Call of the Night Vol. 3 Review – The Night is Young

We’re back to the nightly happenings of Call of the Night and mangaka Kotoyama shakes things up a bit in this entry. Outside of additional characters, we get a better understanding of the world of which Ko is now a part of with stakes that could mean the end of his life. In case you missed it, check out our reviews of Call of the Night Vol. 1 and Call of the Night Vol. 2.

Call of the Night Vol. 3 wastes no time expanding the universe by introducing Seri, a vampire girl who prides herself on being able to make any man fall in love with her. However, this leads her to boredom, but also has her close herself off to her true feelings and what she genuinely wants. We also learn from a group of other vampires that Ko has one year to fall in love with Nazuna before they’ll need to kill him, which Ko deals with in pieces.

I feel like the way Ko tackles situations is tied to a realistic means of handling issues. He dwells on a situation for a bit but knows when to stop and deal with things directly in front of him only to return to it later on. He’s not the only character here to act this way, but the only outlier is Nazuna. She’s a complete mystery that we only understand bits and pieces of. This volume does nothing for her character, but there are a few scenes that show she is doing her best to show Ko she cares.

A lot happened in this volume, which may make it seem messy, but I think it was a great way to tell a story without delivering the same melancholic tone as the previous volumes. There’s a subplot developing surrounding one of Ko’s childhood friends and also the group of vampire girls who might be the only ones who can tell Ko anything about Nazuna. I hope to see more of this expanded cast in upcoming volumes, but I felt content with the overall arc of this entry that held some impactful moments about understanding love.

There’s a lot of environments explored in this volume from a karaoke bar to a sports event, Ko and Naxuna find themselves in some interesting situations. The jump in scenery doesn’t feel jarring or out of place either, which is good because this volume switches the main character from time to time. However, I will say that there was a moment where an event was shown, followed by a “10-minutes earlier” text box and it didn’t quite work.

Call of the Night Vol. 3 is perhaps one of the best volumes of the series based on the chances that it takes with its characters and plot. Everything flows so naturally in this entry and it shows that the author is becoming more comfortable with expanding the personalities of the main characters and adding more to look forward to seeing again in later volumes. If you’re sleeping on this manga, now is the time to pick it up.