ADV Films presents

Burn Up Excess #4: The Case of the Black Diamonds (1997)

"Show time!"- Ruby (Emi Shinohara)

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, Paula Tiso, Jim Gallant, Mike Ross
Director: Shinichiro Kimura

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (15+ for mature situations)
Run Time: 01h:21m:06s
Release Date: 2003-01-21
Genre: anime

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

 

DVD Review

The fourth and final installment of Burn Up Excess delivers more fanservice laden adventure in the story of Team Warrior, the group of police women who covertly take care of assignments the regular police are incapable of handling. While there was not much in the way of overall plot through the earlier discs, the series departs from the episodic nature, with a single storyline spanning the closing three episodes. The clues dropped throughout the show all come together to end the series with a bang.

Things open with a new breed of law enforcement officer introduced, the Mecha Cop, whose crime fighting abilities are unmatched. Not only can the robots cite every law in the book, but they are pretty near indestructible, and quickly become popular with the public. Their efficiency poses a threat to the regular police, that is until the machines start misbehaving, and Team Warrior has to deal with the mess. Their investigation turns up a startling discovery, one which Maki remembers all too well from her past. When the top brass puts a halt on her team's activities, she realizes that there is a lot more going on than she ever imagined. The revelations don't end there, and what she finds is a situation beyond anything she could have been prepared for. Team Warrior is in a fight for its life, and a battle to save the city!

These last episodes pull together the threads that have been dangled throughout the previous episodes, with a new character whose arrival shouldn't be too much of a surprise if you've been paying attention to the foreshadowing. I'm not usually a fan of waiting until the last few episodes before really taking off on the plot, but the resulting arc works quite well here, and puts a nice finish on the series without seeming like they are cramming in all the story into too short a space. The characters are pretty much as expected, with all their established traits coming into play. Humor is abundant, and as usual, there is bountiful fanservice and plenty of action. Burn Up Excess won't be a show for those looking for deep plots or complex characters, but it offers a good deal of fun, mature entertainment.

Rating for Style: A-
Rating for Substance: B+

 

Image Transfer

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

Image Transfer Review: Image quality on the final disc gets a bit of a boost due to the slightly better animation used. Colors are strong, if not overly vibrant, there is little in the way of bleeding, and blacks are solid. Aliasing and rainbowing is minor, and compression issues are only an issue in dark blues.

Image Transfer Grade: B+
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	Japanese, English, Spanish	yes

Audio Transfer Review: Japanese stereo audio is well presented, with a reasonable amount of directionality across the soundstage. The tonal balance is good, with no obtrusive sibilance or boominess in the low end. Both English and Spanish dubs are also available, and neither had any noteable issues from the sections checked. While not exactly the same as the Japanese, both are perfectly acceptable from a technical standpoint.

Audio Transfer Grade: A- 

Disc Extras

Full Motion menu with music
Scene Access with 3 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English with remote access
1 Original Trailer(s)
6 Other Trailer(s) featuring The Devil Lady, Zone of the Enders, Colorful, You're Under Arrest, Black Lion, Aura Battler Dunbine
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 credits

Extras Review: ADV's trademarked Jiggle Counter™ is back, but excessive use seems to have broken it, as there are a number of jiggles that are overlooked.

Another collection of production sketches is included, with thirteen more well annotated drawings, including a comparison of the girls' underwear.

Clean opening and closing credits are present, as is the show's trailer.

The previews section contains The Devil Lady, Zone of the Enders, Colorful, You're Under Arrest Mini Specials, Black Lion, and Aura Battler Dunbine.

There was no insert in our review copy.

Extras Grade: C+
 

Final Comments

Burn Up Excess offers giggles and jiggles galore in its final outing. It picks up the plot for the last trilogy of episodes, capping an entertaining series full of risqué comedy, wild action, some interesting twists, and copious eye candy.

Jeff Ulmer 2003-01-20