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| The 80s and its crazy OVAs. |
The 80s were a unique decade for the world of Animé, and those who were lucky enough to be there know this to be true. However, "to be there" meant to be in Japan, or have some contacts that would send overseas VHS tapes with the latest the industry had to offer. In the Western world 80s Anime actually happened mostly in the early 90s. Although there were some notable exceptions, the vast majority of Anime and OVAs made in the 80s made their way into the outside world almost a decade later. Such is the case of Call Me Tonight, a 30 minute OVA made in 1986 by studios AIC.
Written and directed by Tatsuya Okamoto (known for his work on Captain Tsubasa, and Fight! Iczer One) based on a story by Toshimichi Suzuki (A.D. Police, Bubblegum Crash, Hades Project Zeorymer) with character designs by Kumiko Takahashi (City Hunter, Card Captor Sakura, Crusher Joe, Dirty Pair, Full Metal Alchemist, Ninja Scroll and a whole lot more!), Call Me Tonight is comedy, horror, romance and a tad of ecchi at the same time.
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| Buy sex! |
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| Call me tonight! |
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| Like what you see? |
While the Urotsukidoji Manga was still half a year away from release in Japan (December 1st 1986) , and seven months away for the OVAs (January 21st 1987), Call Me Tonight was released on July 28th, 1986 in Japan.
Now, I'm not saying Urotsukidoji was inspired by this OVA in any way. As a matter of fact, Call Me Tonight is a very light hearted take on a story that could have been full on hentai madness. Call Me Tonight makes fun of the form while using some of its tactics. It also wisely steers clear of showing too much--though the show revolves around sexual situations and includes a small amount of fan service, it uses restraint often unseen in anime, particularly in this genre. It may still offend some by its subject matter alone, but it's tasteful in comparison to much that's out there.
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| Stickers included in the vinyl soundtrack. |
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| Hardworking sex workers. |
Plot
A highschool girl working by night as a hotline
owner, Rumi "Suuko" Natsumi, receives the call for help of a young man,
Ryo Sugiura, who claims to transform into a destructive monster every
time he masturbates. Amused and attracted by Ryo, a shy yet good-looking pulp horror
aficionado, Rumi seduces him during their date on a diner, which proves
him right when he transforms right there. Rumi runs away with him and,
upon observing that he turns into a monster whenever sexually aroused,
yet is capable to contain it by force of will, decides to try to cure
him by habituating him to sexuality. They continue their date into the
city's red light district following this plan.
Unbeknowst to them, they are being followed by yakuza woman Maki Nohara, who witnessed Ryo's transformation (and is also a pulp horror fan herself). Maki's twisted sukeban
sister Oyuki, who happens to be a classmate of Rumi, gets interested in
Ryo by a picture, so she tries to blackmail Rumi into bringing Ryo to
her. When Rumi refuses and ignores her in favor of another romantic date
with Ryo, Oyuki orders her yakuza gang to kidnap them. Taking the
captured couple to an abandoned building, Oyuki leaves Rumi to be
ravished by her men while she has her way with Ryo. Meanwhile,
mistrustful of Ryo's nature and her sister's intentions, Maki sets out
for the place after being warned by her henchman Hayata...
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| Laserdisc cover art. |
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| VHS cover art. |
Review
As above mentioned, a call girl is set to help a man that turns into a monster whenever he's horny. As odd as it may sound, Rumi (the company owner) decides to take the job, and somehow fall in love with the guy. Very romantic, isn't it? The whole
sex tone isn’t a whole lot considering its only half an hour, but its
still very much there for an 80’s title! Which is what this OVA is
really all about, erotic sexual behavior topped off with a bit of Sci-fi
style themes for good measure. Its not really bad in that regards, they
just never really focused on much else regarding the overall story or
character chemistry. As everything pertaining to who the characters
really are, and the love scenes in general...feel very much rushed and
not believable. However I think that’s almost to be expected, because this genre its not really suppose to be about a good
story.
The Animation and character design are very nice to look at, very reminiscent of the time it was made. The art design with both the character
creations as well as monster style art, all scream out 80’s! For me,
watching this title brought back fond memories of when this type of
anime (disregard the erotic parts) was all over the televisions in
Japan. The characters move with good fluidity during some of the
action scenes, even if they are pretty sparse in general. Backgrounds as
a whole were pretty nice to look at, even if some where not quite as
nice as others. And the monster that the main guy changes into...while
not exactly creepy, is pretty cool!
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| If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen Ryu! |
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| Sex is a monster. |
Character development wise, there is no character chemistry or any depth to them whatsoever, as many of the characters seem to be tossed into the picture just for the sake of doing it. Even the whole love attraction of the two main leads is very much rushed as I had said earlier. Could you really fall in love with someone you have only known for less than 24 hours? Especially considering that this guy masturbates to pin-up posters and changes into a monster? I don’t know about most people, but I certainly would at least ask for a second date before coming to that conclusion. However, for a one-off story each one dimensional character serve their purpose well. There's Ryu, the troubled victim, Rumi, the strong woman willing to go beyond the call of duty, and then, a bad girl, her gang, a helping sister with a bazooka, and that's pretty much it.
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| Willing to try some monster sex. |
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| Monsters last longer? |
Here's the "Please Call Me Tonight" theme song:
The 15 minute soundtrack:
