I’m waaaaaayyyyy too young to be talking about the ‘good old days’ but that’s what the newest installment in the YUA franchise has me doing.

The good old days where you didn’t need to have overly complicated plots, big bad evils hell-bent on destroying the world, CG sequences, 60 ft robots and other bells and whistles to market anime. Ahh… those were the days. I’d rush straight home from school just so I wouldn’t miss an episode of YUA.

I’ve always been a big YUA fan. I followed the first season religiously, I managed to watch the specials, I’ve seen the movie and the Jdrama and I’m working on getting a copy of the 2nd season and the OVA, You’re Under Arrest! In America. I really don’t care how bad some people say the series is, I’ll always have a soft spot for it since it’s one of the first series that sparked my love for anime.

Well, enough with reminiscing; it’s time to get back to the present. From what I’ve seen so far, FT will be sticking to the old episodic format. The first episode starts off from Miyuki’s POV and we get caught up on recent events. apparently she’s been to the US for some training. Things at the station seem pretty much the same.

Yoriko and Aoi are still the same gender-confused couple they were in the first series.

Taichou is still his old self and Nakajima’s still as gawky as before.

Natsuki is still as strong as a gorilla. However, poor Saori got the boot; she was transferred… somewhere. I wonder if we’ll get to see her again.

Overall, the episode tied well with what I remember from the first season. (I wasn’t able to watch the 2nd season in it’s entirety) The excitement of seeing Natsuki and Miyuki work together after such a long time made me squeal in delight. It’s like they never left. (Miyuki’s line, ‘You’d arrest you parter?’ Reminded me of their first meeting.) The fact that it was Natsumi and not Nakajima who caught up with Miyuki made me even happier. The fact that Natsumi could tell that it was Miyuki who was driving based on driving technique alone shows how much cooler she is and that she knows Miyuki better than Nakajima. (I know that Natsuki and Miyuki, despite the abundance of suggestive art out there, will never be a couple, but a shoujo-ai fangirl can hope.)

A heated car chase ending with a bang, my two favorite officers from Bokuto station back together again and Nasuki upstaging Nakajima… the only thing missing is an appearance by the Striker and I’ll be a happy fangirl.