Film Credits

Screenplay by: Katsuhiko Chiba, Sumio Uetake

Directed by: Hiroshi Negishi

Starring: Yuka Imai, Maya Okamoto, Ryutarou Okiayu, Sakura Tange, Yumiko Shibata, Shozo Iizuka, Hidetoshi Nakamura, Masako Katsuki, Yuuichi Nagashi, Wataru Takagi, Toshiharu Sakurai, Mitsuru Ogata, Takuma Suzuki, Egawa Kannazuki

Review

Burn-Up W is a four-part OAV (original animation video, i.e. "direct to video") series produced in Japan. The basic plot involves WARRIOR, a special SWAT team sent in to take care of problems that are too difficult or dangerous for the regular police force to handle. The team consists of Riu (Yuka Imai), who is stuck behind a desk job at the local police HQ; Maya (Maya Okamoto), who wants to do nothing more than blow every criminal away; Yuji (Ryutarou Okiayu), a male traffic cop; and Lilica (Sakura Tange), who seems to be a computer expert. In the first episode, Burn-Up W File 1: Skin Dive, a group of terrorists take over the Hotel Kingdom and hold hostage various officials of a Peace Forum taking place there. The terrorists say they will release the hostage is the police grant their very strange demands: 1) that the General Manager of the Giants baseball team publicly prostrate himself and apologize for the team's recent slump; 2) that a game company add the word "Final" to the title of their latest game under development so that there will be no more sequels; 3) that all the surfboards at the local beach be broken into small pieces, and 4) that the world's most popular idol singer make a totally nude bungee jump from the hotel. Needless to say, WARRIOR is authorized to operate and take care of the situation, and does so in their own peculiar way. A subplot deals with the the Peace officials being plugged into a virtual reality simulation entitled "Virtual Drug," which apparently plays a part somewhere later in the series.

As for the OAV itself, File 1: Skin Dive isn't the best anime title I've viewed, but it's definitely not the worst. The storyline is fair at best, and some things just never get explained - for example, why a bored desk sergeant and a traffic cop are suddenly a part of WARRIOR. Some of the storyline and humor works fine, but the OAV seems more concerned about showing off the cute animated female characters bursting out their tight clothing rather than furthering the plot. The animation is also only fair, and unfortunately is nothing to get too exciting over (even so, it still puts nearly all the animation produced here in the U.S. to shame). All in all, Burn-Up W File 1: Skin Dive makes for an okay, but mindless, way to spend a half-hour. Also, just in case you're interested, I understand that much of the staff who produced this series went on to create the popular Tenchi Muyô saga.

A.D. Vision's laserdisc of Burn-Up W File 1: Skin Dive was released during the end of 1996. The transfer is extremely good, featuring a very detailed, sharp image and having bright and strong colors. Since this show was produced as an direct-to-video OAV, the animation appears full-frame without any cropping. Since the episode runs 25m38s, this single-sided disc has been formatted in CAV. The CAV still frames feature three steady still frames followed by two jittery ones.

This bilingual laserdisc presents the original surround stereo Japanese-language dialogue on the analog channels, and an English-dubbed surround stereo version on the digital track. Both the tracks are CX-encoded. Selecting the original Japanese-language tracks is definitely the way to go. In conjunction with the English closed-captions encoded onto the disc, the Japanese-language features a well-done audio mix, and character voices and tones that are completely believable. And since there isn't much in the way of a storyline, you want to understand every detail fully. In comparison, the dubbing for the English-language is atrocious and makes a mockery of the original audio production. Although the basic storyline is followed, nearly every line of dialogue has been rewritten and every detail "Americanized" (and any cursing in the Japanese original is strangely not present in the English one). Additionally, the English dubbing adds in dialogue in several places where none originally existed in the Japanese version. As far as the audio quality goes, it is in good shape and the sound mix is fine. Both the Japanese and English dubbed versions employ the same music and effects track, and the sound for both versions is well balanced.

As we mentioned in the last paragraph, the disc is encoded with closed-captioned English subtitles to support the original Japanese-language dialogue on the disc (you require a decoder to view these captions). The closed-captioning is excellent, and very readable. In addition to translating the dialogue correctly, the captions also display the the original Japanese voice cast artists over the end credits (which are shown in English on the disc). Additionally, the end credits song is sung in the original Japanese-language version and is supported onscreen by hard-encoded Japanese and English translations (i.e., it's not on the closed-caption track).

Burn-Up W File 1: Skin Dive was manufactured at Sony, is Table of Contents encoded, and contains a total of 19 unlisted chapter markers (the film starts at chapter #2). Contrary to the listing on the jacket, Skin Dive run 25m38s, not "approximately 30 minutes."

Currently, only Burn-Up W File 1: Skin Dive is available on laserdisc. In the meantime, File 2: Search for the Virtual Idol has been announced for an upcoming laserdisc release (no date has been given - it is currently available only on VHS), and Files 3 & 4 are apparently forthcoming as well.