Deep in the heart of the Summer 2022 season, we add Kakegurui Twin and, surprisingly, Uncle from Another World to our usual watch list.
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Show Notes
0:00 Intro feat. things we are watching/reading that are not anime
7:44 Kakegurui Twin
18:17 Uncle from Another World
25:09 Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun
38:03 Call of the Night
52:22 Yurei Deco (sort of)
56:09 Lycroris Recoil
BACKLOG
1:14:39 Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 3
1:19:50 The Non-Gundam Tomino Power Hour feat.
- Combat Mecha Xabungle
- Aura Battler Dunbine
- Heavy Metal L-Gaim
1:14:39 Some quick thoughts on Fuuto PI
The Glorio Blog 
Hard agree on Fuuto PI re: the frustrating boobage of it all. I love boobs, but come on. Not another “sexy female character” whose sexuality is about how boobily she boobs. That aside, I’m trying to love the show and I’m enjoying it, but I can’t help feeling that Uchiyama Kouki was miscast as Philip, he’s so flat, and has no chemistry whatsoever with Hosoya Yoshimasa’s Shoutarou, and it’s really distracting.
Also, just for the record, “soine”/”platonic cuddling” (well, literally “sleeping next to one another”) is actually a thing in Japan, has been for quite a long time (see for example: https://bit.ly/3QCliSr ), offered as a kind of… well, sex work adjacent service. I mean, I’m under no illusions that it can’t, on occasion, involve sexual services as well, or that in seedier establishments it’s not a cover for actual sex work, but it seems that many people just genuinely want the physical closeness, lacking any kind of physical intimacy in their life and/or have a kiindasorta platonic fantasy about lying in the same bed with a girl that they want to live out.
I hadn’t even thought about those types of services. It seemed obvious what they were going for at the time, but now that you mention it it’s possible that’s what they were referencing. I guess it accomplished what they wanted either way.
I just want to register the opinion someone who, at least to this point, thinks Call of the Night is really, really good.
As you note, it gives off FLCL vibes, but also has a bit of Mysterious Girlfriend X and Kimagure Orange Road in it. More than anything, I’ve come around to the idea that it’s at heart a coming of age story, with interactions such as the one with the office worker contrasting the idealism of youth (“when I turn into a vampire, I’ll come and turn you into one, too!”) with the dreary resignation of work and conformity like attending school.
There may even be some Peter Pan in there, as one of the reasons I don’t really view all the “skin” and male gaze stuff poorly is that Nazuna, the vampire, is portrayed as being pretty darned childish, even if she’s hundreds of years old and possesses more experience and wisdom than the protagonist.
The character writing in the show is just such a strength.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I found the scene with the office worker genuinely touching, and the conclusion of the episode with his friend Akira (who’s clearly depressed) trying to convince the protagonist Ko to go back to school before falling deeply asleep for the first time in ages to be genuinely moving.
Call of the Night, for me at least, is beautiful, funny, passionate, silly and affecting in a way that not many shows ever even really try to achieve, much less succeed at. It isn’t perfect, but that’s part of its charm, too.
I do want to be clear, I am enjoying the show and look forward to watching it every week. I may have undersold that. And I agree with everything you said, I just don’t personally think they are doing those things quite as well as they could.
Funny you mentioned Mysterious Girlfriend X, which I really liked. I was planning on mentioning that on this episode and completely forgot. Maybe next time.