Kids Web Japan

(© Kosuke Fujishima·Kodansha/Bokuto Station Traffic Control Department. All Rights Reserved.)

Two female police officers are the lead characters in the anime action comedy You're Under Arrest Full Throttle. The series has amassed a big audience of fans attracted by compelling characterss and storylines, riveting car chases, and vivid car and motorcycle animations. You're Under Arrest began its third season on the TBS television network in October 2007, following its debut in 1996 and a second season in 2001.

The story takes place in the Traffic Division of Bokuto Precinct in Tokyo and centers on two vivacious female traffic cops, the brainy Kobayakawa Miyuki and the brawny Tsujimoto Natusmi. Cool and car crazy, Officer Kobayakawa is a mechanical wiz with a need for speed. She is fanatical about cars and shows no mercy for baddies who use them for their crimes. Her partner, Officer Tsujimoto, has an insatiable appetite and Herculean strength. Her trademark talent is foot braking. In car chases she whips open the door of the police mini-car and thrusts her foot to the pavement, bringing the speeding squad car to a halt. The only problem with this technique is that every time she does it, she ruins another pair of perfectly good police-issue shoes. Officer Tsujimoto loves her zippy little 80cc motorcycle and usually patrols her beat in a police mini-car.

The new season of You�re Under Arrest kicks off with Officer Kobayakawa arriving at Tokyo's Narita Airport on her return from the United States, where she has just undergone special police training. Just as she arrives in Japan, some thugs dressed in black try to kidnap a little boy whom she had befriended on the plane. Instinctively, Officer Kobayakawa whisks the little boy off in her car with the baddies close behind in a pedal-to-the-metal pursuit. In no time, the topsy-turvy car chase escalates as Officer Tsujimoto and her fellow squad-members from the Bokuto Precinct spring into action and the chaos continues from Narita (about 80 kilometers from Tokyo) all the way back to the Bokuto Precinct.

You're Under Arrest Full Throttle has lots of interesting main and supporting characters. Motorcycle cop Nakajima Ken is one of them: A man of few words, he has a confident demeanor but is awkward around his female colleagues. The police chief is another notable supporting character, the straight arrow who keeps all of his underlings in line.

The dialog in You're Under Arrest is cleverly written, with insightful moments that lend the characters an engaging multi-dimensional quality. The storylines unfold with unexpected twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat as each and every episode finds the squad members of Bokuto Precinct faced with another sticky situation. You're Under Arrest Full Throttle is sure to draw you in and keep you coming back for the next episode.

(Updated in January 2008)