While no single episode reached the lofty bar set by Project
Eden, the set taken as a whole is even truer to the franchise's
concept because of its variety. These girls are meant to be faced
with a different obstacle every week, so ten great installments
ultimately does more for the duo than one fantastic movie. And make
no mistake; these are great episodes with no real bad apple in the
bunch. If I was forced to nitpick, maybe the one with the mute girl
isn't as strong due to some slightly forced sentimentality and
obvious villain, or maybe the one with the prison assault, which had
characters suffering from moderate plot-induced stupidity.
But I didn't just enjoy these OVAs as I expected to. I was
downright impressed with how much was crammed into twenty-some minute
episodes, both story-wise and action-wise. My favorite one would
have to be the Halloween-themed one, where Kei and Yuri must take
down a Terminator-like killer robot, and end up foiling no less than
four attempted robberies along the way, to say nothing of the
smuggling bust in the opening minutes, before ending in one hell of a
fun climax. They even manage to convey the silent robot's quite
likable personality! Without a single line of dialogue, it gives you
the impression that this machine would be a fun dude to hang out with
if it weren't, you know, programmed to eventually kill everybody.
Many of the other plots we have seen before, but are spiced up enough
that they feel fresh, like the terrorist group seizing a military
super-weapon (but they're kids!) or the bust of a crooked casino (the
casino shoots asteroids! There's a pissed-off kung fu master
involved!). And despite the relatively high onscreen body count and
offscreen...uh, de-populations...the series forgoes a nihilistic feel
in favor of surprisingly moral messages. A lot of damage could have
been avoided if people had raised their kids with a sense of
responsibility, let go of their grudges, or avoided drugs and
gambling; I wasn't expecting to find this kind of subtext here, but
it was a nice touch to a show that could easily be all guns and
explosions because that's the way the world is, man.
What with the lack of an overarching story, there's not exactly much
to gush about at length or dissect in detail. These are just
incredibly solid episodes, from the pleasant musical score to the
fluid, dynamic, occasionally goofy action, to those classic designs
that just put you in a decade long past. Even those episodes I
singled out as weaker aren't bad episodes; NO episode that involves
flying surfboards or a fight over a green acid pit can be bad. It's
impossible. I'd highly recommend this set for anyone who is looking
for a great futuristic/retro sci-fi action show. And speaking of the
future, I'm looking forward to one in which I have the money and free
time to check out the original TV series...
Now that I've been successfully converted to a Dirty Pair
fan, are there any other sci-fi action pieces you feel are
overlooked? We all know how some really good stuff can slip through
the cracks; let everyone know about them in the comments!
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