Ranked #2012

Dirty Pair

I watched the Dirty Pair movie like, 10 years ago and that gave me a pretty good idea of what the TV series would be like.

The main characters, Kei and Yuri, are the Lovely Angels who work for the World Welfare Work Association or WWWA as "trouble consultants", i.e. hired mercenaries who fix issues for profit. As per the movie, they are also known by their popular name, the "Dirty Pair" because every mission they solve results in huge amounts of collateral damage.

The TV series was a little dissapointing in several respects. For one, it didn't bring out the total awesomeness of the Dirty Pair's destructive powers like the movies did - there is no "destruction on a massive scale from a relatively minor mission" (except for the first episode). There is destruction, but nowhere in the scale of what is seen in the movies. The TV episodes are also very short so plot development feels very rushed in most episodes.

The only positive is some additional character development. The episode about Billy Galet (Yuri's old love) was particularly well done, but it was an outlier as the rest of the TV episodes didn't go that deep. If you only watched the TV episodes you'd think Kei and Yuri were "girls" only interested in (1) Men (2) Dating (3) New Clothes (4) Bonuses and (5) Vacations. But in reality both women are much more complex characters than that and it didn't come through in the TV series.

Additionally the animation is very sub par and "flat". It might have been ok in the 1980s or mid 1990s but when you take it into the 2000s it falls far short. The music is mediocre also.

Overall, I am a Dirty Pair fan because the girls are "sassy" trouble consultants and it's always nice to see an anime where the heroines are sexy, good at their jobs and feminine without being overly cutesy. The only drawback is the TV series didn't exploit this fully.

I am hoping that the updated "Dirty Pair Flash" or other OVAs will show the Dirty Pair to their full potential because as "we will fix things but oops we blew up (insert item, equipment, building, structure or planet here) something in the process" idea is a good one. All in all, if they made a live action Dirty Pair movie it would probably be great, if the correct actresses can bring the characters to life. The TV series in itself does not fully live up to its potential plot, character or animation wise. read more