is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by

Kōsuke Fujishima is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He has created several manga series, the best known of which are ''You're Under Arrest (manga), You're Under Arrest!'' and ''Oh My Goddess!.'' Fujishima is known for his love of automobiles and ...

. It was serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazines ''Morning Party Zōkan'' and ''

Morning Morning is either the period from sunrise to noon, or the period from midnight to noon. In the first definition it is preceded by the twilight period of dawn, and there are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and nigh ...

'' from 1986 through 1992. It centers on a fictional police station in

Sumida, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Sumida City. As of 1 April 2025, the ward has an estimated population of 287,766 and a population dens ...

, as its officers tackle everyday criminals while keeping people safe. It mixes both drama and action with humor. The chapters of ''You're Under Arrest'' have been collected in seven ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volumes by Kodansha. The manga has been adapted into three television seasons, three OVA series and a film, all animated by

Studio Deen is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1975 by former Sunrise producer Hiroshi Hasegawa, along with a team of ex-Sunrise animators. The studio owns three subsidiaries: Danny Donghua (), a Chinese sub-contracting studio; Megumi (め組), a di ...

. The series also spawned a

live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...

drama special starring Misaki Ito and Sachie Hara. The show has received positive reviews from critics.

Story

The series follows Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa, two female officers of the

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department The , known locally as simply the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), is the prefectural police of Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Founded in 1874, the TMPD is the largest police force in Japan by number of officers, with a staff of more than 4 ...

. They are stationed at the fictional Bokuto Police Station located at

. The series is largely episodic, and it focuses on the interaction between the main characters and the humorous supporting cast. The majority of the series takes place in the

Greater Tokyo Area The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefecture, Gunma, Ibaraki Prefecture, ...

. However, the site where the Bokuto Police Station is supposed to be does not exist in the Sumida Ward.ISSUES/QUESTIONS RAISED.
Retrieved on September 17, 2008. In reality, the Bokuto Hospital takes its place.

Media

Manga

The English version of the manga was published by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

, which only contained selected episodes from volumes 6 and 7 (reportedly at Fujishima's request, resulting in continuity confusion by some fans of the series). The final frame of the last Japanese volume refers to a ''You're Under Arrest 2'', which has not yet been serialized. A special one-shot chapter, titled "Taiho Shichauzo GP", appeared in ''

Monthly Afternoon is a Japanese monthly manga anthology published by Kodansha under the ''Afternoon'' line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of January 25, 1986. ''Afternoon'' has spawned many successful manga series such as '' Oh My G ...

'' on December 23, 2022.

Original release

Dark Horse Comics release

First Shinsōban edition

Second Shinsōban edition

Bunkoban

Anime

The series was first adapted into a four-episode OVA series, directed by

Kazuhiro Furuhashi is a Japanese anime director and supervisor. He is amongst anime's most foremost directors, having directed the '' Rurouni Kenshin'' series (including the original television series, and its subsequent original video animation iterations), '' Zi ...

, which was released in Japan from 1994 to 1995. An animated television series subsequently aired in Japan on TBS between 1996 and 1997, spanning a total of 47 episodes. It was also broadcast on Rai in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

NTV7 Natseven TV Sdn Bhd, operating as NTV7 is a Malaysian free-to-air television channel owned by Media Prima, Media Prima Berhad. The third private commercial TV station in Malaysia, the network focused on the urban area with various types of ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, Hero TV in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and TTV and AXN-Taiwan in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. 20 7-minute mini-specials and one full-length episode was created and broadcast on TBS in 1999. A 26-episode sequel to the series also aired on TBS in 2001. A third animated television series, , aired from 2007 to 2008. Animated by

and produced by

Bandai Visual was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution company, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America. Most of the anime and ...

, the series featured character designs by Atsuko Nakajima and music by Kow Otani and Yasunori Iwasaki. The first two television series were aired with English subtitles on

AXN Asia AXN is a pan-Asian pay television channel owned by KC Global Media Asia and headquartered in Singapore. The channel primarily airs action shows, notably police procedural dramas, with most of its content originating in North America. Formally a ...

's networks in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

AnimEigo AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. Founded in 1988 by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams III, the company was one of the first in North America dedicated to licens ...

licensed the initial OVA series, the first television series, and the only full-length television episode of ''You're Under Arrest'' that aired in 1999 for

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n release.

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 Gr ...

subsequently released the 1999 mini-TV episodes that comprised the rest of ''You're Under Arrest! Mini-Specials'' as well as the movie. The 2001 TV series, the 2002 OVA TV special and ''Full Throttle'' are licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks and distributed by

Section23 Films SXION 23 LLC, doing business as Section23 Films, is an American multimedia distributor based in Houston, Texas specializing in releasing anime and Japanese films. Established in 2009, Section23 is one of five successors to ADV Films; alongside ...

. In South Korea, Tooniverse licensed the OVA series until 2nd season. TBS is in charge of promoting the 2nd season, movie and ''Full Throttle!'' outside of Japan.

Film

The film ran for 90 minutes in the United States and 92 minutes in France.

Video game

Released on March 29, 2001 by

Pioneer LDC (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise that is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, owned by American telecommunications/media company Comcast headquartered in Akasaka, Tokyo ...

for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

, the game is a text adventure game that introduces three new characters. One of them is a detective named Ryosuke Arisugawa, a 24-year-old plainclothed officer assigned to Bokuto Police Station in order to identify and arrest a hacker who was trying to break into the precinct's network system. Another character is his 18-year-old sister Chiharu Arisugawa, who the player must keep an eye on. Players can assign various characters from the Bokuto Station to conduct patrols around the neighborhood.

Novel

A novel was published by Kodansha. It is a stand-alone story from the series, detailing a fight with Miyuki and Natsumi due to the latter being late for work again in Bokuto Station.Unofficial You're Under Arrest! Novel Page.
Retrieved on January 25, 2008. Work on the novel had been supervised by

himself personally with Atsuko Nakajima doing the artwork in the novel.

TV drama

A TV drama was created and aired on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

in 2002. The opening theme song was called "Galaxy" by Nana Katase, and the closing theme was " Through the Rain" by

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

. It adapted the main characters while adding new characters over the course of the nine-episode series. The drama also advances the romantic relationships of the main characters. Each episode ran for 45 minutes each.

Model kits

Two models were created and titled Honda Today and Natsumi's motorcycle. Each are scale.

Reception

Shortly after ''You're Under Arrest 2'' came out, ''You're Under Arrest'' was among the top 10 anime shows in ''Newtype''s August 2001 issue. Regarding the ''Full Throttle'' revival series, Theron Martin commented that "Little that the series does in these episodes is especially fresh or memorable, but if you were always a fan of the Bokuto Traffic Section's antics in the earlier series then that enjoyment is unlikely to fade here.". Similarly, Chris Beveridge said that "Though this season pales for a lot of people because some of the supporting cast are either minimized or gone entirely, I appreciated the return to dealing with the core cast of characters after all this time.".

References

External links

Official TBS website
* {{Studio Deen films 1986 manga 1994 anime OVAs 1996 anime television series debuts 1996 Japanese television series debuts 1997 Japanese television series endings 1999 anime films 1999 films 1999 anime television series debuts 1999 Japanese television series debuts 1999 Japanese television series endings 2001 anime television series debuts 2001 Japanese television series debuts 2001 Japanese television series endings 2002 anime OVAs 2002 Japanese television series debuts 2002 Japanese television series endings You're Under Arrest: Full Throttle You're Under Arrest: Full Throttle You're Under Arrest: Full Throttle Action anime and manga ADV Films Bandai Visual Comedy anime and manga Dark Horse Comics titles Japanese drama television series Kodansha manga NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan Anime and manga about law enforcement Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Sharp Point Press titles Studio Deen TBS Television (Japan) original programming Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in fiction TV Asahi original programming Wonderful (TV programming block)