Product Description: Charged with keeping the peace and investigating crime among the stars, the Worlds Welfare Work Association (WWWA) prides itself on a reputation of safety and regard for life and property. If only someone would tell that to Agents Kei and Yuri, codename "the Lovely Angels," but better known as the Dirty Pair. Part female James Bond and part walking disaster, this duo gets the job done, though there are no guarantees that a city or two won't get razed in the process. In this adventure, the Angels are called in to investigate the cataclysmic destruction of the Gravus Heavy Industry facility on the planet Dangool. What they find there hurls the pair into a danger-filled trek across the galaxy. Created by popular science fiction author Haruka Takachiho in 1979, The Dirty Pair are among the most beloved characters in popular anime and science fiction circles.
Cliched translation robs it of any entertainment value The Dirty Pair concept is simple, two girls in hot pants and halter tops fight future crime but disaster, inevitably, follows in their wake. I really enjoyed the Adam Warren Dirty Pair comics and had high hopes when I saw Dark Horse was translating Takachiho's original stories.
But these translations by Dana Lewis and John Thomas are almost unbearably bad.
"This guy was my kind of dreamboat! Oooh, yummy! Just looking at him made my mouth water."
That's from page 2. And the rest of the book is filled with cliched, poor dialogue and dreadfully dull science fiction concepts. The villains at one point carry 'ray guns' and wear 'space jackets'.
Maybe this is an accurate recreation of Takachiho's style, but someone, somewhere should have realized that this translation was a torture to read.
I only keep it at 2 stars because (if you ignore the prose) the plots are fun, the illustrations by Yasuhiko are cool and I still have some lingering admiration of the characters. But I recommend against buying it and will donate my copy to Goodwill.
Great for Those Familiar with the Dirty Pair Anime Series The big three stereotypes of anime seem to be 1.) big eyes; 2.) big breasts; 3.) big guns/explosions. With Dirty Pair, we get all of that in one package.
As soon as I happened to see The Great Adventure of the Dirty Pair, the original novel (finally translated into English) which eventually spawned the anime series, I snagged it instantly. Admittedly, if I was not so familiar with the anime series, I don't think I'd like this book nearly as much, but for those who adore the Dirty Pair anime, I strongly suggest this book ;-)
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