You're Under Arrest

Anime's answer to COPS (and to a lesser extent, |the other version of COPS).

Natsumi Tsujimoto is a new policewoman, late for work on her first day at Bokuto Police Station. She hops on her moped and drives recklessly at top speed toward the police station on the sidewalk, down the stairs, and with consummate skill. Unfortunately, policewoman Miyuki Kobayakawa spots her and chases her down.

When Natsumi gets to the police station, she learns that she has been assigned to be Miyuki's partner. The two spar at first, but eventually become close friends, with Natsumi occasionally deploying her moped from the back of their kei police car to corner traffic offenders...

Originally known as Taiho Shichauzo; it started as a manga series, then became an OVA, and now has been through three TV Anime series (52+26+24), an animated movie and a Live Action Adaptation with a Playstation game.

For the character sheet, see here.

Tropes used in You're Under Arrest include:
  • The Ace: Shouji Toukairin.
  • Adaptation Distillation: The Live Action Adaptation is almost completely unrecognizable. The anime also has a fair amount of scenarios not from the manga, a majority if not.
  • Adult Child: Yoriko.
  • Airplane Airport Of Love: Episode 48. An entire fleet of them, being that it takes place in Narita Airport, with a special version of the opening theme.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Miyuki and Natsumi leak into this almost constantly.
  • Anime Accent Absence: Variation. In the English dub Aoi has a naturally feminine and high pitched voice. In the original and the Latin-American dub, her voice is a bit lower then the other girls.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When Aoi and Yoriko are sent undercover onto the train lines to catch a pair of thieves, Aoi spends far more time arresting perverts.
    • Justified in that this was Aoi's original assignment going undercover as a woman and train molesters are still a big problem in Japan.
  • Ascended Extra: Saori Saga in the anime. In the first season, she only appeared on a couple of episodes as nothing more than a Recurring Extra. As soon as season two starts though, she becomes a police officer with similar screen time to Yoriko and Aoi, appearing on almost every episode.
  • Attractive Bent Gender: Aoi Futaba. The entire department, male and female alike, falls all over him in Episode 5.
  • Art Evolution: The most noticeable being season 2 to season 3, though there's a noticeable change (de-evolution) from the OVAs to season 1. The series has gone through several design changes during its run, each to fit the style of the time period. Most noticeable being the eyes which have gotten more big, colorful and bright.
    • Aoi gets a noticeable change in appearance over the pace of the series.
    • Very apparent in the manga, where originally the characters looked nothing like their iconic designs.
  • Badass Biker: Ken and his father Daimaru. Natsumi too, though she is prone to push too hard and end up crashing.
  • Badass Driver: Miyuki.
  • Bad Santa: An early Christmas episode had a crook who pretended to be Santa break into people's houses. Natsumi and Miyuko find the children distraught over what happened, cuing one of their many Crowning Moments Of Heartwarming.
  • Bait and Switch Lesbians: The series pulls a (probably) unintentional version of this.
  • Batman Gambit: A pair of thieves pull one using Strike Man to rob a bank for them. The cops pull another using Strike Man to catch the thieves.
  • Beach Episode: Three in total. One in the first season, another in the mini-specials (though somehow, it's officialy part of the first season) and the last one in Full Throttle. And every single one of them does EXACTLY WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO DO.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Played straight with Miyuki, whom Natsumi admits is the scarier of the two of them. Aoi also appears to fit this trope at times.
  • Berserk Button: Never EVER harm Miyuki's car.
  • Big Damn Heroes: While Miyuki and Natsumi have several, one of the ones that ranks among a Crowning Moment of Awesome goes to detective Tokuno when he saves Miyuki and Ken from a knife maniac.
  • Big Damn Movie: The anime is about a close group of cops living life, going through romance problems, and whatever else comes their way. It's typically humorous, with an occasional Drama Bomb. The Movie deals with the gang defeating terrorists, and is more or less non-stop action and drama.
  • Big Eater: Natsumi and Toukairin.
  • Big No: From all of the women in the station when they realized that, yes, they beat up a pervert who was taking pictures of them, but they forgot to destroy his film!
  • Bottle Fairy: Natsumi is this, too. And she's often seen very toasted.
    • The Section Chief doesn't really get visibly plastered, but still he complained about hangover more than once.
  • Brain Bleach: Ken and Yoriko obviously need some after they realize the implications of Aoi in a bikini. Thankfully she wears a sarong with it.
  • Brand X: Averted in that their cruiser is not only obviously a Honda Today, but even has the stock Honda "H" on the hood that's normally replaced with an Imperial chrysanthemum badge on Japanese police cars (including the others in the series).
    • Averted with all the vehicles in the series, for that matter.
    • Bland-Name Product is played straight however, with most non-vehicle brands.
  • Buddy Cop Show
  • Butt Monkey: Ken Nakajima, even more so in the dub where characters go out of their way to make fun of him (himself included).
  • Calling Your Attacks: Both Natsumi and Strike Man are prone to this. Miyuki joins the fun in the beach volleyball episode.
  • Canon Foreigner: There are several anime-only characters, including Shouji Toukairin, Chie Sagamiono, and the preschool kids.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Ken and Miyuki. Averted at the end of the manga (which is the ONLY time in every series they finally, officially get together).
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Borderline case. Natsumi is nowhere near big enough to be that strong.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: The Scooter Lady appeared a few times briefly before being formally introduced.
  • Chickification: Miyuki goes through some during the mini-specials after the 1st season. Notably screaming her lungs out when assaulted (and proceeding to electrocute the guy with her car's engine) and her fear of ghosts getting Turned Up to Eleven wherein even a ghost story make her cry and cower in fear. However, any time Miyuki is scared, Hilarity Ensues.
  • Cool Car: The girls' mini-patrol car, which Miyuki retrofitted with a larger (and then re-bored) dual-overhead-cam engine, a turbocharger and a nitrous-oxide booster. Also, Miyuki's personal Honda S800.
    • Subverted at one point, when the poor thing just cranks over despite desperate attempts to get it started - Miyuki's modifications went a bit too far...
    • Cool Bike: Ken's souped-up Suzuki GSX and the patrol-modified Kawasaki KLE-500 he rides in "Tokyo Typhoon Rally." And don't forget Natsumi's Moto Compo.
    • The red Mini that a Shinto monk uses to outrun any of them takes the cake.
    • Chie Sagamioono's Porsche 911 patrol car (which her father bought for her), as far as she's concerned.
    • Natsumi's Subaru R2. When she bought it because she had just destroyed her brand new bike, it was a wreck. But after learning she was scammed, she starts feeling depressed which prompts Miyuki to transform it from the Alleged Car into a chain driven, motorcycle powered police go-kart.
  • Cool Old Guy: The Section Chief and Detective Tokuno, senior officers at Bokuto, are both about fifty (which is, on average, twice older than most of the other people in the show) and steer their precinct rather impressively.
    • Let's not forget Daimaru, Ken-chan's father who's still a Badass Biker despite being almost in his 60's.
    • Oshou, much? A 70-odd-year-old ex-cop Shinto priest who bombs around Tokyo in a Mini ERA Turbo?
  • Comic Book Time: Averted. Time clearly passes between the seasons.
  • Covert Pervert: Ken "Mr. Nosebleed" Nakajima.
  • Cultural Translation: Subtle but still there. A few western references were added to both the manga and anime, most obviously the "Elvis in a UFO" reference in the first OVA.
  • Cute Bruiser: Natsumi.
  • Crime-Time Soap
  • Darker and Edgier: The anime in comparison to the manga, and The Movie in comparison to the whole series.
  • Date Peepers: The second half of the third OAV has Miyuki and Ken ordered to go on a date by Da Chief so they can sort their troubles, then several officers peep on them and keep him informed. The reason? Miyuki mistakenly believes that Natsumi had a one-night stand with Nakajima, since she saw them racing together very early (when in truth, they just went out to talk and ride their bikes). That seriously disrupted their partner dynamics.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Assistant Inspector Kaoruko Kinoshita.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Used in one of the gang's schemes.
    • Used by Miyuki and Natsumi to trip up a burglar in their apartment, though they're wearing black bodysuits underneath.
    • Also happens to a ninja who is helping the gang improve their traffic safety Sentai show, but he overhears the girls talking about lingerie and Miyuki's breasts getting bigger. Though when he finally gives in to temptation to peep, he sees Aoi.
    • Used by Aoi in the manga to catch a thief on Halloween.
  • Double Take: Saori's reaction when she's told to "take the wheel" during her first high-speed chase.
  • Dramatic Wind: Parodied in one of Strike Man's appearances, where the wind itself was generated by a mini electric fan placed beside him.
  • Drives Like Crazy: While Natsumi is an excellent biker, do not be in the same car with her if she's behind the wheel. Though how she earns her license is one of the funniest episodes in the series.
  • Eagle Land: Yoriko's rival from the academy hires the best gunwomen from the world, including a Marine to challenge the Bokuto station to a mock gunfight. Two crooks see the apparent cold blooded killing of the losers and are spooked.
    • In the No Mercy!! special, Natsumi and Miyuki are temporarily transferred to the LAPD as part of an exchange program, and America is shown in a type 2 light.
  • Effortless Amazonian Lift: Natsumi picks up thugs after she kicks the crap out of them.
  • Expy: A Halloween chapter in the manga has Nakajima in a Batman costume. In the English version he goes by the name of "Police Man."
  • Fan Service: More in the mini-specials than the TV series, but it isn't entirely absent from those either.
    • The extra episode, "Directing Traffic at the Beach" is made of this.
  • The Fool: Yoriko, in the Academy days.
  • For Science!: The motivation of a Mad Scientist in episode 10 of Full Throttle when he tried to interrupt a robotics convention with his Spider Tank, which he claimed would revolutionize law enforcement. He was promptly subdued by Natsumi. Within seconds.
  • Foreshadowing: The Section Chief's visit to the Tokyo Tower in episode 34 of the first season turns out to be an important plot point in The Movie.
  • Genre Shift: Of Mood Whiplash proportions in The Movie; when they get attacked by terrorists. No, seriously.
  • Gentle Giant: Ken, so much. Heck, he's nicknamed "Ken-chan", using a Japanese honorific that is usually reserved for girls...
  • Gossipy Hens: Or better said, Lonely Gossip Hen: Yoriko Nikaidou.
  • Gratuitous English: Natsumi likes spouting out small English phrases like "Ok".
  • Gratuitous French: A pastry chef in one second-season episode loves the phrase, "C'est si bon!"
    • In the manga, Strike Man once says "Adieu!" before running away.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: All of the rogue police officers featured in this series went rogue because they were too obsessed with their ideals and forgot that their primary duty was to serve the public and not hunting criminals like a vigilante.
  • Heavy Sleeper: Natsumi.
  • Hero Stole My Bike: Both Natsumi and Miyuki did this before to deal with emergencies. Special mention goes to Miyuki in episode 1 of Full Throttle when she "borrowed" a van to escape from an armed assailant who was targeting a boy accompanying her, which culminated in a spectacular Chase Scene.
  • Heroic BSOD: Miyuki is prone to these because she does not like change. She'll often snap out of it when inspiration hits though.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Natsumi and Miyuki, obviously. Ostensibly they're just work partners and roommates, but they became inseparable almost immediately. Episodes when circumstances threatened to set them apart are the main sources of drama in the show.
    • Aoi and Yoriko fit into this, to a lesser extent.
  • Hot Mom: Sena... technically.
  • Hot Springs Episode: Episode 13.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Whenever Aoi complains about trouble with men.
  • I Have the High Ground: Strike Man's introduction, and one of his favorite poses.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Miyuki's grief over Natsumi's departure for the White Bike Troopers in Episode 4 (OVA) is played for this.
  • Idiot Crows: Flown past the Strike Man a few times.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Strike Man's arsenal gets more and more bizarre with each appearance, climaxing with spiked baseballs.
  • Fundamentally Female Cast: Of the whole main cast there's only two males -- Nakajima and Toukairin, and for Toukairin it's debatable: despite being Natsumi's Love Interest and the lead whenever he appears, he is a guest character and does so in barely a quarter of all episodes. Aoi is technically male too, but for all narrative intents and purposes she is a woman - starting with referring to her with feminine pronouns. All other males in the show are clearly in supporting roles.
  • In the Name of the Moon: In the name of the penal code!
    • Also Strike Man's Strike Brigade, though the girls are just punishing the boys who like to tease them.
  • Inexplicably Identical Individuals: The officers in the LAPD station where Miyuki and Natsumi are transferred to during the No Mercy!! special look just like the officers back in Bokuto Station, albeit with different skin tones and exaggerated personal traits compared to their Japanese counterparts.
  • Large Ham: Nakajima and Strike Man especially, but almost everyone to some extent.
    • Nakajima and Strike Man even hammed it up together once -- in a requisite Beach Episode.
    • Natsumi breaks out the ham and cheese herself on occasion. Her "official apology" upon being late for her first day at Bokuto has to be seen to be believed. Also, any time they visit the preschool, Natsumi and Ken deliberately ham it up for the kids' amusement.
  • Late For Work: Natsumi is chronically tardy - see also Heavy Sleeper.
  • Live Action Adaptation
  • The Load: Yoriko. Especially in the movie.
  • Lovely Angels: Natsumi and Miyuki. Also, Aoi is so feminine that she and Yoriko also fall here to an extent.
  • Luck-Based Mission: How Yoriko made it through the academy.
  • No Export for You: No Mercy!! has not been released outside of Japan. The manga is also hard to find due to lack of re-releases, and is mostly not officially exported. The fact that Dark Horse Comics, responsible for the English version, had to contend with Executive Meddling[1] didn't help matters much.
  • Mask Power: Completely subverted -- Strike Man is an amusing clown.
  • May-December Romance: Daimaru and his second wife Sena, who's younger than Daimaru's son Ken. Yoriko later meets Prince Saki Abdusha, who falls for her despite him being a teenager and Yoriko being in her early to mid twenties.
  • Meaningful Name: The Chief's name is "Chief" -- or, more correctly, "Kachou", "section chief", his actual position, just written in different kanji.
  • Meet Cute: Natsumi's first meeting with her new partner results in Miyuki pulling her over for reckless driving.

Miyuki: (writing out a traffic citation) Let's see, we have driving the wrong way on a one-way street, driving on a pedestrian thoroughfare, failure to obey posted signs, failure to obey a police officer, and this is a 30-kilometer speed zone, so you were going... 20 kilometers over? But I'll overlook that one, since you did save the kitty's life.
Natsumi: (stunned look, with the caption bar "Suspension of License")
Miyuki: So, if you'll just sign here, Ms. Natsumi Tsujimoto...
Natsumi: Wait... how'd you know my name?
Miyuki: (saluting) Welcome to Bokuto Precinct.

  • Meganekko: Yoriko.
  • Motorcycle on the Coast Road: Cars and bikes feature in many of these scenes.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Miyuki, Natsumi, and Nakajima have stopped the rogue officers, but also realize that they may have killed one of them. It's left vague.
  • No Indoor Voice: Natsumi, especially in the dub.
  • Odd Couple: Miyuki and Natsumi.
  • Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: No Mercy!! and Full Throttle.
  • Oh Crap: Miyuki's face when she finds out that the paintball arena the group is going to has monsters for opponents.
  • Off-Model: The first season kept on switching from excellent animation to Off-Model. It eventually decided to go with a middle animation; Not as high-quality as the original episodes but not as mediocre as the others. The other seasons have better quality. On occasion, they'd slip up eye colors in the first season. Natsumi would be given brown instead of purple eyes, and Miyuki would be given purple instead of blue. Though to be blunt, this was animated by Studio DEEN, the queen of this trope.
  • Older Than They Look: Kachou is fifty, but looks barely 35. Oshou, too, "still has it goin' on" despite the fact that he has to be at least in his sixties or seventies.
    • While their ages are never confirmed, the main girls seem to be this due to the fact they say they're old when compared to twenty something year olds. Then again they could just be exaggerating the Christmas Cake trope.
  • Out-Gambitted: No matter what elaborate plan the crooks have, Miyuki figures it out.
  • Paintball Episode -- One episode features Chie Sagamiono challenging Yoriko to a paintball match; another one features the Bokuto officers visiting an amusement park with a (in the anime) paintball arena / (in the manga) laser tag arena.
  • Pet the Dog: Episode 5 of Full Throttle featured a serial burglar who has been burglarising vehicles for over thirty years when he rescued a baby from a possible heat stroke from a locked vehicle in one of his burglary attempts out of nothing but compassion.
  • Porn Stash: There's one in the station supposedly for an investigation. Nakajima gets caught sampling the selection.
  • Posthumous Character: Episode 20 of Full Throttle featured a high school girl who was killed in a traffic accident. Her diary was found by Natsumi who, not knowing the identity of the owner, decided to read it and her life was recounted via Flash Back and Posthumous Narration.
  • Power Limiter: Strike Man likes to think his arm guards are these.
  • Qurac: Episode 22 of the first season featured Prince Saki Abdusha from the fictional Middle Eastern kingdom of Aburada, who was on a self-imposed exile in Japan due to an imminent coup d'état in his country. He also mentioned it as a desert country.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Natsumi and Miyuki
  • The Renaissance Age of Animation: One of the many series exported during this era, around the time the North American craze was starting (Near the end of 1995).
  • Rich Bitch: Chie Sagamioono. Also a case of Screw the Rules, I Have Money.
  • Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Scooter Mama, an old lady on a 50-cc moped who will break any traffic law to get to a department-store sale.
  • Ship Tease: Artwork for the series loves showing Miyuki and Natsumi in a variety of interesting positions, and usually in various states of undress as well.
    • The second ending theme has Miyuki as a bride in a Fairytale Wedding Dress, with Natsumi bringing her flowers and acting as the groom, for all intents.
    • The ending theme to Full Throttle puts Miyuki and Natsumi in a few compromising, and rather romantic, positions.
  • Shout-Out: When one of the policewoman had a piece of underwear stolen from her apartment, another one suggested the thief must be: a) an incredibly tall monster; b) some sort of evil Spider-Man; or c) someone who can leap tall buildings at a single bound.
    • just in case someone claims suggestion a might have been about any tall monster, there was a silhouette.
  • Shown Their Work: At the end of the first episode, Miyuki and Natsumi are eating a late picnic lunch and doing so well out of sight since police officers are not allowed to be seen eating in public while in uniform in Japan.
  • Sitting on the Roof: The main characters of the series like to hang out on the roof of Bokuto Station and do all kinds of things, ranging from musing by oneself to having lunch with each other.
  • Small Girl, Big Gun: Natsumi. Becomes Small Girl Even Bigger Guns in Full Throttle, where she goes for training with the JGSDF Rangers.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: AOI
  • Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Miyuki.
  • Technology Porn: This was created by Kosuke Fujishima, after all. The story can sometimes focus a little excessively on the nifty features of Miyuki's and Natsumi's police car. And her off-duty car. And the bikes. And the modifications made to all of those...
  • The Eighties: The manga. It shows very much in the casual outfits the girls wear. Thankfully the anime updated the series to be set in the mid 90's to late 2000's (depending on the season).
  • The Faceless: Aoi's face as a male is never completely seen. The closest we get is in episode 5 when we see her face, with bangs covering her eyes, and in episode 6 of Full Throttle when we see it completely... While she's dressed as a girl.
  • Theme Tune Cameo: The first opening theme is playing on the radio in epsiode 19, and Natsumi sings the third opening theme in episode 43.
    • In episode 11 of Full Throttle, Miyuki hums the opening theme while working on her patrol car.
  • Together Umbrella
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Natsumi and Miyuki.
  • Transsexualism: Never out right confirmed but Aoi is heavily implied to be one. It's one of the most realistic portrayals of transsexuality in anime too, an not to mention she's treated quite respectfully by her coworkers after her introduction.
    • It may have been confirmed, though without saying any transgender related terms. She is thought of as being female almost all of the time, and transsexuality tropes have appeared relating to her. Episode 6 all but goes out and says "transsexual"; A character says that her "natural flow" leads toward her being a woman, and goes on to say that he doesn't care if she's male or female (signifying she's a girl instead of a crossdresser). The original manga implies she had interests in crossdressing and feminine thoughts before becoming a police officer too.
  • Twice Shy: Miyuki and Ken, so much!
  • Unintentional Period Piece: The manga just reeks of 80s and 90s, especially the clothing.
  • Unsettling Gender Reveal: Practically every male who meets Aoi falls into this one. Notable examples include the Bokuto Precinct officers and then Aoi's former classmates in episode 5, and the idol singer Go Kitaoji in episode 24.
    • This happens to the girls in Episode 5, when Yoriko bursts into the locker room with all the hot gossip on the "smart, rich, eligible bachelor" who's just joined the department...
  • Verbal Tic: Toukairin is from Akita and it shows, mostly in characteristic northerner's "-s" that he adds to anything he says.
    • Scooter Mama often ends sentences with zamasu (a variation of desu which connotes a condescending attitude) or zamasu yo. (The French version of the manga translated it as "nom d'une pipe!")
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Three guesses on this one.
    • Despite her initial introduction as a vice cop "gone native" in pursuit of sex criminals, Aoi may be transsexual rather than transvestite. She does state on several occasions that her heart is that of a woman despite her male body, and she's in an online relationship with a man in the second season.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: See Oh Crap above.
  • Work Com
  • Wrench Wench: Miyuki, Natsumi, Sena. Again, this is Kosuke Fujishima we're talking about.
    • Although in Natsumi's case she only works on her own bike when she's forced to.
    • Miyuki's abilities are turned Up to Eleven in the mini-specials, where she was shown to have designed her very own home security system, a handheld multi-fireworks launcher and a handbag with an in-built tracking device that clamps onto unauthorized users[2], releases tear gas, plays pre-recorded screams and shouts, among other gadgets.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: Miyuki, too. An interesting combination of characteristics. Also, Aoi... despite being biologically male. (See Transsexualism up there)
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Miyuki's, though in many cases it appears more black with a bluish tint.
  • You Know What You Did: Actually the reverse. An incident very late in the Manga has Natsumi waking up in Ken's bed with no clothes and a bad hangover. They think that nothing happened but due to a combination of alcohol (Natsumi) and blows to the head (Ken), they can't remember anything. Miyuki is not going to take this on faith and Ken's too honest and wishy-washy to lie.
    • Played for laughs in the first season's ghost story episode where edo-era Ken and Miyuki are husband and wife and the narrator asks why they're blushing so much.
  1. ↑ presumably by Kosuke Fujishima himself
  2. ↑ ie, snatch thieves
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