Call of the Night - Vol. 17 Ch. 169 - Keep That to Yourself

[Brackass]

What a super nice outcome for the whole obligation date setup. Guy turns out to be a nice bro and it's they have a nice time, Nazuna parses her feelings and communicates it properly and he takes it properly, and that probably sets her up for parsing her feelings about Kou (basically as a contrast to the guy who she just pinned as a bro).

 

[kaminomikan]

so author make her have something to compare her feelings.

 

[unpopular]

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[SlankDombus]

Maybe? We know she was vulnerable at that point in time, and she died right as the sun started rising. Did she die because she fell in love, or because of the sun? Kotoyama intentionally left it ambiguous.

hold up, what? i was not at all under the impression that that was meant to be ambiguous. i don't know that i even like that "rule" but if it isn't true than what the fuck was the point of any of it? if all of the vampire rules were meant to be ambiguous this entire time than i absolutely suck at reading and also i think that makes this story so much worse :c

EDIT: i just mean to say that yeah, miss detective will say shit like "it's just my guess" or whatever but we're literally never given any reason to doubt it. like it ALWAYS checks out. so then it just feels contrived whenever the author finally decides to play the "ah but you didn't know for sure!" card. that's hack shit.

 

[BadmanBlues]

i don't know that i even like that "rule" but if it isn't true than what the fuck was the point of any of it? if all of the vampire rules were meant to be ambiguous this entire time than i absolutely suck at reading and also i think that makes this story so much worse :c

EDIT: i just mean to say that yeah, miss detective will say shit like "it's just my guess" or whatever but we're literally never given any reason to doubt it. like it ALWAYS checks out. so then it just feels contrived whenever the author finally decides to play the "ah but you didn't know for sure!" card. that's hack shit.

While most of the other rules were more certain, that one in particular rule was always unknown and flip floppy. Neither Kiku nor Nazuna's mom knew if it would work. At first the gang thought that it was Mahiru who would die. Then they learned it's supposed to be Kiku. Exactly what would happen there was always up in the air.

IIRC the two times that Kyouko speculated were with the half vampirism, which she only speculated on the mechanism of - we still don't know if she's right (technically) - and with the romantic death myth. Kyouko was wrong about who would die - or at least Kiku disagreed with her. All the other advice she gave, like regeneration or silver, that was insight she gleaned from her own experimentation. It's much higher quality evidence and advice. So I don't personally feel bothered by my interpretation. It doesn't feel cheap or like a gotcha. It just adds a degree of uncertainty and tension. Is the myth even true? What are the risks?

As for the "what was the point," if you ask me, the narrative purpose of that arc, it was

1. To get Kou to grow up a little. He did everything he could for his friend but still didn't get what he wanted. He learned that the Mahiru he admired wasn't the real Mahiru. He had a rough time and grew because of that.
2. To provide a foil for Kou and Nazuna's relationship (a healthy vs. unhealthy romance).
3. To introduce tension into Kou and Nazuna's relationship through this myth.

 

[beperov]

There has just been a masterful depiction of Shinjū, a lover's suicide, and now you're suprised there's romance in this manga in this manga?

eh... was it masterful though

 

[LordofAlI]

We actually getting to the romance? Yo lets gooo!!!
BTW I also love her squished bun look.

 

[Eighty-six]

As an aside: this vending machine, man. It's like the vending machine at the crossroads of destiny. It's always the same one, in the same place, and when it isn't in the same place, it's because it's in Kou's mindspace.

I'm sure there's a pretty simple symbolism about it I have yet to think through, but I'm more humored by it as a recurring motif.

She really got rizzed up by a 15 y old lmao

She was at least infatuated since about chapter 46, which reminds me about how she intended to have him fall for her.

But I ain't complaining, because this is older girl/younger guy at its best: old women being flustered as they fall below their originally presumed dignity as they get seduced by younger men armed with nothing but their earnestness and their will to mature.

A lot of the meaning in this manga is locked in subtext, and honestly the emotional depth makes it feel much more like seinen than shounen.

You say that, and I'm not going to deny that there are editorial trends in these marketing demographics (and then there's josei, which is mostly smut), but there are plenty of seinen that would fit just fine in a shounen, and vice versa.

I would be as bold as to charge that the only essential difference between a shounen and a seinen is whether they can publish a nipple in the magazine.

 

[luschkaaa]

Using the NTR bait chapter as the love realization chapter, masterful

My man read too much 💀💀💀

 

[BadmanBlues]

As an aside: this vending machine, man. It's like the vending machine at the crossroads of destiny. It's always the same one, in the same place, and when it isn't in the same place, it's because it's in Kou's mindspace.

I'm sure there's a pretty simple symbolism about it I have yet to think through, but I'm more humored by it as a recurring motif.

I never noticed that. Really good catch there. I think you're right. Probably has the same symbolic meaning as a crossroads, but with more of a message of deciding what you want life to give you. Since a lot of life is what we make for ourselves.

But I ain't complaining, because this is older girl/younger guy at its best: old women being flustered as they fall below their originally presumed dignity as they get seduced by younger men armed with nothing but their earnestness and their will to mature.

You're truly a man of culture and taste, and you have nothing but my respect.

You say that, and I'm not going to deny that there are editorial trends in these marketing demographics (and then there's josei, which is mostly smut), but there are plenty of seinen that would fit just fine in a shounen, and vice versa.

I would be as bold as to charge that the only essential difference between a shounen and a seinen is whether they can publish a nipple in the magazine.

Obviously I can't know what I haven't read, but most of the seinen I've encountered tended to be fairly subtle, nuanced, and emotionally complex, with a lower emphasis on fighting. Or if it does emphasize fighting, it's the particularly brutal kind, not the fun kind. Most shounen I've encountered can have some good writing but a lot of it seems to focus on action. However, there's a lot in this world that I haven't read, and I admit my own ignorance.

 

[reu]

eh... was it masterful though

... I cried like a bitch so

 

[sksk]

I seriously think I'm autistic or some shit after seeing everyone say nazuna realized she's in love. Someone spell it out for me? I thought she somehow noticed he drank blood or something

I think an easy way to look at it is, during the date with haruka all she thought about was herself and didn't care about him, just what he might do to her. but when the subject of kou came up, she was thinking about him like "oh maybe he doesn't want to see me" and wondering about how kou is doing, basically caring about what he thinks.
The slight nervousness that she feels when thinking about seeing him is like a big thing when you like someone because you suddenly place so much importance on the other person's thoughts and feelings towards you.
One last thing is that her mind basically blanks out when kou starts talking to her, almost like she short circuited (shown by the lack of monologue). and when you compare it to the start with the haruka date where she was constantly thinking, just a crap ton of internal monologue.

A lot of these was felt and understood instinctually and i didn't really know the specifics of why i felt that way until i analyzed it a little. so yea, maybe autism for you or lack of experience with romantic feelings

 

[reu]

me either. i think the entire trip, basically from the moment they met haruka to when kou comes home and reads mahiru's letter was genuinely awful. the gap in quality between that arc and the rest of this manga could fit several planets.

smells like speedreader
pfp very much related

 

[ilusatus]

Now we get back to the original plot, hell yeah.

 

[Vergift]

The guy ended in brozoned. lol
And Nazuna just realized her feelings.

 

[Ashandai]

awwww, she realized at their vending machine thats so cute

 

[popo53414]

Heed the duck. Say no to cuck

 

[Donutlie]

As an aside: this vending machine, man. It's like the vending machine at the crossroads of destiny. It's always the same one, in the same place, and when it isn't in the same place, it's because it's in Kou's mindspace.

I'm sure there's a pretty simple symbolism about it I have yet to think through, but I'm more humored by it as a recurring motif.


She was at least infatuated since about chapter 46, which reminds me about how she intended to have him fall for her.

But I ain't complaining, because this is older girl/younger guy at its best: old women being flustered as they fall below their originally presumed dignity as they get seduced by younger men armed with nothing but their earnestness and their will to mature.


You say that, and I'm not going to deny that there are editorial trends in these marketing demographics (and then there's josei, which is mostly smut), but there are plenty of seinen that would fit just fine in a shounen, and vice versa.

I would be as bold as to charge that the only essential difference between a shounen and a seinen is whether they can publish a nipple in the magazine.

Na man an adult falling for a child aint it bro.

 

[Kisato]

Someone caught feefees

 

[thanghe]

thank for the chapter
it was mega nice