Bubblegum Crisis: 2040
It's been a long time coming, but the new Bubblegum Crisis has finally reached America. But I was left with many expectations for this new anime dashed. The biggest dissapointment it that it's not a sequel. It's a remake.
The possibility of a sequel to the original OAV's seems low,(at this time anyway). This is due to the usual enemy of all movies/shows/productions: Corporate politics. For whatever reasons, (the exact details are unknown to me) the rights to produce this new series were given to AIC (Anime International Company). Gainax owns the rights to the old series. AIC cannot produce new material based on the old because this would infringe upon Gainax's copywrights. So AIC has to start from scratch and redo the entire series for television.
Don't get me wrong, this new series is pretty good. It featured really nice animation, (especially for television), fast paced action, and nice voice acting in the English Dub, (better then the original OAV dub). But there is still this feeling of "Been There/Done That" which is prevailent throughout this anime. Sure, some of the situations and characters are altered, (a few characters are brand new) but this feels like we are having to watch the original OAV's all over again, except this feels like a mirror universe.
Other points of interest: the music of this new version is very nice, and I'd like to see a soundtrack for it eventually. Priss still dresses like a leather clad biker, but her music has gone from hard rock to a mix of grunge and pop rock style. It's interesting that no matter how far in the future a science fiction show is set, the music sounds exactly like the music of today!
Another nice thing about this new version is that we see the progressing of the Knight Sabers, and how they came to be a team through the character Lina's eyes. We even get to see the creation of a hard suit! It's a nice slower pace which suits the anime.
Perhaps the most startling change is the Boomers. The old Rogue Boomers would fuze with one or two items. The ones in this new series tend to fuze with everything in site. Thus, they end up looking like monsters from Wicked City,(or other monster anime flicks). For some reason, killing a Boomer now involves ripping out it's heart. This is perhaps the most bizaar part of this new anime.
Overall, this anime is not bad. It's just not the classic anime that we've all grown to love. For new viewers, this series might be just the right sci fi treat. As for the rest of us, it's just not the Knight Sabers us classic anime fans grew up on.
** 1/2 stars(or asteriks)
LINKS:
The Psuedo-Official Tokyo 2040 Page. This site is run by Bill MacPhee, who actually worked for AIC, (the show that produced the new series. Mr. Macphee was kind enough to supply the first pic on this page.)
Masquerade 2040This site has lots of info and pics of the new series.
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