Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle

Title:Taiho Shichauzo! Full Throttle
Taiho Shichauzo (2007)
You're Under Arrest! Full Throttle
逮捕しちゃうぞ フルスロットル
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: FUJISHIMA Kosuke
HIRAMATSU Akiko
IIZUKA Mayumi
KOZAKURA Etsuko
MASAMUNE Issei
MATSUMOTO Rika
R1 Distributor - Section23 Films (ADV)
R1 License - Subtitled Only
SEKI Tomokazu
SHIMADA Bin
TAMAGAWA Sakiko
Continuing story of Natsumi and Miyuki, two policewomen at Bokuto Police Station. Miyuki is now fresh from forensics training in the United States, and Natsumi Tsujimoto returns from completing Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF) ranger training and both women look forward to returning to service as police women.
Animation Production: Studio DEEN

[22 TV episodes +2 DVD episodes (~24min), based on characters from the manga of the same title by Fujishima Kosuke]
[edit] The ↗Taiho Shichauzo franchise:

Anime: Live Action:
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 9 7 9 6 6 6 Ggultra2764 [series:1651#1552]
(Rent-/ Watch+)

A bit underwhelming of a finish for what has been one of my favorite anime franchises and my 900th review here on Mikomi.

I'll get one big gripe out of the way with Full Throttle and say that it looks like continuity was disregarded to a great extent with this season. The small advancements in Miyuki and Nakajima's relationship from the second season are cast aside. Natsumi is single again, despite the fact she had been with Tokairin since the first TV season. Natsumi's promotion to the Special Assault Team from season two has either been retconned or the show's developers made some lame excuse to get her back to Bokuto to team with Miyuki again for this third season. Not to mention many of the supporting characters seen from earlier seasons of the franchise like Saori Saga, Nakajima's parents and Chie Sagamiono are either completely shafted from this season or get reduced appearances to the point where they only pop up in cameo roles.

Unlike earlier seasons of the franchise that explored a diverse number of things within the everyday lives of those in the Bokuto Traffic Division, many of the episodes for Full Throttle explore Natsumi and Miyuki entangled in thwarting random crimes that occur throughout their precinct with a bit more emphasis on light drama than comedy. These episodes are entirely self-contained in their plots and feature no character developments that occur within them, with many of them being a bit on the formulaic side. As AstroNerdBoy noted, it seemed like the makers of the anime were going through the motions with things instead of doing anything different to keep YUA fresh and interesting.

On the plus side, moments where the show resorted to comedy were still a hoot for the most part. Strike Man and Scooter Mama make a few appearances in the show and episodes focused on Yoriko and Aoi had their fun moments for me. And despite being self-contained, I did find some of the episodic stories, such as one with Natsumi discovering the diary of a speeding victim, engaging to look into.

Visuals for Full Throttle are an improvement over earlier seasons of You're Under Arrest with richer colors, cleaner details, beautiful scenery and character designs retained from earlier seasons. Animation shortcuts are an occasional occurrence here, but still have their decent moments such as chase scenes with Natsumi and Miyuki going after random criminals. The soundtrack had a mix of different styles it played that did their part to enhance serious or comedic scenes, but only the ED song stuck out for me. And speaking of the ED, I feel like whacking whoever thought it was a bright idea to imply a pairing between Natsumi and Miyuki in the show's ED sequence.

Overall, Full Throttle is certainly among the weaker offerings in the You're Under Arrest franchise alongside No Mercy and the specials. While its comedy is still a delight and some of the episode stories were interesting, most of the stories were a bit formulaic in their setup, they lacked any kind of character development and the axing of certain parts of the franchise's continuity and supporting cast really turned me off. Kind of a disappointing sendoff for a franchise I enjoyed quite a bit.

Last updated Friday, March 08 2013. Created Friday, March 08 2013.
Buy 9 8 8 8 8 8 Dreamer [series:1651#2279]
Third time is a charm for sure. The artwork is better, the music is better, the episodes are better. Love this series.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
Artwork and animation was 100% better than the first two installments. It had richer colors, more vibrant backdrops, more details and smoother animation. The character designs were far, far better as well. In fact, I think I fell in love with Miyuki. (I hope you know i'm only kidding..... right?).

Music
The OP was sorta impressive. A nice rock piece with female vocals. The rest of the soundtrack actually had some nice ones too. Some dramatic, some orchestraic, some nice blues, others silly... but all worked well. The ED was enjoyable as well. In fact, I enjoyed the soundtrack so much that I picked up the OST... which is extremely rare of me.

Series and Episode Story
To use my exact words from my last review on YUA 2, <em>"And to think the original YUA couldn't be beat, here comes another installment and it was even better".</em> That holds even more true for this 3rd installment. As mentioned above, the artwork was far superior and character designs were more refined. The stories were more or less the same... in that, they were all mostly slapstick, fun and semi-serious episodes. There were some moments that I thought were a little too much... like Natsumi pushing around cars like they were something light-weight. But, it's something you'd expect from YUA anyways.

The only minor disappointment was the lack of development between Miyuki and Nakajima. It didn't go anywhere.

Overall, this was fun and really entertaining series from beginning to end... just like the last 2 installments. But for sure, don't watch this until you see the 1st installment, then watch the 2nd, then this. At least this way, you get a feel for the cast. Do recommend!

Last updated Sunday, May 16 2010. Created Sunday, May 16 2010.
Unevaluated Stretch [series:1651#628]
(One episode watched):

The method used by Natsumi to transfer from one vehicle to another, and to bring the second vehicle to a stop, were completely outrageous. Otherwise, this was a fairly entertaining and surprising show, and not as predictable as I'd expected (I was sure there would be a hijacking). It looks like there will be an ongoing plot involving Randy Hammond. Definitely better than YUA in America, at least!

Last updated Sunday, January 30 2011. Created Tuesday, October 16 2007.
Watch 8 7 9 7 4 6 AstroNerdBoy [series:1651#436]

Talk about serious disappointment, this latest installment of the YUA franchise is a complete bust for me. While things start off well enough, it quickly becomes clear that the production team and director OHATA Koichi are just going through the motions. As such, none of the characters are allowed to develop and stories are quite formulaic for the most part. Natsumi's love interst from YUA2, Shouji, is not even thought of, which angered me. Ken and Miyuki's romance gets touched a couple of times, but there's only a cheap and cowardly "resolution" to that long-running story thread, which angered me as well. All of this results in mostly boring, tedious episodes that made me thankful when they were over.

On the positive side, we did get a few cameos, such as Saori-chan (the high school girl who became a fan of Miyuki and Natsumi before becoming a rookie cop in YUA2), whom had been pushed aside for the most part. Her return was nice, but she wasn't utilized properly. Ken's father Daimaru, and Daimaru's young wife Sana return for a cameo. Again, this is nice, but ultimately, they served no real purpose other than to say "Hi." Strike-Man and Gentsuki-obasan, aka: "Scooter Mama," return once and twice respectively and provided me with the only real moments of sheer fun and delight in this series. Beyond that, I can think of nothing positive to say in terms of the story.

The character designs are good, and the art is nice to look at. The animation is OK, as was the music.

Bottom line: Studio Dean simply cashed in on the established YUA fandom and produced a crappy series that lacks heart, character development, or stories that go beyond the pale. As such, the best I can give this is a tepid "Watch" for both fans and non-fans alike.

Last updated Sunday, June 03 2012. Created Monday, October 08 2007.


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