Television series
An anime television series based on the novels, simply titled Dirty Pair, ran for 24 episodes on Nippon Television affiliates from July to December 1985, winning the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize for that year.[7] Scripts had been written for two additional episodes, that were produced after the TV-series had aired, and released as an OVA in January 1987. In subsequent re-airings those two episodes were added to the original show making the series 26 episodes long.
The Dirty Pair anime has a closer setup to the original light novels by Haruka Takachiho more than any of the other incarnations. Unlike the light novels, the universe of the anime has a more comical atmosphere and presents the typical styles of a 1980s inspired future. The Lovely Angels and the WWWA reside in a location known as Eleanor City where Kei (voiced by Kyouko Tonguu) and Yuri (voiced by Saeko Shimazu) live in an apartment together in the city's famous Damocles Tower. The chief of the 3WA in this version is Gooley Andrew Francess along with Calico who serves as second in command. The Lovely Angels also have two assistants, a genetically modified feline named Mughi, and a small robot known as Nanmo.
In 2001, the TV series (including the two extra OVA episodes) was licensed for release by ADV in two DVD sets, and was re-released in March 2005 as the Original Dirty Pair Collection Box.[8][9] It was licensed for a re-released by Nozomi Entertainment. The company released it into two box sets on November 2, 2010, and February 8, 2011, respectively, each containing 13 episodes.[10][11] These releases contain Japanese dialog with English subtitles.[12] It was also reported that David Williams from Sentai Filmworks did confirm that he offered to produce an English dub with Seraphim Digital for the re-release, but it was declined for reasons not stated.[13] Dirty Pair was aired in North America on the Showtime Beyond channel.
On October 1, 2021, Nozomi Entertainment launched a Kickstarter campaign to release the original television series on Blu-ray, along with the creation of a new English dub to be produced by Headline Studios.[14][15] The following day, after raising 75% of their $275,000 goal, Nozomi announced in an update that Jessica Calvello would be reprising her role as Yuri from the OVA series dub for the new dub of the original series. An update on October 13 revealed that Pamela Lauer, who last played Kei in the ADV dub of Project Eden in 2005, would be coming out of retirement to reprise her role.[16] On October 30, after reaching $600,000, an update revealed that Jason Douglas would reprise his role as Gooley. The campaign closed on October 31, 2021, with a final pledge tally of $731,406.[17] It was reported in April 2022 that the Blu-ray release would include "original music and effects" and the original version from ADV with "recreated music and effects."[18]
In August 2024, Crunchyroll stated that the Blu-ray release was in post-production but "suffering from delays." The company stated it was "fully committed" to the project, with Anime News Network noting that English anime fans had expressed concern about non-communication from Crunchyroll or Nozomi Entertainment about the project's status and expressed worry that the acquisition of Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment may have "adversely affected the project."[20][19] Prior to this update, Christopher Farris and Steve Jones of Anime News Network criticized the lack of communication about the project and Crunchyroll's actions regarding the Blu-ray release, describing it as a "fiasco."[21]
OVAs
A 10-episode OVA series was released on December 21, 1987, through April 21, 1988. ADV released the OVA series on five English dubbed and subtitled VHS tapes from November 11, 1998, to January 25, 2000, each containing two episodes.[22][23]
The series was later released to bilingual DVD in two five-episode volumes on July 17 and October 23, 2001. A complete collection was released on December 27, 2005.[24] Nozomi Entertainment later re-licensed the OVA series, and re-released it in a remastered bilingual DVD set on January 3, 2012. This included an English dub with Pam Lauer voicing Kei and Jessica Calvello voicing Yuri, plus re-created music and audio effects, as the original wasn't available.[25] This series has been called Original Dirty Pair or Dirty Pair 2 in English.[26][27]
