The story of how I used to dislike the phrase 'Love is a skill' for feeling cold, but have recently started to think 'That might actually be true' — After watching the anime 'Call of the Night'

I finished watching Call of the Night

on Netflix.

The story is about

To put it simply,

“What does it mean to fall in love? Where exactly (or what happens) does it become 'like'?”

“What is it to love someone?”

“What is romance? What is love? And what is the difference between them?”

“What is family? What are friends?”

“What is identity? What is 'normal'? What is it like to live as a minority?”

I think these are the themes (that's a lot! 😆).

The protagonist, second-year middle school student Ko Yamori, struggles to fall in love with the vampire Nazuna Nanakusa in order to become a vampire himself.

To respond to that, Nazuna, who is a bit of a 'natural airhead,' also tries her best to 'make him fall in love' with her.

The back-and-forth here is funny and makes me laugh at first, but as the story progresses, it makes me think deeply about the things listed above, and I increasingly feel 'philosophical' about it.

Watching this work reminded me of a time when several friends kept telling me, 'This is difficult, but it's perfect for you, Youkan-kun, so you should read it,' and introduced me to this book.

I remembered being introduced to it.

At the time, I thought, 'Since several people are saying it, maybe I'll give it a read,' but I have no habit of reading books at all, and

when I took a quick look at the summary, it said 'Love is a skill.' For some reason, that phrasing felt overly intellectual and heartless at the time, and it felt a bit cold, so I rebelled, thinking, 'No way, love is all about passion!' and ended up not reading it.

However, after living for several years since then and encountering works like 'Call of the Night'

'It's true that there's definitely a side to love that is a skill.'

That's how my perception changed.

While watching the early interactions between Ko-kun and Nazuna-chan,

'Heh heh. It's like playing house.'

I laughed, but after a while, a 'detached version of myself' appeared and

'Hey, Youkan-kun. What you're doing isn't much different, you know.'

It started poking fun at me.

I've been with Mama for over 15 years now, and as the years go by, that 'love' only grows, and there is no wavering or doubt that I 'love her.'

However, when I calmly look back at what I have specifically done to 'convey love' to her over these 15 years, it's really just been repeating 'I love you' and being pushy.

That's about as 'unrefined' as it gets, isn't it? 😆

For the number one pillar among my several 'life works',

'mastering partnership', this current situation is pretty dire.

In fact, Mama sometimes points out, 'Papa, you're kind, but you don't really see me, do you?'

And a situation occurs where I get super depressed.

It seems I am indeed 'lacking in skill.' 😢

Based on the above, I now feel that 'knowing the techniques' for 'loving someone' is by no means a 'cold, intellectual' task.

Has anyone here read 'The Art of Loving'?

How was it?

I've started to feel like I want to read it, but personally, the barrier to entry is quite high.

Instead of saying childish things like 'love is passion,' maybe I should make a resolution and try reading it.

But well, before that, I think I'll go for a second round of 'Call of the Night'.

'Call of the Night'.

It is a very interesting story that gains depth as it progresses, so if you are interested, please check it out ☺️