WHAT IS BUBBLEGUM CRISIS TOKYO2040?
Bubblegum Crisis began life as an OAV (straight to video) anime series in the early 1980's. It ran for 8 episodes and it was pretty good. It focused on four women, the Knight Sabers and their battle with the Genom Corporation, who were responsible for the productions of Boomers, a bio-synthetic 'robot' designed to take over the manual tasks that people do from day to day. But more on that later....
Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, is to put it very loosely, a remake of the original OAV. I don't like using the term remake, because though the characters names remain the same and the very basics of the original plot are there, the overall developing story and characters themselves are different. Even the timeframe is different. The OAV was set in 2032, the 'new' series in 2040. One doesn't need to watch 'old' series to follow what is happening in the 'new'. Both are totally separate from each other.
Tokyo 2040 spans 26 episodes, givng great scope for an in depth, intense story line and deep portrayal of the characters and their interactions.
*****
So, here is a very brief overview....
In 2033 Tokyo was rocked by an earthquake that totally devastated the cityand took numerous lives. The Genom Corporation aids in Tokyo's reconstruction by supplying Boomers to help in the rebuild. Tokyo is rebuilt as Mega Tokyo, bigger and better than before. Genom's Boomers were such a success, the began to sell all sorts of different model boomers to the public market.
Soon things begin to take a disturbing turn. There are reports of Boomers going 'rogue.' Mutating and causing destruction and loss of life. The AD (Armoured Division) Police are formed, at Genom's request, to combat these Boomers, but this proves to be difficult. The Genom Corporation is powerful and has its hands in the media, government and AD Police. It suppresses news of these rogue boomers, essentially turning it into little more than an urban myth.
A group of armoured vigilantes appear on the scene. The Knight Sabers, and their sole purpose seems to be the destruction of rogue Boomers. As the series progresses we find out the reason the Knight Sabers were formed, and after a few plot twists, the hidden, sinister agenda of Genom is finally revealed.
*****
That's it in a nutshell. The story line is excellent with suspense and action aplenty. The characters are real, not 2 dimensional and are explored deeply as the series progresses. The animation is excellent and it has a brilliant rock soundtrack to top it off!
The series is available on video and DVD. It is distributed by ADV Films.
You can follow the link at the top of this page to see the profiles of some of the major characters. In the meantime here is a small timeline and info to put things in perspective....
AD2009: The first boomer is created by Dr Stingray.
AD2032: Genom purchase Bioscape Laboratories where Doctor Stingray is working,
thusly gaining rights to the Boomers.
AD2033: The earthquake strikes, devastating Tokyo. Doctor Stingray is killed
during the earthquake. Genom uses boomers to help rebuild Tokyo.
AD2035: Genom begins to sell Boomers on the open market, later there
begins
incidents of Boomers going 'rogue'.
AD2035: The AD Police are formed to deal with crimes primarily related to
out-of-control Boomers.
AD2037: A group of mercenaries calling itself the Knight Sabers makes it first
appearance. Their objective appears to be destroying rampaging Boomers.
AD2040: Linna Yamazaki is recruited into the Knight Sabers and this is where the
series starts.
The Knight Sabers
The Knight Sabers were present for three years before the series began. There are strong hints that there have been past team members who were killed in action. Sylia rarely goes out into combat. Daley's response to first time Sylia was shown in a hardsuit, "I haven't seen that one in awhile."
Genom
When Genom was founded and by whom is a mystery. The bigger question may be whether Genom played a hand in causing or manipulating the earthquake that left Tokyo in ruins. It did not hurt the company. Rather it aided them in becoming such a large economic power by using Boomers to aid in the reconstruction and later, selling boomers to the public sector .