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Miami Guns

Review by Matthew Anderson

13 episode TV series

Company: AN Entertainment

Running Time: 100 minutes (4 episodes)

Region: 1

Rated: R (Violence, partial nudity, language and adult situations)

EXTERNAL EXAM

In the city of Miami, crime runs rampant. Gangs rule the streets. Violence is the law of the land. The Miami Police have their hands full....but not because of the criminals.

Two of their own members, Yao Sakurakouji and Lu Amano are the two most dangerous, violent, and insane cops on the force. Nothing and no one is safe when these two psychos are on the case.

If this wasn't bad enough, a crime syndicate called "The Organization" is moving into Miami. From planning bank robberies to training young girls as mercenaries, these guys are ready for anything.

They just haven't dealt with Yao and Lu yet!

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: AN Entertainment has done an excellent job. There are no pixels, color bleeds or edge enhancement to be found.

AUDIO: The Dolby 2.0 for both tracks are so evenly matched, I can't tell which one is better. For the most part, the voices come from the front, while the background noise is from the back.

EDITS: 100% uncut baby!

EXTRAS: I have to give AN Entertainment credit for enhancing the extras typically found on most DVD releases. The character profiles have selectable production art work and cool pose pictures. The production gallery contains additional artwork specifically for each episode. A feature I really like is that the translation and cultural notes have links to the scenes they are referencing. Previews of Risky Safety and the next volume of Miami Guns rounds out the cool extras.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: Yutaka Hirata and the writing staff have taken Takeaki Momose's entertaining manga and made it their own. While it shares the flavor and energy of the manga, it isn't a straight adaptation. Like Excel Saga, this series pokes fun at many different genres of anime and movies. Miami Guns manages to make you laugh without leaving you totally exhausted (like Editor Ann after an afternoon of Excel).

ACTING: Both the Japanese and English cast do a top notch job.

First up, the group from Phoenix Post Sound. I found Suzanne Willard a perfect match for the cold and aloof Lu Amano. Her deadpan delivery perfectly conveys Lu's personality.

Nicole Gibson's voice for Yao was a little jarring at first. She sounded a little to old for a teenager. However, the more I listened, the more her mouthy, cocky attitude won me over.

The Japanese side is awesome as well. Megumi Toyoguchi is perfect as the cute yet bitchy Yao. The ecstasy in her voice when she is about to do some evil is priceless.

Like her American counterpart, Yukari Tamura is icy cold. Her voice is a little too soft to be sexy, but then again, Lu isn't about sex appeal.

I will say that Tomomichi Nishimura makes for a cooler Jin.

FAN SERVICE: Just about every female character winds up in their underwear at some point in this volume. The outfits that Yao and Lu wear aren't exactly modest, yet we see more of Yao's panties than Lu's.

The other kind of fan service is here. This series pokes fun at everything from 1950's Japanese monster flicks, to Initial D. There are so many different pop culture references, both anime and live action, that you can watch "Miami Guns" over and over again, and find something you didn't notice before.

FINAL EXAM

While living in Japan, I was visiting my favorite book store when I noticed a manga with the peculiar name of "Miami Guns". Pulling it off the shelf, I was delighted to see on the cover an attractive girl holding a gun. The girl was Yao, and from that point on I was hooked. I quickly bought all four volumes, and spent a whole weekend reading this "chicks with guns" manga.

It is one of my favorites!

When I learned that AN Entertainment was going to release the anime version of Miami Guns, I made it a point to let them know my love of this series. DVJ help spread the word by creating a page where people could view the opening and closing. As each month went by, my anticipation for the first DVD grew. The DVJ staff will tell you, I have been climbing the wall waiting for this review copy.

Just like that wonderful weekend years ago, I watched the entire DVD as soon as I got home.

"Miami Guns" is now one of my favorite anime series.

This series is nothing but fun. Much like "Dirty Pair" or "Dominion" this show revels in it's mayhem. They are not afraid to go for the cheap laugh, blow something up, or beat a joke to death to keep you entertained. While the fan service may not be as gratuitous as "Agent Aika", or even the manga, there is plenty to go around. At least there is a rhyme and reason to it all, unlike "Real Bout High School".

The characters are total whack jobs, especially Yao. She is subtle as the baseball bat she carries. While Lu seems competent, she really could care less if things blow up or not. The rest of the Miami Police are the biggest bunch of lazy, idiotic, lecherous cops ever put on film. As Editor Ann says "These guys make the cops from Burn Up W seem competent".

Like many adaptations, the anime is fairly different than the manga. Episode 2 covers most of the events from the first chapter with some minor changes. Some of the main characters are actually secondary characters in the manga, while others are totally new. I'm glad that the writers acknowledged the manga, and I am quite pleased with how they diverged from the source.

Everyone will find an episode they love on this volume. My personal favorite is episode 4, "Miami Mountain Pass GO GO GO". The parodies were spot on, and I love the "Police Hachiroku". I'm impressed that the animators went so far as to mimic the "style" of Initial D, with fully CG cars, and the infamous "camera shake". The truth is, they did a better job than NEST did for "Initial D"!

AN Entertainment has once again proved that they know what they are doing. Keeping both Otaku and newbie in mind, they have packed this disc with many cool features. For example, when you go to the "scene selection" menu, they have a brief quote from the production staff about what makes this particular episode special. Nobody has ever done something like that as far as I know. The enhancements I mentioned in the extras, show the love and care AN Entertainment put into this release. All they have to do is add "outtakes" and the next disc will be a standard all others are judged by.

I could go on and on about how much I love Miami Guns vol 1, but you get the picture. It's a fun anime on a great DVD. What more could you ask for?

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