Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991) OVA Review and Retrospective - Episode 5: Moonlight Rambler

Moonlight Rambler is the fifth 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.

In the futuristic 2033 A.D. setting, two women (Sylvie and Anri), escape from the artificial space island named Genaros above Mega Tokyo. With their partners dead, the girls flee in a ship but are attacked by a boomer designed for space combat known as Doberman. In Mega Tokyo, victims of the Doberman are found with their blood drained out of their bodies, the AD Police investigates these seemingly vampiric murders. GENOM's head and Largo are behind an operation that involves building high-tech weapons they plan to sell, using the space island to this means. Priss and the Knight Sabers team meet with Sylvie as she is a friend of hers and they get to like her a lot. However, Sylvie hides a deadly secret that is revealed as the conspiracy unfolds.

A strong episode confident in it's prominence of action and explosive mechanical combat and shootouts. Starting with a bang, the story develops with it's reveals and the investigation work done by the characters. Priss gets sidelined a bit as a lot of the runtime is devoted to the GENOM bad guys hatching their scheme and having important meetings. Special focus is also primarily put on Sylvie as she escapes and hides alongside Anri. However, she has a few sweet moments with Priss that help to set the stakes and to present their relationship through casual interactions.

As usual, the animation is splendid and outstandingly executed. Presentation-wise this is among the most flashy and impressive when it comes to action set-pieces, especially with the very good first impression the opening delivers. I can't really find much fault except for a few odd frames here and there, but I will say that its disappointing that so far into the show the main characters aren't the sole focus, to the point where there are incidental characters in this episode that have more lines of dialogue than some of the main girls.

The ending is quite affecting and moving as a sacrifice has to be made in order for others to be protected but at a very high cost. The magic of a series with such economic characterizations and plots is that they do pull off effective dramatic and sentimental points without devoting much time to the characters involved, only the amount of time and actions that are needed, and they also let us infer the outcome and their reactions by now showing the aftermath.

Highly enjoyable episode but it could have used more of the leading team.

Honor and Glory (1992) Movie Review

Zong heng tian xia (also known as Honor and Glory, Angel the Kickboxer, Power Heat and Naked Fists) is a 1992 crime action movie directed by legendary actionsploitation film director Godfrey Ho (here under the pseudonym Godfrey hall), this being his first American feature (he's also known in the subgenre for Angel Enforcers, Undefeatable, Lethal Panther, Princess Madam, Manhattan Chase and Terminal Angels), and written by Ho himself under the other fake name Herb Borkland. It stars Cynthia Rothrock, Donna Jason, John Miller, Chuck Jeffreys and Robin Shou.

The film follows FBI agent Tracy Pride (Rothrock) as she travels from Hong Kong to America in order to investigate a case of extortion and murder linked to corrupt businessman Jason Slade (John Miller), with the help of her partner, Dragon Lee (Shou). She reunites with her sister Joyce (Donna Jason), a news reporter who becomes her new partner as well. Both also cross paths with their absent father John, who basically left them to be raised by a kung fu master, played by real life sifu Tai Yim. They also meet with one of Slade's bodyguards, Jake Armstrong, whose moral compass makes him switch sides and join Tracy in her search for capturing the villain.

Now with enough time and resources to put together a full feature, Godfrey once again shows that he has the skills to be not only coherent but rather notable as an action director. The characters speak the language of martial arts and communicate with ease through movements and physicality. The best example of this is the small fight between Tracy and her sister once they see each other again while trying to snatch the car keys from each other. A little bit of their dynamic and background is expressed there without having to say much. A highlight.

The rest stands up to par, delivering some potent choreographies expertly executed and shot. While most copies of the film are somewhat shoddy, I think you can still see through the defects of the VHS version and appreciate the very sharp and striking visuals by DP Michael Law (Lethal Panther, Undefeatable). The fight sequences have a lot of energy and rhythm, allowing the performers to show off their moves and forms quite organically and swiftly.

The performances are very alright. None of them rise above what we have seen of them before or what we might expect but none of them are actually bad. The only issues I had with the film is that it was a bit more disjointed than I remembered, losing steam whenever the main plot wasn't in motion. The emotional or dramatic scenes are not particularly powerful either, and Joyce gets kind of underutilized in the second half of the film. Other than that, it's a very swift and short experience running just 86 minutes but getting to the good stuff fast and often enough to entertain.

Recommended for action movie fans and Rothrock enthusiasts.

Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991) OVA Review and Retrospective - Episode 4: Revenge Road

Revenge Road is the fourth 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 gang of futuristic bikers are causing havoc at night. After they assault and injure a couple, the man wants to have his revenge and asks a tech-mechanic, the one Priss goes to to fix her bike, to have his car modified in order to get some payback. Meanwhile, The Knight Sabers train, eat together and pass the time since GENOM and their boomers have been mostly absent for a while, leaving them basically unemployed. However, when Priss gets attacked by a reckless mysterious vehicle and has an encounter with the hurt couple already mentioned, the girls set out to stop the now unyielding machine racing in the streets.

There's kind of a dry feeling of melancholy present throughout this episode, one that isn't foreign to Bubblegum Crisis considering the events of the previous episodes but sometimes the angst and levels of tragedy are extended and elongated further than before. The ending isn't truly happy but it's not a downer either, so it stays in a comfortable middle ground that remains a bit detached. You do feel for the new characters but they aren't meant to be charismatic or likable, they are more or less there just for the pathos.

The typical eighties jokes and pop culture references are present and the action is as wonderfully animated as ever, this time managing to feature car crashes, engines, detailed machinery and vehicle action that's as close to being perfectly illustrated and animated as possible, so it's not like the fun factor isn't here. 

I do feel like the writers realized that the girls don't really do much in this plot and decided to add an undeniably cool training sequence to have them do some awesome things on screen, even if the stakes are low. Other than that, we also get some nice interactions and good laughs with the gals, adding to our familiarity with the team, even if the episode itself is peripheral to the main storyline.

Overall, it is a good episode that shows how the technological advancements and the unforgiving mentality of this oddly dystopian future affects and harms the innocent.