To say that something weird happened in Japan during the 70s and the 80s is quite the litote. As the country was exposed to Western culture it started as it always had taking the cool stuff appropriating it and putting its own spin on it and that is also and probably especially the case for animation. Bubblegum Crisis is certainly one of the crystallizations of that particular concept in the way that it doesnt even try to hide its origins and even goes as far as plagiarism in order to display its love for pop culture. Because it truly is a work that had everything that would please your average fan of animation and scifi: Cool mecha hardsuits belonging to the sentai genre and a particular attention given to machine designs cool gadgets and sakuga? Check. A world in crisis with powerful conglomerates conspiring in the shadows for more power? Check. Sexy yet badass rebel heroines that will stop at nothing to fight against those evil corporations? Check. Neon lights live shows and characteristic hairstyles displaying the typical retrofuture as was shown in Streets of Fire Back to the Future and Dirty Pair? Check. Audience discretion advised: BGC has a few ultraviolent aspects and some partial sometimes close to full nudity which was Im sure of it very appreciated at the time. https://www..com/watch?v=an0IIRDlc4 Made between 87 and 91 Bubblegum Crisis is also one of the best examples that one can use to talk about the Golden Age of Japanese animation which I would personally judge as spanning from the second half of the 80s to the end of the first half of the 90s aka. The collapse of the Japanese economy. It definitely shows a particular attention to image quality as far as OVA go and offers neatly drawn crisp character designs beautiful colouring detailed backgrounds and machinery deep shading and an animation that is certainly impressive at times. Its truly a work that stood the test of time turning its timeliness into a sort of subdued timelessness and the Japanese public certainly was not used to seeing such good animation for OVA although OVA were certainly a fairly new concept back then which was argued to have been born after the DAICON movies with Dalloshttps://anilist.co/anime/3060/ being the first one to have been made. https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/bff7bd687788b08040c142f23387ba0c.mp4 The way the main characters are treated in this story feels also slightly different than usual: our heroines are sexy bishoujo you see them at times in underwear/naked or changing and the very suits they have are equipped with dubious high heels yet they kick ass like heroines such as Ellen Ripley or Sarah Connor from T2 and theyre certainly used in ways that go well beyond their bishoujo substance introducing some subtext yuri into the story at the expense of our main male side character Leon. This one is usually shoved aside ridiculed and sometimes even outright ignored which is a shame since his importance in the series keeps growing becoming over time the embodiment of those allies of justice who strive to do what is right despite the corruption that plagues government institutions. https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/c8a9ac5bbb6ac03d99d3de3550c855bf. Concerning the influences this is the part where BGC truly displays what its made of to the point of sometimes making one wonder if the creators were doing this truly to show their love for culture or if they were trying to take less risks for the final product. The OVA was started with the intent of making it very close to the 84 movie Streets of Fire and this can be seen in the way the live shows are integrated in the episodes or how the evil robots which are obviously inspired by the Terminator are called boomers which is very similar to the Bombers who are also the bad guys in that movie or even in the similarities between the song Victory in the OVA and Nowhere Fast from that same movie. https://www..com/watch?v=dQgAnh8qBe0 https://www..com/watch?v=Yub3Ow7tBs Speaking of music and getting a bit closer to the concept of plagiarism I spoke about earlier Mysterious Night is basically a mashup of two songs from Jeanne Mas the last part of the solo from MAD MACHINE is strikingly similar to the solo from the song The Final Countdown by Europe Konya wa Hurricane is very inspired by the song Desire from Akina Nakamori the opening riff of Asu e Touchdown is exactly the same melody as the main melody from Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and certainly a lot more influences are hidden in the depths of this OVA. This is not a criticism and whether or not it affects something in your appreciation of the overall work is up to you but theres no denying the influences as the music is one of the most important aspects of BGC. As it stands it is divided in two parts between the songs that are sung and the tracks used for ambience. While the ambient tracks are of varying quality when it comes to the composing and are not necessarily memorable its certainly for the vocal tracks that BGC is usually remembered and we really need to thank Kouji Makaino main composer for his remarkable work on those tracks. 220https://media.tenor.com/i7xantQokecAAAAC/bubblegumcrisispriscillaasagiri.gif Those are mostly sung by the four main heroines of the story and they reflect their personalities: the songs sung by Michie Tomizawa Linna are usually a kind of future funk with some rock aspects in keeping with the characters very energizing peacemaker attitude Yoshiko Sakakibaras songs are mostly blues to better reflect Sylias more adult laidback and deep personality shes the character whos the most explored in the entire story Akiko Hiramatsus very innocent and basic pop songs are all about how childish innocent and straightforward Nene is to the point of clumsiness and last but not least Kinuko Oomoris rebellious and impulsive Priscilla is reflected in all of her shades through very rock/hard rockoriented tracks including some very poignant power ballads. To be noted also the two songs starring Maiko Hashimoto whose character Reika was originally supposed to replace Priscilla but ended up being only a guest character after the decision to kill off Priscilla led to heavy discontent among the fans of the series. Outside of the solo character tracks a few guests also appear like Yuiko Tsubokura BlueW as well as idol unittype songs starring the four heroines singing altogether in order to avoid legal troubles after Kinuko signed a contract with Sony. Personally Im a huge fan of Kinukos songs and voice tone which is very unlike what youd find normally in anime while Michie Tomizawa turns out to have great sleeper hits like Route California or Mayonaka no Etoile and Sakakibaras songs bring a more cozy ambience filled with romanticism. To say that I dont listen to the soundtrack frequently would be a lie and it definitely has an amazing lasting appeal and good scope. https://www..com/watch?v=VzjzBHtgwPs As the episodes go on the storytelling of BGC becomes more developed and mature and the heroines show more of their past and personalities. The emotional tones and themes of the episodes while dark overall show a certain amount of variety going from heroism to bloody rampages and vengeance stories to cute Slice of Life aspects to civilians having their lives destroyed due to the dark manipulations of Genom only to end with episode 8 on a brighter and more hopeful tone with the fierce CHASE THE DREAM as ending theme. It is such a shame that the series became victim of legal and financial troubles and had to be cancelled after episode 8 creating loose ends. Phew that was a long one right? Overall beyond any eventual laziness that one could find in Bubblegum Crisis and while the work is not inhabited by a particularly deep story it is undeniable that the product was made with a particular care by people who loved the project and the craft and injected their passion into it. BGC is definitely a crystallization of the energy and enthusiasm of the 80s and it is obvious why the work became a classic oldie in the landscape of Japanese animation. You might say the grade is a bit exaggerated considering the flaws but I still think this anime as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts and a must see. Come on lets go smash some boomers together 220https://media.tenor.com/pZokhzBJQS0AAAAC/bubblegumcrisisboomer.gif