Baburugamu kuraishisu

"Bubblegum Crisis." Those are words you hear said with reverence from just about every anime fan. It's one of those shows that inspired so many imitators and so many fans. When you hear so much good stuff about anything you really have to wonder if it can live up to the hype. In my opinion it does.

One thing that surprised me was just how much time was spent on characterization. While you hear mostly about the action, BGC does devote a good amount of time to its characters. Even one-shot characters like Irene Chang and Vision are well drawn. But the focus is on the Knight Sabers and each of them get at least one very good moment.

BGC also comes with an array of fun secondary characters like sleazy informant Fargo, who's always hitting on Sylia, cops Leon NcNickel and Daley Wong, Dr. Raven, and Slyia's perverted little brother Mackie. These guys also have their little moments and add some comic relief.

One thing that surprised me was that this show wasn't as dark as I'd expected it to be. You hear a lot of talk about how Mega Tokyo is really grim and gritty and stuff like that. But except for Genom running just about everything, Mega Tokyo doesn't seem that bad to me. It's really no worse than New York during a high crime year.

While it may look a little silly now, for 1985 BGC was really something big. Besides, what doesn't look goofy after fifteen years? In the end its formula of four really cute women, some really great mecha, good villains, cool VAs and some pretty decent music works. This is one for any anime fan.

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.

I have listed my brief thoughts and score with a rating on every episode. I then averaged them to receive the score above. It's accurate. I liked it mostly, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless you are a hardcore cyberpunk completionist.

PROS

+ Beautiful still artwork. Constantly thinking how great certain ones would be for gifs or wallpapers. + Great action. Not too over the top, and always fun. + Kick-ass music. Lends itself to an 80's cyberpunk action setting perfectly. I believe all the soundtrack was original. Worth a listen! + Good for watching idle. It has a Saturday morning cartoon (but for adults) feel. worth watching with your breakfast and coffee.

CONS

+Terrible Writing. Plots are often contrived and events and actions frequently make no sense. +Horrible dialogue. The amount of exposition is so high and so unnatural feeling that every character may as well just look at the viewer and break the fourth wall directly. +Predictable. Each episode is very formulaic. You have your relevant side plot and your ending action sequence. +Story never truly advances. The first episode tells us about the AD Police, Knight Sabers, and the Boomers. After that, they are all in perpetual war, same s**t different episode. Each episode the boomer is more "powerful", but this never truly makes a difference. Once in awhile a character gets new equipment that is "better" despite being visually equivalent to the previous. One wonders how this was a sustainable long term plot model.

If you want plot, look somewhere else. If you want action, there's better anime to scratch that itch. I really wanted to like it. I came out just not hating it.

Music still kicks ass, though.

I have recently finished watching 'Bubblegum Crisis' for the second time, on DVD, and I found myself both entertained and impressed.

The problem with most sci-fi and robot anime is that they are too heavy-handed and dark; as well, they often suffer from plodding and boring plots, to the point where they are not enjoyable to watch. Not so with 'Bubblegum Crisis'. The series is actually divided into two main storylines which comprise six episodes, and two side stories for the other two episodes. While the main stories require some concentration, they are interesting without being convoluted. _BC_ does not try to ponder the human condition or find the meaning of life, as other SF stories do, but simply creates stories that the viewer can enjoy. As well, there are some plot threads that are developed throughout the series, making events and characters more significant and more part of the story. While some may argue that 'BC' is nothing but science fiction lite, it keeps the viewer absorbed, which is more than I can say for most of the sci-fi anime I have watched.

I'd say that this series's greatest strength is its characters. Not only are they well developed, but they interact wonderfully with one another. Their differing and often conflicting personalities make the viewer identify with them, their lives, and their problems. We see people trying to cope with violence and destruction on a daily basis and simultaneously keep their humanity somehow. I believe that too many anime fall into the trap of trying to impress the viewer with things such as animation, sex, and violence, forgetting more important things such as character development and interaction. Like all the other best anime, however, 'BC' not only avoids this trap, but defines new standards.

'Bubblegum Crisis' also succeeds in its use of rock music, integrating it into the series and drawing the viewer in. Even though the songs are in Japanese, I still enjoyed them and was impressed by the quality of the songwriting. I should point out that these songs are some of the few I remember from any anime.

I thought the animation was excellent, especially for an OVA. The inevitable darkness of Neo Tokyo was nicely balanced by the brighter colors of the interiors of homes, shops, etc. This was another thing that kept the series from descending into sci-fi boredom. As well, the characters are animated according to their personalities, helping to develop them.

So I would call 'Bubblegum Crisis' a success because it manages to entertain all audiences, not just sci-fi and robot fans. In fact, it even entertained me.

In a "Blade Runner" like future, four vigilante women - the Knight Sabers - assist the AD Police in fighting boomers, living machines not unlike the Replicants from "Blade Runner". The Knight Saber ring leader is Sylia Stingray, a rich, mysterious brunette who is the daughter of the man who created the boomers and whom might actually be a boomer herself. The others include rebellious biker girl Priss Asagiri, aerobics instructor Linna Yamazki and ADP computer hacker Nene. Other characters include ADP man Leon McNichol, a Brad Pitt like pretty boy with high ideals and a jerky attitude as well as a thing for Priss and with Leon is his hilarious partner Daley Wong. Oh and Sylia has a pervert whiz kid for a brother by name of Mackey. The villains include Quincy, chairman of GENOM, the company that produces the boomers, his right hand man Brian J. Mason (killed off too soon) and an obnoxious boomer man named Largo.

A good series overall, but being dated is the least of its problems. Originally slated for 13 episodes, it was cut short at episode 8, leaving many series plot threads unresolved. A sequel series, Bubblegum Crash, was concocted to solve this problem but it didn't help. Also the characters are never as well developed as you would like them to be. The most interesting character, the Knight Saber ringleader Sylia, is never completely explored. Linna had potential, but her subplot involving a friend who was apart of a mafia family was never resolved and most of the time Linna was just ignored. Nene was cute and funny but only had one episode to call her own, the last one. Sadly, most of the series attention was centered on Priss, who somehow became the most popular character of the series, so much in fact that although she was originally suppose to die, a fan backlash saved her; I think this was due partly to the fact that she was voiced by a then popular Japanese singer. But Priss herself was not that interesting of a character: all her episodes basically revolve around her seeking revenge for a minor character friend that we the audience sometimes didn't even get to know in depth. Priss became repetitive and dull after a certain point. I could never quite figure out what Leon saw in her.

But the series itself is not inherently bad. Animation is still pretty good in most of the eps (excluding the first one, which is a bit herky jerky, and the last one, in which the characters are drawn much too thinly) and it had an interesting theme on humanity VS technology.

Remade for TV as "Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040" in 1999. Hate to say it, but 2040 was superior in many ways, though not completely perfect in and of itself.