AD Police Files – Review

First of all when a robot strenuously tries to make the triangle perm cut work, it’s hard to focus on all the rampant killing she’s doing. Opening scene of Episode 1 depicts serious grimy action, blood and limbs flailing all over the place. The Boomer, ripped straight out of the heart of Blade runner) is hell bent on destroying the AD police (that’s advanced detectives to you!) and the frenetic gun battle contrasted with the towering megalopolis of Tokyo ensues. Unfortunately the police appear to be no match for this beautiful Boomer gone berserk and many detectives fall prey to her laser-like hands and reverse triangle hold. Blinded by her savagery, her general hotness almost goes unnoticed by the police….until an epidemic of hot Boomer malfunction and chaos begins to line the city streets. Will the AD police succeed in eradicating these beatific malcontents engineered to be sex servants?? How dare they revolt from their role as sex slaves!

In the second episode, main protagonist detective Gina Marceau is so rough and tumble and ready to roll it took me two episodes to realize she was female. Her coarse, feathered “do” reminiscent of Rocky Balboa in Rocky #1 partnered with her baritone voice landed her immediately as #11 in my top 10 list of Ass Kicking Anime Chicks. She’s kicking ass and taking names, hot on the trail of a killer who is disemboweling working girls on the infamous Paradise circle subway track. WHO is the KILLER??! Is it the punks with the pink Mohawks and boom boxes? Is it their break dancing? Is it their leg warmers and headbands? All intense possibilities as this overly dramatic, pseudo-sexual De Palma-esque episodegains speed around the tracks.

The final episode is where it’s at. We begin to peel the dainty onion that is Gina Marceau and start figuring out who she is, what she likes…how many dumbbell squats she can do. Gina waltzes through life with a .45 strapped to her bra and chews through five men for breakfast. However, as Gina thoughtfully straps her guns to her chest and adjusts the knife sheath attached to her calf she remembers a certain someone….a tall drink of water if you will. Flashing back and forth through montages and well…flashbacks, we understand that this detective has now been turned into a Cyborg. Robocop-style. Can Gina save him from the sexy nefarious scientists bent on destroying the last vestiges of memory and emotion that he has?

All of these situations take place 6 years before the Knight Sabers rule the streets in the ‘critically acclaimed’ Bubble Gum Crisis. Cinematically the series proved much more interesting than previously expected. If one can get through the slightly monotonous and one-note character development of the police and detectives, you begin to see the more developed character arcs of the Boomers are really the prevalent story material. Clearly this isn’t an in-depth Vietnamese masterpiece replete with gongs, silent meditations and intrinsic jazz fusion score; this is anime. But one that made me want more in the end.