ISBN4-06-315012-7
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ISBN4-06-315012-7 |
Manga by Fujishima KosukeSynopsis by Jack PalevichTranslated by David Goldsmith |
Some jerk has parked a Mazda Miata in an illegal spot. This makes Natsumi very angry. She physically moves the car. It turns out to belong to a handsome male pop-star. When they present the parking ticket to him, he thinks he's being asked for an autograph. So he signs it with an autograph, and wanders off. Later, the heroines catch the pop-star speeding. He laughs as he accepts the ticket.
Back at the office, Miyuki finds out that the pop-star's tickets are being "fixed". This makes them very angry.
Out on the street again, the heroines see the pop-star speeding again. They chase him. He drives recklessly. They use their nitro. They do a bootleg turn. Natsumi gets to ride her micro bike.
For some reason the press show up -- perhaps Miyuki tipped them off? Natsumi hands the ticket to the pop-star in front of the media. She's so goddess-like that everyone bows down before her.
Natsumi announces that she has decided to get her car driving license. (She's the one who drives the motor cycle -- I guess you don't have to have a car driver's license to drive a motor cycle.)
Miyuki asks "why now?"
Natsumi says "Because I get to learn on a BMW!!!!"
She has many adventures at the driving school. She's too rough on the car, but the driving instructor can't bring himself to flunk her. She's got a cute smile. (p21).
None of the other instructors will ride with her, since she so crazed.
Finally, the chief instructor gives her her final exam. The captain shows up to watch.
She drives recklessly through the test. For some reason, the head instructor passes her. (I think maybe he just can't face having her as a student again.)
Natsumi goes shopping for a car. She is mad because Miyuki had something else to do, so she couldn't come with her. She meets the salesman.
The next day, she proudly shows Miyuki the car she bought. Miyuki inspects it, and quickly discovers that Natsumi has been ripped off. The car is a wreck.
The pair go to the car dealership. The car dealership says they're very sorry, but it's not their fault. It turns out that the salesman was in fact a con man. He didn't work at the dealership at all -- he just pretended he did.
Miyuki stays up all night and soups up the car, turning it into a high-powered police car. (It's the Subaru R2DX Miyuki Special.)
The pair go out patrolling in the new car. Since it's Natsumi's car, she's the one that's driving. It's very powerful.
By coincidence, they run into the con-man. He's driving a very nice sports car. He laughs, thinking that he won't have any trouble outracing them. But, he doesn't know the car's been souped up.
They chase the con-man. As the chase progresses, various subsystems of the car start to fail. When the brakes go, Natsumi kicks off the door and uses her foot as a brake. Finally, a chain that's used as part of the engine's drive breaks. (Chains aren't usually used in car engines -- because they aren't strong enough.) But, by that time, they are in front of the con-man, so they catch him after all.
After they repair the car, they sell it. The new owner has trouble dealing with the souped up engine.
This is one of my favorite episodes. It has some great costume designs. Almost every panel is interesting to look at.
The captain announces that he is going to have to cancel the Halloween Festival. All the cops ask why. He says that there's too much chance of crime.
Natsumi cries, because she was looking forward to getting candy. Miyuki corrects her, saying Halloween candy is for kids. She explains that the adults get to dress up in costumes.
Miyuki, Natsumi, and the other cops volunteer to work crowd control so that the festival can go on. The captain agrees.
Cut to the robber. He's happy about robbing people on Halloween night, because he can wear a tiger mask. He proceeds to rob people -- and delighted to get candy as well as money.
We see the cops in costumes. Aoi-chan is wearing a Cinderella style dress with frilly petticoats. A little boy dressed in a penguin suit flips up her skirts, then cries out. We think that the little boy is freaked out because he'd seen that Aoi-chan is really a man, but it is explained (on the next page) that Aoi-chan is wearing running shorts, to prevent just such an embarrassing situation.
The robber's victims find the cops, and report the robbery. The cops start asking other festival goers (all of whom are wearing amazing costumes) if they've seen a man wearing a cape and a tiger mask. Nobody's seen such a costume. Finally, the cops conclude that the robber may have changed his costume.
And, in fact, that's what has happened. The robber has switched to a cow mask. He's hanging around the police, gloating because they don't know who he is. Suddenly, Natsumi decides to question him. He is evasive. Miyuki takes his picture.
The police want to see what's in the bags the criminal is holding. He tells them it's only candy. But then the little kids (including the penguin from earlier) show up and grab at the bag. It bursts, and the money goes flying.
The criminal runs away. Natsumi chases him. He tries to hide in a "herd" of other cow costumes. But, luckily, Miyuki's got a photo of him, so they can tell him from the other cows. (Each cow costume is different, it's not like they all bought the same costume at a toy shop.)
All the cops chase the cow. The catch him.
In the end, the kids are offered the robber's candy, but say they would prefer to have the money.
Morning at the police station. The female cops are changing into their work clothes. Yoriko arrives, looking sad. It turns out someone stole her underwear. (In Japan people don't have clothes dryers. They hang their clothes outside to dry. Underwear is often hung from a 1-foot diameter round hoop.)
Since Yoriko lives on the seventh floor of an apartment building, there is some discussion as to how the thief could have stolen the underwear.
Aoi-chan arrives at work, looking just as sad. It turns out that her underwear has been stolen, too! Miyuki is especially puzzled, because she has installed a special alarm system for Aoi-chan.
They go to Aoi-chan's apartment. Natsumi verifies that the alarm system is still working. Miyuki is depressed that her system couldn't detect the thief. She resolves to lay a trap for the thief.
The next day, the TV news does a report on the underwear thief. They show some of the apartments that he attacked. They interview some of the victims, who describe seeing a scruffy guy wearing night vision goggles. They mention that he only steals delicate silk panties.
Cut to the thief's home. His bedroom walls and ceiling are covered with pin-ups. He's making a quilt from the panties he's stolen. He's sewing his latest panties onto his quilt. He feels that when he sleeps under the quilt, it's like he's sleeping with all the women who wore the panties.
Suddenly, he realizes that one of the panties he just stole is not 100% silk. Rats. He has to go out and steal just one more panty to complete his quilt.
He decides to steal from Aoi-chan again. He bicycle's to her apartment. He checks, and sure enough, there is a tempting set of underwear hanging out to dry. He puts on his night-vision goggles, and goes to work.
The vision goggles allow him to see the infrared beams of Miyuki's alarm system. He avoids them. But, he doesn't notice a simple trip wire. He trips it, and is caught.
The cops confront him, but he attempts to escape by rappelling down the outside of the building. Natsumi flicks the hook off the balcony railing, causing the thief to fall the last few stories. He's stunned by the impact, but he manages to get on his bike and start peddling away.
The cops make it down to the street in time to seem him pedaling away. Natsumi grabs a bike and starts chasing the thief. But she can't catch up -- because the three other police women have hopped on board her bike as well.
Fortunately, Miyuki has prepared a weapon -- she throws a ball at the thief. The ball splits open to reveal a tempting pair of panties. The thief grabs for the panties, which causes him to lose control of his bike. The thief crashes.
After they catch the thief, Aoi-chan reveals to the thief that she is in fact a man. This shocks the thief. The ending line is something like "After that, he didn't trust anybody very much again."
It's the holiday season, and Miyuki is looking forward to having a date on Christmas Eve. (This is the big 'date' evening for modern Japanese. Sort of like Saint Valentine's Day in America.)
Natsumi, who is too shy to tell the captain that she's sweet on him, laments that she doesn't have a date. Aoi-chan chimes in that she, too, wishes she had a boy friend.
Cut to an angry young man. He doesn't have a girl friend, and as a result, he hates the whole Christmas season. So he decides to blow up Christmas trees as a form of protest.
He blows up his first tree. The cops investigate, and Miyuki notices a clue. It's an enormous crossword puzzle. The Christmas Tree Bomber has decided to taunt the police. If they solve the puzzle, they will get a clue to the next tree that he's going to blow up. The four police women accept the challenge.
They work furiously. After a while, Yoriko falls asleep. When she wakes up, she supplies the answer to the final piece. Now they know which tree is going to be blown up. It's a big one, with a big crowd around it. The bomber is in the crowd, waiting for the explosion.
They race to the scene. Natsumi and Miyuki climb into the tree and find the bomb. They try to disarm it, but decide that they can't do it in time.
Natsumi uses a chain saw to cut down the tree. She then picks up the tree, and hurls it up into the air, where it explodes. It turns out to be quite pretty to see all the ornaments and tinsel go flying. The crowd is amazed.
The bomber is so happy that he gives himself away.
In the final panel, Nakajima is crying because he had to spend Christmas Eve alone. It seems that in all the excitement, Miyuki forgot about their date.
A mysterious, yet somehow familiar, figure on a motor bike races by the heroines. The figure is wearing a helmet, so they can't see his face. They wonder if it could be Nakajima. They find him at the station, and ask him. He's strangely evasive.
A male cop comes by and says that he, too, has seen the mysterious figure. The mystery rider has moves just like Nakajima.
Natsumi and Miyuki ask around, but nobody seems to know who the mystery rider is.
One day Natsumi is out riding, and the mystery man passes her. She chases him, and can't quite catch him, although she rides very well. He sure rides like Nakajima. What's going on?
Natsumi and Miyuki follow Nakajima, and see him go into a building. Seconds later, the mystery biker roars by. It can't be Nakajima. But he is speeding, so they chase him. Suddenly, Nakajima rides his bike up from behind, and chases the mystery rider, too.
Nakajima catches up with the mystery rider, and says, "OK, stop it Dad!". It turns out that the mystery biker is, in fact, Nakajima's dad. This explains why he looks similar to, rides just like, Nakajima.
The Dad says he just wanted to check out his son's new girlfriend. (He thinks that Natsumi is his son's girlfriend.) He says he's happy that his son's girlfriend has such a good bike rider. Natsumi protests that it's really Miyuki who is Nakajima's girlfriend.
The first page is a synopsis of the previous episode.
This episode is about a grudge match between Nakajima's dad and an old rival. They have a big race. Nakajima's dad wins, but almost crashes. He is saved by the skillful driving of Miyuki, who is able to "catch" the dad with the side of her car.
In the end, the dad decides that she's all right as a girlfriend for her son, even if she isn't a biker. And, he thinks maybe, since Natsumi is unattached, perhaps she'd be interested in dating him?
A young woman shows up at the station, asking for Aoi-chan, but using his real, male, name. It turns out that she knew Aoi-chan back in high-school, and wants him to help her.
It seems her boyfriend was sold a bogus membership in a golf club. He is going to meet with the gangsters who sold it to him and demand his money back. She thinks he'll get beaten up, or worse.
She says that she was in the golf club with Aoi-chan in high school, and thinks that maybe he can help her. (He was the captain of the golf club.)
Aoi-chan pretends to be his own girlfriend. He says that he's out of town, but that she should come stay at his place, and that the police women will take care of things.
Natsumi and Miyuki go to the dreaded "department 4". (Since the number 4 is pronounced like the word for death, people in Japan have a phobia about the number 4 similar to the one American people have about the number 13.) Department 4 handles gangster activities. It is located in the basement of the police station. It is staffed by undercover officers that look very disreputable. Natsumi and Miyuki are scared, but they go in anyway.
Meanwhile, Aoi-chan and the woman ride the subway to Aoi-chan's house. The woman talks about the Aoi-chan she knew in high-school. talk about their high-school days.
Back to department 4. It turns out that the undercover police are very nice. They are so happy to have visitors that they serve the two heroines cakes. They also give them the information they need about the gangsters.
There is a big show-down at the golf country club. The gangsters are about to rough up the boyfriend, when Natsumi intervenes. She has a special weapon: a golf-ball shooting machine gun. The gangsters take cover from the hail of golf balls.
The gangsters pull guns and hide behind trees. Miyuki considers shooting them with a high-powered tranquilizing gun, but can't get a clear shot.
Aoi-chan hits a golf-ball in an amazing shot that curves around the tree and knocks out the head gangster. This saves the day, but it also means that Aoi-chan has blown his cover. Now his old high-school friend knows he's become a cross-dresser.
She says that she knew all along, because of a photo she was using to remember what he looked like. It turns out that the only photo she had of him was when he dressed up as a girl for a student talent show. The other cops ask Aoi-chan if this meant that he was interested in becoming a woman even back in high school. He says, no -- it was just in fun then.