August 31st, 2010 
AstroNerdBoy ダーティペア (TV Anime)
ダーティペア ラブリーエンジェルより愛をこめて (OVA Anime)
Dirty Pair Lovely Angels Yori Ai O Komete
I’ve 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 when the first true batch of OVA’s (meaning, OVA’s that weren’t originally done for TV but switched to OVA after going unaired) were being released. I did watch Dirty Pair in Japan, but in its raw form, it was nothing but gibberish and the babe Yuri. ^_~ As such, I’m glad to be able to watch it now with some understanding as to what is being said.
Dirty Pair is what it is — an episodic series where Kei and Yuri, officially code named “Lovely Angels” but unofficially known as “Dirty Pair” because of the wake of destruction they tend to leave, work for an organization known as “3WA” (WWWA). This is a private company who get hired to resolve disputes and solve cases like pseudo police force. Despite their destructive nature, Kei and Yuri are often assigned by the 3WA central computer to handle tough cases because they get results done. Thus, this two-woman force not only kick bottom and take names, but they also manage to score big bonuses and extra vacation time due to their success.
The series is mostly fun but rather formulaic in its approach, which I believe is pretty much how the original light novels were (though I think that the anime pretty much did its own thing rather than really follow any light novel story). Kei and Yuri are assigned a case, get the facts, then do what it takes to resolve it, which often means explosions and other action sequences. As such, there often is nothing surprising that happens through the course of any given episode. Fortunately, most of the time, it is the journey of getting from A to B that is the fun part of the series. Even still, there are a few episodes that were just downright boring with writing that felt lazy at best.
Another fun part of the series were some of the 80’s parodies. Things like The Terminator, James Bond, Indiana Jones, Godzilla, etc., to say nothing of the various samurai titles and old westerns, all received nods through the course of the 24 TV episodes and 2 OVA episodes. There are also moments which cause the series to seriously date itself to the 80’s. While Dirty Pair is supposed to be set in the future, there were malls, cars that looked like they were from the 80’s, printouts, and my favorite, the one episode that had the phone modem. *lol* However, I find this added to the charm of the series for the most part rather than detract from it.
In today’s anime market, there are a ton of female-driven shounen or seinen action titles. Back in the day, there were quite a few as well, but I think that Dirty Pair tends to stand above all the rest, at least from the late 80’s. A great deal of this goes to TONGUU Kyouko (Kei’s seiyuu) and SHIMAZU Saeko (Yuri’s seiyuu). The two have such a great chemistry that really helps the characters of Kei and Yuri seem like real friends. It is the friendship of Kei and Yuri on top of their partnership that helps make the series work in my opinion. I think that’s partially why Dirty Pair Flash did not work.
It is funny how the original TV series didn’t do so well in the ratings. From what I understand, the original light novels sold pretty well. The final two TV episodes were sold as an OVA series and those sold well enough to cause five more unnamed OVA series to be done (which ADV released as a single series on two DVD’s, containing 10 total episodes), to say nothing of the three additional named OVA solo episodes and one theatrical movie. There would have been more had both Kyouko and Saeko returned to do the voices of Kei and Yuri but since they didn’t, the popularity of the franchise launched the unimpressive Dirty Pair Flash which had three OVA series. That’s pretty impressive for a TV series with low ratings that caused it to get canceled before its final two episodes were aired.
As I’ve said, I’m looking forward to the release of this series in the U.S. (finally), though it is a real shame that once the TV series was finally licensed, all of the other OVA’s and movies are now out of print. If you’d like to preorder the series from Rightstuf, here are the links to do so.
Even though it is subtitle-only, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed at the seiyuu work done here. Hopefully, since the series uses a mix of western and Japanese honorifics, the official subtitles will follow suite. I believe the 2-episode “Lovely Angel” OVA series that was originally to be part of the TV series will be included.
So, a fun series from the classic days of anime in the 80’s. While the series may not be anything ground breaking or even what one might call “great,” it still tends to be a lot of fun, which is the reason to watch anime in the first place. ^_^
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Back in the day, there were quite a few as well, but I think that Dirty Pair tends to stand above all the rest, at least from the late 80’s.
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The original Bubblegum Crisis dates back to the same general time period, and I suspect that msot people would put it on a similar level with Dirty Pair.
Which may be why both spawned inferior off-spring during the ’90s…
Great job! It’s my first comment here, but I’ve really enjoyed your Dirty Pair series of posts. I’m going to be writing my own retrospective on Dirty Pair soon, and your blog has given me great inspiration. Thanks!
@Junior — I watched both Dirty Pair and Bubblegum Crisis when I was in Japan (raw) and again when I could understand what was being said. In both cases, I preferred Dirty Pair.
That said, I have to disagree about Bubblegum Crisis 2040 being inferior. I actually liked it better. ^_^;
@Ritsu — Cool! Glad to inspire. ^_^