MISC. MANGA, *Dirty Pair

Based on the light novel series by Haruko Takachiho, the Dirty Pair has never up until 2010 had its own original Japanese manga, despite an anime TV series, a movie, OVAs, and a 90s remake. Most American otaku are probably familiar with Adam Warren's Dirty Pair various comic book mini-series, but this is the first manga done for Japanese readers, aside from the manga extension of the Dirty Pair Flash OVA. Manga artist Hisao Tamaki has also done the manga adaptaion of Star Wars: Episode IV, plus his own creation Astrider Hugo have both been published in English. This "new" manga took about a decade to finally get released through Seven Seas Entertainment who have a taste for publishing manga heavy with fan service. The series was first printed into two separate volumes, but collected into a single large book for it's English release, which is in itself of the first light novel anthology, The Great Adventures Of The Dirty Pair.

The first story features our titular duo, Kei and Yuri, who have the codename of "Lovely Angels", although their destructive reputation has them eternally branded as the Dirty Pair, and their assignment is to uncover a conspiracy on the planet Dangool involving a rogue faction of the government setting up its own interstellar battle station. The second chapter is a short one involving the Lovely Angels trying to escape a timeloop where they end up blowing themselves up. The final installment is an extra-length one where Yuri gets some help from childhood friends that grew up to be officers to help her and Kei take down the Lucifer criminal organization, which in the original continuity of the novels was the Dirty Pair equivalent to SPECTRE. This last one is a little more overt than their normal adventures, even though it finally gets around to showcasing Key and Yuri's esper link, where they can share a clairvoyant vision by bonding together on an almost romantic level, which is something that they can't do on their own which is why they were teamed up in the first place.

Hisao Tamaki has a real flair for space opera-themed manga, and hopefully he'll get his own ongoing cosmic odyssey title going. Fans of the 80's version of Dirty Pair should appreciate this, especially with their feline partner Mughi who here is more of a sleek oversized mutant panther. It fits nicely into a cyberpunk frame, but is a great read for old school sci-fi fans.