In the wake of an earthquake that devastated most of the city, Tokyo has been rebuilt in record time due to the development of humanoid robots known as boomers. After the disaster, these machines now service the city as cheap labor. Genom Corporation is the mastermind behind the boomers, having become so rich and powerful that they have extended its influence into space.
However, all is not well with the boomers. Random breakdowns in their neural structure are causing some of them to go berserk, destroying property and killing humans in violent rampages. To combat this, Tokyo has formed the Advanced Police, a peacekeeping force with jurisdiction over boomer matters. There are also rumors of a second group known as the Knight Sabers, a vigilante unit operating from the shadows.
Trying to investigate the Knight Sabers, the adventurous Linna Yamazaki travels to Tokyo in pursuit of her heroes. There, she finds the enigmatic singer Priscilla Asagiri, the beautiful entrepreneur Sylia Stingray, and the exuberant Nene Romanova, each with their own reasons for coming together. As the struggle intensifies, the girls learn that the boomer problem might delve deeper than any of them could ever imagine.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Comentários
Echelon
Bubblegum Crisis 2040 is quite an oddball series, it was something I really enjoyed watching simply for the fact that it's rather unique and there's just not a lot out there quite like it. Simply put it was a nice break from your everyday typical anime, harem, mecha, comedy, fantasy, whatever. 2040 is an indirect sequel to the original Bubblegum Crisis (sometimes with the additional "2032" or just "OVA" thrown at the end there). They're alternate versions of each other therefore nothing is really connected, other than the fact that they're different stories with some of the same characters in the same setting and whatnot.Because of this I'll make a few comparisons here and there between the two. The biggest difference between them is that the OVA was mainly episodic based and 2040 is not, containing more of a single overarching plot.
STORY: The year is obviously 2040 where Tokyo has been reborn after a devastating earthquake that took out the majority of the city, to rebuild such a complex place once again humans needed something to help them. A powerful company by the name of Genom comes into play here and introduces the "Boomers", humanoid mech's built with the sole ideal to help rebuild and restore the most technological advanced city in the world, in which they ended up calling Mega Tokyo. These Boomers came in many packages, some would look like giant trackers of sorts that handled construction, while others would look totally identical to human beings, handling jobs such as a receptionist and whatnot. However being built in such haste the Boomers were not without their fault and at times, went berserk causing chaos and destruction throughout the city, but Genom had such a strong hold on Mega Tokyo that nobody could bring about the end of the Boomers construction. In an attempt to stop these outbreaks the Advance Police Forces, or AD Police for short, was born. Genom ends up taking things even further by diving into illegal trade and develops combat Boomers and various other things, eventually becoming quite an issue. Can the AD Police alone stop this crisis?
In comes Sylia Stingray, daughter of the infamous Dr. Stingray who helped build the foundation of the Boomers in the first place. However, she wants nothing more than to see the end of their production and very existence for unknown reasons. She is an incredibly wealthy billionaire with a close friend Nigel whom is an incredibly skilled engineer and mechanic. She gives birth to the powerful mobile armor dubbed "Knight Sabers" that can only be worn by a very select few women. Fate eventually brings all these girls together in an effort to fight against the Boomers. Originally it was nothing but a friendly competition between the AD Police and the Knight Sabers, but eventually things start to go deeper. What really caused the earthquake that happened many years ago? Is their a source to all the Boomer outbreaks? Where exactly do the Knight Saber suits come from? What is Sylia's true motive? All these questions eventually come into play as the story becomes more than just straight up action against Boomers.
But that's also where the series slightly derails, about a 3rd or 4th of the way in they throw the philosophical card at you and the show ends up trying to be "deep". Luckily, it doesn't seem to go too over the top with this and doesn't try to shove tons of silly ideas or anything down your neck. The ideals and questions presented are nothing that'll really make you scratch your head over, but at the same time they shouldn't completely bore you out of your mind either. Regardless I clearly believe they could've taken a different route and thrown out the last arc of the story here for something much better. The main thing I got out of these last parts was the emphasis on self discovery.
CHARACTER: The character development is definitely a huge improvement compared to the OVA and overall done very nicely. However (I'll blame the last story arc), you are kind of left wanting to see them develop a little more towards the end, like they were just a little unfinished or something. But anyways, each main character here definitely has their own traits: Priss is the rogue whom does as she pleases and doesn't like people holding her back, Lina comes off as the strong willed girl who will do anything to get to the top, Nene is the odd and spunky younger one that should never be underestimated when it comes to the technical stuff, and Sylia is the cheerful yet oh so mysterious leader whom might leave you in the dark at times, but you'll get your answers eventually. Okay, so they all don't sound incredibly interesting on paper here but they certainly do change throughout the series mainly for the better and the odd bunch does manage to eventually cope together very well, they make an excellent team. At first the series focuses entirely on the rookie Lina and I actually liked this direction, however the focus later shifts back to Priss and is handled pretty smoothly, but it's almost annoying that in the end Lina is the one character that you're kind of left wanting to know more about, not to mention she ends up being "alone" unlike the rest of the crew. Also I have to stress the fact that while Priss may seem like the typical ignorant "I don't speak to you because I don't care" kind of character done way too much in anime, she does soften up a bit and let out emotions, she does develop and change. Also, every character got a makeover and in all honesty I prefer them all over the originals, just simply put I guess. Though yeah, Lina's headband was awesome.
Aside from this a handful of other characters return like the mysterious villain Mason, Sylia's younger brother with a lost past, and most noticeably the head of AD Police, big shot Leon whom loves to hate the Knight Sabers. Just like the rest of the main chicks here, Leon's character gets fleshed out a lot more here than it did in the OVA and even in the spinoff AD Police Files. There's actually a lot of humor revolved around him and Nene's interactions (with her being a AD Police operator of sorts). Just don't call him "Leon-chan"! And overall, you can expect some great humorous moments throughout the show. Some might be really cheesy at times, but they never feel too tacky or pointlessly thrown in. Along with this you can also expect some romances though the scenes with these elements are a hit or miss, some worked, and some just felt really awkward.
ART/ANIMATION: In all honesty I was really impressed with the animation here and the character designs mainly for its time and for being a full length normal series. I really don't think there's a lot of late 90's early 00's releases that faired too well in the art/animation department. This was the time when some companies were trying new things, some were throwing in horrendous CG (at the time especially), a lot of the hand drawn detail was being lost, but none of that is really the case with 2040 here. They did an excellent job with the fight scenes, never throwing in some of those annoying panning images, or repeating scenes relentlessly, and this isn't an older show where you'll get the characters mixed up or anything like that, I'm sure we've all seen some of those?
Being a cyberpunk series one should definitely expect a darker, futuristic, more downbeat, gritty setting and they definitely nailed that aspect pretty well. The atmosphere is easily there. Overall though, it's not quite as inspired and incredibly detailed like the original OVA. I'm assuming it could be because of budget differences with this being a longer series or just the fact that, a lot of older cyberpunk shows are superior when it comes to the art and detail even compared to newer releases, a lot more hand drawn stuff when into them. If you're expecting some epic Blade Runner-esque influences here, well you'll see some here and there, but influences are not nearly as prominent as they were in the OVA and other older cyberpunk anime. All in all, the series manages to give off a great darker and even sometimes depressing vibe, which is good enough.
Boomers/Mech Design: Unfortunately this is another slight downfall when compared to the original. The Boomer designs in this one were really not that inspiring at all and rather generic, even when they got bigger and more powerful, they weren't that detailed or interesting as the stuff you'd see in the OVA. In the OVA there was typically a single super powerful Boomer per episode and they were always incredibly detailed and really creative, but here you could almost classify all the enemies as just "typical robots" or whatever. After watching the OVA and then this afterwards, this was probably one of my biggest disappointments actually. The same can be said about the Knight Sabers second suits that they end up getting here towards the end of the show... not to mention the way they had to put them on, was just downright weird.
MUSIC: Everyone who knows anything about the Bubblegum Crisis OVA series knows that it was pretty infamous for having a rockin' big hair styled metal soundtrack with tons of vocal tracks that, while aged and so "totally 80's", really gave the series a lot of its charm and character. Sadly, this is where 2040 suffers quite a bit. Fans of the original going in expecting anything to match up to "Hurricane Tonight" or whatnot will probably be very disappointed. Yes, Priss does have a few vocal tracks here and there and while they're certainly fun, they don't stand out very much on their own unlike a lot of the tracks from the original OVA.
The actual background OST here is mainly a mixed bag. I thought some of the darker and slower tracks typically played at more dramatic, mysterious, or emotional segments fit the mood pretty well, but there's really nothing offered here in this department that manages to be really memorable when it's all said and done. It's certainly not bad but, after something like Bubblegum Crisis' OVA you'd surely expect to find a top notch OST here and sadly that's not really the case.
MAIN ISSUE? At times the show probably could've taken itself a little more seriously and done well, instead I thought there was an issue with a few scenes that just ended up being anticlimatic. This happened a lot during difficult situations or when the Knight Sabers took on incredibly powerful Boomers, when you think all was lost, they sometimes end up doing something that seems so incredibly simple you'll wonder why they didn't do so in the first place. But hey, overall this is really just one of those fun laid back shows that's all about the action, the quirky characters and odd humor, and the cool setting. So I wouldn't say that's a huge deal if you go in with a cool head here.
OVERALL: Bubblegum Crisis 2040 was again, a really great break from the norm with some solid production value to back it up. If you're a sci-fi buff that likes a lot of action, especially when it's women kicking some ass, with a fairly straightforward plot that won't make you think too much, then you should definitely be in for a treat here. If you liked the original OVA any bit at all I highly recommend watching this series as well to compare the two. They both have their ups and down when you pit them together but if you liked one at all, chances are you'd get some enjoyment out of the other. Bubblegum Crisis and its sequel are excellent series that surely inspired other cyberpunk anime that followed them, not to mention several spinoffs including stories revolved around the AD Police and Parasite Dolls stemmed from here, while both aren't groundbreaking in anyway, it does go to show how successful the OVA and 2040 were. Good ol' sci-fi anime.
kawaiimisato
At a glance, Bubblegum Crisis seems to be just about girls with suits kicking butt, but in reality this is one amazing anime. The story takes place in a post earthquake Tokyo where robots are used in mass amounts to assist with everything from being waiters to construction workers. Of course these robots dont always do what they're told, and its up to the knight sabers to step in. The characters in this show are all amazingly created and very distinct from each other. The four main girls are have very different personalities which makes for great character interaction not only in battles but ineveryday life.
the story starts off as some "vigilantes" beating up some robots but the story stretches very far beyond that to tell what becomes a very epic sci fi/action tale that for the most part has a serious tone to it, the more the show goes on, the darker things get.
The battles are usually pretty cool to watch, especially with all the neat things that the knight sabers can do. The overall art work is done exceptionall well, it has a very clean look to it, and everything has details.
the sound experience is pretty good, everything from the mechanical noises to the rockin soundtrack helps enhance the show.
This show will keep you watching until the end, and its a great ride all the way there.
And for those wondering wtf the title has to do with anything, a bubblegum crisis is a problem that starts off small but gets bigger and bigger like a bubblegum bubble until it bursts and all hell breaks loose, which is a very fitting title for the show.
AugmentedTurnip
The original Bubblegum Crisis is an iconic and stylish OVA that everyone should watch. It seems logical that remaking something that is so stylish would be going in waaaay over your head. And yet here we are! A good remake! Instead of trying to copy everything that made the original good and surely failing. It found its own strengths by taking the core of the original and doing something different, like a good remake should. The year is 1998. Bubblegum Crisis 2040 was made into a 26 episode show presumably after AIC won the whole legal rights debacle by slicing the head of their formerco-producers and absorbing their powers. Priss and the gang are back. Although obviously looking a bit different time around. They're still fighting boomers. And they still aren't exactly fans of the shady mega corporation Genom. That's the familiar core brought back.
A lot of the characters have changed though. With 26 episodes to work with there's no shortage of time to characterize them all. Unlike the original who only really bothered to characterize Priss and Nene properly. In this adaptation those two are more or less the same as the original. Priss being the cool and somewhat detached ace and Nene being the cutesy hacker working as their inside man in the AD Police. Linna actually gets to have a character this time around! Not only that but the show starts it's very first episode from her perspective as the idealistic small town girl going to Tokyo to get the most cyberpunk job of all. A shitty office job. High tech low life indeed. Still she wants to join the Knight Sabers that she heard about on the internet. As the devious Genom makes sure that the news don't report to them they're just a rumor. Sylia is given a new lease on life as a more mysterious ( with a mystery that's actually clearly explained this time around ) and tortured character with a seemingly personal vendetta towards boomers that plays a big part into the story. Yes! You heard me right. Story! This show actually tells a complete story from beginning to end unlike the original. Now I absolutely don't want to spoil any of it because it's quite a ride once it's set everything up. Although if you're at all familiar with the works of Chiaki Konaka who had a hand with the script of this series you can probably guess that it occasionally goes in some weird and dark directions. Not only that but they finally finished reading the "world building 101" book that they only briefly looked at in the original by actually showing the boomer working class that was so critical to the rebuilding efforts this time around ( although Crash did show some worker boomers as well ). Showing the general disdain that regular people seem to have towards boomers. Additionally Genom and Mason's motivations are a little more clear this time around too instead of just infinite resources to throw at anything and zero strategy other than being shady and shadowy for the sake of it. The story and characters is the one place where the remake clearly and unequivocally beats the original as it actually bothers to explain itself and expand on things rather than just bringing things up and then forgetting about it such as Priss' hatred for the AD Police for example.
Even though now AIC is way too busy coasting on it's former glories and IPs to make new and original shows. A fate that is tragically too common with old school studios. Back then at least it seems the studio had some smarts and probably knew they couldn't make this show as ultra stylish as the original, and instead playing to it's strength in the writing department. After all the OVA had months in between episodes to perfect its Blade Runner worshiping aesthetic instead of a TV schedule to deal with for one. If they tried I have no doubt it would've failed completely. Instead they settle for the tried and true classic 90's realism for their character designs. Although your mileage may vary when it comes to the redesign of the classic characters. I think the Priss redesign with the kind of spiky hair and sharper eyes captures the rebellious spirit of the original fairly well. The boomer designs are also more creative than the bootleg Terminators hidden in Genom secret service types that the original was so fond of. Everything from waitress boomers to Metal Gear style military boomers go mad. As they go mad they also grow monstrous and even eldritch looking at times. Liquid metal. I guess they updated from Terminator to Terminator 2 now that I think about it. Just because it's nowhere near as stylish as the original doesn't mean it looks bad. I prefer the 80's aesthetic of the old show and it's more detailed and alive looking take on the city. But it's certainly not without it's visually striking moments however. Though they mostly save those for around the end. The show is at it's most stylish when it's visually darker and shadowy in an almost horror-like manner. Perfectly complementing the monstrous boomers and making the Knight Sabers' opponents much more intimidating. Besides everyone knows sunlight and good lighting are the most un-cyberpunk thing in the world. It's animated well enough and fairly consistent. I only noticed one very odd slip up with Genom's chairman occasionally not moving his lips while talking for some strange reason. I guess Genom works in mysterious ways. Otherwise it's clear that care, polish and talent went into the series.
For the soundtrack you're getting served up some rock music. Just in case episode titles such as "Are You Experienced" "We Built This City" and "Shock Treatment" didn't clue you in. Although more alt rock and even sometimes industrial than the dad rock that the titles would suggest, some of them even being dad rock back in 98'. But atleast they didn't reference REO Speedwagon. I'm pretty sure it was mandated by international law to downtune your guitar in the 90's so you're getting a lot of that. For garnish you might get some acid bleeps and bloops that sounds like they came straight from a 303. Since Priss is still in a rock band she gets to play some songs too. But here I have to absolutely stress that you're not getting some sort of Konya Wa Hurricane showstoppers or even sequences where she gets to play a whole song while other stuff happens in some sort of montage. And even though I find the soundtrack to this show to have some good songs and it fits the tone of the show quite well ( I really like the OP song Y'know. The suspiciously sampled drums are delicious ) it comes up painfully and even embarrassingly short when compared to the lavish soundtrack of the original where the hits just kept on coming. AIC was probably aware of this and made the soundtrack more low key than the 80's excess original to avoid comparisons. Although I doubt it helped their case all that much. Priss' preformances are instead kept very short, presumably just as some sort of lipservice to the original. Or maybe to show that she has a hobby other than riding her officially mandated red cyberpunk motorcycle and being aloof.
I did love this show though. I was very fascinated by the mysteries that the series set up very early on. Such as Sylia's past and her volatile reaction and emotions towards boomers. And that even almost 10 years later Nene is still best girl. Of all things they even gave an explanations for why the Knight Sabers are all female, y'know besides the fact that they're more marketable that way. It's pacing is kind of deliberate in the beginning . And it keeps some of it's cards close to it's chest until the very end. But it all leads up to something special let's just put it that way.
As much as I love 80's anime aesthetic. And I know there's a lot of people out there that does too ( although they're not really to be found on great numbers on MAL ) keep in mind that not everything has to be made exactly like they did back then. There's joy to be had in exploring the different takes of different eras has on genres. It's a beauty that all mediums hold, not just anime. Ignorant nu schoolers that only watch seasonal stuff should definitely go back and watch the classics to actually get some sort of basic understanding of the medium they claim to love and it's rich history that might be lost if the community keeps going the way it is right now. And bitter old schoolers obviously needs to stop the Miyazaki style rambling and actually watch some good shows instead of just cherry picking the high school slice of shlock shows as examples. Unless they're mech-heads ofcourse then I'll pass them a 40' and bow my head with them in remembrance of when Sunrise used to be good studio.
ggultra2764
Having had mixed perceptions of the original Bubblegum Crisis and hearing of the Tokyo 2040 spinoff expanding on what the 1988 OAV series didn't do, I decided to give BGC Tokyo 2040 a shot. While this take on Bubblegum Crisis didn't really wow me, there were aspects of it which made me enjoy it more over the OAV series. The series still features Sylia and the Knight Sabers dealing with mad boomers and corrupt activity within the Genom corporation with the girls still a likeable bunch. The characterizations with many of the prominent characters have changed a bit from their 80s counterparts with how you enjoythem depending on how you liked them ten years earlier. Here are some examples:
1. Sylia mostly works in a supporting role with the Knight Sabers for this series and isn't so stoic in this spinoff as she has angry mood swings whenever the subject of Genom is brought up.
2. Priss is more aloof in Tokyo 2040 as she keeps distant from the other Knight Sabers throughout much of the series, along side potential love interest and AD Police officer Leon who isn't as smooth-talking as he was in the OAV.
3. Sylia's brother, Mackie, is more polite, plays a bigger role in this series and isn't prone to perversion as his 80s counterpart.
The series does expand on its back story on Sylia so we come to know what connects her to the boomers, why she opposes Genom and how she formed the Knight Sabers, a major improvement over the OAV. The major characters that represent Genom aren't completely evil either as the chairman of the company aspires for humanity and boomers to coexist, Brian Mason having enough depth where he has justification for his actions against the chairman's orders and boomers being used for more mundane purposes besides military use. The series starts off at first as a "monster of the week" type plot where the Knight Sabers deal with a random mad boomer in each episode. However as Mason's goals slowly start to unravel, his plans kick in during the second half of Tokyo 2040 to start off an engaging ongoing plot as said plans jeopardize more than the people of Mega Tokyo. With the original Bubblegum Crisis being notable for its soundtrack, the music for Tokyo 2040 is given as much love here with its mix of rock and techno musical tracks that blend in quite well with the everyday and tense scenes seen throughout the series. And while shortcuts with the animation were apparent for me, character designs and scenery were well drawn with a good amount of detail.
The series isn't without its flaws however. Like the original series, I still found the other Knight Sabers to be quite underdeveloped compared to what we learn about Sylia. In addition, the quality of the plotting for the final episodes to the series left quite a bit to be desired for me as deus ex machina seemed to take place for the Knight Sabers to overcome a seemingly powerful foe and it becomes a bit too centered on making Priss into the heroine who saves everyone in the end. I was also left with some questions over what happened in the series finale with events and characters.
While not the major improvement I was hoping to get out of the Bubblegum Crisis franchise, Tokyo 2040 still offered enough with its plot and characters to give it a better quality feel for me than the more style-driven OAV series.
BowlingJD
In a reboot of the original series from the 1980’s, Bubblegum Crisis had the background to become a top series. Along with the work from Studio AIC and director Hiroki Hayashi, both whom worked on everything Tenchi from before could go in either direction from classic to bust much like Tenchi. Set in a futuristic society compared to the likes of Blade Runner, manual labor is done by organic robots called Boomers. These Boomers are made by a corporation by the name of Genom. One fateful day, office worker Lina sees one of these Boomers rage out of control and morph into some crazy monstrosity. Hergoal from the beginning was employment in the big city and join some Boomer fighting group called the Knight Sabers. Needless to say she ends up joining this group to fight the rogue Boomers as well as escaping the specific police division created to also stop raging Boomers.
The series as a whole still mostly holds up animation wise and plenty of action makes Bubblegum Crisis palatable. Music, plot, and characters are mostly forgettable unfortunately. Music and sound just have not aged well or is better stuck in the late 90’s as the techno-rock fits the show but not the test of time. A plot that just seems to be put on the back end, and suffered from many filler-like episodes until the last few to just wrap up the story hastily. Where Bubblegum Crisis should have been strong in its characters is the most disappointing aspect. The series never develops them properly, and much reasoning behind character’s actions are left with simple reasons with fairly dull results. Lina as the main character gets some backstory, but due to the rest of the female team having almost none makes the viewer just not seem invested enough either with the story or the Knight Sabers.
Basically, this new Bubblegum Crisis is ok for an action series, ok for some strong female characters, fine for attempting a decent plot, and fine as an anime. It’s different in regards to most other anime, but is just missing something in order for it to make the jump from fine to good.
Shura-shurato
it has been a while ever since i had the VHS collection in 2002, so recently i watched it again and really, compared to the Original heavymetal blasting Bubblegum crisis ova´s from 1987 it was quite a let down, looking back to it. I maybe overhyped it in my mind about the bubblegum reboot, and well after it all i had mixed feeling about it. To begin with is some of the roles of some minor charachters that has been revised from the original ova, but the four knight sabers wich pretty much stay in the same role though i felt that 2of the 4 knightsabers got a bit of an ´stereotypical cuddly japanese highschoolgirl giggley´type that can e annoying over time.
The story overall was a indirect reboot set in the same setting, different beginning but gave it a more ´extended´storyline and i liked the somewhat dark plotsetting after half of the serie´s.and a more personal inside look a most of the protagonists unlike the ova.
But throuhgout the serie´s there are some factors that fails in this show or rely too much on it.The animation for its time looked quite ok, a 90´s look to the knight sabers and a inproved A.D police look not so much problems there ofc. Musicwise they relyed a bit too much on the action to put the right track into it, as well that it was mostley a repetitive Technolike bouncing music at most of the episode´s. Priss singing here was just not the same to me and the rockmusic was dull to me, nothing compared to the EXPLOSIVE intro of the original Bubblegum crisis and further
. Only at episode 25&26 it went to a right direction and i mean during the explanation of how boomers came to be ( for the time beeing) . Mackey´s role , one of the knight sabers younger brother is revised here from a peeking dirty boy,;) into some sort of émotionless technofreak with no substance whatsoever ): .The boomers on the other hand had a more intelligent look and feel to it, but in the 1987 ova´s they were more bloodthirsty and vicious.
Overall i wished that most of the chara kept the same role, liked the extended storyline but was put off a bit because of the repetitive music over half the serie´s
and , well to me it had its moments but thats it!
ratchet573
Prefacing this review comes the prerequisite warning I place in front of a lot of reviews I do of anime from the nineties; I grew up on nineties science fiction anime and can appreciate the character archetypes and the themes that are the meat of adult-oriented shows from the period. Thus, I have a soft spot for an anime like Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 that, while flawed in some respects, I still think is a semi-intelligent, entertaining romp through an underdeveloped science fiction world. It’s the year 2040 (duh) and Linna Yamazaki has gone from her comfortable life in the country to a crazy life asa businesswoman in Tokyo. Almost immediately she drops a hamburger when a rude motorcyclist drives by and rather than let it go, she chases down the motorcycle like a nutcase. Eventually she meets up with the motorcyclist, Priss, who belongs to a Power Ranger-esque group known as the Knight Sabers. Linna ends up joining them in their fight against rampaging boomers (the anime’s name for robots).
For me, the anime starts pretty slow and formulaic, introducing a diverse foursome while also opening up the world. Typically this works but I found the world to be pretty generic and only contain a few sci-fi ideas sprinkled throughout to justify the main plot. At one point Linna plugs a magazine into a machine which turns last month’s issue into this month’s. Great idea and all, but it’s a pointless few seconds that could have been replaced with anything. It’s like the anime is reminding you that it’s in the future.
The main futuristic tech you’ll see in this show are the hardsuits the girls wear (essentially power armor) and the boomers. Otherwise, it’s a pretty weak, pseudo-cyberpunk world. I use pseudo because it doesn’t have a lot of the trappings of the genre aside from robots and that main idea that permeates nearly every piece of cyberpunk fiction: “What is human?”.
Otherwise, the computer technology is archaic and outdated even now (yes, I can forgive a series from the late 90’s from not having a grasp on future tech) and about the only thing that the series brings to the table as far as science goes is the idea of bio-technology. The boomers can attach to other metal surfaces and interface with other technology through bonding. They can also change forms and develop mental links with human beings.
All this research came from Dr. Stingray, father of Sylia, one of the main characters. He was a dick and did all kinds of awful research on his own family, creating a sentient boomer that could destroy the entire world after interfacing every boomer into a single hive-mind. And that’s where the plot really starts.
Get past the first six or so episodes of getting you integrated into this world and the plot isn’t bad at all. It contains a lot of generic ideas but it comes across as entertaining, especially with the case of girls we spend our time with.
Linna is a fish out of water goody-goody and probable lesbian. While the series focuses a lot on her at the beginning, it starts to focus more on the interesting characters later on. Priss is a nineties biker-girl/punk rocker who hates the police and treats everyone like garbage…because punk never dies or something. Then there’s my favorite character, Nene, who works for the AD Police as a communications expert and acts like a child despite being an eighteen year old tech genius.
Sylia is the one behind the Knight Sabers and is another pretty thin character. She’s the dominant leader type who hides all kinds of secrets that dictate her entire personality. And that’s about all you need to know about her.
Later on in the series there are a few romantic threads, one that is pursued to a somewhat satisfying conclusion and the other just there because the plot needs a reason to throw in existential questions about the meaning of life.
Despite all that, I thought the characters were an entertaining group that elicited a chuckle or a grin as well as made me have feelings toward the outcome. They’re not as three dimensional as they could be, but they’re still good company.
I especially enjoyed Leon, a police officer who is trying to get with Priss. There’s something about the girl who hates cops making out with a cop that makes me blush. Then again, it shows character development as well which isn’t prevalent in many of the characters, another failing of the show. By the end, Priss is actually the most well developed, if only because I feel the writers wanted you to see Priss as the babe of the show. Nene gets a lot of attention but nowhere is she shown to be a badass, she’s more like a whiny nerd and doesn’t grow beyond that. And Linna is just too generic to be entertaining (same with Sylia). So by the end, I guess Priss is the only well-rounded character.
Also by the end you’ll find the series has a problem. It sets up some villains at the beginning, gets rid of them, then replaces them with a plain-jane creature with little personality. While the ending is certainly large-scale and epic, it also has very little emotional impact. The person who should be killing the villain and showing emotion sits it out and leaves the other three to engage in the arbitrary final boss fight that…isn’t that exciting.
So after a lackluster finale, you’d expect at least an epilogue that wraps everything up but instead we’re given one of the worst endings I’ve seen in a long time.
The next paragraph is nothing but spoilers.
Instead of showing everyone get back together, Tokyo getting rebuilt, Nene finding a job, and Leon getting some from Priss, we’re given an ending that I think means Nene, Linna, and Priss are dead. So they return to Earth, Linna and Nene stuck on a tropical island (and naked) and Priss stranded in a desert (and naked) and…that’s it. No rescue? No reunions? I’m given to think they all died naked. Even a single lines of Sylia saying “I wonder if we can find the girls” would have been nice. But instead, I’m assuming she figured them to have died.
The animation is pretty good for the time, though there are a lot of lower-quality scenes sprinkled throughout (and some especially fucked up faces as well). As far as music is concerned, the opening and endings are okay while the music in the show is the same three tracks over and over. Not much to talk about here.
The terrible ending and poor world development aside, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is very entertaining, has a few memorable characters, and brings up some classic tropes of the genre (though doesn’t explore them enough to really matter to the whole product). It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it’s a simple science fiction/action story with a couple badass female characters and just enough intelligence not to have me leave saying “all girl Power Rangers meets Psycho-Pass/Ghost in the Shell”. Instead, the show can stand on its own as a nice, easy introduction into cyberpunk anime. After watching this, you can move into the heavy stuff. Or, if you aren’t too big into the heavy handed philosophy and science of the aforementioned series (Psycho-Pass and GiTS), then you’ll still find something to enjoy in Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040.
R_D_M
SPOILERS Its fine. This is my first review on MAL and I'm not necessarily sure this is the best show to start it off with. Regardless, it is the one I have finished most recently so giving it a review while it is fresh in my mind seems to be fair. There are a few aspects of the show that are severely lacking, and a couple strong points that might compel someone to finish all 26 episodes. On the strong side, the characters are well realized and often more engaging than you would find in the original series (never mind the dumpster fire that is Crash); Linnaserving as the vehicle to introduce you to the rest of the main cast by giving her this 'fresh off the boat' perspective is welcome, and Priss has at least a marginal amount more depth than she did in other versions of the series. Likewise, Sylia and Nene are also interesting and add valued contrast to the rest of the crew, and Sylia specifically has enough clouded history to help drive the plot forward. I miss the fact that Mackie isn't trying to bang his sister, however...
Though being a musician is core to Priss' character, I can't help but shake the feeling that the showrunners watched the "Hurricane" intro of the original OVA over and over again and tried to recapture that same magic. The Japanese VA for Priss in this series isn't even as half as good a singer as the original VA, and though that fact doesn't detract from her normal dialogue, it can't help but feel like a pale imitation of the original every time she sings.
The art is also a higher point of the show, the hardsuits are all decent designs and the setting is often well drawn though the animation is frequently 'quality' (not a good thing) in the way that late 90's shows often are. Some of the boomer art is also pretty decent, though many are worse than the original OVA, likewise the vehicles such as the Motoslave look somewhat worse than they did previously, but that is neither here nor there.
What is wrong with the show is the story, there is no villain and characters you'd think would serve a major role in the series turn into absolute non entities and seem to exist solely to bring about the half-baked final villain. It turns the 16 episodes you invested in before the final villain is revealed into a genuine waste where scarce little is related between the two.
If you're a fan of the series and need another dose after watching the original OVA it'll satisfy that desire, though the ambiguous ending still leaves you wanting more. But if you're looking for a worldbeater this isn't it.
