A new Linna?! Well, yeah! A Bubblegum Crisis TV series called Tokyo 2040 started airing in early October. The gist of it is... hard to say. The story is totally new, they aren't just retelling the old version. Many of the characters have been changed a lot in personality and appearance. For instance, Daley is no longer gay and Sylia is no longer the Ice Queen. Sylia actually looks a little like Ifurita from the El Hazard OVAs, which isn't bad but will get her slammed for having a sort of rip-off design. Poor Sylia!

Linna hasn't changed much. She's a little more naive than before, but she's still very athletic. This time she was a track and field star, not a dancer. She has the familiar friendliness and outgoing demeanor. Right at the beginning she very much wants to be a part of the Knight Sabers so she starts stalking Priss, whom she knows is a Saber. She follows Priss right to the Silky Doll where she gets to meet Sylia. Then Sylia puts her through a traumatic VR training sequence to show her just what the Knight Sabers do and how physically and emotionally drainging it is. Nevertheless, Linna joins!

The new Linna is the least changed in physical appearance out of the Knight Sabers. The only real difference is that her hair is now brown and she wears it sort of like Motoko Kusanagi's hair from Ghost in the Shell. I don't mind. Some people have compared her to Nabiki Tendo because of her physical appearance, but I don't see any real similarities. If all it takes to be Nabiki is to have short brown hair, I guess my older sister must be the long lost Tendo. The new Linna isn't even concerned with money like the original one was. She just wants to "do the right thing." (Notice how characters who want to "do the right thing" always get in deep trouble right away?)

Linna's combat role is pretty much the same: Melee. She's more physical this time and does less dashing around and sweeping attacks. Her first fight went terrible. She tried to crush the Boomer in a hugging motion but her suit ran out of power because Sylia's new hardware didn't work out right. Good old Sylia, always looking out for the best of others, eh?

I've seen a couple episodes of the new series and it's very good so far. The plot is moving nicely and the story looks into the characters' pasts (especially Sylia's and Linna's) in a lot more detail than the old one did. It seems that the Stingray family is really screwed up, by the way... They were weird before, they're just plain psycho now! Cool!

Most of the above information came from Craig Veary and Charles Richards (owner of Masquerade 2040), both of whom have been a lot of help with getting information on the new series. Thanks, guys!