If you were a fan before the late-90′s, there is no need to introduce these ladies; it was pretty hard not to see at least one of the Dirty Pair titles that were released in the U.S during those days. Kei and Yuri were (and still are for some of us) the quintessential girls with guns. Or more to the point, they fit right in with what people wanted out of anime between explosions, space adventure, and fan-service there wasn’t much missing. And if you haven’t experienced it, you can win the first set right here!

The are some shows that define a genre. They are not necessarily the first show or even the best show in the category but for one reason or another they capture the imagination of the public and become intimately linked with the genre. Whenever you mention girls with guns anime most fans who have been in the hobby for a few years will undoubtedly bring up the Dirty Pair before any other title. Along with Gunsmith Cats it personifies the idea of a show where two beautiful ladies run around defeating nasty bad guys with cool weapons with a side order of humor and cheesecake. As a fan of the series I was always asking ADV when they were going to go back and license this iconic gem for its US fans. But in an unexpected twist of fate it turns out that the champion of the underdog titles Nozomi Entertainment picked it up instead much to my delight. The premiere babes with blasters show finally has made its way to the US and I could not be happier.

Kei and Yuri who work for an intergalactic trouble-shooter organization known as the 3WA. They are infamous for being able to solve any case they are assigned with comical amounts of collateral damage. So while technically they the are code-named the Lovely Angels their habit of accidentally destroying everything up to planets to get the job done have earned them the epithet the Dirty Pair. Every episode has the two trouble consultants in the middle of some planetary caper that only they can solve. They take on feuding gangs, rouge computers, super intelligent mice, evil professional wrestlers, and everything in between. The only guarantee is that anything and anyone in between these two ladies and completing their mission is in serious jeopardy.

Since this is an episodic series, that could literally just go on and on forever, there is a lot of variation in quality of episodes. These gals are always entertaining to watch, but whether an episode is going to stick out is a different story. This roulette (nod and wink to the opening) of writers and episode directors keeps things spry and assures you that nothing will become too bogged down in details. And that is exactly what I want from the Dirty Pair: fun. They travel the galaxy for missions which also keeps the cast changing and the scenery, they even stumble into an episode of Fist of the North Star (not literally). Some of the more stand out episodes include one appropriately named after the title song, “Hire Us! Better To Get Good-Looking Bodyguards,” “Love Is Everything, Betting Their Lives On Escape,” and “What! We’re The Brutal Kidnappers?”

Kei is the fiery redheaded tomboy that had the more loud and brash personality. Yuri is the quiet, studious, and more feminine jet-black haired counterpart to Kei but Yuri can be just as loud and destructive as her partner when pushed. Their sisterly but argumentative relationship is the keystone of the series. They may bicker constantly and even go out of their way  to one up the other but hey always have the other one’s back when push comes to shove. They have a casual banter that instantly shows you how long they have known each other and how deeply they care for one. They can be extremely girly with their minds focused on dating and looking good but when they buckle down for a job they are competent and skilled if a bit unprofessional. Backing them up are their long-suffering companions Mughi and Nammo. Mughi is a huge bear sized cat and Nammo is a small football shaped robot with feet. They both back up the Dirty Pair and are often tasked with the more unpleasant duties during their missions.  And of course as rouge officers they need someone to bang on a desk and complain how these two loose cannons are out of control. Chief Gooley fills this vital niche while chewing up the scenery.

I have to start by talking about my favorite . . . Mughi! Now granted I haven’t rewatched Dirty Pair in a while, but I don’t remember him being as prominent in other entries of the series as he is in the TV show. He adds plenty of comedy because, well, he is a giant space, cat thing but he also rescues them in some tight spots, too! There is really no explanation of where he comes from, but no matter. Now on to his supporting characters, Kei and Yuri. The Lovely Angels as one might imagine is not a very apt term for these two, despite their hemming and hawing. Kei is a tough and brash woman who never seems to have a problem getting a date. Yuri is more ditsy but can’t get a date to save her life. Their love lives, or lack thereof, are often a key factor to many of their exploits. Each of them have a most hilarious 80s wardrobe. Both know how to use their looks to their advantage but that isn’t the only weapon in their arsenal as they seem trained on just about everything. Kei and Yuri are complimentary to each other and are both charming as they traipse through space leaving paths of destruction in pursuit of justice and the occasional man. Once again, back story (though sometimes we run into old boyfriends) and character development aren’t priorities here.

My goodness this show is so obviously from the 80s. Everything about Kei and Yuri screams that they could only have come from 1985. Kei’s huge hair and almost always ever-present headband are a major signs but every outfit the two women wear as casual clothing ripped straight out of the worst of something like Growing Pains or Punky Brewster. Leg warmers, over sized tops, and neon everything. The character designs and animation is similarly dated but far more timeless. The art can be extremely detailed when they are not skimping on the budget and the mechanical design on the technology can be simply generous. Also the show has one of the catchiest opening themes you will ever hear. By the way whenever I mention the opening I always have to bring up the Italian version because it is frankly one of the funniest things you will ever hear.

This is a nice first set to bring back Dirty Pair to those who love them. The packaging is minimal but with nice artwork and a sturdy box. My only real complaint is quality control for spelling and consistency between what episodes are titled on the box and what they are titled in the actual episode, a minor point. If you’ve never seen the Dirty Pair, this is also a great way to start because you get such a variety of stories. Even though this isn’t new, it feels new because we’ve never gotten Dirty Pair TV here in the U.S. despite how much of fan base the gals had (and have). I’m looking forward to the second half due out at the beginning of February.

With the licensing and release of the Dirty Pair TV show I have noticed an odd phenomenon. Old fans of the series have generally been thrilled that the core of the franchise finally has a proper legitimate English release. We finally got the first animated episodes of the definitive versions of Kei and Yuri. But apparently there was the odd backlash of people who had been told that the Dirty Pair was the greatest thing since sliced bread and were disappointed with what they got. Therefore I would like to dispel this rumor for anyone who is reading this review in order to decide if they wish to watch this series. The Dirty Pair is yummy entertainment candy. It is a wonderful pick me up when you are in the mood but never mistake it for a full meal. If you are expecting some sort of substantial full-course meal like a Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex you will surely be left unsatisfied. But the series never pretends to have that depth. It is a wonderful popcorn anime that helps melt away the stress of a tiring day as it requires no effort but entertain immensely in return. If you have realistic expectations it is pure fun with some gorgeous eye candy to boot.

CONTEST

If you want to win this boxset of Dirty Pair TV Pt. 1, you must answer this age-old question. Kei or Yuri, who is your favorite Lovely Angel?

Entries are due by Friday, January 14th. The winner will be notified by Sunday, January 16th.

*U.S. residents only please. Sorry our abroad buddies we just can’t afford it.

This contest is over.

Wildstorm sent us a copy of the Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles prelude book. It is a graphic novel that helps link the Robotech TV series and the Shadow Chronicles movie. Rouge officer T.R. Edwards has allied himself with the Invid. Rick Hunter must catch this traitor before he can use his newly stolen technology to strike back at the Earth Forces. The first thing I noticed is that the book has a really American comic feel to it; being a DC Comics imprint and made for American Robotech fans this is unsurprising. Overall the story was nothing objectionable but also immediately forgettable. It seemed mostly for Robotech fans so I felt like an outsider listening to a conversation between old friends to which I was unaware of many points of the undiscussed history. I clicked a good deal more with the characters from the first part of the Robotech saga partially because those are the strongest characters and partially because that is the part of Robotech I remember the most. T.R. Edwards came off as a mustache twirling villain despite the fact that they did make an honest effort to give him some depth. I enjoyed the mechanical designs more than the human and monster designs which seemed bland to me. It was nice to see them dedicating the book to the memory of Carl Macek pretty prominently on the credits page though.

We went to Vertical Vednesday this week which featured the up and coming (and sure to be great seller) Chi’s Sweet Home as well as a look at pet manga in general. Ed even brought along copies of the book for us to peruse which is in full-color if you aren’t familiar with Chi. There is pet manga that stretches back to Tezuka, I urged him to license his dog manga, but Ed felt it really started to get a foothold in the 80′s along side the beginning of josei. And most pet manga today runs along the josei and seinen lines. It was a quick introduction to a small but popular genre, and you’ll be unsurprised to learn cats are the most popular animal. Near the end we also got to take a look at the second book of Twin Spica which I was infinitely more excited about! Vertical Vednesday’s are a relaxed night with the industry making it well worth a short trip.

In honor of Carl Macek I decided to watch the streamline dub of the Dirty Pair: Project Eden as well. Overall Project Eden is a big-budget 80-minute Dirty Pair episode. Kei and Yuri are called in to investigate a rash of attacks on a mining colony that threaten to spark an intergalactic conflict between two rival governments. They soon discover that the mad scientist Doctor Wattsman is behind it all as part of his latest insane experiments. Along the way they are aided by the handsome thief Carlson D. Carlson who quickly develops a bit of sexual tension with Kei. It’s a fun little story although two things stuck me as unusual. The story felt much more like the novels than the TV series in that Yuri felt much more like Kei’s sidekick than her partner. The other was that Carlson D. Carlson seemed much more capable than the Dirty Pair which is a shame. One of their key selling points is they are always the most able people in the room. Still I had fun and that is what is most important. The old streamline dub was fairly competent. I can’t say I liked Kei and Yuri’s voice anywhere nearly as much as I did in Japanese but after 36 episodes with the Japanese actresses that is sort of the natural reaction. Despite some liberties taken with the dialog the spirit and flow of the Dirty Pair was intact which is the most important thing.

I watched the short, independent anime Meguriau Sekai by studio New Adventure. It is a quiet piece about a girl reflecting on her first love in middle school. It goes on to show how it has shaped her in the future. There is not a lot of talking instead using angles and movement to show the emotions and thoughts. It has a slow, languid feel despite the short 15-minute running time. In this way it reminded me a bit of Makoto Shinkai’s work.

On the advice of the famous/infamous Tim Maughan I decided to check out the OVA series the Mighty Space Miners. Nanbu Ushiwaka is a 12-year-old boy and the first child that was born in space who has survived. He lives on a mining asteroid and is currently trying to get his astronaut’s license. During his exam a military satellite malfunctions setting off a series of disasters around the asteroid. The survivors must find a way to get to safety when the government seems content to leave them to fend for themselves while they clean up their own messes. The cast is pretty enjoyable although we spend the lion’s share of the time with Nanbu. It a fun space adventure with some good action scenes broken up with a little political tension in the second episode. I will warn anyone who is interested in watching this that this series was never finished. Episode two unfortunately ends on a cliff hanger that is never resolved. This OVA has some great animation which I suspect is partially the reason we never got a conclusion. It’s really a shame we never get to see how everything turned out.

I read through Gakuen Alice 4 where the school festival at the academy begins, always a popular and fun part to many a school set series. This book is a little more fluff after the dark and serious happenings in vol. 3 so its a fun break. Though we still learn a few things about Hotaru’s past, much appreciated too, and Sakura is slowing becoming more aware of just who Natsume is. We also finally meet the teacher of the special class. The school festival continues into the next volume so it’ll be interesting to see if anything major happens to Sakura as the finale.

It does not matter if you called her Misa Hayase or Lisa Hayes. What matters is she was an amazing character that stuck with many fans years after they saw her.

In this short (just two books) story, we follow the misadventures of Sienna a Prince who was turned into a lizard only to have the spell (semi)broken by true love. And we and his new love Canary find out quickly he can still transform into reptilian mode though getting back to human is a bit dodgy. This is a running gag and makes up for a good portion of the incidents in the book. Woven into these frantic moments are some cute trials and growing affection between these two young members of royalty.Though they keep trying to make Canary into this tomboy princess it rarely comes through. Sienna’s kind of a weenie but very trying and sweet though he a lot more amusing in lizard form.

The humor, like the love story, is kind of just middling without really making you laugh out loud nor moving you to cheer.

There is also a one shot about a girl who is always burning hot and a boy with nice, cool hands. This story I liked a bit better than the main but that might owed to it being just a one off.

As a whole The Lizard Prince is cute but nothing that seems all that special.

With the gentle urging of a fellow Hitohira fan I finally decided to go and watch the anime. I prefer the manga but the anime is a wonderful adaptation.

Hitohira is the story of a painfully shy girl who after being roped into joining one of the two competing drama clubs learns to be more confident and peruse her dreams.

The anime captures all the powerful moments of the manga with the added force of voice acting for any of the scenes where they play is taking place. I enjoyed the manga a little more because I feel it was a tighter story. Everything happens pretty much the same they just take more time to do it in the anime.

Also Mugi Asai seems less hopeless when we spend less time with her running away from her problems. I was glad to see a bit of resolution to things that were only coming to a peak in volume three of the manga, which is the last volume of the manga that has been released in English.

The anime has a good stopping point but I know that the manga continues the story. I wish that we could finish the manga in the U.S. but I am not holding my breath until that happens.

I have been happily watching the new Saint Seiya series Lost Canvas. Though our main characters Tenma (don’t mistake him for Seiya, as this story takes place 250 years prior to the original series) and Alone are new, many others are  familiar faces but now that I really think about it, they could just look familiar as Tenma does. I know that Gold Saint Aries Shion is the same, but it’s all a little fuzzy.

In any case, there is little introduction which makes this OVA rather inaccessible for anyone looking for a point to get into the series. Being that I am already a fan, this phases me not and rather I am enjoying seeing who pops up when.

The story is really a sad one of how best friends find themselves on very opposite sides as Tenma is destined to be a Saint and Alone is to be the vessel for the revival of Hades. The episodes revolve around this revival and Hades’ army trying to destroy anything that comes in their path. Through episode 4 the focus was on Tenma and his training, realization, and then we are left on a cliffhanger as he along with Yato and Yuzuriha are in Hell searching. Episodes 5 and 6 we completely switch over to the Sanctuary and a long battle showcasing Pisces Albafica which seemed a bit out of the blue.

However, it looks like the coming episodes are back to the main story at hand.

I have been meaning to watch the Dirty Pair TV for a while now. I have always been a fan of the show from what I have seen of it. I know over the years I have watched random episodes in a wide variety of places.

Dirty Pair TV is just as fun as the OAVs. The formula is as always very simple. Kei and Yuri are troubleshooters for an intergalactic trouble shooting organization. They can solve any case but always with a tremendous amount of collateral damage. If you are looking for deep philosophy and personal growth in the Dirty Pair then you are watching the wrong show. The show is just fun and excitement with a tasteful dollop of sexy on top. Kei and Yuri have a nice banter between them like any good buddy cop series. They might always be fighting but you also always see a strong bond between them.

Episodes are fun to either marathon or just watch one at a time. Next up for me are the Dirty Pair movies.

The more volumes of Dragon Eye I complete, the more my heart sinks knowing that more than likely it will never actually be completed in Japan.

Volume 8 is mostly fighting in the tournament that is still ongoing. There are two really intense and wonderfully choreographed battles involving Hibiki in which he shows his many strengths and also a cold determination to make it through. Of course, all of these things just add up to him being a really great and quite unreadable character at times.

Also a reluctant Issa performs another amazing feat battling against a spell caster. He boasts at the beginning “5 minutes” but it is certainly a good 5 minutes. As seen before, Issa cares little about authority and much more about his squad but is put in his place much to his chagrin during this tournament.

Though some of the cliff-hangers from the last volume are wrapped up, the actual plot only comes to ahead right at the last moment.

A Certain Scientific Railgun is a fun little action show but my goodness does it have that totally blatantly silly yuri fan-service that anime have been in love with lately.

They took one of the most popular characters from A Certain Magical Index, Mikoto Misaka, and spun her off into her own series. I being a big weirdo actually liked Touma and Index but I can’t say I have any objection to watching a show about Mikoto. It is set in Academy City, that is a city mostly made of schools with students with psychic powers.

It seems to be introducing to Mikoto and her friends. We have Kuroko aggressive lesbian roommate, Kuroko’s “police partner” Ruiko, and their mutual friend Ruiko who has no powers. We are shown how the girls meet in flashbacks alongside the cases that they get involved with as two of them are part of the organization Judgment, that polices people with powers.

So far the show has had a mostly light and breezy air of fun but the end of episode 6 after the credits shows that might not be the case for long. Kuroko straddles the line between being funny and disturbing but other than that it is a fun little show. I wonder if there is going to be a larger overall story having to do with the frequently mentioned database of students. Are we slowly building up to this story or are they just going to use it to cap off the show?

There are so many great Saints to choose from, but Shion is special this week:

Watched Tokyo Marble Chocolate. If you haven’t heard of this film, the gimmick is it’s the same story told twice but one perspective is the girl and one is the guy. So it is split into two 25-or-so-minute segments. They get points for thinking outside the box but it wasn’t executed very effectively. One of the major problems is after watching the first half you have a total grasp of what happened. The story rests on a few misunderstandings and one big coincidence (which is really bizarre) but everything is already explained so seeing the second half is virtually useless. The duality would have been more effective if they were constantly cutting between the two. I liked the artistic style and the actual love story is sweet though.

Make More Love & Peace by Takane Yonetani has a shojo art style but josei content. All the stories revolve around women with some sort of complex that makes them doubt themselves and complicates their relationships. The first three chapters deal with an insecure girl named Ayame and her handsome boyfriend Koichi who is a police officer. Their life is complicated by a bratty young girl who wants to steal away Ayame’s boyfriend. The other two stories are stand alone stories that involve and shy librarian and a girl with a horrible scar. I did not read the original Make Love & Peace but I feel you don’t really need to have read it to understand what is going on. Ayame and Koichi relationship is rather easy to understand and if no one had mentioned that there was a book before this I would have assumed that this was a stand alone series. All the guys are easy going nice guys in Make More Love & Peace. They are generally flawless and willing to work with their girlfriends until they can sort out their issues. I liked this story of the girl with the scar the most. I understood why she would be insecure more than the other two girls. I feel Narutaki would have liked the story with the librarian the most because it involved a pretty blonde goofy guy who seems like a playboy but is really dedicated guy. As with any redikomi you are going to have at least one graphic sex scene in every chapter. The more I read redikomi and reviews I feel your enjoyment comes down to one simple fact: Do you enjoy the type of guy the book is about? It seems that every redikomi book I read will have multiple unrelated stories but all of them will have a very similar type of guy in every story. So if you like that sort of guy you will often enjoy the book.

I am continuing my foray into the Brave Story novel, which I haven’t been taking on the train with me because of its enormous size. I am about to embark on the real part of the journey, I think. I am about 115 pages in before anything really starts to happen and while we’ve had hints of goings on, it has been mostly mundane exposition that could have been taken care of in a couple chapters.I am still looking forward to where it is taking me, I just wish I could have gotten there a bit faster. Now onward, “Beyond the Door.”

I was super happy to see that Live Evil and Freelance Fansubs teamed up to work in the Dirty Pair TV series. I have always loved the Dirty Pair but the only fan-sub I have ever found digitally is someone’s rather grainy VHS rip of a 20th generation tape. Seeing the first episode in crisp clear quality reminded me how much I loved the show and how much hard work went into making the Dirty pair look good. We’ll Teach You How To Kill A Computer is the standard premise of Yuri and Kei solving a major problem with as much collateral damage as possible but being too sexy to blame for it. Fun girls with gun action. Also I have to say that Ru-Ru-Ru-Russian Roulette is just an awesome opening. It is such a catchy song. If you are cool and willing to watch a show fan-subbed that is an extreme long shot at being licensed I suggest you try out Dirty Pair. There is a reason I put it on our Best Anime You Have Never Seen panel.

I read the one book BL Take Me to Heaven by Nase Yamato. It is a cute, fluffy, and mostly silly supernatural story about two childhood friends. Fumiya has the ability to see ghosts and they are constantly appearing in his room. Shogo’s family owns a temple and they want him to become a monk someday, to which he resists. Nevertheless he always helps Fumiya out of jam with his own spiritual abilities even if he doesn’t want them. They are always running into crazy ghostly situations thanks to the school’s occult club. These two are major opposites, Fumiya being short, dark-haired, and shy and Shogo being tall, light-haired, and outgoing. Shogo also picks on Fumiya, but while all the girls in school recognize it as love, Fumiya is slower to catch on. There is a constant push and pull between the two of them as Fumiya usual doesn’t see Shogo as serious. As Shogo is mostly coming to Fumiya’s rescue, it was fun in the last story to see the tables turned. Though a little melodrama rears its head near the end, this story is light as air and funny. There is almost no sex in this story and what little there is is brief and ungraphic. A quick read that will make you smile. And luckily for all, there is a preview of it online.

Since I’m watching Patlabor, this is the pick of the week. It is the spirit of Patlabor with both Noa and Alphonse in the same picture:

I liked the Riku and Daisuke solo dynamic but I feel that adding Dark into the mix makes it interesting to read. Since the manga was not completed they decided to simplify the story in order to adapt it. The problem with that was two fold. First they simplified it too much so you were left with large amounts of filler, wasted space, and uninteresting new additions. I’m looking right at you Mio Hio. Ironically several of their attempts to simplify things made several points more complicated or just plain confusing. Secondly we are cruising along the story pacing highway speed limit at 30 MPH and then the anime original ending cranks up the speed to 110 mph. The last two episodes feel rushed and somewhat unexplained at crucial points. It’s not a bad anime but it’s clearly an anime that is inferior to the manga it was based on.

Ghost in the Shell SAC first season finished! Really amazing show, jumped up into being one of the best things I have watched lately. It had a great climatic ending with some serious emotions emerging. I have heard that it is debated whether or not Batou has feelings for the Major, not sure how this could be debated unless you are blind. Whether the Major actually reciprocates is a different story. Seriously though, the sexual tension in the room (you know the scene I’m talking about) was so intense I thought it was going to crack the windows! As for the Laughing Man, I was pleased though I would love to see him again. And as promised I have a Laughing Man wallpaper.

I want to meet the cool dude or lady who fully got Ghost in the Shell SAC the first time through. I wish to shake the hands with such a genius. I got most of it but I am still fuzzy on several of the details of side cases. I thought everything involved with the Laughing Man was awesome. He is such an awesome character. It was well written and well executed. They could have thrown in some more complex episode in between Stand Alone episodes in the middle but that is a minor flaw. The Stand Alone episodes were often as good as the main plot. Good filler, will the wonders ever end? Oh, I would go as far as to say blind and deaf to miss Batou’s feelings.

Read Kekkaishi volumes 13 and 14. The latter ends the first arc of the series and wraps it up quite nicely while leaving a few lingering villains to show up later on. We also get a glimpse of the tremendous power that is housed in Yoshimori. This is also where the anime ends so I am now reading totally new material. I love that the first thing Yoshimori does when he gets home after this whole ordeal is to bake a cake. I am glad to see this aspect of his personality in tact. The rest of book 13 and most of 14 is mostly short adventures but the end of the book looks to be the start of something.

I read Parasyte book 4. Even though it has a high school student as the protagonist it clearly straddles the line between shonen and seinen that makes it hard to categorize some of the titles in Afternoon. It seem like a shonen manga with it’s high school love story. On the other hand it can be placed in the seinen category just by the number of gory deaths of several important characters and countless unnamed ones. I was a little saddened by the death of the major character in this book but I can’t say it was not interesting.

So when you go to the Live-Evil fan-sub group’s website, the top banner changes and I kept seeing this cute picture but it didn’t say what it was. Finally decided to go through a process of elimination to figure it out, turns out it was a show called Ask Dr. Rin. Watched the first couple of episodes so far. It is essentially a magical girl show with Feng-Shui. Meirin has incredible fortune-telling powers using Feng-Shui, she has a secret identity of Dr. Rin who is becoming famous thanks to her website. Her fortune-telling seems to be dead on for everyone but herself. But when the guy she likes is in trouble her power manifest themselves into a dragon like spirit and she is able to save him. Looks like a major baddie caused this and his motives are yet to be revealed. Cute and fun show that promises nothing more than that.

I watched the Dirty Pair OAVs this week and they are just so much fun! I really like that the science fiction elements are there each and every time to make the story cool. Science is not there to be explained or deus ex machina. It’s just there to enhance the story. I like my hard sci-fi anime like Planetes but some times you need to kick back with two hot girls with big guns and watch them kill God in one episode and upper cut children in the next. Kei and Yuri have a fun dynamic that makes them like sexy versions of the stereotypical buddy action movie characters.