Do I have your attention? Good. Then, let us discuss Call Me Tonight, a campy satire and parody of hentai works.
This is a simple 30 minute 90s OVA with some nudity, dealing with Freudian themes. Think sexploitation films. The characters are intentionally, for the most part, one-sided characters that do nonsensical things in an absurd setting: Suguira Ryo has problems masturbating and his repressed sexual emotions turn him into a gigantic monster. Basically Dr. Jekyll and Hyde with sex. It is all up to Natsumi Rumi to save everybody, including him, from his perverted thoughts. The work parodies those old hentai flicks you see them on adult websites -- I have, ahem, seen some of them -- and satirizes Freudian sexual repression and the narrow-minded discussion of sex. You may question its authenticity as a satire. It is, after all, a work made in 1986 and it is hyperbolic. However, satires frequently use hyperbole and exaggeration. This work just goes one step further.
It’s cheap lowbrow humor at its most silliness.
A work like this requires a special taste and targets a small niche: people who love over-the-top and campy sexual humor. Think of Panty and Stocking. The art isn’t fantastic for an old anime and the sound department fared better, but not by a lot. Most people will be disgusted by the whole premise; however, to the people who can appreciate this type of humor, this is a hidden goldmine. Laugh at the ridiculous tropes and the improbable deus ex machina, plot twists, and romance.
If you are sick of the comedic works that are not at all funny, this work may be your remedy. Its obscurity and surreal sexual humor will at least intrigue and entertain people.
Regardless if you enjoyed the work or not, there is one clear moral we can take away: every time you read a hentai doujinshi at Fakku, make sure you are doing it right. Always have your tissue papers ready.
