For better or for worse, cyberpunk has long been out of favour. The shiny metals and flourescent colours of Cyber City Oedo or Megazone 23 would be considered \'passe\' by modern standards - sci-fi anime now look elsewhere for their stylistic influences. Which regrettably means that all those of us who enjoyed the heyday of cyberpunk must look to older titles for our fix of pink mohawks and swish hover bikes. Which is where Dirty Pair Flash comes in.
In true cyberpunk fashion the world of Dirty Pair Flash is one of towering neon skyscrapers where the suit is king, juxtaposed by the dirtiest of slums where cutthroat gangs rule. And who would want to bring harm to this venerable dystopia for reasons unimportant? Why, a maniacal overlord of course! And who will stop him? How about two sixteen year old girls?
The first of our unlikely heroines is Yuri, an indolent young girl who would rather be dating boys than saving the galaxy. Deft with her light sword, she\'s a slender figure with long purple hair. Kei, the second of the duo, is brash, reckless and an expert marksman with her trusty laser gun. Employees of the W3A (World, Welfare & Works Agency) Kei and Yuri operate under the codename \'Lovely Angels\' to rid the universe of evil and corruption...if only Kei wasn\'t on probation and Yuri wasn\'t too busy dating boys again.
Around the same time cyberpunk was a popular theme in anime, the buddy/cop movie was all the rage in Hollywood. A cyberpunk buddy/cop anime with two cute girls in skimpy costumes - Dirty Pair was destined for success.
Cliched though it may be, this formula makes for compulsive viewing simply because it is so easy to watch; turn your brain off and let the plot-by-numbers take you on the enjoyable, if a little predictable, ride.
Much of the enjoyment is garnered from the buddy/cop partnership of Kei and Yuri, the Dirty Pair of the title. As with all the best buddy/cop films it\'s a love/hate relationship where neither partner can live with nor without the other, tragically unaware of their symbiotic bond until the most critical moment. Not nearly as overblown as my description suggests, this pairing is actually well executed with only the slightest whiff of cheese. The subplots, involving an ex-W3A employee and a replacement for Kei who\'s even lazier than Yuri add interest, giving the central characters something worry about other than their comically mismatched partner.
With such solid goodguys you\'d expect an eminently hateable badguy to fill up the numbers. Scheming he may be, this badguy never really gives us anything to jeer until the unsurprisingly cliched finale. He doesn\'t even have the ubiquitous evil laugh or unusual facial hair that regularly feature on such nefarious wrongdoers. With little cause to hate him (his reasons for trying to blow everything to kingdom come are left unexplained until the very end, and even then it\'s a pretty lame excuse) it\'s even harder to support the goodguys. If they insist on using such timeworn plot devices they could at least dot the I\'s and cross the T\'s. I lament the missed opportunity.
One area in which Dirty Pair Flash does please is the frantic, varied and often comic action. In the mix of light swords, gun fights, transforming mechs and space battles there should be something to please everyone. Although they occasionally appear tacked-on, these action sequences are ingenious at their best. They also represent the best Dirty Pair Flash has to offer in comedy - even if it won\'t make you laugh out loud, you\'ll at least enjoy the comical atmosphere.
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Dirty Pair Flash
Other (ended 1996)
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Show Summary
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Dirty Pair Flash is a remake of the Dirty Pair anime series that made popular the girls with guns duo genre. It was released in the 1990's as a direct-to-video series. The Pair consists of two 17-year-old 'Trouble Consultants', which are a cross between a troubleshooter and a secret agent. They work for an organization called World Welfare & Works Association (3WA) which handles problems galaxy-wide. Their code name is 'Lovely Angels' but it's easy to see why they are commonly known as the Dirty Pair, not in a naughty way, but because they tend to leave a wake of destruction wherever they go. Main Characters Yuri is the perky girl with the long purple hair. Yuri tends to rely on her feminine wiles to get out of trouble, rarely plans ahead and is obsessed with her image, cosmetics and dating. Clearly, she is the eye candy of the show and can be a bit of an airhead. Her weapon is a sword of light. Kei is the more serious and trigger-happy part of the duo. She has short blonde hair, and her aggressive style sets her at odds with Yuri nearly all the time. For some reason the 3WA computer has decided Kei has to be paired with Yuri. Her favorite weapon is a blaster pistol. Rating: 15+ (US). Animated violence, profanity, and some nudity. License Status: Licensed by ADV Films. Season Breakdown: There are three main storylines organized by Missions. Mission 1: Angels in Trouble Number of Episodes: 6 Originally released: 1-21-1994 to 6-23-1994 in Japan. Director: Tsukasa Sunaga US release: 1998 (VHS, 3 volumes), 2-27-2001 (DVD) Opening Song: "Kagirinai ANSWER" by Mana Closing Song: "Dai 2 Shou" by Mana Description: Kei and Yuri recover a card from an agent of the 3WA, and have to defend against various bad guys representing the Lucifer organization. Mission 2: Angels at World's End Number of Episodes: 5 Originally released: 6-1-1995 to 10-1-1995 in Japan. Director: Tomomi Mochizuki US release: 1998 (VHS, 2 volumes), 12-11-2001 (DVD) Opening Song: "Thrill ni Koishi te (Loving Thrills)" by Rica Matsumoto Ending Song: "Kimi ga Daisuki (I Really Like You)" by Mariko Kouda Description: Kei and Yuri guard Trouble Consultant Touma while he fixes a computer system at a retro 1990's theme world. The fix results in an extended stay in that world, and adventures follow. Mission 3: Random Angels Number of Episodes: 5 Originally released: 12-21-1995 to 4-25-1996 in Japan. Director: Tomomi Mochizuki US release: 1998 (VHS, 2 volumes), 2-26-2002 (DVD) Opening Song: "Honki ni Shinai de" by Mariko Kouda Ending Theme: "Kokoro de Mitsumeteru" by Rica Matsumoto Description: Kei and Yuri return for more adventures including volleyball, protecting babies and the chief, and mecha battles. Related Series Dirty Pair TV series, 24 episodes, 1985. Affair on Nolandia, 1 episode, 1985 Original Dirty Pair, 10 episodes, 1987-1988 (Girls with Guns, Damsels in Destruction) Project Eden, feature movie, 1987 Flight 005 Conspiracy, 1 episode, 1990moreless
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Sue Ulu
Kei
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Rica Matsumoto
Kei (Japanese)
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Kimberly Robertson
Yuri
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