Dirty Pair Flash Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2005-07-11
• 2.5 stars out of 5

On its own, Dirty Pair Flash is a decent '90s-era action series. There's a healthy amount of action and collateral damage, the characters are interesting enough, and the stories, while unoriginal, don't seem hurried. As a series bearing the name Dirty Pair, however, Flash is a disappointment--it's been modernized and cleaned up, which effectively removes the B-movie charm that makes the original so much fun. On balance, it's an entertaining diversion, but forgettable.

If you're a fan of the original Dirty Pair, you may well be disappointed at this cleaner, less-sleazy, less-fun re-envisioning, but Dirty Pair Flash does manage to hold its own as a solid if generic light action series.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2005-07-11
• 2.5 stars out of 5

Dirty Pair Flash more and less lives up to the reputation of its predecessor. On the more side, this Dirty Pair re-envisioning has lots of action, plenty of guns, a smattering of high-tech gadgets, the half-clothed Lovely Angels, and a healthy helping of collateral damage. On the less side, the new Pair isn't anywhere near as dirty as the old one, nor as much fun--the sleazy B-movie charm and cheerful mayhem of the original are what set it apart. The result is a moderately well-made and entirely forgettable action series.

Looked at entirely on its own, Dirty Pair Flash is a decent '90s-vintage action series. The characters are interesting enough and have some slightly unusual chemistry (they really seem to hate each other). The stories, while unoriginal, don't seem hurried, even though the episodes aren't very long. Actually, it's a bit impressive that it manages to comfortably fit so much action (and even a bit of character development) into such short sections--it feels longer than it is.

That said, Dirty Pair Flash is no more memorable than any of a dozen other action OAV series, while the OAVs, movies, and comics of the original have managed to remain relatively popular for over 20 years. Flash might be enjoyable on its own, but since it invokes the Dirty Pair name it demands to be compared, and it badly fails to live up to its namesake.

Admittedly, Dirty Pair Flash has a modern polish that most of the classic movies and OAVs lack, but the makeover goes too far in my opinion. If it weren't for the title, you probably wouldn't even notice it's supposed to have anything to do with the original. The new Kei and Yuri aren't the same Pair, but they're barely even recognizable as the descendants (or cousins or something) they're supposed to be--they're a more generic anime duo and their relationship is more outright war than antagonistic teamwork.

Aside from the new-and-not-at-all-improved Lovely Angels, there are some other things that seem to be missing, most notably the fun. In place of silly almost-parodies of classic B-movie plots, Flash attempts several equally unoriginal anime plots that are trying a little too hard to take themselves seriously. At least it's not all bad; fans of the Adam Warren comics (I'm thinking of Sim Hell specifically) will probably enjoy that the fourth episode takes place inside a fantasy sim.

Similarly, the action, although fast and furious, is missing something. There is, to Flash's credit, a fine madcap chase through town in the first episode, but most of the action is lacking that over-the-top flair that defines the original at its best. The gadgets, similarly, are generally less creative (also, no card of death). And, finally, the collateral damage is nowhere near the utterly catastrophic, planet-scale destruction that gave the old Dirty Pair their name.

Basically, Flash seems to be an attempt to make the Dirty Pair more modern and less sleazy. Unfortunately, it succeeds. As a result, it's just another reasonably well done OAV series with one or more heroic but destructive women.

Visually, Dirty Pair Flash is above average in its action OAV class. The art is attractive, as are the character designs. The animation is smooth, and the action is fast, clean, and has plenty of punch. Also of note are the settings; there are a couple of imaginative locations for fights (most noteworthy being an icy cruse ship) and fairly nice background art to go with them.

I've only seen the dub, but the acting there is pretty good, if not worth particular note. Most memorable is some impressive yelling by the actress who voices Kei and a few decent performances in minor roles. The music is also above average, with a catchy song or two on the soundtrack.

To sum up, if you're a fan of the original Dirty Pair, you'll probably be disappointed at this cleaner, less-sleazy, less-fun re-envisioning, but Dirty Pair Flash does manage to hold its own as a solid if generic light action series.

Related Recommendations

Iria is similar in spirit, and much better. Also very similar to Burn Up W and just about every other women with guns action series. As was made abundantly clear in the review, though the basic theme is the same as the original Dirty Pair movies, OAVs, and TV series, it's less sleazy and fun.