Bubblegum Crisis: Remastered Edition

Bubblegum Crisis: Remastered Edition

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Editorial Reviews

Set in a world rife with pollution, poverty, and gigantic global corporations, BUBBLEGUM CRISIS offers an Animé vision of the future that draws on the traditions of cyberpunk. Set in 2033, the action takes places in MegaTokyo, where robots known as Boomers have replaced human beings in the workplace. Japan has the strongest economy on the planet, and is home to Genom, the largest corporation in the world. Overcrowding and unemployment leads to immense dissatisfaction for the denizens of this future world, so it takes a strong and innovative military presence to keep the population under control. Fortunately the Knight Sabers are at hand to battle against the evil overlords who preside over Genom. Comprised of four women, the Knight Sabers are the only hope the human race has of salvation from a future society which is perilously close to being overrun by big businesses. This collection includes the complete OVA series for a total of 8 episodes.

Customer Reviews

Boomer Baby

Reviewed by Julian Kennedy, 2009-07-30

Bubblegum Crisis: 7 out of 10: Hot chicks, giant robots, and evil corporations fill every frame of Bubblegum Crisis as does some surprisingly catchy Eighties tunes.


Bubblegum Crisis, like Akira or Macross, is one of those Anime that separate the thirty something Anime fan from this year's crop of snot nosed punk kids. When you think Japanese cartoons, do you think Pokémon or shower scenes. Do you think irritating children or kick ass adults. Do your favorite plots involve the little kids defeating the big evil corporation or adults facing economic hardship and self-sacrifice. Bubblegum crisis is an Anime for the thirty something.


As I settle into my damn kids today voice and distaste for every exaggerated, rapid cut seizure inducing, saccharine piece of crap that passes for entertainment these days. (I am looking your way Cartoon Network). I can sit back and watch full-grown woman destroy some boomers (as well as half of Tokyo) and reminisce about my childhood when cartoon characters swore and a gratuitous nude scene followed every battle.


Is Bubblegum Crisis as good as I remember it? No. The episodes do not flow into each other well and vary in quality. Some of the dubbing is dubious and the live action music videos contained in the extras are simply painful (In a OMG what cheese kind of way).


Bubblegum Crisis allows me to both relieve my childhood and look down upon kids today. What more could I ask for my entertainment dollar.


Hop Scotch

Reviewed by Julie Tucker, 2009-04-23

This series of 6 episodes has an ongoing battle/theme, but each episode was done by a different producer. The series leaves many un-answered questions, even at the end. But if you enjoy collecting classics get it!

Classic anime!

Reviewed by John D. Dunkelburg, 2007-05-13

The Bubblegum Crisis anime is a classic OVA series and needs to be a part of any fan of either cyberpunk or Japanese animation. Despite the animation for the first three episodes dating from the late 1980s the storylines remain interesting and eminently watchable. A great anime series for your friends to watch if they are over 16 and have never watched anime before or think it is just what is found on Cartoon Network.

Good stuff

Reviewed by William James Taylor IV, 2006-08-27

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), was generally good natured, good humored, 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.

Bubblegum Crisis, an Original Classic

Reviewed by Antonio D. Paolucci, 2006-01-18

The Bubblegum Crisis franchise in one of the strongest anime franchises out, with numerous spin-offs and a release of a new Bubblegum Crisis series, and there's no wondering why in my book. The characters, for there time, were original, the story was well-done and plotted excellently, the world in which the series was based was thoroughly thought out, and the music, though dated, works well with the anime.

In 2032-33, we get to meet the original four girls: Sylvia, Lena, Nene, and the ever popular Priss, as they battle Genom made Boomers from episode to episode in order to protect MegaTokyo. The first three episodes deals with the Knight Sabers battle with Brian Mason, the evil leader of Genom bent on destroying these four girls at all costs. The next episode gets away from the Genom story as the girls must fight a car infected with the Boomer virus, which is determined to destroy the Outriders, a biker gang. When Priss becomes a target, the Knight Sabers are forced to act. The fifth and six episodes gets back to the battle with Genom, and the Knight Sabers find themselves fighting some powerful new enemies: themselves, and the mysterious Largo. This is essentially the end of the series, yet two more movies follow that are almost entirely unrelated to the first six. In Double Vision, they must figure out a series of terrorist attacks against Boomer engineers. These attacks somehow involve Vision, an American singer. In Scoop Chase (my personal favorite) we follow Nene in her job as an AD Police officer while she watches over Lisa, a young girl who seems to idolize the Knight Sabers. That's when a new group of Boomers attack the AD Police headquarters and the Knight Sabers must act in order to save allies and friends from the ongoing Boomer threat.

What's great about this series is that it's actually a huge collection of short films. None of these episodes are less than a half-hour, and some are near to an hour or more. It makes it much more watchable, in the end, since there is never a "to be continued." You see one conflict resolve itself before moving onto the next, without ever truly escaping the core storyline.

This is a classic anime series that should be picked up by any person who truly wants to call themselves a hardcore fan. This is one of the founders of the cyberpunk genre and without this series, great anime like Akira may have never been. I recommend this to everyone.