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Fan Fact:

You're Under Arrest continues to be popular in Japan. After the original OVA, there has been two tv series, a feature length movie, a series of 10 minutes shorts, and even a live action series.

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You're Under Arrest

Collectors Box One

Review by Matthew Anderson

4 episode OVA + 47 Episode TV Series

Company: AnimEigo

Running Time: 300 minutes+extras

Region: 1

Rating:PG-13 (Language and Violence)

EXTERNAL EXAM

Natsumi Tsujimoto has just been assigned to Bokotou Police Station. Unfortunately, on her first day of work, she is already 15 minutes late. Taking a slightly illegal detour to avoid a train, she runs into a mini patrol car. Not wanting to get a ticket, Natsumi leads the Police woman in the patrol car on chase through town. Natsumi almost escapes, but wipes out when she swerves to avoid a small cat in the road. After being caught, it seems that Natsumi is going to loose her drivers license. However, the officer lets her off with a warning. As it turns out, the girl ,Miyuki Kobayakawa, also assigned to Bokotou Station. She also is assigned as Natsumi's partner.

At the station, Natsumi meets more of her fellow officers. There is Ken Nakajima of the motorcycle division, who has a serious crush on Miyuki. Gossip Queen Yuriko of the mini patrol section, and the Captain, with whom Natsumi eventually falls in love with. The two partners are later joined by Aoi Futaba, a beautiful, cross dressing police man.

As they go out on patrol, Miyuki and Natsumi encounter a strange assortment of characters. There is Strikeman (a baseball wielding vigilante), Scooter Mama (a yen-pinching road hazard), and The Fox, a series car freak with a penchant for cat and mouse games. They also encounter vengeful police officers, a burglar disguised as Santa Clause, and other assorted lawbreakers.

It may seem that the odds are against them, but Natsumi and Miyuki manage to fight every day in "the name of love, courage, and justice"!

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: A beautiful looking transfer, AnimEigo has done a fantastic job. The colors are perfect, there are no pixels, no wrinkles, no defects. This looks a lot better than their VHS or laser disc release. The washed out look is gone.

AUDIO:A very rich sounding Dolby 2.0 English audio track. The music is crystal clear, as is the dialogue, and all are blended perfectly. The same goes for the Japanese 2.0, but it is a little quieter.

EDITS: The clean open and close are used, and episode titles on disc 2 and 3 have been replaced with English titles that can only be seen if the subtitle tracks are on.

EXTRAS:No extras on the three discs with episodes. The fourth disc is packed full of line art, color images, recording sessions, and several Easter eggs that unlock hidden features.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: Very well written, if not a little simple on the plot side. The key to this show is the dialogue and situations. At times sweet, other times hilarious, it seems the staff of writers have a fun time coming up with off the wall events and comments to keep you entertained. Majority of the stories follow the typical "buddy cop" shows, with a little soap opera theatrics thrown in to keep it sweet.

ACTING: Excellent on both sides. With the Japanese cast, you have the very sexy sounding Sakiko Tamagawa, who does a great job as the super strong tomboy Natsumi. One welcome addition to the series is voice actress Rika Matsumoto,who plays the cross dressing Aoi Futaba. Well known as Ayaka Kisaragi in "Phantom Quest Corps", she always plays each part to the max. While Aoi may not be the most flamboyant character in You're Under Arrest, her skill as a professional voice actress shines through. The rest of the cast does a wonderful job.

Personally, I prefer the English cast. Overall, they infuse more emotion and have better comedic timing than their Japanese counterparts. As Natsumi, Tamara Burnham Mercer is right up there with Sakiko Tamagawa with one of the sexiest voice actresses out there. I absolutely love the way she presents the brash, bold and butt kicking Natsumi. My other personal favorite is Mark Matney as Ken Nakajima. He plays the bumbling, yet strangely cool motorcycle cop so well, you would think that the role was made for him.

For Miyuki, we have two voices actress, Jo Ann Luzzatto (Episodes 1-4) and Juliett Cesario (episodes 5-12). Most fans of the original OVA dub have been wondering if Ms Cesario can do as good of a job as Jo Ann Luzzatto. The answer is, yes she can, if not better. The two are so equally matched in vocal and acting talent, I was not even sure that the voices had changed. As I watched, Juliett Cesario makes Miyuki her own. She is absolutely perfect as the very cute and super smart cop.

I could go on and on how much I enjoy the English dub on this series, but I think you got the picture.

FAN SERVICE: Well, we have a few scenes that take place in the girls changing room, so there is plenty of bra's and panties. However, they are not that sexy. They are functional undergarments, exactly what you would wear if you were a cop. The rest is mostly visual gags for fans of the manga.

FINAL EXAM

When AnimEigo first came out with the "You're Under Arrest" OVA's, fans of Oh My Goddess were quick to pick them up. Kousuke Fujishima is a wonderful story teller, and his mangas make wonder anime, despite some of the cosmetic changes.

"You're Under Arrest" became a very successful release for AnimEigo. When word about the TV Series came out, the hope was that AnimEigo would get the rights to distribute the show in the US. When it was announced that this was the case, many dub fans (who can be as militant as the sub or die folks) hoped that the original dub cast would return to voice this fan favorite despite a 5 year break. After years of waiting, and thanks to the advent of DVD, we finally get to enjoy this great series.

Similar to the way the released Macross, we have the "You're Under Arrest" box set 1 to spend our anime money on. I am sure that you are wondering; "Is this Box set worth the $60+ dollar price tag?"

You betcha!

There are many reasons why you should order "You're Under Arrest". First, DVD is the only way to get the entire series, both OVA and TV. AnimEigo never released the TV series on VHS. That alone can be reason enough to buy. To up the ante, they have thrown in a neat extras disc, choc full of fun and entertainment.

Another reason is the acting. As stated earlier, both the Japanese and English cast are wonderful. No mater if you are a mainstream fan (those who prefer dubs) or Hard-Core Otaku (Japanese only), you ought to take a chance and select the opposite audio track. Otaku will find themselves chuckling at Jason Hatfield's portrayal of Strikeman, and the mainstreamers will wonder what the great sounding Sakiko Tamagawa (Natsumi's voice) looks like. You can't go wrong with either cast.

On a technical level, it looks better than the VHS and Laser Disc release. The animation flows smoothly, and the sound on the English track is full bodied, with some surround sound elements thrown in for spice. The only part that some may find themselves a little disappointed is the choppy video on the "Behind the Scenes" segment on the extras disc. Since this is because of the kind of video camera they used (not the DVD itself), it's annoying, but easy to get over.

The extras disc is cool, but a mixed bag of items. The line art gallery is pretty cool, but I was disappointed with the color gallery. Most of my disappointment came from the fact that they cut up some of the larger pictures into smaller ones. While I admit it shows the detail and quality of the art, it feels like they were trying to pad the gallery to make it look bigger.

The best part about the extras disc is the "Behind the Scenes" segment. You get a great idea on what the actors have to go through to achieve the ADR director's vision. They have to repeat their lines over and over, until they get it just right. You also understand why voice actors say "you have to have different voices" to be a voice actor.

The most entertaining voice actor to watch is Jason Hatfield, the voice of Strike Man. Some of the add libs he comes up with during the recording sessions are down right gut-busting. The other good part about the behind the scenes is that you get to see some very beautiful women voicing your favorite characters. I would love to see them in uniform!

For those of you who are not dedicated fans, or have a hard time shelling out $60 bucks at a time, AnimEigo will be offering this series individually. However, getting the box set not only saves you money, you get a decent extras disc in a very nice box to go along with it.

Overall, AnimEigo has made it worth the long wait. The "You're Under Arrest" box set 1 is a well made and great looking presentation of a wonderful series. Not getting this as part of your collection would be a crime!

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