The Shock! Dirty Pair (TV) Got Licensed!

The Shock! Dirty Pair (TV) Got Licensed!

Dirty PairSo, I’m just getting myself together and planning to watch a few Dirty Pair TV episodes for blogging purposes when I notice that O-chan has dropped a comment telling me that Dirty Pair has been licensed. Since O-chan is a classic anime fan like myself, I knew the news was true but I still had to read it for myself. *lol*

Ah, Dirty Pair.

Back in 1989, I was a young man stationed at Yokota AB. Since my best friend Robert Rainey was big into anime (and would always tell me that by 1999, anime would be huge in the U.S., something I didn’t believe at the time), I often went with him on excursions throughout the Tokyo metroplex to towns one might never have heard of (and some you might have) to pick up anime related items.

I recall that on one such trip, we entered a store where there was a life-sized cardboard cutout of Kei and Yuri in their traditional silver and yellow outfits respectively. I’d always quiz Robert on his anime knowledge and so I asked about those two since they were quite prominently displayed in the store and the release of one of the OVA’s on VHS was being touted.

Dirty Pair,” he replied.

Dirty Pair?” I asked incredulously. I was already versed on the Japanese use of strange English titles (Bubblegum Crisis for starters) but this didn’t seem so strange. After all, a couple of adult teen girls scantily dressed as part of some “cartoon” named “Dirty Pair” suggested only one thing to me.

“So, is this some kind of Japanese cartoon porn?” Even though I’d already been educated on the difference between “anime” and a “cartoon,” I still liked to tease Robert about it.

He laughed and explained a little about the TV series and the OVA’s (OAV’s as we called them back then) that were currently being sold. He bought one of the VHS’s from what I remember (hard to remember over all these years what he bought or just rented) and promised to play it when we got home.

As it turned out, it was the first episode of was was known as Dirty Pair OVA 1 (the first two episodes of what ADV released as Dirty Pair OVA). As I watched this thing without knowing what was being said (no subs or dubs remember), I’m laughing at the ridiculous notion that Kei and Yuri are wearing their skimpy (and for the OVA series, silver only) costumes while the male soldiers were in mecha battle armor to enter the combat zone. Robert’s explanation that the girls were really wearing transparent armor had to be the weakest excuse I’d ever heard, so much so that I thought he was just making up an excuse to justify the girl’s clothing choices (I later learned in the the first Dirty Pair novel that he wasn’t spinning a yarn).

Over time, I watched more with him, including some of the TV series and some of the other solo Dirty Pair titles that came out. Watching anime with Robert is what led me to where I am today.

Regardless, after seeing ADV license every Dirty Pair title (including the three awful Dirty Pair Flash OVA series) except the original TV series, I figured that with each passing year, the chances of a license were non-existent. After all, how big would the market be for a niche, 1987 anime series that only had 24 of its 26 episodes released on TV during its first run?

So, I tip my hat to Right Stuf/Nozomi for proving me wrong here. I look forward to making my first purchase in some years of a Right Stuf-licensed anime.

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7 Responses to “The Shock! Dirty Pair (TV) Got Licensed!”

  1. Gyt Kaliba says:

    I knew I’d see this when I checked the blog. šŸ˜›

    The more I look into it, the more I think I’d like this. Normally I’d really hesitate to buy sub-only, but with something like this – how old it is, how niche it is, etc. – I’d say there’s virtually no chance of a dub coming down the lines.

    So I think I’ll snap these up, eventually.

  2. AstroNerdBoy says:

    Heh!heh! I’ve become predictable. ^_^

  3. hughroe says:

    Well, looks like I’ll have to get these along with the last season of Aria from Nozomi.

  4. I have to say that this is awesome!!!!!!! I am a huge dirty Pair fan and I am happy that the original anime series is comming to the states!!!!!!!!

  5. O-chan says:

    You’re going to HATE me for this but I actually got into Dirty Pair through Dirty Pair FLASH.

    It was 1994, I was just beginning my anime fandom and the local anime club showed the episodes. Still, the recent license has encouraged me to actually get into(i.e. hunt down)the series.

  6. AstroNerdBoy says:

    @Hugh — I’ve never watched Aria so I know nothing of it.

    @Master Otaku — I’d like to see more classic anime come to the U.S., even if only in subtitled form.

    @O-chan — I might not have as negative a view of Dirty Pair Flash had I not seen Dirty Pair first. However, having seen DP, I couldn’t stand DPF. ^_^;

  7. […] 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 […]

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