Bubblegum Crisis.docx

Bubblegum crisis The series begins in late 2032, seven years after the Second Great Kanto earthquake has split Tokyogeographically and culturally in two. During the first episode, disparities in wealth are shown to be more pronounced than in previous periods in post-war Japan. The main adversary is Genom, a megacorporationwith immense power and global influence. Its main product are boomers—artificial cybernetic life forms that are usually in the form of humans, with most of their bodies being machine; also known as "cyberoids". While Boomers are intended to serve mankind, they become deadly instruments in the hands of ruthless individuals. The AD Police are tasked to deal with Boomer-related crimes. One of the series' themes is the inability of the department to deal with threats due to political infighting, red tape, and an insufficient budget.

Setting[edit] The setting displays strong influences from the movies Blade Runner and Streets of Fire.[2][3] The opening sequence of episode 1 is modeled on the opening sequence of Streets of Fire.[4] The humanoid robots known as "boomers" in the series also resemble Terminators cyborgs from the Terminator film.[3] Suzuki explained in a 1993 Animerica interview the meaning behind the cryptic title: "We originally named the series 'bubblegum' to reflect a world in crisis, like a chewing-gum bubble that's about to burst."[5]

Production[edit] The series started with Toshimichi Suzuki intention to remake the 1982 film Techno Police 21C.[6] However, he met Junji Fujita and the two discussed ideas, and decided to collaborate on what later became Bubblegum Crisis.[6] Kenichi Sonoda acted as character designer, and designed the four female leads. Masami Ōbaricreated the mechanical designs.[6] Obari would also go on to direct episode 5 and 6. The OVA series is eight episodes long but was originally slated to run for 13 episodes.[7] Due to legal problems between Artmic and Youmex, who jointly held the rights to the series, the series was discontinued prematurely.[citation needed]

Episodes[edit] #

Title

Japan first release dates[8]

1

"Tinsel City Rhapsody" "(Runtime: 45 minutes)"

February 25, 1987

En

The Knight Sabers are hired to rescue a little girl from a group of kidnappers, but the girl is far more than she

2

"Born to Kill" "(Runtime: 28 minutes)"

September 5, 1987

A friend of Linna's threatens to expose Genom secrets that led to the death of her fiancé, but Genom plans to

3

"Blow Up" "(Runtime: 26 minutes)"

December 5, 1987

The Knight Sabers attack Genom Tower to put an end to the machinations of Genom executive Brian J. Maso

4

"Revenge Road" "(Runtime: 38 minutes)"

July 24, 1988

A racer modifies his car into a weapon of vengeance against the biker gangs of Megatokyo, but the car soon

5

"Moonlight Rambler" "(Runtime: 43 minutes)"

December 25, 1988

A killer is draining victims of their blood, but this is no vampire. And what do a pair of escaped love-doll andro super-weapon have to do with it?

6

"Red Eyes" "(Runtime: 49 minutes)"

August 30, 1989

A group of fake Knight Sabers are ruining the group's reputation, leading to a fight against a returning foe.

7

"Double Vision" "(Runtime: 49 minutes)"

March 14, 1990

A singer with a vendetta comes to Megatokyo, and brings some heavy firepower with her.

8

"Scoop Chase" "(Runtime: 52

January 30, 1991

minutes)"

An ambitious technical scientist and an aspiring reporter both plan to make their names at the expense of the caught right in the middle.

Release[edit] In North America, AnimEigo first released Bubblegum Crisis to VHS and Laserdisc in 1991 in Japanese with English subtitles. The series is notable in that it was one of the few early anime series that were brought over from Japan unedited and subtitled in English. While anime has become much more popular in the years since, in 1991, it was still mostly unknown as a storytelling medium in North America. Bubblegum Crisis was aired in the US when it first aired on PBS affiliate Superstation KTEH in the 1990s, and STARZ!'s Action Channel in 2000. An English dub of the series was produced beginning in 1994 by AnimEigo through Southwynde Studios in Wilmington, NC, and released to VHS and Laserdisc beginning that year. A digitally-remastered compilation, featuring bilingual audio tracks and production extras, was released on DVD in 2004 by AnimEigo. The company later successfully crowdfunded a collector's edition Blu-ray release through Kickstarter in November 2013.[9] The series was released on a regular edition Blu-ray on September 25, 2018. The series is currently available for streaming on Night Flight Plus.

Soundtracks[edit] There are 8 soundtrack releases (one per OVA), as well as numerous "vocal" albums which feature songs "inspired by" the series as well as many drawn directly from it.

Legacy[edit] Masaki Kajishima and Hiroki Hayashi, who both worked on the Bubblegum Crisis OAVs, cite the show as being the inspiration for their harem series Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki. In an interview with AIC, Hayashi described Bubblegum Crisis as "a pretty gloomy anime. Serious fighting, complicated human relationships, and dark Mega Tokyo." They thought it would be fun to create some comedy episodes with ideas like the girls going to the hot springs, but it was rejected by the sponsors. He also said that there was a trend to have a bunch of characters of one gender and a single one of the other gender, and asked what if Mackey (Sylia's brother) was a main character, reversing the Bubblegum scenario. This idea then became the basis for Tenchi. Hayashi said that Mackey is "sort of" the original model for Tenchi.[10] Kevin Siembieda's becoming aware of "Boomers" being already in use in this caused him to changed his planned name for the Rifts RPG which he had named after the "Boom Gun"-wielding power armor which was also renamed to Glitter Boy.[11]