Now, I haven’t done this in a while, but I’ll be doing the negatives first instead of the positives. To start things off, and perhaps the biggest negative of this OVA, is that it was never released in the United States & beyond. I’m actually quite surprised it wasn’t released in the US, especially since companies like ADV Films were bringing in a lot of OVAs in the late 90s to about the mid 2000s, many of which have fallen off the radar, which is probably why noone didn’t try to acquire it. Again, surprised it wasn’t brought over to the states.
To complicate the situation further, it’s incredibly difficult to find a link for Call Me Tonight. I only know of one place where I found it (I have the link at the end of the review if you’re interested), but there’s only two ways to download it: four Megaupload links, and four Rapidshare links (The file is split among four links, and can only be extracted once you have all the pieces). Since Megaupload was canned way back in January, the only way to download it is through the Rapidshare links. Luckily, it is English subbed, so there’s that positive.
The second negative of Call Me Tonight is the predictable nature of the characters. Now, if you haven’t seen the OVA, I suggest you stop right here. If you have seen the OVA, or if you haven’t seen it and just want to spoil it for yourself, then keep reading!
Okay, the predictable characters. We’ve got the callgirl with a caring spirit, a man with a monster hiding inside of him, the tough girlfriend and the wussy boyfriend (I got these two characters confused, but not for the reason you think), and the school slut with a vendetta. From the moment you meet each of these characters, you know right away what role they play in the story, and you’ll also know right away what may or may not happen to them by the time the OVA is done playing.
The final negative of Call Me Tonight is how the OVA presents itself. Despite the campy nature of this feature (Read below about that), the director decided to present Call Me Tonight as a somewhat serious horror anime. It clashes with the campiness that Call Me Tonight provides, and actually doesn’t belong in the OVA, at least not completely. With that out of the way, here are the positives.
I have to admit that the story is surprisingly good! To sum things up, Rumi, the head of a callgirl agency, gets a phone number that leads to a young man who has weird experiences masturbating. Not necessarily sexual problems, but problems none the less. After hooking up with the man, she discovers the problem, and leaning towards her good side (Actually, she always has a good side. It just that she acts sexy a fair majority of the time), decides to help him overcome his problem. Unfortunately, there are dark forces at work, as Rumi’s high school rival takes notice of the young man, and wants him to herself. Despite the fact that there’s not a lot of depth, I like this story! It’s campy, full of 80s cheese, and feels a lot like many of the horror movies that were released at the time.
The next positive of Call Me Tonight is the characters. Despite their predictability, I really liked them. The two characters I liked the most were Rumi the callgirl, and the man she comes across. At first she acts all sexy and tries to get a rise out of the man, but once she understands his predicament, she tosses her sensual antics to the side (partially, at least) and honestly tries to help the man, developing sincere feelings for him in the process. The man is very shy & nervous at the beginning, and he wasn’t quite certain if he would be cured of his problem. He eventually gets cured, becomes a strong individual, and gains Rumi as a companion in the process. Even the bad guys are likable, especially Rumi’s school rival. I won’t get into what her rival’s plan was, but I can say that it was one of the more original plans I’ve seen in quite some time.
The final positive to Call Me Tonight is the music. I just found the soundtrack to the OVA about a week ago on youtube, and I have to say that I really liked it! It’s only four songs, and finding the vinyl for it is almost impossible. The way I found it was on youtube, where at least two or three profiles have the whole album posted up. The songs sound very cheesy and very 80s, with the third tune dipping a little bit into the 50s style love song. I’m usually not a fan of anime music, but there was some charm to Call Me Tonight’s soundtrack, that I just had to enjoy it. All of the music is right below, so take a listen:
Call Me Tonight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjUg_33A8w8
Your Rainy Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss99qosP1iA
My Little Girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awClyTdC1dI
Anxious Jealousy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v5sU3wZ33A
Call me Tonight gets a 7 out of 10. It wasn’t released in the US & finding a download link is hard, the characters are very predictable, and the serious presentation of the horror elements clash with the campy nature of the OVA, but it has a surprisingly enjoyable story, the characters are also surprisingly enjoyable, and the music is fun to listen to.
See you all next week, when the horror knob gets turned up a little more. Until then, stay Otaku!
Here’s the link to download the OVA. Enjoy:
http://www.garoo9.com/elevator_kart/?s=Call+Me+Tonight
*
Oh, I forgot/left this out in the review. When I first watched this, I was conflicted by the OVA’s animation quality. On the one hand, you can tell that it’s old (1986, to be exact) and looks dated. On the other hand, it’s aged surprisingly well. Despite it’s release date, I think that it’s aged enough so that it might trick people into thinking it’s a show from the early 90s (91 to 94, take your pick). The quality isn’t a negative, but it isn’t a positive either. I think I’ll leave this one up to you guys. Let me know what you think.
** (Update: 5/25/2013 | East Coast Time: 8:13 PM)
There's somebody on youtube who's posted up the OVA for all to see! Here's a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kC4oWpS5Ws
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