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Bubblegum Crisis Vol. 3

Bubblegum Crisis Vol. 3

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: There's a Hurricane Tonight...
Review: "It is the Year 2032 A.D. Like a Phoenix, the city of Mega Tokyo is rising from the ashes of a devestating earthquake. In the twisted canyons of the megalopolis, the Knight Sabers, a small band of high-tech mercenaries, fight a lonely battle with the evil GENOM Corp. and it's sinister Androids, the "Boomers."

With those words, the world of Bubblegum Crisis emerges like the city that suffered the earthquake 7 years before in the series.

The Bubblegum Crisis Storyarc encompasses 8 Episodes and two "Music" Videos and setups a world where 4 women fight a battle where the future might as well be now. Underlying tones of Man vs. Machine and Technology run amuck encompass thru a gritty Industrial Rock Soundtrack and "gritty" Animation style.

The 4 main characters that comprise the Knight Sabers (Priss Asagiri (Punk Rock Singer and main "Artist" for many of the Songs in the Series), Linna Yamazaki (Aerobics Instructor), Nene Romanova (AD Police Officer), and Sylia Stingray (Owner of "Silky Doll" Lingerie Shop and "leader" of the Knight Sabers) fight a war against varying Boomers and GENOM itself. From a Rogue USSD Programmer and his little Sister (Episode 1, Tinsel City); 4 "Sexy" Boomers after the murder of Linna's Friend Irene over the matter of some Black-Ops development (Episode 2, Born to Kill); a GENOM re-development plan that claims the life of someone "close" to Priss and GENOM's Executive Mason trying to find out the true identities of the Knight Sabers (Episode 3, Blow Up); the Knight Sabers try and stop a Man getting revenge with a Horrible Masterpiece of Revenge (Episode 4, Revenge Road); A breakout of Several Women from an orbiting Space Station and Priss befriending someone that hides a horrible secret that could spell doom for Mega Tokyo (Episode 5, Moonlight Rambler), A mysterious New Opponent stalks the Knight Sabers by defaming their name and Priss trying to atone for her actions before (Episode 6, Red Eyes); A singer get's revenge over her sister that was murdered in "Born to Kill" that draws the Knight Sabers into the foray (Episode 7, Double Vision); and a inspiring reporter tries to reveal the true identity of the Knight Sabers (Episode 8, Scoop Chase), you'll find at least one episode for you to pique your interest.

Whether it's for the underlying BladeRunner references (GENOM Tower, Priss and THE REPLICANTS, etc.) to the gritty and jam-packed soundtrack, there's something for everyone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best anime series of the 1980s!
Review: "Bubblegum Crisis" is a great anime series. It has 4 hot girls fighting robots, awesome '80s rock music, and the right mix of humor and drama. This DVD box set has a lot: all 8 episodes of the original "Bubblegum Crisis" OAV, extensive notes (including song lyrics), music videos, and the complete "Hurricane Live!". The only downside (and it really can't be helped, I guess) is that the music videos and "Hurricane Live!" don't have English dub verions. Interviews with the cast and English dub lyric notes would've been nice, too. Still, this is an awesome, beautiful, funny, and often very moving story. It would be a great way to introduce someone to anime. Buy this box set! You won't regret it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I want my bubbleguMTV
Review: As you should know, most of J-pop and MTV music video are worthless. Then, how surprising that Hurricane Live, which features songs in music video format with images culled from the series Bubblegum Crisis, comprises some of the best pop songs and cool visuals ever.
For admirers of Bubblegum Crisis it's a well-known fact that the series is great on many levels, not least in its musical department. Songs range from hard rock to love ballads, from catchy pop tunes to elegiac lamentations. Also, the singer for the first Hurricane Set, Omori Kinuko, had a truly rare quality, almost extinct in today's pop music culture: a quality simultaneously tough and vulnerable, fierce and gentle.
Songs like Mad Machine are as thoughtful and complex in laying out sci-fi themes of technology out of hand; other songs are about being lonely in a faceless crowd, the irrepressible life spirit, the romance of rebellion, sad love for a lost friend, the power to overcome hopelessness and face the new day.
Comparable to Beatles' Rubber Soul, Stone's Between the Buttons, and Beach Boys' Pet Sounds.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bubblegum Universe to Expand Indefinitely
Review: Bubblegum Crisis is the greatest work of anime and perhaps one of the greatest artworks of the 20th century. It's modern myth in the making, in many respects comparable to Arthurian legends and Greek myths. This may sound silly as a description of animated series, but the impulse and imagination behind Bubblegum Crisis are identical to those that gave birth to some of mankind's greatest achievement in art and spirituality.
Bubblegum Crisis is about the need to preserve humanity in body and spirit in an everchanging world of technological innovation and dominance. The world is Megatokyo of 2032, national boundaries have become meaningless, our planet is dominated by great multi-national corporations. The sense of technological might have corrupted mankind into slaveowners over a new robotic race called boomers; it has also created a would-be leader of the boomers--born of perverse fusion of flesh and metal--, named Largo, who, exulting in powers unknown to man and boomer, dreams of becoming god. Against world out-of-balance this are the Knight Sabers, representing the harmonious and complementary melding of man and technology. They are the modern Amazon warriors, strong and fierce but beautiful and graceful. The leader of this troop is Sylia Stingray, brilliant, wise, but also necessarily worldly. The greatest character, one of the greatest females ever created, is Priss Asagiri. Headstrong, passionate, sublimely beautiful with a mane of flaming hair, often seeing roaring down the highway on her superbike, she reminds us again and again, for all eternity, what a wonder is man, or better yet, a woman.
Kenichi Sonoda served as character designer. His Priss in Armour suit belongs in the Louvre. The music is excellent and the Vocal tracks rank alongside the best pop songs of the Beatles and the Beach Boys.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 80's cyberpunk rock video mecha girl classic
Review: Future post-earthquake Tokyo has all-powerful corporation Genom taking complete control, were it not for interference from a vigilante mercenary super hero girl group called the "Knight sabers".

This is one of the best anime series projecting beautiful, sexy women in a non-degrading way. The Knight Sabers leader (Dr. Stingray) is a super-genius who designed (and keeps improving) the hard suits which are the only thing that can defeat Genom's android fighting units. Anime pinup idol Priss, the toughest one, is as daring on a motorcycle as she is beautiful. Linna is a great athlete while Nene is a computer hacker. Inter-personal relationships between these 4 are done really well.

There are lots of fighting scenes for those into that, but the story is really about the state of society (a possible future for us) and why the girls put their buts on the line and try to change what they can.

The music is like what MTV used to play, back when they actually played music videos. Those really into this (Or fans needing to see more of the Knight Sabers in action) will love the "Hurricane Live" bonus DVD. Kind of nostalgic, but not obnoxious as some 80's revival stuff tends to be.

Overall this MegaSeries is a great value with all 8 "OAV" episodes in this box set. The animation is a bit dated compared with more recent releases, but the story line is still better than most recent releases.

Anime doesn't get much better than this. A must for "best of class" collectors. (Word on the 'net is that this OAV series is superior to later derivatives).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 80's cyberpunk rock video mecha girl classic
Review: Future post-earthquake Tokyo has all-powerful corporation Genom taking complete control, were it not for interference from a vigilante mercenary super hero girl group called the "Knight sabers".

This is one of the best anime series projecting beautiful, sexy women in a non-degrading way. The Knight Sabers leader (Dr. Stingray) is a super-genius who designed (and keeps improving) the hard suits which are the only thing that can defeat Genom's android fighting units. Anime pinup idol Priss, the toughest one, is as daring on a motorcycle as she is beautiful. Linna is a great athlete while Nene is a computer hacker. Inter-personal relationships between these 4 are done really well.

There are lots of fighting scenes for those into that, but the story is really about the state of society (a possible future for us) and why the girls put their buts on the line and try to change what they can.

The music is like what MTV used to play, back when they actually played music videos. Those really into this (Or fans needing to see more of the Knight Sabers in action) will love the "Hurricane Live" bonus DVD. Kind of nostalgic, but not obnoxious as some 80's revival stuff tends to be.

Overall this MegaSeries is a great value with all 8 "OAV" episodes in this box set. The animation is a bit dated compared with more recent releases, but the story line is still better than most recent releases.

Anime doesn't get much better than this. A must for "best of class" collectors. (Word on the 'net is that this OAV series is superior to later derivatives).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Wonderfully adequate...
Review: I'd say almost borderline forgettable, if not for the cool 80's soundtrack. Don't get me wrong; I didn't find BGC appalling like I did "Maze", but nontheless, it really didn't do anything for me, and I certainly wish I could've gotten it cheaper. I found 2 problems with this series.
#1. There was weak character development, and with all the jumping around that this series did, it made it hard to understand where the characters were coming from, lest your one of those who obsesses about that sort of thing, like the guy who suggested this to me.
#2. It's too cliche! I mean, the robot battles looked like something I'd seen a million times before, whether in Transformers or Gundam Wing or Robotech.

Don't get me wrong, I mean I did kind of enjoy it, but I'd suggest borrowing before buying. Actually, if you could get the soundtrack, I would recommend that, because I've heard almost nothing better in ANY movie/series/etc. Perfect for any die hard 80's fan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cool
Review: I've seen this episode 50 times,I love it. The graphics are great for an anime made in the 80's,and the storyline rocks. The ending theme is very good,as is all bubblegum crisis oav episodes. This is a must have for all anime fans,I guarantee you will love this cyberpunk classic.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Slightly Worn-Out Classic
Review: In post-apocalypse Mega Tokyo (just how many times has Tokyo been demolished and then rebuilt in anime?), the GENOM Corporation manufactures intelligent androids called "Boomers." They were instrumental in the rebuilding of the city after the earthquake, but sometimes they get a little malicious and destructive . . . and the bumbling AD Police, the force assigned to stop rogue Boomers, usually can't stop them. But the Knight Sabers--a mercenary group of four young women in advanced hardsuits--can. Led by briliant leader Sylia Stingray, the team battles errant Boomers and unveil some of the more sinister projects and conspiracies going on beneath the giant ediface of GENOM and its imposing tower.

This is the original OAV series, which has inspired several knockoffs (Bubblegum Crash, AD Police Force, and most recently Bubblegum Crisis 2040). On the surface, it doesn't seem like a terribly original anime--"women in sexy uniforms stop malfunctioning and malicious robots" is what the plotline often boils down to--but there's some attention to detail and storyline that sets it apart from the crowd. There are, for one, the Blade Runner references and homages--it's pretty clear from the very first episode that this is really a homage to that great Ridley Scott film by the animators. Second is the animation quality--dated, perhaps, by current standards, but very high quality for its day. The action scenes are still quite well-directed, though so many animes have taken after BGC and stolen designs, concepts, and other aspects enough that watching it now makes it seem very familiar, much like reading quotes from Shakespeare that have now become cliches. As far as story and character go, the notable episodes are 5, 6, and 7, all which deal with some difficult decisions that the characters have to face. There's some basic emotional resonance there absent from the rest of the series, which are otherwise run-of-the-mill action plots. Characterization-wise, most of the main girls fall into well-known "types" one finds in action films and anime, so there's nothing to write home about in particular. Now, of course, one can't talk about BGC without mentioning the music, which is for the most part top-notch, then-state-of-the-art-produced 80s J-pop. The melodies are better developed than most of the dreck that topped the charts in that decade, though age has inevitably made some tunes sound rather "cheesy." But the music always fits the action on screen, and the DVD set includes some decent music videos for the songs (the non-live action ones, that is. The live concert videos, alas, are incredibly embarassing to watch now). BGC has, ultimately, become a classic and is well worth watching to examine the roots of many current anime tropes. You won't watch it to be emotionally involved or intellectually provoked, but it's lost little of its charm and fun over the years.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Action anime
Review: It's 53 min of animation. This is the first of the 8 episode series of Bublegum crisis. In this first chapter, the knight sabers, a small band of hi-tech mercenary girls fight against the evil boomers created by Genom Corporation.

It is basically an action story with stunning animations. It is a modest story and it is not disappointing. If you are looking for action, not a deep drama and 80's hard rock soundtrack this is for you. All in all I like it enough to see this video from time to time.


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