By no means would I equate the second season of Call of the Night that that of My Dress-up Darling. This is a much better series generally, and even if not my preferred mode, what it’s doing this season is much better than Bisque Doll’s cosplay compendium. But there is a similarity in that both shows are ignoring the elements I like the best for the most part. With Bisque Doll it’s the romance, and with Yofukashi no Uta the psychological implications of the story. Again, the plot here is way more interesting than 10 minutes on camera angles for cosplay shoots. But in relative terms, this season still feels out of balance to my tastes.

That said, for a plot episode this was certainly one of the best of the season. And there is some psychology here, where Anko is concerned. But compared to the adolescent-vampire entanglements and Kou’s complex relationship with Nazuna, it comes off as a pretty straightforward revenge scenario. Vampires killed her parents (even if she literally killed her father), now she hates them. With the first season the character stuff was driving the story for its own sake. With Anko, it’s a pretext to drive the plot for the second.

The other vamps are none too thrilled when Nazuna comes clean about her relationship with Anko, given that she withheld information about the one trying to kill them. She does apologize, and insists she didn’t know for sure this detective was the girl from ten years earlier. Kou goes into meitantei mode again, theorizing that Halloween might be the day Anko decides to go big on her revenge plan given its importance in her past. Niko dismisses his concerns, but that turns out to be a mistake.

It’s interesting – and perhaps a little ominous – that Akira got involved in this situation. Kou runs into her on Halloween, and they wind up checking out the nightlife district where the party is in full swing. They cross paths with the maid cafe pair, who stick the pair of them in costume (her a maid, him a vampire – close to the bone in both cases). When he suspects things are starting to go down Kou tells Akira to stay put and heads out to rekke, but she’s here for a reason narratively speaking. Has Anko sunk low enough to use her as part of her plan? I wouldn’t totally rule it out.

I’m with Seri on this – from their perspective Anko is fair game at this point. The vampires in Yofukashi are obviously not sainted figures by any means, but this is a fight they didn’t choose. Anything they do to Anko is self-defense, no matter how Kou feels about it. And indeed Anko has chosen Halloween as her grand stage. Initially it consists of going around shooting vampires in the head with an actual gun. That’s obviously not the endgame, since it won’t kill any of them – just piss them off. But that might just be the point. She’s trying to goad them into something here, and she knows they won’t fight back in front of the huge crowd Halloween gives her for cover.

To what end? That’s not totally clear yet. Perhaps to lure them to the school, where Nazuna is already waiting for her. I feel like there’s more to it than that, however. And there are suggestions that Anko is prepared to do herself in, perhaps not entirely proud of what she’s become. We could be looking at a “blaze of glory” scenario she’s mapped out, though that’s mostly speculation at this point. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for her at this stage – for better or worse the writing has turned the vamps into the good guys and made her the big bad for now. That’s a lot more black and white than the first season, another change I don’t necessarily consider a positive one.