What’s important to note is that Bubblegum Crisis’ influences were the aforementioned 80s blockbusters Blade Runner, Streets of Fire, and Terminator, and how their success fed Bubblegum Crisis’ success by being the vaunt couriers of the concepts it employed. Police Files (1990), and a three episode sequel in Bubblegum Crash (1991-1992). The original plan was for it to go to 13 episodes, ultimately falling short (clearly), but it was eventually padded out with a three-episode prequel in A.D. “Reeee! Put on some pants, ladies” – The Western Talibanīubblegum Crisis amounted to eight episodes in length, being original video animations (OVAs), released in home video format in its native country from 1987 to 1990. When Romanov isn’t being a mole for the Knight Sabers, she’s their technical expert and hacker.
#BUBBLEGUM CRISIS SHIRT SERIES#
She is an employee of the AD Police, Mega Tokyo’s law enforcement (and the series red shirts, honestly, they’re only good at dying!).
Lastly is Nene Romanov, the youngest member of the group at 18. Linna inserts a necessary element of heart into the storytelling. A team player, she’s the heart of the group, and a load-bearing character for many episodes in spite of not being fully fleshed out. Returning to the rest of the team, Linna Yamazaki is a 20-year-old aerobics instructor, and the most down to earth member of the Knight Sabers. Not hard to spot the vocational similarity there between Aim and Asagiri, interestingly enough, Priss was actually voiced by a rock singer, Kinuko Ohmori, in the original Japanese voice casting. Hot-tempered and an all-out combatant, she’s the strongest fighter of all the Knight Sabers, but her bad attitude and loner tendencies make her less of a team player and more of a reckless hotshot.ĭigressing here from Priss for a second, one of the other influences for Bubblegum Crisis was 1984s Streets of Fire, a sly western packaged in a grungy urban setting, where, Diane Lane’s character, Ellen Aim, is a rock singer and front woman for the band ‘The Attackers’ (Ellen Aim and The Attackers), who is kidnapped by biker gang leader Raven Shaddock (a young Willem Defoe), and rescued by Michael Pare’s rough and tumble Tom Cody. Next is the series’ main character, Priscilla “Priss” Asagiri, the front woman of a rock band ‘Priss and The Replicants’ (a not so subtle reference back to Blade Runner). Using her business (clothing, lingerie) as a cover, and her wealth to fund her endeavors, Sylia Stingray created the Knight Sabers, and is the driving force behind them. Her husband was murdered by GENOM, and it was covered up as an accident. The Knight Sabers consists of Sylia Stingray, the money and the mind behind the group. Think Iron Man meets Charlie’s Angels, and you get the picture. Enter the Knight Sabers, a team of four women in high tech battle armor called ‘Hard Suits’, which are strong enough to withstand the offense of combat-centric Boomers, and powerful enough to destroy them. Naturally, GENOM is a problem, the Boomers specifically being the main tool used by them to get their way with things. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? A moody, visually striking neo noir, sci-fi brooding over memories and what constitutes being alive, or even real, took its time to resonate with audiences, but its dystopian, rain swept, neon lit streets found immediate purchase in the theater of imagination as it would become the primary inspiration for the setting of 1987’s Bubblegum Crisis. Not originally a hit in its decade of release, but gaining accolades over time after a bajillion re-cuts, 1982s Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott was an adaption of Philip K. Three titles of the 80s helped shape one anime in particular. While Hollywood was definitely cranking out quality content to both US theaters and abroad, an interesting thing to note is the overall influence that some of these movies had on other mediums, specifically anime. The 80s offered plenty of reasons to go to the cinema, and the fraction of the films mentioned above still hold up as all-time greats, game changers, or cult classic brain popcorn to this day. Star Trek films with the original cast had a long, lucrative run during the period Back To The Future I and II took viewers on a temporal roller coaster a streak of Jason Voorheese slasher sequels thrilled audiences three Rambo actioners lit up the screen Predator, ‘nuff said the original Star Wars trilogy completed itself gloriously Critters, and both C.H.U.D. Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since cuneiform!Ī profound understatement would be saying that the 80s was a good decade for film.