Bubblegum Crash: The Return of Boomers

It’s that time again. Time to dip back into the universe of the original Bubblegum Crisis once again. I didn’t have any major lead ups to this point, but I thought today would be a good time to do it because why not. If you haven’t read it already, I’ve written about Bubble Crisis’ prequel series AD Police a bit ago, but now it’s time to jump into events that feature the main girls from the original series a little later on. Bubblegum Crash is a sequel OVA series that closes off the cut off adventures of the original series. A lot of unseen studio drama occurred that split the two studios, Artmic and Youmex, from finishing the first series which lead to this shorten series from Artmic. Not surprisingly, this was also cut short due to a lawsuit between the two studios. Don’t you hate it when background events ruin a good thing for us viewers? I know I do.

The title of Bubblegum Crisis is in reference to Japan’s Bubble economy in the 1980’s. At least, that’s what I heard about it. The late 80’s Japanese economy was through the roof, so there was some foreshadowing there. It also makes sense because the sequel is called Bubblegum Crash. Considering that this series was made in 1991, Bubblegum Crash’s title is pretty clear about where the economy was back then. Ouch. Anyway, Bubblegum Crisis takes place in 2034 which isTwo years after the original series in 2032. The Knight Sabers haven’t been active for an extended amount of time. Nene is still working as a cop, Priss is working on her music career, Linna is working the stock markets, and their leader Sylvia is nowhere to be seen. Well, for now at least.

Episode one is where the Knight Sabers make their grand comeback. Well, mostly. A former military unit of mecha pilots attack Mega Tokyo and the AD Police are failing at holding them back. This is when Sylvie makes her appearance once again. Originally, Priss and Linna did not want to rejoin the Knight Sabers due to their own successes, but their successes not going in the right direction which led them to falling out of their original plans and joining. Nene’s career hasn’t changed much which is why she was all for joining. For their petty reasons or otherwise, the Knight Sabers returned and were able to defeat the military force. Yay!

This conflict was followed by the boomer episode where one has had the ability to talk and think for itself while the finale which the Knight Sabers saved Mega Tokyo from nuclear catastrophe and an old enemy. Pretty standard AI episodes with not much creativity to them. These episodes, including the first one lacked so much creative energy and power that original series had. Episode one was a pretty generic getting the band back together kind of episode that didn’t have anything major to say. All of which is fine considering that the Knight Sabers had to return to make this work and that needed a threat to happen. I just wish that there was more creativity than former military people.

The last episode was also a pretty generic action episode that didn’t have enough time or creative energy in it then just throw out a major threat for the Knight Sabers to handle and that’s it. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy the original Bubblegum Crisis just to see the Knight Sabers being hot and fighting people in their hard armored suits. That was a part of it, but there was a lot of style, finese, and great story telling to each of the original episodes that made them actual something. Whether it was building the world more with racing to vampire lesbians from space, it was just a lot of fun. Not to mention it was the great chemistry between the Knight Sabers which made them feel real and watchable. The kind of chemistry that was lacking here. It’s not the same to just have the Knight Sabers be back. I want to see more of them.

I didn’t mention episode two too much yet and that was my favorite episode of Crash. This was an episode that wasn’t trying to be a pointless action epic. It was a smaller episode that focused on Priss and the second-generation talking Boomer, named Adama, in a sewer. Adama was on its way home and Priss didn’t want anything to do with it until they got caught under gunfire. It’s one of those very good relationship developments by gunfire episodes which Priss never acknowledged their friendship in the end physically even though it was obvious she did mentally. That’s just totally her and the first and only time she felt like Priss from Bubblegum Crisis in Crash. I wish we could have more episodes like this that had meant something.

This just tells me, in my very limited knowledge, that Studio Youmex must of had Bubblegum Crisis’ writing team while Artmic must have had Bubblegum Crisis visual team. This short OVA looks great. Megatokyo is alive with tons of atmosphere like usual. The Piss building is still the best meme that not many people will get unless they watched Crash, but it adds to the cartoony atmosphere. The character designs are also the same while being aged up a little bit to be even more attractive. Same with the hard suits and other bits of technology. The Boomers are still creepy as hell, the AD Police have some cool mecha, and you can see the Hardsuits technology upgrades as well. All very cool pieces of technology. I just think this OVA cared more about the look and feel through visuals rather than the writing itself.

That’s why Bubblegum Crash is just an ok watch. The soul isn’t there even if the body is willing. Ok, maybe that was the wrong way to say it, but that’s the point I’m going for. The girls are there but they also aren’t there. Very much a thing that can be enjoyed following Bubblegum Crisis. I guess my next step in the Bubblegum Crisis franchise is checking out the reboot or AD Police if it’s out. I guess I am making a thing from Bubblegum Crisis. Who knew? See you all next time for Christmas day.

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