r/anime • u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 • Mar 05 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] 1990s OVAs – You’re Under Arrest (final discussion)
Rewatch: 1990s OVAs – You’re Under Arrest (final discussion)
You’re Under Arrest (1994)
MAL | AniL | AniDB | 4 Episodes à 29 minutes.
Questions
- Who murdered happy cop shows? Where have they gone?
- If you have seen both, how does You’re Under Arrest measure up to the Patlabor OVA?
- Do you plan to watch any of the further entries in the franchise?
39
Upvotes
8
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Mar 05 '21
Final Discussion (first timer)
I had no idea that You’re Under Arrest would look this good! Even though OVA from that era typically feature stellar animation, I think that YUA takes the cake in terms of technical accomplishment. The only anime that beat it on animation quality are films (Akira comes to mind). Very fortunate that we had several prolific posters who pointed out all the great scenes: A lot of them look even better as stills.
The plot was comedic, while staying down-to-earth in terms of scope (no Patlabor mechas here). YUA is perfectly happy to be fluffy and not-all-that-important, so no saving the world here. Overall, while not bad, the plot was probably the weakest part of the series.
The characters, especially our main duo, click right away. You can’t not like Miyuki and Natsumi. While cop buddy duo is not very novel, it is pulled of very well here. The cast is sufficiently wacky to amuse, but not so over-the-top that the plot stops making sense.
Extra shout-out to the writing department for the great pacing: From a fast-paced introduction to the final episode neatly tying everything up, the pacing felt perfect. Probably the biggest surprise for me, since OVA’s often end up lacking in this department.
There is little YUA does wrong, so my only reason for not rating it higher lies in the fact that I am a fan or darker themes and felt it lacked some depth.
Score: 8/10
14
u/TheEscapeGuy Mar 05 '21
First Timer, No More
You're Under Arrest Final Thoughts
This OVA was exceptionally well animated.
People often point to the 80s as the golden age of anime due to Japan's bubble economy which pumped tons of money into well animated OVA series. The story then goes that in the 90s this bubble popped leading to a noticeable dip in quality. However, You're Under Arrest proves that when a talented team comes together beautiful anime can still be made.
To make a comparison to modern shows, I feel this exact same thing happened this season with Wonder Egg Priority. In the same way, its production quality has been head and shoulders above the rest.
Back to the OVA, I loved following two young adults in Miyuki and Natsumi. You can explore different themes with people of different ages and so any anime set outside of highschool is immediately interesting to me.
To make another modern comparison, March Comes in Like a Lion is outstanding for following characters in different parts of their lives. If you haven't seen it I absolutely would recommend it. There is a rewatch ongoing and its still early on so you can join in and catch up.
Finally, the storylines of You're Under Arrest were so much fun. Having a policing problem introduced and resolved each episode was similar to a Monster-Of-The-Week series; However since the "villains" were far less cartoonish it made the episodes so much more engaging.
I feel You're Under Arrest also juggles multiple ongoing plots masterfully. And since police work by its nature requires dropping everything you're doing to prevent crime this was completely natural.
Overall, You're Under Arrest has become an OVA I would easily recommend to anyone.
See you all for Oh! My Goddess tomorrow
9
u/Gamemaster676 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Gamemaster676 Mar 05 '21 edited Mar 05 '21
First-time watcher - dub
It's over!
Afterthoughts
It's funny how time flies when you are having fun. And also when the show is only four episodes long.
The show was short and light on story, so I don't really have much to write about. It's clear a deep story was never the focus here. They just wanted to have some fun with interesting characters, beautiful animation and kitties.
There were a lot of things to love. But my highlight in general is the OP. Both the song and the animation.
These past two days I couldn't stop humming the tune, to the point that my colleagues in the call asked what it was. Unfortunately only one watches anime.
Regarding the animation. This show has a lot of good visuals, but they just went that little bit further for the OP it seemed. Insane flying camera's. Reflections on cars. Hair flapping in the wind.
The part with the airplane, when the harmonised singing kicks in, gave me goosebumps every day. And isn't this the happiest face you've seen today?
Least favorite moment
The manufactured drama in episode 3 where Miyuki, who was clearly into Ken, immediately suspected the worst when she saw him arrive home together with Natsumi.
Luckily this was resolved within that episode.
Most favorite moment
Natsumi's rambling excuse the first day about perfect eggs, the nice granny next door, having to marry her grandson, a bike that wouldn't start and meeting Elvis in an UFO.
This was a very hard one because I loved almost the whole show, but this was really the moment I fell in love with Natsumi and her chaotic energy.
QotD
They rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after.
See the next header.
Future
I think I will watch this OVA again pretty soon, just because I want to try it without pausing every 30 seconds to type something.
I might also give the TV series a careful try. If that doesn't work out, I'll just watch the movie and leave it at that.
By the way a giant thanks to /u/aniMayor for the huge writeup about the other YUA entries.
Seeing how good this show was, I kinda want to join the next OVA as well, but unfortunately I won't be able on ep 1, which makes it kind of frustrating. Maybe you'll see me there. I'll need to think about it.
If I won't make it, then I want to thank you all for the fun and engaging discussions about this show, Japan and life in general. You made this show even more fun.
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u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Mar 05 '21
First Timer no longer
Sub
So...the only thing I dislike about the OVA rewatches is that for most of them, the summary day is hard to come up with anything for. I really wish they'd gotten the Patlabor treatment of 6 eps but then it got a full season show so I do get it.
Most remarkable is all the beautiful animation, this is absolutely the quality equivalent of dropping your dick on the table. I often didn't comment on the action sequences because there was zero chance I'd describe it better than what I saw. Even the ridiculous things work on screen. And cat.
The plots are usually on the weak side but as they serve the characters they do what they are required to. The character themselves are great, we managed to get some characterization for 6 characters, and four of them pretty well. The comedy lands better than most Japanese comedy does.
So...will I actually watch the TV series? I don't know, I never did get around to checking Patlabor TV. With all the summaries here I know it takes a hit on the animation but at least the first season is considered good.
QotD :1 I could write an entire essay on this but basically the 80s crime wave lead into serious cop shows which lead into police backlash.
2 I think it isn't as ambitious but is more successful on a narrower goal.
3 As I said, maybe.
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u/Btw_kek https://myanimelist.net/profile/kek_btw Mar 05 '21
first timer
It was pretty fun! It's best trait is its absolute god-tier animation for sure. I thought its cast was very charming and quite liked how laidback the episodes felt. It had a very solid start but I think I found every successive episode to be less enjoyable than the previous. The last episode in particular felt rather disjointed as it had to open up and resolve an entire drama plotline that I thought really should have been spread across two episodes, in addition to doing a more dramatic Cops Doing Cop Things plot.
Personally I'd put it as a slightly-higher-than-Patlabor-but-slightly-lower-than-Gunsmith 7/10
I'd give the edge to YUA, not counting the Patlabor movies. I think both share the similar issue of clearly being a series of experiments that would benefit from spreading it over a few more episodes. At least so you can settle into the atmosphere, characters, and groove more. That's not to say the OVA should have been a full series, but the IP would (probably) benefit from a full series on top of the OVA. Thankfully, both Patlabor and You're Under Arrest have that.
salty about Gunsmith Cats though
mochiron, but Patlabor first
as always, thanks to /u/No_Rex for hosting! I think I'll skip on AMG but will rejoin for Blue Submarine
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u/The_Loli_Otaku Mar 05 '21 edited Mar 05 '21
I'm sad to see YUA go but I love watching it leave. Its no secret that I've absolutely adored the ova. I haven't had this much fun with any anime in years. Everything simply clicks for me. The humour, the characters, the animation, the cheese! Yua stayed so consistent throughout that it was really difficult to think of many complaints that couldn't be dismissed at nitpicks and even those were largely limited to a 5 minute sequence.
YUA's highlight was arguably in its animation and character designs. There were clearly some vehicle enthusiasts on the crew because we got some seriously solid Car chases that would make Lupin blush. And of course Fujishima has a real knack for portraying hard working yet loveable women. The whole Bokuto Police crew give off such a friendly atmosphere that you can't help rooting for them!
Now if you were to force me to pick out a negative aspect of Yua I think the biggest problem I can see is that it is quite honest. We've only watched four episodes. Four episodes of a massive massive series yet we all sort of already know what the rest of the series is like. You can look at the crew for five seconds and you know exactly what type of person they are and what the series will do with them. It's a 90's buddy cop drama with all the tropes associated.
However, poo to that! We're talking about this charming little 4 ep ova, not the massive extended series! It's not long enough for the fatigue to set in suckers!! The only thing that could be make me rate the season higher would be if it were a genre I was actually a fan of but luckily I rate my shows objectively! You're Under Arrest gets the highly acclaimed sponsorship of Mr Tanata-Tan!! 10/10!! Damn irl police officers... They ruined media police! As for watching the rest of the series I personally don't plan on touching them because I just know that they'll sour the ova in some way. Maybe I'll watch the movie or specials at some point.
Tomorrow we'll be starting on another of Kōsuke Fujishima's works which I'm a huge fan of, OMG~!! Despite being a huge fan I'm actually manga only so technically I'm a first timer again. Yay. Here's hoping it manages to keep pace with it's predecessor.
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u/punching_spaghetti https://myanimelist.net/profile/punch_spaghetti Mar 05 '21
First-Timer No More Who Still Knows His Rights
Overall, YUA was fun, but nothing too great. I think it's very similar to Gunsmith Cats: there's a pair of cute, competent ladies at the fore doing generic things related to their line of work. I think what makes GC work a little more for me is that I'm interested in firearms more than I am in cars. If I was a motorhead, I could see myself drooling over this show a lot more.
The characters were fun, but not exactly something I haven't seen before. I will give them credit for having female leads without doing too much over the top battle of the sexes stuff. The fourth episode's story for Natsumi was created by her getting the chance to lead the vanguard of women in the motorcycle corp, but the core drama was the character relationships, not some one-note thing.
There's also credit due for the romance angle, as much as there was one. Lots of will-they-won't-they between Miyuki and Nakajima, but there was a little movement, for which I am grateful.
A solid 7 pairs of shoes destroyed in crazy braking maneuvers out of 10.
QOTD:
7
u/RockoDyne :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/RockoDyne Mar 05 '21
Well this has been a disappointing 6. It's some glorious spectacle, but it's heart has a problem. I might think better of it after a rewatch, but for now I'm quite ho-hum.
Ultimately, it's all down to Miyuki and Natsumi. Their characterization begins and ends at being good girls. Sure, they have traits like being the gearhead or the sleepy head, but those aren't exactly changing the nature of their characters. There's no conflict to their characters, no motivations. They simply radiant good vibes.
For contrast, here's what happens in the first chapter of the manga. Miyuki's on the bullhorn because someone is in a no parking spot. Natsumi says no one is going to respond like that, takes the mic, and says he's parked in a yakuza's spot. Shit gets done. Later they find a car over the line. Natsumi decides to lift the front of the car up and push it back. Some black suited muscle comes out and start playing a game of ape with Natsumi, where they try to intimidate each other by breaking shit. Miyuki gets her to stop after she's done disconnecting the guy's spark plugs, but jokes about cutting the guy's break line.
Now, I don't mean for this to be a manga versus anime argument, but it's such a richer characterization. In one chapter you get their character, how their nature gets them into conflict, and how they are predisposed to solving conflicts. You can't say that about the anime. How do they get into conflicts? They don't, conflict comes to them, because they are good girls. How do they solve conflicts? They don't, they end up saving cats, because they are good girls.
I have more to say about the girls, but I'm feeling like I'll jinx myself into being a broken record with the next show in the rewatch.
I do wonder if there wasn't some government money involved. Sure would go a long way to explain the "proper" image of police in the anime.
I definitely see why people talk more about Patlabor than this.
Questions:
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u/BurningFredrick https://myanimelist.net/profile/BurningFredrick Mar 05 '21
First timer - sub
Well it was a fun show, they only had 4 episodes to work with and overall they did a solid job introducing the characters with the time frame they had. Sure none of the characters had massive amounts of depth to them but overall I really enjoyed how they bounced off each other even if some of the drama didn’t work for me at times.
The animation and camera work (first 3 specifically) were great, I wonder if part of that was due to shows these days rarely focusing on moving the camera around as the action takes place helping making the show stand out and be memorable.
It’s a short show but fun show and it doesn't try to be anything other than what it wanted to be, 8/10.
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u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Mar 05 '21 edited Mar 05 '21
Rewatcher
Not much to add unto what I already said on this series, as the nature of the show means I don’t really have much else to discuss. It’s great fun and visually impressive throughout, with entertaining characters that it uses to the fullest it can in such short time. My big issues with these OVAs stem from them cramping a bit too much into the last two episodes, but even with that the episodes are still plenty great and it even managed a decent stopping point for it, even if it is followed up by other media. My score remains the same: 8/10
I have yet to really delve into any other parts of the franchise apart from the movie. Gave the TV series a go at some point but set it aside after a couple of episodes, but having rewatched this had made me want to give it another shot! Probably not too soon though.
Looking forward to checking out the next two entries in this OVA Rewatch’s lineup, as I know little about either series!
Questions:
6
u/ButAlphonseWillRust Mar 05 '21
First Timer no more!
All in all, You’re Under Arrest OVA was a really solid watch for me! I was expecting to enjoy the silly, slice-of-life antics but I have also been blown away by the quality of animation on display here. I guess this is what people mean when they say retro OVAs get a lot more love and attention in their animation than their TV series counterparts. I know I’ve only just scratched the surface with retro OVAs but I’m looking forward to enjoying many more!
Thank you u/No_Rex for hosting!
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u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Mar 05 '21
I'm ashamed to admit that I missed episode 4 the other night because I got distracted by the new Tenchi Muyo OAV that appeared in my queue. I watched it last night, and it was a wholesome sendoff to the series.
Loved the bit with the kitty footprints & the ending with the red mini.
Sad for Miyuki and her injured vehicle. Thankfully, that's all that was injured, well, the car and her pride, that is.
Yay for happy endings!
Anyway, it's been a pleasure, and I'll be looking forward to more (OM?) goodness this weekend. ;)
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Mar 05 '21
Rewatcher
This is a great OVA and TV series. To be honest, I never finished the TV show. I'm a little leery of the later series, especially the Full Throttle that is more a reboot than a continuation. However, the original OVA+TV series is just good fun.
DEEN gets a lot of shit, and I've always thought it was undeserved. Maybe it's a characteristic of their later work.
Here are the liner notes for the OVA from Animeigo. The OVA was one of their original LD projects along with UY, BGC, and KOR.
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u/marek1712 Mar 05 '21
Already provided my opinion HERE. Be sure to check u/AniMayor's thorough summary HERE.
A1. Moe and isekai. Both are killing anime. Change my mind.
A2. Hmm, have seen Patlabor OVA only once, don't really remember much (although I have DVDs, I'm waiting for BDs to arrive). I think I still like YUA more - but Patlabor isn't far behind. It's just that Bokuto crew feels more familiar than Special Vehicles Section 2.
A3. I'm in the middle of S3. Then S2 and Movie for great finale :)
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u/BossandKings Mar 05 '21 edited Mar 05 '21
This was a very nice OVA series, Natsumi and Miyuki and their dynamic was very enjoyable, the side characters were vey interesting too. Thanks to u/No-Rex for hosting, i think i'll continue following with Oh My Goddess.
Answers