Another year’s come and gone, but the night keeps living on. Under Night In-Birth 2 makes its return to the EVO mainstage this year for the second consecutive year. We’ve had thirteen years of French Bread’s greatest indie success story, blending together high octane anime fighting game action with an elegant simplicity alongside its unique GRD system; the fascination with watching the cycle has gone far enough to spawn its own daily game more than a decade later.

UNI2 also makes its return to the Arc World Tour in the same capacity as last year - platinum winners, and them alone, qualify for the tour finals. Notably, this upcoming EVO is the first qualifier spot for the event throughout the year, a global circuit supplemented by events in Europe, Japan, Korea, and of course, the United States. Last year’s Arc World Tour was won by Senaru - the Japanese Sion specialist who qualified with his win at last year’s EVO. Senaru’s been piloting Eltnum for more than a decade, now, and he’s the clear favorite for the event this EVO as he looks to both defend his EVO title as well as qualify to defend his AWT one.

Of course, North America isn’t going to go down without a fight. At the forefront of the region is Defiant. No stranger to the throne of North American UNI, Defiant has been rotating through a wide case of character throughout the year. Between CEO, Max Mode, AWT, Frosty Faustings, and CEOTaku, Defiant’s played Hyde, Londrekia, Carmine, Akatsuki, Kuon, Uzuki, Enkidu, and Mika in bracket en route to consistent Top 4 finishes. Defiant’s first EVO for the game was last year - and I’m sure they want little more for themselves than to be the first ever North American champion for EVO.
Of course, their road to the top hasn’t been uncontested - his sets against BigBlack and the domestic rivalry that has developed has shaped the landscape of the region. At offline events, the two are 5-9 with each other in Defiant’s favor. BigBlack, of course, is locked in on his signature Byakuya, finding top level success without missing a beat despite the character’s changes going into UNI2.
Even if you haven’t been following Under Night super closely over the past two years, you might have heard of Silent’s antics. Silent, historically the best North American Phonon, entered Combo Breaker 2023, EVO 2023’s community tournament, and CEOTaku 2023 under a very specific smurf tag - jack ingof. Jack, of course, drew attention both from within the anime FGC but throughout esports spaces as a whole, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that his eyebrow raising alt tag helped bring a lot of fresh eyes to UNICLR in its twilight years. But Silent’s more than a meme tag, as iconic as it may be - although his major attendance has been somewhat sparse, silvers at DreamHack Dallas and Slashback show that he’s more than ready to make his return to UNI2 swinging.
Slashback, Norcal’s anime-oriented event series, has always been an amazing litmus test to see who's next up in the scene. That’s why it’s doubly impressive that both years in a row, Slashback’s UNI bracket has been won by Seth character specialist Knotts. Knotts continued his Slashback momentum from this year at Combo Breaker, resetting the bracket against BigBlack and just barely falling short of a major gold medal of his own. Knotts has been on a constant upwards trajectory over the past few years - all that’s left is for him to put everything together to secure his first major win.
North America’s talent pool runs deep - loaded with players like 2GB Combo whose controversial controller pick found great success at the AWT finals and Lid, the designer of the aforementioned daily game who managed to notch a win on legendary EVO 2019 champion Clearlamp last EVO, all have the potential to make deep runs. Under Night’s thirteen year long legacy has bred fanaticism and character mastery, and there’s no singular community able to best prove that quite like North America’s deeper and deeper talent pool.
Under Night’s approaching the end of its first season of DLC, having added two characters to the roster since last EVO - Uzuki and Ogre - with a third, Izumi, on her way shortly. But at the end of the day, there’s no singular group of fighting game players with more love and dedication to their craft than the UNI community. From grassroots major series to Mandalay Bay stages, it’s clear that above all else, the night looks to be continuing on indefinitely.