I'm going to be a bit busy for the rest of the month. The reason for it is because I not only have classes going on right now, but I also have a Black Belt testing to get ready for, AND I'm going to be attending a wedding at the end of the month. That's right, I'm going to a wedding on Halloween, the bride and groom are weird. Anyway, here is another written review, this time you are getting a double douse of anime: Dirty Pair and it's movies and OVAs as well as it's sequel Dirty Pair Flash...... AHHHHH!
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| Stand back everyone, this is a job for half-dressed women! |
In the vaguely defined future, crime and corrupt government organization still exist. For the protection and safety of the entire galactic population, the World Wide Welfare Association (3WA) sends out Trouble Consultants to resolve issues and maintain galactic peace. Two of these Trouble Consultants are Kei and Yuri, codename: The Lovely Angels, are the best at what they do. Unfortunately, what they do is blow things up, destroy entire cities, and generally shirking off their duties to go on dates with boys. Their destructive tendency has earned them universal infamy and the nick name: The Dirty Pair. Unfortunately, to the rest of the universe, they are still the best Trouble Consultants and are sent on some of the most dangerous jobs to resolve, even if the results leave a few less planets.
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| What is wrong with your Neck!? |
The original Dirty Pair has everything that you usually associate with 80s anime. The plots are flimsy, the characters are flat, and everything explodes. Most frustrating is the portrayals of the lead characters, Kei and Yuri. For the most part, their personalities are interchangeable. I spent a lot of time watching the series trying to figure out what their character traits are and the MOST I could figure out is that Kei is the tech and gun expert and Yuri is.... ummm..... sex appeal? But even that is contradicted in the OVAs where Yuri is the one who fixes things while Kei destroys them. On the plot side of things, with the exception of one two parter episode, each episode is a stand alone story that doesn't even remotely attempt at a continuing narrative. As for everything exploding, well everything DOES explode, from super computers, space colonies, and even entire PLANETS. Entire POPULATED PLANETS! GOOD GRIEF! Why are these girls allowed to still live, they are a bigger problem to the universe than any of the villains that they "arrest"!!
There isn't much to say about the series, because there isn't much to the series. Mindless explosions and girls wearing outfits that are so ill-suited for their duties in space. But for some reason this series was to spawn a few OVA (which are more or less the exact same as the TV series) and three movies (One of which is just bad 80s camp, another is confusing, and the last one is completely horrible), but also a remake of sorts in the form of a series of OVAs called Dirty Pair Flash........ AHHHH!!
Dirty Pair Flash....... AHHH!!! (okay, I'll stop that) is a complete reimagining of the Dirty Pair... saga? Featuring a younger version Kei and Yuri, at the start of their infamous Trouble Consultant career. Kei and Yuri are some of the worse Trouble Consultant in the 3WA's history and are constantly on probation for collateral damage and negligence of duty. However, they are paired together by 3WA's central computer and are given the title "Lovely Angels," a highly respected title in 3WA. Will these new Lovely Angels prove that they can save the universe, or are they going to destroy it like the old Dirty Pair.
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| Purple is the new blue, and apparently blonde and orange is the new red |
While the plots and characters are still more or less as flat and flimsy as the original, Flash does fare better than the original in a few different ways. First, the series is split into three sets of OVAs, the first two sets have overarching storylines that are set up at the beginning of the new OVA set and are resolved, more or less, at the end of the story arch (The third set on the other hand is, much like the original series, just a series unrelated plots). Second, Kei and Yuri actually have personalities that are distinct from each other. The man chasing and general dereliction of duty are traits exclusively held by Yuri, while Kei is the more destructive and aggressive of the two. Their personalities are still rather paper thin, but at least they have personalities and over the course of the first OVA set have actual character development, Kei learn to curb her aggressive tendencies while Yuri learns to take more responsibility. And lastly, there some genuinely funny moments, usually in the off handed comments given by the extras. True, these moments are few and far between, but it's more than in the original series.
Dirty Pair
Dirty Pair Flash
The original Dirty Pair is a largely a forgettable experience. Silly plots, 2D characters, and no real impact even when our "protagonists" are destroying half of the galaxy to say, umm that half of the galaxy. Dirty Pair Flash, is also more or less forgettable, but it does carry a small amount of cheese and fun moments; however, not enough to give it anything more than just a limited recommendation. Dirty Pair is not recommended, and Dirty Pair Flash is Limited Recommendation.
Until next time.
-Crescent, This is more ridiculous when they discard power armor and space suits to wear those outfits.
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