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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Friday, 19 August 2005 02:00 |
 Back to Tokyo 2040, and still no sign of any
bubblegum crisis. ... I'll stop making jokes about the name now, I
promise. This volume provides a decent amount of action, and at
first glance not much else - but as with a lot of other series, pay
close attention to the quieter moments and little bits of important
information are leaking out...
5 - Rough and Ready
Another mad boomer on the loose means another night's work for the
Knight Sabers. The AD Police are already on the scene before the
girls even launch - although this time it seems the good folk at Genom
Corporation are using them & the mad boomer as a way to lure out
& hopefully capture the Knight Sabers. Inside the target
area, the boomer has begun merging with the machinery around it,
meaning taking it down is going to be that much harder than
usual. Meanwhile, Genom's vice-president seems to have his own
plans for the boomers, while Sylia gets distracted during the mission
when she begins to doubt her reasons for fighting the boomers...
6 - Get It On
The battle against the rogue boomer takes a twist when the girls'
hardsuits begin to run low on power and the AD Police begin to close in
on them. Realising they've become the target, the Knight Sabers
try to beat a retreat before their power supplies run dry, but the AD
Police have them cornered and seem to be under orders to shoot to
kill. Just when things look lost, Sylia arrives in her hardsuit
and takes care of the ADP. Later, Sylia receives an unexpected
visitor - Mackey, a young boy who claims to be her brother. While
she's glad to see him again, she soon finds his attitude towards
machines to be disturbing, while Mackey himself finds Nigel to be
sopmething of a kindred spirit...
7 - Look at Yourself
When a worker at an undersea drilling platform finds out that his
wife's been having an affair while he's been away, his feelings of rage
somehow manage to tranfer to the boomer he controls, which then sets
off in search of his unfaithful wife. This type of boomer isn't
supposed to be able to operate independently, and someone within Genom
is concerned enough about its disappearance to approach Sylia about
it. With it being built for deep-sea operation it's built more
like a tank than anything else, so it's going to be a difficult
operation for the Knight Sabers - and Linna's hardsuit isn't ready for
use, so it's up to Priss and Nene to do the hard work...
8 - Fireball
A break from fighting boomers, and while Mackey continues to help out
in Nigel's workshop - much to Sylia's disgust, especially when she
realises how into his machines. Sylia's reaction to hearing him
talk is enough to put him off staying with her, and he leaves to go and
live with Nigel. Meanwhile, Priss has an off-duty run-in with
Leon - he seems quite keen on trying to chat her up, but she's not
remotely impressed by his lines and even less so by who he works for -
while Nene and Linna have a girls' night in. A mad boomer put
paid to everyone's plans for a quiet night in...
Hmm. There's a definite trend to having boomer battles spread
over two episodes, which I'm not overly keen on - to me it just seems a
way of creating a cliffhanger ending when the story doesn't really
merit one. Episodes 5 & 6 use that trick - they're also the
weakest epsiodes on the disc, although they do bring Genom's
vice-president into play, painting him as probably a more dangerous
& influential character than his boss. He certainly seems to
be working to his own plans, at any rate.
Episode 7 is the best of the disc, as the story is woven around real
people and the mad boomer here has more of a purpose in story terms
than before - it's there for a reason other than giving the Knight
Sabers a chance to turn up and kick ass. The final episode gives
the girls some time off - filler, but filler that's fun to watch,
before the end-of-episode 'mad boomer cliffhanger' makes another
appearance.
I like Bubblegum Crisis when it's in its quiet moments
and exploring the characters - Mackey's arrival gives both Nigel and
Sylia some good development, while Priss, Nene and Linna get some good
screentime in episode 7. Even Leon gets some good moments.
I like it less when rampaging boomers are roaming the city, as it can
often feel a little contrived. On balance, though, still a good
series.
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