Burn-Up Excess Vol. #4

By Paul Jacques     October 24, 2003
Release Date: October 20, 2003



What They Say
When an army of mecha cops are put on patrol, it looks as if the women of Team Warrior might be out of a job-until the electronic enforcers start breaking the laws they're supposed to protect. But while the cops are in for repair, the Team finds a connection to Maki's past. This mysterious link to the Black Diamond Case proves dangerous for the entire team as Maki discovers the truth about her team's emergence, and the girls face their most dangerous, deadly enemy ever!

The Review!
The last three episodes of our favorite Police team arresting the bad guys, saving Neo Tokyo, and 75 minutes of the jiggle counter going crazy.

Audio:
I alternated between Japanese and English sound tracks, and both were good. Closer inspection of the audio showed that this series continues to have a sound quality that is higher than normal encoding bitrate, a nice 224Kbps Dolby Stereo.

Video:
No visual problems detected.

Packaging:
A simple menu with the cover shot of Nanvel handcuffed up, which has nothing to do with anything on this disks, but hey, whose complaining? On the back we have seven stills from this volume. On the inside is a single page mauve insert with Nanvel (again). The mauve coloured disk (with Nanvel yet again) completes this coloured co-ordinated volume.

Menu:
The pink & mauve coloured menu has Episode selection, Language, Scene selection and Extras. All links worked and no dead ends were found.

Extras:
The only real extra are the Production Sketches which I found interesting especially the underwear section. Also included is the clean open and close titles, Burn-up trailer, ADV previous and the (cough, cough) infamous Jiggle counter.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
First episode has the new prototype law enforcement officer called the “Mecha Cops” patrolling the beat. At first they do a great job of protecting the community and arresting criminals. The Burn-Up Team dig a little deeper and discover that the Mecha Cops are powered by an illegal substance called a Black Diamond. Of course after a while the Mecha Cops start to go bad, and begin running amok and it’s left up to the girls to pull the plug on the mechanoids. I particularly like the “Robocop” style music they use in this episode, a nice touch. Of course the robots running amok is no coincidence, as we discover that a third party is really behind the trouble. The real question is, is there is a link between the Black Diamonds and Maki’s dead fiancée (Masato)?

Episode 12 sees The Burn-Up Team sneak into the factory where the Mecha Cops are built, in order to discover why they went crazy. At the same time the Chief of Police takes an unusual interest in the case, and tries to dissuade Maki from further investigation. We then go into flashback to see the very beginnings of the Warrior task force and why it was created (it is linked to the Black Diamonds). Later a Fashion designer and her mysterious partner fly into town, but this is just a ruse to sell Black Diamonds to crooked politicians. The Fashion Designer turns out to be the mysterious Corporation lady (Ruby) who has appeared in previous stories, and so at last the story arc that has run through this series starts to come back. Later Maki receives an invitation from someone she believes is dead, and the Burn-Up team head off to follow a crooked delivery, but both situations are traps.

The final episode is the continuation of the story from episode 12. We have the Burn-Up Team trapped and about to be annihilated, and Maki trapped with the ghost from her past that goes by the name of Harry. Meanwhile at the fashion show, a new and more deadly femme Cyborg robot are let loose to start a rampage of death and destruction. The girls do manage to escape the warehouse, and it is left to them to stop the Cyborgs at Neo Tokyo Tower. On a side note, Rio uses a fighting technique on Ruby that I don’t think you’ll find in any combat manual, but may be worth remembering in a tight situation. Meanwhile it is left to Maki to stop Harry, although it will break her heart to do so.

In summary- As ever, the humor, action and jiggly bits make for an unbeatable combination, and an enjoyable series. These Police girls can put the hand-cuffs on me anytime (please).

Features
Japanese Language 2.0,English Language 2.0,English Subtitles,Production sketches ,Clean opening and closing ,Burn Up Excess trailer ,Jiggle Counter(tm)


Review Equipment
JVC 28" Pure Flat Wide Screen TV, Pioneer 454 Progressive Scan code free DVD player, Logitech Z-680 THX DD/DTS receiver & Speakers. Secondary equipment, 21” Sony Trinitron monitor, ATI 9700pro & PowerDVD v4, Creative Audigy 2 & headphones.