Dirty Pair (TV series)

Dirty Pair
Promotional Nippon Television poster featuring the two protagonists
ダーティペア
Based onDirty Pair
by Haruka Takachiho
Written byHiroyuki Hoshiyama
Directed by
  • Toshifumi Takizawa (season 1)[a]
  • Norio Kashima (#15–26)
  • Katsuyoshi Yatabe (season 2)
Music byToshiyuki Kimori (season 1)
Opening theme
Ending theme
  • "Space Fantasy"
    by Meiko Nakahara
  • "Aki Kara no Summertime"
    by Yuko Nitoh
Country of originJapan
Original languageJapanese
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes36 (list of episodes)
Production
Producers
  • Norio Hatsukawa
  • Takayuki Yoshii
Production companyNippon Sunrise
Original release
Network
  • NTV (season 1)
  • Direct-to-video (season 2)
ReleaseJuly 15, 1985 (1985-07-15) –
April 21, 1988 (1988-04-21)
Related
Dirty Pair: Project Eden

Dirty Pair (Japanese: ダーティペア, Hepburn: Dāti Pea) is a Japanese anime television series based on the novel series of the same name by Haruka Takachiho. Produced by Nippon Sunrise, the series aired on Nippon Television and its affiliates from July 15 to December 26, 1985.

The series has a closer setup to the original light novels more than any of the other incarnations. Unlike the light novels, the universe of the anime has a more comical atmosphere and presents the typical styles of a 1980s inspired future. The Lovely Angels and the WWWA reside in a location known as Eleanor City where Kei and Yuri live in an apartment together in the city's famous Damocles Tower. The chief of the 3WA in this version is Gooley Andrew Francess along with Calico who serves as second in command. The duo also have two assistants, a genetically modified feline named Mughi, and a small robot known as Nanmo.

The series won the 1985 Animage Anime Grand Prix prize.[1]

Cast

Character Japanese voice actor English voice actor
Kei Kyōko Tongū Pamela Lauer
Yuri Saeko Shimazu Jessica Calvello
Mughi Naoki Makishima Brett Weaver
Gooley Ikuya Sawaki Jason Douglas

Episodes

See also: List of Dirty Pair episodes

Production and release

Produced by Nippon Sunrise, the series was directed by Toshifumi Takizawa with Norio Kashima taking over for episodes 15-26 with character designs by Tsukasa Dokite, mechanical designs by Junichi Akutsu, uniform designs by Fujihiko Hosono and music by Toshiyuki Kimori. Following its cancellation, two additional scripts had been written for two additional episodes. These episodes were ultimately produced and released as an OVA titled Dirty Pair: With Love from the Lovely Angels (ダーティペアの大勝負 ノーランディアの謎, Dāti Pea no ōshōbu Nōrandia no Nazo) on VHS by VAP on January 1, 1987. Both episodes were retroactively added to the 1985 television series in rebroadcasts and international releases.

In 2001, the TV series (including the two extra OVA episodes) was licensed for release in North America by ADV in two DVD sets, and was re-released in March 2005 as the Original Dirty Pair Collection Box.[2][3] It was licensed for a re-released by Nozomi Entertainment. The company released it into two box sets on November 2, 2010, and February 8, 2011, respectively, each containing 13 episodes.[4][5] These releases contain Japanese dialog with English subtitles.[6] It was also reported that David Williams from Sentai Filmworks did confirm that he offered to produce an English dub with Seraphim Digital for the re-release, but it was declined for reasons not stated.[7] Dirty Pair was aired in North America on the Showtime Beyond channel.

On October 1, 2021, Nozomi Entertainment launched a Kickstarter campaign to release the original television series on Blu-ray, along with the creation of a new English dub to be produced by Headline Studios.[8][9] The following day, after raising 75% of their $275,000 goal, Nozomi announced in an update that Jessica Calvello would be reprising her role as Yuri from the OVA series dub for the new dub of the original series. An update on October 13 revealed that Pamela Lauer, who last played Kei in the ADV dub of Project Eden in 2005, would be coming out of retirement to reprise her role.[10] On October 30, after reaching $600,000, an update revealed that Jason Douglas would reprise his role as Gooley. The campaign closed on October 31, 2021, with a final pledge tally of $731,406.[11] It was reported in April 2022 that the Blu-ray release would include "original music and effects" and the original version from ADV with "recreated music and effects."[12] The dub was completed on May 30, 2024, as announced on the Kickstarter crowdfunding page for the Bluray release.[13]

In August 2024, Crunchyroll stated that the Blu-ray release was in post-production but "suffering from delays". The company stated it was "fully committed" to the project; Anime News Network noted that English anime fans had expressed concerns about lack of communication from Crunchyroll or Nozomi Entertainment on the project's status and about how the acquisition of Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment may have "adversely affected the project".[14][13] Prior to this update, Christopher Farris and Steve Jones of Anime News Network had criticized the lack of communication about the project and Crunchyroll's actions regarding the Blu-ray release, describing it as a "fiasco".[15]

OVAs

A 10-episode OVA series was released on December 21, 1987, through April 21, 1988. ADV released the OVA series on five English dubbed and subtitled VHS tapes from November 11, 1998, to January 25, 2000, each containing two episodes.[16][17]

The series was later released to bilingual DVD in two five-episode volumes on July 17 and October 23, 2001. A complete collection was released on December 27, 2005.[18] Nozomi Entertainment later re-licensed the OVA series, and re-released it in a remastered bilingual DVD set on January 3, 2012. This included an English dub with Pam Lauer voicing Kei and Jessica Calvello voicing Yuri, plus re-created music and audio effects, as the original wasn't available.[19] This series has been called Original Dirty Pair or Dirty Pair 2 in English.[20][21]

The series featured two stand-alone OVA hour-long features: Affair of Nolandia (ノーランディアの謎, Nōrandia no Nazo) (1985) and Flight 005 Conspiracy (謀略の００５便, Bōryaku no 005-bin) (1990). The first revolves around a plot with the pair tracking down a psychic girl, while the second concerns the pair investigating a mysterious spaceship explosion. Both OVA features were released onto English dubbed VHS on November 23, 1994, and February 21, 1995, respectively by Streamline Pictures and Orion Pictures.[22][23]

They were later re-licensed and re-dubbed by ADV Films and released to bilingual DVD on November 4 and December 2, 2003, respectively. ADV later re-released them to DVD, along with Project Eden, on November 8, 2005, in a 3-DVD boxset.[18] They were later re-licensed by Nozomi Entertainment. The latter released them in a bilingual DVD set (with both Streamline and ADV dubs) with Project Eden on May 8, 2012, as part of the "Dirty Pair: Features DVD Collection".[24]

Notes

  1. ^ Credited as chief director for episodes 15–26 of the first season.

References

  1. ^ ＞＞第8回アニメグランプリ ［1986年6月号, archived from the original on September 28, 2013, retrieved March 26, 2015
  2. ^ "Anime Weekend Atlanta 7". Anime News Network. September 25, 2001. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  3. ^ Macdonald, Christopher (January 1, 2005). "March 2005 ADV Releases". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 17, 2025. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  4. ^ Moody, Alen (2011). "Dirty Pair TV". THEM Anime Reviews. Archived from the original on February 9, 2025. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  5. ^ "Right Stuf's Nozomi Entertainment Announces License for Dirty Pair TV Series, First Set Scheduled for Fall 2010". Anime News Network. March 17, 2010. Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  6. ^ Douglass Jr., Todd (February 8, 2011). "Dirty Pair: Original TV Series 2". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2025. For audio, Dirty Pair comes with Japanese 2.0 with English subtitles
  7. ^ "Sentai Filmworks Industry Panel". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on December 30, 2024. Retrieved April 15, 2015. Williams then gave away a number of DVDs, and Blu-rays to trivia winners. During this time he revealed that when Right Stuf's Nozomi Entertainment licensed Dirty Pair recently, he offered to dub the series but was declined. Williams then tossed t-shirts into the audience and closed the panel.
  8. ^ Whitbrook, James (October 1, 2021). "Classic Sci-Fi Anime Dirty Pair Is Coming to Blu-ray, With Your Help". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on September 30, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  9. ^ Hazra, Adriana (October 3, 2021). "Right Stuf, Nozomi Ent. Launch Kickstarter for Dirty Pair Anime's English Dub". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 17, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  10. ^ Mateo, Alex (October 13, 2021). "Retired Voice Actress Pamela Lauer Returns for New English Dub of Dirty Pair TV Anime". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 12, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  11. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (November 3, 2021). "Dirty Pair Kickstarter Ends Successfully With All Stretch Goals Met". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 17, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  12. ^ Mateo, Alex (April 11, 2022). "Kickstarter Funded Dirty Pair Anime BD Release to Feature Original Music & Effects Track for OVA's Dub". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 30, 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  13. ^ a b Rodriguez, Kevin T. (October 12, 2024). "How a Kickstarter for this Classic Anime Got Stuck in Limbo". Game Rant. Archived from the original on December 6, 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  14. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (August 30, 2024). "Crunchyroll States it Remains 'Fully Committed' to Dirty Pair Anime BD Release". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on August 30, 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  15. ^ Farris, Christopher; Jones, Steve (August 29, 2024). "This Week in Anime: Retro Anime, Kickstarter, and Broken Promises". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on April 15, 2025. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  16. ^ Ross, Carlos; Ross, Giancarla (2003). "Dirty Pair: Project Eden". THEM Anime Reviews. Archived from the original on September 22, 2003. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  17. ^ Ross, Carlos; Ross, Giancarla (2003). "Dirty Pair: Flight 005 Conspiracy". THEM Anime Reviews. Archived from the original on March 28, 2025. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  18. ^ a b Strader, Scott D. (January 22, 2012). "Dirty Pair DVDs". Messages from the Ether. Archived from the original on July 24, 2024. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  19. ^ Toole, Mike (March 26, 2012). "Review: Dirty Pair OVA Series Collection". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 8, 2025. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  20. ^ "Original Dirty Pair OAV Vol. 1". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on December 4, 2024. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  21. ^ Lumbard, Neil (January 31, 2012). "Dirty Pair: Original OVA Series". DVDTalk. Archived from the original on June 26, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
  22. ^ Dirty Pair:Affair on Nolandia [VHS]. ASIN 6303273157.
  23. ^ Dirty Pair: Project Eden [VHS]. ASIN 6303106552.
  24. ^ Silverman, Rebecca (June 15, 2012). "Dirty Pair: Features DVD Collection". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on December 4, 2024. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
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