''Burn-Up Excess'' is a Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series directed by

Shinichiro Kimura is a Japanese anime storyboard artist and director from Hiroshima Prefecture. His nickname is , a shortened version of his name. Kimura graduated from Osaka University of Arts with a major in oil painting. He enrolled in a fine arts college to get ...

and animated by Magic Bus. It aired from 1997 to 1998 for a total of 13 episodes. Four volumes were released on VHS and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...

. The series is a tongue-in-cheek look at a special operations unit in the Tokyo police force called "Team Warrior", with large amounts of fan service thrown in for good measure, exemplified by the inclusion of ADV's trademarked "Jiggle Counter" on the DVDs along with ''

Plastic Little is a Japanese original video animation film and a manga series created by Satoshi Urushihara. It was released in North America on VHS by ADV Films in July 1994. It was released on DVD in February 2002. Along with '' Burn-Up Excess'' and ''A ...

''.ADV Registers Jiggle Counter Trademark
/ref>

Plot summary

The story revolves around Rio Kinezono, a buxom member of Team Warrior who consistently overspends her paycheck, but is also a top-flight

martial artist Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

and a valuable member of the team. In the field, Rio is usually flanked by Maya Jingu, the green-haired team

sniper A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...

who appears to have a serious lust for ranged weapons (specifically assault rifles). Their antics are backed up by the inventions of Nanvel Candlestick, the exotic team

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

whose job is to devise and implement special combat and

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

hardware for the team's use. Lilica Ebett, the sprightly pink-haired girl who's a

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

expert, can pretty much crack into any information system, and Yuji Naruo, a perverted, camera-toting voyeur, always serves as Warrior's drop-operation pilot and driver. Maki Kawasaki, the mysterious, bespectacled superintendent, is charged with commanding Warrior in the field and administering their various missions as they arise. The series chronicles the team members' adventures as they slowly track down a sinister city plot involving the manufacture and distribution of military armaments. It was preceded by the

AIC AIC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Alice in Chains, American rock band * Alice in Chains: AIC 23, a 2013 mockumentary * Anime International Company, a Japanese animation studio * Art Institute of Chicago, an art museum in Chicago Busin ...

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

Burn-Up W ''Burn-Up W'' is a 1996 anime OVA directed by Hiroshi Negishi. It was soon followed by a series version called '' Burn-Up Excess'', though it occasionally lacks continuity with the series. The OVA consists of four episodes, chronicling Tea ...

'', although there are some inconsistencies with several elements, the most notable of which is the malevolent and calculating Ruby, who seems to be a completely different character altogether in ''Burn-Up Excess'', despite the two anime being considered canon.

Characters

Main characters

Team Warrior

;Rio Kinezono : :This busty blonde is the

main protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the series. She's trained in martial arts and is always the person leading an attack. She likes to look good and loves buying pretty things. Unfortunately, her spending habits keep her in eternal debt, so she's always looking for good-paying jobs to support her lifestyle. She has a desk job working for the police in Policetown and counts on work with Team Warrior to pay her bills. Always trying to find the easy way out, she tries to hook up with any rich guy she can find in the hopes that he'll be able to buy her all the pretty things she desires. ;Maki Kawazaki : :Team Warrior's commander and a no-nonsense type of leader. She was awarded the command to distract her from her investigation into Black Diamonds. She married fellow investigator Masato who was killed in an explosion on a boat on their wedding day. ;Lilica Ebett : :The computer expert of the group, with pink hair done up in bows. Lilica is usually seen in a control room and has the ability to hack into computer systems and provide intelligence support to the rest of the group. ;Maya Jingu : :Maya loves her guns and treats them like her men. She has green hair and is almost always seen wearing a headband. ;Nanvel Candlestick : :Team Warrior's resident engineering wizard. She is the one responsible for creating a lot of the high-tech gadgets the team uses. She has a bad habit of coloring her creations either purple or pink. ;Yuji Naruo : :Yuji is the only male in the group and the team's vehicle expert. He has a crush on Rio, much to her chagrin. He is a lover of female legs and undergarments and a great example of a hentai (pervert). He has a bad habit of showing up in the girls' locker room while they're either changing or taking a shower. ;Rio's boss :Rio's boss is always pushing Rio to finish her work. She tries to use her charms on him to let her off the hook.

Neo Tokyo Police

;Miyuki :Miyuki is Rio's friend from the police academy. She works as a traffic cop. ;Miyuki's boss :Just like Rio, Miyuki is constantly in trouble with her boss.

Other characters

Osaka

;Jingu Syndicate :A crime syndicate in Osaka run by Maya's father. ;Maya's father :The boss of the Jingu crime syndicate in Osaka. ;Bob :The redheaded member of the Jingu crime syndicate in Osaka. ;Ken :A chubby guy who wears glasses and is a member of the Jingu crime syndicate in Osaka. ;Tommy :A member of the Jingu crime syndicate in Osaka. ;Yamada :A tall guy who wears glasses and is a member of the Jingu crime syndicate in Osaka. ;Gondo Construction :An aggressive company bent on land development in Osaka and eliminating the Jingu crime syndicate.

Neo Tokyo

;Ramen shop owners :The couple that owns the ramen shop next to Police Town. They have two children, a boy and a girl. ;Chi Mama :The leader of a group of

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...

thieves and owner of a nightclub. He generally refers to Rio by a pet name of "Stephanie". ;Underwear thief :A masked thief who travels around Tokyo, stealing women's underwear, but he is actually a

cram school A cram school, informally called crammer and colloquially also referred to as test-prep or exam factory, is a specialized school that trains its students to achieve particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schoo ...

student. ;Prince Hasan :The heir to a powerful oil company in the Middle East. he arrives in Tokyo and requests protection from the Warriors. Rio hoped to marry him and get him to pay off her debts until she found out that he is a pervert. ;Thunderstorm :A group that wants to kill Prince Hasan to cause disorder in the Middle East. ;Henry :An advanced strategic tank with artificial intelligence and multiple forms of advanced weaponry, from standard machine guns to a large pulse cannon capable of destroying an entire division of standard tanks in seconds. One of Team Warrior's missions is to escort Henry from Japan to Switzerland.

Antagonists

;Ruby :Ruby is the woman that coordinates much of the criminal activity against which Team Warrior fights. It is apparent that she has a considerable amount of funding for her criminal operations. She visits Tokyo to host a fashion show disguised as designer Miriam Bardo. She is also very adept in hand-to-hand combat. ;Harry :Ruby's boss and with scars on his hand and face. He was the husband of Maki whose hand was scarred when he saved her from a crazed gunman. He was supposedly killed in an explosion on a boat on their wedding day. He survived and turned to crime and the underworld, becoming an international arms dealer. ;Drone bugs :Used by the Ruby and the Dawn Mirage to take over Neo Tokyo Tower. ;Shiguru Tomoyama :Former prime minister of Japan who becomes involved with the production of mechanized police and military personnel. ;Mecha Cops :The Mecha Cops are robotic police manufactured by the Sukurada factory under the control of the former prime minister Shiguru Tonoyama and sold to the Neo Tokyo police. They have advanced artificial intelligence with black diamond CPUs, and are impervious to most normal weaponry. They are designed to subdue criminals using

non-lethal force Non-lethal weapons, also called nonlethal weapons, less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than conventional ...

. They have many other features, including the ability to run faster than speeding cars and interface directly with computer systems in Police Town for quick data retrieval.

Nanvel's inventions

As the group's electronics expert, Nanvel's job is to design and build machines to help the team achieve its goals. ;Pin-Ele :Pin-Ele is a giant pink elephant that Nanvel advertises as an Optical Diet Machine. It is able to project a hologram over someone to make that person look slimmer. People who want to change their looks wear receptors shaped like flowers on their heads and Pin-Ele transmits the new images to those receptors which are then projected over their wearers. During the series, she builds three versions of the machine, each smaller than the last. The final version is so small that it can be carried around by one person. ;Pink Cockroach :A pink device the size and shape of a cockroach, designed to sneak into inaccessible locations and transmit audio and video back to the team. It can also be used as a communications device. Nanvel also states that if the cockroach's wings are opened, it can be used as a hand grenade although this function is never demonstrated. ;Pink Rabbit :This is a giant pink robot shaped like a rabbit. Nanvel rides in a large glass bubble that makes the rabbit's head. It doesn't have any weapons, but it has heavy armor and is able to punch, kick, and shoot its hands off like pop guns. She uses the rabbit to help fight the super androids in the last episode.

Episode list

Episodes 8 to 12 contain short segments at the end of each episode called "Yiji's Additional Theater", mainly focusing on Yuji's attempts to film the female characters in their underwear.

References

External links

AIC page
* {{Magic Bus 1997 anime television series debuts Action anime and manga ADV Films Anime International Company Comedy anime and manga Madman Entertainment anime Magic Bus (studio) Police in anime and manga ja:BURN-UP