Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991) OVA Review and Retrospective - Episode 8: Scoop Chase

Scoop Chase is the eighth and final episode of the original Bubblegum Crisis series. It's directed by Katsuhito Akiyama, Hiroaki Gôda, Hiroki Hayashi, Masami Ôbari and Fumihiko Takayama; and written by Toshimichi Suzuki, Katsuhito Akiyama, Shinji Aramaki, Emu Arii, Hideki Kakinuma and Ken'ichi Matsuzaki; with the voices of Yoshiko Sakakibara, Kinuko Ômori, Michie Tomizawa and Akiko Hiramatsu.

During one of their typical Boomer hunts, the Knight Sabers spot a mysterious girl taking pictures of the team, Priss closes in on her and destroys her camera. The girl turns out to be Lisa Vanette, the niece of the chief of the A.D Police, and she just so happens to be put under the care of Nene as the girl tries to get close to the Knight Sabers and uses the A.D Police to that end. Nene finds out about Lisa's true intentions and attempts to conceal her secret life as a Saber while keeping a distance from Lisa. The tiny redhead also has to deal with her newly gained weight and bad training performance! Things go even worse when a Boomer attacks the A.D Police headquarters, trapping Nene and Lisa inside with a brand new and improved Boomer chasing them.

We have seen different episodes centering on individual members of the Knight Sabers, this final outing centers on Nene and it's one of the high points of the series. The show has been far from bad but these character driven episodes are more involving, they set the stakes higher and they amount to more resonating resolutions since we are presented with a familiarity with the characters that digs deeper into their intimacy and relatability as they struggle with some intense conflicts. This episode makes Nene deal with her insecurities and the usual heavy load that's often put on her at both of her jobs but these are things that she is able to overcome by trusting herself and counting with the support of her friends. Her virtues and troubles are very well presented and portrayed, incisively setting up and solving these issues while blending the subplots and the overall arc of the characters together seamlessly.

The episode unfolds with more or less the same formula: a new person is introduced who attempts to interfere with the Knight Sabers' fight against the Boomers, while a certain villain puts a secret plan in motion. However, things are more fast paced, comedic, pleasant and lively, fitting nicely considering this is a story focused on Nene. So tone-wise it's pretty perfect and features a more solid use of the typical plot beats in the formula by injecting them with more enjoyable interactions and more complex relationships between the protagonists and the antagonistic force in the story that eventually is changed into an ally, delivering solid moments like when Sylvia has a little speech about the Sabers and the Boomers or expanding the world by showing how the Saber Knights play round and train.

For a lot of the series you almost forget certain aspects like how Sylvia owns a lingerie store or even the character of Mackie, but this one at least has the decency to mention some of this stuff and bring it all back. When the Sabers show up for Nene in one of the concluding scenes, it really encapsulates how this team works and the strong bond that has been seen on occasion and that is present implicitly but that shines brightly in moments like these from time to time, kind of making it a very good ending overall. You can tell they sort of knew that this could be the very last one as evidenced by the opening credits sequence and its devotion of time to every single important character in the show.

Featuring the obligatory bombastic and excellently crafted battle/mechanical action animation and investing more time on its characters with such a well handled self-contained plot that at the same time closes the story appropriately and gracefully, this final episode encapsulates everything anyone can find to love and take delight in when it comes to Bubblegum Crisis. Possibly one of the best if not the best.

Killing Mary Sue (2025) Movie Review

Killing Mary Sue is a comedy action film written, directed and edited by James Sunshine. Starring Sierra McCormick, Dermot Mulroney, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jake Busey, Martin Kove and Jason Mewes.

The film follows Sierra McCormick as Mary Sue Harper, the troublesome deadbeat step-daughter of a Senator. The man wants to win an election but some recent scandals involving Mary Sue make him consider another option: hire an assassin to murder his step-daughter. The plan doesn't work since she discovers her unnatural and previously dormant fighting and shooting skills that allow her to murder her attackers. The girl now battles a death squad and unravels the conspiracy behind every strange event and element in her life.

This wild parody takes the meme and writing stereotype known as "Mary Sue" (a mostly false term that very hardly applies to female characters outside of fanfiction) and attempts to give it a new spin by making the tone light and the fiction itself self-aware or reality-bending (like in the finale) to launch some comedic scenarios and gags. This idea of an irresponsible couch potato who plays videogames and parties all day turning into a skilled assassin isn't anything new and the concept of the Mary Sue never goes far enough as this main character sort of struggles in many ways, her abilities are explained and her emotional conflict does present her with some character flaws and troubles to get over. So it never truly commits to the Mary Sue thing and I think that's one of the biggest issues a movie like this can have.

Otherwise, this is a rather average but serviceable action comedy, the movie warns you of its eccentric and odd nature by having Jason Mewes of Clerks fame as Mary Sue's biological father early on, setting the tone for the kind of humor you will be presented with and they do a rather decent job with the strange and peculiar jokes that sometimes come out of nowhere or are nutty and exaggerated just for the sake of it. This can usually lead to some irritating sequences but here it's toned down for its own good to a certain degree.

The fights and shootout sequences are not bad, but sometimes they feel somewhat artificial and plastic due to the abundance of CGI in a lot of the shots but they do retain a certain energy and dynamism that save them. Nothing out of the ordinary but the crew did a good job putting them together. Sierra McCormick is also quite good in the main role.

While a bit playful and self-aware it doesn't go far enough to truly work all the way. I can see some people who are into bizarre and frisky comedies enjoying it, even when the entire concept doesn't play out to its full potential and it loses a bit of team in the middle.

Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991) OVA Review and Retrospective - Episode 7: Double Vision

Double Vision is the seventh episode of the original Bubblegum Crisis series. It's directed by Katsuhito Akiyama, Hiroaki Gôda, Hiroki Hayashi, Masami Ôbari and Fumihiko Takayama; and written by Toshimichi Suzuki, Katsuhito Akiyama, Shinji Aramaki, Emu Arii, Hideki Kakinuma and Ken'ichi Matsuzaki; with the voices of Yoshiko Sakakibara, Kinuko Ômori, Michie Tomizawa and Akiko Hiramatsu.

A new combat Boomer is being produced by GENOM and the Gulf & Bradley Corporation. Meanwhile, popular singer Vision is coming to town, but this is a front, her real name is Reika and she is here to kill the people responsible for the Boomer who murdered her sister (as seen in episode 2 Born to Kill), however, Reika is too soft to murder anyone and hesitates when it comes to pull the trigger. The stakes are raised and the Sabers are in crisis with Priss having a broken arm, Nene is on the case at the A.D Police headquarters and Linna getting involved with Reika since she was a personal friend of her dear departed sister, Irene, persuading the well known singer to drop her plans for vengeance.

Another solid episode, one that returns to the musical roots of the show, but not with Priss, which would have been cool. I do think that having the main leads go through a lot of obstacles that knock them down a few notches in order to increase the tension of the conflicts is a very effective and well implemented trick to make the story more impactful and engaging due to its increased dramatic charge and having Linna become more of a focus is a also a very good decision because we get to spend some needed time with a mostly sidelined character in the past couple of episodes.

The weak spots are the routinary and dull stuff going on with Leon and the A.D Police, but that actually ends up paying off in the end. Some of the internal conflicts with the antagonists is interesting to a satisfying degree and a lot of it is more than necessary to the plot but it nearly always runs the risk of slowing down the pace and burying the main character's screentime, their development.

In addition to the usual well-crafted combat and riding sequences, we also have a few new tricks and flourishes such as the flashing and brief inside look at the exo suit when Priss gets her arm broken and some overly gory and brutal moments that are very in tune with the rest of the action but that are somewhat more highlighted here, increasing the despair and the misfortune of the characters. I also gotta commend the writers and directors for spicing up every battle scene and climax in the series making them feel distinct and never dragging on for long.

A very intriguing and captivating episode, giving some needed continuity to the show and closing some loose ends before the very last entry.