To Protect and Serve

The 1997 television series Burn Up Excess was the second follow-up to the original Burn Up OAV (1991). Rio, the four other women of the Tokyo Police Warrior Team, and Yuji, the lone male, swing back into action, battling the machinations of the mysterious Miss Ruby. Although the Team solves hostage situations, jewel robberies, terrorist activities, serial underwear thefts, and underworld wars, Excess features less violence and more slapstick than the original. But the point of the series is the jiggle shots, gratuitous nudity, and jokes about men driven to unseemly behavior by animal lust. The extras include a "jiggle counter" that enumerates the number of times each character's breasts bounce. The buxom character designs and over-the-top shootouts embody the clichés that lead many Americans to dismiss anime as "Big Eyes, Big Breasts, and Big Guns." Rated 15 Up: Nudity, profanity, violence, sexual humor, alcohol use. --Charles Solomon