Every now and then, you just have to return to the classics. Pretty Car Dealer Sailor Hoon feels pretty relevant right now, since Dinky-Dai-Animation is producing a reboot with what seems to be an absolutely massive budget, so while I look forward to that, let us revisit the 90s classic! The new series is going to be based in Melbourne, obviously…it’s the new trend. I really hope it’s going to be in a recognisable location. Imagine if they featured car repair garages in Mitcham, right next to where I live! I could go on the forums and tell people that I live next to the place where one of THE biggest reboots is set! I might even go so far as to book my own car service, Ringwood is only up the road from me.
Anyway, back to the retro-review. It was a simpler time, when anime in the West was unknown, and the few that slipped through the cracks were aimed at boys. Pretty Car Dealer Sailor Hoon was the first to have a wide appeal, following the adventures of a young girl who was also a car dealer, but secretly a street racer by night. Her dual identity was a huge part of the appeal.
“Selling cars by daylight, doing burnouts by moonlight, running only from police lights, she is the one called Sailor Hoon!”
See, the crucial plot hinge was how Sailor kept good relations with mechanics and places that did car inspections by day, but by night, she was practically their worst enemy. It was a side of herself that she struggled to keep under control and always wanted gone, but the streets called to her. She needed to do donuts and burnouts and get involved in dangerous street races, like an addiction.
I hope they do it justice in the reboot, both the main character and her Sailor Hoon Squad. And I guess all the garages in Ringwood and Mitcham that do RACV inspections better be prepared, because the influx of tourists is gonna be HUGE.
-Dylan-kun