The A.D. Police saga is one of the fan loved series spin-offs from the BGC anime franchise. As the cyber crime ratio rises in MegaTokyo escalates, political pressure mounts towards the A.D. Police to stop the increasing numbers of mutating cyborgs known as VOOMERS. During this surge of outbreaks, the friendships between members of the AD Police’s Elite team are stretched out a bit to one degree or another.

Small Background history

The year is 2020, and after a devastating earthquake, MegaTokyo also known as Genom City, was being rebuilt at the hands of the cyborg VOOMERS—Voodoo Organic Metal Extension Resources—built by Genom Corp, whose office tower now dominates the skyline. The machines, known as Voomers, have become an integral part of life now, doing heavy construction and maintenance, in addition to more mundane and menial chores. A number of these nits have been known to go rogue for one reason or another, and their destructive rampages can be fatal. To counter this increasing menace, the Advanced Police were formed as an elite police division, focused on Voomer crimes.

Setting is 19 years later after the Quake and the ongoing rebuild of MegaTokyo – Circa 2039

ADP Officer Kenji Sasaki has to come to grips when accepting Hans Kleif as his new partner. He has his own personal demons to deal with, if he is to deal with what faces him and faces the A.D. Police as well all the while investigating the Cyber-espionage and keep the VOOMERS from wreaking havoc on MegaTokyo into a Techno-Warzone. He tends to be the lone point man in his own regards, he takes risks, he also has attitude adjustments that reflect on being someone who is not really that much of a “team player”, but he is good at what he does, and that is what it takes when dealing with machines that have the capacity to take down a building with a few well places blows to the infrastructure, and where lives are at risk.

Unfortunately, the free spirit does not work well with social skills, Kenji’s first meeting with his new partner Hans Kleif, who transferred in from the NP (Normal Police) of Germany, is well let’s be honest, it was less than friendly. Kleif is the good looking Action Hero/Officer type, being shot in the line of duty and losing part of his long term memory and with a possible love interest with the doctor, who is supposedly help him out in trying to regain those memories makes him one the characters the viewer will somehow relate with and stay engaged with the story.

Let’s introduce the rest of the team! We have Jose Collins, who is also the team leader and the demolitions expert. Next the rather tall and blonde explosives expert, Karen Jordon who hails from New York City USA. Then there is also her partner and bud at the bar Ms. Mary Malone who hails from California USA, the resident firebee and aerial combat vehicle pilot. Then comes the part of who they report to, El Jefe Ms. Nancy Wilson also from New York USA as well, who is over the operations of this ADP Squad. Being involved over a city with a growing Voomer threat, crimes are high, as well as something new developing in MegaTokyo.

The Voomer market has expanded worldwide, creating opportunities to insert a criminal element involving mafia/yakauza organizations one especially known is The Backers syndicate, exporting Voomers of questionable background to other companies in need of said merchandise. One of the more notorious of these crime syndicates leaders is Mr. Liam Fletcher, who becomes a major suspect for the A.D. Police, since a series of incidents start to end connecting and centering around the Backer syndicates operations.

Now I love the BGC Franchise as a whole, I have watched all the OVAs, The TV Series, The Manga and Magazine articles over the years. The Three part OVA Set from 1989 comapred to this 1999 pre-quel, you can’t really compare the two series. I liked the OVA as well as The TV series they are both engaging but the TV series has a more intertwinging and plotline which was what got a hold of me and kept my interest. Now with the OVA series it was more due to the individual stories and how they intertwined and yet didn’t as well.

It did have a equal gritty feel to it but a different sense on a social scale, there is a better interaction with cast development and intrigue, and there is a definite sense of “Action Hero” involved in it as well. Back to the TV series, as I went through I got a sense of familiarity growing within the team structure and how Hans and Kenji started to work more as a dynamic duo (No pun there huh?), but at the same time also building a better working force as well as you’ll see as you watch it yourselves. Lots of great involvement on character interacting and some plot catching scenes to keep the viewer engaged and wanting to watch to the end of the series.

The story development has some weak points like any other story, but the character design was well thought out, however the uniforms were a bit inconsistent as far as uniformity was concerned. This world here shows a more realistic environment of a Japan that has been hit by an earthquake and is still recovering from said disaster even after being 19 years later. The story has a gritty but enjoyable feel to it for those of us out there that enjoy a cool cyberpunk type environment, RPG games, graphic novels and the ilk.

ADV has this out on the Market as a 2 DVD Boxed set, in my opinion its well worth getting and the pricing is more than reasonable. Some of you may not be a big fan by reviews, but I have seen and read what’s out there regarding the BGC/ADP Franchise that’s been translated in English and I am impressed and own a copy of this box set myself. The Artwork and the fact that it also has a decent opening and closing textless video theme sequence was also an added bonus as well.