To start off on the retro review trail, I begin with an OVA from 1996 called Debutante Detective Corps; it's a very early ADVFilms title that by now is probably on a shelf somewhere in the States selling for peanuts.
Now as you can tell from the image it has 90s anime written all over it; rich vibrant colors, sharp animation and generally a bigger budget than most tv anime of the same era.
We start this short story with a normal school induction day, everything is normal until a motorcycle blasts through the stain glass window revealing our first rich girl Miyuki Ayanokouji as kindly described by the Engrish profile.
Next up riding a bicycle that can outrun a Porsche 911, Reika Shuu who according to what I can make out of the translation is a Chinese Mafia boss' daughter. In close proximity we are then joined by Youko Ryuuzaki using the most dignified of high class travel, a limousine. Apparently this girl is Hitler's granddaughter. Following on from Youko we get Nina Kirov descending from her own attack helicopter which she blows up (What a waste). Nina is listed as being the granddaughter of a surviving Romanov. To finish off the flashy opening scene we get Miyuki's sister Kimiko turn up with a police escort. Based on that sequence we're probably going to hate the main character, a core part of 90s anime.
The police have turned up because someone wants to kill the girls, for what reason is usually obvious but apparently the killers actually want to rid the world of these girls for representing everything bad about the world. So for a change it's not money.
Afterwards we get a showcase of the girls talents for the rest of the episode so try to keep track if you can.
Miyuki hacks into the frequency of the police phone so that Youko can memorize the voice of the police chief so they can clear them away, Youko then uses disguise power that makes Sailor Moon's version look like a cheap magic trick to imitate the officer to clear the area of police. Sadly doing so gets them caught in Sniper fire which chases the girls to a room with a bomb in. (Continuity Error: Youko's disguise has magically disappeared)
Nina then builds a huge sniper rifle which she somehow hid in her lingerie and takes out the sniper with a bubblegum bullet (She also uses it for boy hunting). Now it's Reika's turn to fight as she takes on the muscle man who for some reason grows to the same size as the building, Reika doesn't do well at first but once she unleashes her "Maidenly Wrath", (Real Dub line) she defeats the muscle man; meanwhile Miyuki fails miserably to defuse the bomb and are now faced with a fighter jet. Kimiko then unleashes her Hadouken only to miss, but then she uses some kind of psychic link to take control of the jet and crash it into the school causing the bomb to explode. Once the terrorists are caught, Kimiko announces the formation of the Debutante Detective Corps only to be met with an angry response from her friends as they figure out that she set up the whole terrorist attack to begin with and so ends the episode with a catchy 90s theme.
This show plays with some interesting ideas seeing as French animation "Totally Spies" is arguably the same concept of super rich teenagers as spies; but sadly the execution was way off, it's just too cheesy; the characters save it from total failure and far worst series have gotten more episodes than this, but if you spend five minutes more with a character who openly says that she loves herself then your gonna have to turn off.
Dubbing quality isn't much better, if you recognize anyone then it's probably Larissa Walcott playing Reika Shuu, while everyone else did small roles for other series or in the case of two actresses, this is their only role; pity as Shana McClendon did a good job as Miyuki.
Overall this series never made an impact on the anime world and only existed to try and create a little diversity among the heavy weights at the time.
Final Verdict: Watch it as a build up to a better anime much like the cartoons you get before films start.
