Another episode of Bubblegum Crisis, another story about the evil Genom corporation and how they have their dirty fingers lodged into every orifice of the dystopian Tokyo of 2032.
Another batch of hulking mecha-monsters who shoot up the streets of the city, another excuse for the girls of The Knight Sabers to slip into their armored disguises (complete with quick cartoon nudity) and batter some metal.
Another bucket of blood, another terrific score loaded with synthesizers and blazing audio neon.
It’s also another strikingly cinematic affair that’s fun to watch if ultra-80s junk is your bag. Even if the storyline is murky, each episode is a neat cyberpunk smoke ring blown out in the night. We’re talkin’ miles of style.
In this one, everyone’s having a bad day. Car problems. Speeding tickets. Screw-ups at their tollbooth job. One of the girls’ owns a lingerie shop that gets wrecked in the latest street assault.
Things get worse when Priss–who isn’t the leader of The Knight Sabers, but is the leader of their band Priss & The Replicants–comes home to her slummy apartment only to find that Genom has bought the building and evicted everyone. The company is outside with the wrecking ball ready to go and the entire community has to be out immediately. No notice.
Tenant’s rights laws must really stink in future Tokyo.
In the middle of the demolition, one of Priss’s friends–a mother who’s saving up to get her and her 10-year-old son out of this hellhole–gets killed.
And now Priss is angry. Priss wants blood. And Priss knows exactly whose blood she wants; it’s this slick, Patrick Bateman-looking guy named Mason. He’s an exec at Genom and he’s all hair product and ice in the veins.
The Knight Sabers have rules against members striking out their own or indulging in personal grudges, but even the rest of the crew agree that what happened at the apartments was fucked up and so they go along with Operation: Kill Mason.
Yes, this is a typical Bubblegum Crisis episode, but that’s not a bad thing. That just means it has an intriguing mood of both frivolity and tragedy. For every silly moment, we also get something dark. The city is a cruel place, but it’s also a beautiful sight at times full of blinking lights and picturesque shadows and always humming with life. It’s the perfect place to be a villain. Or a victim. Or a hero.