For all intents and purposes, Night is represented as the "perfect" individual. He's got the looks, he's got the programming charm, and the personality of someone who could easily make any woman swoon. Night isn't the type to use-and-abuse, he'd never beat his lover, and you know he'd never cheat on you - right about now, I'm sure you'd love to order your own personal figure. But is Night really perfect? And what sets him apart from every other typical lead male who seems way to pretty to be dating the heroine?

Night is far from perfect - hate to break it to you, fandom, but there it is. In fact, he struggles with the idea that he should be perfect, but isn't. For being a figure, Night is a surprisingly layered character that has a deep internal thought process. While he might be adapt at analyzing outside situations, when it comes to himself, he has trouble understanding why he faces the troubles he does; these shortcomings, so to speak. He should be Riiko's one and only, and yet he finds himself constantly competing with Soushi. He should be able to sweep Riiko off her feet, but she resists his advances time and time again. He should understand women and how they "function", he should be with Riiko forever ... all these things he should be and the conflict that this embodies in him really start to take their toll. For a figure that is simply programmed to "love" his partner, Night deals with a lot of issues that we would not necessarily expect. This is a truly engaging and fascinating part of his personality - we are literally watching him break free from his programming, into the feelings that he crafts on his own.

It's important to note that a lot of what Night deals with as an individual is all internal - while he is never one to shy away his feelings (quite the contrary, actually, as he wears them on his sleeve), he keeps his problems, his struggles, to himself, until he reaches that breaking point. Scientifically, he analyzes his "malfunctions" to himself until he gets to the point where he just can't "compute" where he is in error, before seeking outside assistance - usually from Gaku, who we can view as somewhat of a "manufacturer" (or GeekSquad...yeah); just because he does this doesn't make him "stupid" or "too laid-back". It makes him human and it's a great way of Watase to emphasize that this is Night evolving past his programming. Nothing aggravates me more than too see someone belittle Night's achievement as an individual entity. He's not stupid for processing his issues in the way he does and he takes things just as seriously as Soushi or any other character would; he simply deals with them in his own ways. It's a sign that Night is taking all those things he should be and approaching them in ways that only he can.

To the very end, Night is the devoted boyfriend that Riiko always dreamed off. She becomes his life . More than any other character, the complexity that Night displays throughout the series is some of the most touching and well-developed ever put to paper. His personality is one I can only wish more people shared aspects of, because it so rare to find someone as honest, forthright, and genuine as him. And even while Night is not perfect, he is still an ideal: if only more people were like him, life would be all the richer.

Would you like to go back or return to the menu?