TWILIGHT kara no MESSAGE
DIRTY PAIR OVA : "TWILIGHT kara no MESSAGE" (Message from Twilight)
Synopsis by Masatoshi Wakabayshi and Alan Smith
Version 1.3 -- 11/14/91
The OVA opens on a cargo ship leaving a planet whose sun is half-eclipsed by its moon. The ship is approached by a large police vessel that orders it to land. The cargo ship deploys a gun and destroys the police vessel with one blast. As the ship leaves the atmosphere, it is fired upon by satellites, but the cargo ship makes it through, destroying several of the satellites along the way.
Evening at Damocles Tower, with some typical "Life with the Dirty Pair" silliness. Kei gets an electronic letter from an anonymous account, telling her that a "Robin Legan" is being held prisoner on the planet Twilight, along with a picture. Yuri asks Kei about it, who laughs it off as a joke and promises to forward it to the 3WA in the morning.
However, Kei instead sneaks out of the apartment in the middle of the night. She takes great care not to wake Yuri up, but Yuri wakes up anyway and follows Kei's car on a motorbike, with Mughi riding behind. Kei goes to the spaceport and gets on the Lovely Angel. Yuri and Mughi catch up just as the door is closing. Kei tries to make her go away, claiming the trip is personal, but Yuri is persistent and Kei gives in.
Once in space, Yuri gets Kei to explain. It seems Robin was Kei's *fiancee* from before Kei and Yuri met! Robin supposedly died when his ship crashed and exploded on Twilight, but no body had ever been found. Yuri asks Kei if she intends to marry Robin if they rescue him. She replies that she doesn't know. Images of Kei cooking, cleaning, and looking after kids go through Yuri's mind. Yuri starts laughing hysterically, and Kei yells at her.
The comm rings. It is Goulet, furious. He demands that they knock off their unscheduled joyride and get back to work. It seems that the government of Twilight wants the Angels to investigate a group that has been smuggling Vizorium ore off the planet to sell to terrorist groups. The Twilight military has been unable to stop the group, who have kept their mine secret and come up with a new trick for each shipment. Goulet is puzzled when the girls start to laugh.
The Lovely Angel reaches the planet Twilight. Kei attempts to contact the planet's orbital control, and instead gets an automated message warning them to either stay away or give an access code. Yuri types in a code given to them by Goulet. In response, the satellites open fire, even more vigorously than they did upon the cargo ship in the opening sequence. The girls try to steer the ship past the laser blasts and missiles, with only moderate success. A Twilight military officer contacts the Lovely Angel and, between hysterical apologies, gives them the NEW access code. Yuri sends it, and the satellites shut down. The girls cheer, but fail to notice two missiles that had been fired just before the shutdown. The missiles strike their target and send the Lovely Angel hurtling toward the planet, where it crashes in a rocky wasteland.
Kei and Yuri come around. They are fine, but the Lovely Angel is severly damaged, unable to move. Kei suggests they head for the coordinates given in the message she received. They hop on hoverbikes and soon arrive at the mouth of a large cavern. Yuri is a little nervous about entering the dark cavern, but Kei heads right in. The girls were told to follow a radio signal, which they soon pick up on a portable receiver. The source of the signal, however, turns out to be a ring lying on the ground. Yuri convinces Kei that they should go back to the Lovely Angel and check in with their Twilight military contact. No such luck: the girls are lost in the twisting tunnels. The bikes run out of power and the girls have to walk.
A shot rings out. The girls draw their guns, but the gunman stays out of the spots of their flashlights. A man dressed in black grabs Kei from behind and holds a gun to her head, demanding that the girls drop their weapons. Kei recognizes the voice and calls out Robin's name. The old lovers engage in a passionate embrace.
Robin explains that he has been held prisoner for years by a group of terrorists who wanted access to his knowledge of Vizorium refinement techniques. He had planned his escape for years. He apologizes for dropping the ring, saying his pursuers were using the signal to track him. This causes the girls to laugh nervously and produce the ring. Robin tells them to drop the ring and run, but it's too late: the pursuers catch up. There is a brief battle but the three are too outnumbered. A gorgeous brunette, Sharon, who seems to be the leader, grabs Robin and holds a knife to his throat. The girls surrender, and are knocked out with gas from a spray can.
Kei wakes up chained to a wall next to Yuri. Yuri is already awake and very upset. She can't remember where they left the Lovely Angel. She's afraid that even if they escape, they'll die before they manage to walk back. Kei comforts her, reminding her of where the ship is, and that it's close by. Yuri smiles wickedly and her form shifts into that of Sharon. Sharon laughs at Kei's shocked expression and explains that she is an ESPer with the ability to make herself look and sound like someone else. A man frees Sharon as she thanks Kei for telling her where the Lovely Angel is. Kei tells her that the ship is damaged, but Sharon says that they can repair it.
After Sharon leaves, Kei manages to wriggle out of manacles by slipping out of her boots and glove. That leaves only her ungloved left hand, which she frees by picking the lock with a pin concealed in her uniform.
She goes looking for Yuri, but first discovers Robin and Sharon having a conversation. Robin goes on about how easy it will be to move the final shipment using the Lovely Angel. After all, nobody will suspect a 3WA ship to be carrying contraband. Robin says he was very lucky that one of his old girlfriends joined the 3WA. Sharon turns into "Kei", gives Robin a big kiss, and heads for the surface. Kei gets furious, but swallows her anger and continues to look for Yuri.
She finds Yuri just as the girl has managed to free herself in the same way. Yuri doesn't believe that Kei's Kei, until Kei mentions a particularly embarassing episode from Yuri's past. Yuri slaps Kei in the face, then hugs her.
Sharon, as "Kei", gets to the Lovely Angel and gets Mughi to let her on board. Once inside, though, Mughi takes a few sniffs of her, then knocks her senseless. It seems Sharon can't make herself SMELL like other people.
Kei and Yuri "borrow" some less obvious clothes, steal some timed mining charges, then sneak into the processing plant and place them on the processing equipment.
Back at the Lovely Angel, the Twilight military officer is performing a long-distance interrogation of Sharon, with Mughi acting as "encouragement". Sharon is coerced into revealing the location of the illicit Vizorium plant. The officer orders a satellite strike on the site, ignoring Mughi's objections.
The girls prepare to fire on the charges. Robin and crew come up behind them. Robin again pretends to be in danger of death if they don't give up. Kei offers to kill him herself. Robin figures it out and orders the girls' execution, complaining about the need for violence. Just then, the missiles strike. The jolt causes one of the bad guys to misfire and hit one of the charges. It doesn't go off, but does come loose and falls deep into a crack, landing amidst a rich vein of sparkling Vizorium ore.
Robin heads toward a large elevator. The girls see this and get on another right next to it, shooting a lot of personnel in the process. Another tremor causes the cavern to begin to collapse. The charges go off. The floor splits open, swallowing the equipment and revealing a mass of burning Vizorium ore that glows brighter and brighter.
A rockfall blocks Robin's elevator. He jumps to catch the girls' elevator as it passes, but almost misses. He catches the platform with one hand and pleads for Kei to help him up. He tells her he's made a dreadful mistake, that he wants to marry her after all. Kei strains and lifts him part of the way up. Robin thanks her, but Kei cuts him off and asks him what color her eyes are. When Robin gives the wrong answer, Kei drops him.
The girls reach the surface to find a limping Lovely Angel waiting for them. They board and the ship leaves as fast as it can, while not being able to get more than a few feet off the ground. The entire Vizorium mine goes up in a nuclear-level explosion. The Lovely Angel races to beat the shockwave.
Later, Kei mopes about her love life. Kei asks Yuri if she thinks Kei will ever get married. Yuri tries to answer, but can't keep a straight face. She cracks up again, and Kei yells at her.
