There are few times when I watch a show that I sit there and think to myself, “Am I honestly watching this?” To which I answer, “Yes, I have no idea why but I also don’t really feel like stopping.” Bubblegum Crisis 2040 is one of those shows. I can’t think of a better show to watch and feel a constant bang of wtf-itis than this one. Spoiler: No, Silya will never get a grip (and she gets laid so don’t bother thinking that she needs to).
Bubblegum Crisis is a remake of an OVA done in 1992 and can best be described as an excuse to put naked girls and mecha in the same show. The story is that after a major earthquake in Megatokyo (the real one, not the pedo one), robots called Boomers become a common place necessity around the world as replacements for manual and dangerous labor. Having rebuilt Megatokyo and made it into a colossal economic hub, boomers are heralded as both great helpers to man and also as subhuman trash. Little does the populace know that boomers can go mad and start killing for no reason. A small group of women, in “hard suits” known as the Knight Sabers, fight to defeat these mad boomers and protect the citizens.
Of course, thats just the first half of the story. There’s also a lot of butt rock, some badly thought out conspiracies that never fully materialize, constant PMS, random singing that can best be described as an alto cat being strangled, and a technological singularity. But really, the only reason to watch is girls with boobs in mecha outfits.
The characters in BGC2040 are all one dimensional. The moment you mean the character and note their peculiarities they will not change for the rest of the show. Silya will always be a fruit cake. Linna will never be sure what to do. Nene will be cute and a 5th wheel. And Priss will be a bitch (though she gets a soft side eventually, but you see it coming from a mile away). The men in the story either get killed, fall for one of the chicks, or run away so they don’t matter.
The realism of this show is hardly worth mentioning. At every turn there is something so impossibly ridiculous that even the best of us who can suspend their disbelief will, at least once, go “wait a minute, thats not possible!”. Thousand of gallons of liquid nitrogen freeze an entire building and its contents at one point in the show.. that is, the entire contents, minus the 5 humans who were directly below the tanks when they burst… Yeah. But to be fair, the whole concept of humans creating artificial intelligence that becomes its own species and finds itself into the world is pretty interesting and they pull it off quite nicely.
Honestly though, the show isn’t as bad as I make it out to be. Remember, this show was made in 1998 when cyberpunk was the style to have. BGM2040 is probably the definitive anime series of that era (the pinnacle being Akira). THe band, the bad music, the bad computer graphics, the annoying sound effects, the retarded episode titles and name plates, and the open, ambiguous ending they all make sense when you stop and think what the date was. I thought to myself at least once, “Were we really this weird 9 years ago?” And the answer is yes, yes we were. So taken in context, BGM2040 is actually a pretty good show.
Overall, even taking into account the context, concepts, and the amount of boobs, the show falls short of overcoming its mediocrity. But thankfully for people who love 1998 it just evened out. I am thereby giving Bubblegum Crisis 2040 a 2.5 out of 5 stars. “technological singularities are fun! so is impending nene + boomer rape” – From my notes on the show
Rating:
i personally think you wherea little hard on this show,i personally thought it was quite good, and warrants an extra star at least by my counts…..
its what i like to reffer to as a “1st chapter” program, rather than being a self contained series, such programs act as a primary base for offshoots,its just a shame they didnt take it anywhere
Just a note, Bubblegum Crisis was an OAV series that ran from 1987 to 1991. This TV series is a remake. As a fan, I thought the TV series was quite good, although the OAV series was excellent if somewhat disjointed. They never knew if or when they’d be able to make another episode. There are several BGC spin-offs too.
I love anime! Who doesnt?
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This is great=)
It’s so lame having to sit through so many lame Anime. Like 90% of Anime are either Romance, or Harem. What happened to all the good Mecha Anime being made in the late 90s/early 2000s? It’s so depressing having to sit through Anime you can’t be bothered watching, trying to find Anime you do, and even then, it’s so rare, you end up settling for the “ok” stuff anyway. (Mainly because of lack of awesome Anime)
Bubblegum crisis is a great anime to watch
one of the first OAV series, is still a solid cyberpunk series featuring a memorable rock soundtrack, a developed dystopian vision (ripped straight out of Blade Runner), several decent stories, nice art, and a few quality action scenes.