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A.D. Police began as a three-part OAV prequel to the popular Bubblegum Crisis series; these 12 episodes constitute the entire 1999 remake for TV. In the not-too-distant future, a massive earthquake has reduced Tokyo to rubble. The metropolis has been rebuilt as Genom City, named after the gargantuan conglomerate that manufactures Voomers (VOodoo Organic Metal Extension Resource), robots that provide most of the labor in the city. When a robot turns into a violent rogue Boomer, the A.D. Police has to resolve the crisis--by shooting the Boomer in its vital core. The most effective cop on the squad is Kenji Sasaki, but he's a coolly arrogant loner who operates on his own terms, rather than a team player. When his partner is critically injured in a fight with Boomers, Kenji is paired with the mysterious Hans Kleif, and the duo slowly forges a friendship. Kenji, Hans, and the rest of the squad are pitted against Liam Fletcher, the right-hand henchman of the Genom Corporation president, in a series of violent confrontations. This incarnation of A.D. Police feels like a standard-issue anime action-adventure series: it pits a tough, motorcycle-riding antihero against an all-powerful industrial conglomerate involved in illegal and unethical biomechanical experiments. The mecha designs are undistinguished, and nothing in the scripts, animation, or direction sets the program apart. Liam's violent attempts at hijacking a plane and a nuclear reactor may disturb some viewers. Unrated: Violence, grotesque imagery, alcohol and tobacco use. --Charles Solomon
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