A new night awaits Kô, but Nazuna does not seem to be present at her home. This is how the path of the boy crosses that of Seri Kikyô, a young girl trying to flirt… until she turns out to be a vampire, too! Without expecting it, the boy finds himself further propelled into the world of blood drinkers, and will become aware of a serious dilemma…
We are now used to the routine presented by Kotoyama. The first two volumes of Call of the Night offered a refreshing and exotic start, the nocturnal universe to which are associated elements of fantasy that do not leave anyone indifferent. While we now think we are on familiar ground, the mangaka comes to thwart this a priori, by propelling the story towards still new paths!
Is Nazuna the only one of her kind? No, of course not, but maybe we didn’t expect to see more vampires being introduced to us so soon. After all, the first two opuses managed very well to gravitate only around the pair formed by Kô and his blood-drinking friend, so we could very well expect not to have other vampires for a while. However, as if Kotoyama were now proposing the real launch of his story, this third volume brings a real presentation of the vampiric universe of the work, by making Nazuna a sort of pariah among his people.
Like Kô, the reader is a little overwhelmed by everything that unfolds under his nose. There are fears, first, that the plot will go off in some form of supernatural action, in which the vampires would brawl over the fate of the young boy. One thing leading to another, the sequel confirms that the basic ideas of the author are not betrayed: With this choice to present new vampires, the sentimental side of the work takes on a new form, while remaining on the essential couple. between the two heroes, but setting an additional stake. A kind of threat then weighs on the central character, by these new vampires who are not lacking in interest.
And it is in this sense that the artist comes to shake up our expectations once again. Surprise: There is indeed an “Oshimi” side (the talented author of the vampiric Happiness, The Flowers of Evil and The Blood Ties) in what begins to develop the story from these new tracks. Seri Kikyō, the first of the other bloodthirsty Kō encounters, is the focus of the second half of the volume, both as a threat and as a simple character who more firmly points to one of the series’ directions. So, behind the fantasy romance, there is a teenage fable, vampires not being so different from Kô. Whether it’s Nazuna sensitive to rose water stories or Seri who hides her own suffering, we find in this sequel to Call of the Night a desire to show characters who have their emotions, an adolescence that their vampire condition does not not always allow them to crunch to the fullest. From then on, a disturbing creature can become touching, and a new facet is created within the story. More than confirming the routine of the series, this third volume turns it upside down, and brings a completely pleasant direction, which tends to confirm that Call of the Night is not a romantic comedy like the others. Funny, sometimes disturbing, but also emotionally fair, the series is definitely not lacking in assets.