Subject to change due to "Yofukashi no Uta" still releasing
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What the Night Brings

Freedom. Something that everyone yearns for, but nobody can truly achieve. It’s a feeling that I’ve come closest to experiencing in it’s true form at night, when the world is asleep, silent, yet engulfed in an unnerving blanket of darkness. You feel truly at peace and alone, but never lonely, as you watch the same places you see each and every day be abandoned, giving a sense of tranquility. As you see each and every light flickering in the distance, every occasional car passing by and every random person stumble back home, you realize everyone has their own story.

That’s where this story starts. A young boy tired of a boring and rudimentary life goes out one night to discover a new world that was right under his nose all this time paralleling the one he’s so used to and grown tired of. For once in his life he can feel freed from the responsibilities and monotony of everyday life, however small those are. But what meets him once he takes a step into this new world that opened up right before him is, fittingly, an other-worldly entity – a vampire. Introducing him to quite literally a new society and things that he never heard of, this is what gave color to his life, brought him freedom and started his own little love story. This is what the ambiguous night brings.
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A Love Story?

Yofukashi no Uta is definitely a hard manga to describe, because it’s quite chaotic. Part of it is just slice of life, part of it is a romantic comedy, part of it is action and a big part of it is just the atmosphere. It manages to subvert expectations in some cases and purposefully avoid clichés while baiting you, whilst managing to maintain the initial appeal it has on first glance. But at its core it's a story about a boy wanting to become a vampire and discovering himself. The thing that keeps it all together are the characters and their interactions with each other, specifically the main duo Nanakusa Nazuna and Yamori Kou.

The protagonist in question never falls under a specific stereotype like “the righteous young boy” as you would expect and the main girl is more than just the “waifu.” Although I can’t speak much since Yofukashi no Uta is still serializing so their character arcs are obviously not completed yet, the story still manages to develop them immensely. Both of them start off having their own problems and character flaws, but slowly start changing over time as they spend more time together and learn to grow. From Kou questioning if his goal of becoming a vampire is truly what he wants, to Nazuna steadily coming to terms with the idea of “love” that she detests so much. The interactions between each other are also just simply a joy to read through. While the main cast is the highlight, the side characters also manage to bring life into the nighttime world. The main example here would be the vampire detective Uguisu Anko, giving the cast a sense of threat whilst spicing things up for the audience and others like Kou’s childhood friends and the other vampires like Midori and Seri all going through their own mini-character arcs, further adding to the amazing character dynamic between the cast. Some of my favorite moments in the series are the side stories exploring smaller characters like Akkun a.k.a Menhera-san, a character that initially strikes the reader as the stereotypical crazy stalker leading us to already expect how the arc is going to play out, but the manga goes to great lengths to show that he is an actual human and not so two dimensional, going through development and resolving his problems or the overworked office lady that rediscovers the joy and silence of nighttime that she had forgotten about. Yofukashi no Uta somehow manages to make these small characters and their problems sensible and relatable, leaving a strong impression on the reader. There was a moment when Kou goes to a pool party with Nazuna and realizes that there are different sides and aspects of nightlife. It's not all so black and white.

It's these small details that make the cast and world so charming and make you fall in love with the series.
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Peace in Darkness

This isn’t exactly a story for everyone, having themes ranging from eroticism to coming of age with rather chaotic pacing and an identity crisis, but it’s definitely fun as hell. It manages to give a vibe that I can relate to and love, focusing on the peacefulness and fun of nighttime and how truly freeing it can be. There have been moments in my life where the only time I could feel at ease from everyday worries and other people was at night. It’s only then that I could be in my own sanctuary and headspace, unbothered by anything or anyone else even if just for a moment and it’s truly comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one.