Editor Tom Mes, alongside his brother, designer and programmer Martin Mes, and fellow editor Jasper Sharp, launched the website in spring 2001.

[3] Throughout its history, the website has published articles by numerous contributors, along with interviews with filmmakers such as Takashi Miike,[4] Hayao Miyazaki,[5] Satoshi Kon,[6][7] and Yuki Tanada,[8] among others.

[9] On 29 June 2015, Sharp and the Mes brothers announced that the website was retiring, and that no further content would be added to it.

[1] In their announcement, they wrote "The site will remain as and where it is for the time being, but after fifteen years of creating the main source of info on Japanese cinema in the English language we are calling it a day.

"[1] Midnight Eye has been referenced by such publications and companies as Bustle,[8] the Criterion Collection,[10] DVD Talk,[11] Forbes,[12] and Vice.