‘Bubblegum Crisis’ or — Imperfectly Perfect?

Both unabashedly derivative and incredibly influential, the 8-part series ‘Bubblegum Crisis’ (1987–1991) was, for a certain generation, THE anime of the OVA (Original Video Animation) boom with its combination of cyberpunk, power armour, MTV music video aesthetic, murderous cyborgs, sleek motorbikes, American Tan tights, orbital space lasers and upbeat City Pop wonderfully emblematic of 1980’s Japanese popular culture. The country’s economic bubble had yet to burst, anime production was soaring and, just as significantly, the genre was rapidly becoming noticed by kids in the West. I was one of those kids, and I loved ‘Bubblegum Crisis’.

So, I knew I had to revisit it after a period of almost — GULP! — forty years! Goodness.

Mega Tokyo, 2032, and Japan is dominated by Genom, a megacorporation responsible for producing Boomers, lethal cyborgs initially designed to replace human labour, but, what with their superior strength and powerful in-built weapon systems, they’ve become increasingly utilised in various forms of crime and industrial espionage.

With Mega Tokyo’s AD (Advanced) Police seemingly helpless against the Boomer threat the government frequently enlists the services of the Knight Sabers, a mercenary group of four females in high-tech power armour.

The Knight Sabers are — Sylia Stingray (leader and owner of the ‘Silky Doll’ lingerie shop), Priss Asagiri (hot-headed pop-star), Linna Yamazaki (snooty aerobics instructor) and Nene Romanova (technical expert, cake enthusiast and the Sabers’ AD Police mole).

It’s a blatant mash-up of ‘Robocop’ (1987), ‘The Terminator’ (1984), ‘Blade Runner’ (1982) and Walter Hill’s ‘Streets of Fire’ (1984) in anime form, yet whilst ‘Bubblegum Crisis’ might not contain a single original ingredient its stroke of genius was in knowing these ingredients would inevitably result in something exciting and cool. And ‘Bubblegum Crisis’ is, without a doubt, exciting and cool which is just as well as it helps distract from the narrative flaws.

This is most apparent during the opening 3 episodes — ‘Tinsel City’, ‘Born to Kill’, Blow Up’ — as they’re the series’ only real attempt at an overarching story regarding the Knight Sabers and Genom. It’s pretty flimsy stuff with the barest (or, in some cases, zero) of backstories for its characters, yet it gets by on the strength of its action scenes, fast-paced animation, eye-catching character and background designs and high-energy pop music. It’s lightweight stuff but it’s undeniably fun.

After that, the series abandons any adherence to following a single major plot (all the Genom stuff is still there but it’s lurking more on the sidelines) with the focus almost entirely on standalone episodes, and this freeing-up allows the animators and storytellers to really go to town… and I mean REALLY go to town.

This boost in energy is most apparent in episode 4, ‘Revenge Road’, where a vengeful young street racer cybernetically merges himself with his indestructible black speedster only for the car to assume total control and go on a full-throttle rampage. It culminates in an exhilarating ten-minute long chase sequence through the streets of Mega Tokyo that’s an excuse for the animators to revel in one specific indulgence — the animation of velocity and motion. From here on out the series is a furious blast.

Although the best episode is one that’s more character and humour based as opposed to action focused, and that’s ‘Scoop Chase’. It’s a Nene centric episode (she was always my favourite so I’m completely biased towards it) and concerns her frantic attempts to stop the Chief of Police’s niece, whom Nene’s been forced into babysitting, from exposing the identities of the Knight Sabers. The more this intrepid little amateur reporter investigates the more frazzled Nene becomes. And frazzled Nene is always fun to watch.

It’s a total City Pop of an episode with ‘Scoop Chase’ possessing a distinctly vibrant look and gorgeous colour palette. For example — Nene is a redhead and so, in order to both contrast and compliment this, the backgrounds shift from pastel greens to soft pinks meaning this is, without a doubt, the most visually striking, and downright gorgeous, of all the episodes. It also has the best soundtrack, best gags and, by this time, all four Knight Sabers feel like fully rounded characters. It’s absolutely wonderful!

And then it all comes to a sudden end as ‘Bubblegum Crisis’ simply stops. That’s it. Over.

Due to a head-spinning combination of changing contracts and conflicting legal disputes the decision was made to halt production almost immediately. No closure, wrap-up or denouement. Zilch, and right at the moment it was really hitting its stride. Various attempts at resurrection followed over the years but it appeared the magic of the original was impossible to recapture.

Not a surprise as, by then, Japan’s bubble-gum bubble had finally burst leaving Sylia, Priss, Lanni and Nene forever trapped in the 1980’s. But that’s okay, as it’s where they belong. It’s their home, and I’m not sure they could survive anywhere else anyway.