The Spring 2023 Manga Guide

Call the Name of the Night

What's It About? 

Deep within the forest resides a curious pair―Mira, a girl with an affliction that calls forth the night, and Rei, a kindly doctor searching for the cure. Their days pass peacefully, until an old acquaintance of Rei's appears...

Call the Name of the Night has a story and art by Tama Mitsuboshi, with English translation by Amanda Haley. This volume was retouched and lettered by Lys Blakeslee. Yen Press released its first volume both digitally and physically on March 21.

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Blending fantasy with slice-of-life, Call the Name of the Night is a deceptively quiet story. It follows nine-year-old (or thereabouts, per the creator) Mira, who has a strange affliction: when she's anxious, she can summon the night. Some people call it a curse, others call it a disease, and all Mira knows is that she wishes she didn't have it. She's had to leave her home village, quite possibly at the behest of the other villagers, to live with Rei, a magical doctor. Whether he's treating her or simply teaching her to embrace all of herself isn't clear yet, but there's something lovely about watching the two of them interact. This is especially true of the chapter where they make star jam: in the story's world, stars physically fall from the sky and can be stewed like fruit, taking on the flavor that the consumer likes best.

This sort of beautiful detail is one of the hallmarks of the book. Flowers bring different weather, stars are made into jam, fuzzy little shadows live in the depths of the forest, and a girl can call down the night with her emotions. None of these things are dwelt on too long – barring Mira's power, of course – and that gives the world a lived-in feel that helps to make it immersive. Everything isn't perfect; Mira really misses her parents, and they, her and an old classmate of Rei's threaten Mira's stability in the name of his own curiosity. But again, that just makes the whole thing feel more real.

The Cartos chapters are the weakest, which is a little odd to say because they're also the most plot-heavy. Cartos is Rei's classmate, a medical researcher, and he's the kind of person who thinks nothing of pulling wings off of butterflies to better study them. That's the sort of treatment he gives to Mira, and while it's harrowing and does give a more concrete idea of her power, it also doesn't work with the rest of the laid-back plot. Mira feels enough threats from within herself; she doesn't need an outside one as well. It is good that ultimately she learns a little more about her own lore from the experience, but I feel like there was probably a smoother way to fit that in.

With its soft art, largely gender-neutral character designs, and interesting world, Call the Name of the Night is a fascinating read. It's slow, but that mostly works for it, and it seems like the start of what could be a very interesting story.

Christopher Farris

Rating:

Not to be confused with Call of the Night, though both series do deal in supernatural spins on vibes-based slice-of-life stories. However in the case of Call the Name of the Night, the titular night isn't the inviting actual time of day, but a worrisome interloper. "The Night" as represented in the main girl Mira's magical condition, is a frightful effect whose spreading is demonstrated in the prologue as the most arresting visual hook of the book. It can seem ironic at first, that Tama Mitsuboshi can so beautifully render an image of something we're told must be frightening and undesirable. Yet already by the end of this first volume, we're coming around to understanding what can really be interpreted about this night's existence.

That doesn't crystalize until much later, however. And thankfully, even when it's making a point of not overplaying its central gimmick, Call the Name of the Night is more than capable of being a beautiful story. Following Mira and Rei through their daily life together lets the plot effortlessly build on the magical world it occupies. Concepts like showers of stars which can be gathered and made into jam feel intricate yet natural in the characters' descriptions and reactions around them. Those kinds of fanciful indulgences sit just as well alongside the way the book is able to portray something like the aching melancholy of parents writing a letter to their ailing daughter. It's all in service of the metatextual layers powering Call the Name of the Night: A fantastical disease of night manifestation standing in for all too relatable issues with confidence and social anxiety.

Digging into the layers of that depiction helps Call the Name of the Night develops some density beyond its daily life elements already within this first volume. The appearance of Rei's colleague Cartos brings not just an immediate threat in his abduction of Mira, but meditations on the different medical approaches to ill people as either patients or research subjects. But it can also turn inwards, questioning how much of someone's condition needs to be "cured" in actuality. It can hit home the idea of resisting these inherent parts of yourself to try and make them go away, versus accepting them and being able to live comfortably that way. Or as the book puts it: "When you have something but believe you don't, it hurts…but when you acknowledge that it's there, you feel relieved." By the last chapter in the volume the writing is even pushing how a condition treated as a "curse" by some might be seen as a blessing to others. Call the Name of the Night can be a dense entry in this sort of supernatural slice-of-life genre, but just as of this first volume, it's a rewarding kind of density.

Jean-Karlo Lemus

Rating:

What a charming story! In the vein of manga like The Girl from the Other Side, we have a cute manga about a little girl with a bizarre magical disease and the doctor that cares for her. Mira's affliction, her anxiety, and fear manifesting as an all-consuming night is a good way to present the idea of mental illness to kids. There are plenty of cute moments that really bring the storybook vibes to life like Mira and Rui making star-jam, the plight of the little shadow-people that watch over Mira, or the flower memories being played for Mira. There are lots more to Mira's affliction and to her as a person, and the lurking shadow of Rui's rival/classmate Cartos ever lurks over them to add some stakes to the story. So even as just a warm-and-fluffy fantasy manga, there's plenty to sink your teeth into.

The artwork is utterly adorable. From Mira's unruly mop of hair to Rui's fantastical outfits to the cute little shadow-people tailing Mira, there's tons of charm packed into every panel. People in need of a cute fantasy series to curl up with have an absolute gem here; people also looking for a manga they can share with a younger child in their life can also confidently share this with them. Strongly recommended.