The Dirty Pair-A Quick Review

zrdb

Adventurer
First of all let me say the Dirty Pair is the series that got me into anime 20 years ago. Dirty Pair consists of 3 series and 3 movies (although Affair On Norlandia and Flight 005 Conspiracy I consider to be ovas) while Project Eden is a true movie. Kei and Yuri are called the Dirty Pair because of their habit of leaving destruction in their wake during their assignments. Dirty Pair-Flash is considered the red headed stepchild of the franchise. Now on to my opinions on the series. As the 26 episode original series is very episodic you don't have to be intimately familiar to jump in at any point and start watching. Kei and Yuri are best friends and argue but have each other's backs in the 1st series and the ovas and movie. In the Flash series they have been re imagined and hate each other and have very different personalities. Kei is the redhead and has a fiery temper, is somewhat butch and was probably a tomboy when she was a child while Yuri is much more feminine, has blue hair. Kei's weapon of choice is her trusty blaster, Yuri can use a gun proficiently but prefers energy whips or throwing cards. I think the Dirty Pair is quite entertaining to watch even though it reflects the era of the 80's when it was made. The episodes are kind of formulaic and predictable but fun in a mindless sort of way. There is a lot of banter between the two of them and a lot of it is the kind of stuff good friends talk about. Looking back at the series from a lens of 20 years the Dirty Pair is still one of my all-time favorite series. I can recommend it without reservation to anyone looking for a sci fi/comedy show that doesn't require a lot of thinking to watch.
 
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Big Dirty Pair fan also, my first exposure was actually the OVAs, followed by the movies. The TV series wasn’t available legally in English for the longest time so I was really happy when it finally got released on DVD. It has that wonderful ‘80s aesthetic I really enjoy, and it’s interesting to see the different character designs depending who was working on the show.

I’ve never seen Flash though, the radically different design work just never appealed to me, similar to how I feel about BGC 2040. I might be more willing to give it a try these days, but it just feels like something is missing.
 
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What would be really cool would be for the complete bluray box set to be released in the us and elsewhere with the 26 episode series dubbed. Maybe that will be Rightstuf's next kickstarter?
 
I actually think that DP Flash-taken on it's own merits-is a pretty good show. True, in most cases "re imagining" a series can be quite disappointing but in this case it turned out fairly good.
 
My favourite iteration of Dirty Pair is the Adam Warren comics, especially from the third mini-series onwards once he took over writing duties from Toren Smith and started dialling the crazy futuristic tech up to 11. Maybe it's because I read those first, but (for me, at least) no version of the anime has ever lived up to them. They're hard to find now, but if you ever have the chance to pick up the graphic novels A Plague of Angels, Sim Hell, or Fatal But Not Serious at a reasonable price, they're highly recommended.
 
I love Adam Warren's take on the DP, I have the Dangerous Acquaintances volume and I've probably read it at least 5 times. I have the other volumes digitally but I like his earlier version of the DP better than the later incarnation.
 
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