Mad Bull 34 Anime Review
Mad Bull 34
/ OVA / Action / 16-up
Bottom Line
A politically incorrect action series with no plot and lots of violence.
It’s Like...
...What would happen if Go Nagai did an NYPD Blue remake.
Vital Stats
Original Title
マッド★ブル34
Romanized Title
Maddo Buru 34
Literal Translation
Mad Bull 34
Animation Studio
Pony Canyon
US Release By
Genre
Police Action
Series Type
OVA
Length
4 45-60 minute episodes
Production Date
1990-12-21 - 1992-08-21
What's In It
Categories
Look For
Objectionable Content
- Violence: 4 (heavy)
- Nudity: 4 (heavy)
- Sex: 4 (heavy)
- Language: 4 (heavy)
Plot Synopsis
Daizaburo Eddie Ban is an 18 year-old new graduate of the police academy. He joins up with New York's toughest precinct, the 34th. He also assigned a partner. The infamous John Estes, AKA Sleepy, AKA Mad Bull. Daizaburo is initially put off by Mad Bull's way of brutally dealing with criminals, sleeping with call girls, and taking their money afterwards. However, there is more than meets the eye regarding Mad Bull. On their first assignment, they must stop a hitman known only as Curtis who's been ordered to kill Mad Bull. Also in the series, Sleepy and Daizaburo must deal with suicidal assassins, a cyborg drug lord, and an cybernetic monster that has a grudge on the 34th!
Reader Review
Mad Bull 34 is one of those animes that is so preposterous and over-the-top, you can't take it seriously. Half the stuff Sleepy does would land him in jail for life if not death row. But this series is also pretty fun. It's either a great movie to heckle MST3000 style, or it's an entertaining (but graphic) B-grade action movie.
The main thing about Mad Bull is that it relies heavily on graphically killing criminals (poor grocery store robbers), nudity, and the fact that Sleepy gets it on with pretty much every prostitute he meets. There is supposed to be some kind of reasoning behind why Sleepy does these things that makes him a good person and an even better cop. But we aren't stupid.
The characters are also ridiculous as well. Sleepy is portrayed as the bad-ass supercop who can apparently take 2 bullets without so much as flinching, Daizaburo is portrayed as the weak rookie cop with a heart of gold, and later we meet female detective Perrin who portrays the bad-ass woman cop who gets violated in almost every episode. I think it's a rule that every woman in this series gets naked at least once or something like that. Oh, and men are all rapists and murderers.
The dubbing is absolutely hilarious. There is so much unnecessary swearing that it would make a sailor's ears bleed. The voice acting is cheesy and uninspired.
The music that is there is generic stuff that can be made off a Casio keyboard. Cheap rock, with heavy guitar, and a little jazz.
The art is about standard for the time period it was created. Mostly bright colors with a less detailed look. Not a lot of stock footage used which was a bit of a surprise.
Overall, it's worth a look if you like:
A. Bloody action movies with no plot
or
B. Anime so bad, that's it's good.
I won't give away anymore of the story, but trust me, some of this stuff has to be seen to be believed that completely sane people came up with this. But please, keep it away from anyone under the age of 18, or those who are overly sensitive about violence and/or nudity.
Have something to say about this anime? Join our newly-resurrected forums and speak your mind.
Notes and Trivia
There is no DVD yet for this series, and I almost doubt that there ever will be. Nor have I seen a subtitled version of this series.
US DVD Review
None exists as of this writing.
Parental Guide
You might go to jail for showing this to anyone younger than 16. Easily would be rated R, pushing NC-17.
Violence: 4 - The only thing stopping this from a 5-rating is the fact that the violence isn't very detailed. Just a ton of red paint.
Nudity: 4 - Like I said above, it seems to be a rule that every female must appear nude or topless at least once.
Sex/Mature Themes: 4 - Sleepy gets it on with pretty much every prostitute he can find. And this is supposed to be a good cop? o_0
Language: 4 - One thing this anime does more than gratuitous violence, is the heavy cursing.
Availability
Was originally available in the US from Manga Video on four dubbed VHS volumes, now out of print. (They can still be found used at Amazon, for those interested: Mad Bull 1 (Dub)
Looking to buy? Try these stores:
RightStuf (search) |
AnimeNation |
Amazon