ix years ago, a massive earthquake devastated Toyko. But the Genom
Corp. stepped in to save the day. Thanks to Genom's high-tech
mechanical workers, known as Boomers, reconstruction is nearly complete.
The city has been restored to more than its former glory, and
Boomers are everywhere--working in factories, cleaning streets, waiting
tables and supervising offices. Unfortunately, a critical flaw in their design
sometimes causes them to run amok, mutating into twisted monsters that
flatten everything in sight. The A.D. Police, a special branch of law
enforcers assigned to deal with Boomer crimes, continually proves
ineffectual.
Enter Sylia Stingray, a very smart, very rich woman with a
near-psychotic hatred of Boomers. Her money and her obsession drive the
Knight Sabers, a pair of vigilantes who wear cutting-edge robot combat suits and
destroy rogue Boomers under the noses of the jealous, resentful A.D.
Police. Sylia herself is off active Knight Saber duty, but is considering
returning to action as incidents of Boomer assault become more common
and her hired proteges Priss and Nene squabble.
Then awkward, defensive country girl Linna Yamazaki arrives in Tokyo
with a dubious job as an office lady and a naive dream of becoming a Knight
Saber. Her investigations into the secretive group go nowhere--Genom
actively suppresses information about crazed Boomers and Knight Sabers
alike, and most people believe both are urban legends. But Linna soon finds herself
at ground zero during a Boomer attack and sees the Knight Sabers in action.
She insists she wants to join, despite her clumsiness, squeamishness, and
constant whining, and they seem to think she's at least cute
Shiny happy anime people
This shiny, polished update of the anime classic Bubblegum Crisis leaves
a few things to be desired. The stars have all been given massive
redesigns: Priss is a Naomi Armitage clone, Linna looks like a
waifish poodle, Nene resembles a 12-year-old with a starfish eating her
head, and Sylia could be a blow-up doll. All of them except Priss are erratic
and over-the-top, with Sylia acting positively bipolar as she gushes
affectedly over a customer in her boutique one minute, then screams and
smashes things the next.
Between the super-glossy animation, the computer-animated virtual
reality simulations and the twangy country rock licks, this looks like an
inartistic attempt to dump all things trendy and buzzwordish into a staid
but popular old anime warhorse in order to wring a little more mileage out of it.
Serious old-guard otaku take note: this is not the Bubblegum Crisis
you grew up with, so reset your expectation levels or prepare to have your
heart broken.
On the bright side, Tokyo 2040 seems like it wants to be a series with a
depth the classic never had. The original series' biggest flaw was its
lack of historicity and meaning: it was exciting, but it didn't take its
themes or storyline anywhere besides the obvious fights. These three
episodes uphold an already rich and established plot, and they simultaneously dive
into the characters on both sides in a way the classic stories never
did. Hidden conflicts abound, and all hints point to a complex, multi-level
shakedown to come. These Knight Sabers aren't a polished team, and this
Genom isn't a faceless evil, and the war between them doesn't promise to be
simple or easy.
