ダーティペア OVA Episode 05

SPOILER Summary: At the gambling satellite (station) Shangri-La, a man sits at the Meteor table, a game where a mass driver fires an asteroid into the Xanadu sun. The man appears to be doing quite well. Meanwhile, Kei and Yuri are briefed on this man, a Trouble Consultant named Li Shu Ryu, code named “Kung Fu” because of his abilities. He has a perfect case resolution record, but 3WA is concerned that his gambling on Shangri-La at the Meteor table has gotten out of control and 3WA doesn’t want to lose such an agent. So, Yuri and Kei are sent to bring him back from the gambling tables.

Yuri and Kei set up shop in space outside Shangri-La, where they observe the mass driver being fired int Xanadu. They discover that the game is being rigged and set up their own device nearby. Back on board Lovely Angel, Kei decides she’s going to be the one to pretend to be a rich gambler and leave the investigation of how the Meteor game is rigged to Yuri, which annoys Yuri. Kei puts on a revealing but expensive outfit and enters the casino with a reluctant Mughi in tow, dressed in a schoolboy outfit and addressed by Kei as “Mughi-chan.” Meanwhile, a still-irritated Yuri discovers a lab with vast amounts of Axonohydroria — a man-made life simple form.

The owner of the casino, Dr. Bolokov, gets a report on Kei’s heavy betting at the Meteor table (where she’s seated across from Li). Kei has been losing, so the good doctor orders that she start winning so as to get hooked on the game. Thus Li starts losing and Kei starts winning. Kei is in the casino restaurant with some champagne and her massive piles of chips when Yuri enters, dressed in a very rich and elegant dress. She takes a seat behind the now annoyed Kei, and after a bit of subtle fighting, Yuri reveals what she has learned. The casino uses hyperwaves on asteroids that have been treated with Axonohydroria and causes them to explode where they want near the sun’s surface. Knowing this, they now form a plan.

Returning to the Meteor table, Kei resumes her winning ways and Yuri enters the room, asking to be seated. As Kei had before her, Yuri also assumes a posh, rich Japanese female accent. Mughi insures that Kei continues to win by using a control device in his mouth that activates “Dirty Pair’s” own hyperwave generator. As Li continues to lose, he becomes more frustrated. Eventually, Kei asks if she can sit at the house seat and play for the house. Since none of the players or the casino employee at the table mind, she takes her seat. After a hesitant start because of Mughi, Kei causes the house to win a massive bet between Yuri and Li.

Yuri acts furious and immediately makes a scene, saying the game is rigged. Kei denies this but Yuri confronts her on cheating. As Li observes carefully, this outburst is also seen by security and Dr. Bolokov. The doctor races down and as he and his men try to settle things down, he places a gun secretly in “Mademoiselle” Yuri’s back to force the issue. Kei takes the queue to cry to the doctor and “confess” about the rigged game. Realizing they’ve been duped, the customers get angry and demand their money back. Li decides to one-up them and goes into Kung Fu mode, destroying the gaming table. A fight breaks out, forcing Kei and Yuri to drop the act so they can fight their way out of the place. Li’s continued destruction in the casino creates a malfunction in the mass driver, causing it to fire repeatedly at a nearby planet, which is then apparently destroyed. This time, Kei and Yuri are innocent of the destruction being caused.

Thoughts: Oh, what a fun Dirty Pair episode. “Mughi-chan” in that silly, “school boy” outfit was just nuts (poor Mughi). *lol* Kei and Yuri’s little rivalry, complete with their now posh Japanese accents at the Meteor table cracked me up (not a belly laugh, but a laugh nevertheless). ^_^ Man, you know I’ve watched a lot of anime in Japanese to pick up on that. ^_^;;;

I think this is the first time I’ve seen another Trouble Consultant for 3WA in the Dirty Pair TV series or OVA series. While Li Shu Ryu (again, Chinese names are done properly in the official subtitles with the family name first, which we can’t do for Japanese names) is a loser of a character based on his actions after discovering the rigged game, it was still nice to see others in Kei and Yuri’s line of work.

The one problem I had with the episode was the planet that suddenly appeared at the end of the episode, complete with major city. I know the term “satellite” was used, but no indication of it being in orbit of a planet was given. If anything, it was built in an asteroid field in orbit of Xanadu. Now, the Xanadu system having planets makes sense to me, but the way things were depicted, the out of control mass driver was firing asteroids at a rapid pace which were almost immediately impacting on this planet’s surface. Well, I guess the writers needed a bit more destruction that loser “Kung Fu” destroying the gambling station.

Oh, and while I’m thinking of it, why didn’t 3WA just order Li to return? Making this a mission seems rather odd to me. He’s a company man, better do what the company says. Oh well.

I am surprised the Japanese used the English term “mass driver” for the asteroid launcher. The first time I ever saw a depiction of one was in the American TV series Babylon 5 and was familiar with the weapon from some sci-fi game I played in the early 90’s (it was weapon option for when you customized your ship). Anyway, I expected the Japanese to use some other term for the device in the anime for some reason. I’m glad they didn’t.

Ultimately, this has been the funnest of the five OVA episodes I’ve seen.