| Dirty Pair | |
|---|---|
 Promotional Nippon Television poster featuring the two protagonists | |
| ダーティペア | |
| Based on | Dirty Pair byHaruka Takachiho |
| Directed by |
|
| Music by | Toshiyuki Kimori [ja] |
| Opening theme | "Ro Ro Ro Ro Russian Roulette [ja]" byMeiko Nakahara |
| Ending theme | "Space Fantasy" by Meiko Nakahara |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Original language | Japanese |
| No. of episodes | 26[a](list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producers |
|
| Production company | Nippon Sunrise |
| Original release | |
| Network | NNS (NTV) |
| Release | July 15 (1985-07-15) – December 26, 1985 (1985-12-26) |
| Related | |
| Original video animation | |
| Dirty Pair: Affair of Nolandia | |
| Directed by | Masaharu Okuwaki |
| Written by | Kazunori Itō |
| Music by | Yoshihiro Kunimoto |
| Studio | Nippon Sunrise |
| Licensed by | Crunchyroll[b] |
| Released | December 20, 1985 (1985-12-20) |
| Runtime | 55 minutes |
| Original video animation | |
| Dirty Pair 2 | |
| Directed by | Katsuyoshi Yatabe |
| Written by | Hiroyuki Hoshiyama |
| Music by |
|
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Licensed by | Crunchyroll[b] |
| Released | December 21, 1987 – April 21, 1988 |
| Episodes | 10(List of episodes) |
| Original video animation | |
| Dirty Pair: Flight 005 Conspiracy | |
| Directed by | Toshifumi Takizawa |
| Written by | Yoshitake Suzuki |
| Music by | Tohru Okada (Moonriders) |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Licensed by | Crunchyroll[b] |
| Released | January 25, 1990 (1990-01-25) |
| Runtime | 60 minutes |
Dirty Pair (Japanese:ダーティペア,Hepburn:Dāti Pea) is a Japanese anime television series based on thenovel series of the same name byHaruka Takachiho. Produced byNippon Sunrise, the series aired onNippon 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 1985Animage Anime Grand Prix prize.[1]
| Character | Japanese voice actor | English voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Kei | Kyōko Tongū | Pamela Lauer |
| Yuri | Saeko Shimazu | Jessica Calvello |
| Mughi | Naoki Makishima [ja] | Brett Weaver |
| Gooley | Ikuya Sawaki | Jason Douglas |
Produced by Nippon Sunrise, the series was directed byToshifumi Takizawa [ja] with Norio Kashima taking over for episodes 15-26 with character designs byTsukasa Dokite, mechanical designs by Junichi Akutsu, uniform designs byFujihiko Hosono and music byToshiyuki Kimori [ja]. Following its cancellation, two additional scripts had been written for two additional episodes. These episodes were ultimately produced and released as an OVA titledDirty 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 byVAP 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 byADV 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 byNozomi 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 fromSentai Filmworks did confirm that he offered to produce an English dub withSeraphim Digital for the re-release, but it was declined for reasons not stated.[7]Dirty Pair was aired in North America on theShowtime Beyond channel.[citation needed]
On October 1, 2021, Nozomi Entertainment launched aKickstarter campaign to release the original television series onBlu-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 thatJessica 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 ofProject Eden in 2005, would be coming out of retirement to reprise her role.[10] On October 30, after reaching $600,000, an update revealed thatJason 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 theKickstarter 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 ofRight Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment may have "adversely affected the project".[14][13] Prior to this update, Christopher Farris and Steve Jones ofAnime 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]
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 andJessica Calvello voicing Yuri, plus re-created music and audio effects, as the original wasn't available.[19] This series has been calledOriginal Dirty Pair orDirty 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) andFlight 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 byStreamline Pictures andOrion Pictures.[22][23]
They were later re-licensed and re-dubbed byADV Films and released to bilingual DVD on November 4 and December 2, 2003, respectively. ADV later re-released them to DVD, along withProject 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) withProject Eden on May 8, 2012, as part of the "Dirty Pair: Features DVD Collection".[24]
For audio, Dirty Pair comes with Japanese 2.0 with English subtitles
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.