Nightwalker: The Midnight Detective
I originally reviewed this anime when I was barely out of high school. That was 10 years ago now. I think my writing has improved somewhat since then. And I think the anime is so good it needs a little more exposure, even if that means I’ll be reviewing it for a second time. My old review is trash anyway. Be that as it may, Nightwalker: The Midnight Detective takes two of my favorite genres and mixed them together in a way that works spectacularly (for it’s far too easy to screw up genre mixing). Nightwalker combines the Gothic Horror genre (specifically the “Anne Rice romantic vampire gothic horror” type) and mystery/crime genre (specifically the lone private detective “neo-noir” type). Nightwalker also manages to tell a complete story, although by the ending one will be begging for a second season that just isn’t gonna happen. Anyway….
How shall I begin? It’s been awhile since I wrote a new review. I guess the best place to start is how I was originally exposed to this old odd little TV series from 1998 (it ran on TV from July to September of that year). I ran into this title at my local Blockbuster while I was in high school (which just goes to show how old of an anime this one is). It was so out of place among the more popular titles available for rent there (yeh we rented anime once many years ago when dinosaurs roamed the Blockbuster and Hollywood Video parking lots), that I just had to check it out. They only had the second volume, which covers the second half of the 12 episode series, but I didn’t mind. This series was easy to get into midway through. I was instantly hooked because episode 7, the first one I saw, is such a strong episode. Since then I’ve of course bought both volumes, and watched the show a few times through. It manages to surprise me on each re-watch, which either says something bad about my memory, or good about how smart the show is. The anime series is based off of a PC game by the same name, created by TomBoy. The anime series was produced by AIC, who I just recently learned is now nothing more than a holding company. Every time an original anime studio rides into the sunset a part of my soul dies. AIC was once famous for making anime like Bubblegum Crisis and Megazone 
23 in the 80’s. They had a string of hits and solid classics in the 90’s as well. Anyway, check out their back catalog, they made more than their fair share of my favorite anime. The final thing about Nightwalker you must know is that the first four episodes are very uneven, and this is due to it starting as an OVA. For over ten years now I’ve never been able to find out conclusively why it started out as an OVA series but then turned to television, but it did. It became one of the first “late night” otaku-o’clock anime to air, meaning it has some violence, blood, and heavy/more mature themes. Two of the early episodes are good, one is horrible, and the other one is just merely alright. The animation is top notch in these first four episodes, although the nudity is awkward and uncalled for. The artwork actually improves when it becomes a TV series, with character designs changing (for the better), but the quality of the animation drops.
Enough background info, Nightwalker is anime about Shido, a vampire who could have been lifted right out of an Anne Rice novel. Shido has devoted himself to saving humans, not killing them or turning them to vampires, as the other vampires do. He rocks this cool pink hair, and an interesting style of clothing that would let him blend in perfectly in 19th century France. He spends his nights as a private detective, sometimes solving human crimes, but usually working on crimes committed by “breeds” (Nightbreeds). Breeds are the lesser demons of this world, and it seems as though some humans are at least vaguely familiar with them. However most humans go about their daily life clueless that demons and vampires even exist. Shido works very closely with his human sponsor, Yayoi .Yayoi provides all the blood Shido needs, so he does not need to hunt humans. Yayoi is a member of a secret organization designed to investigate cases involving breeds, hunt them down, and destroy them. Since Shido is a vampire, he is very powerful, and can use his many skills to accomplish their goals, and solve their many 
cases. He has a special ability he learned from the vampire who “turned” him, he can bite himself and make his own blood into a weapon. He can also use his hair as a whip or grabbing weapon. Being an anime, they had to throw in a high school girl, Riho Yamazaki, who just so happens to work part time as a secretary at Shido’s detective agency. Riho has a crush on Shido, and even though there is SOME age difference between the two, the series does flesh out their slowly blossoming relationship in a very satisfying way (a side note here: they handled this relationship in a way I found enjoyable. This is EXACTLY how I wanted the show to handle their odd relationship. Although I guess it will be considered creepy by today’s PC-obsessed fans. But it’s make believe and she’s not a toddler or anything super creepy , she is 17 years old, so just go with it. Don’t think too hard about this, please.) At first Riho is blissfully unaware of the dark secrets that are hiding just beneath the surface at this particular detective agency. But when the backstory is slowly teased to us, we learn her parents were killed by something Shido did involving breeds. Shido must have felt guilty and sort of “adopted” her.
As far as I can tell, the tv series takes place in Yokohama, which is a nice break from all the shows that take place in Tokyo. Even though it’s just one city over, they make Yokohama seem interesting and different and it brings a nice flavor to the show. It has it’s own unique atmosphere and differences from the now bland Tokyo. I also love the Yokohama-Bay Bridge being the focus for so much in this show. The show begins with a shot of this bridge, and many of the events revolve around the bridge, or actually occur on the bridge itself.
The story begins with a decent episode about car accidents on the Bay Bridge, with Shido trying to figure out what’s going on. The second episode is poorly written, and has unnecessary nudity. I’m not a prude (I’m a Prede!), but we really didn’t need to see those titties. The third and the fourth episodes deal with Cain, the Transylvanian vampire who “turned” Shido a few hundred years ago. Cain and Shido have an awkward relationship that becomes openly hostile as the series proceeds. Cain is not as nice to humans as Shido is, in fact their disagreement to how to treat humans is what caused their riff many years 
ago. Cain says over and over again that humans are “nothing but cattle”, and he treats them as such, and he also thinks he is much better than the breeds who must eat human or animal flesh to stay alive. Cain is many hundreds of years older, and thus stronger, than Shido is. He taught Shido everything Shido knows, but not everything Cain knows. He has more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Cain is not only the one who turned Shido, but also his former homosexual lover. It seems the two have a very interesting past of killing humans, drinking blood, and having sex, lots and lots of sex. And while it’s pretty clear Cain is gay, they make it very obvious from early on that Shido is bisexual. I really thought this was handled with care, and actually makes both characters immensely more interesting. Perhaps this was stolen from an Anne Rice novel, and yeh it’s a little bit of fujoshi bait. But it doesn’t subtract from the show, instead it adds another layer to it.
The anime keeps teasing us about this “Golden Dawn” plan of Cain’s involving crossbreeds, half vampire half human. He wants to bite pregnant women and thus turn their children into half-breeds (hey isn’t that how Blade was created?Better be careful 
Cain!). In the fourth episode everything comes to a head, and a major fight happens. Cain never wants to kill Shido, he only wants him “back”, to be his lover, friend, and apprentice again. Shido will not kill Cain, because Cain is the only one alive who knows anything about Shido’s past. However Cain crosses the line, he mortally injures Riho. So Shido feels he has not choice and in their battle he randomly manages to kill Cain. However, Cain intentionally set this all up so Shido would have to turn her into a vampire to “save” another human. Riho and Shido agree that he should turn her into a vampire. ( highlight to see the SPOILERS: Didn’t you think that was a tad too easy for Shido to defeat his mentor? Considering Cain is much older and more powerful, and knows more about being a vampire it was! Cain isn’t truly defeated. This story is smarter than that).
With Cain defeated, and the anime heading to television in Japan, it alters course. The “Golden Dawn” subplot suddenly disappears (although I guess it would have to without Cain around?), and the show becomes a little bit more episodic than it was previously. However it becomes episodic in a Cowboy Bebop-sort-of way (by which I mean very strong one off characters, unpredictability, and a slight tease of the backstory of one main character each episode). Many of the episodes 5-11 could be watched randomly, and the viewer would be able to get the gist of it and follow the episode fine. Yet each of these episodes tease a little bit of backstory out of the main 
characters. One near perfect episode deals with a young middle school girl who just wants to fit in, yet she is tempted by a breed (maybe?) to help him. If she helps him, he will provide her with luck. And not just any luck, but she’ll become the luckiest girl at school, wining lotteries and just excelling at life with no effort put in at all. This episode pulls at your heartstrings, as the breed isn’t bad, he actually really improves her life. And you can’t help but root for this poor lonely girl, who now has real friends and money and status. Perhaps even love. But Shido wants to kill this breed. He always wants to kill breeds, he thinks they do nothing but cause suffering and kill people. And is it really a breed, or is he an angel like he claims? Watch it and decide on your own. I still haven’t figured it out myself. Not a lot of black and white in this show, just fifty shades of grey.
You also have the wonderfully heartfelt episode dealing with Riho’s transition into full time vampire. We learn about her classmates and friends, what she was up to at school, how her friends deal with the less frequent contact (only after sundown!), and the very sad ending when she explains to them they “live in different worlds” and can’t be friends anymore. This episode is quite emotional (although it doesn’t hold a candle to the finale). The series as a whole deals with Riho adapting to being a vampire, but this episode specifically focuses on her struggling to come to terms with the recent loss of her humanity, her new found thirst for blood and dislike for the sun, and the fact that she 
will outlive all of her friends, classmates at school, and everyone else she knows. It avoids the pitfalls and annoyances that many similar shows fall into; she doesn’t nag about never-ending life, and she doesn’t fully celebrate her new found lifestyle either. She’s torn, at times liking her new found powers and just general coolness, at other times she laments not being able to go to school (“Well there’s always night school” she bemoans), and never having another beach day again. I think the show is very even handed with this; I find her transition into a child of the night to be realistic. This is probably what most Japanese high schoolers would feel if it happened to them. Considering her parents are already dead, it avoids any potential family problems from arising. There is one line in the anime where Riho does mention something about how boring eternal life will be, and I was like “Oh come on you’ve been a vampire for what 3 weeks now. Come on! You won’t feel like that yet”, but it was never brought up again, for the better. I guess that just adds to her middle of the road approach to being a vampire.
The transition of Riho from human to vampire, and her dealing with this is handled very well. It’s not angsty or anything, because her one wish is to live forever with Shido, and it seems she can now do that, but she does not celebrate it because she didn’t ever want to be a bloodsucking creature of the night who has to avoid sunlight. She’s conflicted. She didn’t want to die, but is this how she wants to live? At least she can be with her crush, Mr. Shido, forever
. This struggle with her loss of humanity and being a vampire is handled very well and is never forgotten about. She is of course aided by Shido, who tries to help her and guide her when he can. This of course parallels Shido’s former relationship with Cain, only he felt humans were nothing but cattle to be used for vampires, while Shido thinks vampires should help humans. Cain made Shido a vampire, and was his mentor, and now Shido has made Riho a vampire, and became her mentor. This is a very interesting way for AIC to handle the series, and I really liked this aspect of the show.
(Slight Spoilers: Another one of the strongest episodes manages to reveal the entire backstory of one of the characters without you even understanding that is what they’re doing. Even on my most recent re-watch, knowing that this series is full of twists and tricks, I still did not see/remember that coming. Then I thought “Boy Prede you must be stupid to totally miss that. How did you not realize that two times”. So I read what others had written about that episode, and to my surprise I’m not an idiot, but rather the show is quite smart in how it does this. No one else seemed to realize this until the last 2 or 3 minutes of the episode when they do the big reveal.)
The rest of the series follows those three attempting to solve the many crimes involving breeds within the city. It slowly teases out backstory of the characters as well. Although we never truly learn enough about Shido. That is due to the fact that Shido himself does 
not remember anything before he was turned into a vampire, and it is Cain, and Cain alone who knows what he was like as a human. Now there’s a crap load of demons here in their city for them to find, so we’re gonna have to just assume their city has a gateway to hell in it or something, but whatever. I’ll buy it. During each case these three (and of course their little gremlin mascot, Guni) must figure out who exactly is the breed (nightbreeds can take control of human beings), or where the breed is, or even if a breed truly is the cause of the problems in the first place. In most of these episodes there is a huge twist I guarantee you will not see coming. And in the one episode you do see it coming, well guess what that’s not even the real twist! This show is smart that way.
The show’s finale episode is nothing short of one of anime’s best endings. I will not spoil it but I will explain why it is so amazing. It is an emotional rollercoaster, where the highs are super high, and the lows make you want to cry. It really does an excellent job of tying
the beginning few episodes together with the more episodic second half. I had goosebumps when it was all over and the credits ran. Even though I saw this anime about 4 times now, it still had that effect over me. I really liked how everything fell into place, the show tied up some emotional arcs, and brought some relationships to a head. That being said, I absolutely know some anime fans will hate the ending with a passion. But they’re no fun. This is a powerful ending. And I repeat it is an “ending”, but not a “conclusion”, as it seems to be setting us up for a second season that will never come. Sometimes, late at night I sit at home and lament this.
I’ve already explained the animation and artwork. But I want to stress that the 2nd character designs for all the characters are a vast improvement over the OVA’s version. Shido, Riho, Guni, and Yayoi look much better in the tv episodes than they do in the OVA episodes. Background character designs seemed to be nicer in the OVA episodes, but that’s a slight trade off. The music in this anime is nothing short of spectacular. The 
opening theme, “Gessekai” by BUCK-TICK is really so different than any other song I heard you’ll just have to listen to it for yourself. It certainly gives off the feeling of vampires and detectives though. The background themes are a saxophoney jazz mix that really lends itself to a neo-noir detective show. If you closed your eyes you’d think you were watching some old crime drama from the 1970’s or 1980’s, and it’s very fitting. I really eat this stuff up. The ending theme is a tad more “normal”, but it is still an incredibly song.
As for the dub, it was produced at Bang Zoom, in late 1999 and early 2000. While not amazing, and it does show it’s age a bit, I really found myself enjoying it. The star of the dub is easily Richard Cansino, who plays Shido quite well. He gives that character a distinct feeling, and really understands where he is going with the dub. I should probably also mention that at times Shido narrates the story, filling us in on a few things here and there. And Cansino’s narration gives the anime a film noir feeling that’s definitely called for and adds to the overall atmosphere. Yayoi is played by Jane Alan. At times Alan does not seem like she’s giving it her all; it’s a little disappointing. She just didn’t seem enthusiastic enough at certain times, and at others like she wasn’t sure what she should be doing or how she should be saying it. Luckily for most of the anime she’s not like this, and does a decent job. She fit her character very well. I probably shouldn’t 
be so harsh on her. Riho is played by Dorothy Elias-Fahn who does a really good job. She gives her character just enough spunk, youthfulness, and playfulness to fit Riho. And she knows when to tone down the happy-go-lucky side of herself when needed. Also I MUST applaud her for her work in the final episode (don’t worry no spoilers). As I already alluded to it’s quite a dramatic episode, and I thought she handled it perfectly. She did a truly great job. Now why couldn’t she be this good in Vampire Princess Miyu?? Cain is played by Lex Lang, and he’s not bad. But I really thought he could have been better. He gives the character a typical Transylvanian accent, which was spooky and worked. But something was still off with him. Sandy Fox plays Guni, and I’m assuming they pitched her voice up a bit here. I thought the way they made her sound fit Guni well, and her acting was top notch. However, I could understand if someone found her to be annoying, especially with the higher pitch of her voice done in post production. I liked how the main cast here was filled with lesser known actors, and on the whole I liked how different this dub sounded then many other LA dubs of the time. Many of the episodic characters are voiced by better known actors however, like Michelle Ruff, Mona Marshall, and Wendee Lee. And they of course do a good job. But again many of the other minor characters are played by lesser-known actors, and they too go a good job. So in short, this is a dub worth checking out. It is a rare LA dub from Central Park Media, since they usually stuck to New York City, so I do find that interesting. According to a former employee, they were just trying out new venders with this show, but hey I liked the results at least! Wonder if the management there did?
This anime is very well done. It handles vampires in a wonderful way, sticking very close to the western ideals of vampires (unlike most Japanese vampire shows). They sleep in coffins (without hitting you over the head with this), the blood drinking, the magic, and the fear of the sun is all there. None of this is overdone. And there is a small backstory that pretty much mirrors the story of Claudia and Louis in Interview With a Vampire. Honestly I’m surprised they managed to fit all this in here. But it’s all done naturally. They even make a joke out of the supposed fear of crosses. It has a great fleshed out main cast, an interesting story, and decent dub. The production values are good, and it’s an interesting mix of genres. If you plan on buying this on DVD, watch out for the dub-only release Central Park Media released (if you don’t want that version that is). I own the 2 volume 
release from 2004, and it has both an English and Japanese track, along with one extra. The extra feature is a comparison of the storyboard to the finished product and it’s on both DVDs. This was a nice little extra, that they really didn’t need to add on. However I do wish there was something more, like a behind the scenes look at the dub, or a commentary or something. But hey I’ll take whatever extra they throw at me. Discotek, everyone’s favorite anime company, license rescued this a few years ago. Although it is currently out of stock at Rightstuf , it does say they are expecting more (*shrug*). They still list it on their website so I assume it’s not gone for good yet. Make sure you get this when you can, it’s a top notch show. The small problems with it, makes me subtract a half a star from my rating, but I still highly recommend this title. It’s an under watched gem that could really catch on in my opinion. Perfect for the Halloween season.
Prede’s Rating:
4.5/5
Positives: The inter-character reactions are great. The twists and turns and roller coaster of a plot is really amazing stuff. Just when you think you outsmarted it, and figured out the twist, nah the series shows you it’s still one step ahead. The last episode is an emotional bomb just waiting to go off. Brilliant! And the mixture of two great genres makes for an even better show! Oh and the music is amazing if you care about that. The dub was pretty good.
Negatives: Unnecessary nudity. I really did not to see all those tities in the first four episodes. I mean I like boobies as much as the next guy but this wasn’t tasteful or sexy. They changed the color of blood to neon pink for the TV episodes to play it safe (boo!). They sort of drop the main subplot part way through, the ending isn’t a true conclusion, might be too episodic for some, and I know people will hate their little goblin.
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