Ask John: How Much You’re Under Arrest Is There?

Question:
Can you explain to me about “You Are Under Arrest?” I really do not get any structure idea. How many OVA? How many TV series? Any movie? Is this series very popular?

Answer:
Taihou Shichaouzo (You’re Under Arrest/I’ll Arrest You), based on the manga by Kousuke Fujishima that premiered in 1986, had its debut in animated form in 1994 with a 4 episode OAV series. Shortly after the release of the OAV series came a short music video collection that featured a live-action version of police women Natsumi and Miyuki and their “Mini” police car. Two years later, a slightly re-edited version of the four OAVs were broadcast on television as the first four episodes of a popular 51 episode TV series. The Taihou Shichaouzo movie loosely continued the story from the original TV series and premiered in Japanese movie theaters in early 1999. Around the same time, 20 ten minute long episodes of Taihou Shichaouzo Special were broadcast as part of the Wonderful variety hour program. The full-length 25 minute long episode 21 premiered with the home video release of the series. The third You’re Under Arrest TV series premiered early in 2001 and broadcast 26 episodes. A home video exclusive 27th episode premiered on Japanese DVD on March 29th. Because this third TV series was a direct continuation of the original TV series, it was titled “Taiho Shichaouzo Second Season,” although it was technically the third YUA TV series.

Obviously YUA is popular enough in Japan to support three TV series, an OAV series and a theatrical movie. In the US, the series is supported by the domestic release of its original OAVs and the manga. AnimEigo is currently in the process of translating the the first TV series, and AD Vision has the translation rights to the movie.

You’re Under Arrest is popular because of its realistic, engaging characters and whimsical, comedic situations. Exceptional art or animation has never been a strong suit for the YUA animation, nor has its draw been exciting action. The first OAV series features attractive art, but the TV series that followed it has unusually poor character design and animation quality. The theatrical movie featured excellent character design and near photo-realistic background art, but chose to use frequent still frames in place of animation during the action sequences, presumably to keep the focus on the story and characters rather than on the action. Yet in spite of limited animation quality and sometimes shockingly poor art design, You’re Under Arrest has remained highly successful in Japan. How much the series will appeal to you will depend on how entertaining you find the daily lives and romantic entanglements of a pair of female Japanese traffic cops and their co-workers.