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| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 99 | |
| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Buy | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
 Jan-Chan
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[series:917#967] | |
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I do want to thank “Stretch” for making a first posting for this series, and for calling it to my attention … it really is quite good!! This is definitely a parody - which reminds me of a real super-ball as it bounces from one extreme to another, stealing from so many different series for each episode's plot twists and jibs. And the team of the extreme egomaniacal fashion girl Yao, with the sedate and calculating Lu are really well matched. If you find yourself wincing at one joke, just wait a minute and the next one might bring chuckle. But, they just don’t stop trying….. In any case, this is series is well worth the time spent watching. What is interesting is both the setting and most of the humor is very American, so the references can easily understood, (I wonder what the Japanese viewers thought of this Japanese anime series that is set in America?) Last updated Thursday, November 27 2008. Created Tuesday, February 15 2005. | ||||||||
| Buy |
 Forbin
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[series:917#1573] | ||||||
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Drama : Low / Med Action : Med / High Comedy : HIGH SciFi : Low Ecchi : Med Big Kudos to Stretch for reviewing this, otherwise I wouldn't have picked up the first disc. Wow what a funny Anime. Episode 2 with the fake flashback footage is INCREDIBLE! I was laughing all the way. It's Excel Saga but funnier! More More More! Alas, all good series must come to an end and now I have seen the 4th and final R1 disc. /sigh. Very Funny, very well done. This is the first series where I have said, ok there is one episode that I DIDN'T like (Usually it's one episode that I really liked). (#5 the ghost episode btw). I really liked all of these episodes, and it was a great ride. When Yao lets her hair down in Eps 12 she is completely different looking :) Last updated Tuesday, February 15 2005. Created Wednesday, January 19 2005. | ||||||||
| Buy |
 Stretch
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[series:917#628] | ||||||
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Have you ever enjoyed an anime series so much that when you neared the final episode, you were tempted not to watch it, so that in a sense the series would never end and you'd always have something to look forward to? That's how I felt about Miami Guns. I don't remember where I heard about this series, but at the time I was desperate for something new and was intrigued by the concept of two Japanese girls who, I assumed, had come to Florida to show us Americans how to clean up our cities. In fact, (assuming the narrator wasn't just joking)@, this show takes place in "Miami City", a post-apocalypse metropolis which seems to be a bizarre amalgamation of the American city and Japanese culture.* After taking refuge aboard space stations during the cataclysm which has engulfed the Earth, the rich and famous reassert their authority by hiring "rufians to form a private security force called the 'Miami Police' ". Several decades have passed, the city has been rebuilt good-as-new, and law and order have been reestablished, though the police retain a certain trigger happiness--hence their nickname, the "Miami Guns". At first, the reviews I could find about this not-too-well-known series were not particularly enthusiastic--one suggested it would be a sort of poor man's Excel Saga/Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi clone. So, I sat down in front of the TV with my fingers crossed, so to speak. As soon as I saw what happened when Yao attempted to parachute into a dangerous situation, I knew I had lucked out! I went from saying "this is pretty good" during episode one to "this is so freaked out!" (in an amusing way) during episode two. Picture a combination of Excel Saga, You're Under Arrest, and Dirty Pair. Episode two, "All About the Miami Guns", was brilliant, and will always be my favorite. This is where the origin of the Miami Police, and how Yao and Lu first met, is explained. It does get confusing, since it consists of "flashbacks" to episodes which do not in fact exist (I thought I had pushed a wrong button while setting up the DVD!). But it is absolutely hilarious, ranging from the terrible secret of Yao's mother to introductions of the main characters (who often have names with bizarre meanings--like the telltale "cop who dies on duty"). This one episode is better, I'd say, than almost any episode of Excel Saga. My guess is that if you love genre-parodying anime as much as I do, watch Excel Saga and maybe Abenobashi first, but if you still can't get enough I'd wager you won't be at all disappointed by Miami Guns. I, for one, love it! I could only bring myself to return my rented copy by buying one for myself. And it turns out I'm not just the only one who feels this way: "This first disc of Miami Guns certainly was all over the map, sometimes ecchi, sometimes parodying, always funny. An excellent opening to the series" --Tazman, The Armchair Empire "I could go on and on about how much I love Miami Guns vol. 1, but you get the picture. It's a fun anime on a great DVD. What more could you ask for?" --DVD Vision Japan "Miami Guns was just plain awesome... I have the first DVD and have watched it with a bunch of my buddies. Since then, 3 out of 5 have already bought the first volume and I believe they will be collecting it. Thank you, AN Entertainment, for all your hard work over the course of your venture. You listen to the fans and give them what they want." --tcov, Denkyu.com "Miami Guns is a fun show that definitely doesn't take itself seriously. ...the show works great on an episodic basis and just goes for the laughs along with plenty of fanservice in a number of directions. The show works well as an action comedy series; it's got plenty of it's own jokes and it knows how to parody well. Add in some good looking character designs, some very over the top characters and good pacing and this was a fun way to spend the evening." --Chris Beveridge, Anime on DVD "Awash in a sea of more serious shows right now, Miami Guns is just the sort of series I've been wanting to watch. I need a good dose of anime comedy every now and then, and this has been exactly what I've needed. I can safely say that I wasn't too sure about this series when I first heard about it, but I now understand just how good this series is" --Otaking, Anime From Japan.com "If you can't be original, take a stereotype and push the envelope... Miami Guns may not have any socially redeeming values, but it is definitely a guilty pleasure: fast-paced, funny, and full of blowing things up!" --New from Japan: Anime Film Reviews "Loved it!! Miami Guns is some of the most fun anime I've seen in a long time. Very highly recommended for all anime fans! The quality of the show put together with the great release that was put together for it by AN Entertainment makes this one a can't miss title!" --Jeffrey Couto, Japan Hero "Over the top antics and hidden jokes make this police comedy one series to keep in your sights and I'm not afraid to admit it has me hooked" --Adam Arnold, AnimeFringe By the way, the "extras" included on this DVD are truly excellent. There were neat "translation and cultural notes"--I would have preferred these to appear during the episodes themselves as "Vid-notes", as in ADV's Excel Saga, but most anime series don't have anything of this sort at all, so I'm not complaining. It turns out that in some cases you can click a button next to a particular note to replay the joke in question, which is neat. On the screen which allows you to choose particular scenes from an episode, the Japanese staff has left humorous comments, such as "What exactly was this episode [#2] about? Please direct all complaints to the people in charge. I was only doing my job! --Animation Director Shigeru Kimiya". I was especially impressed by a menu page in which each time you pushed the "down" button you got a different picture of a series character brandishing some sort of firearm--nice work! The final volume, number four, even provides some extra extras, namely an interview with the director and Yao and Lu's voice actresses (in which they hint at a possible sequel), plus a cool music video which described the two main characters as "bitch panthers craving blood"! Thank God for AN Entertainment--I have gladly bought my own copies of all four volumes. I was willing to do so not just to express my appreciation towards that company, but also because one of the best things about Miami Guns is it's sheer rewatchability--I'm sure I'll be getting my money's worth! As I try to explain why I enjoyed this show as much as I did, I must struggle with the disconcerting contempt for it which was expressed by Mike Toole in his review at "Anime Jump!". This is a man who seems to know damn near everything about anime, and who I have come to admire, yet he awarded this series only one-and-a-half stars. He described Miami Guns as "bad" and even "trash". Are my tastes so out of sync with those of mainstream anime viewers that I have declared a truly terrible show to be one of my all-time favorites? If so, clearly I am not the only one who thinks this way. Perhaps the secret is in the way Mike summarized this show: "That's the Rub of Miami Guns--it takes the shotgun approach to parody, hoping to hit the target with a cloud of comedy buckshot". He's quite right, the jokes in this series vary wildly from those that are LOL (laugh out loud) funny to those which fall completely flat. The thing is, my impression is that shows whose comedy style could be likened to more accurate firearms tend to lack both the really bad and the really good jokes--instead, they feature lots of average jokes, the ones that make me smile but not LOL. If enduring the bad jokes (and I didn't notice all that many during Miami Guns) is what it takes to get to the good ones (and there were plenty of those, I thought), I'd say it's completely worth it. Seeing as the quality was a bit unpredictable, a major question for me was how well would the concluding episode be handled (yes, I did watch it after all). I can proudly say that there is no need to worry--it was brilliant. Exciting, thrilling, hilarious, and best of all, it actually made sense! This is a show which is so off-the-wall that seeing Yao and Lu riding a cruise missile didn't require any particular suspension of disbelief. Seeing Yao suddenly turn the tables on her captors just made me want to cheer--and it's not often that I get so emotionally attached to a show I'm watching. Miami Guns has it's share of flaws, but enough things were done just right that I can't help loving it. Rather than try to come up with a clever line to conclude my review, how about a few more quotes: "And so we've reached the end of Miami Guns. This series was a fun-filled ride from beginning to end. We recommend it in it's entirety for all anime fans, especially those who enjoy action-filled shows with good-sized servings of comedy. Now where's the follow-up to this show?!" --Jeffrey Couto, Japan Hero "This is a sad review for me to write. After 13 hilarious episodes, it's time to say goodbye... "Miami Guns" truly is one of the best releases of 2004. Not only is it a highly entertaining comedy, it is a well produced DVD. If you have not done so, go buy as MANY COPIES OF MIAMI GUNS AS YOU CAN! You will not be disappointed!" --DVD Vision Japan "The final volume brings the series to a close in a decent enough way while still keeping some of the humor to it since they focus a bit more on the action and plot to tie a number of things together. For the most part it works well and it's an enjoyable romp that lets the characters do what they do best... Miami Guns definitely fits the mold of an fun short series that's easy to breeze in and out of that won't tax your brains and will just feed your various action and fanservice needs." --Chris Beveridge, Anime on DVD ------------------------------- My favorite line: "What!? That's not a word a nice girl would say!" --Bank Robber @She wasn't. See the final episode. *The Police armpatch contains the logo "Incorporated 1898", and, according to the Encyclopedia, Miami Florida was incorporated in 1896, so maybe this is our Miami after all. It's not really an important distinction... 11/21/05 An extreme love-it-or-hate-it anime comedy; give it a Rent to see which category you fall into Catch Yao Sakurakouji's montage at the Cute Girls with Guns page! Last updated Wednesday, December 08 2010. Created Friday, December 03 2004. | ||||||||
