PARASITE DOLLS (2003) (anime)

Check it out on Amazon.

Would you recommend this? No. This is the worst spin-off of Bubblegum Crisis I've seen.


Technically any good? The acting was fine--I really liked the Boomer detective's voice actor. The animation was pretty awesome, looking--liked the character designs quite a bit. It's a shame no one ages over the 6-ish-year length of time the anime takes place over. It's also a shame that the series doesn't involve the Knight Sabers or even the main characters from AD Police. The lack of anything familiar but the word "Boomer" makes me wonder why they didn't just replace the word "Boomer" with the word "robot" and let this anime to stand on its own, entirely apart from BGC.

Imagine how bad a Star Wars spin-off would be if only the stormtroopers were in it and the story was a fairly uninteresting series of robots-n-cops stories (that felt stupidly rushed), almost entirely featuring women being corrupt, sex-pots, or sex-pot-robots. Only one woman doesn't fit this cliche and she was horribly underdeveloped, character-wise.


How did it leave me feeling? Yuck. Glad I'm done with the Bubblegum Crisis universe. :(


Would you sit through it again? No.

I've now decided that when I go back through the BGC saga again, I'll be sticking to anime featuring the Knight Sabers only. Though, to be fair, the AD Police remake series was not bad--not great, but not bad. I already watched that remake series, within the last couple years and I'm 90% sure I Pocket Reviewed it, but can't find the review. I'll add a link to it to this post when I get a chance.

AD POLICE (1990) (anime)

Buy it!

Would you recommend this? Meh--not to anyone who loves Bubblegum Crisis. Much of what is strong about BGC is missing here.


Technically any good? The animation is great for the time period and I really like the character designs. The acting is fine, too. But the story hates women (lots of imagery featuring woman-shaped objects/people being harmed, destroyed, or acting crazy) and the universe is MUCH darker than the one in the original Bubblegum Crisis. There is almost no character dynamic here and what does exist is pretty damn cliche. Tough, gritty cops, sweating and killing in the line duty does not really end up feeling like a world soon-to-be inhabited by heroic, mad-robot-fighting women in super-robot-suits.


How did it leave me feeling? Meh. It was fine, but it really highlighted why the AD Police characters are supporting characters in the main BGC storyline--they're the cliches that the Knight Sabers replace. It also shows off why the Knight Sabers are needed. But why wait for them to show up? Just watch the original Bubblegum Crisis!


Would you sit through it again? Not really. Maybe. Meh, I don't know.

BUBBLEGUM CRISIS TOKYO 2040 (1998) (anime)

Buy the entire series!

Would you recommend this? Definitely! For anyone who enjoys cyberpunk and/or bad-ass women in robot-suits, this is a very worthwhile show.


Technically any good? The story is solid and there is a really nice, strong arc that you can follow for the entire series. It's not perfect, and the show falls prey to the classic "what the hell?" kind of ending that a lot of anime suffers from. Still, the characters are well developed, the character and mecha designs are great, and while the animation isn't perfect, it's perfectly reasonable. The music is also awesome (and is probably my favorite of all of the music in the BGC universe). The acting is spot on and it's great that they cast a woman for Priss who sounds like the previous voice actors who have portrayed her.


How did it leave me feeling? Definitely satisfied, though as with all anime that ends with the "WTH?" ending, I do wish there was a bit more of a recap. Sadly, there's still no talk of a sequel series, despite the enduring cult following the BGC universe has around the world. Ah well.


Would you sit through it again? I'm SURE I will sit through this series again--this is actually the second time I've seen it and I still love it. It's so great to see female characters being heroic, daring and still feminine. Who said women were the weaker sex, never messed with the Knight Sabers.

BUBBLEGUM CRASH (1991) (anime)

Buy it!

Would you recommend this? Because this is part of the original Bubblegum Crisis universe, I say yes, I would recommend it. However, it didn't really blow me away, like the original series did and without the tie-in, I can't see myself recommending it to anyone but fans of the franchise.


Technically any good? The animation is noticeably worse and the designs, while very similar, are different from the original designs used in Crisis. However, all of the same charm of the characters are intact, visually, in the story and in the acting. The stories themselves, I found to be a little lackluster and not terribly memorable. There were some nice moments that made this OVA worth watching for original BGC fans, however.

The music is good, as always, as is the voice-over acting (duh, it's anime).


How did it leave me feeling? Sadly, in the end, I didn't feel that strongly for Bubblegum Crash. I love cyberpunk, though, so I didn't mind sitting through it--especially since the original series was what sucked me into anime in the first place.


Would you sit through it again? Not by itself, but I assume I'll eventually sit through every episode in the Bubblegum Crisis universe again one day and I'll be happy with watching these three eps when I do.