Review: Burn-up W

Burn-up W is four episodes of large explosions and boucing breasts with a very light common thread concerning a new "virtual drug" which is not even partially resolved.

(Does Japan really have stores where large numbers of pairs of used panties are sold, complete with pictures of the original wearer? The mind boggles.)

Burn-Up W has little plot, some character development (including the death of a close friend of Rio, probably the most "developed" member of the team) but nothing like what many other anime have, but loads of eye candy. The eye candy is primarily in the form of the aforementioned fan service and big guns and explosions.

The main plot concerning the "virtual drug" isn't resolved in any way. Burn-Up W has every appearance of a series which was started then aborted relatively early in development.

It's fluff through and through, but entertaining enough if you turn your brain in at the door. If you think of it as Anime's answer to the Tomb Raider movie (but with a team of busty action heroines rather than just one) you won't be far off the mark.

Animation is decent (not spectacular) and sound effects fit in unremarkably. Voice actors fit their characters reasonably well. Overall, production standards are distinctly average. Packaging is a standard DVD case.

There are a number of fairly grisly scenes which may not be for the faint of heart. Basically, not for children, but you picked that up from the first paragraph, right? The gore is not overemphasised, just used as a plot element, thank goodness.

(*) Rio being the "most developed" is probably true in both plot and double-entendre sense of the phrase.