Broken Base: Which incarnation of BGC is better - the original 1980s version or the 2040 reboot? Fans were quite passionate about this back in the day.
OVA Continuity
Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Priss (from the OVA series) really a champion of the oppressed against Genom, or is she a jaded pain in the ass so motivated by anger and revenge, that she just can't stop picking fights as a way to deal with her issues?
Angel/Devil Shipping: The song "Akuma to Tenshi no Kiss" ("Devil and Angel's Kiss").
Awesome Moment: The show's opening scene, both in a visual, soundtrack and storytelling perspective. In those five minutes, we're introduced to the setting and our main characters and what they do, all while Priss and her band sings the energic and catchy rock number "Konya Wa Hurricane".
Emphasis "plays". Priss actually goes through several different bikes across the OVA's, and the one in the picture above isn't actually hers. It's Mackie's, though Priss is the one to use it in-series.
The bike in the picture is Highway Star, which Mackie built, but hardly ever rode, as he built it for Priss specifically to take out J.B.Gibson's Griffon.
Complete Monster: The original incarnation of Brian J. Mason seeks a weaponized satellite to spy on and kill his rivals. Kidnapping a "Boomer" child to locate the satellite, Mason later purposefully has a Boomer of his own go berserk as an excuse to unleash the satellite's laser in a populated area. A heartless businessman, Mason also has a tenant killed by his demolition crew and even mocks heroine Priscilla "Priss" S. Asagiri over the civilian's death. Remade as the Boomer "Largo" after his seeming death, he manipulates a group of Sexaroids to their deaths before setting the last against Priss by lying that the latter is responsible for her best friend's death. Mason also destroys multiple cities with his satellite to eradicate his former superiors and personally kills the final Sexaroid, sneering at her death to Priss before declaring his intent to rule the planet like a god with none to stand against him.
Fanon Discontinuity: Bubblegum Crash!, Soldier Blue and Bubblegum Crisis: Grand Mal in the eyes of some fans.
It doesn't help that the main arc of Crash! contradicts the most popular arc in Crisisthe Red Eyes arc, and is also presented in a manner that is internally contradictory; Priss' experience with Sylvie and Anri and subsequent character development is completely ignored, an intelligent Boomer is suddenly a radical new thing as opposed to Crisis where Boomers could easily pass for human, far more so than the 'advanced' one in Crash!, and yet it still uses the Largo character who was involved in all the events it ignores and is, um, an intelligent Boomer.
Some secondary source materials suggest Adama was unique for having a fully mechanical brain capable of advanced AI rather than one reliant on boomer biotechnology. No clue how this is really justifying the trope though.
Gateway Series: For North American fandom, this series, along with Project A-Ko were the primary VHS gateways into anime in the late 1980s-early 1990s era of bootleg fansubs.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The OVA series sold poorly in Japan, resulting it being Cut Short with only 8 of a planned 13 episodes made, but was a hit in America.
Hilarious in Hindsight: 30+ years on, the "Boomer" name for all that troubles MegaTokyo is much funnier with the "Ok, Boomer" meme.
Moe: OVA!Nene was a moe character 10 years before the word was invented. Interestingly, even though 2040!Nene was created only two years before moe was invented, she doesn't really qualify, being more of The Prankster.
Moral Event Horizon: Largo. Most notably when he lies to Anri about Sylvie's death, and convinces her to stab Priss. He follows up after Priss' apology by laughing off both Sylvie's sacrifice and delivering a Motive Rant for the previous episode. And when Anri Takes The Bullet for Priss, all the would-be Boomer Messiah has to say is that "it's" Just a Machine. After all of this, He Must Die!
One Episode Wonder: Madigan is only seen during the "Red Eyes" episode. Her fate, however, is left unclear, as to whether she died or simply passed out from Largo's attack.
Narm: Just about every single female character across both versions has been called a bitch at one point or another. For a series which is meant to deal with the consequences of over-relying on imperfect technology, it's surprisingly catty.
Paranoia Fuel: The original OVAs invoke this by having Boomers that can look indistinguishable from humans. It's largely absent from Crash and 2040, where average Boomers look much more like robots (and the only exceptions are major characters).
Linna went from being a fairly unremarkable character with no arc outside of her friendship with a vicitm of GENOM to being a muylti-layered Audience Surrogate who earns her place among the Knight Sabers.
The music from the first scene of the first OVA is based on the opening theme from Blade Runner.
"Konya wa Hurricane" is very clearly an attempt to create a song in the style of Jim Steinman, particularly those from Streets of Fire. "Konya Wa Hurricane"'s first 7 bars are almost identical. Parts of it also sound similar to Bonnie Tyler's "Holding out for a Hero".
The intros to "Victory" and "Akuma to Tenshi no Kiss" are derived from different parts of the intro to "Nowhere Fast", the opening theme from Streets of Fire.
The intro and chorus of "Mysterious Night" copy French singer Jeanne Mas's 1985 song "Johnny Johnny".
The guitar riff in "Say Yes" from OVA 7 resembles U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name".
The entire melody of "Hateshitenai Tabi", the opening theme from Bubblegum Crash, is plagiarized from Filipina singer Joey Albert's 1985 song "Larger Than Life".
The Woobie: The sexaroid girls from the fifth OVA, Sylvie, Anri, Meg, Lou, and Nam. The latter three provide a Heroic Sacrifice so Sylvie and Anri can get to Earth.
The 2040 version of Priss - was she really telling Leon the truth with her less than inspiring backstory, or was she lying to him because she still wasn't ready to open up to him?
2040!Leon's actions towards Priss can likewise be seen as less romantic courting and more Stalker with a Crush. He chases and yells after her to demand that she appreciate him, shows up at her private rehearsals to watch her from the shadows, and generally ignores her multiple statements that she has no interest. While in 2032 it's Played for Laughs with Leon as a clueless goof, 2040's version of the relationship looks genuinely sinister to anyone who's been stalked. And it resolves with Leon grabbing Priss' wrist while she's against a wall and pulling her into a kiss, despite her obviously defensive body language.
Die for Our Ship: 2040!Leon. Yeah, there IS Les Yay between Linna and Priss, but bringing down Leon for that is NOT helping the cause.
Fan Nickname: In 2040, "Ifursylita" and "Mackieoto" (see Expy in the main section.)
Heartwarming Moments: The ending to 2040. Priss makes peace with Boomers, Galatea gains enlightenment and stops her onslaught against humans, Mackie regains his mind and he and Sylia get to be a real family for the first time in years.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: The 2040 iteration of Mackie doesn't have his original counterpart's creepy attraction to his sister. In fact the only character he shows any attraction to is Nene and it's played out quite innocently. His backstory as an imperfect homonculus that Galatea uses as a puppet also gives him some Woobie cred.
Suspiciously Similar Song:The insert song in 2040 "Monster's Wax" sounds more than a little like the main riff from the Korn song "Blind".
The Woobie: Boomers in general in the 2040. They're practically a slave race to humans, treated like shit, but they always address people respectfully. Sometimes, when a boomer goes berserk it's a perfectly nice one before, making whenever they're killed off a Mercy Kill.
, both in a visual, soundtrack and storytelling perspective. In those five minutes, we're introduced to the setting and our main characters and what they do, all while Priss and her band sings the energic and catchy rock number "Konya Wa Hurricane".
