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You may not know, but in my Junior High and High School days, I was fan of Japanese Animation, otherwise known as "Anime" in the Japanese parlance. This came about through my early memories of watching Voltron and Star Blazers as a child.
My friend and I were into the local Anime clubs around the Puget Sound, and through them, he acquired a copy of all of the Bubblegum Crisis OVA's (Original Video Animation) on one long play VHS cassette.
Bubblegum Crisis is set in 2032 in Megatokyo, the city that was built up from the ashes of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 2025. The story borrows its setting from Blade Runner, a very clear omage to the seminal work of 1980's science fiction. The questions it poses are similar: What does it mean to be Human? When do the lines of Man and Machine blur to become one?
Over 8 fully realised (although 13 were planned) episodes, the "Knight Sabers", composed of 4 mercenary women of various walks of life in MegaTokyo, fight the evil corporation known as "Genom". Genom is the world's premier producer of "Boomers", semi-autonomous cyborgs and robots used in manual labour. Some of these Boomers are also used in military applications, and some of them are used to fight against governments around the world in an attempt to wrest power after various destabilizing wars and skirmishes.
The music is classic 1980's Japanese Pop, and undeniably some of the best ever produced during the period. A stable of "seiyu"; voice actors and singers, were used to produce 8 soundtracks, 3 music compilations, as well as 2 live action videos of various "concerts", filmed for the series.
If you ever get the chance to sit down and watch this series, I highly recommend it to you. It encapsulates the best production of the 1980's. Great story, fantastic voice acting, and amazing music.
~Goo
Last edited by googwaba on Fri Sep 02, 2016 1:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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