Bubblegum Crisis - Hurricane Live! (Vol. 4)

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Since its debut in 1987, the popular Bubblegum Crisis series has been entertaining viewers with the adventures of the Knight Sabers--Sylia Stingray, Priss, Linna, and Nene. The curvaceous vigilantes fight the grasping leaders of Genom in stories that combine rock music, romance, and hard-hitting mecha battles. This installment is devoted to their music with montages of action. Watching explosions, motorcycle chases, mecha, and bloody fights while the soundtrack pounds out homogenized pop songs may seem incongruous at first, but fans of the series are used to it. All the songs seem to focus on a few themes: it's a tough city/life, but if we persevere, we'll triumph/find love/finally be happy. It's not clear if the song lyrics are as maladroit in Japanese as they are in English, but the subtitled words are often unintentionally hilarious: "I silently rev up the darkness while holding fast the crisis of my heart" or "Like the wind, you disappeared into the asphalt... while being torn to pale ribbons." The results resemble a cross between a standard-issue anime adventure and MTV, and will appeal only to hard-core fans of Bubblegum Crisis. Not rated: suitable for 13 and up for violence and occasional nudity. --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews:

Bubblegum Crisis, an Original Classic.......2006-01-18

The Bubblegum Crisis franchise in one of the strongest anime franchises out, with numerous spin-offs and a release of a new Bubblegum Crisis series, and there's no wondering why in my book. The characters, for there time, were original, the story was well-done and plotted excellently, the world in which the series was based was thoroughly thought out, and the music, though dated, works well with the anime.

In 2032-33, we get to meet the original four girls: Sylvia, Lena, Nene, and the ever popular Priss, as they battle Genom made Boomers from episode to episode in order to protect MegaTokyo. The first three episodes deals with the Knight Sabers battle with Brian Mason, the evil leader of Genom bent on destroying these four girls at all costs. The next episode gets away from the Genom story as the girls must fight a car infected with the Boomer virus, which is determined to destroy the Outriders, a biker gang. When Priss becomes a target, the Knight Sabers are forced to act. The fifth and six episodes gets back to the battle with Genom, and the Knight Sabers find themselves fighting some powerful new enemies: themselves, and the mysterious Largo. This is essentially the end of the series, yet two more movies follow that are almost entirely unrelated to the first six. In Double Vision, they must figure out a series of terrorist attacks against Boomer engineers. These attacks somehow involve Vision, an American singer. In Scoop Chase (my personal favorite) we follow Nene in her job as an AD Police officer while she watches over Lisa, a young girl who seems to idolize the Knight Sabers. That's when a new group of Boomers attack the AD Police headquarters and the Knight Sabers must act in order to save allies and friends from the ongoing Boomer threat. Also included in this collection is the Hurricane Live DVD containing thirteen music videos from the series.

What's great about this series is that it's actually a huge collection of short films. None of these episodes are less than a half-hour, and some are near to an hour or more. It makes it much more watchable, in the end, since there is never a "to be continued." You see one conflict resolve itself before moving onto the next, without ever truly escaping the core storyline.

This is a classic anime series that should be picked up by any person who truly wants to call themselves a hardcore fan. This is one of the founders of the cyberpunk genre and without this series, great anime like Akira may have never been. I recommend this to everyone.

Please be well aware..........2004-10-05

There isn't much I can add to all the other reviews but one: The original 3 DVD's gave you the option to either listen to the English or Japanese soundtracks. Personally I hate the English track but if for some reason you preferred English over Japanese, for the serie as well as the music, then this DVD is not for you.

This blast from the past houses all the music from the Bubble Gum Crisis but only in their original language. If you never listened to the Japanese tracks on the BGC DVD's before now would be a good time to do so (after putting this disk in your wishlist, believe me: you'll need it later on :-)).

GREAT.......2004-03-30

This is one of the pioneering shows of Anime! I remember shelling out $35 to $40 for ONE tape! Blech..what a rip off! But it got me hooked on the "Knight Sabers"! This show is fun and shows it's age with the clothes they wear etc but is a GREAT show and is the BEST in the series. If you are a fan buy THIS edition, the casing is junky as its a big clunky box with plain ol jewel cases etc but its well worth the price alone for fans of the show. The characters were done very well in this show amidst some sillyness, but not as silly as the new show 2040.

Blade Runner Anime Style.......2004-02-18

Takes place in the same universe "Bubblegum Crisis", but before Knight Sabers existed. Robots called Boomers, look just like humans, are very intelligent and work in the cities for the humans doing a variety of tasks such as construction, cleaning and even sexual services. Sometimes these robots malfunctioned and ended up killing innocent people. The A.D. Police force was created to destroy malfunctioning boomers. What I liked about this series was the good quality of animation, action, sound fx, and tense story telling, it has all the makings of a great anime. With its futuristic cities and noire over-tone it has a similar look and feel like the movie, Blade Runner. The Boomers are robots that look and act like humans; they are like the Replicants. In a way, the A.D. Police are like Blade Runners. I also enjoyed this anime because the cop, ýLeoný is a good character, and I always wanted some background on him. Blood and gore, nudity, for adults only. Each episode is self contained so you can watch any of them and not feel lost in the story. Ends on 3 then connects with the anime Bubblegum Crisis 2030

Eeesh...........2003-07-23

This series was pretty good. The animation isn't the greatest and it goes by a little slow for me and my brother, but over all not too bad. I wouldn't really recommend buying it unless you like classic anime.

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