[Lynk Former]

Lynk, could you try and explain what made you change your mind about 2040? Except overwatching it, of course.

Over watching it is not the main reason my opinion of BGC2040 has changed over the years. After all I've seen Evangelion, RahXephon, Macross and a whole bunch of other series in my collection more times over than I have watched BGC2040 and I still love them all.

What is Bubblegum Crisis? I mean what is the purpose of the ORIGINAL Bubblegum Crisis? It is a tribute to Blade Runner and cyberpunk. It was created by a group of people who wanted to explore that specific sub-genre and to also express their opinions of where they believed Japan was headed with its social and economic reforms. I believe the BGCOVA makes that very clear.

When I first saw Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, I had not seen any form of anime in a very long time. In the past when I was a kid I had seen shows such as Robotech, Astro Boy and Samurai Pizza Cats. The only reason I switched on the TV to watch BGC2040 when it was airing on SBS all those years ago was that I was EXTREMELY bored and there was this thing called "Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040" that was about to start in a couple of minutes. I took a chance, I loved it, but to be honest I liked it because I hadn't seen anything else to compare it to so as far as I knew, this was the best there was.

However, after some investigation I had heard that this series I had just seen was not the original and in addition to that there were other series out there which related to Bubblegum Crisis. At the time I had also started collecting anime DVDs. First BGC2040, then Gasaraki, then by luck I found AD Police TV (which I'll discuss later) and Evangelion and so on to this day where my DVD collection is around 300 DVDs and still growing. Of course I don't just watch the same kind of anime all the time. I make it a very clear effort to mix things up; I have my various Sci-Fi's and my comedies and romantic comedies; I also have adventures, animes which were made for a younger audience, ecchi, and so on.

It didn't take me long to realise that BGC2040 doesn't hold a candle to what a lot of these other animes have. I began to think, well BGC2040 is okay, but damn there are a lot of other series that were, to me, a lot better. But that's not what really pisses me off about BGC2040. I will be brutally honest here. BGC2040 is a good anime, it is well made to a certain degree, the biggest problem it has is that it's trying to be something that at least in my mind it clearly ISN'T. What I believe is that BGC2040 doesn't BELONG in the Bubblegum Crisis series of animes and that is my biggest criticism of it.

When I first saw the original Bubblegum Crisis, I noticed straight away that other than people, places and organisations that share the same names, these two animes were very different (not including other obvious similarities). I also began to notice as I watched BGC2040 again after seeing all of BGCOVA that certain things seem to be missing from BGC2040. I decided to investigate and the conclusion that I've come up with is strikingly similar to the conclusion Briareos has come up with.

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is an exploitation of the original Bubblegum Crisis and AIC in their actions has made this very clear. Not only were they planning to release BGC2040, but they were also planning to release AD Police TV and Parasite Dolls. And yes, I acknowledge the fact that AIC has every right to exploit a series which they own. But we all know what happened don't we. BGC2040 lost its funding and wasn't very popular in Japan at all. At the same time it disrupted the production of AD Police TV and completely demolished Parasite Dolls. All three animes were saved by ADV Films at some point. And the only ones who have had any interest in trying to create a sequel to BGC2040 at some point was ADV Films because they experiences success with the series while AIC themselves had not.

The events of BGC2040 would actually make more sense if you took away the Bubblegum Crisis theme. IMHO opinion, you would get a better anime if it was simply "Tokyo 2040" without the "Bubblegum Crisis" in front of it. If Priss, Sylia, Nene and Linna had different names, if Genom was a different company, AIC could've effectively made an anime that is the RahXephon to an existing Evangelion. But as stated in the last paragraph, this wouldn't have helped AIC sell their other series as they had originally planned.

I find it ironic that Parasite Dolls shares more in common with the purpose of the BGCOVA than BGC2040 ever did. And by now I'm sure someone is asking themselves why I like AD Police TV so much when it's nothing like the BGCOVA. Well there's a simple answer to that. ADPTV isn't trying to be like BGCOVA at all. It uses the similar themes but keeps itself as a spin-off. BGC2040 on the other hand was the flagship series, the NEW Bubblegum Crisis. But instead what we got was something that was very much watered down, something meant for a more mainstream audience which lost a lot of the messages which the original BGC was exploring.

With all that said, I could go into the exact details as to why I think BGC2040 doesn't belong, but then this post would be more than twice the size of what it is. I find it ironic that Briareos has managed to point out what he has despite not seeing BGC2040, but I do agree that Briareos should actually see BGC2040 before he passes judgement.

If requested, I'll go into painstaking detail, but for now I hope I've managed to clear a few things up.