10 Underrated 1990s Anime You Probably Haven't Seen

8. Bubblegum Crisis

Revolutionary Girl Utena
AnimEigo

The original Bubblegum Crisis debuted in 1987 and, honestly, didn't pan out very well at the time. Scheduled for a 13 episode run it was cut down and condensed into only eight due to legal issues with the rights being controlled by two different companies.

The whole plotline is about an all-woman group of mecha-powered mercenaries called the Knight Sabers. The title apparently comes from the idea that the world in the narrative is in a state of crisis - much like gum that is being chewed.

Bubblegum Crisis would eventually be brought to the west in 1991 and was one of the first series to come from Japan in an unedited, subtitled format instead of being dubbed in English. It would be 1994 before an English dub would finally get put into production, and it is largely considered to be the worst part of the whole series.

Bubblegum Crisis received rave reviews at the time with the low-points being the English dubbing and occasional lapses in narrative cohesion - likely caused by the loss of five planned episodes worth of story. It would go on to spawn several sequels. But, due to the niche nature of subtitled anime in the west in the early nineties, many folks missed out on the original series.

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Author of Escort (Eternal Press, 2015), co-founder of Nic3Ntertainment, and developer behind The Sickle Upon Sekigahara (2020). Currently freelancing as a game developer and history consultant. Also tends to travel the eastern U.S. doing courses on History, Writing, and Japanese Poetry. You can find his portfolio at www.richardcshaffer.com.