English Dub Review: Bubble

Aside from America, and we may even be in second place in this department, I don’t know if there is another country on Earth that comes up with a more of a variety on how humanity perishes than the country of Japan. End of the world sci-fi anime is almost an entire sub-genre of itself of the medium and just when I think that anime producers can’t come up with more ways to kill us, they do just that.

Enter Netflix’s Bubble, a Japanese post-apocalyptic animated film produced by Wit Studio. It is directed by Tetsurō Araki and written by Gen Urobuchi, and features character designs by Takeshi Obata and music composed by Hiroyuki Sawano.

The premise of the film sees Tokyo Japan completely consumed by bubbles. The small ones turn street levels into rivers and then a big one surrounds the entire city forcing Japan to have to pick another capital city. Most of the citizens die, the few that are alive live in high-rises and take part in parkour tournaments where the prizes are food and supplies to just stay alive. One of those parkour teams, the Blue Blazes, is led by the Michael Jordan of the sport, Hibiki. After falling in the river below, Hibiki creates a woman named “Uti” by way of his exhale bubbles.

It doesn’t take long before Hibiki trains Uti in the art of parkour and soon the duo are able to defeat the Morticians in a match up. However, when more bubbles threaten the rest of Tokyo, Uti and Hibiki team up to try and put an end to this prison once and for all.

Yes, Bubble is heavily inspired by The Little Mermaid, and Bubble admits as much, and continues to showcase how both content produced in the West and the East continue to volley influences back-and-forth. Clear homages can be seen in both animated depictions. Recall that the Disney adaptation features classic songs like “A Whole New World” and “Under the Sea”. Likewise, Bubble’s excellent musical score becomes a bedrock to the plot of the film, and even the way the parkour practitioners scurry up the anti-gravitational elements of the encapsulated Tokyo, feels a lot like Ariel’s swimming, and is just as beautiful.

The character-types are a tad cliche, we get an early skirmish with the Morticians that soon works itself out, but really the main antagonist is the environment in which Tokyo’s future denizens live in. Speaking of the environment, I dare you to try and not gawk when Uti and Hibiki are going bananas up the different platform elements that are so well produced that I had to hold my breath.

Bubble is an utterly stunning spectacle worthy of awards show consideration. WarnerMedia is going to be kicking themselves that they didn’t release this one in theaters/HBO MAX.