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Well, I do find earings cool but using wearing clothing pins as earings is kinda not cool
Call of the Night - Ch. 196 - The Ocean Rocks
- Thread starter MangaDex
- Start date
hell nah idc ab kotoyama's "hints" my longread above is clearly proves why there's only good ending which is love rh rn or its whole series is nonsense and spit in face and there's no way but dumped ratings and broken face by his redactor which will be with broken face by director of corporacy for poor supervision for kotoyama's plot
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Help. I scared of how sad I am about to be.
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The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is also one largely spurred by the fact that they couldn't normally express, explore, and develop their infatuation because they were from two opposing sides of a violent blood feud. What they had to struggle against just to maintain any kind of connection managed to intensify their passion for each other while also preventing it from being defined by more than said struggle. Their lovers suicide is superficially the result of a miscommunication, but the setting that allowed for the circumstances of that miscommunication is partly what they're reacting to when they kill themselves.
I generally agree with your deduction of Mahiru/Kiku being written as a foil to Kou/Nazuna, but I'm less sure about a part of your comparison: in Kiku's case, she sought to become and die a human, and had to come to love someone in order to even potentially get that. Kou also sought to become something else-- a vampire. In both of these cases, both Kou and Kiku had to will themselves into "love" in order to achieve their goals.
Both Kou and Kiku sought to love, to be emotionally intimate with another-- for that reason, Kou surmises that Kiku's the same as him (ch. 152, p.13-14). For both of them, "love" was indeed a "destination" that they both had some fixation on.
The more I thought about this, the more I realized just how much thought is probably behind your deceptively brief "obsessive desires and mutual codependence"...
I think it's fair to say that Mahiru and Kiku's relationship was characterized by codependence: unlike Kou, Mahiru already knew how to love and wanted to become the underling of the Kiku he loved, but that love came from the idea that she was all he had (ch. 104, p.14). Furthermore, Kiku wanted that he cut off his friends and family so that she could come to love him... so that she could (hopefully) die from vampirizing him.
Kou and Nazuna's relationship is generated from an unlikely reciprocity that defines, permeates, and actively develops their relationship. Kou wanted to learn to love (in order to become a vampire) and Nazuna wanted to drink his blood until he turned. In contrast, what Kiku wants practically obviates what Mahiru truly wants-- to be with Kiku (ch. 104, p.15) and he only has it in him to do what she wants out of his love for her. They lack anything like the reciprocity that Kou and Nazuna have-- they lack reciprocity, period, and it's because of this that I find it difficult to say that they loved each other. Certainly, they had a dysfunctional and mutually destructive love.
Furthermore, Kou and Nazuna's relationship led to both of them making new friends and growing from those new connections, also meaning that Kou got the chance to reconnect with his friends, reconnect with his mother, make amends with the girl he rejected (and her friends), and overall overcome the initial social withdrawal that characterized him at the beginning of the story. Not only does their relationship help Nazuna make amends with Kyouko, Kou nearly singlehandedly saved Kyouko's life and her future. Both Kou and Nazuna start out this story knowing nothing about love outside some fragmentary preconceptions, and the fleshing out of their understandings of love (as well as their own coming to love) is on account of their various observations of and experiences with romantic and platonic relationships.
Kiku and Mahiru have no such experiences, and thus have no such developments.
Kiku's wants necessitated Mahiru systematically withdrawing from society, cutting off his mother, and nearly definitively cutting off his friends by the end of his life (definitively, if you read into him crushing his phone that stored the last preserved memory he had of him and his friends)-- and if not for the fact that he loved Kiku, he wasn't fond of any of that, but still elected to do it because Kiku was all he had... but that's partly because of Kiku herself.
Kiku didn't understand love, and Mahiru didn't understand love despite easily coming to it. They cut themselves off from anybody who could show them any better-- or at least show them something different. Furthermore, in cutting themselves off from people, they were freer to engage in more self-destructive activities and entertain more self-destructive thoughts.
The end result is that, by the end of their relationship, Mahiru and Kiku come to some kind of mutual love, but it's the product of the same preconceived notions they had at the beginning of their relationship-- at most, Kiku had her tragic romance films, which either informed or reinforced her internal dichotomy that had her wishing for a happy life despite pursuing something she figured would lead to her death, and may have also made her understand someone sacrificing all their relationships for her as something "romantic". Mahiru-- an impressionable teenager that probably didn't know anything about love outside his feeling of it-- only got to inherit that.
Another comparison: Kyouko failed to become a vampire, but the life she led after her parents' deaths wasn't far away from the tedium of a vampire's life that Nazuna described in chapter 42, as well as the suicidal tendencies inherent to Kiku's machinations. She lived by herself, in an absolutely barren box of an apartment (ch. 83, p.16). She had no friends and no associates, and had a grand plan to reveal the existence of vampires that involved her being murdered by one. Even when that fell apart, she had to be prevented from killing herself. In general, she lived to hunt vampires and die trying.*
Some of the ways she's treated Kou (a 14-year old) have been... "downright suspect", for lack of a better word (not that you'll catch me complaining), but she deeply appreciates his friendship because it was what saved her. And it's because of that friendship that she found more friendships, and was taken even further away from that nadir.
If Kiku found what Nazuna had-- multiple people who, more than being charmed by her, were willing to have enduring and mutual relationships with her-- and she sought to keep them, she might have been more willing to live her life rather than constantly seek death.
*Both Kiku and Kyouko had the means to kill themselves at any time (Kyouko could have shot herself and Kiku could have stepped out into sunlight), but they seemingly both wanted to die in some kind of "human" pursuit.
I think it's fair to say that Mahiru and Kiku's relationship was characterized by codependence: unlike Kou, Mahiru already knew how to love and wanted to become the underling of the Kiku he loved, but that love came from the idea that she was all he had (ch. 104, p.14). Furthermore, Kiku wanted that he cut off his friends and family so that she could come to love him... so that she could (hopefully) die from vampirizing him.
Kou and Nazuna's relationship is generated from an unlikely reciprocity that defines, permeates, and actively develops their relationship. Kou wanted to learn to love (in order to become a vampire) and Nazuna wanted to drink his blood until he turned. In contrast, what Kiku wants practically obviates what Mahiru truly wants-- to be with Kiku (ch. 104, p.15) and he only has it in him to do what she wants out of his love for her. They lack anything like the reciprocity that Kou and Nazuna have-- they lack reciprocity, period, and it's because of this that I find it difficult to say that they loved each other. Certainly, they had a dysfunctional and mutually destructive love.
Furthermore, Kou and Nazuna's relationship led to both of them making new friends and growing from those new connections, also meaning that Kou got the chance to reconnect with his friends, reconnect with his mother, make amends with the girl he rejected (and her friends), and overall overcome the initial social withdrawal that characterized him at the beginning of the story. Not only does their relationship help Nazuna make amends with Kyouko, Kou nearly singlehandedly saved Kyouko's life and her future. Both Kou and Nazuna start out this story knowing nothing about love outside some fragmentary preconceptions, and the fleshing out of their understandings of love (as well as their own coming to love) is on account of their various observations of and experiences with romantic and platonic relationships.
Kiku and Mahiru have no such experiences, and thus have no such developments.
Kiku's wants necessitated Mahiru systematically withdrawing from society, cutting off his mother, and nearly definitively cutting off his friends by the end of his life (definitively, if you read into him crushing his phone that stored the last preserved memory he had of him and his friends)-- and if not for the fact that he loved Kiku, he wasn't fond of any of that, but still elected to do it because Kiku was all he had... but that's partly because of Kiku herself.
Kiku didn't understand love, and Mahiru didn't understand love despite easily coming to it. They cut themselves off from anybody who could show them any better-- or at least show them something different. Furthermore, in cutting themselves off from people, they were freer to engage in more self-destructive activities and entertain more self-destructive thoughts.
The end result is that, by the end of their relationship, Mahiru and Kiku come to some kind of mutual love, but it's the product of the same preconceived notions they had at the beginning of their relationship-- at most, Kiku had her tragic romance films, which either informed or reinforced her internal dichotomy that had her wishing for a happy life despite pursuing something she figured would lead to her death, and may have also made her understand someone sacrificing all their relationships for her as something "romantic". Mahiru-- an impressionable teenager that probably didn't know anything about love outside his feeling of it-- only got to inherit that.
Another comparison: Kyouko failed to become a vampire, but the life she led after her parents' deaths wasn't far away from the tedium of a vampire's life that Nazuna described in chapter 42, as well as the suicidal tendencies inherent to Kiku's machinations. She lived by herself, in an absolutely barren box of an apartment (ch. 83, p.16). She had no friends and no associates, and had a grand plan to reveal the existence of vampires that involved her being murdered by one. Even when that fell apart, she had to be prevented from killing herself. In general, she lived to hunt vampires and die trying.*
Some of the ways she's treated Kou (a 14-year old) have been... "downright suspect", for lack of a better word (not that you'll catch me complaining), but she deeply appreciates his friendship because it was what saved her. And it's because of that friendship that she found more friendships, and was taken even further away from that nadir.
If Kiku found what Nazuna had-- multiple people who, more than being charmed by her, were willing to have enduring and mutual relationships with her-- and she sought to keep them, she might have been more willing to live her life rather than constantly seek death.
*Both Kiku and Kyouko had the means to kill themselves at any time (Kyouko could have shot herself and Kiku could have stepped out into sunlight), but they seemingly both wanted to die in some kind of "human" pursuit.
I'm of the mind that this manga is about more than romantic love specifically, but more broadly about the value of relationships and community. Kou starts this story being totally socially isolated and not very understanding of people, and was pursuing something that-- had he achieved it from the start-- would have only solidified that isolation. Now, he's at the point where he has plenty of connections and is a more developed person for it despite not reaching his original goal. His own presence in the lives of others, and his willingness to find a way to do good for them, has helped or outright saved them. In contrast, his best friend also found love with a vampire, but regressed into the position Kou started at, and died there. Kou couldn't think to do the same without saddening all the people he befriended and is still connected with.
I don't know what exactly will happen, and I'll be borderline obligated to try to understand what the author meant in whatever she chooses to execute. However, from my current thematic perspective, I don't think either of them are going to die. From a more narrative-mechanical perspective, I'm kind of expecting for Nazuna to become the human she's been dreaming of being since at least chapter 42.
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@Eighty-six
Wrote this on my phone so I can't format it well. Still at work, but I was so excited by your analysis that I can't wait to respond, even though that's probably smart. I think that's clearly how you provide such thoughtful analysis.
To begin with, how could I forget that Kou started with the ambition of falling in love?
But even so, I would argue that love was but a stepping stone towards his true destination of becoming a vampire. You can see this in the innocence with which he initially approaches the idea of falling in love. And only later in his journey did he realize the gravity of love, and what it means to be in love. Regardless of his intentions, love was definitely something he stumbled into, something he found. Like journeying to a distant land, you may know the name, yet have no idea what it actually looks like nor precisely how to arrive at your destination. Mahiru and Kiku both had a much firmer idea of what their romance ought to look like. Kou didn't. And he chose to explore that and find it, instead of following a preconceived path. That willingness to embrace the journey - I think that's important. The repeating motif of the vending machine, of choice, the symbolic crossroads - all of that is reflective of Kou's journey and the importance of being active in making your own decisions, of discovering the path to your destination, instead of passively resigning yourself to the path that fate has paved for you.
Your analysis of Kiku and Mahiru's romance is spot on and incredibly insightful, as usual. I had given only cursory thought to how it was influenced by context. The mutually exclusive nature of Kiku and Mahiru's desires never fully dawned on me as it did for you.
As for your latter point about relationships, I think you're right. My initial thought was that the focus on relationships was a component of Kou's specific story, juxtaposed with Mahiru and Kiku's myopic focus on love. I thought that other relationships played second fiddle to the romance component, and existed to show that they're necessary for a healthy romance - yes they exist for their own sake, but they must exist in order to have healthy romance. But I think I agree with you now - that they were never second fiddle, but a primary component, a co-star to the theme of romance. Which is much how life should be. You demonstrated well how the different narratives within the story placed equal importance on both romance and relationships besides love.
Great analysis. Really loved reading it. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to add it.
Wrote this on my phone so I can't format it well. Still at work, but I was so excited by your analysis that I can't wait to respond, even though that's probably smart. I think that's clearly how you provide such thoughtful analysis.
To begin with, how could I forget that Kou started with the ambition of falling in love?
But even so, I would argue that love was but a stepping stone towards his true destination of becoming a vampire. You can see this in the innocence with which he initially approaches the idea of falling in love. And only later in his journey did he realize the gravity of love, and what it means to be in love. Regardless of his intentions, love was definitely something he stumbled into, something he found. Like journeying to a distant land, you may know the name, yet have no idea what it actually looks like nor precisely how to arrive at your destination. Mahiru and Kiku both had a much firmer idea of what their romance ought to look like. Kou didn't. And he chose to explore that and find it, instead of following a preconceived path. That willingness to embrace the journey - I think that's important. The repeating motif of the vending machine, of choice, the symbolic crossroads - all of that is reflective of Kou's journey and the importance of being active in making your own decisions, of discovering the path to your destination, instead of passively resigning yourself to the path that fate has paved for you.
Your analysis of Kiku and Mahiru's romance is spot on and incredibly insightful, as usual. I had given only cursory thought to how it was influenced by context. The mutually exclusive nature of Kiku and Mahiru's desires never fully dawned on me as it did for you.
As for your latter point about relationships, I think you're right. My initial thought was that the focus on relationships was a component of Kou's specific story, juxtaposed with Mahiru and Kiku's myopic focus on love. I thought that other relationships played second fiddle to the romance component, and existed to show that they're necessary for a healthy romance - yes they exist for their own sake, but they must exist in order to have healthy romance. But I think I agree with you now - that they were never second fiddle, but a primary component, a co-star to the theme of romance. Which is much how life should be. You demonstrated well how the different narratives within the story placed equal importance on both romance and relationships besides love.
Great analysis. Really loved reading it. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to add it.
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for Kou, more than a romance, this has been a coming of age story if anything.. heck, the whole series might just be an imaginary telling of how a chuunibyo experiences puberty.. he'll grow out of his vampire phase, graduate high school, get a job, start paying taxes, and become a normal boring grown-up..
to begin with, Kou only wanted to become a vampire because he was bored, it wasn't his big dream or anything. it was just a fad. even falling in love wasn't something he sought out, but was just a due process for becoming a vampire.. and since he's graduated from that boredom and found more interests in life, hell just forget it and move forward.
I find it very likely that we get that time-skip ending where Nazuna and Kou have gone their separate ways. Kou is going to college or has a job, maybe he's started a business that he works on with his mother.. then he goes out on a date with one of the love interest classmates, or just for some drinks with his friends/co-workers.. and on the moonlit night Kou catches a glimpse in the corner of his eye, of a gleeful little shadow flying through the city skylines, looking for some fun.. and that's how in their own ways, they continue to answer the call of the night..
but I'd rather see them stick together as lovers. they grab fate by the balls and decide to see for themselves whether the rumours about the vampire dying from sucking the blood of their love is true or not, surely they can work something out.. or they at least have sex and Kou impregnates Nazuna so that she has a piece of him with her lol..
to begin with, Kou only wanted to become a vampire because he was bored, it wasn't his big dream or anything. it was just a fad. even falling in love wasn't something he sought out, but was just a due process for becoming a vampire.. and since he's graduated from that boredom and found more interests in life, hell just forget it and move forward.
I find it very likely that we get that time-skip ending where Nazuna and Kou have gone their separate ways. Kou is going to college or has a job, maybe he's started a business that he works on with his mother.. then he goes out on a date with one of the love interest classmates, or just for some drinks with his friends/co-workers.. and on the moonlit night Kou catches a glimpse in the corner of his eye, of a gleeful little shadow flying through the city skylines, looking for some fun.. and that's how in their own ways, they continue to answer the call of the night..
but I'd rather see them stick together as lovers. they grab fate by the balls and decide to see for themselves whether the rumours about the vampire dying from sucking the blood of their love is true or not, surely they can work something out.. or they at least have sex and Kou impregnates Nazuna so that she has a piece of him with her lol..
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Nazuna bikini
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Is it too much to hope for Nazuna to give in when too hungry, make with the succ, and... Nothing happen? Got a pair of half vamps here in a perfect pairing for a happy night life.
But that pic she took, something about that made my heart hitch. I know it'll be seen in the final chapter and I'll be crying.
But that pic she took, something about that made my heart hitch. I know it'll be seen in the final chapter and I'll be crying.
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I'm feeling the same. Clean number, could the last twenty into 2 volumes, leaving the books at a clean 20.
