History Anime / NightWalker

* BadassInANiceSuit: Yayoi favors business-like attire ([[{{Stripperific}} short shirts not withstanding]]) and she's a secret agent.

* HotChickInABadassSuit: Yayoi in spades.

* NamesToKnowInAnime: TakumiYamazaki (Shido), MaayaSakamoto (Riho), EmiShinohara (Yayoi), IkueOhtani (Guni) and HideyukiTanaka (Cain).

So what happened with this show? It was initially planned as an {{OVA}}, but ended up becoming a TV series by means of tacking on lower-budget episodes to fill it out. Effectively, Nightwalker has two different animation staffs, but attempts to pass itself off as an [[note]]unified production: Both halves were done by {{AIC}} despite this[[/note]]. To go even further, the game it's based on is an {{HGame}} - in fact, Nightwalker is the first anime tv series based on an adult game[[note]]earlier adaptations of this sort are all {{OVA}}s[[/note]]. (The game is [[NoExportForYou Japan only]] (of course) and obscure even by those standards.) In comparison to the game, the anime series is a pleasantly ''Series/ForeverKnight''-ed up AlternateContinuity of its source material.

So what happened with this show? It was initially planned as an {{OVA}}, but ended up becoming a TV series by means of tacking on lower-budget episodes to fill it out. Effectively, Nightwalker has two different animation staffs, but attempts to pass itself off as an [[hottip:unified production: Both halves were done by {{AIC}} despite this]]. To go even further, the game it's based on is an {{HGame}} - in fact, Nightwalker is the first anime tv series based on an adult game[[hottip:*:earlier adaptations of this sort are all {{OVA}}s]]. (The game is [[NoExportForYou Japan only]] (of course) and obscure even by those standards.) In comparison to the game, the anime series is a pleasantly ''Series/ForeverKnight''-ed up AlternateContinuity of its source material.

So what happened with this show? It was initially planned as an {{OVA}}, but ended up becoming a TV series by means of tacking on lower-budget episodes to fill it out. Effectively, Nightwalker has two different animation staffs, but attempts to pass itself off as an [[hottip:unified production: Both halves were done by {{AIC}}]]. To go even further, the game it's based on is an {{HGame}} - in fact, Nightwalker is the first anime tv series based on an adult game[[hottip:*:earlier adaptations of this sort are all {{OVA}}s]]. (The game is [[NoExportForYou Japan only]] (of course) and obscure even by those standards.) In comparison to the game, the anime series is a pleasantly ''Series/ForeverKnight''-ed up AlternateContinuity of its source material.

** Also present in the english dub, with LexLang (Cain), his wife SandyFox (Guni) and RichardCansino (Shido).

** Shido was close to a little girl and a woman before he became a human, though the nature of his relationship with them is unclear. [[spoiler:Maybe they were his wife and daughter, maybe his mother and sister... But after the woman died, the little girl didn't want to live on as a vampire, and killed herself by exposing herself to the sunlight.]]

* DeadLittleSister: Several; at least one of them literally so. In Yayoi's case, [[spoiler:her Dead Twin Sister gave her own face to Yayoi to replace Yayoi's disfgured one.]] Riho's parents count too, but not literally.
** Shido may have a literal DeadLittleSister, but his relationship to the girl in question is unclear. [[spoiler:Before he became a vampire, there was a woman and a little girl who were very important in his life. They were either his wife and daughter or his mother and sister. After the woman died, the little girl didn't want to live on as a vampire, and killed herself by exposing herself to the sunlight.]]

** AdaptationDyeJob: Yayoi has dark reddish hair until episode 5, when her hair becomes ShinyMidnightBlack. Shido's eyes change from gold to blue and his hair gets a lot longer; Riho goes from [[BrainyBrunette brunette]] to [[FieryRedhead redhead]]; Cain . . . "dye job" falls short of expressing how different Cain looks. AdaptationalAttractiveness might be better.

* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Said by Guni when [[spoiler:Riho leaves Shido]] in episode 12. [[spoiler:[[ItGotWorse She was right.]]]]

** AdaptationDyeJob: Yayoi has dark reddish hair until episode 5, when her hair becomes ShinyMidnightBlack. Shido's eyes change from [[EyesOfGold gold]] to blue and his hair gets a lot longer; Riho goes from [[BrainyBrunette brunette]] to [[FieryRedhead redhead]]; Cain . . . "dye job" falls short of expressing how different Cain looks. AdaptationalAttractiveness might be better.

** [[spoiler:Shido may have his own DistaffCounterpart in Rin Asogi of '''{{Mnemosyne}}''' even though she's an immortal rather than a vampire.]]

** [[spoiler:Shido may have his own DistaffCounterpart in Rin Asogi of {{Mnemosyne}} even though she's an immortal rather than a vampire.]]

* CurseThatCures: [[spoiler:Riho ends up gravelly wounded by Cain. In order to save her life, Shido turns her into a vampire. See EmergencyTransformation below.]]

* CurseThatCures: [[spoiler: Mr. Shido's secretary Riho]] is bitten by a nightbreed, which, given that the nightbreed killed her parents, is a FateWorseThanDeath. Mr. Shido, knowing this, turns her into a vampire as an act of compassion.

So what happened with this show? It was initially planned as an {{OVA}}, but ended up becoming a TV series by means of tacking on lower-budget episodes to fill it out. Effectively, Nightwalker has two separate (and distinct) animation staffs, but attempts to pass itself off as an [[hottip:unified production: Both halves were done by {{AIC}}]]. To go even further, the game it's based on is an {{HGame}} - in fact, Nightwalker is the first anime tv series based on an adult game[[hottip:*:earlier adaptations of this sort are all {{OVA}}s]]. (The game is [[NoExportForYou Japan only]] (of course) and obscure even by those standards.) In comparison to the game, the anime series is a pleasantly ''Series/ForeverKnight''-ed up AlternativeContinuity of its surce material.

* AllJustADream: Episode 12, in which [[spoiler:[[MonsterFromBeyondtheVeil Riho's deceased parents return as nightbreeds]], forcing Shido to kill them (again) in front of her. The psychological trauma causes Riho to give in to her vampire nature, and she murders Yayoi and Guni. just as Shido strikes the final blow to riho,]] he waks to discover it was all a hallucination caused by Cain.

** The DVD features a quote that describes it as such, throwing {{Angel}} in for good measure.

* TranshumanTreachery: This trope figures into Shido's backstory. [[spoiler:When Shido first becomes a vampire, he is immediately overcome by his new HorrorHunger and proceeds to slaughter the citizens of his hometown. He [[IGotBetter gets better]] after a while, but only in the most {{angst}}-inducing of circumstances: he finds himself kneeling in the town square surrounded by corpses and holding the exsanguinated body of his daughter/little sister/daughter-to-be.]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone He reacts like one would expect.]]

Despite the other inconsistencies, the same writers work on the show throughout and the setting remains consistent. It takes place in a Japanese city where our FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Shido works as a private investigator, specializing in supernatural cases - particularly cases which involve a race of demons dubbed Nightbreeds. Joining him are Yayoi Matsunaga, an agent for a TheMenInBlack anti-Nightbreed organization dubbed the NOS]]; Riho Yamazaki, a teenage orphan (courtesy of Nightbreeds) who works as Shido's GirlFriday; and Guni, a [[SnarkyNonHumanSidekick little green imp with bat wings]] who often hides in Shido's hair.

Despite the other inconsistencies, the same writers work on the show throughout and the setting remains consistent. It takes place in a Japanese city where our FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Shido works as a private investigator, specializing in supernatural cases - particularly cases which involve a race of demons dubbed Nightbreeds. Joining him are Yayoi Matsunaga, an agent for an [[{{MIB}} anti-Nightbreed organization dubbed the NOS]]; Riho Yamazaki, a teenage orphan (courtesy of Nightbreeds) who works as Shido's GirlFriday; and Guni, a [[SnarkyNonHumanSidekick little green imp with bat wings]] who often hides in Shido's hair.

So what happened with this show? It was initially planned as an {{OVA}}, but ended up becoming a TV series by means of tacking on lower-budget episodes to fill it out. Effectively, Nightwalker has two separate (and distinct) animation staffs, but attempts to pass itself off as an unified production. To go even further, the game it's based on is an {{HGame}} - in fact, Nightwalker is the first anime tv series based on an adult game[[hottip:*:earlier adaptations of this sort are all {{OVA}}s]]. (The game is [[NoExportForYou Japan only]] (of course) and obscure even by those standards.) In comparison to the game, the anime series is a pleasantly ''Series/ForeverKnight''-ed up AlternativeContinuity of its surce material.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Slightly subverted. Shido thinks of his eternal life as a curse, being forced to see all his loved ones die, but [[spoiler:Vampire-turned Riho]] promises she''l always be by his side now so he won't have to feel lonely, leading to a rather sweet CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming in the series.

* OffModel: The designs changing between episodes 4 and 5.