Dirty Pair Flash Review By Rashad Moore
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	Audience:	16+
	Genre:	Sci-Fi/Action
	Contains:	Animated Violence, Brief Fanservice, Mild Language
	Rating:	B

In this insane world we call the future, crime is still rampant, the police fear the criminals and almost everyone is out to kill each other. Amongst the chaos lies the problemsolvers called the WWWA (World Welfare Work Association) and two mismatched female agents, Kei and Yuri, who are rightfully given the name "The Dirty Pair" known for leaving a huge path of destruction in their wake. This is yet another update of a classic anime, based on the original Haruka Takachiho manga and series. While this is definetly not the same Kei and Yuri you remember, Dirty Pair Flash (divided into 3 OVA's) won't live up to your expectations or memories of the original, but it manages to be a very frantic, well-done and entertaining update.

Dirty Pair Flash is a retelling of the tale of two mismatched agents in the future. However, this isn't the same Yuri and Kei you recognize, While in the original series Kei was hot-headed and outgoing and Yuri was logical and intellegent, now Kei still retains a hot-headed temper(further symbolized by her flame-spiked hairstyle) but more of a gun nut and Yuri represents the biggest change in character, now she's much more of the typical whiney anime female who is more interested in men than her job. The story involves a huge conspiracy involving the hijacking plans of a major space satellite and a mysterious and deadly bounty hunter named Lady Flair, whom Kei has a huge grudge against. Kei and Yuri unfortunately get off to a rough start in their partnership and eventually learn to work together and reveal the truth, especially with the safety of the entire galaxy at stake....

From the start you'll notice the differences, for starters the characters tend to take a more cuter and nearly shojuo side to the sexy main character designs of the original pair.(But still attractive in their own way.) for the otaku who has a perverted side,(like I do) there's some brief fanservice as well. Action is also what truly defines DP Flash. While it doesn't reach to the genocidal heights of the original anime, the action is very frantic. Explosions everywhere. The violence also tend to become more comical in nature, leading to some silly moments (especially the first episode.) But it also tends to grow more graphically violent as the series progresses. (Such as the airport sequence in Episode Five.) The anime also tends to have it's moments as well(one episode involves Yuri going inside a virtual fantasy game.) Character development is also well done. In the first half of the anime, Yuri cares more about men than her job, but she eventually matures near the end. The side plots were resolved very well and the anime had a well-done (yet predictable) finale.

The animation, while not very smooth and the quality tends to sink at times, is decent and colorful eye-candy. (But some of the secondary character designs seemed thrown together at the last moment, especially some of the baddies during the first episode.) The music is very well-done, the score is high-quality and has mostly a very cool retro style girls and guns theme that was perfectly suited for this anime. There's also some certain things worth pointing out as well (Look for Rei and Amy from Sailor Moon or reasonable lookalikes in Episode Five), and a side plot involving past agents Molly and Iris (who have a somewhat uncanny resemblance to the original Dirty Pair, at least in my opinion.)

While Dirty Pair Flash may not live up to the expectations of fans of the original, it's still very much worth watching if your a fan, new to the entire series or just in favor of watching scantly-clad anime women.

Available from ADV Films. Image shown is not created by atek studios.   Review by Rashad Moore. Sept 99.