Bubblegum Crisis

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Bubblegum Crisis 2032, Bubblegum Crisis 2033

Japanese: バブルガムクライシス

Information

Type: OVA

Episodes: 8

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Feb 25, 1987 to Jan 30, 1991

Producers: Youmex

Licensors: AnimEigo

Studios: AIC, Artmic

Source: Original

Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Themes: Adult Cast, Mecha

Duration: 41 min. per ep.

Rating: R+ - Mild Nudity

Statistics

Score: 7.34¹ (scored by 16,206 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2558²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2969

Members: 54,861

Favorites: 557

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Synopsis

The year is 2032, seven years after the Second Great Kanto Earthquake decimated Tokyo. Now, the city is reborn as MegaTokyo, built from the labors of mechanical beasts known as "Boomers." Originally created to benefit humanity, the mysterious corporation known as Genom now produces Boomers with incredible destructive power as a new type of advanced weaponry, capable of disguising themselves as humans.

The AD Police is a new special unit to counter the ever-increasing Boomer-related crimes. Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of crimes and disparity in strength, the AD Police poses little opposition to the Boomers. A mysterious vigilante force known as the Knight Sabers, wearing powersuits more advanced than the military, is the citizens' only hope for protection. Led by Sylia Stingray, Priscilla "Priss" Asagiri, Nene Romanova, and Linna Yamazaki, these beautiful girls take out any Boomer that steps out of line.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

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Related Anime

Alternative version:	Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040
Alternative setting:	AD Police
Sequel:	Bubblegum Crash
Summary:	Hurricane Live! 2033, Hurricane Live! 2032

Shou, Mayumi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Oobari, Masami

Director, Storyboard, Mechanical Design, Animation Director, Key Animation

Akiyama, Katsuhito

Director, Script

Takayama, Fumihiko

Director, Storyboard

Gouda, Hiroaki

Director

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Opening Theme

	1: "Konya wa Hurricane (今夜はハリケーン)" by Kinuko Oomori (eps 1)
	2: "Mad Machine" by Kinuko Oomori (eps 2)
	4: "CRISIS ~ Ikari wo Komete Hashire" by Yuiko Tsubokura (eps 4)
	5: "Mysterious Night (ミステリアスナイト)" by the Knight Sabers (eps 5)
	7: "Say Yes!" by Maiko Hashimoto (eps 7)
	8: "Bye Bye My Crisis" by the Knight Sabers (eps 8)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Mr. Dandy" by Bluew (eps 1)
	2: "Kizudarake no Wild (傷だらけのWild)" by Kinuko Oomori (eps 2)
	3: "Wasurenaide (忘れないで)" by Oomori Kinuko (eps 03)
	4: "Twilight" by Tsubokura Yuiko (eps 4)
	5: "Omoide ni Dakarete (思い出に抱かれて)" by Tsubokura Yuiko (eps 5)
	6: "Rock Me" by Yuiko Tsubokura (eps 6)
	7: "Never the End" by Maiko Hashimoto (eps 7)
	8: "Chase the Dream" by Kinuko Oomori (eps 8)

Reviews

Jun 7, 2023

REC3

Recommended

Bubblegum Crisis 2032-2033. Don't let the name fool you this series packs serious heat, despite its age. Maybe they call it Bubblegum Crisis, because three of the girls look like teenagers. Much of the focus in this series is on Priscilla (Priss) the brunette and her boyfriend from the AD Police. The focus towards the end and especially in Bubblegum Crash (the finale) shifts gradually towards Sylia Stingray the brains of the outfit (literally).

I thought the story was very enjoyable and complex. Do yourself a favor though and buy the Blu-ray version as you don't have to shuffle discs. ...

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Apr 16, 2023

EL_MUTTO

Recommended

If you have ever been within the "classic" 90s/80s or cyberpunk anime zeitgeist for more than 3 minutes you'd probably at least heard of Bubble Gum Crisis. Its an anime that was wildly revered but these days its largely unknown (at least from my perspective) outside of the odd gif here and there. From an outside viewer a title like that sounds more fit for a romance anime than anything. However you'd be severely wrong.
Short version: its a lil cheesy and for its time but it has its charm and I think you should watch it even for historical sake
Long version ... :
Bubble Gum Crisis as the synopsis suggests is a... well cyberpunk anime with all the typical cyberpunk tropes and the likes. If you like cyberpunk , it has it by the bunch. This doesn't mean its grim like a lot after it - our heroes are usually unscathed and there is quite a positive wrap up for this series in general. In fact I'd say it is pretty tame by today's standards.

This is not to say it isn't an OVA for a reason : like a lot of 80s ova there is of course nudity and mild blood. Again most is fairly tame,especially to other OVAs released during this time.
Ironically I think its less fan service than your "average" harem anime of today. There was the odd scenes here and there that made me go "ehhhh that's rather weird" (the younger brother perv needs his ass kicked but he does get better as the show progresses) but nothing that ruins the show for me.
On the blood side it really depends on episode- the robots (funnily called boomers) sometimes have orange blood , sometimes not. People break bones and get scratched but at most its pg 13 .
Action and story wise its pretty much similar. Its story is bad by no means but it is fairly simple. Being a 8 episode OVA it spares fat and there is questions to still be had by the end of the anime.
I think the weakest link are some of the supporting cast like Leon but overall solid. The action is hit or miss. Being animated in the 80s its not as fluid as one would expect but it does its job. The later episodes improve action and animation wise from something that's passable to something that could be put in a sakuga edit.

Voice acting and music is probably its strongest point - even if its very 80s. Each actor fits their role and its believable. It can be cheesy but i think thats apart of the charm that makes it very enjoyable to me You can't go a single episode without at least one song that you search up afterwards.
However I do not suggest the dub. If you have ti its fine but it suffers from being from a time where nobody in the west really knew what to do with these new "asian cartoons". The main cast is not bad by any means but they just sound way too old to be playing young adults.

Overall if I had to summarize this anime it would be "for its time"- Its not super dated by any means but it does have its moments. I think the reason behind this is just because a lot of its tropes and qualities can be found in a lot of cyberpunk anime after its release. There are a lot of elements that you can see the origin of today that were really popularized by it and its much more successful younger brother Akria.

I would say if your new or old to cyberpunk you should check this one out even just out of a historical value. For episode highlights I suggest Revenge Road , Red Eyes and Scoop Chase.

7.9/10 - I would love to see this be remade - cheese and all.

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Sep 15, 2023

ThatAnimeSnobRE

Mixed Feelings

This anime used to be huge back when it first aired by encompassing all the best elements of 80s cyberpunk. It was almost a flagship title at a time when anime were still fairly niche in America and everyone was watching tame sitcom cartoons. It was in a way the Neon Genesis or Ghost in the Shell of the 1980s, or the Psycho Pass of the 2010s. Historical importance aside, nowadays it is closer to a skeleton of a good story, since it had lots of good ideas but didn’t do much with them.

In terms of production values it holds up pretty well. Made at ... a time when everything was hand-drawn with multiple layers of shading, it doesn’t become instantly aged as the CGI monstrocities of today. The world is also your standard sci-fi dystopia, the claustrophobic high-tech megacity almost all sci-fi stories depict so it’s easy to dig it if you are used to that sort of setting. The heroines have the “80’s anime look” (huge eyes, Barbie-like hairstyles), which can seem weird compared to the far more down to earth sceneries. The battles don’t have much choreography and body movements tend to be choppy. Animation is average at best. Also there is a rather high amount of fan service, as 80% of the cast is pretty girls undressing or moving around in underwear several times per episode/OVA.

Voice acting is decent but not great. The music themes have some powerful pieces and in fact this series has the honor of being the first title to use voice actors both for voicing characters and singing the songs (Priss).

The plot is rather typical. There is crime, corruption and crazed androids running around in a futuristic city. Laugh all you want at their name being Boomers that can’t adjust in a high-tech society. The normal police have their hands full, until a group of vigilante super chicks, called the Knight Sabers, storm in and save the day. Their identities are hidden, their motives are unknown. So far, the story is like watching Batman. But under the surface, every girl has its reasons for being in the team and there are several secrets behind the origin of the berserked robots. I make it sound much more interesting than it actually is, since both the plots and the revelations are fairly basic stuff. The animation studio had budget issues and couldn’t finish all the episodes it intended, thus it kept the plot almost episodic and open-ended. A later version did a better job at wrapping things up, but even then the finale was more silly than sad, with the girls being butt-naked as they fall down from space and resolving the conflict like it’s a naughty fairy-tale.

Nowadays, there is nothing fresh or exciting about it. It’s more of a nostalgic rule of cool type of title you watch for getting that 80s vibe that is completely absent today. The story is half-serious, the plot is loose or slow, the ending is open or silly. The main idea of the series is used in better ways elsewhere. Fan service wasn’t that great. Action scenes weren’t that great. I can’t recommend it as a must-watch classic.

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Bubblegum Crisis

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Characters & Voice Actors

Asagiri, Priscilla

Romanova, Nene

Yamazaki, Linna

Stingray, Sylia

McNichol, Leon

Largo

Mason, Brian J.

Stingray, Mackey

Sylvie

Anderson, Naomi

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Ending Theme

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