Ask John: Why is Burn-Up Scramble So Different from Burn-Up W?

Question:
Why did they change the characters for Burn Up Scramble? They made the gun-toting Maya more feminine, Rio, who was just always in debt, is obsessed with getting herself a man and getting good luck, and Yuji, they made him the chief of police! But he’s still crazy about Rio, but he has a clinging secretary, though. I mean, what gives with all these changes? They seem to have made them even younger-looking.

Answer:
Burn-Up has always been a very diverse franchise. Many newer anime fans may not recall the original 1991 Burn-Up OAV, released in America on VHS by AD Vision. That original stand alone OAV stared Maki, Reimi and Yuka in a cute, mildly funny, and also somewhat violent action story about the girls trying to bust a white slavery ring by using one of their own as bait.

The 1996 Burn-Up W OAV series was a complete departure from the original short. The cute and child-like appearance of the original OAV character designs, and the combination of mild situational comedy and serious police action in Burn-Up gave way to taller, skinnier characters with enhanced bosoms and even less brains. While the original Burn-Up wasn’t a masterpiece, it played as a humorous police action OAV. Burn-Up W moved into the realm of parody by exaggerating its character personalities and including references to other anime titles. Burn-Up W also focused much more attention on its comedy than on its story development.

The 1997 Burn-Up eXcess television series was a loose re-make of the Burn-Up W OAV series, retaining the same characters but more evenly balancing the elements of parody and story.

There was a five year gap between the original Burn-Up and Burn-Up W, during which time the look and tone of the franchise was extensively re-vamped. In fact, the only similarities between Burn-Up and Burn-Up W were the series title and the fact that both shows were about policewomen. Six years after the conclusion of Burn-Up X, the franchise was once again redesigned, although this time not quite as extensively. Burn-Up Scramble had the same character names and same tone as Burn-Up X, although its character design changed and character personalities and relationships were redesigned.

Considering the dynamic, rapid pace of the anime industry and its Japanese fans, it’s actually amazing that the Burn-Up franchise has had four incarnations over the past 13 years. With a lifespan so long in an industry within which it’s common for fans to lose interest in a series after a year, it was probably vitally necessary for AIC Studios to design three distinct generations of the Burn-Up anime franchise in order to attract and maintain viewer interest. The differences in the three generations of Burn-Up anime reflect the fact that the Burn-Up, Burn Up W and X, and Burn-Up Scramble shows were targeted at whichever generation of anime viewers was current at that time. Since the Burn-Up anime has never apparently tried to maintain continuity, it’s logical to presume that the Burn-Up Scramble series is simply the latest stage in a continuously evolving anime franchise.