Miami Guns Vol-4 (2000)
Animation Production: Kodansha/Toho
Released by: AN Entertainment
Official Website: Miami Guns
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

It’s been a fun ride, but all good thing must come to an end don’t they? In Miami Gun’s case this is especially sad given how great the series has been up to this point and the relatively small number of episodes that were made for it. Regardless, let’s head into Miami City one last time to see how the series concludes and what crazy new adventures and plots our police ladies are getting themselves involved with this time.

Story

"In the final volume of Miami Guns, loose ends (and a scantily clad Yao) get tied up when Nagisa springs her ultimate trap on her unsuspecting rival. The Organization had better be prepared, because two violence prone police ladies, a mysterious lone gunman, a pair of gay lovers and a hyper intelligent alligator are a force to be reckoned with!" -- Official Miami Guns Website

Review

Volume four of AN Entertainment’s release of Miami Guns contains episodes 11 through 13 in the series. These include:

Episode 11: Burning Plan of Revenge
Her last plan for revenge failed miserably, but this time Nagisa Tojo is sure to get her mortal enemy, Miami Guns' police woman, Yao! This time and with the help of the Organization she will free all the dangerous criminals that Yao has apprehended over the course of the series and gather them all together to catch her sworn enemy in a trap that may prove to be the end of our heroine! Will Lu be able to get to her partner in time!?

Episode 12: Shameless Guerilla
After the events from the previous episode Yao quits her job as a police officer in the city of Miami. She's now become a vigilante and plans to hunt down the organization on her own and make them pay for what happened to Nagisa. Armed with her will power, her bank account and Julio Peacemaker, she might just be able to track them down, but will the Police Department stop Yao before she can put her plan into action?

Episode 13: Goodbye, Miami Guns!?
The long awaited finale! Cornered inside a cruise liner that's been taken hostage by the Organization Yao, Lu and Julio Peacemaker are the only ones that can save Miami City from complete destruction as a missile with a powerful warhead is readied for launch! Fight Miami Guns! For the Peace!

After watching episode after episode of mostly self-contained stories with lose connecting threads we finally get a nice three story arch to close up the Miami Guns saga. Even better is that now that the stakes are higher, the show is taken in more serious and dramatic directions than we've seen so far. This helps round off the characters quite nicely for the series finale. In particular Yao finally pulls herself together and we get to see a side of her that was hinted at, but never really shown.

This new Yao emerges as episode 11 begins to unfold and she is captured by Nagisa Tojo's henchmen. Despite everything that is happening she has only one thing in her mind, Nagisa's safety. Thinking that Nagisa has been kidnapped by the criminals in her house Yao is worried about her and threatens anyone who might hurt her, not knowing that in reality she is the one pulling the strings here. This took me by surprise seeing as to how normally Yao is very, very self-centered, yet here she is stepping away from her normal persona, caring for someone else. This move really made her a more likeable character.

The more serious tone to this three part finale also balances what so far had been a very happy go lucky adventure/action series, and made me wonder how it could have improved the series if it would have gone past episode thirteen. In any case, it was a great finale to an amazingly entertaining program and sure enough it went out with a bang. Interestingly they also left the story open for a follow up series, which is yet to materialize so while some subplots are nicely wrapped up, many remain as open as they were from the start.

The comedy and satire elements that became the signature of Miami Guns is still present throughout these episodes, but it's limited, so it 's not all over the place as with the previous DVD's. There were some really good moments here though, especially around the head of the Organization and the hostages when the cruise liner is taken over. Surprisingly there were even potty jokes thrown in. Who could have anticipated that move?!

In the end Miami Guns proved to be the kind of release that everyone should take the time to check out and add to their personal collections. It has just the right mix of comedy, action, weirdness, and characters to make for a memorable TV series. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a better and more defined storyline than what ended up being used.

For these last episodes the production quality was a little better than what we've seen so far, especially in the last episode. Character animation is right on and flows nicely, even in some of the more crowded scenes that feature several characters at once. Colors tended to be darker since the final storyline takes place mostly during the evening hours.

Music was very much on the same level as everything we've heard up to this point. There were no in-show songs that I remember so its all BGM, none of which really stood out aside from the instrumental version of the opening theme. Voice acting was superb on both soundtracks with the entire cast bringing their respective cinematic persona's to life brilliantly.

For this final Miami Guns DVD release AN Entertainment wrapped everything up as perfectly as they started it with similar features including: In-DVD translation notes, image gallery, cast interviews, trailers for other AN Entertainment releases, and original music videos for Miami Guns. Inside the DVD case there is also a hard copy of the translation notes on a nice full color piece.

The DVD quality is amazing as has been the case with volumes one through three, featuring a very bright and sharp looking video transfer as well as a perfectly sounding soundtrack on both the Japanese and English dubs.

Final Thoughts

And so we've reached the end of Miami Guns. This series was a fun-filled ride from beginning to end. We recommend it in its entirety for all anime fans, especially those who enjoy action-filled shows with good-sized servings of comedy.

Now where's the follow up to this show?!

Jeffrey Couto