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Call of the Night Episode 13 – Quick Summary
In Call of the Night episode 13, “Call of the Night,” Kou Yamori was on the run from the police because Anko Uguisu’s false report. While hiding in a playground, Hatsuka Suzushiro found him and took him home. Are Hatsuka’s intentions honorable? Meanwhile, Nazuna Nanakusa visited Niko Hirata with startling news: Nazuna no longer thought Kou was going to fall in love with her because of Anko’s machinations. And Nazuna wanted them to let Kou off the hook. Can Nazuna prevail in an argument? Or will things get messy?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Call of the Night Episode 13
Hatsuka admitted even vampires didn’t know much about vampires. Capture from the HIDIVE stream.
Vampire lore is fascinating. It varies from story to story. Whether it’s the background of the gothic horror like the original Dracula or the punk and leather background from something like the Underworld series, they all had something in common.
The vampires knew all about vampires.
Call of the Night has charted its own course. I like its laid-back vibe. I like its atypical approach to creating new vampires. And I like what we just learned from Hatsuka. And I liked it so much, it’s my favorite quote.
Kou had just told Hatsuka about Anko killing the vampire. Hatsuka considered Kou’s words, especially about the other vampire turning to ash. Then the vampire said (08:05), “…to tell you the truth, vampires don’t know much about vampires, either.”
That’s so cool! I’m used to the vampires knowing all about themselves. This twist on their lore seems fresh and interesting.
Best in Show Moment for Call of the Night Episode 13
Kou finally figured out where to start his relationship with Nazuna. Capture from the HIDIVE stream.
Setup: Love and Expectations
Kou doesn’t know how to process his feelings. I think I know why. Consider how our societies present the idea of romantic love. It’s kind of homologous, isn’t it? It follows a predictable course and it has a set of defined characteristics. Most of those boil down to the physical: romantic love means a strong physical attraction.
Yeah, I know the Greeks talked about various kinds of love. And I know a number of you are well-informed about those ideas. However, maybe I’m just not seeing it right, but it seems to me that very few people actually studied those concepts. Or if they do, they’re silent about the implications.
I also wonder if the Greeks had covered all the bases. But let’s look at Kou today.
Kou wonders why he feels the way he feels. He wonders why he couldn’t respond to the young woman who confessed to him back in the first episode. His reaction, or lack of a reaction, bothered him so much that it contributed to him leaving school.
It’s hard enough being an adolescent. Having to deal with expectations that are senseless makes things worse. The girl’s friends thought that Kou was a creep for how he reacted. But why? What had he done wrong? He was honest about how he felt. Shouldn’t that be a good thing?
Hatsuka had bought into the cliches about romantic love. Capture from the HIDIVE stream.
The problem was his reaction is that it didn’t conform to the expected norms. It’s the same with Niko and her friends. Midori Kohakobe unleashed her arsenal of weaponized cuteness against Kou. That attack had snared countless men and women. Yet, Kou seemed immune.
Hatsuka suggested that Kou wouldn’t even fall for Nazuna. What did Hatsuka base that on? Kou didn’t throw himself at Nazuna. In other words, Kou did not act like Akihito Akiyama when he fell for Seri Kikyou. Akihito gave his lust voice, and that’s exactly what the vampires expected. It’s what Anko expected. And it’s what society expected.
Delivery: Kou and Nazuna’s Common Perception of Love
What I like about Call of the Night is that it presents Kou’s personality not as an aberration that has to be fixed or scorned. It treats his personality as simply another option. Kou’s reaction to Nazuna isn’t eros. It’s not xenia. It’s not even philia. It’s something different.
My favorite moment is the ending scene, where Kou puts that difference on display. It’s where Kou and Nazuna both come to understand their own reactions. They both begin to accept how they feel about each other, independent of anyone else’s expectations.
Kou finally found Nazuna after her conversation with Niko. Nazuna assumed their relationship was over, and she seemed broken up about it in her brusque way. Kou wasn’t about to let that happen.
“I was always bored until I met you, Nazuna-chan! But not anymore,” he said (19:09). “What about you, Nazuna-chan?”
She admitted she felt the same way. She also apologized for trying to act cool in front of him (which said more about her feelings for him than she realized). Then she said to him (19:51), “Everything we did was so new and fresh to me.”
She turned to him and seemed shocked when he grabbed her shoulders to say, “Then we’re okay! Me, too! I had fun, too!” He was not only jubilant, but relieved. They had found the right starting point for their relationship.
He went on to say that neither of them were good at being alone. “Nazuna-chan, I’m going to fall in love with you!”
He added, in what is my favorite moment of the episode, that “So, I won’t ever let you be bored. Let’s stay together!”
Kou’s words hit Nazuna so hard she didn’t know how to react. Capture from the HIDIVE stream.
That’s not eros, exactly. In their case, I think that’s a good thing. At least, their relationship isn’t starting off in a deluge of hormones. It’s starting off with an intention: to enjoy life together. His resolve came across so strongly to her that she was speechless! He didn’t use eros; he started with an intention or an act of will.
Maybe I need to better understand Greek philosophy and how it defines the various types of love. But for the society I know, I wish it would give people room to breathe. I wish it would not levy unrealistic expectations on folks. Just because someone isn’t built to make life-long decisions based on eros doesn’t mean they’re wrong. It just means they are different. And I love how this show portrays that idea.
What did you think of Nazuna kissing Kou at the end? What were your favorite moments in the episode? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
Call of the Night Episode 13: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Yofukashi no Uta – Episode 13 discussion – FINAL
- RABUJOI: Call of the Night – 13 (Fin) – Let’s Talk About Love
- Random Curiosity: Yofukashi no Uta – 13
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Call of the Night Episode 1: First Flight
- Call of the Night Episode 2: Do You Do LINE?
- Call of the Night Episode 3: A Lot Came Out
- Call of the Night Episode 4: Isn’t This a Tight Squeeze?
- Call of the Night Episode 5: Well, That’s a Problem
- Call of the Night Episode 6: Might As Well Have Fun
- Call of the Night Episode 7: Reproduce
- Call of the Night Episode 8: All of Us
- Call of the Night Episode 9: No Fair
- Call of the Night Episode 10: Enlarge the Peeping-Tom Photos
- Call of the Night Episode 11: Do You Know What a Vampire Is?
- Call of the Night Episode 12: My Mom’s Out Tonight
- Call of the Night Episode 13: Call of the Night
This was an interesting show. I also like how Kou’s approach to life isn’t treated by the narrative as something needing to be fixed. Would that we could say the same for society in general. When I watched through and wrote my review, I was thinking about this from the romantic angle, considering the kiss, but I’m not an expert in the various types of love described by the Greek philosophers and it would be interesting to examine through those concepts.
Kou’s age and relative lack of experience still felt like an issue for me, but I think that also plays into his desire to get away from everything and his pure sort of acceptance of other people’s ways of life, like his straightforwardly saying Hatsuka is cute after learning he’s a man, something that any guy much less a boy his age more tied into social norms might try not to think about.
Interesting perspective on Kou! His and Akira’s ages still make me uneasy. I had often wondered why the author didn’t just make them college students. But your explanation makes sense. Most college-aged adults would, on average, have a more sophisticated/cynical view of the world.