The Abashiri Family
is a Japanese manga series created by Go Nagai that originally ran in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Champion. Some of its characters returned with different names as part of other series, such as Cutie Honey, UFO Robot Grendizer and Mazinger Angels Z among others. Some of the first stories were adapted into an original video animation by Studio Pierrot in 1991, distributed by Pony Canyon in four installments as part of Anime V Comic Rentaman, and later released as a standalone VHS and LaserDisc on , also by Pony Canyon. The OVA was brought to North America by ADV Films in 1995. The manga was also adapted into a live-action film released in 2009. Plot The series deals with the adventures of the Abashiri family, a clan of criminals who are feared by the police and other criminals alike, as they are a destructive force to be reckoned with. Although they are virtually unstoppable, they do not have great desires and many of their plans are normally minor and sometimes get undone by their own foolishness. That is unless they are attacked, at which point they will retaliate with full force, normally with deadly consequences for their enemies. As the