SUMMARY
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.
Things have been interesting of late. While after a notorious killer, Yao and Lu meet the ultra cool bounty
hunter Julio. Along with
his pet alligator, he comes up with an interesting proposition for our
ladies.
That's not all. A mad bomber has covered Miami with explosive watermelons, and is demanding a billion dollars, to cover
his expenses. Yet this danger fails to compare with what happens when Yao's daddy cuts off
her spending money!
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: AN Entertainment does a great job enhancing the standard extras typically found on DVD. 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.
Commercial spots, previews of Risky Safety and for 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.
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.
I really like Crystal Waters as the bitchy Nagisa.
Her voice can switch from sweet and innocent to evil in a snap. She
also has some great comedic timing.
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.
His deep voice is stronger and more commanding than Ralph Redpath.
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. This
time, Kaken gives us some fan service.
The other
kind of fan service is here. This series pokes fun at everything
from "Die Hard" to "Evangelion".
There are so many different pop culture references, both anime and live
action, that it will take you several viewings to catch them all.
CONCLUSION:
The more I watch
Miami Guns, the more I love it. It's spot on parodies, luscious fan
service, and hilarious acting make this one of the best parodies since
"Excel Saga".
In this volume, American movie parodies are the name of the game.
So many of them are crammed into these episodes, it would take a whole day
to list them all. "The Quick and the Dead", "Desperado",
"2001 A Space Odyssey", "Die Hard with a Vengeance",
and Jet Li's "Hitman" are just some of the obvious ones.
AN Entertainment does a good job at pointing them out, but they won't
spell it out for you (I'm sure to circumvent any potential legal
problems).
The fan service goes up quite a bit here too. Besides more boob
bounces, and near full frontal nudity, there is some rude and crude
humor. For your drooling pleasure, we have Nipple shots, a man's
face being smothered in a pair of breasts, and a literal "boob
shot". The funniest is in Episode 7, with Yao's butler Mr. G
doing some rude things with his "junior". Don't
worry. In typical Japanese fashion, he feels bad about scaring a
young lady with his "Junior".
The acting continues to be outstanding, with Crystal Waters as Nagisa
being the stand out for this volume. In the "Princess
Nokemono" episode, Yao, looking and acting like a wild woman, is
being chased by the police. Her "friend" Nagisa, pledges
to help her escape her potential captors. So, here she is, doing
this emotional scene, and right in the middle of it she blurts out
"God you stink!". Everyone watching fell on the floor
laughing.
Like many adaptations, the anime is fairly different than the manga. Some of the main characters in the anime 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.
I totally dig the opening and closing themes for Miami Guns.
"Seeds" by Lastier reminds me a lot of
"L'Arc~en~Ciel". Ishiyama Ryuichi vocals are smooth, full
of energy and emotion. "Kiseki No Shiro" by epidemic is a
catchy tune, also with a lot of emotion.
AN Entertainment knows how to fan serve by packing this
disc with many cool features. The addition of the promo spots, the linkable
references in their DVD liner notes, and the quotes from the staff in the
scene selection show the
love and care AN Entertainment put into this release. The only
negative is that there are no outtakes on this volume either. Oh
well, maybe next time.
Volume 2 of
"Miami Guns" further solidifies this titles place as one of the
best action/comedies in the anime world. While I may be biased, no
one can deny it's crass charm, or its ruthless attack on your funny bone.
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