|
|
|
bubblegum
Click the download button to save this wallpaper on to your computer.
| bubblegum |
| Wallpaper Description: |
Bubblegum Crisis is a cyberpunk-style anime that takes place in the future in a post-disaster Tokyo, now known as Megatokyo. The series has a manga adaptation.
The original OVA series was eight episodes long. It was originally slated to run for thirteen episodes, but due to legal problems between the two studios who jointly held the rights to the series, Artmic and Youmex, the series was discontinued. The problems may have been brought on by the series' lackluster sales in Japan. In North America, however, the series did comparatively well, and has remained a fan favorite.
In Japan, a number of manga were produced that featured characters and storylines based in the BGC (a common abbreviation for the series name) universe. Some were very much thematically linked to the OVA series, others were "one shots" or comedy features. A number of artists participated in the creation of these comics, including Kenichi Sonoda, who had produced the original Knight Saber character designs. A North American comic based in the Bubblegum Crisis Universe was published in English by Dark Horse Comics.
The series involves the adventures of the Knight Sabers, an all woman group of superheroes/mercenaries, who don powered armor and fight various problems, most frequently rogue boomers. Boomers are humanoid robots designed to perform a variety of tasks, from construction and firefighting to combat; a particular model of Boomer, the BU-33S "Sexaroid", is designed for sexual purposes.
One of the central themes of the series, showing its Blade Runner influence strongly, is the exploration of what "human" really means. As in Blade Runner, this is often done by using the mechanical characters, especially focusing on BU-33S.
Bubblegum Crisis was notable also in that it was one of the few early anime series that were brought over from Japan unedited and subtitled with English captions that still have a great deal of popularity today. While anime has become much more popular in the intervening years, in 1991 it was still mostly unknown as a storytelling medium in North America.
In 1997, a new series was created, titled Bubblegum Crisis 2040, but was not a sequel to the original OVA series. Headed by Chiaki J. Konaka, it was a standalone television series, and while it used similar themes to the original, it employed new designs for the characters and the mechanical devices. This series ran for twenty six episodes. Some discussion has taken place between the production companies for a second season, tentatively titled Bubblegum Crisis 2041, although many people suspect that the franchise owners have lost interest in it (it is still listed among their assets, however).
Despite the age of the original series, a non-Japanese fandom still exists for it (further research is necessary to determine the size of a possible Japanese one), and throughout the years there have been many debates on parts of the series that were unclear or deliberately arranged as to provoke discussion. The community of fans have produced large quantities of "fan fiction" and "fan art" based on both the OVA and television series, though there is a preponderance of works and discussion based on the original series. This is partly due to the longer period of time that it has been out, but it is also partly due to a large portion of the fandom expressing a preference for the original series. It is unclear as to how the proportions of preference will change as further time passes.
Bubblegum Crisis has many features that have proven attractive to many viewers of anime. The mecha designs, cyberpunk characters, and post-apocalyptic city of Megatokyo are well-realized and leave a lasting impression. The storylines are varied and complex, and are (sometimes deliberately, sometimes not) filled with parts that have multiple possible interpretations. The series was also one of the earliest anime to have a strong yuri fandom.
The music throughout the original OVA series is one of the most recognizable in anime fandom and generates a strong feeling of 1980's nostalgia. The opening song and sequence for the first OVA, as well as many of the other songs throughout the series, clearly draw inspiration from the 1984 movie Streets of Fire. Nearly all of the music is available, as there are 8 soundtrack releases (one per OVA).
A roleplaying game based on the series was published by R. Talsorian in 1997 under the Fuzion system. It contains many original sketches of the characters, mecha and settings, as well as detailed background information about them.
A digitally-remastered compilation of the original series' episodes, featuring bi-lingual tracks and production extras, was released on DVD in 2004 by AnimEigo Inc.
The eight-episode series spans the years of 2032 to 2033, starting in early 2032, seven years after the (fictional) great Kanto earthquake which split Tokyo — and its people — in two. During the introductory scenes of the first episode, disparities in wealth and power were shown to be more pronounced than in previous periods in post-war Japanese history, and over all loomed the shadow of the mega corporation Genom's babylonical tower.
Genom is a fictional corporation that was shown to have immense power in the Bubblegum Crisis world. Genom's main merchandise were the Boomers — artificial beings used in place of humans for manual labor. But while the Boomers were intended to serve mankind, they also became deadly instruments in the hands of ruthless individuals working for their own goals, as shown throughout the OVA series. The AD Police were employed to deal with matters that the regular police departments could not, and this included Boomer threats. A recurring theme of the series was the inability of the department to deal with the threats, owing to political infighting, red tape and an insufficient budget.
With the sub-title, "The Story of Knight Sabers", the viewer could be certain that a new force would appear in order to deter the attacks of the various boomer and super-powered criminal organizations. The Knight Sabers are analogues of the all-male sentai fighting teams, and as such were depicted as having tremendous combat abilities (though these were thanks to their powered armor hard-suits), along with secret identities. Throughout the OVA series, they battled against long odds to overcome grave threats and preserve the overall safety of Megatokyo, though we are shown tremendous destruction to the surrounding environs on numerous occasions (most notably in Episode 6, where we see the destruction of an R & D facility, and in Episode 1, where the abandoned "Aqua City" facility was destroyed entirely in a complex and likely expensive animation sequence).
source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubblegum_Crisis |
| Keywords: |
|
| Date: |
22.01.2007 17:14 |
| Hits: |
662 |
| Downloads: |
14 |
| Rating: |
0.00 (0 Vote(s)) |
| File size: |
88.4 KB |
| Added by: |
miyacho |
|
|
|
