The story gets boring again, but that’s what makes it interesting again. I had long tired of the swing for the action side of things, so when this story gets back to the mundane and the banal it is actually exactly where I want it.
And it’s not actually boring if you’re here for the quiet side of things, which I am, mixed with the spectacularly goofy. Ko sort of destroyed Nazuna’s home, so now she’s in need of a place to live, except her first choice is lacking in certain (read: any) amenities.
It’s all fun and games until she wants a new place because Ko can’t really visit otherwise, which leads to the sudden (uh, okay, 18 volumes sudden) reveal that she is in love with him. A sentiment that was a lot less problematic when it hadn’t killed another vampire who loved a human, say, last volume.
Amidst all this, Ko and Nazuna are being super awkward because they both default to super awkward and Nazuna’s never been the best person at dealing with serious emotions either. This emotional immaturity leads to all sorts of things, particularly when combined with Ko going back to school.
Now the question of what these two want from one another lingers in the air, which is a really good turn after all this time. It’s practically slice of life, but involving vampires and difficult choices. It was nice to see Ko acknowledge his grief over Mahiru a little too.
Probably the silliest thing is the vampire maid idol group, which feels like a ‘just in case the anime comes back’ moment that also happens to be a madlib of popular tropes. It’s not egregious, but it’s probably unnecessary.
Still, this really feels like it came back around to being the Call of the Night that I loved at the beginning and it has a lot introspection mixed with narrative momentum. It was definitely a welcome return to form.