Somehow, it's taken me almost 18 years to finish watching Bubblegum Crisis. I started summer 92', with a T-160 video tape filled with Lupin: Castle of Cagliostro, Patlabor: the Movie, 4 episodes of Bubblegum Crisis, and the Daicon III & IV intros. All of them were taped from Laserdiscs, and no subtitles. Thankfully in those days, synopses were published in fanzines, and I had write ups from Mecha Press to work from. Years later, when dubs (gasp) and subtitles were available, I had a better idea what was going on, but even unable to tell more than "robots blow shit up, are blown up in turn by armored women", Bubblegum Crisis was the stand-out to me.
Sometimes, I would just rewind and watch the intro to the first episode over and over, watching the Boomer tear shit up to "There's a Hurricane Tonight"
I was fascinated by the style, and the enemy being an evil corporation. Mind you, at the time I wasn't of the opinion that there was a good corporation, but that's beside the point. It was also my first brush with "Cyberpunk", shortly followed by Wild Palms and Snow Crash (Thanks to a free copy with Spectre VR.) At the time, I was still heavily into "Scientifiction", Perry Rhodan, and Lovecraft pastiches, so for a computer dweeb, a world where console cowboys broke everything and had hot sex with cybered-up, battle-hardened women sounded pretty decent.
The music also deserves praise, capturing the mood of the series, and remaining listenable after all this time:
(Yes, it's the english version. I sacrilegiously like it better.)
Of course, the poor AD Police deserve a mention.
If you think popups are bad, think of them coming up when you're thermo-scanning people who might be Boomers.
"We've got a BU-12C Military grade Boomer loose on James Cameron. Unit 28, can you respond?"
(I always slip this guy into the first episode when I remember it.)
