Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991) OVA Review and Retrospective - Episode 6: Red Eyes

Red Eyes is the sixth 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.

Mega Tokyo and the GENOM company are under attack by... The Knight Sabers? The Sabers have been committing crimes against the company but they are only Boomer imitators impersonating the main leads, tarnishing their reputation and putting GENOM's Executive Board in a desperate situation. The seedy Largo created these Boomers and a new breed of super-Boomers in order to deliver a steady strike against the Knight Sabers by pulling some GENOM strings. Largo also met with Anri and framed Priss for Sylvie's death. The humanoid bots were led by Largo to conquer humanity but the group seen in the last episode defected as they only wanted to live a prosperous life without hurting anyone. Meanwhile, Sylvie's death has marked Priss and she decides to quit the team deep in her grief. 

This episode was quite interesting considering how they decided to follow up the events of the previous chapter, giving us much stronger continuity than we have seen before in the series. The best part is that the consequences feel earned and organic, driving the tragic events in the last episode to the most logical conclusion and uniting them with the main storyline in a very potent dramatic thread that's as surprising as much as it makes sense, ending up being very effective. The feelings of guilt Priss has after her traumatic event are explored and resolved in a highly emotional and powerful manner, giving redemption and closure to more than one character.

On the flip side, we don't get much screentime for some of the other girls, most of them are sidelined because the plotline of the past episode didn't directly involve them. So much of the plot resides on Largo and his machinations as he navigates and manipulates the GENOM board members, setting his devious plans in motion. It's a bit captivating but it's not particularly what should have taken most of the runtime, in my opinion.

Aside from that, the animation in the blasting and shooting sequences is expertly handled once again, everything involving the mecha combat is magnificent. The fluid and explosive action thrills are well crafted and they are also supported by a great emphasis on sentimental conflicts and catharsis rather than just spectacle for the sake of it. The ending is kind of weak though, as some of the resolutions don't feel very strong or earned.

A mostly very emotionally driven episode with a good amount of excellent drama and action.

Cleaner (2025) Movie Review

Cleaner is a 2025 British action film directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Dirty Angels, The Protégé) starring Daisy Ridley, Taz Skylar and Clive Owen. It was written by Simon Uttley, Paul Andrew Williams, and Matthew Orton. 

Joanna "Joey" Locke (Ridley) is a window cleaner, and former soldier, working at a high rise that gets in trouble when environmental activists take control of the building during a shareholder gala held by the corrupt and dirty Agnian Energy Company. When things turn uglier and uglier, Joey kicks herself into gear and attempts to take down the armed and dangerous activists. 

Some fast action that's decently shot decorates this otherwise unremarkable and painfully average action film. First off, the entire plot makes very little sense, to the point where the forced and contrived scenario loses steam and logical integrity. This is aggravated by the fact that you don't even know what the writers are going for with their message, it seems very blatantly anti-activist at first by portraying activists (completely unrealistically) as some sort of highly organized and well funded terrorist group. Activists having these many resources and financial support (specially left wing activists) is something not only unheard of but a complete fantasy to begin with. I think the writers were also aware of the fact that the activists were simply correct, so they decided to force a "real bad guy" who takes things "to the extreme" for no real motivation outside of simply trying to portray a position so radical that it makes the radicals look tame. You see why this is confusing? Anyway, the movie tries to make things right by having an unrealistically fair ending where justice is served but it never acknowledges the type of economic and political system that let the greedy company commit crimes in the first place, so it just ends up as an "isolated case" instead of doing any real criticism.

The other thing that's weird is the inclusion of an autistic stereotype that never goes beyond that stereotype, forcing the audience to hear some irritatingly tone deaf dialogue, subjecting us to degrading scenes of autism-in-fiction tropes. That entire character was of very little use to the plot as he only helped a bit in the action and his computer knowledge wasn't even that interesting or impactful of a trait to make the difference.

Daisy Ridler is alright, giving a solid enough performance to make clear that she isn't sleepwalking through the film but she is sort of wasted in a movie with a script that's basic and nothing else. The action sequences are not bad but they are competent and flashy in a run-of-the-mill type of way that makes the spectacular factor wear off real fast, not to mention that the action basically starts about an hour in. Gotta point out that they barely take advantage of the whole "window cleaner" device and it's choreographic potential.

With too many flaws to properly recommend to everyone, Cleaner is only suggested for those who can stomach the tropes mentioned and a lack of fights and shootings during the first half. A Die Hard clone with little bite.

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.