Sylia StingrayDoB: May 31, 2010
Height: 179cm (5'10")
Weight: 48kg (106#)
Sizes: 90cm-58cm-90cm (35"-23"-35")
Japanese seiyuu: Sakakibara Yoshiko
English voice actress: Jemila Ericson
The AD Police Files and Bubblegum Crash! OAVs are usually considered to be "official" BGC canon, as is the "AD Police" manga.
(Please note that many fans do not consider Bubblegum Crash! to be canon.)
Grand Mal, Scramble Wars, and Holiday in Bali are not canon.
Grand Mal is a comic book written by Adam Waren and published by Dark Horse Comics. It claims to be a story about the Knight Sabers set between AD Police Files and Bubblegum Crisis. Like most of Adam Warren's anime adaptations, the main characters are extremely out-of-character. The comics have been collected into graphic novel format by Dark Horse.
Scramble Wars is a parody video made by AIC, the company that released BGC in Japan. The premise is that characters from every AIC anime to that date wanted to win the "Genom Trophy Rally" (a road race held on Gaiarth, from Genesis Surviver Gaiarth). This was the second feature of the no-longer-available Super-Deformed Double Feature video from AnimEigo.
Holiday in Bali is a collection of music videos with the theme of the Knight Sabers' seiyuu on "vacation" together in Bali. Like many of the regular participants on alt.fan.bgcrisis, the FAQ maintainer considers this video to be an excellent reason why vacation movies should not be used to make music videos. As far as the FAQ maintainer knows, this show has never been licensed by a North American company.
The FAQ maintainer is aware of the following games, although he owns only the first two on the list.
There is a Bubblegum Crisis tabletop roleplaying game published by R. Talsorian Games. While you only need paper, pencils, dice and the first book (Bubblegum Crisis - the Role-playing Game) to play the game, there are two supplementary books that may be of use: Bubblegum Crisis Before and After (by alt.fan.bgcrisis lurker David Pulver) and Bubblegum Crisis EX.
The Ani-Mayhem collectable card game used Bubblegum Crisis as one of the four series featured in its initial release. (A list of the BGC cards can be found here.)
The Anime Madness card game had Bubblegum Crash cards in its 100-card "preview deck". (A complete list of Anime Madness cards can be found here.)
Brian Dinnigan wrote Duchess Romanova 3d, a patch for Duke Nukem.
"Unagi" has written Bubblegum Nukem!, a series of 4 patches for Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior and Redneck Rampage. Unagi also reports the existance of BGDoom which was the inspiration for Priss Nukem, and Priss Forces (a sound patch for Dark Forces).
There was a Bubblegum Crash! game for the Turbo Graphics 16. It is in Japanese, making it almost imposible to play unless you can read Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.
Sarah Davis and Ben Cantrick have mentioned a BGCrisis game for the PC-88 called Crime Wave. There are a few pages of images and information in one of the BGC books in Sarah's collection, including a character roster and a screenshot of a naked Nene in a glass tube. The graphics are quite good by the standards of the late eighties, but by today's standards leave much to be desired. The game appears to star Nene and Priss.
Since the annotated list of Original BGC CDs is quite long, it has been moved to its own page.
Unless otherwise mentioned, all of these items are out of print, out of press, or out of production.
(Thanks to Sarah Davis for this list.)
There are many miscellaneous manga (parodies) in the B-Clubs, at least three novels, some cassette [CD] dramas from BGC and ADPF OVAs, and more... Sarah has a complete list that she'll try to post sometime.
The two-CD Digital B-Club is a scan of the Bubblegum Crisis B-Club Special and the Bubblegum Crash! B-Club Special. This may still be available - contact DigitalBClub@aol.com for more information.
Amongst a multitude of items:
There are synopses of the episodes at Jeanne Hedge's website.
AnimEigo's liner notes are also available on the World-Wide Web, in separate files for Bubblegum Crisis episodes 1-4, Bubblegum Crisis episodes 5-8, Bubblegum Crash, and ADPolice Files.
Episodes 4 and 8 each tell their own individual stories.
| "No one knows. Speculation is that Crash is a crunched version." |
| - Jeanne Hedge, 13 Oct 1999 |
There is a timeline in the BGC RPG from R. Talsorian. (See "What BGC games exist? (computer and table-top)", above.)
Other than "something Quincy mentioned on the telephone in episode 1", we don't know what the Polar War is.
David Johnston wrote on 18 Apr 2000:
If I had to take a guess, I'd say that it is a territorial war over Antartica. Boomers solve the problem of how to exploit Antartica's resources despite the exigent conditions, and the world of BGC appears to have abandoned the whole concept of environmental protection, and those things toss Antartica up for grabs.
- from the B-Club Visual Comic Bubble Gum Crisis '89. Translated by Dan Su, Anime Berkeley. Copied from Jeanne Hedge's True Love fanfic.
Courtesy of Sarah Davis, Brian Dinningan, and the AnimEigo liner notes:
Sylia Stingray
DoB: May 31, 2010
Height: 179cm (5'10")
Weight: 48kg (106#)
Sizes: 90cm-58cm-90cm (35"-23"-35")
Japanese seiyuu: Sakakibara Yoshiko
English voice actress: Jemila Ericson
Cultural Note: "Stingray" is the name of a Gerry Anderson television series of the 1960s. Many of Gerry Anderson's ideas have become anime clichés since then.
Priscilla S. Asagiri
DoB: November 17, 2013 (?)
Height: 168cm (5'6")
Weight: 48kg (106#)
Sizes: 88cm-60cm-90cm (35"-24"-35")
Japanese seiyuu: Oomori Kinuko (Crisis), Tachikawa Ryoko (Crash)
English voice actress: Sinda Nichols
Linguistic Note: "asagiri" means "morning mist"
(Debate on Priss' birthday stems from the official date being in mid-November, based on the birthday of her second voice actress, Tachikawa Ryoko. However, BGCrash! naysayers argue that Priss' official birthday ought to be May 27, which is the birthday of her original voice actress, Oomori Kinuko.)
Linna Yamazaki
DoB: October 20, 2012
Height: 176cm (5'8")
Weight: 46kg (101#)
Sizes: 85cm-57cm-86cm (33"-22"-34")
Japanese seiyuu: Tomizawa Michie
English voice actress: Elizabeth Becka
Linguistic Note: "yamazaki" means "mountain headlands"
Nene Romanova
DoB: August 31, 2014
Height: 156cm (5'1")
Weight: 48kg (106 lbs.)
Sizes: 80/84cm-60cm-85cm (33"B-23"-33")
Blood Type: O Type
Where she's from: Tokyo [conjecture]
Personality: [English approximation] A little Naive. A big space case and a follower of each new fad.
Interest/Taste/Hobby: Eating Cake after Showering
Special Skill: Computer Hacking
Explanatory Notes: Nene oversees the gathering and analysis of the Knight Saber's Military Intelligence.
Japanese seiyuu: Hiramatsu Akiko
English voice actress: Susan Grillo
Cultural Note: "Romanova" is the feminine form of the family name of the last Tsars of Imperial Russia.
| "Finally, we made a stab at portraying Sylia as what she is - a human with boomer AI mental augumentation (this being the explanation given to me by Suzuki Toshio of Artmic). Mackie has the same augumentation but has less practice with it. The stuff in the BGC comic was approved by Mr. Suzuki, btw." |
| - Robert Woodhead, co-founder of AnimEigo, discussing dubbed BGC in a newsgroup posting made on 28 June 2000 |
This is a Frequently Argued Question - there's insufficient information to form a definite answer. While we have no reason to doubt Mr. Woodhead, he has cautioned the FAQ maintainer by e-mail that Suzuki-san could have been misleading him ... However, the FAQ maintainer is willing to accept that Suzuki-san was not misleading Mr. Woodhead.
Unless you believe that Suzuki-san was misleading Mr. Woodhead (see the quote under "Is Sylia a Boomer?", above), Mackie is an augmented human, just like his sister.
However, if for some reason you do believe that Suzuki-san was misleading Mr. Woodhead, then there is insufficient information to form a definite answer and this is also a Frequently Argued Question.
This was asked on 4 August 2000 by Andy Payne (Mrx.135 *& hotmail.com). The reply that follows was given by Sarah Davis:
Yes?
It depends on the Boomer, actually. I have no love for BGCrash, but I think it illustrated a good point with its inclusion of cheap labor Boomers: some Boomers are little more than walking, talking machinations designed to look like men, and other Boomers are walking, talking machinations designed to think like men.
The BU-12B, for example, is little more than a tank on legs. It is simplex in that it cannot, as far as is shown, conceive of intelligent thoughts. It runs on commands, or so I would think. Having been built as a weapon of mass destruction, it harbors no emnity or empathy, and is little more than a gun with a brain.
The BU-55C, the most common sort of Boomer shown in the OVAs, hinted at a gruff, callous personality that, while not very distinct, had the potential to grow. Some of them even have sense of humor. As shown in the first episode, they can exhibit signs of irritation and apprehension. They are not complex creatures, but they're certainly more than mere machines.
The BU-33C, on the other hand, showed hints of malice, such as when one of them began to crush Priss' hand after she slapped her. That Boomer was intent on hurting Priss, and the smirk on her face said as much. Does she qualify as sentient? I'm not certain how much emotion she has, but she has enough that the sensation of being slapped probably bothered her mentally, though not physically.
Moving up the ladder, we have the BU-33S. If Sylvie and Anri weren't sentient, I don't know which characters were. They laughed, they cried, they smiled, they frowned, they felt grief and anxiety; elation and calm. They cared for one another and for the friends they acquired, and were very self-sacrificing individuals. The Sexaroids are, I would argue, without absolute freedom of thought - there were designed for a specific purpose, just like any other Boomer - but they are so dangerously close to humans that it is little wonder Priss was furious with Largo over his claim that Anri was "just a machine."
Which brings us to our never candidate: Largo. Largo was crazed, obsessive, insane, and ... well, very much a human. Of course, this can best be explained by the fact that Largo carried the memories of the man in the body of a god. *wolf whistle* Largo was not omnipotent, but, then again, many gods from many religions aren't. So there! Ha!
Anyhow, Largo demonstrates a breach in the gap between man and machine. He was imperfect, admittedly, but he embraced the best of both worlds, while falling prey to the follies of each. Largo was a sentient Boomer, displaying a wide range of emotions and acting out the fantasy of a human who could not do the things Largo did because he was restricted by a mortal body. He had the memories, emotions, and ambitions of a man. One man. Not a league of scientist mass-producing carbon-copies, nor one scientist bent on designing a Boomer that suited his need. Largo was as much as human as anyone else in the series, IMHO.
Scrutiny reveals that the only types of Boomers that show no grasp of emotion are a few combat Boomers, such as Miriam's Boomers, the Boomer Giant, and the BU-12B. With those exceptions, I think it can be argued that, yes, Boomers are sentient, even if some of them are flaming idiots.
| "No one but Suzuki knows, and he ain't talking." |
| - Jeanne Hedge, 13 Oct 1999 |
| "There are definite possibilities, even if we don't have a final answer." |
| - Sarah Davis, 16 Apr 2000 |
Note: All of this section, except for the first quote above, is speculation on the part of the FAQ maintainer and other alt.fan.bgcrisis regulars. We don't know the real answer.
Priss was supposed to die near the end of episode 6. (See the longer quote under "Are Largo and Mason the same person?" for an explanation why.) There is a point in the show where a Typhoon II motoslave saves Priss' life (in a definite deus ex machina manner), but then Priss practically disappears from the plotline. It is possible that the original plot did not have the deus ex machina (although the Typhoon II probably played some role in the battle), and that Priss was supposed to die just as the remaining Knight Sabers arrived. After all, the Typhoon II was never seen again ...
Other "likely" possibilities include Priss throwing herself in front of an attack on Sylia, or being caught in Largo's final satellite strike. Any of these three possibilities would allow for a minimum of plot re-writing.
A less likely option is that Sylia was to have actually enforced Rule 4 (see "What are the Rules of the Knight Sabers?", above), and was to have killed Priss in her trailer. This possibility leads to substantial plot problems, though - what would have happened to Anri if Priss hadn't arrived?
| "Seems to me this question is a Rorschach. How you answer it really reflects more on your personal beliefs and opinions than the facts (if there are any) of the matter." |
| - Ben Cantrick, 18 Apr 2000 |
This is yet another Frequently Argued Question - despite some facts, there's insufficient information to form a definite answer.
There is definite proof that Priss is not exclusively lesbian - she was recruited into the Knight Sabers after her boyfriend was killed. But is she bisexual?
Most fan debate on this question centers on Priss' relationship with Sylvie, in episode 5. The two characters form a bond which is so strong, Priss has trouble fighting Sylvie at the end of the episode. But was their relationship at all sexual? People who think Priss is a lesbian say "Yes - they wouldn't have become so close so quickly if sex wasn't involved". People who think Priss isn't lesbian say "No - Sylvie was a Sexaroid, and as such was designed to have close relationships". Linna and Nene also found Sylvie to be an intriguing person, although their relationships with Sylvie were not shown to be quite as close as Priss' relationship with her was.
There are a small minority of fans who point to the non-sexual nature of the relationship between Priss and Leon as another sign that Priss is a lesbian. Keep in mind, though, that Leon is depicted as a "macho" man, and that type of man often assumes (despite all facts to the contrary) that any woman that doesn't instantly lust for him is a lesbian. This is more a comment on Leon's sexuality (and of the fans who use this as "proof") than it is on Priss'.
| "Sylia seems to think so." |
| - Jeanne Hedge, 13 Oct 1999 |
This is a Frequently Argued Question - while the evidence points toward a "yes" answer, some fans find that evidence to be insufficient.
There is a contingent of fans (including Robert Woodhead, co-founder of AnimEigo) that believe Brian J. Mason uploaded his memories into Largo before he fought Sylia. They point to the scene in episode 3 where he is using the same style of computer hookup as the young Sylia used in the flashback in episode 1, and say he's doing the upload then. This would explain many things, including how Largo knew that Sylia was inside the "Saber Prime" hardsuit.
(A more detailed discussion of this viewpoint, written by "Innpchan", can be found on Andy Skuse's website.)
Robert Woodhead mentioned on 28 June 2000 that this was why some dialogue was changed in the dubbed version of episode 6:
In the subtitled version, IMHO Largo is mostly being a cryptic jerk with his comment to Leon about how he knows him.
In the dubbed version, we made some minor dialog changes to clean up some plot holes in the original caused by the fact that it was only near the end of production that they learned that Oomori Kinuko could continue as the VA for Priss. She was supposed to be killed by Largo and replaced by Vision.
Thus the suddenly appearing motoroid, which we managed to explain away with a couple of throwaway lines.
We also wanted to give at least one or two very subtle clues of the relationship between Mason and Largo so that when you hear Sylia's last line, it all becomes clear. In the original, it's totally out of the blue.
Chris Schumacher points out that Largo repeats the same phrase when he reveals his other form in episode 6 that Mason used when he appeared in his armour in episode 3: "This is the look of the victor." While the phrase is a response to Sylia's question in episode 3, it is just blurted out in episode 6.
However, there is little other evidence in the series that anyone in the BGC universe has the technological know-how to upload memories from a human to a computer. (On the other hand, there's no evidence that they can't ...)
In Bubblegum Crash, Largo says he is Mason. However, Largo has been known to lie ...
This is a Frequently Argued Question - there's insufficient information to form a definite answer.
There is a hint to a "yes" answer to this question in the final story of the Viz AD Police manga collection, written by BGC creator Suzuki Toshimichi. At one point, Mason is taunted by his opponent, who says he knows Mason will have a long wait for the Chairman's position ... (The webpage mentioned under "Are Largo and Mason the same person?", above, discusses this in passing.)
There is also the fact that every time we've seen Quincy take an injury, even when he was "safe" in his own office in episode 6, he's a Boomer.
While Scramble Wars isn't canon, even it touches upon this matter when Quincy makes his pre-race speech.
This is a Frequently Argued Question - there's insufficient information to form a definite answer.
Boomer manufacture is a lucrative part of Genom's operation - Chairman Quincy says so in episode 1. It's in Genom's interests to sell as many Boomers as possible.
Unlike real-world corporations, the fictional Genom doesn't care how it makes its money - we have seen ruthless executives such as Mason, Madigan, and Flint giving orders, making deals, and carrying out actions that would put a real-world business executive behind bars.
This is a Frequently Argued Question - there's insufficient information to form a definite answer.
The prevaling opinion amongst the newsgroup's "regulars" who've stated an opinion is that the Knight Sabers are simply not worth Genom's time to shut down. At least, they aren't yet ...
There is a discussion in episode 8 between Sylia and Lisa Vanette about this very topic. (Of course, Sylia was trying to convince Lisa that the Knight Sabers are on the side of the angels ...)
The Knight Sabers act as a moderating influence on Genom's pro-Boomer activities. They curb the worst excesses of rogue Boomers and Genom top management, making the city a safer place for both humans and Boomers. Since Sylia is the founder and leader of the Knight Sabers, it is safe to assume she shares the team's goals.
The FAQ maintainer has been told that there is an issue of Animerica magazine with an interview of Suzuki-san, where he discusses this question. The FAQ maintainer does not have a copy of that magazine.
However, Jeanne Hedge does have a copy of that issue. On 1 June 2003, she posted this to alt.fan.bgcrisis:
It's Animerica, Vol.1, No. 3, May, 1993 (Priss "exploding hardsuit" image on the cover). While replying to a question about if the novel he was then-working on (Paradise Lost) was part of Bubblegum Crisis, a sequel perhaps, Suzuki said:No, the novel is a separate project. The subtitle for Paradise Lost could be anything...Crisis, Crash, whatever. As I'm sure you're aware, we originally named the series "bubblegum" to reflect a world in crisis, like a chewing-gum bubble that's about to burst. Before the next BGC sequel is released, Paradise Lost will be published, and the new story will proceed from there.
According to the opening voice-over in Bubblegum Crash, Boomers are responsible for Mega-Tokyo's "boom" in prosperity. The name has nothing to do with nuclear missile submarines, over-use of high explosives, or the sound one of these androids makes when the Knight Sabers meet up with it ...
"Genom" may be short for "genome", the basic building-block of the DNA molecule vital to life. Or it may simply be another word that "sounds cool" ...
This is a homage to the movie Blade Runner, in which androids called "replicants" tried to pass themselves off as human. (Two of those replicants were named Pris and Leon.)
There are quite a few, actually.
At the start of episode 3, Quincy and Mason look at a map of Mega-Tokyo. This map has captions on it - the captions are names of many actors and characters from the movie Top Gun (Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Tom Cruise, etc.).
The ADPolice duty roster in episode 8 shows that many of Marvel Comics' illustrators (of the time) also work for the ADPolice.
There are some possible James Bond movie references in BGC, as well. The two most likely references are character names: the main villian in Thunderball was named Largo, and the "Bond Girl" in From Russia With Love was named Romanova. A less-likely reference is the orbital beam satellite from episode 1, which looks only vaugely like the one in Diamonds Are Forever.
One real-world reference is the name of J.B. Gibson in episode 4. Close examination of the computer records that Nene calls up show his initials stand for "James Brady", the name of the Secret Service agent who took a bullet for then-President Ronald Reagan.
Speaking of J.B. Gibson, "shadow6865@aol.com" wrote this on 2 May 2000:
J.B. Gibson from Revenge Road could have been named after one of two people or possibly both. It could either be a homage to Willaim Gibson, the founding father of Cyberpunk science fiction or actor Mel Gibson the orginal "Road Warrior". The plot of Revenge Road makes it seem like the name is a homage to Mel (Road Warrior) Gibson. However many people consider BGC to be a cyberpunk anime which means that it is also likely that J.B. Gibson could be a homage to the writer William Gibson, who wrote the Cyberpunk classic Neuromancer.
This list covers only the Japanese seiyuu - the FAQ maintainer has no information regarding the North American voice actors' careers (if any).
More complete lists of the seiyuu's roles can often be found through the lookup function at Hitoshi Doi's seiyuu page. Some seiyuu have their own pages on that site - these have been linked to the voice actors' names when they exist.
Some characters who had supporting parts in one or two episodes have been played by seiyuu who are famous for other roles:
Compilation copyright © 1999-2006 Rob Kelk. All Rights Reserved.
Text copyright © the individual authors (Rob Kelk, unless credited otherwise), and used either with permission or under "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act.
Images copyright © AIC, and used under "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act.