NightWalker - Eternal Darkness

Eternal Darkness is the second DVD (containing episodes 7-12) of the NightWalker OAV series. For readers unfamiliar with the series itself, here are a few quick details:

Private eye Shiro's secret is that he's actually a vampire, but one who has taken on the task of defeating the creatures of darkness in a futile quest to redeem the fall that transformed him to a vampire--viewers may find this similar to television's Forever Knight. Created by a powerful vampire bearing the biblically-suggestive name Kain, Shiro also bears a sprinkling of Anne Rice.

Shiro's partner, paranormal cop Yayoi, offers her own blood to sustain him as the two must defeat the "night breeds" in a series of six related yet distinct episodes. His "kawai" schoolgirl secretary Riho--though not immediately in on the secret--also finds herself caught up in the struggles between good and evil.

In this second DVD, Shiro's sidekick Riho has herself become a vampire. Though Shiro himself did the deed to save her "life" when vampire progenitor Kain had mortally wounded her, Riho now must learn to deal with eternal darkness. The stories do a rather good job of characterizing the difficulties Riho faces adjusting to her new life while remaining true to the spirit of the first six episodes as Shiro & company must battle the evil night breeds.

As before, what really drew me into the series was the characters, as at times the stories themselves are somewhat cliche. When in the final episode Riho apparently has turned to evil and Shiro must confront and likely kill her, you'll sit on the edge of your seat trying to figure out how the characters will possibly recover and return to their (un)lives together.

The English voiceovers are passable, but most anime purists will prefer the Japanese with subtitles option. The special features aren't incredibly detailed but do include scripts, an art gallery, character info, and production data.

I found that the cliches presented did not detract from the overall stories and came to rather enjoy the series as a whole. There may be grittier or more involved vampire anime available, but if you're looking for something different in vampire anime, give NightWalker a try.


Wow! This anime series is awesome!   September 2, 2005
Rita (Ohio)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Way back when, my friend was telling me about an anime series. "It's pretty cool!" she said, "The main character is a vampire, and he has this cute little fairy partner! It's called Nightwalker!" She didn't give me a very detailed plotline, but she had only seen one or two episodes. Anyway, I forgot about it for a week or so, until one day I saw it and decided to pick it up.

I was not disappointed. I ended up watching the second DVD first by accident, but oh well. I don't know why people keep calling this anime series clichéd...it's not. There are some parts that are, but that didn't really detract from the series. There are a bunch of original things to enjoy as well though. For instance, I thought it was truly unique that the vampires could make weapons out of their own blood. Shido has a sword, and Cain has a whip. Well, actually they can both use either one, but they usually stick to their respective weapons. Also, I like the little detail that their eyes can change gold when they're in full "vampire mode." (No, that's not what they actually call it.)

Another original aspect is the breed. The breed are both similar and different than vampires. A few differences are that the breed don't come with bodies...they have to possess a human. They also feed off of human energy rather than blood. Shido has made it his quest to destroy the breed, even though vampires and the breed are usually comrades. Together with Yayoi, his blood donor and partner, Guni, an urban fairy, and Riho, his young secretary, he sets out to save humans from them.

The best part of the series though, in my opinion, is definitely Cain and his relationship with Shido. Cain is Shido's sire, and he's deeply in love with him, though Shido doesn't return the feelings. His quest in life is to get Shido to return to him. In the second DVD all the characters get remodeled... Cain was rather ugly in the first DVD, but in the second one - wow! He's simply gorgeous.

The opening is one of the coolest openings I've ever seen in any anime so far. The song they play is Gessekai, and it's a beautiful song.

If you're bored of the usual in vampire movies and anime, check this one out. It's definitely refreshing, and the only bad part is that it was too short! It'll leave you wanting more.


Addictive   April 3, 2004
Kathryn Beattie
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Many many people will tell you that Nightwalker is one of the more clichéd Vampire anime's out there. And it is. All the standard vampire rules apply. If you're buying the second disk, then I'd assume you've seen the first and enjoied it so I don't have to talk you into loving it. In this disk you see more of Shido's past and Riho's new life as a vampire is explored.

I'm not sure about other people's experiences, but I found some of the colouring and a couple of other aspects changed as the series progressed. My other big whinge is that there's not enough of it! I could have very happily watched quite a bit more of this one :)


More vampires...   September 17, 2007
Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA)
This disc contains episodes 7 to 12. This continues the tale of a vampire detective Shido as he fights crime and keeps his newest child of the night out of trouble. Like the first DVD it has tons of extras. And like the first episodes there is violence and nudity so this is not for kids. So if you enjoy evil witches, kind-of-evil angels and other horrors that go bump in the night THIS is the anime for you.


If only this were an Anne Rice fanfic, it could get banned...   September 4, 2005
TrezKu13 (Norfolk, VA)
1 out of 10 found this review helpful

I heard good things about this anime, so I decided, "What the heck?" I'll give it a shot. The first episode or so things are looking good, but as the series progressed I just got slightly annoyed, perturbed, disturbed...and flat out disappointed.

The first thing I noticed was the soundtrack. I didn't know steel mill machinery counted as an instrument. The minute that God-awful sound came blaring from my speakers my fingers instantly lept for the "skip chapter" button. Later at a friend's house I heard the song starting from the middle, and decided it wasn't so bad. Then I heard it the whole way through again - sorry, but I can't stand that noise.

The other thing I noticed was Shiro is not that capable a hero. He is either constantly foiled, made a fool of, or arrives too late to really save the day since lots of innocent people have already died. If he were Sherlock Holmes he would have killed the Hound of the Baskervilles AFTER it killed Sir Henry Baskerville. One villain doesn't even die by Shiro's hands, they die by getting struck by lightning as if God said, "I AM WHO AM...really ticked off you can't even beat one minor villain."

By the way, whoever wrote the script for this anime really, really, really hates kids. I say this because every kid character either dies or goes through some traumatic experience. There's even one episode where a girl gets killed in front of her friends, they walk off the screen sobbing, and we never get a resolution as to what happened.

The unnecessary violence doesn't end there though. There's one odd sequence where a vampire is rampaging through a subway fighting the police. He goes through them like they were all old women with the flu. Shouldn't the police be better prepared? I know what you're thinking: but they don't know about vampires! Normally that explanation would work, but here the anime kills itself. In an earlier scene the female police detective was speaking with a superior who mentions vampires and the problem they cause. If the police know about vampires, then why don't they prepare for it? At least in the later Godzilla films the Japanese military were portrayed to accurately depict a nation that had been attacked by Godzilla a bunch of times. I also have to say I got a good laugh at the scene where Shiro's highschool girl friend get's turned into a vampire. She goes through the movie with a B-cup, but once her shirt and bra are taken off it suddenly morphs to a DD-cup. I don't know any bra that can withstand that much. It's always amusing in animes how the girl's chest will grow five cup sizes when the clothes are taken off. (take a look at Deedlit's sudden implants at the end of the "Lodoss War" OVA)

I spoke with a female friend of mine who was all up about this series. Main reason? Shiro is cute. Oh yeah, and the villain, Kain, is cute as well. You know, even though he's evil, his good looks are a redeeming quality. Why do fangirls do this? They'll make comments about the way a girl looks, or say a guy will only go after a certain type of girl or say a girl looks a certain way just for the men, then they'll base an entire opinion of a show just on physical appeal of a handful of male characters.

I must now get something off my chest that has been lurking inside me for some time. All you fangirls out there drop your yaoi comics and take note:

JUST BECAUSE THE HERO IS CUTE DOES NOT MAKE THE ANIME GOOD!

Did you get that? Good. I don't think that people liked "Lawrence of Arabia" just because girls swooned when Peter O'Toole took his shirt off. And remember: if Hitler had long flowing hair, well-defined cheekbones, a great outfit, and a sexy smile...he'd still be scum.