ダーティペア OVA Episode 02

SPOILER Summary: Four separate criminal gangs (an “Alice in Wonderland” gang, a robot gang led by a C3PO-looking guy in costume, an Ali Baba gang, and a Snow White gang) plan heists on Halloween as they feel the people in costume will provide them the perfect cover. Meanwhile, Yuri and Kei are working Halloween and snare the Papadomia Laboratories Catcher, who’s been stealing secrets and selling them. Since he isn’t going to be taken down by a woman, he pisses Kei off. In the scuffle, his gun goes off a few times, sending the hover transport crashing to the ground. Chief Gooley is angry about this as the secrets the man was selling happened to be the cargo in the hover transport — a Tactical Robot Weapon (an android) which had not yet been given a skin covering yet.

Kei is annoyed at not having been told earlier about the nature of the stolen secret and they find the cargo has escaped. The TRW is programmed to go into attack mode 60-minutes after activating, having used the 60-minutes to gather intel. Kei and Yuri head into the city where they soon spot the android. It takes off and Kei and Yuri are in pursuit in their rocket packs. The robot heads down a back alley where the Ali Baba gang have hijacked a truck carrying gold. As a result of the robot and its pursuers, the gang is put out of commission. Next, the android (chased now by the police) runs into a jewelry store, being held up by the Alice in Wonderland gang. The android gets away with Yuri and Kei in hot pursuit, but the police stay behind to arrest the gang.

Next, the android flees into a museum where in order to flush it out, Yuri begins firing a machine gun all around. The gang dressed as robots surrenders to Yuri and Kei while the android flees once more. Yuri and Kei pursue it to a place where the Snow White gang is trying to get into a vault. The android is able to quickly open the vault and closes the door behind him, leaving it to Kei to blow the safe door off its hinges (which takes out the Snow White gang). They pursue the android in where it has tunneled to the metro tube line. The robot causes the tube to derail and emerge from the underground like a Chinese dragon.

Finally, Kei and Yuri chase the robot to the top of a building. However, time is up and all of the robots weapons emerge. At the same time, a fireworks display starts. Key and Yuri fire everything they have at the android, which fends off said attacks and fires back, destroying buildings. The crowds think this is part of the show and cheer. Kei and Yuri run out of ammo while the robot still keeps attacking. Kei has an idea and launches a firework rocket at the robot, which damages it. Yuri and Kei then launch a lot of fireworks at the android, destroying it. The two then take off for a well-deserved adult beverage and a plan to party the night away.

Thoughts: Seeing the terminator-like android in this episode, I was reminded of the original Bubblegum Crisis, which came out two-years earlier. The Japanese have always had a thing for robots, but back in the late 80’s, it was a certain type of robot (not counting mecha).

Story-wise, just another typical Dirty Pair outing. Still, if their weapons weren’t powerful enough to stop the android, why were regular fireworks able to take it out? Just one of those things one shouldn’t look to closely at I guess.

When it comes to subtitles, I don’t like domestication. After all, I’m watching the subtitles for the Japanese perspective, not the American one. Of course, this is an older ADV title, so one has to take this into account. Oh, I look forward to the day when I don’t need subtitles at all.