The content of this piece was written during a viewing of the first episode of Dirty Pair on November 19, 2010. Edits have been made for spelling and grammar, but the rest is completely untouched, and un-edited from its original format.

Dirty Pair is one of those shows that's unapologetically '80s, and a stronger product for it. Seriously, the world needs more giant cat things and heroines sporting fox cuts!.

8:30 PM: Good evening, everybody and welcome to Friday Night Showblog! (TM)

8:30 PM: Tonight's feature is the original Dirty Pair TV series.

8:30 PM: This is a classic from the House that Gundam built, which is finally getting its chance in the west.

8:31 PM: But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

8:31 PM: So I'll post up the essentials so we can bask in the '80s awesomeness — back in a time when cel counts were high and budgets didn't exist :D

8:31 PM: Directed by Toshifumi Takizawa (Crusher Joe, Samurai 7)

8:31 PM: Created by Haruka Takachiho (Dirty Pair Flash, Crusher Joe)

8:32 PM: Music by Toshiyuki Kimori (Arcadia of My Youth, Super Mario Brothers: Peach-hime Kyuushutsu Daisakusen)

8:32 PM: Character Designs by Fujihiko Hosono (Biohunter, Dokkiri Doctor, Judge) and Tsukasa Dokite (Gundam Wing, Urusei Yatsura, Project A-Ko)

8:32 PM: Animated by Sunrise (Mobile Suit Gundam, City Hunter, Crest of the Stars, My HiME, Steamboy)

8:33 PM: Released in the US by Nozomi Ent, aka @animetoday

8:33 PM: Anyway, I've gone on long enough... let's get this thing started.

8:34 PM: Opens to cheesy '80s J-rock. This is already up to my expectations. :P

8:35 PM: Credits weirdness — Why is Yuri dialing the City Hunter phone?

8:36 PM: And we're finally going in the episode.

8:37 PM: Wow... only 20 years since warp travel was discovered?

8:37 PM: Looks like we're opening in Eleanor City — a glittering metropolis run by a supercomputer known as Brian. How... anticlimactic.

8:38 PM: Brian just doesn't strike me as a computer name!

8:38 PM: Looks like the chief's already pissed at our heroines XD And... Kei's awoken by something.

8:38 PM: "IT'S HOT T___T" She looks friendly already. :D

8:39 PM: "What's wrong Brian ;-;" Ahh, got it — Yuri's freezing her ass off with Mughi and Kei's sweating. Heat's busted :D

8:39 PM: "We lost contact with the chief D:" Sure they did. He's just screaming.

8:40 PM: Hah :D Kei using Mughi to keep warm.

8:40 PM: "How to use bald cats :o" wat

8:40 PM: O_o Ouch — poor Mughi got jumped on D:

8:40 PM: And it got dark... and explodey. Fun.

8:40 PM: Poor Mughi got fried XD aw

8:40 PM: Shit's goin' down.

8:41 PM: "How to kill a computer!" Uh... turn it off? :D

8:41 PM: More details on Brian's malfunction — looks like it's not isolated.

8:41 PM: And the engineer guy with epic stache has the kill key. That doesn't work. >_> Go fig.

8:42 PM: Looks like the Lovely Angels are on the case already.

8:42 PM: XD Little kid being swept away — "YAHOO :D" That's not terror. '-'

8:42 PM: Wow... cheeky brats.

8:42 PM: D: Aww.. Mughi let go.

8:43 PM: Lots of stuff blowing up... and destruction abounds.

8:43 PM: Heh — Yuri just got groped TSA-style.

8:44 PM: By a cute guy, so it's OK, obviously. -rolls eyes-

8:44 PM: Looks like Brian's watchin' em.

8:44 PM: And epic intro is go!

8:45 PM: "Raburii — Angeru :D" "What are female wrestlers doing here? T____T" Poor guy doesn't know what to do XD

8:45 PM: Looks like Brian's reacting... by letting a huge-ass wall of water out on the populous.

8:45 PM: From which they narrowly escape.

8:46 PM: Perverts — modern-day superheroes :D "don't let go ;-;" "I won't >3"

8:46 PM: "It's the Dirty Pair T_T" poor girls — their reputation is terrible.

8:47 PM: Back to the girls — who are being sent up to the top instead of the basement — good going. >_>

8:47 PM: "My chest is getting squished! >_<" "They're al muscle so it's OK! ;-;" Oh, Yuri - always so catty

8:47 PM: "Do not trust Brian :D" clearly.

8:48 PM: -snerk- "It's the Dirty Pair — crap it's really them! ;-;" They're really confident in our heroines, aren't they?

8:49 PM: Welp.. that guy's not around anymore o_o Death by falling debris.

8:49 PM: Back to Mughi :D Who has a little girl?

8:49 PM: "You hafta save the kitty too :D" aw... cute kid.

8:50 PM: And eyecatch!

8:50 PM: Back to the show and Mughi = awesome.

8:50 PM: Looks like Brian's not giving up though. >_> The Lovely Angels are between a rock and a hard place.

8:50 PM: And their only hope is a giant cat thing.

8:51 PM: And they're falling. Cue rescue in 3..2...1...

8:51 PM: No fair — Yuri has a parachute. :P

8:52 PM: I love how catty they are in this though... Yuri's outright bitchy at points.

8:52 PM: Ohp — there goes that parachute D: And... a bank of cars. And probably their legs.

8:52 PM: While Mughi flies a fucking space ship >:o Epic pet just got MORE epic.

8:53 PM: Heh - Kei's hotwiring a car... and away they go. :D

8:53 PM: I'm amazed at just how good this looks, even today.

8:53 PM: Really, the animation is fantastic even in these chase sequences.

8:54 PM: And they're bitching again. >_>

8:55 PM: "Mankind has betrayed me T_T" oh wow... a bitchy computer, if I ever saw one.

8:56 PM: "You bratty computer T_T" Kei nailed it, alright.

8:56 PM: Here comes the death. :D

8:57 PM: ...Or not — they took out a city block thanks to a well placed mirror >_> OOPS. :D

8:57 PM: "That will be another black mark for the Dirty Pair T_T" Even he knows their reputation. :D

8:57 PM: XD "Who's the better woman? :3" insulting the computer... fun.

8:58 PM: City's leanin' now. >_>

8:58 PM: Wow. This is like that episode of Star Trek where Kirk had that computer calculate pi to distract him... only more perverted.

8:59 PM: O___o damn... 3521 wounded? That's a reputation and a hald.

9:00 PM: "I won't forgive humanity T_T" Clearly.

9:00 PM: And they're warping Brian away — gotcha.

9:00 PM: Ohp... there goes the electricity... and now some gorgeous landscapes.

9:01 PM: Hah — and the chief's pissed.

9:02 PM: And end. :3 To a Knight Rider meets Zillion meets Outrun inspired scene.

9:02 PM: I really really REALLY miss anime like this.

9:02 PM: Stuff when Sunrise could do no wrong, and the crazy sci-fi and '80s influences were beyond just apparent — they were part of the identity.

9:03 PM: I wholeheartedly recommend Dirty Pair from what I've seen, and I can't wait to see more.

9:04 PM: Seriously — what're you waiting for? Go. Buy. Watch. Thank me later. http://bit.ly/aHbkb8