Production: AIC
Copyright © JVC * AIC

Alas and alack, yet another venerable anime has fallen into the hands of the evildoers at Remakes 'R Us, Inc. With the rather dismal results from the recent spat of TV series based on popular late 80s and early 90s OVAs, one cannot help but feel a little hesitant about this latest offering, BUBBLEGUM CRISIS - TOKYO 2040.
The original series should need no introduction, even to the casual anime fan. Eight episodes with some of Japan's best animation staff behind it, BUBBLEGUM CRISIS pretty much defined cyberpunk and girls and guns action—the pinnacle of 80s anime, really, falling prey only to the almighty Budget Cut. Rumors that there would be a TV adaptation began circulating several years ago, with the various tidbits of information sending many an anime fan into alternating states of joy and terror.
Well, we can be thankful that most of the talk never panned out. All right, I admit it, it really is too bad that Sonoda is no longer the character designer, but at least the Knight Sabers aren't teenagers, and thank God Priss isn't an idol singer. Someone over at AIC still had some sense of decency. However, if you are expecting anything even close to the original OVA series, you will be disappointed.
So what is the lowdown on BUBBLEGUM CRISIS - TOKYO 2040? First of all, it's different. Very different. It is not just the new character designs by Yamada Masaki; the setting, background, atmosphere and characterizations are all far removed from the gritty dark feel of the original. There are plenty of daytime scenes, and the city of MegaTokyo is more vibrant, alive and positive. The mechanical designs of the hardsuits remain faithful, but the concept behind the boomers has been changed completely. No longer are they purely mechanical constructs that look human; they are now part-biological robots that look, well, clearly robotic. To someone whose favorite BGC characters included Sylvie, it's rather disturbing, actually.
The cast returns, in some form or the other, most of them recognizable only by name and role since their personalities have been reworked. Appearance-wise, the initial impression is "Neo El Hazard," but to AIC's credit they did not even attempt to duplicate the old characters, instead bringing forth a fresh set that fits in with this new world of Tokyo 2040. No longer your clichéd anime characters, they would probably go over better in this age where Nene's particular brand of cute and Leon's macho antics have gone out of style.
I don't want to give away too much by describing all the changes that have taken place. Suffice to say that you may be groaning at what they did to Linna, grudgingly approving of Priss, cheering on the new Nene, and throwing your hands up in disbelief at Ifurita, uh, I mean Sylia. New relationships, new pasts, new motivations, all serving to keep the audience wondering.
The music, yet another hallmark of the original series, is unfortunately rather bland here. The vocals and opening and closing are quite good, on the slow rock side, but the only impression the BGM left was of corny techno. Given that the action suffers from the relative low budget of a TV series, this is one area that could have elevated the final product to a higher level. It is not that the animation is terrible, rather that the weak BGM detracts from what is otherwise a decent effort to work within the confines stemming from the current recession.
Other complaints include technology that simply is not believable within the story, and characters performing actions that just should not be that way. There are too many cases of coincidence, or times when things happen too conveniently to swallow. The TV series begins with Linna, Knight Sabers fan, newly arrived in Tokyo. She has a run-in with Priss, then gets caught up in a boomer attack. When the Knight Sabers appear, she realizes one of them is Priss, and somehow manages to track her down and demands to be a Knight Saber. That she actually does join them is a little too farfetched even by anime standards. Chalk this one up to clumsy scrip-writing.
Still, when all said and done, this is actually a pretty interesting anime in its own right. Whereas other remakes tend to fall flat on their faces, BUBBLEGUM CRISIS - TOKYO 2040 stands on its own legs. The key here was abandoning the original in favor of a whole new series. It lacks the style that made its predecessor a classic, but then again it makes no pretense at going for the flash. There is no comparison with the old, but looking around at the lackluster spinoffs that they try to market nowadays, I would consider this one of the best picks on TV right now. The story promises to be interesting, but personally it's the characters that make the difference, Priss in particular. I never was a Priss fan, nor a Nene fan, but this time around they appeal strongly. So throw away all your preconceptions about this anime, take things as they come, and perhaps you will find that patience is a virtue.