Birdy the Mighty Four episodes on two discs Birdy Cephon Altirra, a hot-headed humanoid policewoman with superhuman abilities, accidentally kills Tsutomu, a high-strung student, while pursuing an alien criminal. Her superiors are not pleased, so she and Tsutomu time-share one body, to their mutual inconvenience. She wants to go after nefarious aliens; he wants to pass his exams and not freak out his girlfriend. Some have called this a neglected classic. It isn't, but it is enjoyable. Although it's not a "madcap adventure," contrary to the blurb on the case, the scenes with Tsutomu's bewildered family are funny. Other parts are quite grim. There are also lots of fights, often spectacular, if that's what you like. These four episodes were apparently intended to be the beginning of a longer series. Although the fourth part does wind up a narrative arc, there's plenty of unfinished business left for Birdy and Tsutomu to attend to in the subsequent episodes that were never made. The music, by Kou Ohtani, is disappointing. His soundtrack for Haibane Renmei is the best score for any show -- not just anime -- I've ever heard, but his work for Birdy the Mighty is merely competent. There's some nudity. One of Tsutomu's friends tries to interest him in pornography, but otherwise there's little off-color. Some of the aliens and transformed humans are grotesque, and there is a lot violence, sometimes bizarre. It's not for kids. I'd really like to know how Birdy's uniform stays in place. Birdy takes charge in a tight spot Kei and Yuri Original Dirty Pair (OVA) Girls with Guns and Damsels in Destruction Ten episodes on two discs When the World Welfare & Works Association needs a difficult job done, it sends Kei and Yuri, the nineteen-year-old "Lovely Angels." And whatever it is -- stopping a deadly robot, or recapturing a military base that's been invaded by youngsters wanting to play with real weapons -- they do indeed get the job done. Sometimes there's some minor collateral damage -- a city accidentally gets destroyed, say -- but, hey, it's never their fault. Not everybody understands that, however, so the two trouble consultants have acquired the unfair sobriquet of "Dirty Pair." Intellectual fare this late 1980's series ain't, but it is fun. Sometimes the girls need to solve a mystery. At other times the emphasis is on action leavened with humor, sometimes with a satirical edge. Overall the tone is light, but occasionally it turns quite dark, particularly in the "Red Eyes Are the Sign of Hell" episode, in which the girls observe the handiwork of an evil arms dealer. The writing is often inventive; for instance, the setting for one episode is a prison located on a cool spot on the surface of a red star, and Kei and Yuri approach the prison by surfing on the surface of the star (they wear more than their basic uniform for that). The girls' implausibly minimal uniforms provides constant mild fan service, but what they do wear stays on, and there is very little that's off-color. There is a good deal of violence, which renders it unsuitable for children. By all accounts, Dirty Pair Flash is inferior to the original Kei and Yuri, and it is not on my to-see list. Shinesman: The Special Duty Combat Unit Two episodes on one disc Corporate power rangers -- Red, Moss Green, Grey, Sepia and Salmon Pink -- save the world from alien invaders. It's a cute idea, and it would have made a good skit for Saturday Night Live. But one cute idea is not enough to sustain an hour-long DVD, and Shinesman is never more than mildly amusing. For a better spoof of sentai shows, see the Municipal Force Daitenzin episode of Excel Saga. Ai and Yota get acquainted Video Girl Ai Six episodes on one disc Yota is in love with Moemi. Moemi has a crush on Yota's friend Takashi, but he is not interested in her. Rather than try to win Moemi's affection, Yota tries to set her up with Takashi. As a reward for Yota's unselfish love, a magical video store appears, where he checks out a tape of "Video Girl Love." When he plays the tape, Ai, the girl pictured on the case, emerges from the screen to spend a month with Yota. Unfortunately, Yota's video player is not working properly, and Ai has a bit more personality than she's supposed to. The first four episodes alternate slapstick and angst. Generally, when the focus is on the mercurial Ai, it's fun; when it's on the Yota-Moemi-Takashi triangle, it's tedious. Toward the end, the show becomes quite serious. The final episode is surrealistic, but it is spoiled by heavy-handed symbolism and an ambiguous ending. This 1992 production is considered a classic by some. I don't see why. While Ai (voiced by Megumi Hayashibara) is delightful, Yota is a bit of a drip, and Moemi and Takashi are simply dull. The J-pop soundtrack is instantly forgettable. There's some nudity and off-color humor, and the final episode gets bloody. It's definitely not for kids. Voices of a Distant Star This has received ecstatic reviews at numerous sites, and it is a remarkable achievement: a half-hour animated show that is almost entirely the product on one man and his Macintosh G4. The concept, script, art and animation are all the work of Makato Shinkai, and Shinkai alone. Mikako and Noboru are students in love. Aliens attack, and bright, athletic Mikako joins the interstellar military while Noboru continues his studies on Earth. Their only contacts now are text messages on their cell phones. As she travels further from Earth, it takes longer for their messages to arrive. After the military fleet jumps several light years, it takes most of a decade for her notes to crawl at the snail-like speed of light through space back to Noboru. That's about it for plot, but it's enough. Mikako does fight aliens in her mecha, but what you remember is her loneliness and Noboru's long waits to hear from her. Although done with minimal resources, the art and animation look good. It may be too slight to call a classic, but it is worth seeing. You're Under Arrest (OVA) Four episodes on one disc Like the Ah! Megami-sami universe, the You're Under Arrest franchise is the product of Kosuke Fujishima's imagination. Miyuki and Natsumi are traffic cops in Tokyo. Miyuki is very organized, a gearhead who's also handy with a soldering iron, a virtuosic driver, sweet and motherly and very nice. Natsumi is impulsive, skillful with two-wheeled vehicles, sweet and very nice. Then there's motorcycle cop Ken, who's also very nice, and Yoriko, who's a gossipy nuisance but still very nice. It must be wonderful to be Kosuke Fujishima; I know of few creators whose works are so relentlessly nice. (Or perhaps his life is miserable and he compensates by constructing pleasant daydreams.) The Ah! My Goddess movie works because underneath the sweetness is a story with some philosophical depth. In what I've seen of You're Under Arrest, however, the struggles are trivial: catch a reckless driver, or get a pregnant cat to the vet despite nasty weather. The episodes are pleasant and amusing and forgettable. While there is nothing objectionable in the OVA, there's no reason to recommend it. The four OVA episodes serve as the beginning of the television series, which ran for two years. The fifth YUA episode is distinctly lower-quality in every respect than the OVA. It introduces a new character, Aoi, a male cop who's played female decoys so long that he no longer remembers how to behave like a man. Yeah, right. This was the first episode in which I saw a nosebleed, and it was the last I watched. There's a lot more You're Under Arrest material, but I doubt I'll investigate it further.

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