Review: Bubblegum Crisis (Box Set)

As anti-boomer vigilantes, they fight some pretty nasty characters, as well as repeatedly coming up against Genom, the megacorporation which manufactures the boomers. As mercenaries, sometimes they pursue other high-priced commissions, which add a little variety to their work...

The Knight Sabers are a tightly knit group who don't always agree on what must be done, but do agree on their basic goals of doing the right thing while opposing some of Genom's more severe abuses of its power.

To be honest, in first viewing this, my expectations were not really that high. I had already seen (and quite liked) Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, the second sequel series, and didn't see how a much older show could be significantly better. Good, yes, but probably not as good. I knew that fans of the older series preferred it but didn't expect to share that preference.

Well, I was wrong. And I'm not really sure why.

Perhaps it's the plot line. Overall, it doesn't have much of one. There are links between the episodes, but as a rule it's not a single plot arc as BGC: Tokyo 2040 has. This frees things up so that it feels like there is more variety in its six or so hours than in the eleven hours or so of the later series.

Or the villains? The villains are a bit more interesting, even though there are about as many (heck, they even mostly share names with the later series). The major baddie, Largo, just has way more personality than Galatea. Galatea has a cold, inhuman determination. Largo has passion.

Nene is less annoying in the original series. In BGC: Tokyo 2040 she seems like some weird savant version of C-ko (from Project A-Ko) but here she has much more personality. Here she has her flaws, but is basically just a more interesting person. The other characters seem more like real people and less like something a design board came up with.

Overall, I think it's just that the show has heart. Yes, it's a cliche. So sue me. :-) Everything is done with verve and style, and while the animation is a little primitive at times, the joy of the creators in creating shines through. 2040 on the other hand is a little more ... clinical.

Right. On to the category commentaries.

Animation is less realistic than many later series, but still quite decent. It doesn't have the fancy water effects and 3D animation of many other series, and the characters are much more stylised than BGC: Tokyo 2040, but there isn't any point where you stop and notice something wrong. Say something on about the same level as Slayers, which isn't bad going considering it's a decade older. The main problem with the animation is that the image quality is a little blurry occasionally.

Voice acting is pretty good in the English dub. Very believable, with a good variety of feelings done well. As is frequently the case, watching the dub in conjunction with subtitles can be amusing, but it's rare for the changes to be so extreme as to radically change the meaning of what is being said. I haven't yet watched the Japanese version with subtitles. I'll stick a mark in when I do.

Sound effects are generally nothing special - yes they fit, but there's nothing in there to make you sit up and take notice.

Music on the other hand is exceptional - each OVA often has its own start and end song. It's mostly 80s-style soft rock, with a strong beat and somewhat repetitive melody backed up by powerful vocals. It's a little unusual in that all of the songs have been translated to English, although the English translations are very "free" if comparison with the subtitles is anything to go by.

Packaging is four DVDs in fairly standard cases in a sturdy box. The individual case design is highly distinctive, with a "dazzle" look reminiscent of a disco ball, and is otherwise very "pink".