Anime Review: Call of the night

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Alright, let’s settle in for this one. Imagine you and I are sitting across from each other at a quiet café, maybe it’s late evening, the hum of life outside feels far away, and I’m leaning in to tell you about Call of the Night.

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The first thing I’ll admit is that this anime hit me at a time when I was kind of restless myself, caught between the weariness of daily routines and this hunger for something that feels alive, almost rebellious against the ordinary. That’s probably why Call of the Night sank its claws into me the way it did. On the surface, it’s about a boy, Kou Yamori, who slips out into the night because sleep doesn’t come easy to him anymore. But honestly? It felt like watching a piece of my own insomnia come alive in neon lights and quiet whispers.

The night that Kou enters seems to be an entirely new world, a world we cannot see when we are too busy keeping to time and then- wham- he meets Nazuna. Nazuna is not your run of the mill mysterious girl character though. She is wild and unapologetic and messy and there is this sadness behind the sharp humour and the teasing. Their relationship did not seem as a kind of romance in the traditional meaning of this word but more like a discovery of a person who introduces you to a part of the world which you never knew was there.

Among the scenes which hit me the strongest was the very first time Kou asks what it is to truly enjoy the night. The silence almost extends, almost as though the city is listening. And the answer, given by Nazuna, is not profound in some abstract sense--it is primal, it is madness, it is release. It took me back to those nights when you walk aimlessly, just to enjoy the sound of the street lights, the texture of the empty sidewalks and you just realize that it is the world at night which belongs to those people who walk out of the lines.

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However, the thing is that it is not a mere neon fantasy. Call of the Night counter-balances this romanticised, idealised view of nighttime freedom with a darker undertow. It is not only the concept of immortality that makes Kou want to become a vampire, he wants to evade the heavyweight of the day. That struck a chord with me since how many times do we all want to get away, not in the way that we want to vanish never to be seen again but to simply be free of the characters we perform when the sun in the sky? His struggle was too close to home, as though the anime was breathing the words that you do not necessarily speak aloud.

And yet, it’s funny too. There were so many scenes where I found myself laughing, like Nazuna’s ridiculous bluntness, the way she teases Kou mercilessly but in a way that weirdly felt tender. Their banter gave me the sense of being young again, when conversations felt endless and every silly thing had weight simply because you were sharing it with someone in that quiet pocket of time.

It was the vibe that actually stuck with me, though. It was the music--God, the music. The low-fi, electronic pulse put me in the same situation as I was standing under wavering street lamps myself and watching the city breathing. Every song sewed the images into a mood so intoxicated that long after the episode finished I still felt like I could still hear it in my mind. But it is not an anime you watch, it is one that you immerse yourself in.

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At the end, I understood that Call of the Night was not only about vampires or sleeping disorders or love. It was on being lonely, and the weird means we employ to satisfy the emptiness. Kou does not simply needs to be with Nazuna, he needs to have a place, he needs to feel he is in something he can call his own. and don't we all?

I can be honest with you and sit here with you and tell you that I did not simply watch Call of the Night. I experienced it. It reminded me that there is a world to be found even in the hushed, most underrated hours of the day; you just need to be courageous enough to enter it. It made me realize that at times, freedom is not the image of chains being broken but it is the moment when one will be able to walk under the street lights with someone who can see the same strange beauty that you see.

This is the reason why it remained in my mind. That is why I will never forget it when I am not able to sleep and when I want to go outside just to have a look at what the night has in stock.

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Thumbnail is designed by me on pixelLab and other images are screenshot from the movie