We start off with the show’s story. Essentially an all-new background, Scramble still centers itself around Rio Kinezono, a blonde & buxom cop, and her life in the police force. Along with her comrades Maya & Lilica, they go around doing various jobs, like protecting a princess, and general duties for the public. That’s really the only original aspects that were carried over from W & Excess, as the story in Scramble is much more loose in terms of episode structure (only the last 4 episodes are supposed to be watched in a precise order), and it doesn’t seem quite as intense. There isn’t as much of a threat from the villains this time around, and there aren’t as many intense moments as there was in past Burn Up series.
The characters have also been heavily changed. The only one that hasn’t been tampered with (At least not on a massive level) is Rio. She’s still a physically attractive fighter (this time around she can dodge bullets), and she still has a temper, but she doesn’t get as crazy during social interactions. A somewhat big change is why she look for a man: in Burn Up W & Excess, Rio desired a man so she can get easy money and leave her job, in Scramble she wants a man just for the sake of falling in love. Because of this desire, she has far more belief in horoscopes and lucky colors, but in the end this still doesn’t help.
Maya & Lilica have been changed much more than Rio, often in ways that might baffle long time Burn Up fans. Maya herself is still a gun nut, but she’s shorter and doesn’t quite have as large a chest as Rio, and she also has grey-black hair (The original Maya had green hair). Because of these physical changes, she more closely resembles a young girl, rather than a young woman. Her personality has changed much as well: she doesn’t have the sexual attraction towards firearms that her W & Excess counterparts had, has the bad habit of pointing out Rio’s shortcomings, and has the strange habits of collecting toy bears & automatic pistols (She names her pistols in her collection, by the way).
Lilica has received the most changes in terms of core characters. In Burn Up W & Excess, she was a cheerfully energetic computer and tech expert who almost always had a smile on her face. In Scramble, Lilica has become a shy, insecure, and slightly clumsy psychic. On top of that, she becomes more uninhibited and somewhat daffy when she’s had a drink or two. Her shyness & insecurity are the personalities most often seen by the viewer, but there are times where she rolls up her sleeves, and gets as tough as the others.
Even the side characters have been changed. The commander of the Warrior Team has been reduced to a background character, and doesn’t have much screen time, save for some episodes towards the end. Yuji, while physically similar to his previous counterparts, has gone from a perverted low-level policeman, to a surprisingly successful ladies man & head chief of the police. Luckily, he still provides the comic relief of the show, mainly consisting of his attempts to seduce Rio.
Voice acting has also changed for Burn Up Scramble. Unlike the previous Burn Ups, Scramble was done by Geneon, not the typical ADV Films (R.I.P.). Because of this change, none of the original voice actors can be heard in this show. Despite that fact, the voice acting manages to remain consistent across the board. This time around there’s a lot of good voice actors, and only a handful of okay & bad voice actors.
The animation quality has also been changed drastically. The previous 3 Burn Up shows were all hand-drawn & supplemented by computers, but Scramble seems to lean more towards computer work, with hand-drawn elements to smooth out some edges. Because of the computer work, the show doesn’t quite has as much of a crude look & feel, although there are times where things don’t completely look as they should. These moments are minor, and take a little bit of work to find.
One thing that really hasn’t changed from the previous Burn Up series (Burn Up Excess, to be specific) is the amount of episodes, and how long they last. We’ve got 12 episodes available, and they last about 22 to 24 minutes each. Unlike Mouse, which had the same amount of episodes but lasted only 3 hours, the length of time in each episodes makes watching them consecutively a longer affair.
The last thing about Burn Up Scramble I’ll talk about is how hard it is to find. Despite coming out a little later than Burn Up Excess, finding copies on Amazon can be some work. There’s definitely copies of volume 1 (New copies start at $2, and used copies start at $1.50), volumes 2 & 3 aren’t as numerous. Perhaps the most difficult thing to find is all 3 volumes together in one package. At the time of this writing, there are only two complete collections available for purchase, both of which are new. The first costs $149.99, and the second is $220.48.The show is worth money, but it’s not worth hundreds.
Burn Up Scramble gets 7 to 7.5 out of 10.
See you all next week, when I’ll put on some wintery clothes, and dive into a December filled with goodies & surprises. Until then, stay Otaku!
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I know I said that I went back to my old schedule, but since it’s the holiday season, I’ve decided to shower you all with reviews & other holiday goodies.
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