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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avoid | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
 AstroNerdBoy
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[series:408#436] |
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This is supposedly the prequel to Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, but it is so removed from that title as to be in another universe. There are just way to many things wrong with this title, even if it does get a bit better by the end. For starters, a title from 1999 should not be so poorly animated and the art is subpar for the time, especially when compared to the 1998 BGC:2040. I really didn't care for the character designs either, but eventually I got used to it. And then there's the music which made the series feel even more like a bad 70's TV show than it already did. Some of the Jazz was OK, but most of the music as a whole was like living a nightmare. Now we get to the story. In BGC:2040, there was no Genom City that I'm aware of. The earthquake happened in 2032 and in that time, Genom used the Boomers to rebuild Tokyo, create the A.D. Police Tower, and the Genom Tower. Mega-Tokyo was rebult in rapid time, thanks to the boomers. The chairman of Geneom had big dreams about a world of boomers and humans living together. Sadly none of that is here. A.D. Police come off as a bunch of losers who are supposed to solve boomer crimes. As a concept, that would have been cool. It would have been better if the story had been about Leon and Daley working out of A.D. Police Tower. However, the boomers in A.D. Police are like the boomers in the original Bubblegum Crisis series -- armed to the teeth. They all look the same (none look like the "2040" boomers) whether they are driving an ambulance or shooting up the place. Instead of "mad boomers", we get boomers that sprout tentacles and laugh insanely (they are given some other term for their condition). The new boomer that is developed in this series goes against what was established in "2040". Heck, the chairman of Genom isn't even the same person, so how can this be the prequel to "2040"? That out of the way, the actual story is rather dumb and uninteresting. Liem is the stereo-typical villian who's always four steps ahead of the cops. Gah! I really despise that. The show itself felt like a tribute to bad 70's & 80's TV cop shows. The music didn't help in this regard. The writers make bad attempts at trying to make this a bit more. Kenji has a girlfriend, but she hardly speaks other than to say the obvious right things. Hans had his attempts at getting a girlfriend. Jose got shown having a family in one episode, but I just didn't care. There were several attempts to tug at our emotions, but it had no effect on me. They could have killed baby rabbits and I would have just rolled my eyes. Everything the writers did revealed that all they were doing was throwing cliches at the wall and hoping the audience wouldn't notice. As such, everything came off as fake and then mind-numbingly dull. To be fair, the series did improve slightly toward the end, but not enough to justify recommending folks even watch this. After this was over, I was so relieved. I couldn't wait to mail the DVD back to the rental site! Bottom line: a total missed opportunity here! With better everything, this could have been a good show. So instead of watching this, re-watch (or just watch) Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 and count your blessings.Last updated Wednesday, June 30 2004. Created Monday, June 28 2004. | ||||||||
| Avoid |
 Stretch
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[series:408#628] | ||||||
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A dubbed show that mentions Yen (not Dollars)! That's one point in it's favor. Unfortunately, I didn't notice all that many others. The overall impression I got of this series (from the first three episodes) was one of a second-class show created by anime makers of not particularly outstanding talent. This show suffers from the "too-cool-to-be-true" effect, as in when a thrown stick of dynamite is detonated in midair with a single bullet (dynamite, by the way, was designed to be extremely difficult to detonate, for safety's sake, and I doubt if a bullet would have done the trick). The main charachters are so good, and their opponents are so bad (the "Voomers" in episode three seemed so incompetent that it was hard to believe they posed a threat) that you just don't feel much danger or excitement. The outcome of each action scene is pretty predictable, and I had a hard time keeping interested. The voice acting of my dubbed version was unconvincing--I don't know why, but it definitely was. The animation was rather crude--at times there seemed to be nothing but completely two-dimensional movement. Sometimes scenes would end awkwardly, in a sort of anti-climactic way, and I would wonder why it had ended at that point, or even why it had been included at all. In short, my impression of the first three episodes was, to modify a famous quote, that I can't define poor anime, but I know it when I see it--and I'd seen some of it here. I had no interest in tracking down the remaining episodes of this show. My favorite line: "Talk about bad Karma!" --Sasaki 5/26/04 Last updated Sunday, February 03 2008. Created Wednesday, May 26 2004. | ||||||||
| Buy | 6 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
 The Coyote
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[series:408#64] | |
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When I saw this at the store I hesitated because I really hadn't herd anything about it, I have even looked around on the internet and couldn't find much there either. So I thought I might be getting a lemon, but I bought it anyway I needed a boomer fix and had already seen all of the bubble gum series twice. That said I was plesently suprised, This has a great story line although the animation and art can be sorta ruff. And the music is mostly Jazz, and I LOVE JAZZ. So needless to say I highly recomend this, a good mix of action and developing characters and emotional. Other than the art and animation which are sub par, A definate bye.
Last updated Thursday, April 25 2002. Created Thursday, April 25 2002. | ||||||||
