Customer Reviews

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: Complete Collection

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are people who don't like this show simply because it is not the original Bubblegum Crisis. They should call up the people who hate Battlestar Galactica because it isn't the original and have a party. As for me, I'll stay home and watch me some good sci-fi!

When it comes to cyberpunk, there are only a couple of classics that really nail what it's all about. In the west and the live action department, we have Blade Runner and the Matrix. In the East we Ghost in the Shell (the movie, and the excellent first season of the tv show in particular), and this awesome show that just screams classic in every way if you love sci-fi action with cyberpunk overtones. I started to watch the first Bubblegum Crisis and got bored. I started to watch this show and got hooked. It tells a story of a Tokyo of the future that's crawling with humanoid robots called Voomers (boomers?). Everything would be great except...every once in a while the robots go bezerk and try to kill people. And that's where the heroes come in.

The Knight Sabers are a group of girl vigilantes who destroy Voomers gone awry. In the first episode a country girl moves into town wanting to know about the Knight Sabers, manages to track them down, and joins up! And so she joins a techie nerd girl who works for the A.D. Police (police who take care of Voomer problems), a rather butch rock-singer biker chick named Priss, and their rich-girl employer in their night-time cyber-crime fighting. All that would make for a great show alone, but this show just exceeds expectations in every way.

Every character has a deep personality, a complex backstory, and great voice-acting (especially in the incredible English version which is easily up to par with Battle Athletes Victory and Princess Nine for top ranking in greatest dubs ever) to go along with some really snappy dialog. The first time through you'll enjoy the characters and the story (which is much deeper than you'd expect and has some great plot twists), but each time I watch this show I like it more. The relattionships between the characters, the great action sequences, the high-budget animation (easily OVA quality), and awesome music (yes, I do own the awesome soundtrack cd with all the Japanese songs and printed out the BIO for the singer), just get better and better with each viewing. And speaking of audio, if you really like this show, the defnitive version is the Essential Anime version, which features audio commentary with the voice actors and director (the best commentary in any anime I've ever heard), and a great 5.1 surround remix of the English audio. And at something like 9 episodes each, it's also a great value.

If this show has a flaw, it's the unevenness of the show. It starts out an edgy comedy-action/light-drama with light horror elements (the core of the Voomer that they have to destroy looks an awful lot like a heart, and the first time the protagonist Leena tries to fight in a simulator she's terrified) , turns into a pretty much straight-action show, and then becomes horror again (armies of Voomers that look like zombies assaulting a police station) with heavy-introspection (mind-linking with the mother of all Voomers who is hacking the Knight Saber's minds while they fight in the vaccuum of space). If you aren't ready for it it might be enough to derail it for you. If you can hang on for the wild ride you'll find one of the most deeply satifying of anime with strong female protagonists, great action, wonderful storytelling, fantastic Japanese Rock music, and top notch writing and direction (the anime was produced with cooperation between East and West).

This is one of the few shows where you'll watch one episode and end up watching the whole disc in one sitting (one episode flows directly into another like it's one long movie). One of the best anime every produced, and definitely one of Pioneer's best. If you loved Battle Athletes Victory, or especialy Generator Gawl, and enjoy cyberpunk, you owe it to yourself to watch this show. It's awesome.

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 Ultimate Collection is a six-disc DVD box set that includes all twenty-six episodes of the series. This set just takes the six individually released DVDs and bundles them into one package. The first and third discs in the set each contain five episodes, while the remaining four discs each contain four episodes.

Each DVD contains the DVD credits in the "Extras" menu. There is also at least one other extra included on each disc. The first disc contains a voice actor commentary on the fourth episode from the English dub voice actors for Priss and Linna. The second disc has three voice actor commentaries. The sixth episode has commentary from the English voices for Mackey and Nigel, the eighth episode has commentary from the English voices for Daley and Leon, and the ninth episode has commentary from the English voice for Nene. The second disc also includes character biographies, textless versions of the opening and closing credits, as well as previews for other ADV releases.

The third disc in the set has three voice actor commentaries. The eleventh episode has commentary from the English voice for Linna, the thirteenth episode has commentary for the English voice for Sylia, and the fourteenth episode has commentary from the English voices for Priss and Linna. The fourth disc has commentary on the sixteenth episode from the English voices for Sylia, Priss, Linna, and Nene. There is a gallery of concept art for the hardsuits (however, this feature is labeled as "Character Sketches"). "Vehicle Technology" has pictures and explanations for the mecha that appears in the series. There are voice actor profiles for the Japanese and English voice actors for Linna, Priss, Sylia, and Nene. The textless opening and closing are included, as well as ADV previews.

The fifth disc has a video interview with the English voice actors for Sylia, Priss, Linna, and Nene. However, the audio on this feature has a tendency to fade in and out, especially on the voice actor for Linna. A question is posted on the screen, and they cut in the answers from each of the voice actors. The sixth disc includes two voice actor audio commentaries. Episodes twenty-five and twenty-six both have commentary by the English voice actors for Sylia, Priss, Linna, and Nene. The textless opening and closing are included, as well as ADV previews.

In some respects, I was a little disappointed by the bonus features. However, if you are a fan of Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, this set would be worth purchasing to have all of the episodes in one set, instead of purchasing each disc individually.

As a young boy I use to sit outside at night to watch this show on the only tv that got SBS. This is a fantastic anime and was well worth buying it.

This is one of those animes that even people who aren't into anime can enjoy. I'm one such person. A lot of the Boomer mutations and "assimilation" seem to be inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing. There are also plenty of little in-jokes such as "Duff" beer and "Buzz" cola (both from the Simpsons). There's plenty of action, sci-fi, and horror elements mixed with some humor and a lot of character development. The commentary tracks often run into the the previews for the next episode, and are both informative and hilarious.

As indicated by the "Not Rated" rating, this is not a show to let the kiddies watch. However, it's also not too graphic or hardcore. The character bios are perty much the same or less information than would be brought up on any website. The same goes for the vehicle information. There is some slight problem with the sound of the video interview, as well. But these are really not enough to lower my rating of the set.