ダーティペア OVA Episode 07
Dirty Pair OAV 07
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Hard Muscle (known on the street as “Hustle”) is a new drug whereby the user injects himself and gains muscle mass as well as a lack of pain. However, the use of Hustle has also seen an increase in the number of violent crimes and murders. Yuri and Kei wonder why they are being assigned to a drug case when it should go to law enforcement. However, the crime syndicate that controls Hustle is run by a muscle-bound woman named Sandra. She had been in the 3WA training program at the same time as Yuri and Kei but had not been selected to become a Trouble Consultant. Because of her 3WA connections, 3WA wants to handle this, thus “Dirty Pair” get the job.

Kei poses as someone working the underground fight scene and finds herself in a cage match with a large, muscly man named Mad Bull. Because Mad Bull is on Hustle, nothing Kei does even slows the man down. Yuri, who’s in the audience, tells Kei to use her Shock Ring. Despite the name, the Shock Ring actually is a hand weapon used with a fist attack that delivers a powerful electric shock on impact. Kei provides the punch into Mad Bull’s mouth, and he’s down for the count. Yuri goes shopping while Kei is at a nearby bar as bait to try to find someone to sell her Hustle.

Because of Mad Bull’s loss, a henchman races to inform “Sandra-sama” of this. A camera in the bar shows Kei and Sandra immediately recognizes her. She tells her underling that she’ll deal with Kei but in the meantime, the Hustle factory, which is in fact a large spaceship, is to be prepared to relocate. As such, the bartender offers Kei a drink on the house with a thing of Hustle inside. When Kei asks for more, the bartender arranges for her to be taken to a place to make an order. Kei is taken blindfolded to the place and Yuri is not far behind on her hover bike. When they arrive at the location, Kei learns that this was all a trap. She’s in the ring (as “Ms. Kei”) and forced to fight Sandra for the amusement of Sandra’s people.

Kei does what she can to survive while Yuri tries to make her way up the mountain to where Kei is. Yuri comes under attack by some small security drones but manages to make her way inside the factory. Because of their communication earrings, Yuri knows that Kei is in trouble, but still has to be careful not to get caught herself. As such, she gases a large number of men watching the match in a control room. However, it is here that Yuri learns that the factory is in fact a space craft and as such will need to be taken out of commission.

Kei manages to escape with Sandra in pursuit while Yuri sets up a bomb. However, Kei is soon caught and injured by Sandra, who’s still angry over not having been selected to be a Trouble Consultant when she saw herself as better than Kei and Yuri. Meanwhile, Yuri comes under attack and is temporarily blinded by this. She’s unable to set the bomb and begins to blindly fire an automatic weapon. The injured Kei arrives to help Yuri but before Kei can set the detonator, both are tossed off the balcony they’d been on by the rumbling of the ship’s engines coming to life. Since Kei can’t life the rocket launcher due to her injury, Yuri does that for her with Kei’s eyes being used to target the bomb. They fire the rocket and set off the bomb which destroys the engines.

Sandra is only mildly hurt by the explosion and is enraged as she attacks. Because of this, Kei and Yuri (both having recovered from their impairments) are able to dodge the attack. Further, Kei uses Sandra’s momentum to send her through the window, where Sandra falls down to the valley below. The case now resolved, Yuri teases Kei for a remark she made about simplicity, implying Kei is a simpleton. With that, Kei chases Yuri across the planet’s surface.

Thoughts/Review:

Clearly, Hustle can be seen as an allegory for the issue with anabolic steroids. I’m not sure just how bad the issue was seen in the late 80’s, but some quick research on my part showed that for the U.S. at least, in 1990, the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990 was passed. That says that our idiot lawmakers clearly saw some threat and wanted to show the electorate they were doing something about it.

As to this episode and the case Kei and Yuri were assigned to, this had to be the stupidest thing I’ve seen for for the smarts of Kei and Yuri. So, Sandra is a former 3WA person who knows Yuri and Kei. They supposedly knew she was the crime boss syndicate. So what made them think they could infiltrate the Hustle factory and take down Sandra so easily? Instead, Kei acts all surprised when she’s forced to face Sandra in the ring and only then realizes this was all a setup. I just rolled my eyes.

BTW, just where do Kei and Yuri hide those big weapons they produce? *lol*

How nice that Yuri’s eyes and Kei’s arms miraculously were healed once they fired the rocket at the detonator. Well, I do know that one can’t watch this series too deeply because that’s not the point. However, even by Dirty Pair standards, this one was a bit too silly. That doesn’t mean I didn’t get entertained, but this was just…well, silly isn’t the right word, but it just was a bit over the top for Dirty Pair. How’s that?

Also, I didn’t like that the explanation of how Sandra related to Yuri and Kei wasn’t fully revealed until near the end when Sandra blabbed about it. We knew that Yuri and Kei knew her from the training program but that was it. I think the writers should have let it be known that Sandra had not been selected for duty as a Trouble Consultant.