Bubblegum Crisis

"Bubblegum Crisis" is an 8-episode anime OVA-series which was released in Japan through 1987-1991. Made by AIC, Artmic and Youmex.

Basic plot: The year is 2032 in MegaTokyo, seven years after Tokyo was destroyed by a giant earthquake. Genom Corp, the big company which recreated the city, began mass-producing cyberdroids called Boomers meant to serve mankind by taking part in recreating MegaTokyo. When the Boomers started to run out of control, the A.D. Police tried to stop these cyberdroids, something which proved to be more difficult but deadly than imagined.

But, the hope isn't over yet, because four girls who have banded together as the Knight Sabers are also in MegaTokyo. These girls in powerful armor suits are strong enough to defend the city from Genom and the Boomers. And their names are: Sylia Stingray, Priscilla S. Asagiri, Linna Yamazaki and Nene Romanova.

I first heard about this anime around year 2004. However, for some reasons, I didn't get a chance to watch this anime until late autumn 2014. And I'm so glad to get to see this for once, at least with Japanese dub. This anime was epic, with lots of cyber/robot-action, car chases, humor and a pretty cool soundtrack which all together made me hooked from beginning to end. The MegaTokyo-setting in this anime was fairly realistic.

This anime was originally planned as a 13-episode long OVA-series, but was cancelled after 8 episodes due to legal problems between Artmic and Youmex. However, a 3-episode sequel called "Bubblegum Crash" was made. Still, the entire franchise remains a cult classic among anime fans.

This anime is highly recommended for any fans of Japanese cyberpunk animation set in future. I mean, if you haven't seen this yet, then this anime is not to miss, the same with "Bubblegum Crash". My overall rating for such a classic is therefore: 9/10.

Some similar anime also to be recommended include: "Angel Cop", "Appleseed", "Genocyber" and "Battle Angel".

The DVD set of this series is excellent. The sound is great, and the picture quality is perfect, even surpassing the laserdisc release. The ability to watch it in the original Japanese without subtitles covering the picture is nice, also. All 8 episodes are in the set, which is a steal at about $50 (compared to about $120 for the tapes, or around $100 for the laserdiscs, if you can even find them). My only complaint is that the music videos are compressed really badly, giving them an M-PEG look, and compared to how the actual episodes look in this set, that low quality is unacceptable. Still, that one complaint aside, this set is more than worth the money if you like this series even a little.

Following the Knight Sabers, a highly elite group of female mercenaries living in a futuristic cyberpunk Tokyo, where they take down machines known as Boomers, many created by the evil mega-corp Genom. This whole series screams 80s anime and I loved it. The original series is only 8 episodes released over multiple years, produced more as OVAs (Original Video Animations) rather than a series, meaning each episode tends to be longer, typically at 44 minutes, and is considerably higher budget than the traditional 26 episode 22 minute standard we often see. This also means each storyline, while generally disjoint from other episodes, is a bit more involved or complex than other anime shows of the time, and I was quite impressed by its visuals. The art and aesthetic is perfect though and through. If you're one to have nostalgia from any of that sci-fi anime future punk era: Akira, Mobile Suit, Robotech, etc, you're going to love this. Definitely adult, there is nudity, violence, and swearing, the plots are generally good, again with each narrative being self contained per episode and each slowly clueing us in on the futuristic city, its technology, and how society now functions. Its not all great, plot-wise we never really get as much explained as we'd like, characters don't really develop, and with transforming vigilante heroes a la Charlie's Angels meets Power Rangers, there's a lot of tropes presented, some great, some not the best. I don't know enough anime history to say which if these tropes the series pioneered vs simply reenforced, but overall I did constantly have fun and felt vested in the characters. Unfortunately the english dub of this series is also not the best, with a lot of line delivery being very questionable if not laughable, but if you're like me it somehow only added to the charm and nostalgia. Also something not an issue if you watch the original subbed, so I can't fault it for that anyway. Fortunately for those wanting more there's multiple other spin-offs and reboots since this original, and for all this series was it deserves them, I'd already consider this a classic.

I like Scots. Hell, I am a Scot. But the guy above me is nuts. We all know that you can't just jump in the middle of a series. It's a cardinal sin of animé-watching, and something that will get you mocked mercilessly. And he did this.

The ep he's referring to is 'Revenge Road', and relies on you knowing who Priss, Linna, Nene, and Sylia are. Want to get a better picture of this animé without watching all eight episodes? Watch 5 and 6, 'Moonlight Rambler' and 'Red Eyes', respectively. You'll see some of the best drama, action, and plot to come out of animé ever.

/rant over.

Anyway, this is definitely worth a view. The premere babes-in-battlesuits animé, and home of the Knight Sabers (the most ass-kickin' group of mercs in animé.)

Considering the large following and high reputation this series has, one imagines it must be quite good. Oddly, it never struck me as mind-blowingly fantastic as the fan hype makes it out to be, but I did quite like most of the series.

Many praises are sung about the soundtrack, and those are very true indeed; great rock songs with very good pace and vivid vocals accompany the action. They work a treat, and a lot of the songs stick with the viewer for very long.

Alas, the raving over the music is probably the only point where the hype got it right. For the rest, the actual series seems a bit underwhelming compared to what one might expect. For example, the supposedly excellent character development is a much-trumpeted point that falls a bit flat. Not to say that the characters are poor by any means. They're very likeable, and they do have their own distinct personalities, but they don't seem all that revolutionary. Our four heroines, Priss, Nene, Sylia and Linna basically consist of respectively the tough rebellious youth, the pink-haired girly "cute" computer whiz, the mysterious and only -really- interesting one, and...err, the other one (yup, poor Linna is badly under-used and shows very little distinct character traits). It's true that this is a cast formula that was innovative for it's time, and that it has been copied very often, but maybe that's exactly why the whole thing sometimes seems a little below it's reputation. There are tough, rebellious youths and pink-haired squeaky cute computer geniuses all over the place on the anime market. The fact that they're all female is hardly a novelty anymore either.

That might be the main problem here; time hasn't been too kind to Bubblegum Crisis. Those who first saw the series and became loyal followers in the 80's had every reason to be impressed back then. Alas, by now, the same formula has appeared so often, be it under different guises, that there's little left to be amazed about for one watching this series for the first time now. Somehow BGC doesn't really manage to hold up a feeling that it's the founding father of a whole generation of anime series.

Animation quality has aged a bit better though, with only the first episode looking genuinely old hat by now. Episodes seven and eight are still lovely to look at (probably due to the nice and somehow "softer" color palette used for ep. 8). The mecha action scenes -another highly hyped point- are indeed fast and furious, and have some very intense moments. The mecha designs as well are admirably intricate and innovative sometimes. But like most over-hyped elements of BGC, the fights have flaws as well, namely that they are sometimes cut short a bit. The way the main villain in the sixth episode (who is utterly brilliant, by the way) is finished off struck me as rather too sudden, as was the end of the battle in episode 5. It's supposed to be a very dramatic moment, but it went a bit too fast and thus didn't have all the punch it -could- have had.

There still is lots going in favor of BGC, however. Several minor characters are very likeable and amusing, and manage to actually be more entertaining than the four heroines. The adorable Daley springs to mind, not exactly because he's gay -homosexuality is very common in anime- but because during his few moments in the spotlight he's always delightful (and damn it all, he's -cute-). Most of the one-shot characters that only appear in one or two episodes are also handled with style and become very vivid. A very nice bunch, basically. And that goes for the minor nasties as well. The four heroines are also entertaining enough, despite not being all that full of surprises.

The storyline also manages to present some interesting themes. Revenge is one of them, as is the blurred borderline between machines and living beings. There's also a very intriguing triangle between Sylia, minor nasty Mason and more impressive nasty Largo. There are also hints that Sylia might be more than meets the eye. All these themes and possible subliminar messages are only established in the background and hardly ever mentioned in so many words. One could very easily miss them altogether.

Subtelty is all very well, but it's a shame that none of these possible deeper plot threads are ever tied up; the end of episode 8 is -not- a proper ending. The series was supposed to continue on for a few more episodes, but alas the project ran into murky waters at that point. And that's why BGC is so tricky to judge; it's an unfinished piece (a sequel tried to sort of tie everything up but didn't really succeed). It's as if Return of the Jedi was missing from the first Star Wars trilogy, for instance. And that's quite a shame, as the -promise- certainly is there.

If the series had lived to see it's originally planned ending, it might have become the masterpiece it's -said- to be. As it stands, it's a good, solid series with plenty to enjoy and a few flaws that don't get in the way too much. Give it a go, see what you think. You probably won't be blown over with amazement, but chances are high you'll have a very plain good time all the same.

(just note that you should avoid the dub if possible. It's tolerable, but the songs are dubbed as well, and as a result suffer overall. Besides, dubs are always inferior to the original)