Bubblegum Crisis is the story of the Knight Sabers, a four-woman mercenary team based in the city of Neo-Tokyo, Japan, in the year 2032. There are 8 episodes to the original story, plus 3 more episodes make up the story "Bubblegum Crash".

Bubblegum Crisis, or BGC, as it has become known, wasn't my first exposure to anime, but it IS my favorite! I know it's not the best out there TECHNICALLY, and it is CERTAINLY not the LATEST thing to hit the market, but there is just something special, something endearing about it that makes it remain among the BEST that anime has to offer!

Bubblegum Crisis was created by Toshimichi Suzuki in 1987. The character designs were done by Kenichi Sonoda.

Bubblegum Crash was done afterwards, but most of the people involved with the original series were not involved with it's production. Therefore, BGCrash has a completely different look and feel from the original, and many people don't like it because of this.

There is currently a NEW Bubblegum Crisis series being distributed in the US by AD-Vision. The title of this latest incarnation of BGC is titled Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040. There are rampant discussions on the official newsgroup, alt.fan.bgcrisis, about the validity of this one, ranging from 'how dare they' to 'this is great!'

My personal take on this is as follows: I happen to like the new series for a number of reasons. First, it IS Bubblegum Crisis...even with it's differences from the original series.

I like the new music, which has ALWAYS been a driving force in the BGC universe. It's not the same sound as the music in the original series, but I feel it is a logical progression from the styles that were popular at the time to the styles that are popular today. The music in each series reflects what was popular in music at the time...hence the original BGC has a definite '80's flavor to it, while the music from BGC2040 sounds more like the harder-edged music that is more popular today.

I don't mind the new character designs, though it DID take a little adjustment to get used to them. This is one of the bigger points of discussion in the newsgroup...the look and overall feel of all the characters changed considerably!

In any case, I still hold Bubblegum Crisis as my FAVORITE anime title of all time!

UPDATE: It's official! BGC 2040 is now available on DVD!

LINKS

I recommend that you visit the newsgroup, alt.fan.bgcrisis, as well as the official homepages of the US distributors, Animeigo and AD-Vision. If you want to pick up the videos and see what all the fuss is about, check your local video store/rental shop, check AD-Vision's/Animeigo's websites, or check Anime Nation. Their prices aren't bad, and they ship quickly! You can get all the Bubblegum Crisis OAV, Bubblegum Crash!, and Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 videos, the BGC-OAV on DVD, along with a host of other merchanidise/anime titles! Their selection is great, and I recommend them highly!

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