Search - Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: Collection 1 - The Legend Reborn on DVD

Doesn't Hold a Prayer to the Original OVA Series.

Not Impressed | San Francisco, CA USA | 07/13/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"If you've already seen the excellent OVAs and follow-up "Bubblegum Crash Series" & are expecting much of the same with Bubblegum Crisis 2040, then you are in for a big disappointment. With many changes from its 2 predecessors, BGC 2040 is an inferior re-make in every way. The wise and elder Sylia Stingray is now 24-years old with long hair. She is less prudent than her original counterpart, and suffers from vioelnt mood swings. Nene now dons short, blonde hair, and is mostly stuck at AD Police HQ where she still works. Linna has been relegated to a coffee-serving secretary office worker who has her hands full trying to ward off the unwelcome advances of her boss. Priss is essentially the only one unchanged from the original. She, along with Linna, are always out fighting GENOM and the Boomers. Nene usually gives them reconnaissance support from her station at AD Police. Sylia, for her part, directs the Sabers' actions from homebase. Also gone are the humorous banter and cameraderie that would always unite are beloved heroines in Battle. In its place are 4 individuals with streaks as dark as their cynicism for life, and who are more than interested in fighting for their own personal gains than a common goal.The animation is very lackluster. It may be cleaner than the original as 2040 supporters will claim, but is also less consistent. The world of BGC 2040 is a sterile one. There are hardly any movements other than those by the principal characters; they seem to makeup the entire populace of Tokyo 2040(where have all the crowds from the original BGC Crisis & BGC Crash gone?). Any other background movement consists mostly of the camera panning back and forth over still images. People and Boomers might seem detailed one moment, and cartoonish the next. In contrast, the original's animation was more lively with people and objects moving, lights flashing in the background. The original also had a better plot and great soundtrack, which were noticible missing from 2040. AnimEigo, the U.S. distributor of the original BGC and BG Crash, was actually given first crack at BGC 2040, but passed when they found it was below their standards. I find it very annoying that whenever AnimEigo releases a classic animated series, ADV follows up by acquiring then horrible re-makes. Such is the case with the wonderful "You're Under Arrest", resurrected as insipid, 5-minute "mini-specials" that ended up making ADVs catalog. ADV should stop relying on the past glory of products, and get back to the basics that made it a well-repsected importer of Anime during the early 1990s. That was a time when it introduced us to such memorable fare as "Devil Hunter Yokho", "Battle Angel", and the endearing "All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku"! Unless you are willing to slog through 11 boring hours of bland and uninspiring TV, I can't find any other good reason to recommend this watered-down dreck. 1 out of 5 stars."

Better than the original.

M. Mcnully | Texas | 03/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As any good series nowadays, you start out with one of the main characters being introduced to the concept as a way to help the audience grasp what's going on. This series is no exception to that. It starts off following Linna around until she meets the Knight Sabers and becomes one of them. It is then that we realize how hard it is to be a Knight Saber and such.

It is several years after a massive earthquake, Boomers are created to help humans rebuild Tokyo. Eventually, the Boomers start going rogue and tearing things up, so the Knight Sabers have to step in and stop them and they do a better job than the AD Police, their rivals, do.

This anime is full of excellent battle scenes, very good animation, weird monsters (the rogue Boomers), and cool looking armor. This is a must have for anime collector. This particular collection is excellent because it's cheaper to buy all three volumes than it is to buy the boxset (in some places, like the Amazon marketplace) or the series seperately (which has six volumes) since one volume costs less than buying one volume and it has 9 episodes. ADV has has made a smart move by releasing the series like this and I applaud them."

Bubblegum crisis tokyo 2040 vol 1

kestrele prime | 03/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had seen the original bubblegum crisis years ago and loved it. Then I caught the first episode of the new series and it totally blew me away. The characters were more refined and instead of loosley connected stories, there was an ongoing story that continuosly evolved. There was a little more realism too with ammo running out and the fact that they did'nt have endless energy to defeat any odds. I do wish sylia would have fought more, but you understand why she doesn't. All in all a superbly done anime."

Great fun, even if you usually hate big robots.

Karin Dru | USA | 02/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I originally viewed this anime as a result of a friend's high praise of it. Sure, young women in power suits fighting evil cyborg monsters wouldn't usually be my thing. I've seen and enjoyed sillier things, however, and I do not regret giving this one a chance. The animation is quite good, the character development is believeable and at times amusing, and the setting is JUST futuristic enough not to bore fans of the sci fi genre. I can't even complain about the voice actors in the dubbed version, which is one of my biggest problems with some otherwise decent anime.

I should also mention that the power suits the women use actually periodically experience reasonable tehcnical difficulties, and not just when it's convenient to enhance the plot, although it does. Too often, in "big robot anime", nothing goes wrong with these things, ever; and they are used in situations where something more conventional would perhaps work better. If you are fighting renegade robots however, ehnancing your own movements and armoring yourself in slight mimicry of them might not be such a bad idea.

But perhaps the biggest selling point about this dvd is the sheer amount of content you recieve. This DVD includes nine episodes, compared to the three to five you usually get."