is a humorous science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 and manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 franchise based on the light novel series by Haruka Takachiho

Haruka Takachiho

is a Japanese science fiction author and founder of Studio Nue. Takachiho is best known as the creator of Crusher Joe, Dirty Pair and Dirty Pair Flash....

.

Although it is often said that these are younger versions of the original Lovely Angels Kei and Yuri, in truth this series is an alternate universe telling of Dirty Pair

Dirty Pair

is a series of sci-fi comedy light novels written by Haruka Takachiho and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko that was later adapted into anime and manga versions....

, set in the years 2248-49. When Sunrise originally began the project, their idea was to make sequel to the original Dirty Pair

Dirty Pair

is a series of sci-fi comedy light novels written by Haruka Takachiho and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko that was later adapted into anime and manga versions....

 series, but Kyoko Miyagi

Kyoko Miyagi

, usually credited as , is a Japanese voice actress who retired for a time in 1992, when her husband was transferred to Milan, Italy.She returned to Japan and voice work there late in the same decade, now chiefly involved with dubbing of foreign movies and television programs. Her most recent...

, the original voice actress for Kei, had long retired and moved to North America, and Saeko Shimazu

Saeko Shimazu

is a Japanese voice actress from Isehara. Shimazu is notable for having had voice roles in all four of the major TV anime series based on the works of Rumiko Takahashi - she played Shinobu Miyake in Urusei Yatsura, Sayako Kuroki in Maison Ikkoku, Kodachi Kuno in Ranma ½, and Abi-hime in InuYasha...

, the voice of Yuri, refused to work with anyone but her original partner, forcing the project to be a remake of the original series instead.

Plot summary

Kei and Yuri were originally junior auxiliary agents in the Worlds Works and Welfare Agency (W.W.W.A. or 3WA for short) when the two were paired together under the codename "Lovely Angels." Kei was coming off her fourth probation for something she had done, and Yuri's dating exploits were common knowledge, not to mention the two had an instant dislike for each other when they met.

Kei and Yuri were not the first to receive the codename Lovely Angels. Years before, during the Gamorian Riots, two other women, Iris and Molly, had been given the designation Lovely Angels. Molly was killed in action, and her partner Iris, who had lost her right arm trying to save Molly, became bitter about the lack of response from the 3WA and vanished, later becoming the notorious assassin known as "Lady Flair."

At first, Kei and Yuri refused to work with each other, and Kei even resigned from the 3WA. However, when the "Siren" crisis erupted, Kei returned. This was decidedly a good thing, as Yuri's ditsy new partner, Lily, had abruptly quit just as the response to the crisis started, and Kei's return came just in time, as Yuri was about to be killed by Waldess.

Afterwards, the two continued to work together, although they earned their nickname, "the Dirty Pair" because of all the collateral damage the two (unintentionally) cause in the completion of their cases. And even though the two now get along with one another, they continue to bicker and complain to each other.

In addition to the sixteen anime episodes, there have been three novels (1994, 1997, 1999) and four "Stereo Dramas" (one in 1994, the others in 1996) written by Takachiho, as well as two sanctioned manga series (1995–96) published by Dengeki Comics.

Major characters

Kei

Born 1 January 2231 Age 17 on the colony planet Workoh, Kei could be described as a tomboy. Born a redhead (with bleached blond bangs), Kei is hot-headed, impulsive, and rude, and because of this is often mistaken for being a man. Those who mention this are, as expected, reminded (painfully) that she is, in fact, a woman. Her usual response to a crisis is "shoot first and ask questions later." But, can show insight into situations when properly motivated. She usually gets into a lot of arguments with Yuri over her "girly" attitude, but is usually the first in line to back her up when trouble happens. Kei is also very Proficient with a Blaster and uses one as her Primary weapon.

Unlike Yuri, Kei has a love for cheap thrills: jet coasters, fast-food restaurants, drinking beer, sushi, and big-game fishing. She dislikes wearing dresses, as evident when she, Yuri, and Touma were stranded on World's World and the Lovely Angels were temporarily placed in an all-girl high school, where uniforms with skirts were mandatory.

Kei is afraid of nothing...except for ghosts, zombies, and vampires, which she is completely terrified of. She also dislikes showing her softer side, which she does have, as apparent when she had to protect a young baby being chased by assassins. During a crisis, she had allowed the baby to suckle her (even though she wasn't lactating) in order to keep him quiet when the assassins were close by.

Yuri

Born March 3, 2231, Age 17 on the colony world Shack-G, Yuri acts more stereotypically feminine than Kei. The problem is that she is more concerned with getting dates and marrying a rich, handsome man than doing her job, and she gets more than her share of complaints from Kei because of this. However, if anyone ever harms her partner, it's unlikely that the offender will live to tell about it. Yuri is adept at using a plasma sword and carries one as her primary weapon.

Yuri is the more romantic of the two. She likes romantic dinners, moonlit walks, and very wealthy men. But for the most part, she usually finds men who care more about what their fathers think about what happens to their prized possessions than to her. One time, she thought that she was going to get married. It turned out her prospective groom had found a new love, and she took her frustration out on her and Kei's next mission.

Minor characters

Chief Garner

Garner was a section chief in the 3WA at the beginning of the series. A veteran of the Gamorian Riots, he was instrumental in helping to rebuild the 3WA in the aftermath. Now approaching retirement, he has the unenviable task of molding two bickering junior auxiliary agents - Kei and Yuri - into first-class trouble consultants.

Garner was also a good friend of the original Lovely Angels, Iris and Molly, and it troubles him that Kei and Yuri were given the 'Lovely Angels' codename by the 3WA's central mainframe. He knows of the trouble the two got into previously, and fears that they will bring shame to that honored name.

Chief Poporo

Chief Poporo became section chief supervising the Lovely Angels after Garner's retirement. He was once a trouble consultant himself, requiring a cybernetic arm after participating in the arrest of renegade weapons designer Berringer.

While he realizes Kei and Yuri's usefulness, he is irritated by all the damage they cause. He seems to be quite the henpecked husband; he often gets calls from his wife back home, asking him to go grocery shopping after work.

Lady Flair

Originally, she was known as Iris, one of the original Lovely Angels. She, along with her partner Molly, were the finest trouble consultant team in the history of the 3WA. However, during the Gamorian Riots, the two were faced with a huge crisis in which Molly's life was on the line. Iris tried to call for help, but was denied backup. In a rage, Iris broke her communicator, which prevented her from hearing that their friend Garner had heard and was on the way. Quickly, Iris tried to reach over the ledge Molly was hanging on, but Molly had lost her grip and fell to her death. At the same time, Iris lost her left arm.

Now known as Lady Flair, Iris led the life of an assassin-for-hire. She had briefly aided Waldess as he tried to take control of the galaxy, but was double-crossed by him. She also looks down at the newest team who were given the codename "Lovely Angels," Kei and Yuri.

During the 'Siren' crisis, Flair was reunited with her old friend Garner, who revealed what had happened when Molly was killed. Guilt-stricken, Flair, who renounced her past and once again became the trouble consultant Iris, confronted the cause of the crisis, Waldess, and tried to arrest him. Waldess, already insane with power, killed Iris, and was in turn killed by Kei.

After the crisis was over, Iris' record as Lady Flair was expunged and Iris was posthumously awarded the 3WA's highest honors.

Touma

Touma was a character in the second series (a.k.a. Mission Two). He is a trouble consultant just like Kei and Yuri, but his speciality is computers and computer programs. He looks like your average computer geek; he wears eyeglasses, and has a tall but wiry body. In the course of thinking, Touma also gets distracted by the smallest of details - which often gets him beat up by Kei and Yuri. He is also inexperienced with dating, which led to one of the most hilarious moments in the series.

Touma's knowledge in computers is almost unmatched. As a college student, he was the one who had written the code to Silica 2000, Worlds World's chief mainframe... and got an "A" for his efforts. When Silica 2000 was compromised by a computer virus, Touma was call upon to eradicate it. However, since Touma is also a target by the creator of the virus, Kei and Yuri went with him as well, and stayed on the planet when Touma began to isolate the computer from the creator... a Joint Artificial Intelligence Criminal, or J.A.I.C.

Calbee

Calbee is a con-artist who ended up stranded on World's World when the J.A.I.C. infected Silica 2000, and later when the Lovely Angels wrecked Narita Spaceport when landing on the planet. An expert in persuasion, he swindles many a lovely girl by providing a believable (bogus) story, and takes off with their money.

On the day an unexpected typhoon blows into Tokyo, he was "charming" another woman at an all-you-can-eat restaurant by relating a story that he was a Tro-Con, when he encountered Kei and Yuri, who had cancelled their reservations at a very pricey French restaurant. Kei had recognized Calbee because she was a victim of his (from an online panty-ordering scam) and saw a chance to get the money she and Yuri needed for the restaurant.

What followed next was a pursuit, which resulted in the three ending up stranded miles away from Tokyo and having to walk back on foot. Calbee tried many times to escape, either by guile or by action, but for one reason or another, it all went wrong. In the end, Calbee was brought in, but somehow escaped to do his cons again. Kei and Yuri saw this, but decided not to pursue him again.

Leena

A florist on Worlds World, Leena had caught the eye of Touma when he and Yuri were caught on one of the planet's planned rainy days. From the time he set eyes on her, Touma was smitten with her. However, for all the planning he made to woo her, there was one fact he didn't calculate on... Leena was a lesbian who had her eyes on Yuri.

Gazelle

An arrogant, almost sadistic individual, Gazelle was enlisted by the 3WA to teach Kei and Yuri beach volleyball so that they could accomplish their latest mission; capture a corrupt president of a galactic company. In order to do this, Gazelle harshly drove Kei and Yuri to the point of total breakdown, and beyond that. He would do anything to whip the girls into shape, including outright lying; when Kei and Yuri chose to quit after his training reduced Yuri to tears, Gazelle told them on how fifty men had suffered at the hands of the president, including his best friend. This gave the girls a renewed sense of duty, to which they resumed their training. On their last day, however, Kei and Yuri sent Gazelle to the hospital by knocking volleyballs primed to explode if touched by anything but their hands back at him.

After the tournament and subsequent arrest of the president, Kei and Yuri learned from Poporo that the fifty men Gazelle had mentioned hadn't died, but in fact suffered office-related injuries such as Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. They then went to Gazelle's hospital room in a fit of psychosis and proceeded to beat him up.

Monica De Noir

Coming from a long and honored line of assassins, Monica De Noir, a.k.a. the Sweet Fairy, is given the job of killing Kei and Yuri to celebrate her 15th birthday. She is not a run-of-the-mill assassin (if indeed assassins ever ARE run-of-the-mill). Her weapons usually include explosive candy, killer teddy bears, and other cute but deadly items. When in a real jam, she also has at her disposal a battle mecha in the form of a teddy bear.

Julian

The grandson of the 3WA's biggest contributors, Julian is a brilliant but lonely boy who happens to be obsessed with Yuri... so much so that he uses his genius to gather as much information about her, including her likes and dislikes, and constructs an android double of the trouble consultant so that he can be with her, without being placed in the sort of dangerous situations Yuri usually gets into.

However, when Kei accidentally breaks the Yuri android, thinking she was the real Yuri, the real Yuri then steps in place until Julian can repair the android. She then lived in what was a life-sized dollhouse

Dollhouse

A dollhouse is a toy home, made in miniature. For the last century, dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults. The term dollhouse is common in the United States and Canada...

, which included an extensive wardrobe (one of the outfits in that wardrobe, incidentally, was the gold and red uniform that Yuri of the original Dirty Pair

Dirty Pair

is a series of sci-fi comedy light novels written by Haruka Takachiho and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko that was later adapted into anime and manga versions....

 wore). Yuri had to somehow let the boy know that what he was in love with was a doll and not a real person... which ultimately proved to be her undoing at the end of the story, for Julian fell in love with a girl who had been trying to get through to him but he was too obsessed with the android Yuri at the time.

Lily

Lily was Yuri's temporary partner, who was assigned to her when Kei had quit the 3WA for a brief time. She has a personality that seems to mirror Yuri... but was even more to the extreme, to the point of appearing as the stereotypical dumb blonde, which made even Yuri look good. During her first mission, Lily attempted to use one of Yuri's known tactics to get out of the mission, only to be scolded by Yuri herself (much to the shock of the rest of the 3WA.) and ruined a stakeout (for which Yuri was blamed).

Later, when the 'Siren' crisis erupted, Lily abruptly quit the 3WA, mostly due to the stress of being a trouble consultant... and at the worst possible time, by undocking part of the Lovely Angel and sending Yuri to fend for herself. Fortunately, Kei had rejoined the 3WA, and along with Garner managed to save Yuri from being killed by Waldess.

Lily was last seen at the end of Mission One, when she was sighted by Kei and Yuri riding in a car... with a handsome man (from episode 1) driving.

Mughi

Mughi is Kei and Yuri's (mostly Yuri's) pet cat, found on their first adventure, and is usually left in the care of Chief Poporo, as Yuri is too busy as a trouble consultant or dating.

Rosa

Rosa is Chief Poporo's daughter from a previous marriage. While her father would be annoyed about having to care for Mughi, Rosa found the cat entertaining and would often play with him when she visited 3WA Headquarters. It was during one of these visits that Berringer attacked, and had used the girl to try to get to Poporo.

Further reading