Bubblegum Crisis 8/10

OAV's with original stories are a dying breed but we'll always have the classics. Megazone 23, Devil Hunter Yohko, and the greatest of them all...Bubblegum Crisis. Coolest anime name EVER.

Released from1987 to 1991 these 8 episodes of varying length are among the first anime licensed for North American anime fans and it's not surprising. Regardless of their age some of these episodes look terrific even by today's standards. The first four are slightly less polished than the final four but the detail on the backgrounds and animation is amazing throughout. The shows are full of great 80's style insert songs with about 2 per episode, sometimes more. Some of the character designs have dated hairstyles (Priss) but you have to look past that. All the VA's here are great and I've always been disappointed that the TV series didn't use the same ones.

The stars of the show are the Knight Sabers, 4 young armoured female mercenaries who battle rogue boomers. The boomers are big, mean looking robots that occasionally go crazy and have to be stopped. The A.D. (Advanced) Police usually can't handle the job so the Knight Sabers step in (welcome or not) and destroy them. This usually is much to the dismay of the Genom corporation who build the boomers and don't care for super suit girls wrecking their products even though they're letting them loose on purpose to test them against the A.D. Police.

Sylia is the leader and brains of the team, she runs their operations with a lingerie shop as cover. She's always calm and dressed like the rich business woman she is. Her father left her the technology of the hardsuits after he was killed in an accident at Genom. Priss is the main fighter of the group who's day job has her as a singer in a band named Priss and the Replicants. She's the tomboy of the team and loves to ride motorcycles over the speed limit. Leon, the main A.D. Police detective in the show, has his eye on her. Linna is the third member and the least interesting of the 4 girls. She works as an aerobics instructor and that's about it. Nene works for the A.D. Police so her duties as a Knight Saber sometimes conflict with her public job. She's a computer expert and not much of a fighter but is the funniest of the characters.

Here are quick summaries of each of the 8 episodes.

Tinsel City - The first episode has the introductions then the Knight Sabers are hired to recover a young girl who has been kidnapped from the military. They rescue her but it turns out she's a boomer who can control a satellite space laser. When the island they're on starts turning into a giant boomer the Knight Sabers have to abandon her and the island and girl are destroyed.

Born to Kill - A new boomer is developed by Genom and the satellite space laser control system from the previous episode is installed in it. After Linna's friend and her fiancée are murdered by Genom to protect the secret the Knight Sabers head out and destroy the new weapon.

Blow Up - Priss has a friend with a son who is fighting to prevent Genom from demolishing their apartment. Once she is killed Priss and the Knight Sabers attack the Genom tower looking for some payback and kill the Genom executive responsible when he attacks them in a power suit.

Revenge Road - A man is out for revenge against a biker gang that traumatized his girlfriend by attacking them on the freeway a few years earlier. He soups up his Griffon car and nearly kills Priss while chasing the bikers. Later, his car goes out of control and the Knight Sabers save him and his girlfriend before the A.D. Police destroy them and the car.

Moonlight Rambler - A group of girls escape a space station and one of the two survivors befriends Priss. It turns out they're trying to get a program from Genom in order to change their bodies so they no longer need special maintenance since they're a type of boomer. Priss's friend has been killing people to get blood for the other and she's got a super mech to fight Genom. Priss has to kill her when her mech goes berserk and threatens to nuke the city.

Red Eyes - A new uber-boomer named Largo frames the Knight Sabers for some crimes in an order to draw them out so he can destroy them. He also wants to acquire an item called the OMS (Overmind Control System) from the head of Genom and kidnaps the Defence Minister in order to blackmail Genom into giving it to him. It turns out Largo is keen to free boomers from bondage and be their leader but the Knight Sabers show up and destroy him.

Double Vision - Vision, the older sister of Linna's dead friend from Born to Kill is out for revenge against the company that killed her parents and Genom for killing her sister. The Knight Sabers are hired to protect the scientist who developed a new boomer but he's kidnapped as bait to draw out the head of Genom. Vision and the Knight Sabers join forces to defeat the new super-boomer.

Scoop Chase - Nene is roped into looking after the chief's niece Lisa who's an aspiring reporter. She starts investigating the Knight Sabers and after Priss destroys her camera she ends up getting a picture of Nene in her power suit. Before Nene is exposed a scientist attacks the A.D.Police tower with a group of boomers designed to destroy the Knight Sabers. Nene has to save the day and Lisa ends up returning the picture to her new friend and saviour.

The first four episodes don't look as good at the rest and they also have the weaker stories but they're still great. I liked the last 2 episodes most since we get to see the girls in their regular lives and episode 8 has some really funny parts with Nene. This show is really amazing, big fights, big explosions, and some great music. Highly Recommended.