Original Dirty Pair: OVA Collection Box Set

Ah, Kei and Yuri... the original and quintessential anime "girls with guns." And bikinis. God, those bikinis. There has always been something appealing about attractive girls with guns, and the Lovely Angels -better known as the Dirty Pair- have a lot of appeal. What are the Lovely Angels? Technically they are "Trouble Consultants," sort of a combination cop/spy/detective/commando. Their job is to "fix" all sorts of dangerous situations and problems that crop up in the Galaxy (did I mention that this takes place in THE FUTURE?). This usually involves a lot of action. And a lot of stuff blowing up. Is it deep and philosophical? No, but it doesn't have to be. It's just good clean (or is that dirty?) fun.
This is the complete collection of the Dirty Pair OVAs (Original Video Animation). The 10 stories contained on these two discs range from merely alright to pretty damn good. This being a comedy on top of everything else there is also a lot of parodying going on, from The Godfather to the Terminator to Star Trek. Speaking of which, the makers of latter-day Trek returned the favor... the next time you watch The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine have some fun spotting the Dirty Pair references.
This DVD release itself is alright. The discs come in thin-pak cases housed inside a nice thick and sturdy cardboard sleeve. The picture is okay, and the audio is decent for an anime from 1987. There is the option of listening in either Japanese or English Dolby 2.0. The English dub is typical of ADV which means that the voices are alright but there is a load of gratuitous swearing. What is up with these people, anyway? There are no extra features on this disc, unless you count previews for other ADV products (I don't). No production notes, no clean openings or closings, nothing. I guess girls in bikinis blowing stuff up is all you get...which is fine with me....

Some American Manga fans will know of American artist Adam Warren's endlessly brilliant take on these oldschool Anime characters. His version of Dirty Pair was published by Dark horse comics in 6 separate series, and his style brought a lovely intelligence and satire to an otherwise vapid franchise.

Kei & Yuri are peacekeeping government called the Worlds Works and Welfare Association, or 3WA. They always manage to get the mission completed, but cause wanton havoc along the way... this is how they get their nickname "The Dirty Pair." This is not hentai (which is a crime), Kei & Yuri are just doers of dirty deeds.

I recommend other anime's that have cute sexy strong women that does non-stop action: (Gunslinger Girl, Cutey Honey, Najica Blitz, Noir, Burst Angel, Slayers, Shadow Skill, Kekko Kamen, Sailor Moon, Neo Ranga, Mezzo, Iria, Ghost in the Shell, Armitage, Moeyo Ken, Read or Die, Battle Angel, Kaleido Star, Kino's Journey, Miami Guns, Gunsmith Cats, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Kiddy Grade, Debutante Detective Corps).