What happens after you make an anime like Evangelion, deconstructing all that the Super Robot genre held dear? A lot of dark, angsty, and moody Super Robot series that tried to follow in Evangelion's footsteps.
... And then GaoGaiGar came along and said "Screw that!" and returned the genre to its roots, where enough courage combined with enough big robots can save the day.
The last of the "Braves" metaseries made from the people that brought you Gundam and the people responsible for the original Generation 1 Transformers action figures, GaoGaiGar's the one that stands out the most. Mankind in the future is under attack by the enigmatic, technology-assimilating Zonders, and their only hope is the Gutsy Geoid Guard, an elite organization sponsored by the government.
The titular robot, GaoGaiGar, is actually a set of three parts. First, is the mysterious alien robot lion Galeon, and the astronaut that discovered him, Gai Shishioh. They can unite to form "GaiGar", which then receives additional equipment from the Gao Machines: a stealth bomber, bullet train, and driller, to form GaoGaiGar. Gai serves as one of the two main protagonists in the series, while the young boy Mamoru serves as the other. Essentially, the Zonders use humans as the core of their machines, and Gai's duty is to free them, after which Mamoru can restore them to their proper mindset.
The other robots are those in the vein of the Autobots, mainly there to serve as support craft for GaoGaiGar, although they all can fight, and usually do. The most famous of them is probably Mic Sounders (the teeny one that looks like a jukebox), who you're tempted not to take seriously... until you watch him transform to combat mode and pretty much an unstoppable entity that could destroy the planet just with the *spillover* of his attacks.
The series starts out as pretty standard-fare, as it was meant to just sell merchandise. But around the middle point through, the directors realize that a lot of older viewers liked the story, and so the hot-blooded nature of the series goes into overdrive, and the story and the acting become amazing. The series then gets numerous manga sequels, an audio drama, a sequel OVA series (GaoGaiGar FINAL), appearances in a few Super Robot Wars games, and a spin-off (Betterman).
P-Girl and anyone else into Transformers, I strongly advise you look into this. The cast is huge, and the characters are all very deep and there are plenty of interesting plot-twists.
And where else are you going to see a man yell out "Titanium Head DRIIIIIIIVEEEEEEER!!!!!" while bashing in the heads of zombies with a golf club?
Answer? You can't. Because GaoGaiGar's the only show cool enough to have that.
Oh, and Gai is voiced by the guy that did Teppei in B't X. That's always a plus.
The King Of Braves: Gaogaigar, What happens when you mix Transformers with old-school Super Robots
Sep 4 2008, 1:59 AM
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