Bubblegum Crash

Title:Bubblegum Crash
Baburugamu Kurashu!
バブルガム・クラッシュ!
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , ,
Notables: FURUKAWA Toshio
HIRAMATSU Akiko
HORIUCHI Kenyuu
R1 License - AnimEigo
SAKAKIBARA Yoshiko
TACHIKAWA Ryoko
TOMIZAWA Michie

Some time after the events in Bubblegum Crisis, the Knight Sabers have all but split up. Sylia's building is being worked on and her shop is closed. As such, she is no where to be found. Priss's music career is going to the next level, thus she is no longer interested in fighting boomers for fear of injuring herself. Linna has become a trader on the stock exchange and is making money, so she has no time for the Knight Sabers. Only Nene seems to be concered about the groups current condition, but she can't get Linna and Priss to understand. So, Nene uses her skills to help her AD Police co-workers Leon and Daley as they work a case involving a string of robberies pulled off by pro's wearing mecha suits. What do these robberies have to do with Sylia's family? Can Nene get the group back together before it is to late?

[OAV, 1991, 3 episodes]


[edit] The ↗Bubblegum franchise:

Original story: Same setting (prequel):
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 6 6 6 7 5 6 Ggultra2764 [series:182#1552]
Bubblegum Crash serves mostly as sequel to Bubblegum Crisis in focusing on the Knight Sabers tending to Boomer-related crimes within the futuristic Mega-Tokyo. The cases are mostly episodic in this OVA, save for the final episode which has a major villain from the original series making a return. The episodes do provide some fleshing out of most of the girls within the Knight Sabers to show how they are connected to each case, sans Nene who is still rather underdeveloped compared to the other three girls of the group. Story elements from this OVA would wind up being reused for series remake, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, which better incorporates them compared to both this and the prior Crisis OVA. Like the prior series, Bubblegum Crash comes with a catchy pop soundtrack to accompany in the action of the cases of the Knight Sabers and makes for perhaps the most memorable element of the series. Otherwise, Bubblegum Crash is a step down from Crisis and is not really as fondly remembered by fans of the Bubblegum franchise compared to neither Crisis nor the later Tokyo 2040 remake.

Last updated Thursday, March 08 2018. Created Thursday, March 08 2018.
Rent 8 8 8 7 6 6 AstroNerdBoy [series:182#436]

I have to say that I liked this sequel a bit better than the original Bubblegum Crisis. For starters, while the series is still episodic in nature, there was an overall story arc which links the three episodes. So there was a better sense of continuity than in the previous series. Also, the characters are a bit more fleshed out, especially Sylia. Her background gets more exploration while Priss and Linna are shown doing more of a life outside of Knight Sabers. Nene remains the most underdeveloped character of the series.

Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty wrong here, and as with Bubblegum Crisis, many of these issues got addressed in the remake Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. I would have enjoyed seeing a little romance between Leon and Priss, but they don't even see each other until the very end. There's also a scene where a character gets injured, but then a bit later, those injuries are forgotten. There's no explaination for the villian at the end. Well, that's not quite true, but you'll know what I mean when you see the title. I already mentioned Nene's lack of character development. I guess I would have enjoyed learning more, but with only three episodes, the writers did what they could.

Bottom line: the thing I enjoyed most about Bubblegum Crash was seeing the elements that would be used in Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. For that reason, I give this a "Rent".

Last updated Thursday, June 24 2004. Created Tuesday, June 22 2004.

Watch Stretch [series:182#628]
I started watching Bubblegum Crash "Illegal Army" with low expectations, having read a number of not particularly enthusiastic reviews. The opening sequence seemed pretty cool, but all-in-all it turned out to be about as good as I had expected--at best, equal to the worst of the original series' episodes. Another critic once listed the requirements of a "cyberpunk" series as 1)a computer dominated society, 2)plentiful violence, and 3)bad attitudes among the chief charachters. Although the first two requirements were met, more or less, the third one was sadly lacking. Linna and Priss were obsessed with money and fame--they were embracing their society, not rebelling against it! When their fortunes take a convenient turn for the worse (too convenient, if you ask me) they finally return to the Knight Sabers and their secret vigilante fight against Genom and the Boomers. Still, the impression I got was not exactly of the most enthusiastic "punks". The music didn't sound particularly cyberpunk-ish, either. The animation of fight scenes was OK, but clearly not as good as the original series at it's best. I did think the scene in which the Knight Sabers put on their new hardsuits was kind of neat. This episode contained some unintended comedy. For example, the "Glory Bank" was supposed to have been robbed, according to the subtitles--but the actual building was labelled the "Groly" bank. Also, just after the recruiting advertisement for the AD Police runs, I swear a business is shown which goes by the name of "Piss" (what do they sell there?!).

10/03 #80

Last updated Tuesday, February 05 2008. Created Wednesday, October 15 2003.
Rent 6 6 6 5 7 The Coyote [series:182#64]
Hey if those of you that liked the origional Bubblegum didn't like this I just don't get it. This series added some depth and fun to an otherwise listless cast from the origional Priss in this didn't even make me mad now don't get me wrong 2040 is far and away a better verison of this but hey if you cant get enough of boomers or the Knight sabers this is a nice addition. better than the origional episodes in my opionion

Last updated Sunday, April 21 2002. Created Sunday, April 21 2002.
Watch 5 5 5 4 Kaitou Juliet [series:182#137]

I know that many fans of the original Bubblegum Crisis series dislike Crash. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. There is hardly enough of it to prompt any strong feelings one way or the other. I can definitely tell that there were some changes in the creative team for Crash. They did some messing around with the characters (making Linna leave her job as an aerobics instructor to become a stockbroker, for instance). Crash also takes a different view of Boomers than Crisis did; I actually kind of liked the change, but if the original Boomer concept was important to you, Crash might make you mad.

Overall, I don't think anybody's missing much if they don't make an effort to find and rent this series. On the other hand, unless you're really devoted to the way things were in the original series, I wouldn't recommend leaving the room if someone shows Bubblegum Crash either.



Last updated Friday, May 04 2001. Created Thursday, March 08 2001.

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