Movie Monday #19: Burn Up!

"Donuts.  Now."
--Don Huffman as Banba, Burn Up!

Remember when people didn't watch anime for the pretty colors and the boobs?  Remember when things like cars, trucks, and robots were hand-drawn instead of computer-generated because computers couldn't do that yet?  And remember when anime girls actually gave you wood?  If you're one of those people, then "Burn Up!" is the anime for you.  Released in 1991 at the peak of the anime boom in Japan, "Burn Up!" is a 50-minute one-shot OVA that follows the adventures of three traffic cops (Maki, Reimi, and Yuka) as they go on an illegal undercover assignment to break up a slave trading ring operating in Tokyo.  When Yuka gets kidnapped by the slave traders, it's up to Maki and Reimi to break every protocol in the book by getting her back in a no-holds-barred, balls-to-the-wall battle with the white slave trader Samuel McCoy and his mansion full of gun-toting thugs.

Sound stupid by today's standards, doesn't it?  But that's the thing about "Burn Up!" that I love--it's unpretentious fun.  This OVA knows it's nothing but an excuse to get sexy anime girls in skin-tight body armor and have them blow McCoy and his army to kingdom come.  And I love it for that.  It's a reflection of a time in Japan when producers were taking chances on ambitious animators and their projects, and "Burn Up!" was most likely one of them.   It's attractive characters (designed by Kenjin Miyazaki), the 80's-style mechanical animation (for the cars, bikes, tanks, and the like), the production design (by Gasho Tano), and the bright color palette all speak to the glory days of anime when the creativity was flowing and everything wasn't based off a manga or PC game.

With that said, there are some awesome action sequences here, especially the opening chase between Maki, Reimi, Yuka, Kenji (Maki's boyfriend), Banba (Reimi's "potential" boyfriend), and a red BMW filled with three McCoy gangsters and one female hostage.  The shading techniques in the animation are just brilliant, the screaming guitar music (by none other than Kenji Kawai) gets your heart pumping, and the way Maki's bike slices its way through the cars on the interstate has to be seen to be believed.  And my personal favorite part of it all are the old-school sound effects that would perpetuate many an anime show for years to come. 

If you're going to watch "Burn Up!", please watch the Japanese version, featuring Yumiko Shibata as Maki, Miki Ito (of "Project A-Ko" fame) as Reimi, and Kumiko Nishihara as Yuka.  Norio Wakamoto plays the devilish McCoy, while Sayaka (one of McCoy's slave girls) is played by Yuri Shiratori.  All of them are perfectly cast to their roles and give each line the correct meaning and inflection.  These seiyuu (along with the entire cast) were very popular throughout the 80's and 90's, and one of the best parts of watching "Burn Up!" in Japanese is going "Hey, I recognize that voice!" whenever these actors speak.

The English dub of "Burn Up!" is from 1995 and was ADV Films' first English dub, which introduced everyone to their mainstays Tiffany Grant (as Maki), Amanda Winn (as Reimi), and Kimberly Yates (as Yuka).  Also in the English cast is Milton Lawrence as Kenji (who actually does a first-rate job, given the script) and Rob Mungle (of "Guy" and "Gunsmith Cats" fame) as Captain Hashima.  The problem with the English dub is its age (the 90's were infamous for unnecessary swearing and ridiculous rewrites), and the fact that Amanda Winn is miscast as the soft-spoken Reimi.  Tiffany Grant plays Maki well enough, but most of what she does involves screaming, roaring, and being generally pissed off (and generally missing the point of Maki to begin with).  Kimberly Yates suffers from a poorly-written script that turned Yuka into an airhead from the get-go and didn't give her much room to act.  All three of these ladies would go on to do bigger and better things, and for that all of otaku-dom (or me, at least) is eternally grateful.

Unfortunately, both editions of "Burn Up!" (the original ADV Films release & the Sentai Filmworks re-release) are out of print, so your best bet to snag a decent copy would be off the Amazon marketplace.  If you're lucky, you might end up with the ADV Films version, which included a bonus previews disc that showcased their latest anime acquisitions.  Even if you're not, you've still got "Burn Up!", an anime that simply entertains the pants off the viewer without throwing their brain through the wringer and their heart under a bus (like most anime titles today).  I'm all for a story about love, romance, and the eighteen beautiful girls that are vying for my hand in marriage (yeah, right!), but sometimes I like to watch something that's actually fun and doesn't require that I sign over my soul to a shinigami in a note book.  If that's the kind of anime you're looking for (and you appreciate the days when anime didn't come in a "complete season" pack for 20 bucks), then "Burn Up!" is the anime for you. 

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Here's a link to the original ADV Films VHS trailer for "Burn Up!" back in 1995.  It features some of the awesome music from the soundtrack and some cool scenes from the anime.

http://youtu.be/BTUYip0wyHo 

Movie Monday #17: Sukeban Deka

"Like I said...the outside world basically sucks."
--Amanda Winn as Saki Asamiya, Sukeban Deka

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Whenever you watch anime, you have to expect the unexpected.  A futuristic cop drama could suddenly turn into a magical girl show and back again in the blink of an eye.  But Sukeban Deka, the story of a teenage detective who uses a government-issue yo-yo as her weapon, probably takes the prize for the most unexpected (and unappreciated) anime out there.

Based on a shoujo manga by Shinji Wada from the 1970's, Sukeban Deka (which roughly translates as "Delinquent Detective") is the story of Saki Asamiya, a lavender-haired teenage girl sitting in a prison cell for causing trouble at her school.  A man referred to only as The Dark Investigator offers her a deal--she can work for the police as an undercover teenage detective, infiltrating high schools and fighting crimes the police normally couldn't reach...or her mother, on death row for murdering her husband, will be executed.  As long as Saki agrees to be a detective, her mother's execution will be postponed until she can be set free.

Saki has no choice but to agree, and soon she's back on her old stomping grounds--Takaoka High School.  Unfortunately, she's not top dog anymore--the three Mizuchi sisters are the queens of this school.  Emi Mizuchi is famous for her art, but it turns out that all she does is copy other artists' work and pretend that it's her own.  Ayumi Mizuchi is treated like royalty and pretends to be very lady-like, but in fact runs a righteous extortion ring and drug trade within the school.  Reimi Mizuchi is president of the student council, but yeah, she's evil too--she ends up brainwashing all the Takahoka students into doing whatever she pleases.

Add into the mix a cute but personality-free girl named Junko who paints like an angel and keeps getting her shirt ripped off, along with Saki's would-be boyfriend, Sampei, and you have the ingredients for your a-typical early 1990's high school drama...or do we?  Sukeban Deka has some familiar school drama moments, such as the awkward first meeting between Saki and Sampei (where he declares her his goddess) and Saki and Sampei hanging out at Junko's apartment, but that's not the thrust of its two forty-five minute episodes.  The real meat of this series is when Saki starts striking back against the Mizuchi sisters and their illegal activities, using her indestructible yo-yo, fighting skills, and street smarts to dish out plenty of payback.

Even though this OVA only has two episodes, the hero characters grow, adapt, and change at a satisfying pace.  Saki turns from a wild school yard brawler to a responsible teenage detective and heroine.  Sampei shaves his head (at Saki's request--you have to see it to believe it) and is a real help to Saki in the end, along with being a good friend.  Saki's police liason, Kyoichiro Jin, is one of those long-haired bishonen detective guys who probably inspired the characters in "Fake," but takes on the role of keeping Saki grounded in reality when her anger gets the better of her.  Even Saki's principal, Numa, gets in on the action, agreeing to help the girl he once hated.

And let's not forget that there's plenty of fighting, too, and the majority of it involves Saki and her yo-yo.  Anime is known for its dramatic poses, long sweeps of the hands and feet (before a punch or kick), the shouting of attack names before you use that attack, and the colorful backgrounds that appear behind the characters as they perform said attacks.  Sukeban Deka uses all of these mainstays in its fight scenes, but not to the point to overkill.  Director Takeshi Hirota knew exactly which notes to hit on the anime keyboard, and he hits them all just right.

The character designs were adapted from the original manga by Nobuteru Yuki, who also worked on Cleopatra D.C., another favorite of mine.  Nobuteru's large eyes, long faces, and shoujo leanings all add a nice touch to the proceedings here and give Sukeban Deka a unique style that it can call its own.

Takashi Takaomi's music is a combination of synthesizers, electric guitars, some nice bass, and occasional orchestral interludes that accent each character's struggle to escape the hell their school has become.  The battle themes are particularly memorable, especially the one where Saki busts into the arcade and starts raising all kinds of hell with her karate moves and her yo-yo.

I've watched both versions of Sukeban Deka (dubbed & subtitled) and, oddly enough, I prefer the dubbed version, which features the talents of old ADV Films mainstays Amanda Winn, Tiffany Grant, Kurt Stoll, Jason Lee, and Rob Mungle.  Amanda Winn landed the role of Saki Asamiya, and she was born to play this part.  The hard edge to her voice, her screams of frustration, and her comedic timing couldn't be better.  Tiffany Grant plays Junko, and while she does an admirable job, there's little she could do to elevate this character.  Kurt Stoll takes Sampei's wackiness and off-the-wall humor to the umpteenth level and makes this character a lot more entertaining than he was in the Japanese version.  Jason Lee and Rob Mungle star as some of the heavies employed by Ayumi Mizuchi to keep Saki in line.  Even ADV producer & dub director Matt Greenfield gets in on the action as some of the obnoxious background characters.

If you're expecting an anime version of the live-action Sukeban Deka movies released by Tokyo Shock,  then you'd best look elsewhere.  The Sukeban Deka OVA remains faithful to Shinji Wada's original manga and gives us a presentation that's definitely suited for the anime style.  But don't let that deter you from picking this up, because this show has it all--action, romance, angst, drama, humor, and tragedy, all in a neat two-episode package.   So if you're in the mood for an early 90's anime flashback or just a quick, entertaining watch, look no further than Sukeban Deka.

(And here's a fan trailer someone made for Sukeban Deka, if you can get past the thirty seconds of random intro clips...)