Dirty Pair TV and "Lovely Angel" OVA Final Thoughts

ダーティペア (TV Anime)
ダーティペア ラブリーエンジェルより愛をこめて (OVA Anime)
Dirty Pair Lovely Angels Yori Ai O Komete

I've mentioned this before, but for those who don't know, Dirty Pair will always have a special place with me, simply because they were the babe duo of the late 80's in Japan and I happened to be there when the first true batch of OVA's (meaning, OVA's that weren't originally done for TV but switched to OVA after going unaired) were being released. I did watch Dirty Pair in Japan, but in its raw form, it was nothing but gibberish and the babe Yuri. ^_~ As such, I'm glad to be able to watch it now with some understanding as to what is being said.

Dirty Pair is what it is -- an episodic series where Kei and Yuri, officially code named "Lovely Angels" but unofficially known as "Dirty Pair" because of the wake of destruction they tend to leave, work for an organization known as "3WA" (WWWA). This is a private company who get hired to resolve disputes and solve cases like pseudo police force. Despite their destructive nature, Kei and Yuri are often assigned by the 3WA central computer to handle tough cases because they get results done. Thus, this two-woman force not only kick bottom and take names, but they also manage to score big bonuses and extra vacation time due to their success.

The series is mostly fun but rather formulaic in its approach, which I believe is pretty much how the original light novels were (though I think that the anime pretty much did its own thing rather than really follow any light novel story). Kei and Yuri are assigned a case, get the facts, then do what it takes to resolve it, which often means explosions and other action sequences. As such, there often is nothing surprising that happens through the course of any given episode. Fortunately, most of the time, it is the journey of getting from A to B that is the fun part of the series. Even still, there are a few episodes that were just downright boring with writing that felt lazy at best.

Another fun part of the series were some of the 80's parodies. Things like The Terminator, James Bond, Indiana Jones, Godzilla, etc., to say nothing of the various samurai titles and old westerns, all received nods through the course of the 24 TV episodes and 2 OVA episodes. There are also moments which cause the series to seriously date itself to the 80's. While Dirty Pair is supposed to be set in the future, there were malls, cars that looked like they were from the 80's, printouts, and my favorite, the one episode that had the phone modem. *lol* However, I find this added to the charm of the series for the most part rather than detract from it.

In today's anime market, there are a ton of female-driven shounen or seinen action titles. Back in the day, there were quite a few as well, but I think that Dirty Pair tends to stand above all the rest, at least from the late 80's. A great deal of this goes to TONGUU Kyouko (Kei's seiyuu) and SHIMAZU Saeko (Yuri's seiyuu). The two have such a great chemistry that really helps the characters of Kei and Yuri seem like real friends. It is the friendship of Kei and Yuri on top of their partnership that helps make the series work in my opinion. I think that's partially why Dirty Pair Flash did not work.

It is funny how the original TV series didn't do so well in the ratings. From what I understand, the original light novels sold pretty well. The final two TV episodes were sold as an OVA series and those sold well enough to cause five more unnamed OVA series to be done (which ADV released as a single series on two DVD's, containing 10 total episodes), to say nothing of the three additional named OVA solo episodes and one theatrical movie. There would have been more had both Kyouko and Saeko returned to do the voices of Kei and Yuri but since they didn't, the popularity of the franchise launched the unimpressive Dirty Pair Flash which had three OVA series. That's pretty impressive for a TV series with low ratings that caused it to get canceled before its final two episodes were aired.

As I've said, I'm looking forward to the release of this series in the U.S. (finally), though it is a real shame that once the TV series was finally licensed, all of the other OVA's and movies are now out of print. If you'd like to preorder the series from Rightstuf, here are the links to do so.

• Dirty Pair TV Series DVD Collection 1
• Dirty Pair TV Series DVD Collection 2

Even though it is subtitle-only, I don't think you'll be disappointed at the seiyuu work done here. Hopefully, since the series uses a mix of western and Japanese honorifics, the official subtitles will follow suite. I believe the 2-episode "Lovely Angel" OVA series that was originally to be part of the TV series will be included.

So, a fun series from the classic days of anime in the 80's. While the series may not be anything ground breaking or even what one might call "great," it still tends to be a lot of fun, which is the reason to watch anime in the first place. ^_^

Urusei Yatsura - 140

うる星やつら episode 140 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 140 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Shuutaro makes preparations for a giant New Years celebration to include a cake of room-sized proportions. He tries to keep it secret from Ryoko so that she won't be there for Ataru to hit on. Naturally, Ryoko learns of it and is offended, thus sends a letter to Tobimaru. Tobimaru takes the letter to be a challenge to him by Shuutaro. Meanwhile, New Year's arrives and the giant sponge cake serves as the room for Shuutaro's party for his classmates. Ryoko sends ozouni to the party, which Shuutaro immediately suspects as being poisoned or filled with an explosive. Ataru doesn't believe it, so Shuutaro decides Ataru should eat it. Opening the pot, they find it empty, save for Cherry with a letter from Ryoko, saying she'll be marrying Tobimaru.

Shuutaro decides to check and near the candy church, his cameras pick up Ryoko in a wedding dress. Doing further scans, he finds "Ton-chan" eating his way into the cake structure to get at Shuutaro. However, Shuutaro assumes that Tobimaru must have forced Ryoko to marry him and is ticked. He offers a gift to anyone who can stop the marriage but when Cherry produces a second letter from Ryoko mentioning the land mines and they see Tobimaru get hit by one, Shuutaro has no takers (Ataru having been silenced by Lum). As such, Shuutaro raises the ante so that the gift is a 3-karat diamond and when Lum produces a mine detector (displaying that Ryoko has set out tons of mines), the game is afoot.

After everyone but Ataru changes from kimonos to sweat suits, they head down the tunnel in the sponge cake Tobimaru made by eating. Ataru complains about moving in his kimono and when he mentions for the second time that it is so he can marry Ryoko, Lum sends him into a mine. Ataru ends up following Tobimaru's method of eating a tunnel, which others like Cherry emulate as well. Ataru makes his way to the edge of the cake and breaks through, allowing Shuutaro, Lum, Shinobu, and Ataru to the top of the cake, which uses icing, candy, and more to recreate Hansel and Gretal's adventure. After a bomb set to look like Hansel and Gretal hits Shuutaro, they find Tobimaru stuffed from having eaten so much.

Tobimaru and Shuutaro are about to square off when Ryoko arrives. The mayhem kicks in when Ataru continually attempts to insert himself into the mix. Ryoko takes a gun and forces Tobimaru to flee with her. When he stops and asks why, she's offended but it allows Shuutaro and the others to get there. Ryoko opens fire on them, causing mines to explode. Shuutaro agrees to allow Ryoko to marry if he is defeated. Again, Ataru gets in the way of Tobimaru and Shuutaro squaring off, grabbing Ryoko to flee. When she asks why, he says that based on Shuutaro's conditions, Ryoko would be forced to marry Lum.

Lum puts an end to Ataru's plan, leading to another square off between Shuutaro and Tobimaru. However, when Tobimaru attempts to flee rather than be with Ryoko, she brings him back with a series of well-tossed grenades. Shuutaro sees the battered Tobimaru return and decides to allow Ryoko to marry him after such a gesture. Tobimaru attempts to protest that he doesn't want to marry Ryoko as one of her bodyguards comes to take her home. As she leaves, her land mines begin going off, destroying Shuutaro's candy and cake village. Once returned to her room, she sets off the big bomb, sending her brother and others into the sky.


Thoughts/Review: This episode is like a lot of Urusei Yatsura episodes of late -- starts off one place and ends up in wacky-ville! *lol*

While the whole notion of making a giant room for a party inside of a gargantuan sponge cake is nutty in and of itself, the attempts to leave by eating their way out made me think, "if they have to eat their way out, just how the heck did they get in?" Of course it is best not to ask such questions since the absurdity of having to eat their way out was actually pretty funny to me. Actually, once that started, I thought, "was Dig Dug out as a game yet when this episode was released?" Considering that Dig Dug came out in 1982 in Japan and this episode came out sometime in late '84 or early '85, the answer is "yes" and thus I don't think it is unreasonable to say that there may have been a parody there.

However humorous the eating through sponge cake was, the real humor was Ataru's ceaseless attempts to get to Ryoko so that he could marry her. I remember when Ataru's lechery was so annoying when I first watched UY. Now, because of how it is written and animated, combined with the excellent seiyuu work by FURUKAWA Toshio (Ataru's seiyuu), his "nothing can stop me from getting to the babe" stuff just makes me laugh. Its because you just never know what Ataru is going to show up again (and again) and the unexpected (even though you know Ataru will show back up) is funny.

I do wish that Ryoko would have taken some collateral damage during at least one of Lum's punishment sessions of Ataru. Sometimes, others get caught up in Lum's electrocutions and it would rock if Ryoko got smacked by one of these. I have a feeling she never will be though.

So a fun, strange, wacky episode.

Dirty Pair - 26 (With Love From the Lovely Angels OVA 02)

ダーティペア ラブリーエンジェルより愛をこめて (OVA Anime) Episode 02 Review
Dirty Pair Lovely Angels Yori Ai O Komete OVA 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: After Kei steals some of Yuri's cake and closes herself in the fridge to escape Yuri's fire extinguisher, she has a cold when she and Yuri had to a briefing with Calico. There, they learn that a man named Marcus has Gooley hostage. Marcus will destroy Eleanor City if his ransom demands aren't met. Marcus reveals to the captive Gooley that he has control over the God Cannon, a prototype weapon designed to protect the city. To demonstrate its power, Marcus has an island destroyed with a single shot from the cannon. Meanwhile, Yuri and Kei plan their operation when Calico comes in with news -- 3WA will not submit to Marcus's demands but they won't authorize an attack/rescue mission. Instead, they've activated the self-destruct, which goes off in 12-hours.

Kei and Yuri decide to rescue Gooley on their own, taking a balloon to infiltrate the area around the volcano. They are still bickering over the cake incident when one of Marcus's men sees the balloon and shoots it down. Kei and Yuri defeat the squad sent to investigate but when a couple of large, poisonous spiders land on Yuri, she accidentally triggers a trap and falls into a pit, only to be rescued by Marcus's men and taken captive along with Kei. While on the small incline rail car headed up the volcano, Kei and Yuri get the drop on their captives when the two have spiders on them. However, Marcus has seen this remotely and decides to purposefully derail the car, sending it to the ravine below.

Kei and Yuri survive the attempt on their life and brazenly walk up to the entrance of the volcano base while bickering. Kei shows off her breasts, distracting the guards and allowing the pair to enter. From there, they take over the security command center before having another argument and splitting up to achieve their objectives. Kei reaches where Gooley and Marcus are but a sneeze gives her away, allowing Marcus to snag her with a long whip. However, it buys Yuri time to get to the God Cannon and get the drop on Marcus when it is elevated to that level. Despite being shot, Marcus seals the base so that Kei, Yuri, and Gooley will be trapped with him. Kei and Yuri get Gooley out on the escape pod meant to save the research documents.

With only two minutes left until the facility blows up, Kei decides to use the God Cannon to blow their way out of the mountain even though it is highly risky. A large canister is blown out and parachutes to the ground as the volcano goes off. Gooley sees the explosion and eruption and mourns for what has to be the loss of Yuri and Kei. Meanwhile, Kei makes it safely to the ground and thinks that Yuri must be dead, even going so far as to apologize over eating Yuri's cake. She's relieved when Yuri turns up under a large piece of debris, even though Yuri accuses Kei of being fat for eating her cake. The two laugh and make up and as they race away, they both know that they will still be partners as no one else would have them.


Thoughts/Review: I'm glad to see that the final episode of Dirty Pair goes out in style and fun. Whenever Kei and Yuri have had their fights in the various original titles, it always feels like two really good friends having a fight. After all, the best of friends will at times disagree or even fight, sometimes over something trivial. Compare that to Dirty Pair Flash where that Kei and Yuri never seemed to even fit together.

Anyway, the running gag of Kei sneezing at all the wrong times combined with the constant bickering with Yuri was all predictable and yet provided the proper amount of challenge for both Kei and Yuri to overcome in order to show just how skilled they are. Well, we really already knew that but the way their skills were presented here came off well.

Even though I rather enjoyed this episode, I find I'm having a difficult time finding stuff to say about the episode. I suppose that this was because it was pretty much by the numbers in terms of plot and the ultimate result. Fortunately, despite this, the journey to get to Gooley and then escape from the volcano was fun for me and ultimately, that's why we watch anime, right?

I'll work on some final thoughts for the series but I can say that I do look forward to the DVD release when it comes out (finally).

(Love Hina) Negima! Chapter 300 SPOILER Images

Negima! 300 SPOILER Images
魔法先生 ネギま！Chapter 300 (Images)

Here's what I know many of you have been waiting for -- the original-sized, sneak-peek SPOILER images for Mahou Sensei Negima! Chapter 300 as brought to you by anonymous Japanese fans (click pic to make bigger, y'all). Only problem is, the first image is from Love Hina instead (still waiting for Negima! images to show up) . ^_^;


IF more show up, I'll append to this post. In the meantime, I've GOT to get some sleep. Me eyeballs are BURNING!

Update (29-August-2010): Still nothing else from Japan. *_*

Where the Heck Are My Negima! Chapter 300 Spoiler Images?

I have no clue where the Negima! chapter 300 spoilers are. To be honest, I suspected that the Japanese might not post spoilers for this chapter. Why? Well for starters, it would be Murphy's Law, especially after I dropped the ball for a while on chapter 299's spoilers. Then, because chapter 300 is a mile marker, combined with the fact that Love Hina is getting a special chapter, it just seemed like the Japanese might not post spoilers this time out.

As such, I'm off to bed but I will get up and check in from time-to-time to see if spoilers have been posted. If they have been, then you know I'll share. If not, well you know I'm still on the case.

In the meantime, how about some ear candy? Better yet, how about some chocolate cream frosting for your ears? ^_~ I heard this song for the first time last night and did something I don't normally do -- I bought it ASAP! It's from Far East Movement (I think they are of Korean descent) and the song is called "Like a G6." This is the official video from the group, so there may be an ad that appears at the front (just as a head's up since it doesn't always show up).

Here's hoping I'm wrong and the Negima! 300 spoilers are soon to be out. ^_^

Additional: Figures that minutes after I post this, the first Love Hina image would appear. Check here.

Kitchen Princess Volume 07 Manga Review

キッチンのお姫さま/Kitchen no Ohimesama 07 --> BUY FROM RIGHTSTUF! ^_^


SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Transfer student Seiya, whom Najika finds similar in appearance to Sora, sets himself up as a rival of Najika after being critical of her cooking. At a party he throws to celebrate his transfer to the academy, Seiya gets angry with a girl who doesn't like something he's made, setting up a showdown between himself and Najika who defends the girl. The food for their competition are madeleines and Najika's close companions worry about her chances since Seiya can afford the very best of ingredients.

On the day of the competition, the student judge panel all like Seiya's madeleines but each one has a different reaction to Najika's madeleines. Seiya scoffs at what he considers to be Najika's failure to make a consistent madeleine but when the judges all pick Najika's as their favorite, Seiya dismisses their opinion as being unsophisticated. When noted food critic KISHI Yoriko gets to sample, Seiya thinks he's won until she tries Najika's and Najika wins. Yoriko realizes that Najika custom made each madeleine for each judge. Najika confirms this, explaining that she was able to determine the student judges tastes based on their orders at Fujita Diner. Yoriko tells Seiya that in an official cooking competition, he would have won but Najika wins for doing what she was asked to do -- make something each judge would like.

The Director is unhappy at this turn of events and Fujita is dismayed that Najika turned down the offer to have a new kitchen installed in his cafe. Since Seiya is from Hokkaido, Najika even made a special madeleine for him. Seiya is frustrated since he is reminded of when he saw a smiling Najika cooking at the orphanage as a kid when he was forced to become a chef as a kid. The Director is not pleased with Seiya and wants him to crush Najika.

Seiya issues a new challenge to Najika and encounters Akane, whom he has a brief clash with. Akane works hard on making a desert for Daichi so she can confess. While she prepares, she overhears Daichi and the Director talk and learns why Daichi has changed so much since Sora's death -- to allow Najika to stay at school. Akane picks her dessert and serves it to Daichi with her confession. He eats it but tells her he only likes Najika. She accepts his answer and upon leaving Daichi, she encounters Seiya, who has overheard the whole thing. Despite their previous clash, Seiya understands Akane because they are so much alike. As such, he encourages her to cry and she does.

Akane pays Najika a visit at the diner where Najika isn't feeling 100%. Akane makes sure to declare her friendship for Najika before having a chat with Daichi. Daichi tells her he does care about her but as family. Akane is now OK with that role in Daichi's life. Meanwhile, Najika goes to a ramen shop to enter an eating contest for ¥30,000. The event disturbs Seiya, who's across the street and he's not happy to see Najika at the heart of things. The two end up going to a cheesecake place for another eating competition. Seiya reveals he knew of Najika from their childhood but Najika's illness catches up to her. Seiya takes her to her place and in her delirium, she mistakes him for Sora again. She then wonders if Seiya might be her Flan Prince.

Thoughts/Review: I guess Kobayashi-sensei is bound and determined to make some sort of love-triangle between Najika, Daichi, and Seiya. I say this because of Seiya's convenient connection to Hokkaido and having seen a cheerful, young Najika cooking when he found the pressures to be a master chef at the same age a chore. However, that just makes them rivals but with Kobayashi-sensei having Sora tell Najika that he was NOT the Flan Prince she sought, suddenly, we have Najika wondering if Seiya could be the one after he lets her know that he'd observed her as a kid. Frankly, it doesn't work for me but I don't know how the shoujo crowd would see it.

On the other hand, the love-triangle between Akane, Daichi, and Najika appears to be resolved all nicely so that all are just good friends. Ain't life sweet? ^_~

One thing I did like was seeing how Akane and Seiya were pushed by their parents into their current roles. While there's nothing wrong with a parent wanting their child to be the best, in the case of both Akane and Seiya, it goes beyond that. It is as if their parents are using their children to live vicariously through them. Sadly, that is something that does happen too often I think.

On the Del Rey side, it is a standard release -- honorifics, some translator notes, and the recipes for the different food items made in this volume.

Looks like three more volumes for me to read. After this, I think I'll be shoujo'd out for a while. ^_~

Ah! My Goddess Ch. 261 Manga Review

Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっChapter 261

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: With the door broken, Keiichi (on Glühendes Herz), Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld escape. A stunned Slyum recovers and yells at them to stop. To the surprise of everyone, Keiichi does just that. Belldandy assumes that Slyum has done something to Keiichi and sends Slyum flying back with a palm attack. Slyum denies doing anything to Keiichi but is impressed with Belldandy's attack. Belldandy is about to remove the limiters on her person when Keiichi asks her to stop. Urd realizes what Keiichi knows -- too much lactic acid has built up in his muscles after that acceleration of speed he used. Before Urd can provide medicine or Belldandy can provide a spell, Slyum bashes Keiichi on the back, causing the lactic acid to disperse and as she tells it, make the body stronger.

With that, Slyum hands over the now useless key. Though Keiichi says they really didn't win, Slyum says that they could not have left that room without winning. Slyum praises Keiichi for the plan but asks what would have happened if she couldn't destroy the door. Keiichi responds by saying that if she couldn't break the door, her powerful fists would have been broken instead. Hearing this, Slyum realizes she was really beaten from the start and bowing, she apologizes to Belldandy for her negative words against Keiichi. Belldandy accepts and also apologizes for her impoliteness but thanks Slyum for seeing Keiichi's good side.

As Keiichi's group leaves, Slyum communes with Hagal, asking if she really had to let them go. Hagal responds that it was Slyum who let them escape but at the same time, it would go against Hagal's plan for Keiichi's group to not advance to the next level. Now that her role is done, Slyum wonders who the next person to take her on will be and sits on the rubble in the room that she just fought in.

Thoughts/Review: I have to give it to Fujishima-sensei for tossing in a moment of reality into a fantasy situation by having Keiichi suffer from lactic acid buildup after his inhuman burst of speed thanks to Urd's potion in a pill. Of course, it allowed Fujishima-sensei to provide a nice wrap-up to the Slyum sub-arc of this current adventure.

Speaking of that, I loved that Belldandy went off on Slyum again over Keiichi and even threatened to unleash her true powers. I rather like how Belldandy has this side of her personality in that she will do what it takes to protect her beloved Keiichi but at the same time when the threat is gone, she is her regular, sweet self, including to a former opponent.

Speaking of Belldandy unleashing, I think Fujishima-sensei may have just done a bit of foreshadowing here. I've asked what Hagal's plan is since clearly she allowed Keiichi, Belldandy, Skuld, and Urd to enter her domain (after dethroning Hild) and she has staged these elaborate confrontations for the group to overcome. However, while wanting the group to do serious battle of wit and power, Hagal also wants them to proceed on to some final objective. As such, after this chapter, I got the feeling that whatever Hagal has planned, it will involve Belldandy becoming unleashed.

No indication of what the group's next opponent will be. I wonder if Fujishima-sensei will check back on Hild, Peorth, and Lind before moving Keiichi and company on to the next encounter.

Negima! Manga Vol 33 Ch 299 Review

魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 33 Chapter 299 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 299

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Fate is angry at Negi's words on having a plan to save the magic world. It is something he has studied between training sessions and this plan is something that Ayaka could help with. Zazie-poyo is not impressed and transforms into her mazoku form to launch an attack at Negi. About that time, Setsuna, Ku Fei, Mana, and Kaede appear, deflecting the attack. Zazie-poyo is surprised at their waking up but links it to Negi's extraction and decides to send them packing permanently. Negi tells the others he'll take care of Zazie-poyo but Mana requests that job, telling Negi his power is best conserved for the moment. Negi protests but Mana shows her point by setting off gravity mines that she'd somehow managed to plant without anyone noticing.

As Zazie-poyo drops into the deep pit created by the gravity mines, Mana reminds him of his duties to the others and leaps into the pit. Kaede and Setsuna assure Negi that Mana can handle the situation and hearing Mana's request for him to trust her, Negi announces that they will move forward.

Zazie-poyo praises "Miko Sniper" Mana as they both fall, but Zazie-poyo points out that Mana had signed on with Chao to stop Negi during the Mahora Festival and now is fighting that very cause. Mana concedes this point but says that she's willing to bet on Negi. With the heavy magic concentration, Mana is able to use her time-displacement bullets which surprises Zazie-poyo. Mana announces that she has one more thing up her sleeve and with that, her eye and hair glow. Zazie-poyo sees this and Mana confirms the other's belief -- Mana is half-mazoku.

Thoughts/Review: Heh!heh!heh! So, Mana is half-mazoku. There has been some concern voiced by some fans over this revelation but frankly, I love it. Why? Well, ever since Mana revealed she had a special eye when Sayo was first introduced, I figured she was something more than human. Further, there had been some speculation within the manga that Mana wasn't just a normal miko and might be older than she seemed. My own thoughts had been that Mana might come from the Magic World.

Until now, I'm not sure that "mazoku" were introduced as a species in Negima! They do show up in a number of other titles though. For example, in Ah! My Goddess, Urd is half-mazoku as her mother Hild is full mazoku. Mara is also mazoku. In the Slayers franchise, mazoku are the most powerful of the "evil races," with demons, and regular monsters down the ladder. Xellos is a mazoku.

I'm pretty sure that youkai have been mentioned (though I'd need to do a page by page check to verify) as Tsukuyomi summoned some during the Mahora Festival to go up against Ayaka and other civilians. The creatures that were summoned by Chigusa are referred to as "oni." Graf Herrman appears to fall into the akuma category (howbeit a high-level one). As such, the way I understand it, there are different "demonic races" within the world of Negima!, which is not surprising. I should ask the Twins how they might treat the use of the word "mazoku." They don't read ahead as we do but they do get the volumes to be translated well before they are scheduled to be released in the U.S.

Anyway, I rather enjoy the idea of multiple "dark races" (for lack of a better term). It does make me wonder if Kagetaro or even Takane might be tied in with the mazoku.

I did laugh at Mana having somehow planted those gravity mines without anyone knowing. Then again, anyone who can pull weapons and ammo from her cleavage could extract mines from some location and plant it.

I'm rather looking forward to the next chapter for it being a mile marker as well as getting us a step closer to rescuing Asuna and Anya.

Dirty Pair - 25 (With Love From the Lovely Angels OVA 01)

ダーティペア ラブリーエンジェルより愛をこめて (OVA Anime) Episode 01 Review
Dirty Pair Lovely Angels Yori Ai O Komete OVA 01

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Kei is frustrated at being stuck at home repairing an A/C unit while Yuri is out on a date, something that isn't going so well for Yuri as they guy she's with is only interested in reading. Gooley has a counterfeit money assignment for Yuri and Kei, even though it is their time off, but since Yuri is out, Kei takes the job and is assigned a temporary new partner -- Gooley's aide Calico. As Kei and Calico head to Jobs Garun's mansion across the snow, their approach is spotted by an elderly lady at the mansion. Meanwhile, Yuri angrily takes her date back across icy roads before returning home to find Kei gone and Mughi working on the A/C unit.

Reporting the arrival of guests to her husband, the elderly man has a robot dragon tell them they want no visitors. Kei tries to talk but Calico destroys the robot with a rocket. Kei is not happy about this since the dragon robot was not a combat machine. Another robot appears and Kei takes it out. Now, multiple droids attack them and Kei finds herself in the crossfire between the droids and an overeager Calico. As Calico fires away, a smaller, insect-winged droid is launched and gets the drop on Kei, shooting her with a beam and taking her out. Calico tries to react but isn't fast enough as the droid shoots him as well.

Meanwhile, Yuri checks in with Gooley to discover what happened to Kei. Hearing that Calico has been assigned to Kei, Yuri knows he's not up to the task and though Gooley doesn't completely agree, he does want Yuri to assist. Before she leaves, Gooley has additional information about Jobs, including the fact that they had a son named Mack who committed suicide after being made the fall guy in some huge bank scandal. Yuri takes off in Lovely Angel and checking her messages from Kei, she realizes that Kei's lack of serious verbal abuse over Yuri's date means she could be in trouble.

Jobs and his wife have Kei and Calico bound in the basement, explaining that the counterfeit money was to punish the bank that killed their son. Their plan is to now flee. Upstairs, Yuri breaks into the mansion's kitchen, only to be asked by the kitchen robot what she wants for dinner. After placing an order, Yuri leaves and encounters a robot made to look like Mack. She accidentally shoots it, causing it to go out of control and destroy everything around it. Jobs tells Yuri how to take the robot out and after a bit, Yuri manages to score two shots that sends the Mack robot into the active fireplace.

Down in the basement, Calico screws up again and causes the cutting laser to activate, threatening to slice Kei in half. After Yuri, Jobs, and his wife make it downstairs, Yuri shuts down the laser just in time, but the Mack robot, sans its artificial skin, comes down and attacks again. It is strangling Jobs when Kei and Yuri do things to cause the robot to fall apart. With the mission over, Calico is determined to take Jobs and his wife in for trial. Kei and Yuri aren't thrilled with this solution. As such, a deal is arranged with Calico that if he lets them stay on their island, Kei and Yuri won't report Calico's numerous mistakes to Gooley. Calico isn't happy by this but has no choice.


Thoughts/Review: Having just watched a horror parody with Urusei Yatsura, I was amused by the coincidence that this episode of Dirty Pair was a parody of 80's action flicks, The Terminator, and the James Bond movie Goldfinger.

It was strange to have an episode where Yuri and Kei aren't together from the start. Yuri and Kei have split up to do separate tasks on a mission before, but never been dispatched solo. However, I guess the writers thought that this was a good way to have Kei get caught in a manner that was believable considering how Calico's inexperience and trigger-happy nature got them into a deep mess from the start.

Anyway, it was fun seeing Yuri come in for the rescue and humorous to have her break in, only to be asked what she wanted for dinner by a robot. *lol* Indeed, one could say that this episode really allowed Yuri to shine without knocking down Kei. After all, Yuri had to battle the Mack robot several times before she and Kei literally took it apart at the end. OK, that take apart business was rather cheesy, but somehow it fit the moment in a comedic way. Too bad Linda Hamilton didn't think to dismantle the Terminator this way. ^_~

The touchy-feely "ends justify the means" ending made me roll my eyes but that ending was not unexpected. Indeed, the moment it is revealed that this counterfeiter named "Jobs" is an elderly man living with his elderly wife, it was clear that Kei and Yuri would want to leave them alone. I kept thinking that it would be a nice twist if Jobs and his wife used their age and soft-spoken ways to just gain sympathy so they could continue doing what they are doing, even if they had to move.

So, a pretty fun episode with its various parodies.

Kitchen Princess Volume 6 Manga Review

キッチンのお姫さま/Kitchen no Ohimesama 06 --> BUY FROM RIGHTSTUF! ^_^


SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Sora is taken to the hospital after being hit by the car and Najika heads there as well. The critically injured Sora manages to thank Najika and tell her he's not her Flan Prince before dying. The stunned Najika tries to carry on getting ready for the final round of the cooking competition for Sora's sake but discovers she's lost her sense of taste and smell, something that has made her such a gifted cook. Daichi also takes Sora's death hard and he has a talk with Fujita. Meanwhile, despite losing her sense of taste, Najika feels Sora's presence and makes her dessert for the competition. She passes out and is taken to the hospital and loses the competition.

When Najika comes back to school and attempts to pay her respects to Sora, the girls of the school reject her and the director, Sora and Daichi's father, attempts to kick her out of the academy. As a result, Daichi decides to make sure that Najika does not get kicked out. Akane makes some food for Najika to help her and gets Najika to agree to go to a doctor's appointment. Daichi offers to submit to his father in exchange for Najika's remaining in the academy. The Director approves but when he and Akane go to tell Najika the news, they find that she's left on her own accord.

Najika pays a visit to her old home before moving on and eventually being found by Daichi. Daichi returns with her to her former home where the current owner lets them in. Since Najika has lost her scholarship, she's transferred from the special class to a regular class. Further, she's forced to leave the dorms for a cramped space in the attic of Fujita's diner. Akane pays Najika a visit and is shocked by Najika's living conditions. She also informs Najika about the changes in Daichi, who has become very serious. However, Daichi still takes time to visit the Fujita Diner where Fujita teases him a bit over his feelings for Najika.

Meanwhile, a boy who looks like Sora pays a visit to Fujita Diner and doesn't have good things to say about Najika's food.

Thoughts/Review: So, Kobayashi-sensei really killed Sora. Del Rey's massive spoilers in the previous volume aside, I have to say that killing a main character is not the way I expected things to go. Granted, killing Sora resolves the love triangle between Sora, Daichi, and Najika but that seems rather a harsh way of going about the resolution. ^_^; Certainly, Sora's death makes this manga turn very angst-filled with Daichi and Najika having their personal crisis as a result. That's not a slam but just a notation.

Still, after having been Najika's Flan Prince last volume, Sora's revelation that he's not the Flan Prince made me roll my eyes. It almost felt like a plot twist just to have a plot twist and carry on the manga. So, if Sora isn't the Flan Prince, I guess that Daichi wins by defaut. With his new responsibilities, I guess that's the conflict that will keep him and Najika at some distance. Plus, there's that new boy who shows up at the end of this volume.

Considering Kobayashi-sensei did a side story featuring a ghost, I suppose that Sora's ghost really did inspire Najika to make her entry into the cooking competition.

Akane begins to slide into the role of Najika's best friend, something that has been forming for a while. She's there for Najika after Sora's death and again after Najika is kicked out of the school's dorms and out of the special class. I suppose this means that future volumes will have them get closer.

On the Del Rey side, their chapter preview in volume 5 really was a major spoiler since it showed Sora dying in the hospital. That's just so wrong to have such a major spoiler, even if it does happen in the first chapter of volume 6.

After the omake chapter, Del Rey includes the standard translator notes, recipes for dishes made in this volume, and of course a preview of the next volume. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be too spoiler-filled which is good.

So, we have a gloomy, depressing manga volume thanks to Sora having been killed and his father taking it out on Najika (and Daichi to an extent).

Urusei Yatsura - 139

うる星やつら episode 139 (TV anime)
Urusei Yatsura Ep. 139 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: As Onsen-sensei finishes his English class, he announces that there is a special test on what would be their normal day off and that attendance is mandatory. Ataru is frustrated as he has a date and the three tomato otaku state that their tomato crop is at a critical state and they can't abandon it. After school, Ten-chan decides to relieve his bordom by hanging out with Ataru and Lum's Stormtroopers, who are in the yard looking at a porn magazine. Ten-chan gets frustrated that they won't let him see what they are looking at and so breathes fire at them, setting fire to the tomato greenhouse. Toshi manages to save three of the named tomatoes and refuses to punish Ten-chan. Ataru decides to punish him instead by planting Ten-chan before the other club members punish Ten-chan.

Ten-chan decides to get revenge by using a device to increase the mass of the school so that it is "planted." Lum figures Ten-chan did this and as all the exits are blocked, Onsen-sensei gathers all the food for rationing. The students don't trust him and tie him up. The three gardening club members take the three surviving tomato plants to their clubroom as Ataru leads the way to recover this food source. In defending their tomatoes, one of the club guys whacks Shinobu and rips her clothing, leading her to have her vengeance. Two of the club guys are taken out but their leader, Toshi, takes out several others and hangs them from the ceiling.

Shinobu and Shuutaro make it back to class and realize they were the only ones to come back. Shuutaro goes to look for them as Ataru makes the horrifying discovery of the student victims. After discovering that what appeared to be blood was in fact ketchup, Ataru is attacked by Toshi with a chainsaw. Fleeing, Ataru encounters Mendou, who engages Toshi with his Murasame blade, only to have his sword destroyed. Shinobu rescues Megane and the other students while Shuutaro and Ataru flee from Toshi. They manage to whack him with a door removed from one of the classes, causing Toshi to crush the last tomato. Meanwhile, Lum uses Ataru's hand-held game to make a mass reduction controller to counter Ten-chan's. Lum goes overboard on the device, causing the school to float as Toshi goes nuts over his lost tomatoes.


Thoughts/Review: What an absolutely strange and funny parody episode we have here. Initially, the whole thing about these three guys having this major tomato fetish, to the point of giving every tomato a female name, was just so weird, wrong, and creepy. Thankfully, the episode got better as time went on.

It is always great to see Ten-chan take a beating. I was thinking that he might actually get away with burning down the greenhouse, but Ataru was there to make sure that didn't happen. Planting Ten-chan in the ground was unexpected, which was what made it funny.

As a horror parody (Texas Chainsaw Massacre seems to have played at least some role), this episode ends up working quite well in the 2nd-half of the anime. You had the babe who gets her clothing torn (Shinobu), though she gets hers in the end. You had the "slaughter" of some of the group (Megane and company) complete with their "bloody corpses" tied to the ceiling of the classroom. Granted, this being Urusei Yatsura, it was obvious that the blood would be ketchup but I liked out the whole scene was played to enhance the horror aspect, complete with Ataru's shaken appearance on having made this horrific discovery.

Toshi with his chainsaw and giant tomato mask chasing Ataru and Shuutaro completed the parody aspects. I laughed out loud when Ataru in essence handed off Toshi to Shuutaro to deal with. After all, Shuutaro carries a katana around and as expected, Shuutaro did his thing with his sword. Having his sword destroyed as a result was what I hoped for and I got it. Ataru and Shuutaro often make a good comedy pairing in situations like this and they didn't disappoint here with their defeat of Toshi.

I got a chuckle out of Onsen-sensei's quoting the lyrics from the Beatles song "Yesterday" in English class. I've heard the Beatles were popular in Japan.

So, we have a rather enjoyable horror/slasher parody episode here with a Ten-chan beating as icing on the cake.

No "Negima!" Chapter 300 Spoilers This Week BUT What About "Love Hina?"

Negima! chapter 300 won't be published this week due to this being Akamatsu-sensei's normally scheduled break. That said, it appears that with the 300th chapter of our favorite manga, there will be a six-page special for Love Hina! ^_^ Take a look at this ad image.


I have to say that I'm pretty excited. Looks like it will feature Keitaro and Naru but I hope the others show up as well.

As an aside, I'd love to see Motoko from Love Hina have a small role in Negima! seeing as her family are the ones who's school teaches the skills that Setsuna and others have learned. It probably won't happen, but I'd squeal with delight if it did. ^_^

Dirty Pair - 24 (TV finale)

ダーティペア (TV Anime) Episode 24 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: A killer is targeting beautiful women in some apartments, leading 3WA to assign Kei and Yuri to the case. After three days in an apartment less than what they are used to, Chief Gooley contacts the frustrated pair, who are pretty ignorant about the situation. Gooley asks if they've read the files sent over and they lie to say they have. After the communication is over, the files are found and read and Kei realizes that they are bait to draw out the killer. Of further interest in the files is that the clue "salesman" (in English) was left at one of the last crimes. As if on cue, a middle aged door to door salesman arrives selling energy knives. A few minutes later, a very attractive man arrives selling specialized bras. The bra salesman excuses himself to use the toilet but instead attempts to steal and gets busted by Kei.

After strenuous denials about being the killer, another salesman comes to the door. It is a twelve-year old boy with artificial eyes who says he hates women. The next visitor is a plain clothes policeman, who chats about the publicly known facts about the case. After watching a news report about the killings, Yuri discovers that all of the killings were in apartment buildings that were eight by eight in terms of stories and windows across. The letters left on the victim's heads were in fact symbols for chess pieces. As such, the killings were done as part of a chess game. Figuring that out, Kei and Yuri make all the moves on a chess board and discover that their apartment will be checkmate.

Yuri decides to play a hunch and brings out some tea and sugar. She "accidentally" trips, causing the sugar and tea to get on the policeman. After this, she announces that the bird in the apartment, whom she calls Jake-bird-chan, was the lone survivor from the last murder and it would recognize the killer. Kei releases the bird from its cage and it charges the policeman, screeching its hate. The policeman fends himself from the bird, breaking a window and allowing the bird to escape. Pulling out a razor claw, the policeman attacks but is taken down by Yuri after a brief fight. In the debrief, Yuri explains that she felt the killer would switch from a salesman to something else and a cop seemed right. Using the bird's sweet tooth, she forced the killer to come forward. With that, Gooley announces that they have captured the killer's twin, who was also involved in the murders.


Thoughts/Review: This episode was rather unique on a couple of fronts. On one front, Dirty Pair has always been violent to some extent. After all, Yuri and Kei are known for causing major destruction in places that they go, but usually, this is just "cartoon violence." I suppose that the murder that happened in the first scene could be classified as cartoon violence as well, but even though the murder wasn't directly shown, it was pretty horrifying nevertheless. That's because you had the woman's screams, the sounds of the knife repeatedly plunging into the victim, the shadow of the killer doing his deed, and the blood as well. I was kind of surprised at that and it set a certain dark tone for the remainder of the episode.

On the other front, Dirty Pair has always been known for fanservice. This is the first time that I recall getting detailed nudity in any of the classic Dirty Pair episodes, OVA's, or movies I've seen. I imagine that there were many an otaku who nearly had a heart attack when the lovely Yuri's breasts were detailed as she showers (let's face it, Yuri is the hot one of the pair). I was certainly surprised that this was shown, but then I remembered that this was the final TV episode for the series. Two more episodes were originally scheduled and did get released as OVA's. I figure that the production team decided to go out with a bang and that they did.

The story is like a parody of any number of "who done it" movies, books, series, etc. With most of the episode set in the evening and the storm outside, "a dark and stormy night" popped into my head. That said, the whole notion of twins who are serial killers who choose their victims based on the fact that the apartment complex they live in have an 8x8 grid from the outside (eight stories high and eight windows wide) AND those apartments MUST have hot, single babe(s) living in them is rather nutty. The phrase "does not compute" kept coming into my head, though I'm sure that if I really stretched myself, I could come up with some ridiculous explanation on how that could even work. I think I'll take a nap instead.

There was some odd name usage in this episode. The weird bird was called "Jake-bird-chan." The salesman that Yuri and Kei found to be hot kept calling them names like "Tomato-chan" and "Cabbage-chan." *lol* Granted, using the English words buys them some cover with Japanese audiences, but as a native English speaker, the whole notion of calling some girl "Cabbage-chan" or even "Tomato-chan" just isn't something I'd think to do. So even though I don't think it was intentional on the part of the Japanese writers, having a character use those kind of names made me chuckle.

Not that it mattered, but I think this is the first episode where neither Kei nor Yuri wore their traditional, skimpy 3WA uniforms.

So, the TV series goes out with a bang of sorts, leaving the final two unaired episodes for OVA's, which I will now watch.