#1 Unhinged duo cop antics
Miami is a city of crime and corruption. A city infested with thugs, gangs, assassins, and anything in-between. Many of whom are sponsored by the city’s ultra-wealthy elite. The Miami police force is hopelessly outnumbered, but certainly not outmatched. They have the Miami Guns, after all. A cop duo feared by criminals and civilians alike.
Lu Amano is cold, calculating, and utterly ruthless. She is great at thinking up plans and has the brawn to execute on them, but her solutions tend to be extreme. She doesn’t think twice about breaking out rocket launchers or armored vehicles, even against the pettiest of criminals. Then there is Yao Sakurakouji, her partner and heiress to the Sakurakouji conglomerate. She is a spoiled brat with a penchant for violence, who’d spend her days beating up criminals even if she wasn’t a cop. Yao is also desperate for attention and will sabotage any good plan just to put herself in the spotlight.
Put together, the Miami Guns are a wildly dysfunctional team that frequently devolves into outright infighting. Even when they do cooperate, their approach to fighting crime does more damage than any criminal could. Property damage goes through the roof and casualties are to be expected.
Every case chronicled in this anime is an explosive adventure where the two girls constantly surprise the viewer. They dismantle evil organizations by accident, take out hundreds of assassins while participating in a beauty contest, and destroy their own police station multiple times over. And those are just a few examples.
#2 References & Parody
Throughout all this, the tone of the comedy is consistently absurd. Not just in how wacky and overly violent Lu and Yao are, but also in how much their anime parodies other media.
Miami Guns often can’t go for ten seconds without poking fun at other anime. Though some of these references have aged since the show aired in the year 2000, a lot of it has managed to remain surprisingly relevant. It satirizes the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Golgo 13, Initial D, as well as many other classic shows. Fans of retro anime will have a great time looking out for all these silly parodies.
Western media isn’t safe from Miami Guns either. Much of the comedy plays on the tropes and stereotypes of classic cop movies and spaghetti westerns. It even touches on other genres, such as one episode that parodies slasher movies.
#3 Fanservice aplenty
Though it never strays into territory where censorship would be required, Miami Guns is nevertheless very fond of its fanservice. Particularly when it pertains to Yao, who is always thrilled to show off her beauty. It would very much seem like Miami doesn’t have any decency laws in the books. Not that Yao would follow them if they did.
Already in the first episode Yao decides to spice up a hostage situation by stripping down to her underwear. From there her outfits are regularly removed, either voluntarily or as a consequence of the numerous action scenes.
Lu is much more modest by comparison, but has a cheeky side. She regularly goes undercover in sexy outfits and her casual clothes are flashy too. She much prefers to sexually harass others however.
More like this…
California Crisis: Wily adventure in sun-drenched America.
Excel Saga: Action series that mercilessly parodies its contemporaries.
Gunsmith Cats: Gunslinger duo fights (and commits) crimes.
We are blessed to have your retro recommendations!
Hahaha, thanks! The enthusiasm is much appreciated. I hope Miami Guns will be to your liking if/when you get to watch it.