Essential Anime Collection: Bubblegum Crisis 2040 #1 ADV 225 minutes English/Japanese English Subtitles Released: 10/26/2004 Reviewed: 02/22/2005

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My bipolar desire for anime is no big secret. My love for the digitized artwork of the Far East waxes and wanes on a daily basis. There are weeks that, through the clever follies of my friends and roommates, I will end up watching nearly an entire television show. There are weeks where I consume ten times the cost of a single DVD in cheap Pennsylvania beer without giving a second thought to what the robots are doing at this moment. There are shows that I really like (and I mean absolutely adore) and I haven't been able to allocate 75 minutes of my time over the past two years to watch the final three episodes of either of them. One thing that's for sure, though, is that my love for Bubblegum Crisis will never waver. It goes through phases too, but there's always something on my mind. Today, though no conscious move of my own, I find myself wearing a 2040 T-shirt. This morning, thanks to the shuffle feature on my mp3 player, I finished off my workout with Kinuko Oomori's Chase the Dream. An hour later I was listening to Seikira's Planet inside a Tunnel on the bus ride to school. Just last night I watched Bubblegum Crash (still hated it). These sort of major confluences are rare, but I think that if I ever had a sticking point in anime, as tenuous as it might be, it would be Bubblegum Crisis.

So I gotta say I'm a little overjoyed that this series is coming out yet again. Jerry joked the other day that I don't buy anime, I just buy Bubblegum Crisis. This is not too far from the truth. I've bought the original series about four times over now and, to this day, still own an unopened box of the VHS (as if they're going to, like, appreciate in value or something) and now I guess a similar pattern is going to develop with 2040. There's something telling about a series of shows that could get me to buy over 60% of their 20-some CD releases. Collectors edition metal tins? Yeah, I've got them too. I don't know why because they cost like $35 and you can't even SEE them when they're on the shelf but hey, that's sort of what I do. Jerry thinks that I'll eventually break down and buy the 2040 box set too, which contains the EXACT SAME DVDs as the ones I already own, because I really like the cover art. And I do! But for now I'll try to content myself with this ultraspecial re-release. At least this set has 5.1 soundtracks and voice actor commentaries.

The commentaries are some of the more interesting (anime) ones I've had the privilege of watching. It's obvious that the actors care about the show (for many of them it was their first leading role, if not their first role at all) but at the same time it's quite clear that they barely remember it at all. This sums about nine tenths of the sentiment I have towards anime. How can I hang out with this people? Do you think it would be too crazy to call the offices and ask for their numbers? A guy with a voice like Leon's, I think you could do worse than having him as a drinking buddy! Bubblegum Crisis is not all that special. The choreography, as I've said, can be quite exciting. The robot, fake-cyberpunk, angle will get me every time and I'm wholly enamored with Priss's character design, but it's only a cut or two above what I would consider to be an average show. At the same time it's not exploitative, it's generally clever and it's frequently visually appealing. What starts out as a formulaic "monster of the week" show grows to this pretty awesome conclusion where the whole world is in peril and there's robot dinosaurs. If that's not enough to win you over then I don't see why you're watching anime in the first place.

Bubblegum Crisis might not be special, but it's good enough for me. This show breeds in me a feeling of hope for the future that I just can't shake. It might be six years old now, that's sort of a strike against it. It might violate nearly every aspect of the original's continuity, but hot damn if it doesn't tell a narrative that doesn't revolve around sixteen year old girls and magical puffballs that can only grunt out their name. That's good enough for me and with careful shopping you can now get yourself this entire show for approximately $33. What the hell are you waiting for? Christmas? I don't know about you, but nobody gives me anime for Christmas. I'm too horrified to admit that I watch it to anyone that doesn't fess up first. It excites me that this series is down, but not out. My thoughts on it are already well established, but I though I might take a bit of time to reiterate some of my most expressive feelings on the subject. It's always been my dream to see more of this show. I guess for now, I'll have to be happy with more of the same. But hey, ADV, think of it this way: If you keep packaging this show up, no matter how scant the "new and improved!!!!" extras are, I'll keep buying it. You've got your guaranteed market share right here. Its name is Dave Riley.