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Bubblegum Crisis - Tokyo 2040 - Genesis (Vol. 1)

Bubblegum Crisis - Tokyo 2040 - Genesis (Vol. 1)

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $26.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very Good
Review: I have to agree with one of my fellow reviewers in saying that the story is a bit slow to start. Nonetheless, it's a fun series with interesting characters who are extreme, yet not cliche and therefore endearing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bubblegum Crisis, new and improved!
Review: I haven't been an anime fan too long, but since I have, the Bubblegum Crisis series has been my favorite. I thought the original 8 OVA's were great, but this new series is much better. The characters have been changed a little bit in design but their personalities are pretty similar. The story is a different, in that it's more of a retelling of the OVA's story from even before the original series began, despite the year's differences from 2032 to 2040. The animation is well done, and the music is also great, I'd recommend buying the soundtrack.

The DVD contains the main languages, English, Spanish and Japanese with English Subtitles. The main menu screen contains a list of the episodes, and a section with a brief description of each of the characters with a short running of animated sequences of the character in the episodes and music, unfortunately they're not the complete songs. Also, since these are episodes there's a few seconds where a small screen comes up before and after where commercials would be shown.

These are only minor details, and I would definitely not let it stand in the way of you buying this DVD, even if it did not have previews, or character info. The animation and story is good enough to buy. This is a must have for any anime fan, no matter what else you're seen.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Remake
Review: I just finished watching this series, so I've decided to review it. This series is a remake of the original 8-episode "Bubblegum Crisis" OAV series. It's 26 episodes long and spans six DVDs. The first four DVDs contain four episodes each, and the fifth and sixth DVDs contain five episodes each. There are some nice extras, such as character profiles and voice actor credits. However, there is no credits list for the English Sylia voice actor. Credits for the Spanish voice actors would have been nice, too. The DVDs are trilingual, containing Japanese, English, and Spanish audio tracks. The opening and closing songs are in Japanese on all three tracks, and the in-episode songs are dubbed into English only. The Spanish track contains the Japanese audio of the songs. The English dub isn't quite as accurate as for the original "Bubblegum Crisis". My advice is to watch it in Japanese with English subtitles first and then in English. Sometimes, I like to watch DVDs in English with English subtitles. It allows me to easily see the changes in dialogue. With only two songs for the opening and closing credits, it would have been nice to dub them into English, but this wasn't done. As for the series itself, I won't say that it's better than the original series. It isn't, but it isn't worse either. Some things are the same, and some things are different. All of the character designs and voice actors (Japanese and English) are different. My one complaint about the character designs is that some characters, most notably Priss, have pale skin with no explanation, though Priss does sometimes appear darker. The series takes place in another universe than the original series. There is plenty of character development. The series doesn't focus on music as much as the original does, and the 2040 techno remix of "Konya wa Hurricane" doesn't appear in the series. The music that does appear is more techno and punk than the original music. Unfortunately, the final episode suffers from the same problem as the final episode of "Street Fighter II V". Too much time is devoted to fighting and visual effects. While the ending of this series is more satisfying (all of the characters return to Earth alive and well) than that of SF2V, they could have cut a lot of the visual effects and shown the Knight Sabers reuniting. Instead, the series ends with Sylia, Mackie, and Nigel at Sylia's old house; Leon apparently in a bar somewhere else; Nene and Linna on a tropical island; and Priss in the desert, singing. While we can assume that Sylia will go out looking for the others and find them, we aren't shown this. All of the hard suits except for Sylia's are trashed. Will she make new ones? Unlike SF2V, this series doesn't waste time with redundancies or episode recaps. Also, each episode is longer than episodes of SF2V. So, while this series is three episodes shorter than SF2V, it's actually longer. Overall, this is an enjoyable series, but the ending could have been better.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent for newbies, but a little disappointing.
Review: I really loved the original of the series, but I was a little disappointed with the re-make. If you are a true fan of the original, then you may cringe at the changes made to the characters. Especially, the fact that they made Linna so wimpy and that Mackie, (Sylia's perverted brother) was nowhere to be seen. The music on the re-make was pumpin', but I thought that the music on the original was better. Priss also had a better personality on the original series. Other than that, if you haven't seen the original, then I would recommend this DVD, for the animation quality is great, but if you truly loved the original, then be warned that this is not a sequel (although it would have made a good prequel) and that you may be in for a surprise.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A nice introduction
Review: I've always been curious about this show, so when I finally took the plunge and bought it, I was pleased to find myself not disappointed.

We are introduced to this series through Linna, who has come to Tokyo under the pretense of getting a job, but who is actually looking for the Night Sabers. Why? She wants to join, of course! These early episodes are a little slow, but still good, as we learn about Tokyo and the Night Sabers through Linna's eyes. It almost feels as if the viewer is trying to join the Night Sabers, too.

Things pick up when Linna goes into battle with her hardsuit for the first time, but of course it's never that easy as her newly-built suit malfunctions, leaving her at the mercy of a rogue boomer.

So far, things are looking interesting, as we are introduced to characters and get subtle hints at future mysteries. I was looking forward to the next volume after this, but the slowness of this volume might turn some people off. If you don't like it, at least give volume 2 a chance - that's where things get more interesting. Recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the story begins
Review: In the aftermath of the great earthquake, a ruthless corporation is poised to take over the devastated city of Tokyo with an army of synthetic monsters. Only one small band of female mercenaries stands ready to take of the monolithic power of Genom, but in this case, four women are all it takes! Armed with incredible combat suits, the Knight Sabers wage a desperate war in the shadows, combating the monstrous by-products of technology with courage, blood and sweat!

It's a deadly trial-by-fire as the acclaimed cyberpubk masterpiece is reborn in an all-new, action-packed series - BUBBLEGUM CRISIS TOKYO 2040!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the story begins
Review: In the aftermath of the great earthquake, a ruthless corporation is poised to take over the devastated city of Tokyo with an army of synthetic monsters. Only one small band of female mercenaries stands ready to take of the monolithic power of Genom, but in this case, four women are all it takes! Armed with incredible combat suits, the Knight Sabers wage a desperate war in the shadows, combating the monstrous by-products of technology with courage, blood and sweat!

It's a deadly trial-by-fire as the acclaimed cyberpubk masterpiece is reborn in an all-new, action-packed series - BUBBLEGUM CRISIS TOKYO 2040!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: For those who have never seen the original series...
Review: Most of the reviews I have read have made at least some comparison to the original Bubblegum Crisis series, which I haven't seen. From that point of view, here's what I have to say about this DVD:

This is good anime. Not great, but good. If you are a recent anime convert, this wouldn't be the first disc to buy, but if you're a hardcore fan you'll probably want it eventually.

The story (at least so far) struck me as Power Ranger-esque, but infinitely cooler, and with a lot more estrogen. The characters seem to be a bit too cliche; including the childish "comic relief" Nene and the brooding loner Priss. I felt that (at least on the first disc) they devoted a lot more time to Linna than the other characters. I also felt that they didn't leave much room for depth in the characters, but perhaps that will change as the series progresses.

The characters' appearance is what you expect from anime, namely, the female characters are tall, buxom, and long legged, and the male characters have impossibly large chests.

The DVD's video quality is exceptional, and the audio is quite good as well. The English dub is (for the most part) accurate, although the voices aren't as good as the Japanese. I would recommend (as usual) that you first watch it in Japanese with subtitles first to get the full effect.

Overall, I am pleased with this disc, but the rest of this series will likely wait until I have finished off some of the other series I am collecting.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hot Babes Inc
Review: The animation is pure eye candy and well worth the admission price. The story was fun, and I really got into it after the first episode(the DVD has 4 episodes). Watch out for the english translation of the lead character's singing... its a painful experience. Overall, this dvd is a keeper.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Characters don't feel the same.
Review: The animation of this BGC is the same (if not better) than the previous one. How ever the characters are not the same. Possibly diferent people were at the helm of the story. None the less the animation is good.


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