Fortieth Post

As promised, an old-fashioned review to commemorate this blog’s one year of being on the web (and it is a momentous occasion, isn’t it?  ISN’T IT?!).  Today I’ll return to my roots so to speak by reviewing an anime OVA based on a Kosuke Fujishima manga, just like I did with my first ever review.  This one isn’t going to be so nice (or rambling) though seeing as how this show isn’t anywhere as good as Oh My Goddess.  So sit back, relax and enjoy as I review

You’re Under Arrest

OVA, 1994

Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi

The Story:

You know what?  There really is no story.  Two cute, Japanese female cops meet while one gives the other a traffic citation (how wacky!), they quickly become best friends for life and have a series of (non)adventures while I become bored out of my skull.

The Review:

I wasn’t even that interested in getting this; oh sure, I was a tiny bit intrigued by the fact that it was created by the same guy who did OMG, but the only reason I got this was because it was 99 cents – Animeigo had a special offer on this and I got it to bump up my order of Urusei Yatsura movies to 25 bucks so I could get free shipping (I’m such a bastard).  I didn’t even take it out of its shrinkwrap until a week ago... and I've had this for five months.  Truth be told I wasn’t expecting much (fluff) therefore I guess I can’t say that I was that disappointed after watching You’re Under Arrest.

This show really is fluff.  No, it’s lighter and more insubstantial than fluff; I strongly suspect that if you took  the DVD of this and a rice cracker and dropped them both off of the Empire State Building at the same time, the cracker would hit the ground first (Galileo be damned).    The characters are not only unoriginal but like cardboard: indistinct and unmemorable.  For something billed as a comedy there isn’t even any real comedy.  The situations are so predictable, bland and unfunny that I struggled to keep awake watching this.  Now, it’s not bad.  No, that would be entertaining.  Garzey’s Wing is one of the most horrendously bad things I have ever seen (“I must somehow make sense of our convoluted situation!”  ) but it also made me laugh so hard that my brains flew out of my ears (they haven't returned since).  YUA just did… nothing.

There is no real conflict or drama in this show.  This is a police show, and yet the only real criminal is a speeding motorist that almost smacks a group of kindergarteners (and who would have gotten away in real life considering it took the motorcycle cop in this show about a full minute to get on his bike and give chase).  The other “conflicts” are super-lightweight. I know some people level this accusation against OMG as well, but that show (as fluffy as it was) actually had some semblance of drama in the last few episodes in addition to giving fodder to critics studying gender roles in anime.  This show has nothing in comparison.  It’s like comparing an anorexic teenage girl to a twinkie-addicted sumo wrestler.  Do you know what the saddest thing is?  I’m listening to Beethoven’s Symphony #6 right now while writing this and capturing screenshots for the show, and it pains me to be listening to some of the most sublime music ever made while watching some of the most banal pabulum ever made.

Well, is there anything good about YUA?  Sure, the art and animation are nice – very nice in fact.  There is a sequence in episode two that depicts a typhoon, and the animation of the rain and flooding water particularly impressed me.  The level of animation stays consistent for the rest of the show too, and this was a pleasant surprise.  Unfortunately, as I have said time and time again, well animated crap is still crap.

In the end I can’t recommend this; if you want a light-hearted fluffy comedy get Oh My Goddess.  If you want an animated police comedy get Patlabor.  Or Dominion.

The DVD:

It's a barebones disc from Animeigo.  The video and audio are good but there are no special features.  The Animeigo dub is, as always, awful.  I think it's hilarious how they tout their dub on their website too: "I liked the English dub more than the original Japanese!"  Really?  Personally, I liked neither.  Looking at the cover on this I see that it's labeled "Disc One."  What the hell, you mean there's more?!  Let's check the Wikipedia... holy crap!  They made a TV show out if this?! I think it's a good thing that Animeigo offered this as a sampler for 99 cents so you wouldn't have to pay a full 8 (or more) dollars to find out that this sucked and that you didn't want to buy the subsequent TV show.

Screenshots:

Hmm, a short haired, active, tomboyish girl...

 ...and a more traditionally feminine, long haired, less active girl.  

Where have I seen this before?

Oh, right.

"Psst, have you heard?  We're just a figment of someone's underactive imagination."

Just a normal date in Japan.

 

Don't get used to it.  This is the only time you see a gun used in this show.

Two Fujishima fetishes in one!

Ah, the timeless tradition of overturned fruit.  

Also, how can they run in those skirts?

Well, that kinda sucked – my one year anniversary review and I had to be negative.  Well, to balance it all out I’ll do a positive review next time.  Promise.