Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle 16
逮捕しちゃうぞ フルスロットル Episode 16
You’re Under Arrest! Full Throttle 16

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

A bomb is planted at the site for a local festive event for families, and this is reported on the Internet. So the Bokuto Police Station is assigned the case. However, because of the concern about scaring the children, uniformed officers will not be permitted to search the premises. So Yoriko, Aoi-chan, Miyuki, and Natsumi are given the assignment where they will wear costumes. Yoriko gets the monkey suit, Natsumi gets the cat suit, Aoi-chan gets the chick suit, and Miyuki gets stuck with the odd suit — the mushroom.

After the foursome is introduced to the crowd of children, they begin to fan out to search for the bomb. Aoi-chan and Yoriko (still in costume) are searching through garbage cans for the bomb when they are spotted by mothers with their children. The children speculate that “Duck-san” and “Monkey-san” are hungry and looking for food while the parents wonder what these weirdos are up to. Miyuki is found by two young children, the youngest (Shuu-chan) of which is excited to see the giant mushroom. Since they are alone, Miyuki tells them to get her if they need anything, which they agree to do. Natsumi finds herself the butt of pranks and jokes from other kids.

After searching for a bit, the foursome finds Nakajima lurking around the site in his uniform. Nearby, Shuu-chan has taken a toy prize for the raffle game and his older brother thinks the cop (Nakajima) is there to arrest them, so they hide under the stage. As the foursome refresh themselves with a cold beverage, Tokuno-san arrives, revealing that the bomb threat is indeed real. So they continue to search and the two kids see Nakajima from under the stage, leading them up into the rafters above the stage. They hear Nakajima and Tokuno-san talk about the bomb and the older brother realizes he sees the bomb on one of the giant balloons. He doesn’t want to get arrested so he doesn’t know what to do.

Shuu-chan, who’s been absorbed by the tokusatsu TV show (or movie…think “Godzilla”) on the stage’s big screen falls off the ledge and is caught by his older brother. The older brother screams for “Mushroom-oneechan” and Miyuki hears it. Nakajima comes up the rafters to help the boy and his brother, but the brother can’t hold on and drops his little brother. Natsumi races below with her giant mushroom head and catches the 3-year old Shuu-chan. Realizing that they aren’t in trouble for the stolen toy, the older brother reveals where he saw the bomb. Miyuki gets the mini-patrol car and Natsumi grabs the rope of the giant balloon, where they drive the balloon away from the crowd and release it just before it explodes. However, the explosion is more like fireworks with confetti released. Turns out, a fan of the idol MC on the stage set up this for her and as such, is arrested.

Thoughts/Review:

Being that I haven’t watched an episode of You’re Under Arrest in ages, I’m not sure if I found this episode humorous because of that break or because it was actually decently humorous (or both). Seeing Miyuki, Natsumi, Aoi-chan, and Yoriko in costume was funny to me. Miyuki’s embarrassment was amusing somehow. Natsumi getting kicked by some kids amused me as well. So there were chuckles here for me, which surprised me seeing how disappointing the series has been for me.

As I’m watching the episode, I’m thinking that the premise of this episode is shaky. If you think the bomb threat is serious enough to have four cops in costume search for it, then why not call off the event and properly search for it? Yeah, I know; we wouldn’t have an amusing story if things were done logically.