Directed & released in 1996 by Hiroshi Negishi, and dubbed in 2001 & 2004 (the 04 was a remastered re-release) by ADV Films (R.I.P.), Burn Up W tells the story of Team Warrior, Neo-Tokyo's elite police force. The girls composed of the team represent are the toughest that the police have. At the beginning of the first episode, a group of terrorists take over a hotel where a group of key political figures in the Japanese government are meeting. At first, the regular police are trying to get in, but are held at bay by the terrorist's threats.
Meanwhile, Rio, who first appeared in the original Burn Up, is stuck at the station doing boring paper work. After waiting to do...something, she is finally called upon to perform her duties as the top member of Team Warrior. There is more to the terrorist attack at the hotel than meets the eyes, but revealing it here would ruin it for you. Suffice it to say, the twist at the beginning of the show carries itself to the end, and it'll leave you on the edge of your seat the entire time.
A note before the positive and the negatives. Burn Up W has a few faint connections to the original Burn Up. The original show isn't required to watch before Burn Up W, save for understanding how the two shows are connected. If fact, you could even ignore Burn Up if you wanted, but that imply that you're a masochist. That last comment doesn't work, does it?
To start things off, Burn Up W's first big positive is the rush of adrenaline & themes you get in each episode. All of them are loaded with guns, explosions, some robots, comedy (especially related to the fan service), and lots of female sex appeal and fan service. You even get to see some blood as the girls get in up close with the bad guys as the pummel the snot out of them. This show is not for kids, nor for the faint of hearted.
Burn Up W's second biggest positive are the girls that compose Team Warrior and their characters. Rio is the pointman of the team, and the one that gets a chunk of the screen time. Rio's also a blonde, hot and gifted in all the right places, and can't really hold onto money that shows up in her hands. Because of her money troubles, she's constantly looking for a wealthy guy to get hitched to and get out of her police job.
The other girls got a bit of screen time as well. Maya is a lot like Rio. She's got funky colored hair (green, to be more specific), and she hot. Maya is the sniper and gun nut of the team, and is a bit of a wacko. She joined the team because she wanted to shoot as often as she could, and if she doesn't get to fire off a gun, she feels something that must be similar to being sexual frustrated. In fact, the bigger the gun, the more she likes it. Lilica is the short, pink-haired cutie of the team. She's the master of computers, and can hack into just about anything. Nanvel rounds out Team Warrior as the tanned tech girl. She and Maya both have the hots for their respective areas, as Nanvel has a thing for mechanical stuff and robots. It's kinda hilarious, actually.
Burn Up W's 3rd positive is it's time length. At 4 episodes, it's a quick show that you can watch in one sitting. Some people might not like a short show, but if you want a quick anime fix, then 4 episodes isn't so bad. Surprisingly, the story fits into the length of time, and covers just about everything that's shown. What little is left over is saved for the sequel, but that for another review.
The 4rth and final plus to Burn Up W is it's story. The first episode sets up the events yet to come, the second episode continues things along while at the same time providing a bit of humor and slapstick, and the third & fourth episodes conclude it all, and provide a good twist at the end. Like I said during the show's time length, things somehow fit into 4 episodes, while leaving a little left over to go into Burn Up Excess.
It's sad to say that despite what Burn Up W has going for it, it has a bit going against it. Firstly, the show can be a bit difficult to find. As usual, I always get my DvDs from Amazon, and they usually have a good selection, whether it's used or new. In this case, my copy was used. New copies, at least as far as the remastered versions are concerned, are a bit expensive. They start at 30 dollars, which really isn't too bad, and end up at a whopping 90 dollars. God only knows why some of the copies are 90 dollars. Used DvDs far much better. Despite not finding many copies, used copies of the remastered edition start at 5 dollars, and used copies of the original 2001 release start at close to 2 dollars. It's rather strange, actually.
Secondly, Burn Up W isn't as good looking as many 90s animes tend to be. Truthfully, saying that the show isn't good looking is a little hurtful. The show itself seems to look a little rough around the edges, despite being remastered. What makes it more strange is that things far away in a scene seem more clear, while things up close (especially characters) look particularly jagged.
Burn Up W gets a 6.5 out of 10. It successfully mixes together a bunch of themes, the girls are fun to watch and fun to look at, the show doesn't drag on and on, and it has a good story, but copies are damaging to one's wallet, and it doesn't look as good as a lot of other 90s anime.
I'd like to make a quick apology. This review, compared to the others I've done so far, is a bit on the low quality scale. At a later time, I'd do a better one. Until then, stay Otaku.
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