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The Burn Up franchise is a set of four Panty Fighter series revolving around an Amazon Brigade quasi-SWAT team called "Team Warrior", and their fight against crime and government conspiracies. The series are generally lighthearted at first, but develop a case of Cerebus Syndrome near the end.

All four series were produced by AIC between 1991 (the original) and 2004 (Scramble). ADV Films actually helped co-produce the two middle entries in the franchise, Burn Up W and Burn Up Excessnote , after the success of their release of the original one-shot OVA.

The latest installment, Burn Up Scramble was released in North America by Geneon USA, who also co-produced the show along with their main office in Japan.


This series contains examples of:

  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The last two episodes of W.
  • Alternate Continuity: None of the series is in exactly the same continuity of the others.
  • Art Shift: Between the OVA, W and Excess, and finally Scramble as part of the general shift in anime art style between the early and late 90s, and then the early 2000s.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: Zig-Zagged It's averted in every other entry of the series, but for some reason Excess plays this trope straight and has it on full display. note 
  • Breast Attack: In the last episode of Excess, Rio grabs and pulls on Ruby's breasts in order to break out of a stranglehold, then knocks her out with a headbutt.
    Rio: "Hey, they almost feel real..."
  • Can't Hold Her Liquor: Lilika in Scramble. Even a little gets her plastered and accentuated her clumsiness and Les Yay, below.
  • Cherry Blossoms: In Scramble, they fall while Maya informs Rio that she's leaving. They also fall on Lilika while she's sleeping it off.
  • Color-Coded Characters: The skinsuits in Scramble. Red for Rio, green for Maya, blue for Lilika, purple for The Commander.
  • Covert Pervert: For a supposed sheltered innocent, Scramble!Lilika has a kinky imagination!
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Lilika in Scramble.
  • Dark Action Girl: Ruby, The Dragon from Excess
  • "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The original 1991 OVA's ending theme is sung by Yumiko Shibata, Miki Itō and Kumiko Nishihara, who all voice Maki, Reimi and Yuka respectively
  • Everyone Calls Her "Barkeep": The Commander from Scramble
  • Evil Counterpart: The "New Warriors" from Scrambled. Two superpowered women who gave the Warriors a hard time. While they completed missions quicker, they left great damage and a body count. Turns out they were illegally experimented on by the Police in collaboration with underground organizations: given drugs for strength and their combat techniques from data on Rio and Maya.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Our first view of Rio in Excess is one of these, where she's enjoying a bowl of ramen. Really enjoying. The scenes we see before this is revealed...
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Nanvel from W and Excess
  • Goofy Print Underwear: Rio is shown to wear childish underwear with teddy-bear prints in both Excess and Scramble.
  • Groin Attack: Episode 8 of Excess had a giant Rio dealing with a giant male transvestite as the two of them were battling in the city from within a Neon Genesis Evangelion-like parody battle. Near the end of the fight, Rio ends up delivering a devastating back mule kick to the guy's own groin and you can't help but feel sorry for him, since Rio struck him with a sharp high-heel shoe and that you could hear the direct Sickening "Crunch!" of the man's own crotch (complete with an x-ray that shows the entire pelvis cracking itself). It's safe to say that it's gonna be a long time before the guy is able to recover from such a strike.
    Chi-Mama: Shoulda gone to Morocco for that sex-change operation...
  • Hadaka Apron: Scramble!Lilika
  • Hand-or-Object Underwear: Scramble!Lilika, the "objects" being Rio and Maya.
  • Handsome Lech:Yuji
  • I Call It "Vera": Every version of Maya.
  • Ironic Echo: "It's showtime!"
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rio
  • Law Enforcement, Inc.: Team Warrior is usually non-official, and always provides bounties for successfully completed missions.
  • Lethal Chef: Adding bullets and gunpowder to "punch up" stew? Yeah, sure thing, Lilika
  • Little Miss Snarker: Scramble!Maya
  • Local Hangout: The ramen restaraunt in Excess, mostly because it's one of the places Rio can afford to eat at.
  • Mafia Princess: W/Excess!Maya was the daughter of a Yakuza boss.
  • Marshmallow Hell: In Scramble, The Warriors Commander uses this as an attack against Rio, before throwing her into a stack of junked cars.
  • Mars Needs Women: Henry the AI Hover Tank, towards Rio.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Lots of it, but particularly Rio.
  • Non-Action Guy: Yuji, although he is technically an ace helicopter pilot.
  • Omake: Excess usually had an epilogue to each episode, which eventually evolved into "Yuji's Omake Theater".
  • No Name Given: We are never told who the two New Warriors real names are in Scramble.
  • Omniscient Council of Vagueness: One of these approves dispatching Team Warrior in Scramble.
  • Perpetual Poverty: Rio, because of her spendthrift habits.
  • Playboy Bunny: In Excess, Maya ends up in one as part of a (half-baked) plan to infiltrate an Auction of Evil as entertainers.
  • Psychic Powers: Scramble!Lilica; they don't really work that well, though.
    • Not so much that they work poorly as too well, and Lilika had a tendency to spout off what she read in a Creepy Monotone without thought to how it may embarrass others (usually Rio).
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: Excess!Maki, though she's a good guy.
  • Screaming Warrior: In Scramble, Lilika, of all people. Also a pun.
  • Serious Business: In the first ep of W, one of the terrorists' demands is that a manager for a baseball team publicly prostrate himself and apologize for their lackluster season. (Their rage at Lilika's faked Backhanded Apology footage is taken as more evidence that they're not the masterminds.)
  • Shoot the Bullet: At the end of Scramble.
  • Shout-Out: Many, to Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Ultraman, and oh-so-many to Neon Genesis Evangelion — such as a scene-for-scene remake of the fight with the Third Angel featuring Rio and a Camp Gay transvestite.
  • Shower Scene: Several across all incarnations of the franchise.
  • Show Some Leg: Rio does this to get out of trouble at her job in W. She and the rest of Warrior also do this several other times in the line of duty.

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