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 not showing the aftermath.

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

Zeiram (1991) & Zeiram 2 (1994) Movie Review

Zeiram is a franchise created by science fiction and action film director, art designer and artist Keita Amemiya. The main character, Iria (played by Yūko Moriyama), a female space bounty hunter, has become wildly popular among Tokusatsu fans and because of the success of the first feature film outing a prequel animated series was released in 1994, months before a sequel.

The first film is about a bounty hunter named Iria who, along with her partner Bob, catches intergalactic criminals. They travel to earth so they can get Zeiram, an extraterrestrial creature that could become a great threat to humanity. Two electricians (Kamiya and Tepei) help Iria fight the alien creature in a virtually constructed alternate dimension called a "Zone", where the battle for the fate of mankind will take place.

The script for the sequel is kind of similar with a few modifications here and there. This time, Zeiram is back in the body of a robotic supersoldier and summons new minions and threats the protagonists have to defeat.

Featuring abundant dynamic action, pretty fantastic practical special effects that bring to life the biomechanical H. G. Giger-like creature designs with the charm and spectacle one can expect from Tokusatsu, both Zeiram films deliver the goods when it comes to enjoyable and fun thrills and top notch VFX for a film of its kind.

There´s also some solid direction going on, with great shots, well done cinematography and fun fight sequences that entertain all throughout. I will say that the actual plots are perhaps a bit too uninvolving and dry, sometimes you feel like there's not enough dramatic force or character progression going on, even feeling borderline repetitive.

Another problem is that the character of Iria isn't the main focus of the movies and she sort of steps back from a lot of the runtime and more character development is given to the human male characters, who aren't awful but are far from interesting. I think there was a lot of wasted potential when it comes to Iria, she has the personality, the looks and the abilities to be a great heroine in media but it's all bogged down because there aren't any character arcs or personal conflicts going on with her. I understand that she is kind of non-human, but you can still do a compelling story with her. Her relationship with the human guys is also quite stale and too distant to work fully, but it's far from bad or incoherent.

I think that when it comes to production design, art design and just pure kineticism these movies have you covered because they involve all of the basic ingredients for a fun time with an action flick, especially if you are particularly fond of delirious japanese sci-fi with outrageous stunts and creature designs.

Check these movies out and have some fun with the cool Iria and Bob.

Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991) OVA Review and Retrospective - Episode 3: Blow Up

In this episode, GENOM (the evil corporation seen before) tests and tries out a new boomer, a combat model capable of causing great destruction. Priss is warned by Linna about this combat boomer and both drive to the battle area where the boomers are having a shootout with the A.D Police. They are aided by Nene and Sylia. All of the girls had a night of bad luck.

Priss finds a lonely boy and waits for his mother to arrive. She cares for the child and tries to support her hard working single mother, who lost her husband and home. Priss is also stressed out and lashes out against Linna. Mason, a fiendish GENOM executive, plans to launch his attacks at the knight sabers; he also tries to evict people out of their houses using his threatening boomer bodyguards.

As the building is being demolished, an accident occurs and the mother of the young boy is killed. Priss then tries to take matters into her own hands by using her exo-suit, but the girls catch up to her and break their code in order to help her.

This initiates a battle between the knight sabers and the deadly combat boomers. 

Here we have some of the usual virtues and flaws seen in the show. Since the animators had no idea if the most current episode was going to be the last one, their stories tended to be sort of awkward and the narrative would repeat some of the same beats and scenarios and their resolutions wouldn't be as definite as they should have. 

This episode has solid animation work and fun character writing moments, but the core dramatic and emotional impact feels a bit stale because of it's very limited runtime, I wish they delved more into Priss' friendship with the boy and the mother, but I gotta say, the little amount of information we get is enough to give it a sadness and melancholy that sort of makes it work regardless.