ADV Films presents

Burn Up Excess #3: Under the Gun (1997)

"You really are the Edison of our time, totally different from someone with no brains and big breasts."- Chimama (Diaki Nakamura)

Stars: Yuka Imai, Maya Okamoto, Sakura Tange, Mami Kingetsu, Ryutaro Okiaya, Yuri Amano, Amanda Win Lee, Lani Minella, Jason Lee, Beth Wernick, Allison Kieth, Kimberly Yates
Other Stars: Toshihiko Seki, Daiki Nakamura, Kyousei Tsukui, Toai Kawashima, Paula Tiso, Jim Gallant, Mike Ross, Paul Mercier, Dave Wittenberg, Steven Kruiser
Director: Shinichiro Kimura

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (15+ for mature situations)
Run Time: 01h:20m:02s
Release Date: 2002-12-10
Genre: anime

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B	B-	B+	A-	C+

 

DVD Review

The third of four discs in the Burn Up Excess series delivers three more episodes showcasing the Team Warrior, a group of police women who covertly take on the jobs the cops can't handle—for a price. Like the previous disc, this collection focuses on a single member of the team in each installment, with the brains of the bunch, Nanvel, taking the lead in the first episode, and Rio returning to the fore in the two-parter that follows.

There is great excitement in the air over Nanvel's latest creation, as Team Warrior celebrates her new optical makeover machine, which can visibly alter a person's appearance—great for taking off those unwanted pounds. However, the team of crossdressing villains who were first introduced in the last disc make their return after being released from prison, and are after the device to aid them in their new criminal agenda. Their plan is to kidnap Nanvel and force her to use the device to conceal their identities, but they get an unexpected bonus when Rio is also captured.

Next, after coughing up her last yen for an expensive scarf, Rio is once again in the poor house, but Maki comes to the rescue with another assignment, this time guarding a VIP on his way to the UN. When their transport plane is hijacked by members of a rogue nation's operatives, Rio discovers that her charge is a highly developed tank, who would provide an unstoppable force if it fell into the wrong hands. Crash landing in the middle of the desert, Rio has to use her wits to get the tank safely out of enemy territory, facing a formidable army in the process. What she doesn't know about the vehicle adds to her adventure, as Team Warrior can do little but stand by and watch.

Once again we get a pretty amusing set of episodes, though the fanservice levels are a bit toned down from previous episodes, despite Rio's bathing on several occasions in the last two episodes. Nanvel's creation, Pin Zou-chan (Great Pink Elephant), creates plenty of havoc, and the drag queens offer a chuckle or two, while Rio's escapades are pretty typical for the character. I wouldn't say these are really standouts in the series, and the underlying plot doesn't really advance much, despite the participation of our evil mastermind, Miss Ruby, in the serial episode. There is also the inclusion of the lecherous Yuji's Additional Theatre which tags on to the end of the first and last episodes, offering plenty of nose bleeding as he tries to capture Rio's nakedness on his video camera. The first installment also includes a novel yet quickly annoying test pattern sequence. Overall, this has been the least entertaining of the bunch, but we'll have to see whether the story gets a boost in the final three chapters, or if the episodic silliness continues as the series concludes on the next disc.

Rating for Style: B
Rating for Substance: B-

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: Video quality is very good, with strong, yet not overly saturated color, solid blacks, and what fine grain there is is well rendered. Dark blues, which are generally problematic when it comes to noise, have some issues, but nothing excessive. The look is consistent through the first two episodes, but the third exhibits a fair number of scenes which look oversharpened, and which also tend to have more prominent rainbowing and haloing on outlines.

Image Transfer Grade: B+
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	Japanese, English, Spanish	yes

Audio Transfer Review: Stereo audio is quite good, with a decent amount of discreet directionality. Audio is clean, with a nice presence, dialogue is easy to discern, and there were no technical issues were noted. The English track has a bit more bottom end oomph to it. A Spanish language track is also included, which differs primarily in tonal quality in the voices.

Audio Transfer Grade: A- 

Disc Extras

Full Motion menu with music
Scene Access with 15 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English with remote access
1 Original Trailer(s)
6 Other Trailer(s) featuring Excel Saga,Farscape, Wild Arms, Andromeda, Chance POP Session, The Devil Lady
Packaging: Scanavo
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:

1. Jiggle Counter™
2. Production sketches
3. Clean opening and closing animation

Extras Review: ADV's patented Jiggle Counter™ returns once again, however this feature seems to have some glitches on this disc. In the first episode, there are some missed Rio jiggles, and it doesn't work on the second episode at all, as neither the English translation or sign-only Jiggle tracks (numbers 4 and 5) have any subtitles.

Additionally, the sign subtitles on the second omake theatre are inconsistent in a couple of places, deferring to regular dialogue style subs that I find preferrable to the larger sign subs, which I found pretty annoying, as it covered the top half of the screen for the duration of the omake.

A collection of production sketches cover the main character designs and some of the anciliary cast. ADV has translated the Japanese notes on the drawings, making them a lot more interesting and relevant.

Clean opening and closing credits return, as does the show's trailer.

Finally, previews for Excel Saga,Farscape: Season 2, Wild Arms, Andromeda, Chance POP Session, and The Devil Lady are also included.

There was no insert in our review copy.

Extras Grade: C+
 

Final Comments

The third disc of Burn Up Excess offers more comedic misadventures for Team Warrior. While not quite up to par with some of the previous discs, this still is good for a chuckle for those who enjoy light comedy, plenty of action and a hefty dose of fan service.

Jeff Ulmer 2003-01-08