コール・ミー・トゥナイト

CALL ME TONIGHT

OVA

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
1
RELEASE
July 28, 1986
LENGTH
30 min

DESCRIPTION

Rumi's met a lot of guys through her job, and it's probably fair to assume that most of them could be said to have some sort of problem, but a man who literally turns into a beast when he gets turned on may be outside of this perky call girl's field of expertise. Still, a little challenge every now and again stimulates the mind and makes life so much more interesting, so she's willing to give it a shot.

(Source: AniDB)

CAST

Rumi Natsumi
Sakiko Tamagawa
Oyuki
Chie Koujiro
Ryo Sugiura
Katsumi Toriumi
Maki
Rumiko Ukai
Hayata
Toshihiko Seki

EPISODES

Dubbed

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Not available on crunchyroll

REVIEWS

ryansyambread
70/100
The 80s trash that has some treasure to it
Call Me Tonight is what happens when the 80s blows up all over your screen. From the moment the tape starts rolling, you’re greeted with fashionable ladies sitting in a vintage loft and calling on landlines. The scene is interspersed with images of the city night, illuminated by fluorescent lighting coming out of office spaces and street lamps, and a city pop single plays in the background that’s so nostalgic it could almost take you there. There’s a feeling that the night, and the entire city, is alive, and that feeling never lets up past the opening minute.

Both the art style and the music for Call Me Tonight are working overtime to deliver the retro atmosphere. The character designs, done by the ever under-appreciated Kumiko Takahashi, are soft and delicate in that 80s way while also donning exaggerated outfits and hairstyles from the decade. The different settings and backgrounds across the OVA do well in realizing the cityscape, its populace, and its many locations. The soundtrack summarizes the groove and pop of the era to such a stereotypical degree that it feels retroactively composed, and not only that, it’s painfully catchy too. In the moments where the quality of the music overtakes the visuals, the entire OVA seems to transform into a music video, where the tripped-up sequences of anime weirdness taking place across the city streets and buildings accompany an 80s beat. If nothing else, the environment of Call Me Tonight is delightfully palpable in a way that many other OVA settings aren’t.

But on the surface, aesthetic may seem to be all Call Me Tonight is dealing in. Well, that and copious amounts of eroticism. Call Me Tonight was the first of four volumes in the Pink Noise series, a short string of original OVAs which each released with little fanfare in the mid- to late-80s. There’s no narrative thread between the four volumes, but they each share a fervent embrace of ecchi tropes, sometimes to the point where the line between plain ecchi and full-on hentai gets towed. They also all appear to be running on not-so-optimal budgets. Looking at it this way, it’s a miracle Call Me Tonight isn’t actually a disaster. Quite the opposite, in fact; I believe it’s aged well for what it is, and I'd consider it a great example of what the 80s OVA scene has to offer.

I think this mostly has to do with how Call Me Tonight portrays its erotic themes. The story follows a call girl named Rumi who meets a boy who turns into a literal monster any time he gets horny. Rumi decides to try and help him with his condition, and the two grow close. In the wrong hands, this story could easily be worked into a motor for some pretty disturbing sex scenes. But rather than indulge in ill-mannered fan service, Call Me Tonight chooses to progress in a rather wholesome fashion, and the displays of pornography and sex throughout the OVA generally remain objective and are foremost in service of the story. The romance that grows between the two main characters is strictly that: a romance. The boy remains physically attracted to Rumi upon their meeting each other, but as their emotional attraction grows, his condition then begins to calm down. An on-the-nose allegory, but through it, Call Me Tonight promotes the maintenance of a healthy relationship with one’s sexuality and argues that it shouldn’t consume your livelihood and the peace of those around you. That’s a pretty refreshing message, especially for an ecchi anime.

The monster plot isn’t the only thing that’s going on. There’s a gang at Rumi’s school who catches wind of these supernatural occurrences, and the head sukeban decides she wants in on the boy. In the background is the sukeban’s sister, a buff weightlifter who has a short skinny boyfriend, rides a motorcycle, and packs heat in the form of a top-secret rocket launcher. Needless to say, she’s my favorite character. The school gang runs counter to the morals of the anime, as they allow their sexuality to become destructive, leading up to a complete ignorance of consent in the third act (there is a brief rape scene, so I’d issue a content warning for those who are sensitive). The dramatic meeting between the gang and the young couple transforms into a wild climax, and without giving away too much, it's where the horror elements of the OVA take center stage.

Call Me Tonight exercises its full potential in its 30-minute runtime. Fun side characters, wicked creature designs, a goddamn rocket launcher. There’s always something to be entertained by. Within their lower budget, the production team was able to work within their bounds and never overshot to try and make the OVA into this profound or exceptional piece of art. It doesn’t need to be, obviously, but the restrictions from both the budget and the minimal story also stop me from rating this any higher. The animation quality is serviceable, but really impressive sequences of animation are hard to come by. We don’t learn backstories or get context for any of the characters, and Rumi herself, as well as everybody else, is slightly one-dimensional. And while the story is perfectly functional, I wouldn’t exactly say it’s exciting beyond the finale.

Nonetheless, Call Me Tonight is the Pink Noise volume that’s grown the largest cult following out of all of them, and I think it’s more than earned it. It wears its trash on its sleeve while also offering a wholesome take on the ecchi genre, and some fun one-off elements make it worth the watch beyond the simple novelty of its retro style. If you’re looking for a quick 80s anime fix, and you're okay with some perversions, I’d absolutely recommend this one.
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