Bubblegum Crisis

Last updated • 6 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Release

In North America, AnimEigo first released Bubblegum Crisis to VHS and Laserdisc in 1991 in Japanese with English subtitles. The series is notable in that it was one of the few early anime series that were brought over from Japan unedited and subtitled in English. While anime has become much more popular in the years since, in 1991, it was still mostly unknown as a storytelling medium in North America. Bubblegum Crisis was aired in the US when it first aired on PBS affiliate Superstation KTEH in the 1990s, and STARZ!'s Action Channel in 2000. [ citation needed ]

An English dub of the series was produced beginning in 1994 by AnimEigo through Southwynde Studios in Wilmington, NC, and released to VHS and Laserdisc beginning that year. A digitally-remastered compilation, featuring bilingual audio tracks and production extras, was released on DVD in 2004 by AnimEigo. The company later successfully crowdfunded a collector's edition Blu-ray release through Kickstarter in November 2013. [20] The series was released on a regular edition Blu-ray on September 25, 2018. The series is currently available for streaming on Night Flight Plus.

Soundtracks

There are eight soundtrack releases (one per OVA), as well as numerous "vocal" albums which feature songs "inspired by" the series as well as many drawn directly from it.

Reception

Critical reception of Bubblegum Crisis has been generally positive. Raphael See of THEM Anime Reviews gave the series a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, praising the quality of the animation, the soundtrack, and the series' sense of humor. However, he suggested it was held back by a low quality dub, a lack of character development, and an inconsistent plot, saying that while some episodes were "really solid", others would leave out many major details, forcing the viewer to make their own assumptions: "Overall, not a bad watch. In fact, at times, Bubblegum Crisis can be really good. Unfortunately, oversights and carelessness here and there keep this series from being all it can be." [21]

Tim Henderson of Anime News Network gave the series an A− rating, praising the animation, soundtrack, story, and characters. He states that the series gets better with every passing episode, and that the final two episodes are the best of the series. [22]

Legacy

Masaki Kajishima and Hiroki Hayashi, who both worked on the Bubblegum Crisis OVAs, cite the show as being the inspiration for their harem series Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki . In an interview with AIC, Hayashi described Bubblegum Crisis as "a pretty gloomy anime. Serious fighting, complicated human relationships, and dark Mega Tokyo." They thought it would be fun to create some comedy episodes with ideas like the girls going to the hot springs, but it was rejected by the sponsors. He also said that there was a trend to have a bunch of characters of one gender and a single one of the other gender, and asked what if Mackey (Sylia's brother) was a main character, reversing the Bubblegum scenario. This idea then became the basis for Tenchi. Hayashi said that Mackey is "sort of" the original model for Tenchi. [23]

Kevin Siembieda's becoming aware of "Boomers" being already in use in this caused him to change his planned name for the Rifts RPG which he had named after the "Boom Gun"–wielding power armor which was also renamed to Glitter Boy. [24]

Other entries

Crossover appearances

In 1993, it appeared on Scramble Wars , a crossover event between Bubblegum Crisis, Gall Force , Genesis Survivor Gaiarth , AD Police and Riding Bean . In 2023, the theme song "Konya Wa Hurricane" appeared in the series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off . [25] [26]

Other media

RPGs

  • Bubblegum Crisis role-playing game produced by R. Talsorian Games. [27] It introduces an alternate setting named "Bubblegum Crossfire", basing on a premise that data units with hardsuit blueprints have been sent to more individuals than just Sylia Stingray, resulting in that by 2033 there are numerous Knight Saber-like groups spread all over the globe. RTG's license to produce this game has expired and at present all copies of back stock have been sold.
    • "Bubblegum Crisis: Before and After" (covering material from A.D. Police Files and Bubblegum Crash!)
    • "Bubblegum Crisis EX" which includes completely new materials (also incorporating early design concepts for BGC mecha and hardsuits as new variants)

Novels

The series' creator Toshimichi Suzuki wrote two novels:

  • Bubblegum Crisis Vol. 1: Silent Fanfare, Fujimi Shobo
  • Bubblegum Crisis Vol. 2: Break Down-48, Fujimi Shobo
  • A third novel titled Bubblegum Crisis Hard Metal Guardians was also later written by Hajime Shima and released in 2012

Comic book

In Japan, a number of comic books were produced that featured characters and storylines based in the same universe. Some were very much thematically linked to the OVA series, while others were "one-shots" or comedy features. A number of artists participated in the creation of these comics, including Kenichi Sonoda, who had produced the original Knight Saber character designs. A North American comic based in the Bubblegum Crisis universe was published in English by Dark Horse Comics.

Video games

  • Crime Wave: a game for PC-88, set in Megatokyo and featuring Knight Sabers as the main characters. [30]
  • Bubblegum Crash: a game for TurboGrafx-16. [31]

Live-action movie

In May 2009 it was announced that a live-action movie of "Bubblegum Crisis" was in the early stages of production. A production agreement was signed at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. [3] [32] [33] [34] The film was expected to be released in late 2012 with a budget of 30 million. [3] The production staff was said to have consulted with the original anime's staff members, Shinji Aramaki and Kenichi Sonoda, to help maintain consistency with the world of the original. [35] However, no further developments have been announced.

References

  1. ↑ Henderson, Tim (August 9, 2007). "Bubblegum Crisis 2032 Collection DVD - Review". Anime News Network . Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2020. Straight-up action cyberpunk helmed by a group of hard-suit wearing female vigilantes known as the Knight Sabres, Bubblegum Crisis has aged amazingly well, and it's been aging for a while now as its first chapter dates back a full twenty years to 1987.
  2. ↑ "Bubblegum Crisis Collection VHS - Review". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 18, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2020. Bubblegum Crisis is, quite simply, an institution to the anime world. Probably the best-known Girls-With-Guns anime
  3. 1 2 3 Cannes 09: Bubblegum Crisis: The Movie - IGN, 14 May 2009, retrieved 2019-10-23
  4. ↑ "Animerica: Animerica Feature: Bubblegum Crisis". 2004-02-12. Archived from the original on 2004-02-12. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  5. 1 2 "Film Monthly.com – Bubblegum Crisis Retrospective: Part I". www.filmmonthly.com. Archived from the original on 2019-08-04. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  6. ↑ "Streets of Fire". Teleport City. Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  7. ↑ Horibuchi, Seiji (May 1993). "The Animerica interview: Toshimichi Suzuki". Animerica . 1 (3).
  8. 1 2 3 "Animerica: Animerica Feature: Bubblegum Crisis". 2004-04-07. Archived from the original on 2004-04-07. Retrieved 2019-10-23– via web.archive.org.
  9. 1 2 Kakinuma, Hideki. Bubblegum Crisis - Remastered Edition (Disc 4). 2018. Transcript of commentary. Animeigo. (Archived) on 5 February 2023.
  10. ↑ "Specials - Anime in Retrospect: Bubblegum Crisis". Animefringe. December 2005. Archived from the original on 2018-10-08. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  11. ↑ Conartistdan (30 March 2016). "Bubblegum Crisis OVA". The Con Artists. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  12. ↑ Henderson, Tim (9 August 2007). "Bubblegum Crisis 2032 Collection Review". Anime News Network . Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  13. ↑ "Bubblegum Crisis (OAV)". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  14. ↑ Surat, Daryl (1 September 2011). "Bubblegum Crisis". Otaku USA Magazine. Sovereign Media 2024. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  15. 1 2 Akiyama, Katsuhito. Bubblegum Crisis - Remastered Edition (Disc 1). 2018. Transcript of interview Archived 2024-09-22 at the Wayback Machine . Animeigo. (Archived) on 5 February 2023.
  16. ↑ Bubblegum Crisis - Remastered Edition. 2018. Animeigo.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bubblegum Crisis". AnimEigo. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  18. 1 2 3 "Bubblegum Crisis (OVA)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  19. ↑ "Bubblegum Crisis [商品紹介:Video/Ld]". Anime-int.com. Archived from the original on 2009-06-12. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  20. ↑ "Bubblegum Crisis Ultimate Edition Blu-Ray Set". Kickstarter. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  21. ↑ See, Raphael. "THEM Anime Reviews 4.0 - Bubblegum Crisis". THEM Anime Reviews . Archived from the original on 2003-09-22. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  22. ↑ Henderson, Tim (9 August 2007). "Bubblegum Crisis 2032 Collection Review". Anime News Network . Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  23. ↑ "Interview with Hiroki Hayashi". AIC Anime English Website. Anime International Company. February 2011. Archived from the original on July 5, 2011.
  24. ↑ Rifts Ultimate Edition.
  25. ↑ "Anime Video Games Reviews: Bubblegum Crash! PC Engine". www.netflix.com. Archived from the original on 2024-09-22. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  26. ↑ "How To... Reinvent a Beloved Series with SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF's co-creators | TIFF 2023". YouTube.com. TIFF. 22 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  27. ↑ "Bubblegum Crisis". Talsorian. 2013-07-30. Archived from the original on 2013-07-30. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  28. ↑ "Bubblegum Crisis: Grand Mal #1 (of 4) :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics". www.darkhorse.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  29. ↑ trebor (2000-06-28). "Mason Largo Theory Part 2 [WAS Re: [INFO] ANOTHER BUBBLEGUMCRISIS FAQ (Part 3/3)]". Newsgroup:  alt.fan.bgcrisis. Usenet:   8jbo8c$d7e$1@nnrp1.deja.com . Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  30. ↑ "Anime Video Games Reviews: Bubblegum Crisis Crimewave PC 88, PC 98". www.anime-games.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  31. ↑ "Anime Video Games Reviews: Bubblegum Crash! PC Engine". www.anime-games.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  32. ↑ "channelnewsasia.com". channelnewsasia.com. 2008-11-13. Archived from the original on 2009-05-17. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  33. ↑ "AIC Agrees to Live-Action Bubblegum Crisis Proposal (Updated)". Anime News Network . 2009-05-11. Archived from the original on 2009-05-01. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  34. ↑ "Pre-Production Bubblegum Crisis Film Image Posted". Anime News Network . 2009-05-11. Archived from the original on 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  35. ↑ "2012 Bubblegum Crisis Film Planned with Caucasian/Asian Cast (Updated)". Anime News Network . 2009-05-14. Archived from the original on 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
Bubblegum Crisis
BGC OVA.png
Bubblegum Crisis poster
バブルガムクライシス
(Baburugamu Kuraishisu)
Genre
Created byToshimichi Suzuki
Bubblegum Crisis
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