Burn Up W

Summary: >

When the city has problems that they can no longer handle, the mayor calls up team Warrior to get things done. Usually soon after additional budget allocations have to be made to pay for the cost of the destruction they leave behind. It's a good thing there's only 6 of them!

There's Lilika, the spoiled rich girl who had everything, but got bored with it so decided to become an uber computer hacker for the police instead. Maki, the woman with an iron will who acts as the brains and quite often ends up refereeing the team and keeping them from leveling the city. Rio is the all around action kung-fu babe. Maya is the gun toting maniac who is manly with the police so she can lawfully shoot at people. Nanvel the science wiz who always has a new invention for the team to try out. And Yugi, the guy who is... hopeless, and basically drives them all around.

Team Warrior is called up to handle a job of "terrorists" that take over a hotel, but these guys don't seem pro enough to have pulled off a heist of this nature. Then there was the abduction of a virtual idol. These don't seem related until there is an assault on the police station itself. The virtual drug syndicate is pulling the strings, but they may have finally crossed paths with the branch of law enforcement that will be able to stop them.

Thoughts: >

The original Burn Up was an action based anime that was a bit too serious, and on top of that didn't have much of a plot. Burn Up W has little in common with the original, except a few passing design ideas. Burn Up W is a simple formula of police babes, big boobs and action. It lacks substance, but is more focused on fun, and is one of those titles I've always liked.

The character that made the title for me was Maya. She's a gun maniac who is only in team Warrior for more opportunities to (legally) shoot at people and blow stuff up. She's rarely able to do so, and is continuously frustrated; barely able to restrain herself from random rampages. When she's finally unleashed, doles out destruction with glee.

The first two episodes are action comedy, with the second two being serious and dark. Surprisingly Burn Up W pulls that off pretty well. The animation is decent but not exceptional for a 1990s OVA. The character designs are unusual for this vintage of anime, with the females lanky and exaggerated. The dub is an early ADV effort; poor but mostly tolerable.

Burn Up W is decent fluff that's a lot of fun with good action, but not exceptional at anything. It's not entirely conclusive (continued in Burn Up Excess), but it wraps up what it needs to well enough. One of those titles I always liked, but I'm not sure why.

Screen Caps: >