OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Bubblegum Crisis

Before Akira, before Ghost In The Shell, before them all was the premiere cyberpunk anime, Bubblegum Crisis. As an amalgam of two American movies, Blade Runner and Streets Of Fire, this OVA series was intended to be 13 episodes, but instead cut short to only 8. Following this was a sequel/wrap up in Bubblegum Crash, a prequel anime + manga in A.D. Police, as well as a TV remake along with its own prequel and spinoff OVA, plus an American comic book prequel mini-series by Adam Warren. Despite its derivative title, Bubblegum Crisis is not some magical girl anime about high school idol singers! It's a sci-fi superhero action drama, with stakes fitting its American influences even though there are the occasional scenes of standard anime hijinks. The anime was one of the pioneers in the dawn of OVAs that began in the mid-80s, and was largely popular due to its soundtrack albums that were released for each individual episode, for which back then on VHS was at least $60. This made its major studio Artmic into one of the premiere production companies of the time. Unfortunately, because of internal politics and finances, Bubblegum Crisis was cut short during what was ultimately a filler episode.

Beginning in 2032, Japan was earlier hit with a major earthquake that decimates Tokyo. The city is reborn as "Megatokyo", largely due to the work force of androids called Boomers manufactured by the now very powerful Genom corporation. One of the original designers of Boomers, Dr. Stingray, was killed years prior, and now his daughter Sylia leads an all-female team of mercs known as the Knight Sabers, each one wearing their own specialized combat armor that were all years ahead of anything that Tony Stark could have invented at the time. The other members of Sylia's team are obligatory tsundere/underground singer Priss, fitness expert Linna, and the bubbly Nene who works for the AD Police, Megatokyo's anti-Boomer task force. The first few episodes have the Knight Sabers dealing with Mason, a rogue member of Genom who might be the one behind the death of Sylia's father. Next is a stand alone about a vigilante with a supped-up race car knocking off a biker gang. Following this is a 2-parter featuring escaped sex-droids from a space station who ally with the cyborg terrorist Largo who has a personal vendetta with thew Knight Sabers. Following this is another stand alone episode about the idol singer Vision seeking her own revenge against Genom. The last episode has Nene trying to stop her boss' nosy niece from discovering the Knight Sabers' secret identities, while a random Genom scientist tries to kill off the superheroine quartet just to boost his own ego.

Each OVA episode is done as its own mini movie, some ranging from 30-50 minutes long each, with major anime industry names behind it like Masami Obari, Kenichi Sonoda, Hiroki Hayashi, and Hiroaki Goda. The legacy that this single anime spawned was the springboard for numerous cyberpunk titles across near countless media franchises, including Batman Beyond. The singular major drawback to the groundbreaking series is that it never reached its proper conclusion.