AKA: ADポリス, AD Police Files

Genre: Cyberpunk science fiction

Length: OAV series, 3 episodes, 40 minutes each

Distributor: VHS, LD, and R1 DVD from AnimEigo, streaming on Tubitv.com

Content Rating: R (graphic violence, nudity, sex, profanity)

Related Series: AD Police TV, Bubblegum Crisis, Bubblegum Crash

Also Recommended: Bubblegum Crisis

Notes:

Rating:

AD Police

Synopsis

AD Police Files is a prequel to the series Bubblegum Crisis and Bubblegum Crash. There is also a new AD Police TV series, which has a completely different cast and characters.

The year is 2027 in Mega Tokyo, six years before the Knight Sabers will make their debut. Boomers (artificial humans) are still a relatively new advancement, and the implementation and integration of boomers into society is still a bit buggy -- sometimes fatally so. Whenever a boomer incident occurs, though, there is the ADvanced Police, a special force trained to deal with boomer crimes.

Leon McNichol is a rookie in the AD Police, and is just starting to become exposed to the horrors and tragedies one finds every day in Mega Tokyo. He and his veteran partner, Gina Marceau, slowly learn about the ever-fading line that separates man from machine.

Review

If these are the best files the AD Police could come up with, I think I'll go to a different filing cabinet.

Okay -- AD Police Files isn't that bad, but it certainly isn't that good, either, and it definitely doesn't live up to the hype it creates for itself.

Let's take the art and animation, for starters. The art isn't that bad, but there's really nothing there to separate it from the scads of mecha-type titles out there already. The animation is simply average (when an opening sequence fails to spark my interest, it's lost half the battle already), which is below par for a title of this genre. The music is all right, though, and in true Bubblegum Crisis style, each tape ends with two or three music videos featuring (violent) clips from each episode.

The plots themselves, though, are pretty interesting, with plenty of menace and malice to make you shift uncomfortably in your seat. You will not see Nene Romanova cutely complaining about her weight, if you get my drift. Twisted souls and demented homunculi grace the screen nicely, and actually steal the show much more than the generic AD Police ever do. Leon's all right and all (thank goodness Daley Wong doesn't show), but the show really belongs to the Boomers, who are, in truth, the most developed of characters.

Not too bad, if you don't have too much else to do. If you're a BGC junkie, you'll definitely enjoy this one. Other people might want to save this one until they run out of other things to watch.

— Raphael See

Recommended Audience: Definitely not for kids. Not only does every episode contain numerous scenes of graphic violence, but the series also contains a dark, sexual spin inappropriate for kids. Of course, non-casual nudity and profanity are also to be found throughout.