All Outta Bubblegum

I have come here to chew bubblegum and I’m all outta bubblegum. So I decided to take a leap back in time and watch a 90’s anime called Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. I didn’t realize until after I got into the show that there was a Bubblegum Crisis that preceded Tokyo 2040. Although of similar titles and some of the characters, they are two different beasts is the word on the street. With that said, I probably won’t watch Bubblegum Crisis for at least a month to make sure to avoid making comparisons between the two.

I’m always looking for a good science fiction anime and BC Tokyo 2040 was able to satisfy this need.  The show might be considered cyberpunk; it’s all the same to me. It actually delivered which lately I have not been getting satisfaction from the current fare of anime. But this post is not to whine about how modern anime seems to be in a free fall but an acknowledgement of a series that I’m glad I finally watched. I’m not one to over analyze my anime. I do that in my life in general but I can still appreciate an anime that tries to have a meaning behind it. You had your stock characters with little to no personalities; just background noise, but the show revolved around four young women (one apparently “mature”, still not sure what they were trying to say there) build a friendship, accept themselves and each other, as they fought against man-made creations called boomers that had gone “mad”.

It seemed that Tokyo 2040 had a theme that didn’t hit me until the last episode. Acceptance. Galatea, a “clone” of one of the main characters, Sylia, who I dub the mother of the boomers wanted to be accepted, she wanted all boomers to be accepted. To not be treated as second-class citizens. The boomers just wanted to be accepted by the humans. They went mad because Galatea was angry and hurt. She watched her family be treated harshly by humans and she snapped. And when she snapped so did the boomers. Even most humans want to be accepted by others even if its not other humans, it could be dogs, but humans like to feel wanted and cared for; why not the same for a boomer that was essentially created in the human mind? I really don’t want to give spoilers in this post because if you hadn’t seen it and are interested, I do not want to give anything away. This is a mature series, there is nudity and violence, so don’t watch this with your kids who are under the age of 13 (unless that’s how you run your household).  If you liked Ghost in the Shell, you most likely will like Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040.

Have you seen this show or have you seen the original Bubblegum Crisis?

Sidenote: This is my 65th post!

• Posted in: Anime ♦ Japan ♦ Science Fiction
• Tagged: Animation, Bubblegum Crisis, bubblegum crisis tokyo, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, Fandom, ghost in the shell, Tokyo