Original Dirty Pair, Vol. 5: Affair of Nolandia (1984)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Original Story by Haruka Takachiho
Screenplay by Kazunori Ito
Directed by Masaharu Okuwaki
Music by Yoshihiro Kunimoto

Features:

• ADV previews

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• Hallucinations
• Gratuitous exposed skin
• Naughty men rather mean to a little girl

Released by: ADV
Region: 1
Rating: 15+
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: Buy it if you're a Dirty Pair fan

Yuri and Kei are Trouble Consultants for the World & Welfare Works Association (3WA), which basically is their excuse for bopping all over the galaxy with a host of big guns and bigger explosives. Somehow, however, they always manage to close the case and get the crook, so when a little girl disappears, they are called in to investigate. They follow the case back to a planet where a space liner crashed and where also a petty tyrant has set up his own empire. Several hallucinations, a deadly robot, some unicorns, and assorted other elements later, will they blow up the entire planet and themselves, or will they find the child and get out with a minimum of collateral damage?

The plot of this one is a bit...stranger than most, due to the hallucinations and strange way in which plot elements seem to fit together. However, if you're willing to roll with a little bit of surrealism from your favorite team, even though we aren't used to it, then it can still be a quite enjoyable show. Besides, as influential as the Dirty Pair is, it's important to see how the show developed and evolved over its history.

The appellation "original" was added by ADV because, like so many popular anime franchises, the characters were updated and changed more than once, and this OAV was the first after the end of the original TV series in Japan. Therefore, this version of the Lovely Angels is a bit different visually and thematically than later versions you might have seen, but basically, it's all the same good, explosive fun.

The disc wasn't cleaned up much from its original release, but the film still looks pretty good. There is a bit of grain in the video, but not as much as you would expect from a show this old. This is my least favorite Kei design, but it's still fun to see both characters move about the screen, given how kinetic and alive they are. The show sounds good, too, though some people have complained about Kei's voice in both English and Japanese versions. Fans who prefer dubs and/or subtitles should be equally pleased.

The features list contains only trailers for other ADV releases. A show this old probably doesn't have much of a paper trail left over in the way of sketches or outtakes, which is a shame. But still, shows we want for nostalgia as much as pure entertainment purposes we probably want to buy as cheaply as possible. As a result, the more features a disc has (with a few exceptions), the more expensive it will be to buy, so fair enough here.

In short, some Dirty Pair fans were a touch disappointed with this release because of its perceived incoherence, but fans of the show will still want to own it. If you like older anime and adventure, police comedies in general, then you should give this one a shot. It might not be DP's best offering, but it's still wild, funny, and good entertainment in a day of overly self-aware post-modern slog. Take it for what it is and relax.