バブルガムクライシス(Bubblegum Crisis) is a Japanese media franchise that started with an 80s OVA. It takes place far into the future…in the 2030s, after an earthquake had destroyed Tokyo. But fear not! For the Genom corporation has rebuilt it with the help of their bio-mechanical Androids: the Boomers.^A) Thus: Neo-Tokyo MegaTokyo.
But now the Boomers have started to go on rampages…and the AD Police are seriously outclassed…
Suddenly! The vigilante Knight Sabers appear to save the day! They possess advanced technology which allows them to fight the dastardly Boomers.

The franchise started with an 80s OVA.^B) While I wasn’t super into it, I think I’m gonna continue with the franchise just to see where it goes.

I should note that I watched the OVA in Japanese with Japanese subtitles, so I definitely did not fully understand the series. I do still think I got the gist of it.

The Bubblegum Crisis OVA doesn’t have an over-arching plot. This is definitely because each ‘episode’ was released individually over the course of a few years.^C) Each ‘episode’ has its own self-contained plot. This is similar to how The Early Days structured itself. In fact, just like Patlabor, Bubblegum Crisis seems to focus more on selling a particular setting and characters rather than any specific plot-line.^D) There are plot hooks there, of course: Genom and the Boomers…though no specific goal being worked towards.
Though when you compare the two…Patlabor does a better job of selling the setting and characters. Bubblegum Crisis actually showcases the inherent weakness of this approach.
The lack of an over-arching plot makes it difficult to get too invested in the OVA long-term. You don’t have much of a reason to jump from one episode to the next. You can’t even rely on the characters to hook you, because the episodes don’t always focus on them. For example: Nene was generally in the background until the last episode, the eighth one. You could point to Priss as the main hook here, but even then she gets a bit side-lined in the later episodes. Linna I think has one episode dedicated to her as well, but then Sylia doesn’t have any.

The other problem is that the stories told are kinda mediocre. That also makes it hard to go from one to the next. The irony here being that I find the last episode to be the best one overall. It’s also quite frustrating, because there are a lot of really good and interesting ideas buried in those episodes…but the execution is sometimes just off.

I’d be more specific, but this is me mostly going off of vibes since I didn’t fully understand what was happening (Japanese-only).
Though I do suppose that it failing to hook me could indicate something. I didn’t have those issues with several other series that I watched Japanese-only.

The characters are pretty interesting - design^E) and characterization-wise. Just that I don’t really understand why the girls are all working together. One of the selling points of the series is supposed to be that we see these four girls from different backgrounds working together and interacting. Well…we don’t really see that either, but let’s put that aside. Them being from very different backgrounds is part of the issue, since I don’t see how they could have ever met, let alone decided to fight crime together. I also don’t really understand their reasons for doing so, though that’s definitely the Japanese barrier preventing me from understanding. Except, I think, in Linna‘s case. As far as I know, they never explain her reason for being in the Knight Sabers.
Just to be a little clearer: I can understand why they’re together now, I just don’t know how they all got together. I feel that Nene is the only unambiguous one, since she works for the AD Police.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, I like Priss and Nene the most. I like Nene despite thinking her design is a bit meh, just because she has the best episode.
Priss has one major issue though: her voice is super iffy.
I suspected from the start that Priss’ voice actress wasn’t a professional actress because the acting just sounded off. I theorized that they hired a professional singer and got her to act, instead of the other way around. After checking aniDB, this suspicion was confirmed.
Priss’ voice is very distinct and stands out…but it doesn’t always stand out for the right reasons. Her acting just isn’t that great as compared to everyone else. Though past this OVA, the voice actress doesn’t return as Priss.^F) I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or not about this…but after hearing the new Priss in TOKYO2040, I’m fine with it. It’s also a plus that Priss’ singing actually sounds like her.^G)

The setting of Bubblegum Crisis is kinda…well, it leans more Blade Runner than Patlabor.
That’s bad just to be clear.
Tokyo went from a Japanese place to a semi-American place. Or at least that’s what it feels like when you look and listen to all the stuff around it. It’s clear that American/foreign influence is much stronger here than it is in reality. I don’t really understand why it’s like this and I don’t really like it. It does kinda differentiate it from other sci-fi…well, except that it doesn’t feel very American. It feels more like Japanese people dressed like Americans in a Japanese person’s impression of an Americanized Tokyo. That makes it feel just kinda…off.
Also, Tokyo just feels like a dark and depressing place. Granted, most of the series takes place at night…but even then, it makes you wonder why people would want to live there.

But here are two things that are unambiguously great about Bubblegum Crisis: the music and animation.
The animation (especially in the action scenes) demonstrates the height of Japan’s late 80s/early 90s animation. The music is pure 80s and clearly very professional.
If you like animation/music, then it’s worth it to sit thru the meh story just to watch and listen. I always looked forward to listening to the songs that time, though I did find their insertion a bit off sometimes.

Unlike Patlabor, unfortunately, Bubblegum Crisis just kinda faltered after this. The sequel was apparently…well, the name Bubblegum Crash is ironic and oddly fitting, at least from what I gathered online. I have yet to assess the damage with my own two eyes. There are some AD Police spin-offs that I’m gonna get to. And, of course, a late 90s reboot show…which I had already started. But it clearly didn’t reach the level of Patlabor.

I decided to skip straight to the TV anime reboot instead of watching the next OVA and then AD Police and blah blah blah.
My first impressions (after watching one episode) are much better than the original OVA. The backgrounds are much nicer, so MegaTokyo actually looks like a pleasant place to live (and thus we can see why people may want to live there).

Priss also actually sounds the same (at least from the little she’s said so far) which came as a real shock to me, but it’s a pleasant kind of shock. Most of the character designs were changed, but Priss still looks mostly the same (Linna kinda looks the same too, just with less hair volume). Nene and Sylia look radically different, though Nene still seems to act the same.

• aniDB