Believe it or not, Midnight Panther was scripted based on Shakespeare. A lot of viewers may watch this movie thinking it's a hentai and expect to see exciting sexual displays. In reality, the movie is a mix of comedy, hentai and an attempt to portrait a serious story, but unfortunately none of above was extremely successful.
Why would I give this move such high rating despite the below par contents? My appreciation came from the technical aspects of the movie. The drawing, the color, the transition and the directing are all first grade. Did you know this the first hentai anime showing pubic hair (Sonya), a bold challenge to the tradition. There are many other little things that director tried including smart usage of multi-layer cels to increase depth, wonderful usage of multi width pan cels to give the audience speed and continuity, very Hollywoodish.
This is a wonderful showcase of Japanese's ability to learn, adopt and create from the Western culture. Don't focus on the story and pay attention to the details, I am sure you will enjoy it.
