Miami Guns Vol-1 (2000)
Animation Production: Kodansha/Toho
Released by: AN Entertainment
Official Website: Miami Guns
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Cop/detective programs are a long staple of entertainment not only in the U.S but also in Japan where programs like Tokusou Saizensen (which ran for 509 episodes), Playgirl, and Madcop 80, have ruled the airwaves for many years. Naturally the popularity of the genre has also extended to the anime medium, where titles such as You’re Under Arrest enjoyed great success.

One show that came about as a result of the interest in the cop/detective genre is Miami Guns, which unlike many of its counterparts takes a more comedic and satirical approach to the typical police TV series, resulting in one of the most fun action anime series I've seen in the past couple of years!

Story

"Spoiled rich girl Yao decides to join the Miami police force to enjoy car chases, gunfights and wanton destruction. The psychotic and not-too-bright girl is partnered with Lu Amano, the soft-spoken and sharp-tongued daughter of the police chief. Together the dirty duo clean up the streets of Miami and take on a mysterious crime syndicate known only as 'The Organization'. Slapstick comedy, risqué action, and outrageous parody ensue featuring side-splitting parodies of pop culture icons including Jean Reno's Leon: The Professional, Detective Conan, Speed Racer, Evangelion, Wacky Races, and a world famous extended homage to the hit anime series Initial D." -- Official Miami Guns Website

Review

Volume one of AN Entertainment’s release of Miami Guns contains the first 4 episodes in the series. These include:

Episode 1: The Miami Bank Robbery
The story opens as a masked man attempts to rob a local bank, only to be outgunned by everyone inside the building. His robbery attempt foiled, he takes a baby hostage and flees to the top floor of the building, where he contacts the police with demands for $500 million dollars and a helicopter to escape from the area. Responding to the situation the Miami Police show up in full force to deal with the situation. Now it will be up to Lu and Yao, our two featured heroines, to save the day!

Episode 2: All About the Miami Guns!
Finally! The series recap!? In this very strange episode we get to see a series recap of things that never really happened during the actual production and references to the original Manga the series is based on, alongside background information on most of the main cast and the circumstances behind their jobs and special skills.

Episode 3: Spy! Miami Girls School
Our police duo go undercover at a local school to investigate some strange occurrences. However what they discover is much more than they could have anticipated! Will they be able to save the school’s students?

Episode 4: Miami Mountain Pass Go Go Go!
U nderground street racers are being attacked for no reason and all that the attackers’ victims can remember is the word “rabbit”. To find out what’s happening our police heroines are given the task of investigating the situation. Armed with Yao’s special custom car it’s time to hit the streets and race for justice.

I’ve only heard of this show before I watched it this weekend so going into Miami Guns all I knew was that it was a comedy/action show that satirized many populars programs, movies, and pop culture as a whole. After watching it I can see what that meant, but I had no idea that the show was also going to be so much fun to watch!

While the overall formula here is a familiar one, (two cops with different styles and personalities forced to work together) the execution gives it a refreshing feel that makes the cast very likeable and interesting. The setting also helps distinguish Miami Guns from other anime cop series, although there were many liberties taken with the location. This just adds to the overall fun of the show in my opinion however.

The episodes contained in this DVD are for the most part stand alone stories that superficially don’t seem to be connected together, although I suspect something more may be going on in the background that may not be obvious yet that ties all the episodes together. Each one (with the exception of episode 2) deals with a different case that Yao and Lu must work together on to solve and usually involve some very strange circumstances or opportunities for our heroines to display their skills and expertise.

Each episode also serves as the basis for parodying other shows and icons of popular culture, such as the much talked-about Initial D parody in episode 4, which goes as far as recreating the computer rendered cars and camera shots of that series to great effect. However not all of the references in the program are as obvious and in your face as that one, with many more obscure ones being used to make fun of classic shows like Speed Racer and Eight Man. Episode 2 in particular has a lot of good ones. It might take multiple viewings before one uncovers all the references in Miami Guns

As far as comedies go satirical material can only take you so far, therefore the creative team behind Miami Guns made sure that there was a solid core to the show via its characters. Lu and Yao may be close to your standard police partner formula on paper, but when it comes time to the execution they come across as very interesting characters that are extremely fun to watch as they play off of each other's personality.

Lu is a level headed officer with years of experience under her belt. She is calm, reserved and collected, always focused on how to best approach the cases she finds herself involved in. Lu is also the daughter of the Miami Police chief, which sometimes brings about some funny situations. Yao is the only daughter of the head of one of Japan’s biggest conglomerates, and typically acts like the spoiled child she is. She is driven by the desire to be super cool and popular, typically being very theatric in her approach to solving the cases she and Lu are assigned to.

Regardless of their very different backgrounds and motivations these two play very well off of each other and despite their outward behavior you can see that they both care for each other and to one degree or the other respect each other’s methods and way of approaching each situation.

Production-wise this show is well done. Produced for a year 2000 airing on TV the animation is technically sound, with a smooth frame rate and a very colorful palette of muted colors (which seems to be norm nowadays for all anime productions). The CGI animation in episode 4 was effective albeit a bit on the plain side, which I would imagine was done to match what was done in Initial D.

The soundtrack to the series is solid, with the opening theme being a particularly fun listen. The BGM was good and helped round out the visuals, although there really wasn’t any one stand out piece. The voice acting was great and made the characters stand out as their actors filled them with life and unique personalities that energize the screen.

This being one of AN Entertainment's first domestic releases I have to say I'm blown away by the amazing job they did handling the series for its U.S. release. The video transfer was perfectm I really couldn't detect any issues with the colors or overall quality. The layout of the DVD menus was engaging and easy to use. The audio was very well mixed and came through clearly on both tracks.

Extras on the DVD included a really neat cultural notes section that reminded me of Animeigo's linear notes inserts, except that it was contained within the DVD and allowed you to look at the scenes to which it refers, which is quite handy (these notes are also included in a nice color piece inside the DVD case). A character guide and image gallery section are also available as are original Japanese trailers for Miami Guns and previews for the second Miami Guns DVD and Risky Safety. All in all this was an amazing package by the team at AN Entertainment.

Final Thoughts

Loved it!! Miami Guns is some of the most fun anime I've seen in a long time. Very highly recommended for all anime fans! The quality of the show put together with the great release that was put together for it by AN Entertainment make this one a can't miss title!

Jeffrey Couto