting performance. She has ridiculous range, and her work in this series is already one of my favorite examples of voice acting in anything, period. I really lucked out with this adaptation. And I can't wait to see what Sawashiro brings to the next arc. Finally reunited with Nazuna, Anko again calls her “vampire” instead of using her name, so she hasn't moved on in the slightest in the past decade. Time will tell if Nazuna can mend the bond they once had.

Rating:

Call of the Night Season 2 is currently streaming on HIDIVE.