OH NO! It’s the Dirty Pa…. I mean the Lovely Angels! For that is the actual team code name of Kei & Yuri, more notoriously known as the Dirty Pair on every planet in any galaxy. Wherever they go, whatever mission they are on, no matter how well-meaning they are, their luck follows them and wreaks havoc along the way, dragging poor Mughi - their pet of sorts - right behind them. Yet, they always manage to get the mission done successfully, even if it means nearly collapsing the building they live in!
Over the years they have been righting wrongs in a few different iterations. In the beginning they first came about in 1979 in SF Magajin in serialized form and later the first book, Daatipea no Daibouken aka Great Adventures of the Dirty Pair, in 1980. Written by Takachiho Haruka and illustrated by Yasuhiko Yoshikau, the Dirty Pair was a mix of science fiction and detective stories. Since then it hasn’t deviated far from the original novels in each of it‘s reincarnations, but still each new form of the Dirty Pair has been it’s own beast. It wasn’t long after the first novel that the Dirty Pair made their way into their own TV anime series. This is thanks largely in part due to their appearance in Crusher Joe: The Movie in 1983, another creation of Takachiho. Even though it was only a short 30 second cameo of them in a movie of their own at a 22nd century drive-in theater, it was enough to get fans clamoring for more. As luck would have it, they were able to get the execs at the TV network to give it a shot. Thus Dirty Pair TV was born in 1985. But that’s where the little history lesson ends, this is about Dirty Pair TV, no further. If you want more, sit down and be patient, I’ll tell you were to go for all the Dirty Pair info you could ever want later.
Dirty Pair TV opens with “Ru-ru-ru-russian Roulette” performed by Nakahara Meiko, who also did the ED, “Space Fantasy”. It’s just the kind of song to get a person hooked and interested in just what they are about to see. It’s catchy, jumpy & exciting and also fits the style of the show, as well as the decade, quite nicely. You will enjoy watching the opening each and every time as it serves as a quick reminder of just what to expect from the series - an exciting romp through space that sprinkles trouble, danger and destruction along the way. As for the ED, “Space Fantasy”, it’s the kind of song that brings you down from the excitement that two beautiful women running amuck in space can cause. But only enough to prepare you for another episode, of course. As for the music in between, well, it works and does the job it needs to do, but I don’t think you’ll be left with any impression of it afterwards. For the most part you will be too busy watching things go boom, caused by a pair of scantily clad women.
Dirty Pair, as they are known, is an apt name for the pair whose results end up dirty. Throughout the entire series it’s a reoccurring joke for them to correct those around them that their name is the Lovely Angels, for it seems no matter where they go their reputation precedes them. A reputation of destruction unlike any other, yet always accomplishing the mission goal. Kei, the red headed tomboy, & Yuri, the blue haired girlie girl, work for the WWWA (World Welfare Works Association), mostly called the 3WA. The 3WA is an organization that helps members of the United Galactica federation with what ever problems they may have by sending out “trouble consultants” to try and take care of the problems. This is where our heroines come in, they are the “trouble consultants”, the Lovely Angels. As the series goes on they end up on case after case that no one else is willing to touch. Yet, these girls love to party and parting doesn’t come cheap when you’re the Dirty Pa… I mean the Lovely Angels. So, what does their boss do? The same any boss does to any employee, bribes them with a big pay day, that they just so happen to manipulate in their favor. Once they get involved they are in it until the end, no matter the consequences, no matter the cost, even if they cause more monetary damage than the pay they get for completing the job!
It should be obvious to anyone who watches Dirty Pair TV that Kei & Yuri are polar opposites, an Odd Couple you wouldn’t mind getting in between. Thanks to this, their verbal assaults on each other are the icing on a double dipped cone of vanilla and chocolate. If this was a series that was purely episodic with no character development or genuine stories, albeit old rehashed tropes, neither I nor you would be here right now. As the series progresses it is clear that Kei and Yuri are getting better at what they do, since little by little less carnage is being left in their wake, but still carnage. Also, we are treated to their personal lives a few times and those small moments are a real insight to who they are. They really are more than the boy chasing, gun toting, walking deconstruction company they appear to be on the surface. At the end of each episode you really get that feeling of everything having worked out in the end, even if it’s less than perfect.
Once again though, I have to say that sadly the series was cut short and had an abrupt end. Like many series of it’s time, while highly successful with the fans, it still didn’t produce big enough numbers for the men in the tall buildings. So we are left with 26 episodes of the TV series, which is much more than what was typical of series cut short back then. The last two episodes were actually released as an OVA. Thankfully, Dirty Pair has lived on, from the OVAs, movies, Flash and even an American comic, your favorite Lovely Angels kept popping back up. Now I have to tell you the really bad news, Dirty Pair TV is the only incarnation of the Dirty Pair that has never seen a US license. When you consider that the TV series goes into details of Kei and Yuri so much you can understand why it’s such a shame. So what is the discerning fan to do, you ask? You’ll have to get dirty yourself and go hunting. I promise you it’s out here, in this madness of floating information known as the internet. However, if you are patient, there is the chance (however slim) that it may get licensed sometime in the future now that complete series releases are becoming the norm for anime here in the US. For now though, if you want to learn more about the Dirty Pa…. Lovely Angels, head on over to the greatest Dirty Pair fan site ever, Elenore City. See, I told you I’d tell you where to go for more.
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