Burn Up! Anime Review

Burn Up!
ADV Films
Movie - 50 mins. - 1 disc
$14.98 (2009)
$19.98 (2007) w/Plastic Little
$24.98 (2005)
ISBN 702727077128
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Yasunori Ide
Studio - AIC

Synopsis: Young women are being kidnapped and forced into the sex trade all across Tokyo.  The police are helpless to stop the top criminals in the city due to a lack of evidence and the criminals political connections.  A group of police officers take it upon themselves to try and solve this impossible case.

They are:

• Maki is a beautiful, tough-as-nails officer.  She is highly-skilled and not afraid to do what it takes to get the job done - including killing a perp.  She has long blonde hair
• Kenji is a brilliant, up-and-coming officer.  He's smart and driven.  He and Maki are in a relationship
• Reimi is another beautiful and formidable officer.  She is an electronics expert and fiercely jealous of Maki for having a boyfriend.  She has black hair
• Yuka is super-cute and more of a computer nerd than anything else.  Her bright pink-hair adds to her cuteness
• Banba is Kenji's partner and a talented officer.  He doesn't speak much, gets the job done, and has an uncanny knack of unintentionally sneaking up on people

Maki in hot pursuit of a car with a kidnap victim inside

When one of their own is kidnapped the group must assault the most  powerful criminal in Tokyo - McCoy! Lucky for them the police arsenal includes skin-tight body armor and a tank.  It's a race against time to save their friend and defeat McCoy's top assassin!

A group of kidnapped girls - the pink-haired one looks familiar

Pros: Brief nudity, mature themes, a bunch of action, some fan-service

Maki takes a shower on Kenji's RV before they get ready to get down.
Kenji, my man, you are one smooth operator!

Cons: Short, story is pretty silly and unrealistic, animation is dated

Maki gets ready to make her move!

Mike Tells It Straight: Burn Up! is an older OVA (original video animation) released back in 1991.  It spawned several related titles - Burn Up W, Burn Up Excess, and Burn Up Scramble.  I was expecting it to be much better considering the numerous spinoffs, but it was a truly mediocre movie.  I'm not really sure what to call it - too short to be a movie and too long to be a proper OVA (which are typically more than one episode with each being 20-25 minutes long).

Reimi shoots 'em up with some serious firepower

Not a complete waste due to a few good moments of comedy, action, and some very brief fan-service.  Unless you're a big fan of the other Burn Up titles then I wouldn't recommend picking this title up.


TO BUY and Recommendations: