Princess Robot Bubblegum

Princess Robot Bubblegum (プリンセス ロボット バブルガム) is a fictional anime series featured in the Grand Theft Auto IV era.

Futuristic Tokyo, the setting of PRB

Description

Princess Robot Bubblegum generally parodies the shōjo (young female) subset of anime, however it incongruously mixes this with tropes of violent shōnen (young male) and seinen (mature male) programs, science fiction and pornographic anime. It thus contains many anime tropes and stereotypes, including:

• its futuristic setting
• its scantily clad, busty heroine with big eyes and pink hair
• a perverted old man acting as mentor
• an androgynous and effeminate teenage male supporting character
• a cute but otherwise useless monster sidekick
• ninjas
• mecha robots
• "tentacle erotica"
• elaborate action and transformation montages
• bad translations
• questionable dubbing

In GTA IV, PRB is only mentioned in a radio advertisement, however in The Ballad of Gay Tony, the program itself appears on television, specifically on CNT. Within the game universe, it courts controversy, with Weazel News in GTA IV reporting on a protest by Asian Americans against the airing of the anime. Also in Chinatown Wars, there are many advertisements of PRB throughout Liberty, mostly in Dukes and Bohan.

File:PRB.jpg

Princess Robot Bubblegum

Cast

• Princess Robot Bubblegum: The eponymous lead character. She fights the forces of evil and darkness with a robotic power suit which shoots missiles from its chest. She owns a cell phone which transforms into a vibrator. Her catchphrase is "Too horny to fight crime".
• Master Hentai: PRB's sensei. He trains PRB after her ninja parents leave her on his doorstep. He tells PRB that she must train in skimpy clothing for merchandising purposes. It is revealed that Master Hentai is a pedophile, and his cane is shaped like a penis. His name refers to the aforementioned pornographic anime.

File:Lowly Master.jpg

Master Hentai

• Saki: PRB's alcoholic and drug abusing floating animal sidekick. He is seen drinking a malt beverage, then promptly vomiting, peeing in the graveyard scene, and overdosing on a speedball. His name refers the Japanese alcoholic beverage of the same name.
• Sword Boy: An androgynous and effeminate blind teenage samurai whom PRB encounters during her quest. As a child, his parents were burned to death in a freak onion volcano accident which left him blind. His large sword and moody demeanor seem to parody Final Fantasy VII protagonist Cloud Strife.

Trivia

• The title character's voice in GTA IV's PRB commercial is a mock-Asian caricature; in The Ballad of Gay Tony, she has the American accent more typical of dubbed characters.
• Characters in PRB often break the fourth wall, mentioning the show's writers, translators, future episodes, merchandising, etc.
• The mugger in the fountain scene is a reference to the Super Sayians from Dragon Ball Z.
• The American tourist encounters a used panties vending machine which transforms into a killer robot.

External link

• Princess Robot Bubblegum on Rockstar News Wire