The year is 2027 in MegaTokyo, six years before the Knight Sabers will make their debut. Boomers (artificial humans) are still a relatively new advancement, and the implementation and integration of boomers into society is still a bit buggy -- sometimes fatally so. Whenever a boomer incident occurs, though, there is the Advanced Police, a special force trained to deal with boomer crimes.
Leon McNichol is a rookie in the AD Police, and is just starting to become exposed to the horrors and tragedies one finds every day in MegaTokyo. He and his veteran partner, Gina Marceau, slowly learn about the ever-fading line that separates man from machine.
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Comentários
Beatnik
A prequel to Bubblegum Crisis, set in 2027, AD Police Files drops the light-hearted humour of the previous OVA and replaces it with noir-esque crime thrills. Someone saw more potential in the franchise and decided to take Blade Runner and blend it with Miami Vice. Inspired? Foolhardy? Definitely worth a shot. The cyberpunk genre can be blended with anything, and Bubblegum Crisis brilliant as it was, could have been taken in another direction entirely, and AD Police Files directs it into moody fatalistically romantic territory. Leon McNichol is almost unrecognisable, not just due to a change in character art, but he's a jitterystraight-laced rookie in the first episode. A far cry from the ladies man, with a penchant for showing up at the right time with a big gun that we saw in the previous OVA. You'd think this OVA would chart a rites of passage for this character, throwing him into the deep end of sex-crazed Boomers in a lecherous city and spitting him out a grizzled veteran, but he’s just another character in the background to the city and its blood-soaked tragedies.
Whereas Bubblegum Crisis reminds you vaguely of the style of Ghost in the Shell at times, AD Police Files strangely and for a brief moment will make you recall Ghost in the Shell: Innocence's opening assault on a building harbouring a crazed robot 'doll'. This serves as another reminder of the Bubblegum franchise's subtle impact on the cyberpunk genre within anime, very subtle indeed.
AD Police Files addresses one of the aspects of Bubblegum Crisis, that of the AD Police being completely and utterly useless at everything. This was not so much a flaw as it was a humorous running joke throughout that OVA. This time they get a lot of love and attention, turning up at crime scenes violently, intimidating 'normal police', and generally causing the same amount of destruction as the Knight Sabers except with a humorously bemused scowl upon their weathered faces.
Another aspect addressed in this OVA that was lacking in Bubblegum Crisis is more of a definition and elaboration of what Boomers actually are, and their role in society. In the previous OVA all we got was rogue Boomers, custom-made and with inconsistent personalities. There was no outline for why Boomers were made, or what they were made of exactly. The line was blurry and with the array of different personalities it wasn't clear if they were cyborgs, robots or synthetic humans. Sure the name is a riff of baby boomers, but Bubblegum Crisis didnt really do anything else with that symbolism.
AD Police Files is more direct in its approach to everything. We're told Boomers are artificial humans made up of proteins, artificial intelligence and artificial organs. A real mash-up indeed. Future Frankenstein monsters terrorising Mega-Tokyo with random violence due to mysterious bouts of insanity. Then there is the issue of people with implants, if over 70% of their body are cybernetic then they are classed as Boomeroids. After you've stopped laughing at that name you realise you're in a perfect setting for philosophical musings.
You'd think after the previous paragraph that you'll endure endless exposition and rambling but you'd be incorrect in that assumption. One of AD Police Files' saving graces are the stylish art direction and minimal dialogue. There are many instances of wordless scenes, set to an 80's synth score, and its absolute bliss for cyberpunk lovers, and seasoned anime viewers in general. We're not getting talked down to in this OVA, and although we're also not being asked to work our brains, we're still being entertained without being insulted. Well, much. The content of the episodes is a bit on the nose at times, though the core plots for all three are still pretty good.
AD Police Files is required viewing for fans of cyberpunk and 90's anime. It hasn't got the quality of the best animes of the genre, but it has its heart in the right place. Ironic, huh?
ktulu007
AD Police is connected to another OVA I've reviewed. Basically, it's a prequel to Bubblegum Crisis that came out in the very early 90s when that OVA was nearing its end. Supposedly, it was intended to be longer but some legal problems between Artmic and Youmex resulted in it being cut short. But the big question for me is, is this OVA as strong as Bubblegum Crisis was? Story: The titular AD Police are a force that specialises in dealing with boomers, and humans with enough cybernetic parts. The story follows three different cases of theirs. The first involves them trying to find proof thatone of their own didn't commit suicide by boomer, while being stalked by a sex boomer. The second involves a woman murdering prostitutes. The final one involves a cyborg fellow who can't feel anything except his own tongue and is losing touch with his humanity. It doesn't help that he's being molested by a sex-crazed lady doctor.
You might have noticed a bit of a pattern there. This series has a weird, unhealthy fixation on sex, especially as it applies to women. In the first episode we have the crazed sex boomers and a lady who gets turned on by the sight of blood, which never comes up again even though she's in the rest of the series. In the second episode our serial killer was driven mad because (minor spoiler ahead) her husband was cheating with prostitutes because he thought their normal vaginas were better than her cybernetic one. In the third, we have the lady scientist who likes to wear lingerie under her lab coat and jump the cyborg she's in charge of. Do these guys just live in perpetual terror of the idea that a scantily clad woman is going to do terrible things to them? Because if that's the case they should see an actual psychologist and work through their issues in a constructive fashion instead of airing them in a publicly released OVA for anyone to see. Otherwise some strange person might try psychoanalysing them based on their writing and they won't actually improve.
The second major issue with the series is that there's never any sense of investment in what's happening. Not only do we know basically nothing of these characters, but the set ups largely boil down to some action sequences and fetish fuel. Take the first episode. We're supposed to care about a dude who had, maybe two lines of dialogue and got killed because his life insurance might not be paid out. Hold on, let me try to find a single fuck to give... Nope, can't find one. A non-character's woes after they die doesn't make you interested in what's going to happen. It's completely not compelling. There's also a bit of an issue with the cyborgs in this world. Our final episode cyborg can't feel anything but his tongue, but the second episode cyborg is over 70% cybernetic and can feel things fine from what we see. They couldn't have given the battle cyborg a switch so that he could turn off his sensations in battle, but so that he would still get sensations outside of it, possibly curtailing the obvious scenario that happens with him? For that matter, we see from the same comparison that they have cybernetic genitalia. Why can't he have a penis and just wear trousers? Is it solely so that the “sex scene” with the scientist rubbing herself against him doesn't actually make the OVA a hentai?
About the only thing I can say in its favour is that it's set in the same universe as Bubblegum Crisis. So, if you've seen that then you know some interesting aspects about the world. Even if this series doesn't convey them.
Characters:
I briefly touched on the characters being about as interesting as a blade of grass during my analysis on what's wrong with the story. So, rather than repeat myself over much, let's try comparing them to the ladies in Bubblegum Crisis and see where this series went wrong. In BC, we get character focused episodes that develop our main cast. We see what kinds of things they do when they aren't fighting. We see them interact with one another and other people at length. In this series, we get very brief snippets, some of which are actually just sepia-toned still images. The interactions are likewise fairly flat. There's the whole scene where the sex-crazed officer tries to hurl herself at Leon because... blood. We get a scene where she asks him why he rejected her and he just kind of shrugs. Dude, you can just tell her that you're not into the blood play. It's not like it even makes you weird. There's not enough here to give you a substantial sense of character. Nothing to move them beyond generic. For that matter, the excuses behind why our antagonists go crazy are pretty poorly handled. Husband cheats? Well, that has to lead to madness. Don't pretend that you've never gone berserk and murdered a bunch of people when your significant other was unfaithful. We've all been there.
Art:
If Bubblegum Crisis had an unhealthy fixation on fan-service, this series suffers from multiple neuroses about it. There are several action sequences that get interrupted for the sake of tacky bosom or bum shots. All three episodes feature women stripping out of their clothes for unnecessary, garish reasons. To make matters even worse, the character designs shift a bit from episode to episode. You know, on account of consistency being cumbersome. The series still manages to feature some decent action sequences and some nice details concerning the advanced technology.
Sound:
The performances in this are pretty weak. Which I attribute to the script not giving the cast much to work with. I know that Furukawa Toshio, Wakamoto Norio & some others can act really well. They don't in this, but I know they can. The music isn't particularly good either. Which is a bit surprising since BC had such a fantastic soundtrack. Then again, BC also had a lot of other good aspects to it that this series lacks.
Ho-yay:
There really isn't any. The closest we get to ho-yay is an inquiry about one character's sexuality.
Final Thoughts:
So, that's AD Police. If you want some mindless action and tawdry sexual content, you are in luck. This OVA was made for you. For everyone else, it fails pretty badly. The story telling is just bad. The characters are awful. The music and acting are weak. The levels of fan-service detract from the action and are just in poor taste. All in all, it's terrible and I don't care for it. My final rating is going to stand at a 2/10. Next week I'm looking at Mononoke.
Shura-shurato
Definetly NOT for the lighthearted and teenagers! this is an cyberpunk cult classic prequel in the bubblegum crisis story ( though A.D police manga debuted in '89 named dead end city) its a good adaptation to it! and since this ova is from 1990 its seems that in anime at least japan has almost never left the 80's :). i saw this the 1st time back in 1996 on videotape.This 3 part storyline is damn violent as hell, dark, filthy and gruesome but cyberpunk as hell and even i REFUSE to watch the 2nd episode, just too tragic. Animation is quite mature for itstime as some of the welldone robotdesigns and cybercity like backgrounds and violent sketches. Conspiracy as hell is involved no matter what
with an special eye to episode 3, wich story and mecha design is partly inspired by robocop 2 (1990) end is damn violent!
TheCompletionist
This anime is gory and raunchy and I absolute love it for it. This is a cyberpunk anime in it truest form with regards to its upbeat music in a dark and dreary setting, grittiness, and atmosphere. The AD police files is three separate stories focusing around certain members of the AD police force and they're fight against boomers. You can't go into this anime expecting a deep experience because your not going to get it. This anime is violent, sexual, and in some ways tasteless but damn is it entertaining. There are some weird scenes regarding nudity and sexuality but it doesn't deter from the overall actionpacked experience. Beyond the tasteless action and nudity, there are some deep messages regarding humanity and its role in the world when the world is becoming more robotic. I just wish there were more episodes.
Overall its a wonderful anime if you like your action packed anime mindless and tasteless. I'm always been fond of (BSV rule) - (Blood, Sex, Violence) in my anime and this one certainly lives up to that rule.
RobdeFR
This is a prequel of Bubblegum Crisis and is set in Megatokyo year 2027. In AD Police Files, we have a younger Leon McNichol when he was a newbie at the AD Police force and way before Knight Sabers came to be. This is a lot more darker than Bublegum Crisis and carries the Blade Runner banner more properly than Bubblegum could ever carry with it’s comedy and Female cast. The animation gives a little help at turning the thing darker and it was made in a proper way. The music was just awesome and the ending music of the final episode made me want tolook for it in the web (still hadn’t had any luck yet).
The story of its episodes, though not spectacular, can fit very well the dark atmosphere generated and it isn’t decidedly your light everyday story.
Definitely a must watch for cyber puk fans.
The only flaw that I find here is the number of episodes, they could have exchanged this one with Bubblegum.
Rate; 7.5/10
KamuiX1999
Revisiting this for the first time in a decade, and I'm noticing there's a lot I either didn't pick up on at that time, or simply there are elements that have faded from memory over the years, as I've forgotten much of the deeper, weighty stuff going on in these three episodes. Old age strikes again! Tone-wise, and not because it's far more gory, serious and R-rated, this is a completely different beast than Bubblegum Crisis, the series that this OVA spun out of. Sure, it's still action sci-fi, but these all ultimately boil down to morality tales with a cyberpunk sheen, showing what happens ifyou lose touch with your own humanity. The first two episodes are darkly sexual in nature, especially the second episode (the strongest of the bunch, it's perfect speculative sci-fi) that ends with a real punch to the gut. The third episode is also pretty much an anime version of Robocop, just with a tad more depravity.
Also something I don't remember at all is that in the second and third episodes, there are a couple of times where instead of animation, we get stills that are reminiscent of full-color manga or detailed storyboards, possibly due to a time-crunch. Yet, they happen at such targeted moments in the story, as well as the fact that these two episodes are from a different director than the first, maybe it's just a stylistic touch he liked to employ. Oh, and the most important thing I didn't pick up on last time around? The female AD police officer Jeena looks exactly like Adrianne Barbeau. And who else would you want to play a kick-ass babe in the late '80s/early '90s? Just this makes the OVA that much more cool, as if it really needed any help.
Bottom line: Do you like cyberpunk? Smart sci-fi without all the mumbo jumbo? Gore? Beautiful hand-drawn animation? Slick action? Sex-deranged robots? All of the above? Well, here ya go. And at only three episodes with a total runtime of under 90 minutes, this is succinct and to the point, and does that magical trick of leaving you wanting more. Seriously, why isn't there more?!?!
FAKEANIMEGIRL
(Check out my profile for a link to my site containing more up-to-date reviews and bonus media!) AD Police is a spin-off OVA of the Bubblegum Crisis OVA. Though Bubblegum Crisis was ostensibly a cyberpunk work it stayed true to the first half of its name by always wearing a smile that still showed joy in a dystopian future. That balance of playfulness with grit is all but gone in AD Police, a prequel chronicle of the Neo Tokyo Metropolitan Police force before Bubblegum Crisis's Knight Sabers hit the scene. This is perhaps a suitable tonal shift, as the Knight Sabers were shown to be just aboutthe only force that could surpass Boomers, cyborgs that can occasionally go berserk and threaten the human populace. The AD Police are fighting the newest evolution in combat technology with outdated means, and this means a lot more gore is shed, the death count goes up, and pessimism is palpable in the environment.
By all means, this is a sensible spin-off. It's extremely loosely connected to the events of Bubblegum Crisis because of some returning names, and the only name of those belonging to a human is Leon McNichol. Leon's professional inexperience and new character design make him nigh unrecognizable compared to what he'd become (or was) in Bubblegum Crisis. That this OVA doesn't introduce anything that contradicts the world of characters of Bubblegum Crisis is both its greatest strength and greatest weakness. By taking almost no risk in mixing these OVAs, AD Police sets up no expectations of it being the same as Bubblegum Crisis, and its tonal shift doesn't conflict with Bubblegum Crisis because the two are so easily compartmentalized when seen side by side. In other words, AD Police clearly doesn't possess the same appeal as Bubblegum Crisis and doesn't try to. The two OVAs are so aesthetically far apart and unrelated in story and characters that neither weaken or strengthen each other.
Even the potential insight into Bubblegum Crisis's setting has little to offer here. This isn't to say AD Police's world is dull, but that it once again focuses on highly specific elements of that world that go further to make it unique while also not filling in anything Bubblegum Crisis put forth. For instance, though both possess Boomers as primary antagonists they're utilized very differently. Bubblegum Crisis practically treated the Boomers as monsters; not the merging of humans and machines they're meant to be, but rather machines only built to visually resemble humans. Bubblegum Crisis deals with the morality of the people taking advantage of Boomer technology and not the Boomers themselves. They are essentially automatons in the skin of humans despite being called cyborgs.
AD Police focuses entirely on the characters within the Boomers themselves. Here they have individuality and every episode posits what separates a machine from a human being, this being the source of the Boomers' new emotional struggle. It's an ancient science fiction topic and AD Police doesn't add anything striking or fresh to the discussion, but you can see that while both OVAs share cyborgs with the same name, you are immediately taught to see them differently. The contrast with Bubblegum Crisis isn’t off-putting to either precisely because they’re just so hard to see in the same world, but that also means this spin-off doesn’t really feel like it adds anything.
So, if this likely isn’t of particular interest to someone looking for more of the Bubblegum Crisis world, does AD Police hold up on its own? That debate is probably less ambiguous. As a science fiction and cyberpunk fan, nothing about AD Police stands out to me. It’s not completely brainless but it’s hardly high concept either. The atmosphere and animation quality could freshen up its worn ideas with striking presentation, but those run cold as well, and not for the good reasons you’d hope from a dystopian work. While it’s not easy to completely judge this compared to Bubblegum Crisis as that had a Blu-ray release while AD Police is stuck on DVD, this series in general just feels a hell of a lot cheaper. Maybe it’s a difference of talent, but character designs are frequently off-model, shortcuts are taken during action scenes like painted stills, and there’s even the rare flub like completely inaccurate lip syncing. The painted backgrounds are quite nice, but you get repetitive glances of the always green-toned city that quickly cease to impress. When the characters are drawn on-model they possess a simple digital coloring job that has little on the detailed textures of Bubblegum Crisis that popped out at you.
As for the writing, well, AD Police is greatly disadvantaged there. Because this was based on the Bubblegum Crisis IP, the same copyright dispute that ended that OVA prematurely did the same thing here. AD Police wasn’t meant to end at three episodes, and with that in mind it makes its weaknesses more forgivable, but they don’t go away. Even the main characters Leon and Gina don’t get enough attention to flourish as the episodic stories feature new supporting casts each time that are used intensively to set up an entirely new storyline based on nothing before it. Leon has no character arc – he even barely gets to use any of his signature humor. We don’t get to see him grow into one of the most respected policemen in his force, and we hardly even get to see him so much as struggle. His superior, Gina, is meant to contrast with his inexperience and lack of confidence, but she’s only slightly better. Gina at least has a conflict with how she feels her artificial arm makes her less human, something brought up multiple times. But this conflict is difficult to feel the drama of, as she’s dramatizing over what essentially, to the audience, is just a movable prosthetic arm. She never has to consider the ramifications of becoming more of a cyborg since she’s never injured again, and a single replaced arm is hardly robbing you of entire human sensations. Hell, it doesn’t even rob you of having an arm – she has another one. Naturally, it’s possible this was intended to go somewhere but this is as far as it’s taken, so conflating this conflict with full cyberization is hyperbolic at best.
Like I mentioned earlier, the individual stories largely deal with Boomers struggling with their emotions and going berserk. For the first two episodes the structure is largely procedural, with the antagonist’s background story and motivations only becoming clear after the problem’s already been dealt with. This robs the development of the stories of a lot of tension, especially since we aren’t set up to really care about Leon or Gina as we watch them put their lives on the line during the investigations. By far the best episode of the lot is the final one, “The Man Who Bites His Tongue”, turning Robocop into a horror story as a police member loses his body in a fight and has his brain planted in a robotic body. The first minute or two sets up more empathy for this character than anything else in the entire OVA, showing pictures of his time as a human on the force to get a view of the amount of life he had to give when he was still able to. The preceding themes of humanity persisting in machines via the senses and emotions are a more constant focus because the lens is constantly on the character having to deal with them rather than tossing it all on us in the last three minutes. In other words, this character, Billy Fanword, is the only one in the OVA with a complete character development arc where you can understand all of his motivations and ways of thinking, which garners enough empathy to actually motivate the ambiguous philosophical discussions the OVA is always going for. It’s still not too nuanced, but it’s something. The OVA also has a bit of a misogynistic streak. Nothing too awful, but eyerolling nonetheless. Every single female character is very willing to throw themselves at a male and I wouldn’t be surprised if I went back and saw that not a single female character didn’t get nude at some point for no reason. Even if it’s trying to appear more adult, it’s doing so in a biased way. And even if I were to give it the benefit of the doubt for the objectification of women being common in cyberpunk and noir (though usually as the result of other characters or their environment), that still means it’s indulging in a stock trope for the benefit of nothing other than tits since there's no subtext about women as a minority in this setting.
So, I’m at a loss. I don’t feel like this is a “proper” expansion of Bubblegum Crisis since it succeeds (or fails) entirely by its unique metrics, so I can’t recommend this to someone based on them loving that setting. For sci-fi fans this can’t hold an electronic candle to Ghost in the Shell’s pontificating, and as far as I can tell it fails to present ideas that aren’t done elsewhere better. As a gluttonous OVA consumer myself, this is a bit lacking in the things I’ve come to love from that generation. The animation quality doesn’t stand out and the cheesy synth score is too bland to have the kitschy charm of other contemporaries. It does have that attitude though. You can see it done with more panache in many other OVAs, but if you can’t get enough of that gutsy unrestrained spirit of the era then AD Police should offer enough guts, sex, and general pulp to mildly satisfy you.
TheOmnipotent
I decided to watch this series after Finishing the A D Police main series, which I rated and wrote a review on it as well. This series in particular was a 3 episode short OVA and I will go with a 7 rating These 3 episodes are all different stories that involve the same main characters. All three episodes were a little twisted and had a lot of moments when you will be like "WHAT??" because some of the scenes are very ridiculous , and personally i found it funny; however I'm not sure if they were intended to be funny. nonetheless every episode itsentertaining, and they all have some kind of a sick sexual twist to them, but nothing extreme. music was good for the anime and blended right with the setting.
before you watch this anime I recommend watching another Anime in relation to Boomers or the Bubblegum crisis, ( I watched the Original A D Police which wasn't a bad option yet this ova can be more entertaining)
Recommend: YES (to mature Audiences) and audiences who already watch a Bubblegum crisis or A D police anime before
Pros: Short Anime, easy to finish, entertaining episodes, twisted humor(if you are into it)
Cons: No background on any of the characters.
not a lot of background on the setting or on whats going on
will have to watch any of the Bubblegum crisis anime before watching this before making any sense of it.
ghostbishnu
AD Police aligns itself better with the noir aspects of the cyberpunk ethos than Bubblegum Crisis. You can feel the Bladerunner inspiration more here. The episodic nature of the OVA does not work against it. This is effectively world building for Crisis despite the tone being quite different. Leon is one of the worst parts of Crisis in that he is actually a a low-key member of 'Dominion Tank Police'. He become far more human in exploring these 3 episodes. Along with this, the impacts of technology integration and augmentation are explored both on the level of the individual and to some degree on a societallevel, which has and will continue to be an important topic for people to explore.
Definitely a worthwhile watch.
_Akali_
I really don't know why you'd like this unless you're an edgy teenager that thinks some gore and some "adult topics" is enough, even though the dialogues are crap, the stories are crap and direction is really bad too. It is the kind of thing that randomly throws some adult topics to look edgy, but lacking any depth at all. It is for teenagers in the same way Elfen Lied is edgy anime for teenagers. This anime being old is no excuse. It is bad. It is really really bad. Direction is terrible, the ideas are terrible. Only the third OVA is kind of decent. Go see someGhost in the Shell. I love cyberpunk from the 80s and 90s, I grew up with it, but this just doesn't make it.
Mateus_snw
English Version: The Spin Off/Bubblegum Crisis Prequel is what you'd expect from a Cyberpunk themed Noir anime from the 90s. As the name suggests, they are separate files from the AD Police where each one tells its own story, stories that however much simple has its discussions well implanted in the work. "Phantom Lady" focuses on sex dolls called Boomer that for mysterious reasons have become aggressive with human beings, especially with men who use them for sex, those who are not able to satisfy them end up being murdered for bringing them frustrations instead of pleasure for them, which ends up being a dilemma brought bythe work itself, which satisfies a humanoid machine that shouldn't even have feelings? And how do these distinguish sensations without even possessing humanity?
“The Ripper” talks about femininity, social problems about equality in the labor market, and the extent to which bodily changes make us stop being human or even have an individuality. The positive point of this episode is that for a moment the work leaves the AD organization aside and focuses on the perspective of the newcomer to the city and the common police, Iris, who has an innocent look at the terrible city of MegaTokyo as for the how violent are the crimes committed by the Boomers, but thanks to this and the antagonist, a discussion is created about what makes us human.
"The Man Who Bites His Tongue" follows the premise of a soldier severely wounded in combat but still retaining his services through severe changes in his body, becoming almost completely a machine, with no emotions or memories of his past life, this he wonders if he still makes sense of continuing “alive” just to maintain his function as an officer of the law. The episode is also about criticizing human greed over what will bring them personal advantage without giving importance to those who might harm themselves with such actions.
AD Police Files despite bringing several themes and questions he doesn't take any steps out of his comfort zone, he never goes deep in his discussions beyond the casual, which in a way is positive since with a weak cast it's hard to go beyond what is shown on screen, leaving us viewers to discuss what little is delivered. As interesting as the main duo Gina and Leon seem to be, they are just that, the first is a tough and attractive policewoman who wears a mechanical prosthesis, but despite wondering if that makes her less human, we have no conclusions from her. in addition to a tear and an expression of doubt, the latter is a novice who despite his inexperience makes himself effective, and demonstrates a personal and traumatic reason for joining the task force facing the Boomer dolls, but nothing more so that make us at least have sympathy for the character.
Merits I have to give to the miniseries is the ability to not get stuck in good manners, talking and showing sexual scenes freely, as Gina for example makes it clear how much she likes sex, and even though these scenes sometimes seem to be just The author's personal fetishes somehow fit into the discussions brought up on screen. Highlight for the soundtrack that encompasses everything that these three episodes bring, with an entire album dedicated to each chapter, the songs are largely responsible for involving us in the shallow story.
Fortunately this little Spin Off of a series brought us a new version in the future, which I consider positive since this anime has a great proposal, which needs more time and care to be worked on, this is a curiosity for those who liked Bubblegum Crisis or for fanatics in Cyberpunk universes of the 90s.
Português/Brasil:
O Spin Off/Prequela de Bubblegum Crisis é o que se espera de um anime Noir com temática Cyberpunk dos anos 90. Como o próprio nome sugere, são arquivos separados da A.D. Police onde cada um conta sua história fechada, histórias essas que por mais que simples tem suas discussões bem implantadas na obra.
”Phantom Lady” foca nas bonecas sexuais chamadas Boomer que por motivos misteriosos passaram a ser agressivas com os seres humanos, em especial com os homens que as usam para o ato sexual, aqueles que não são capazes de satisfazê-las acabam sendo assassinados por trazer frustrações ao invés de prazer para estas, o que acaba sendo um dilema trazido pela própria obra, o que satisfaz uma máquina humanóide que nem ao menos sentimentos deveria ter? E como essas distinguem as sensações sem ao menos possuírem humanidade?
“The Ripper” fala a respeito de feminilidade, problemas sociais a respeito de igualdade no mercado de trabalho, e até que ponto mudanças corporais nos fazem deixar de sermos humanos ou de sequer termos uma individualidade. O ponto positivo desse episódio é que por um momento a obra deixa a organização A.D. de lado e foca na perspectiva da recém chegada na cidade e na polícia comum, Íris, que tem um olhar inocente a respeito da terrível cidade de MegaTokyo quanto a respeito do quão violentos são os crimes cometidos pelas Boomers, porém graças a esta e a antagonista, cria-se a discussão sobre o que nos torna humanos.
“The Man Who Bites His Tongue” segue a premissa de um soldado gravemente ferido em combate mas que ainda mantêm seus serviços através de mudanças graves em seu corpo, se tornando quase que completamente uma máquina, sem emoções ou memórias de sua vida passada, este se questiona se ainda a sentido em continuar “vivo” apenas para manter sua função como oficial da lei. O episódio também trata de criticar a ganância humana em cima daquilo que os trará vantagem pessoal sem dar importância aos que podem se prejudicar com tais ações.
A.D. Police Files apesar de trazer diversos temas e questionamentos ele não dá nenhum passo para fora da zona de conforto, ele nunca vai a fundo em suas discussões além do casual, o que de certa forma é positivo já que com um elenco fraco é difícil ir além do que é mostrado em tela, deixando para nós telespectadores discutirmos o que o pouco que é entregue. Por mais que a dupla principal Gina e Leon pareçam ser interessantes, eles não passam disso, a primeira é uma policial durona e atraente que usa uma prótese mecânica, porém apesar de se questionar se aquilo a torna menos humana não temos conclusão alguma de sua parte além de uma lágrima e uma expressão de dúvida, já o último é um novato que apesar de sua inexperiência se faz eficaz, e demonstra ter um motivo pessoal e traumático para entrar na força tarefa que enfrenta as bonecas Boomer, mas nada além disso para que nos faça ter ao menos simpatia pelo personagem.
Méritos que tenho que dar pra minisérie é a capacidade de não se prender a bons costumes, falando e mostrando cenas sexuais livremente, como Gina por exêmplo que deixa claro o quão gosta de sexo, e por mais que essas cenas em alguns momentos pareçam ser apenas fetichês pessoais do autor de alguma forma se encaixam nas discussões trazidas em tela. Destaque para trilha sonora que cerca bem tudo que esses três episódios trazem, com um álbum inteiro dedicado a cada capítulo, as músicas são grandes responsáveis por nos envolver na rasa história.
Felizmente esse pequeno Spin Off de uma série nos trouxe futuramente uma nova versão, o que eu considero positivo já que este anime tem uma ótima proposta, que necessita de mais tempo e cuidado para ser trabalhada, este fica como curiosidade para os que gostaram de Bubblegum Crisis ou para os fanáticos em universos Cyberpunk dos anos 90.
Ghost-Hardware
An unfinished and not particularly well known OVA series released from 1990. Despite some shortcomings, AD Police manages to do several things very well and overall gets a recommendation. Pros: -Fantastic art and animation. If you are a fan of Cyberpunk at all I would recommend the series solely based on the slick art and solid animation within the OVA. Its just a joy to look at. -Thought provoking. Nothing mind blowing here, but I thought the questions it raised about body modifications (while not particularly deep) were still enough to give you something to think about after the show was over. -Decent English dub. Now here's a shocker,a 90's English dub that isn't completely awful? Its still a bit cheesy as you'd expect, but it fit the show well enough.
Cons:
-Unfinished. Due to a legal conflict that I'm not privy to the details of the series only ran for 3 episodes, so keep that in mind before you consider watching.
-Weak character development. Perhaps a consequence of the lack of episodes, the two 'main' characters don't recieve much character development. We have episodic characters, heroes and villans, who actually recieve a decent amount of background and development but again are only in a single episode.
-Over focus on sex. I wouldn't even call it fan-service because the show attempts to at least justify it being on screen but there were a few times I was thinking whether some themes were really neccessary.
Overall, 7/10
Kamezuki
“AD Police” is an OVA that tells 3 self-contained stories about the blurry line between human and machine, and how this ambiguity affects people living in a futuristic Tokyo. Set in the same universe and a few years before “Bubblegum Crisis,” “AD Police” is an indirect prequel of sorts to that title, but it’s much grittier, gorier and explicit. It lacks the interesting characters and charm that “Bubblegum Crisis” has, and this OVA covers its themes superficially, thus not leaving much of an impression. All three episodes feature Leon, who is a new member of the AD Police (and would later show up in “Bubblegum Crisis”),and his veteran partner, Gina. They get involved with three different cases related to either androids or cybernetically augmented humans going berserk. All of these cases have sexual aspects to them, especially the second one, and they also incorporate the concept of feeling pain and/or pleasure.
The stories are disturbingly explicit, both in violent and sexual ways, and they touch upon some intriguing themes but unfortunately don’t delve into them deeply. The timelines in some of the stories can be a bit jumpy, making it difficult to tell what’s going on. The antagonists’ motivations are rather shallow, sometimes bordering on incomprehensible, and some key elements which drive major plot developments aren’t explained well or at all.
The characters don’t interact with each other that much, and we don’t really get the chance to know them. The only characters that are present in all 3 episodes are Leon and Gina (and maybe their boss), but even they don’t receive any significant development.
Regarding technical aspects, the direction, animation, music and voice acting are okay, but all are subpar compared to those from “Bubblegum Crisis.” At least the gritty cityscapes are nice to look at. There’s a major character design change for both Leon and Gina from episode 1 to episode 2, and I almost thought that they were different characters at first (especially Gina). The rest of the characters have okay designs, but they’re not that distinctive or memorable.
This OVA is highly explicit. Every episode either alludes to sex or shows a partial sex scene, with plenty of nudity. The second episode’s plot itself is sexual in nature, with heavy misogynistic undertones. There’s some drug usage, and lots of graphic gore and violence, like heads getting crushed in, a breast getting ripped off, etc.
Overall, while it touches on some interesting themes, “AD Police” itself is not interesting. The stories are shallow, the characters are shallow, and the technical aspects are subpar when looked at alongside comparative works. It feels like this OVA exists just for the sake of showing gore and extreme sexual content. Unless you can stomach that kind of content, and don’t mind not having any character development or decent storytelling to go with it, I would recommend avoiding this one.
Kryptonot_7471
Cybernetic Post-Nut Depression executed with Blade-Runner Esq' Thematic Story-Telling. Bubblegum Crisis was a very good Cyberpunk Series that had a lot of cliches from its period and overall lighter tone. This is a far-cry from that. The Atmosphere is dark and brooding. The Sexual Overtones present throughout are not in the least erotic, rather completely horrific. More akin to representing the idea of humanity through a cold distant lense. A lense that is completely robotic and empty. Following the titular Police Detective from the original Bubblegum Crisis series: Leon McNichol, it deals with his early days in the A.D. Police. However, other than the first episode, itdoesn't really focus on him that much, rather on the events happening around him and their relation to everyday people. Whether cybernetic enhancements make us less human or if our humanity comes from our conciousness. What this OVA seeks to ask the viewer is the ultimate question of "what makes someone truly human?"
It seeks to answer this by the feeling or sensation of being human. A person's humanity thus being completely contingent on his sense of emotions. The further he strays from his emotions, the less human he becomes, so to speak.
I'm surprised at its low rating. Perhaps people went in for the lighthearted fun action of Bubblegum Crisis and found themselves horrified at the dark and gritty content and the complete lack of Knight Sabers. But honestly that would be a very dumb reason for criticism.
8.5/10 (This isn't lighthearted action, it's a scifi horror/crime drama)
Bensonas
Well, after another small 90s OVA I am left with not much to say. This show is your typical anime sci-fi fair. Protagonist are some form of police. Antagonists are some kind of augmented human. On paper, should be decent, in practice episode one and two are decent, episode three is dull. But, despite this, I'll give this review a bash. Animation is grea here. Everything you would hope it to be for the time. Looks really great with a nice varied pallet. Character animation is smooth and effort was put in to provide a varied character look. Which is NOTHING like the complete lackof effort that went into Mad Bull 34 with every women looking exactly the same. I am 100% happy with the animation here. I have absolutely nothing to complain about.
In the same vein, the music is also really great, including the opening theme. Throughout the episodes, I would say the music shines the most. It really adds to the gritty atmosphere provided by its animation and story. The is a nice variety of sounds used too. It's not just your basic synth pad sounds at every opportunity.
Story wise is where we fall short here. The show starts strong. It really sets the scene excellently, explains what the plot is perfectly and really gets you ready for what SHOULD be a great show. Now, the first episode is great, excellent story, excellent pacing and great end to end delivery. The second we start to loses the momentum gained. It's not awful. It's just OK. Pacing is still fine, it's just the story is a little boring and ultimately, impacts the delivery. The third, my goodness, never in my life have a given less of a crap of a fella called Billie. Honestly, I had zero interest in this lad and the show gave me zero reason to care. There wasn't any real intro to him, no explanation, nothing to buy into, nothing to crab hold on. It just starts 'this is Billie' in the end, I thought, thank god that's over.
I summary, music great, animation great but the story got worse with every passing episode. It's annoying, as it started very strong and ended very weak.
RauLeCreuset
This anime was very strange. I loved the blood and gore part. But, the other parts were just boring. I absolutely hated it. It was only three episodes. That was really annoying. But, besides that, it just had nothing pushing this anime forward besides the sexual, nudity, and the blood and gore along with it. Otherwise, I just don't understand how this anime could gwt any rating higher than a four to be honest. I could and did not give this anime any rating higher than a four rating and that's yeah, I had no other desire. In order, to give this anime the ratingthen it deserved.
albertbrown
Before the events that took place in the well-known anime “Bubblegum Crisis” comes a short form OVA in three episodes titled “A.D. Police”. As someone that has seen this OVA last year, this mecha police, drama filled anime is what one would expect from the lifestyle of what Neo Tokyo has turned into. When it comes to the ficitional events that took place in the year of 2027, the relationship that surrounds Leon and Knight Saber was one that left me with both intrigue and unique flows of romance being shown in an area that looks bleak and left with many questions. Having to deal with theenemy known as Boomers (ironic enough in this day and age), to even having to deal with the battle brewing Normal Police and AD Police as well as the arcs surrounding Paradise Loop and Billy being turned into a cyborg, the interesting thing about this OVA is that a short formed anime like this really sets the stage for what “Bubblegum Crisis” would end up turning into. The best parts about this show what happens humans grapple with the idea of what it will be like when they get replaced with the ongoing threats apof robots being controlled with AI technology that is also in the hands of the elites that destruct the idea of having real authorities helping and protect the public.
If anything, seeing Leon’s early character arc in this one really showed me how much there was a time when character progression really mattered in a way where the supporting characters can also shine as much as the main characters when figuring out their flaws and insecurities when struggling to do the right thing. Overall, A.D. Police Files was a joy, but gut-wrenching thing to witness for its time.
nandesuque_c_est
More so than other shows I have seen, these three episodes are each self-contained stories that look at the same topic. It reminds me of what my high school art teacher said the painting portfolio I submitted to be judged should be like. ADPF explores humanity using machines as a foil and sexuality as a vehicle of discourse. The course of each story did not stand out to me as much as a few telling scenes and circumstances. For me, the characters exist in a pristine condition. I feel the atmosphere even after I forget the plot. The action sequences are much less flashy than those ofBC and I do not understand them as literal representations of combat. They do however support the rest of the show seamlessly, blurring the line between peace and violence.
No character is the particular focus of this show, but if you are interested in Leon from BC, that is reason enough to watch ADPF.
Kloser
Sexual Transhumanism: This anime isn't exactly smart; don't expect to find hidden philosophic wisdom but the main theme is trans-humanism and sex. While Bubblegum Crisis relied on Blade Runner aesthetic with 80s anime badass girls and Parasite Dolls focused on hardboiled noir stories, this series deals with bizarre new sexual kinks brought about in this new cybernetic world. The multiple stories presented to you will focus on things about people going into sexual frenzies and sexual frustration brought out in mulitple ways because of boomers or cyberization. In theory this sounds like a good concept because its original and not relying too heavy on other influences but theproblem is that the stories aren't exactly complex, fun or have anything intelligent to say. The series does succeed in usuing visuals, characters and music to create a world you want to revisit. Plus if you enjoyed the type of grittiness of the anime of this era you would feel right at home as blood splashes all over the place, bodies become riddled with bullet holes and limbs fly through the air.
Overall, I give the anime credit for its attempt to inject some interesting concepts into a genre. We all know about an AI/Android struggle for independence but what happens when they get a sex drive? Will they develop kinks? Or what happens to the effect of cyberization on people sex drive or psyche when they have it? Sure we've seen people question their humanity of cybernetic implants but what about their them questioning their sexual function?
It's an ambitious series and I do enjoy coming back to it every once in a while and if you allow me to contradict myself for a little bit, it does have some intelligence to it, its just that the type it displays is very common and seen before. What holds back this series is that the episodes each exist individually before they have a chance to become great, they all kind of end abruptly not really allowing the series to make a good enough statement or point.
If you are interested in this series for any reason what so ever, as in a fan of Bubblegum Crisis, Cyberpunk, or gritty anime of this era, then it will be worth the watch but if none of those things are you cup of tea, then you may find yourself uninterested. Do I recommend it? Yes, I would say it's a good watch just as a study into the subject matter. Can't think of another series that deals with these subjects in this manner, so pick it up if this review interested you.
