|
Bubblegum Crisis is an anime OVA Series that takes at least part of its
inspiration from Philip K. Dick's Blade Runner. Bubblegum Crisis is a mecha
style anime that takes place in the future in a post disaster Tokyo, now
known as Megatokyo.
The original OVA series was eight episodes long. It was originally slated
to run for thirteen episodes, but legal problems between the two studios who
jointly held the rights to the series, Artmic and Youmex, the series was
discontinued. The problems may have been bought on by the series' lacklustre
sales in Japan.
The series involves the adventures of the Knight Sabers, an all woman
group of superheroes/mercenaries, who don powered armor and fight various
problems, most frequently rogue Boomers. Boomers are humanoid robots
designed to perform a variety of tasks, from construction and firefighting
to combat; a particular model of Boomer, the BU-33s, is designed for sexual
purposes.
One of the central themes of the series, showing its Blade Runner
influence strongly, is the exploration of what “human” really means. As in
Blade Runner, this is often done by using the mechanical characters,
especially focusing on BU-33s.
AD Police
Bubblegum Crash
Bubblegum Crisis 2040
Holiday in Bali special
Hurricane Live 2032 and 2033
Non-canonical American comic books and a Role Playing Game.
Major Characters
Note: all character information is for the original OVA series. There are
some differences in character background for BGC 2040.
Sylia Stingray
An enigmatic billionaire, and the founder of the Knight Sabers. Sylia
frequently engages in close combat with boomers. Sylia is the daughter of
Dr. Katsuhito Stingray, the man who invented boomers. Several questions
about Sylia and her origins are raised in the series, but never answered.
Some fans believe that Sylia is a boomer herself, or at least enhanced with
boomer technology. The manga by Adam Warren “Bubblegum Crisis: Grand Mal”
revolves around Warren’s idea that Sylia has an enhanced brain. Suzuki
Toshio, of Artmic has been quoted as saying that Sylia has an augmented
brain, and is said to have approved of Warren’s manga.
Original OVA voice actress: Yoshiko Sakakibara.
Nene Romanova
A perky hacker, employed as a dispatcher for the AD Police. She is also a
member of the Knight Sabers. Nene does little fighting, focusing on sensor
ops, battlefield communications, ECM and ECCM.
Original OVA voice actress: Hiramatsu Akiko
Linna Yamazaki
Works various jobs including aerobics instructor, Linna once hoped to
pursue a career in professional dancing. She is a member of the Knight
Sabers, focusing on combat. Compared to the other major characters, Linna
got very little character development in the original series. However in BGC
2040 Linna was perhaps the most developed character.
Original OVA voice actress: Tomizawa Michie
Priscilla S. Asagiri
Priss, as she is most often called, is a rather angry, violent person.
She is a member of the Knight Sabers, specializing in close combat. She is
the lead singer in the rock band “Priss and the Replicants”, a Blade Runner
reference.
Priss’ voice actress in the original OVA is, in real life, a singer in
the rock band which did the music for Bubblegum Crisis.
Original OVA voice actress: Oomori Kinuko
Leon McNichol
AD Police officer. Leon is a dedicated cop, with a tendency to rush in
without thinking. He has a crush on Priss, which she does not like since she
has reasons to despise the AD Police. As the series progresses he discovers
that she is a Knight Saber, but does nothing with that knowledge.
Original OVA voice actor: Toshio Furukawa
Daley Wong
AD Police officer. Daley is Leon’s partner, and a highly skilled
investigator. Daley is also openly homosexual, which is worth noting because
at the time the original OVA was produced male homosexual characters were
quite rare in anime. Daley is not developed much in the series.
Original OVA voice actor: Kenyuu Horiuchi
Brian J Mason/Largo
Executive in Genom. The primary villain of the first three episodes,
Mason is the man who killed Dr. Stingray and stole his boomer technology. As
with Sylia, certain mysteries are created around Mason which are never
resolved in the series. It is generally accepted that Mason somehow
transferred his personality into a boomer body some time prior to his death.
Largo resurfaces to become the primary villain of episodes 5 and 6.
Original OVA voice actor: Shuuichi Ikeda. Largo: Kazuyuki Sogabe
Crew
The original character design, was done by Kenichi Sonoda, a manga artist
most known for his Gunsmith Cats series.
Directors: Katsuhito Akiyama, and Hiroaki Goda.
(see also Knight Sabers, AD Police, Boomer, Genom, Megatokyo)
|
