A.D. Police AnimEigo 120 minutes English/Japanese English Subtitles 10/05/2004

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With the inception of Christmas break, the finalization of my undergraduate thesis, and a brief bit of time before the remainder of my good buddies wind their way home from colleges in various parts of the country (and France, if you're Andrew) I find that it's probably time to declare my hiatus from anime at an end. Compacting this is that a scant three weeks ago DeepdiscountDVD.com hosted quite the little sale, allowing me to avail myself of a few anime DVDs I actually had a desire to watch, among other entertainment tidbits. So here we are, the arrival of the A.D. Police DVD was like a premature Christmas miracle. I'll tell you, good fan, that I received this disk yesterday and watched it soon after this afternoon. Let me tell you, a turnover of approximately twenty hours is unheard of when it comes to myself and anime DVDs. And now I'm passing the savings on to you!

The world of the A.D. Police predates my much beloved Bubblegum Crisis by five years, taking place in the tender era of 2027 where a younger and more spiky haired Leon McNichol walks the beat, still looking for trouble but slightly less lascivious than his older, Priss-chasing persona. Leon is present in all three stories, but the short OVA is more a collection of vignettes that give insight into the world of robots and the city they love so dearly than it is a time for Leon to shine. It is a different, slightly less 80s Synth-Pop world than that of its progenitor, but it'll still be recognizable even to casual fans. The world of A.D. Police could be considered a bit darker, with more crimes and less happy endings... ...and sex, copious, gratuitous sex. Even when you think it'd be impossible to insert sex, such as the final story that focuses on the Robocop clone, Billy, there's something. Suddenly a deranged scientist pops out of nowhere and starts humping some robot leg while feeding the thing a variety of robo-drugs. It's only slightly more uncomfortable than watching a robot girl get their robo-tit ripped off, pictured right. Just slightly.

So, knowing my views on sex and cinema, you might want to ask my why I have such a preference for this show. The answer is simple: While A.D. Police certainly contains more cartoon sexuality than I am comfortable with, it isn't the weird psycho-incestuous pandering that suffuses shows like Onegai Twins, Angel Tales or DokiDoki Sexual Preteen Sister Menage! There isn't a cadre of once-pets-now-sexcrazed-preteen-angels trying to get into some milquetoast 15 year old's pants. Instead, A.D. Police has absolutely does not try to pretend that a depraved sexuality is anything but depraved. It's not so much the incest or pedophilia that I'm against in the majority of popular anime these days, it's the portrayal of these things as right and desirable.** I find it somewhat settling that the Dr. McLeghump spends the latter portion of episode three drooling her brain goo against a concrete wall. It's sort of like street justice, Megatokyo style.

Suffused with sexuality as it is, A.D. Police resembles nothing less than the creepy halfhearted philosophy of the raunchier parts of Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep, which shouldn't be too much of a surprise, I guess, considering everything else that's sprung from the loins of this continuity owes 90% of it's material to a little Harrison Ford thriller you might know as Bladerunner. For those desiring a contemporary reference, it's like Law and Order: Special Victims Unit with robots, but, unfortunately, without the ultra hotness of Mariska Hagerty. A.D. Police doesn't contain nearly the vim and vigor of it's predecessor's action scenes and, despite a pretty cogently put together opening instrumental, its music is a shadow of what's come before it. Other than these two minor complaints A.D. Police cheers my heart. This show is ponderous and methodical, not like Bubblegum Crisis and manages a sort of rapport with me that would be just as suitable in any other prime-time cop drama. But this one has robots.

**Yeah I am. Incest and pedophilia are freaking gross.