Nightwalker
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is an anime created by Ayana Itsuki that combines elements of the horror, detective story and vampire genres. The anime is based on a PC game titled , developed by TomBoy. The main character is Shido, a vampire who has promised to protect humans. A private investigator by day and a demon hunter by night, Shido solves murder cases caused by nightbreeds (low-class monsters) with his friends Riho Yamizaki, Yayoi Matsunaga and Guni.
Contents
Story
In the world of Nightwalker, attacks by the , minor demons that possess humans and feed on their souls, are relatively common. As a group, nightbreeds (often referred to by the abbriviation 'breed') are usually self-serving and of low intelligence, and they drive a human host to commit crimes. Because these breed-inspired crimes are often difficult to identify, a special agency known as the N.O.S. has been organized to investigate and solve breed-related cases.Shido, the main character of the series, is a vampire who decided to defend humans against his demonic brethren as attonement for the sins he committed early in his vampiric life. He knows little of his life prior to becoming a vampire, and even his name is a pseudonym he took when he arrived in Japan. Upon settling down in Japan, Shido established a one-man (plus one-secretary) private investigator office, which he uses as a means to hunt breeds while keeping his true nature secret. Shido even keeps his identity secret from Riho, a teenage girl he decided to employ as a secretary after her parents were killed in a breed attack.
All is not business as usual at Shido's office, however, as Shido is soon forced to reveal to Riho that he is the same sort of creature that killed her parents. Furthermore, Shido's powerful and obsessive sire, Cain, has plans in motion to reclaim Shido, as well as to initiate the 'Golden Dawn', a secret with far-reaching implications for all creatures of the night.
Characters
Major characters
- The main character, Shido is the owner of a detective office in the city of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture. He is also a vampire, and his powers include tremendous strength and agility and the ability to manipulate his own blood to form weapons (often a sword or a whip) or projectiles. Shido has an outwardly mercurial personality, but he is actually very serious and dedicated - so much so that he is likely to blame himself when something goes wrong. He is flirtatious, particularly in the first few episodes, but despite his suggestive banter, he is too scrupulous to take advantage of women.
- Several hundred years ago, Shido was turned into a vampire by Cain. As a result, most of his mortal memories have been erased. He turned his young sister/step-daughter-to-be (see "Trivia") into a vampire, but she didn't want to live forever. She committed suicide by throwing herself through a window, burning with the sunlight. That is possibly the turning point in his life, when he decided to stop taking blood from unwilling humans.
- An N.O.S. agent, Yayoi Matsunaga often retains Shido's help on nightbreed cases. In return, she pays Shido with her blood in exchange for his expertise in investigating nightbreeds. Normally a human bit by a vampire will also become a vampire, but Yayoi has a special immunity to these effects. Since Yayoi's relationship with Shido goes beyond being strictly professional, she gladly feeds him whenever he needs it.
- Originally, Yayoi was horribly disfigured in a fire when she was five years old, while her twin sister Kasumi was unharmed. It turned out that Kasumi's good fortune was due to a nightbreed which had possessed her. Kasumi died while trying to exorcise the breed, but not before using the last of the breed's power to give her soul -and her face- to Yayoi. Yayoi became immune to the vampire's bite thanks to the presence of Kasumi's soul.
- An orphaned girl whose parents were killed by nightbreeds. Shido "adopted" her. She worked as Shido's secretary, hoping to somehow win his affection, and unaware of his secret... until she tried to help Shido out in a case which involved the nightbreed Gimel. Even though she found out that Shido was a vampire she stayed on, even putting up with Guni's insults.
- Later, during the "Golden Dawn" case, Cain cuts Riho severely and leaves her to bleed to death. Riho asks Shido to drink her blood, knowing that she will be turned into a vampire, partially because she doesn't want to die, but also because she secretly wishes to live with him forever. Reluctantly, Shido does as she requested, and as a result, she becomes a vampire. As a vampire Riho is not nearly as strong as Shido, but even still she struggles to reconcile her humanity and her new powers. Yayoi feeds her as well.
- A small, green, self-styled "urban fairy" who hangs around with Shido, usually behind his mane of hair. Her relationship with Shido is like that of a familiar spirit, but she only assists him if she feels like it. She often irritates the others, especially Riho, with biting remarks. However, she also offers worthy advice and is often concerned whenever the team goes out on cases.
- Guni does have powers. She can project elecric bolt from her hands. However, these bolts are usually a nuicance to enemies because of her small size. She also claims to have the ability to change shape, but this power hasn't been shown.
- A powerful vampire who is much older than Shido. He turned Shido into a vampire long before the anime's current events, and for a time the two of them were happy together. Cain did claim that the two lived in Translvania, possibly killing others to satisfy their thirsts.
- Shido eventually rebelled against Cain's hedonistic lifestyle and overwhelming sense of superiority, and left Cain. However, Cain still loves Shido greatly, and he is capable of doing anything to make Shido come back to him. Cain briefly met Shido a hundred years before the events of Nightwalker, when they had met a blind woman who was possessed by a nightbreed.
Minor characters
- Appears in episode 2. Yukie Tsukimura is an actress who invoked the nightbreed Mariel to further her career. In exchange for greater talent, Mariel demands that Yukie provide the nightbreed with human flesh. However, when Mariel leaves her in favor of her understudy, Yoko Asahina, Yukie commits suicide.
- '
- Appears in episode 5. Shunichi is one of Riho's old friends from high school. He, Riho, and their mutual friend Mikako were all members of their school's film club before Riho became a vampire. He's very sweet, but has fallen into a depression worring over Riho's sudden personality changes and absence from school. Suspecting Riho's behavior is related to drug use, he attempts to find out exactly what brought about this change. When he discovers she is a vampire, he vainly attempts to hold Riho to a film dealing, but she refuses, asking Shunichi to forget about her.
- Asami Akeba
- Koichi Akeba
- Koichi Akeba is Asami Akeba's older brother and also appears in episode 8. He owns his own theatrical company, but recently it has been running in the red, mostly because of Koichi's extravagant tastes. His grandfather, Shuzo Akeba, refused to give him the money to keep his company afloat, not to mention making disparaging remarks about his mother Miharu. So he, along with Miharu and the reluctant help of Asami, plot to kill Shuzo by scaring him into a fatal heart attack. While the plan worked, it was undone when a nightbreed took possesion of Shizo's body and left the car where his body sat.
- Appears in episode 9. The older twin sister of Yayoi Matsunaga, Kasumi was possessed by a nightbreed when she was six years old, after her parents were killed in the same fire that disfigured Yayoi. In exchange for saving Yayoi, the nightbreed forced Kasumi to kill women by ripping off their faces and displaying them in a hidden room beneath the inn the two sisters own.
- Dark Riho
Nightbreeds
- A nightbreed that appears in episode 1, "A Visitor in the Night". Seeking a human host, it goes on a rampage on the Bay Bridge. It possesses people by force, which leads to a series of violent traffic accidents.
- Shinji
- A nightbreed who appears in episode 10, "Tears of an Angel". Although he initially looks like a handsome young man, his true form is extremely hidious. He usually preys on indiviuals lacking in self-esteem.
Voices
Major characters
Tatsuhiko Shido - Takumi Yamazaki (Japanese), Richard Cansino, (credited as Vincent Hatcher) (English)Yayoi Matsunaga - Emi Shinohara (Japanese), Mari Devon, (credited as Jane Alan) (English)
Riho Yamazaki - Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese), Dorothy Elias-Fahn, (credited as Dorothy Melendrez) (English)
Guni - Ikue Otani (Japanese), Sandy Fox (English)
Cain - Hideyuki Tanaka (Japanese), Lex Lang (English)
Minor characters
Yukie Tsukimura - Yuko Kobayashi (Japanese), Sonja S. Fox EnglishYoko Asahina - Takako Kikuchi (Japanese), Wendee Lee English
Megumi Otsuka - Maya Okamoto (Japanese), Ellen Wilkinson English
Shunichi - Akira Ishida (Japanese), Lex Lang English
Bait - Toshihiko Seki (Japanese), David Mallow English
Shinji - Mari Devon, credited as Jane Alan (English)
Kasumi Matsunaga - Emi Shinohara (Japanese), Mari Devon, credited as Jane Alan (English)
Witch - Matsuko Katsuki (Japanese), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (English)
Theme Songs
Opening Theme- by BUCK-TICK
- Unlike most anime opening themes, Gessekai was not written for use in Nightwalker, but was selected from BUCK-TICK's existing body of work.
- by La'cryma Christi
Episodes
Nightwalker has 12 episodes, all of them divided as "nights":
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
Original PC game
The source material for the anime came from , a 16-color PC eroge (erotic game) released in 1993, which may be a bit too explicit to qualify as softcore. Night Walker is an adventure game, focused mostly on character interaction and problem solving. While the main characters of this game have the same names and similar appearances to their anime equivalents, their personalities are generally more easy-going and their backgrounds are less tragic (they all have living relatives). Overall, the game takes itself less seriously than the anime does, and Shidō (with help from Guni) is the source of most of the humor.
In 2001 the developer Arieroof remade this game for Windows 2000 under the title Night Walker. This version uses the same source drawings as the original game, except with 256-color displays, and plays similarly. The characters are recolored, and match the anime more closely. (Shidō's hair is purple, Guni's body is green. Inexplicably, Yayoi's hair is bubblegum pink.)
Characters
- Tatsuhiko Shidō
- A quarter-vampire (one of his grandfathers was a full-blood vampire, and the rest of his family line is of Japanese descent), he has inherited guardianship of the passage between the mortal world and the demon world, but otherwise he lives as a human. His 'day job' is private investigator, and he works closely with the Kanagawa police. Through this connection, he learns that a girl he was unable to save from nightbreeds was a student at St. Michael Girls Academy, and goes to the school to investigate. He is quite pleased about this because he is something of a pervert, and takes plenty of time out to oggle at the teenage girls.
- Shidō's vampiric powers are limited to superhuman strength and agility, and the ability to extend his fingernails into blades. This is due in part to his weakened bloodline, but mostly because he has never consumed human blood. Upon drinking blood, his powers rival those of a pure-blood vampire. The design sheets for the scrapped sequel game suggest that he would've gained the blood sword ability seen in the anime.
- Riho Yamazaki
- A high school student at St. Michael Academy, she shared a dorm room with Miyako, the girl murdered by nightbreeds. (Incedently, Riho is not a possible sexual partner for Shidō.) Normally cheerful and energetic, Riho is shocked and depressed by her friend's murder. When Shidō comes to her for help, she vows to avenge her friend and helps Shidō unravel the conspiracy based out of the school. Shidō drinks Riho's blood in the finalé of the game, and while she does not become a vampire, she is no longer fully human.
- Originally, Night Walker was planned to have Rihoko Ayukawa, a character from a previous TomBoy game called Bishōjo Audition, in the role of heroine. As the project evolved, Rihoko became Riho.
- Yayoi Matsunaga
- She is a detective with the Kanagawa Police (the N.O.S. does not exist in the game). Hot-headed and frustrated both with her career and her love-life, she tends to be short tempered. Yayoi comes from a of police family, and her father, the chief of the Yokohama police, worked closely with Shidō's vampiric relatives. As much as Yayoi resents it, she seems to be destined for the same role. She and Shidō dated prior to the game, but the relationship fell apart. Now they spend most of their time together bickering, and Shidō loves to tease her. Yet, there's still a bit of a spark between them...
- The character designer for the game, Ryuichi Makino, insists that Yayoi's hair should be red.
- Guni
- Shidō's familiar, an earth-spirit who inhabits Shidō's ear. (Guni seems to pop out of Shidō's ear in the anime as well, though it is not formally discussed.) Though Guni appears female (and is referred to as a 'she',) she is actually sexless. Guni ignores Shidō's commands more often than not, but she does really care about him. She styles herself a know-it-all, but usually mispronounces whatever she's trying to explain.
- Guni's design is very similar to the anime, but her coloring is different.
Trivia
- In the anime, vampires can go out during sunrise and sunset, but must protect their body with a hat or umbrella and dark clothes.
- Even if it is a horror anime, it has some soft yaoi scenes with Shido and Cain.
- The Golden Dawn, which is mentioned in the first "season" of the show (Episodes 1-4), is a forgotten plot point in the second season. It is speculated that the Golden Dawn was supposed to be children who were half-breed and half-human, as Cain's remarks hinted at.
- Several real-life Yokohama locales appear in Nightwalker. The Bay Bridge, which figures in ep. 1, is a real bridge that spans Yokohama Harbor. Yokohama's Chinatown (the largest in Japan [http://gojapan.about.com/cs/kantoregion1/a/yokohama_china.htm), appears in both the game and the anime.
- The Nightwalker anime has two character designers. Episodes 1-4 use character designs by Akira Isono, who also did character designs for the game/OAV Akane Maniax. The character designs for episodes 5-12 are by Miho Shimokasa, also known for later 3 seasons of Sailormoon and Cutey Honey F.
- There has been some disagreement in the fandom as to whether the little girl in Shido's flashback was his little sister or his soon to be step-daughter. There is evidence pointing to the latter, though. In Japanese, Shido refers to the woman in the flashback as the girl's mother, not as their mother.
- Shido's memories seem to change from one episode to the next. It is first shown that Cain forcibly turned Shido into a vampire. However, in a second set of flashbacks, it appears that either Shido willingly let Cain bite him and turn him into a vampire or, more likely, he was under a trance by Cain.
- Although purely coincidental, the German progressive metal band Vanden Plas (band) has a song entitled "Nightwalker" on their Beyond Daylight CD.
External links
- [Absolute Anime.com - Nightwalker listing]
- [Nightwalker Midnight Detective Official Website (fan ressurected)]
- [Nightwalker Midnight Detective (fan site)]
- [Flavor-Red (fan site)]
- [Memories Lost (fan listing)]
- [Animetric - Nightwalker (review)]
- [Golden Dawn (fan listing)]
- [The Kinder Side of Vampirism (synopsis)]
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