
	Language Options English/Japanese/English Subtitles Released by ADV Films Extras None
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Burn Up! (DVD)

To the unsuspecting eye Maki, Reimi and Yuka may not look like ace crime fighters, which might explain why they’re stuck on traffic patrol instead of more “exciting” police duties.

All that changes when Yuka gets herself kidnapped by a white slave organization run by a politically connected businessman who’s got the rest of the police cowed.

Now it’s up to Maki and Reimi to don skin-tight battle armor, liberate a tank, and make sure that a certain slaver learns that when you play with fire, you’re going to get your ass burned!

This is it, the anime classic that started it all, Burn Up!

It’s nice to finally have a DVD version of this anime classic, especially now that I’ve been collecting the following series as well: Burn Up W, Burn Up eXcess, and now Burn Up Scramble (which unfortunately is not being released by ADV but by Geneon… I must say that I liked how ADV had treated the series up to this point).

Originally out in 1991 (which isn’t that old in movie circles, but it certainly looks dated by current animation standards), this OVA is about 40 minutes of guns, driving, and explosives with a little bit of story. With such a short running time, the pace is rather quick and some of the logic jumps are kept small but it makes you wonder who in the hell is running the police force if they couldn’t get enough evidence to arrest the prime criminal. The style of the show is faux-futuristic – it shows improved but still recognizable technology around the typical humorous back-drops (like a poster for the movie Rambo XII or a commercial for Dragon Quest 31 playing on a mid-town television).

Two of the three girls in Burn Up are the stereotypical anime police officers – extremely talented but a little hot-headed and chock-full of personality. Maki is the most proactive one – a motorcycle cop with an affinity and penchant for guns and is especially proficient at attaining her goals by ignoring the rules. Reimi is a patrol officer who is a little more reserved and is the voice of reason… but ends up right in

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the middle of whatever Maki is starting. Filling out the team is young Yuka who rides with Reimi and is generally ignored for her babbling and excessive enthusiasm.

The OVA opens with a good ‘ol fashioned police chase and this one ends with Maki killing most of the hostage-takers and blowing out the engine. Investigation of this groups leads police to suspect that the team were collecting girls for a mafia slaver, and that they believe that a

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majority of the girls that he has been attaining has been from a local nightclub. After being told to not get involved, the trio decides to investigate the club on their own, and during the course of the night Yuka is abducted. Reimi see it happen, they are attacked by an assassin and are unable to prevent the kidnapping (happens all the time).

Anyways, long story short: Girls want police to raid suspects’ home; Chief refuses; Girls go anyway to save friend; Commotion draws attention of police; Chief suspects the girls and orders SWAT to assist; Girls cause carnage. Roll credits. Short, sweet and moves along at a constant pace.

Burn Up can be broken down into two parts – action and not-action. Action parts are pretty much as you’d expect: driving and shooting, or shooting and driving. Non-action parts consist of humor, dialogue, or moving the plot along or any combination of the three. It’s a simplistic formula but for the limited amount of time that they have to work with you actually get some good variety of the above themes. The action was certainly impressive for its’ time, fluid and seamless if not a little unbelievable at times (I cite a twenty foot standing jump and a one-handed firing of a combat shotgun while on motorcycle as examples). The team dialogue is definitely the highlight of the show though, listening to Maki and Reimi goad each other incessantly about every little mistake that they make powers the show.

The only complaints that I have about the show are the length (way too short) and the inconsistencies within the episode: one moment Maki has an M4 carbine (which looks pretty freakin’ distinct) and the next she is shooting with an IG500 with no M4 in sight. It’s distracting, especially when they went to the detail of showing which gun she pulled out of the armory at the police station. If you can get past the little problems, you get a pretty good little short that any fan of the Burn Up franchise will love.

- Tazman

(February 10, 2005)

“Don't worry, I read a book on this.”

“Peter, don't you mean "nothing"? You've read nothing?”

“Yes.”

- Peter and Brian (The Family Guy)