Bubblegum Crisis – Discs 1 – 3 (Remastered/AnimEigo)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: B-     Episodes: B

 

 

In the year Akira (reviewed elsewhere eon this site) arrived, Bubblegum Crisis arrived as an Animé TV series that helped boost the market internationally.  Most of these types of series we have looked at are slotted for half-hours, but this is actually a rarer hour-long slotted show and AnimEigo saw it as important enough to issue the original series on DVD in remastered copies that do not look or play bad for their age.  We now look at the first three of four volumes that make up the classic series.

 

It is MegaTokyo 2032, and the Genom Corporation is up to no good.  They have deadly androids dubbed Boomers and only the subversive Knight Sabers can stop them.  In a twist less shocking today, they are four women with exceptional fighting and weaponry skills.  The first three of four DVD offering the original series at two shows a-piece are as follows:

 

1)     Tinsel City

2)     Born To Kill

3)     Blow Up

4)     Revenge Road

5)     Moonlight Rambler

6)     Red Eyes

 

 

Unlike the many, many imitators that followed, this is not as comic a show and the teleplays are much more substantial.  It is more Speed Racer than shallow antics with half-dressed girls.  The women here are not mere sex objects or stupid by any means, though to many Animé TV series have degenerated into just that.  The shows respect the intelligence of the audience, which seems to be the exception by what we have seen produced since, and we have covered quite a few titles so far.  Too bad Animé was not always this good, or it would be more deserving of its reputation.

 

Shinji Aramaki has been getting a new round of press over his 3-D CG Animé feature film Appleseed, which we will be reviewing soon, along with the conclusion of this series.  The timing of these releases could not be better, but Bubblegum Crisis is not bad for its age and belongs in any serious Animé collection.  The fight scenes and well thought out graphics are a plus.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is clean, though this is not the most color-rich show, yet there is more detail here than just about any DVD of this or any similar show could have offered a few years ago.  Furthermore, there are still detail limits, but the pencil-drawn detail has its own limits just the same.  The art design is good for its time, especially for TV.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has Pro Logic surround in English & Japanese, but the Japanese has weaker sound effects.  The problem with the English is that the dialogue sounds too forward and unnatural, plus it sounds like it was recorded in a room with acoustics too different form the scenes presented.  The Japanese is more naturalistic in the long run.

 

Extras include six Music Videos on DVD 1, two on DVD 2, four on DVD 3, a promo for Revenge Road on DVD 2 + Moonlight Rambler on DVD 3, art sketches set to music on all three DVDs and five generous sections of text notes and interviews on DVD 1, four on DVD 2 and four on DVD 3.  That is very thorough for a classic (or at least minor classic) like this.  If only more Animé series were this smart, but save the occasional Gungrave and Fighting Spirit, they are still few and far between.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo