Bubblegum Crash

Bubblegum Crash seems to get overlooked pretty often. The Crisis OVA and 2040 already seem obscure enough especially around here at MAL and then Crash is just, completely lost in it's own void. Kind of a shame because Crash is certainly worth seeing if you're a fan of the OVA and new series. My review for 2040 was probably too big, so I'll keep this one a little on the shorter side. It could be a good read along with this review though.

Crash is basically a direct continuation of the original OVA and it's completely obvious. The animation and everything in that aspect is the ... same, with many improvements because it's newer - this made me second guess myself after saying I liked the redesigned characters in 2040, because Priss, Nena, Linna, and Sylia all looked really cool in this one. The cyberpunk setting is still very grim, dark, heavily detailed, like it rightfully should be! The music also retains its awesomeness from the original OVA, great 80's hair metal that you can't help but love if you grew up in the age. The BGM fits the mood and is great too. Oh and the opening is just downright awesome, timeless stuff!

I've head some complaints about this one mainly geared towards the plot being a little contradicting against some events in the OVA. The only issue that might bother me here is that Priss could be a little out of character, with her constant attitude and decision with being a Knight Saber and fighting Boomers changing - but I have to ask, do you really go in watching Bubblegum Crisis for an in depth story and thought provoking characters? Not exactly, if you ask me... that aside the characters reminded me a lot of how they act in 2040 pretty often. Priss can be pretty hotheaded, Nena is cheerful and weary that the Knight Sabers are breaking up, Linna is just all over the place, and Sylia is her mysterious self but shows a little more character towards the end. They're all fun and enjoyable characters.

The three episodes do connect in the end. They're a little episodic, but 40 minutes pure episode isn't bad. The horrible events in episodes 1-2 eventually lead up to the finale, where a previous villian is brought back (one of the best ones from the OVA, with that being said some can maybe make a guess as to who that is). Though the show does get a little silly towards the end kind of like 2040 did, it tries a little too hard to be overly weird and thought provoking. But it's just part of the episode, rather than an entire story arc ... so it's not a huge complaint.

Overall Bubblegum Crash is simply put, more Bubblegum Crisis, more Knight Sabers kicking ass, great cyberpunk settings, awesome old school music. It's always been something you shouldn't take TOO seriously, but if you go in just looking for some quick enjoyment with action/comedy this should deliver. If you're a fan of the OVA, 2040, and still haven't seen this - definitely give it a shot sometime.

To speak frankly, one of the reasons that made me watch crisis, other than having the series in my want list since ages ago, was the fact that I had bought the DVD some time ago and it was getting old in the shelve.

With Crash we pick up again the series some months after the last episode and events of Crisis. It is now 2033 and Megatokyo has become more dangerous and AD Police is getting it’s hands tied because of political powers from above. The Saber Knights are nowhere to be found and the city is collapsing. Then… Naturally of course they’ll turn around ... again to save the day.

In these OVAs we had some improvements regarding the first OVA, like Nene, she’s pretty more dependable now than she ever was.
And also some bad points, while Nene became a dependable character, Priss on the other side, became a more shallow character, unfortunately.
There’s also the Seyuu of Priss, which was the best of the first OVA and here she had left the task to pursue her singing career leaving a new seyuu for the character, but she still managed to sing for the opening and ending songs of the anime, it was still pretty cool.

All in all it was a nice way to end the series. I’ve read before the two OVAs were intended to be a series, but I don’t know how they ended up being two OVAs instead. Perhaps they had lost some story in that transmission and some episodes didn’t went as well as others, but they’re still good episodes.

Rate; 7.0

Bubblegum Crash isn't a BAD series per se, but it is certainly inferior to its predecessor Bubblegum Crisis. Where as Crisis had a unique opening scene for every episode of the series as well as a unique outro, Crash uses a stock opening and a plain credits. The animation is overall less impressive than Crisis' fantastic artwork, the violence is toned down and there are continuity errors particularly in the second episode.

THAT ALL SAID - I enjoyed Crash a fair deal. No where near as much as Crisis, but it certainly is not awful. Continuity errors aside, each episode's story is fairly interesting and the ... four Knight Sabers are as fun to see as always. It also provides an actual conclusion to the story, which gives Bubblegum an actual sense of closure after Crisis had its mother of all non-endings. There's still a few good cheesy songs as well (though nowhere as many as in Crisis) so the spirit is still there. All in all, Crash isn't a bad way to end the series on, and for all its flaws its still an enjoyable watching. At 3 episodes long, its not even that time consuming either, making a quick fast watch.