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 Super/real Robot Franchise Of The Week, A labor of love, for my beloved genre |
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 Dec 22 2008, 6:29 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
Group: Members
Posts: 3,850
Joined: September 7 2007
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Hey, Light Yagami and Amuro *have* shared voice actors. And now here it comes. We've set the foundations of the Super Robot genre with the likes of Mazinger Z and Getter Robo... but what of the Real Robot genre? Where the machines were typically smaller, and viewed as simply tools with larger-scale version of normal weapons? Well we have the original Mobile Suit Gundam for that.
Mobile Suit Gundam was originally a compromise between Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise Productions on one side and their sponsors on the other. Tomino, already famous for directing the successful Super Robot anime Invincible Superman Zambot 3 and followed up by the Invincible Steelman Daitarn 3, along with being in charge for the first season of Brave Raideen, had set his eyes on doing a war story anime. His sponsors, however, wanted another Super Robot anime. Eventually Tomino appeased them by drafting up the concept of an anime wherein the soldiers of this war would battle in giant mechanical suits. The result was Mobile Suit Gundam, which first aired in 1979. Gundam's story is radically different than that of Mazinger Z or Getter Robo, taking place in the distant future of the Universal Century calender, year 0079. Mankind has begun to slowly expand its realm of influence in the solar system, with numerous colonies around the various Legrange Points of the Earth, along with a few more settlements on the Moon and mining facilities around Jupiter. Unfortunately, things turn sour in UC 79 when Side Three, one of the colonies, having since become more militaristic and having slight echoes of being Space Nazis, declares itself the Principality of Zeon and no longer under control of the Earth Federation and its government. War quickly breaks out, with the smaller Principality having the upper hand due to the invention of Mobile Suits; specifically, the Zaku. The Earth Federation, mainly just using larger-scale battleships, are totally unprepared for battling relatively minuscule fighters armed with assortments of weapons. The battle quickly escalates to using nukes, and lots of them, when Zeon retaliates with a Colony Drop. They literally take a single colony, get rid of everyone on it, and drop it on the Earth. Their plan was to destroy the Earth Federation's headquarters in Jaburo, but due to intervention it gets redirected and destroys much of Australia. Eventually a treaty is made that, while not ending the war, has both Zeon and the Earth Federation promise not to use biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons, along with Colony Drops. Our hero is a young dabbler in electronics and small-scale robots named Amuro Ray, a citizen of the still-neutral Side 7. A small recon group from Zeon has their suspicions that the Earth Federation is using Side 7 to develop their own response to the Zakus in secret, and they are correct. They promptly attack the colony and the Earth Federation vessel stationed there, the White Base, in a hopes to destroy this secret weapon. The effect is twofold: nearly wiping out the entirety of the officers on the White Base, and forcing Amuro to pilot this new machine... the Gundam. It is in these first sorties that Amuro meets his longtime rival, Char Aznable. Initially winning his first few sorties simply because the Gundam is so much more powerful than a Zaku, Amuro is assigned to the White Base. The sole surviving officer, an Ensign by the name of Bright Noah, takes command of the White Base in an attempt to bring it to Earth and return the Gundam to the Earth Federation headquarters, as per his orders. Rounding out the cast included the tragically ineffectual Sayla Mass, the slightly less ineffectual Frau Bow, bratty little kid Katz Kobayashi, his adoptive older brother Hayato Kobayashi, snarky jerk Kai Shiden, and the jovial fat guy Ryu Jose. To help out Amuro in battles, Hayato and Ryu work together to pilot the tank-ish Guntank while Kai uses the more humanoid Guncannon. There were also some minor characters... most of whom died since the story was taking place during a war and that was just how it worked. On the side of the antagonists were various enemy ace pilots, most prominent being the recurring Char Aznable. Char himself would clash with Amuro many times, initially having a profound advantage in skill with his machine, but Amuro gradually bridged the gap to the point of being Char's superior. There was also the famous Ramba Ral, the three-man team known as the Black Tri-Stars, and a young girl named Lalah Soon. There was also the dastardly Zabi family, those in charge of the Principality and at the same times at each others' throats in some cases. Gundam also had a slight hint of mysticism in it regarding some people that had been born in Space with unusual powers. They were known as Newtypes, and were believed to be the next step in human evolution. Newtypes could sometimes sense enemy attacks before they would happen, communicate to each other, and had other abilities similar to psychics, and yet Tomino has repeatedly stated that Newtypes are not psychics nor Espers. Building on some of what he had done in Raideen and Zambot 3, Tomino featured a lot of character development with the cast. Amuro goes through a lot of phases during the story, ranging from whiny loser not wanting to fight (Brightslaps solved that) and realizing that the war didn't effect just him and training furiously to match and surpass Char. Char himself mystified audiences with his unique story and setting the foundations for the "blonde, red-themed rival" so prevalent today in not just Gundam but Japanese media entirely. Zero from Megaman and Ken from Street Fighter come to mind. The infamous "It's three times as fast" line in regards to Char's red-colored Zaku early on has sparked the belief painting anything red made it three times as fast/better. The series, in spite of selling lots of toys, did not get very good ratings. Probably because it was the first Real Robot series and people didn't know what they were getting into. Nevertheless, in spite of pressure by his sponsors, Tomino was able to get 43 episodes, enough to wrap-up the story decently and give us some closure. As a safety precaution, Tomino also during this time penned a novel retelling of the story, in a much more adult and mature atmosphere. The story differed a bit, though, including the death of Amuro during the final battle complete with the traditional Tomino "You're going to die and your death won't accomplish anything" style. Nevertheless, in the anime Amuro survives, along with Char, who made some semblance of peace with each other in the end. Tomino himself hated doing sequels. His big reason for killing people off was mainly to just to make sure not enough of the cast was around so there could *be* a sequel. Oh, how foolish of him. Thanks to stellar sales of its toys, Gundam immediately went into syndication and just like Family Guy got its second chance. Tomino was commissioned to do a series of compilation movies for Gundam. They also proved successful, partially for fixing a few stupid moments in the anime, such as replacing the whole "I killed Ryu!" "No, I killed Ryu!" sequence with "Amuro, you could've saved him!" "Shut up, YOU could've saved him!" Nevertheless, the show remains today the most popular in the franchise. Due to a mix of interest on his part and the pressure from the higher-ups, Tomino returned to the Gundam series in 1985 with Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
Zeta Gundam takes place in UC 87, and things have taken an overall turn for the worse. In the time since the victory over the Principality of Zeon, the Earth Federation has gradually slid down the slippery slope, instating the powerful ace group known as the Titans to ensure dominance over the colonies by any means necessary. Many members of the Federation, however, know the line has to be drawn somewhere, and abandon the Federation to found two separate but equally important resistance groups. The first, Karaba, is stationed on Earth and is led by Gundam veteran Hayato Kobayashi. The latter, the Anti-Earth Union Group, abbreviated as AEUG, handles space duties. The flagship of the AEUG is the Argamma, captained by the now older and no less awesome Bright Noah. Helping him out and in charge of the Mobile Suits on the ship is none other than a mysterious blonde man by the name of Quattro Bajina, who has a thing for always wearing sunglasses and wearing red. Hmm... I wonder if he could be someone else? To provide Karaba and the AEUG the necessary military might to oppose the Titans, the lunar-based Anaheim Electronics offers to provide them their various Mobile Suits in exchange for protection from the Titans. Things sound great at first, and then we find out the Titans have a little secret weapon up their sleeves. Gundams. Not one, but actually three. Quattro gets sent on both a mission to seize the Gundams to make sure that the Titans don't get them and also a trip down memory lane as he returns to Side 7. There, due to another sequence of cooky events, a young man named Camille Bidan ends up joining him and joining the AEUG, using one of the stolen Gundam Mk. IIs, and the battles begin anew. In the meantime, Kai sends the Argamma a nice little letter, explaining in utterly STELLAR English that... Commander Quattro, he is a CHAR.Zeta Gundam featured most of the old Gundam cast in supporting roles excluding Sayla Mass, although with the exception of Bright, and older yet brattier Katz, and Mr. Sunglasses the main focus was mainly on the new cast. Camille had some of the trappings of Amuro in him, including being introverted and gradually learning to become a better Gundam pilot as he battled the Titans, but his true strength on the battlefield was Newtype powers surpassing any other Newtype before him. He also was already famous for being a very gifted Mobile Suit designer and had submitted a certain design to Anaheim which ended up becoming the Zeta Gundam, which he got near the end of season one. This would set the hallmark in Gundam series to come, wherein the hero would ALWAYS get a new Mobile Suit sooner or later. Things take a turn for the worse, however, when the Titans recruit a young but very influential man from Jupiter named Paptimus Scirroco, possessing piloting powers surpassing that of even Char and Camille combined, along with Newtype powers to bend many people to his will. Scirroco seizes control of the Titans for his own gains, and our heroes know they need some help. Which is when Char admits "Hey... I had this one girlfriend this one time..." Said ex-girlfriend is Haman Karn, now in charge of the remnants of the Principality of Zeon. After striking a few bargains with her, some of which Char quickly regrets, the new Axis Zeon allies itself with the AEUG. This is followed with Axis joining up with the Titans, sharing a few ha-has, before screwing them over too. In the end, the situation boils down to a vicious three-way struggle culminating with the death of nearly the entire protagonist group, all but one of the Titans, and Haman essentially on top. Camille's fateful duel with Scirroco ends with a victory for him, but Scirroco's tremendous Newtype power proves enough to mentally shred Camille, with the series ending with Camille's main love interest Fa taking him back to the Argamma, screaming at Bright that something was wrong with Camille. Zeta Gundam was much more serious and brooding in comparison to the only semi-serious tone of the original Gundam, which can be attributed to Tomino suffering from a depression at the time.. Some look on this and think it was a change for the better, whilst others think it went too far, Tomino included. A lot of characters went through a great deal of turmoil, including two other love interests for Camille on the enemy side, Four and Rosamia, and *many* characters lost themselves through the struggles. Camille's initial rival Jerid and AEUG ace Reccoa are two of the biggest examples. Char himself also went through a lot of development too, striving to protect the colonies he cared so greatly for, only to fail miserably when Haman trounced him in their climactic duel thanks to her superior Qubeley machine. But thanks to building on the reputation of the original Gundam, Zeta Gundam's tremendous popularity caused it to get an immediate sequel, a feat no other Gundam series has ever managed to repeat. It was an attempt to contrast with Zeta's tragedy and bloodshed, as was Tomino's habit of following up a depressing story with a happy one. The result was Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (pronounced Double Zeta) Oh, and incidentally there was also the Zeta compliation movies produced a few years ago, which changed a few things around due to Tomino's brighter outlook on life. One of them was Camille *not* getting mentally screwed up by Scirroco. But they're non-canon, so they don't count. On to ZZ!
At the end of Zeta Gundam, the Titans were annhilated, the AEUG lost nearly all its seasoned officers and aces, and the fledgling Axis Zeon was the top dog. The Argamma, fleeing to Side 1 for repairs and medical attention for Camille, cannot handle another battle so soon and things look bad. Enter a young salvage team in the Side 1 colony Shangri-La, featuring bright and cheerful, if a little bit of a rebel, Judau Ashta. Judau was meant to be a direct contrast to Amuro and especially Camille's introverted personalities, instead being outgoing, a bit of a loudmouth, and in fact being a much weaker Newtype in comparison. Again, through a series of contrived coincedences, Judau ends up in the piloting seat of the Zeta Gundam, at first defending Shangri-La, his sister and friends, and the Argamma from a group of Axis Zeon soldiers led by Mashimar Cero, himself not necessarily a bad guy. Unfortunately, repeated defeats at the hands of Judau ticks off his higher-ups, and he's quickly sent away. What follows is the even quirkier Chara Soon, who... yeah. It was actually amusing how Tomino threw us a curveball with Judau at first. Whereas Amuro and Camille were a bit clunky at the controls but quickly got the hang of their respective Gundams, Judau stumbled his way through many of his initial fights... literally. I think he fumbled and dropped his beam saber at least three times, and he won a lot of his fights thanks to nothing more than sheer dumb luck. Eventually, however, he gets the hang of Zeta Gundam and quickly upgrades up to the larger and tougher Gundam ZZ. To go along with this, Judau's experience with piloting smaller-scale Mobile Suits while salvaging wrecks lets him work around his Newtype handicap. The main driving factor at first with Judau was his desire to protect his little sister Leina, which eventually grew into an attempt to rescue her after she got kidnapped. In the meantime, he grew to respect Bright Noah as a commander, and his friends matured as well as they became the "Gundam Team", referring to the fact that the group was using three Gundams (one of the Mk. IIs, Zeta, and ZZ) and the Gundam-esque Hyaku Shiki in their battles. The series, at least at first, had some comedy elements in it, possibly too much and too soon after Zeta Gundam's conclusion, and Tomino returned the series to its serious roots at the halfway point when the team reached Earth. With the Earth Federation exhausted, Axis Zeon -now called Neo Zeon- had a stranglehold over the planet and used that as leverage to get their independence. Haman, during this time, also sparks a unique relationship with Judau, kinda a romance, kinda a "You're an idiot for opposing me". Judau, however, seemingly loses Leina during these battles on Earth, and struggles for a while to get over her death before finally resolving that she wasn't dead. A cutaway scene when they return to space, with Leina in the care of a woman with blonde hair, confirms this. Finally taking the fight to Neo Zeon, a fortunate coup helps Judau and the Gundam team turn the tables on Haman's forces, culminating in their final duel. Judau eventually defeats Haman, thanks to the support from characters that died during the course of the original Gundam, Zeta Gundam, and ZZ. After being reunited with Leina, who had been saved by an older Sayla Mass, he goes off to Jupiter to help out there. Camille also recovers from his trauma and manages to spend the rest of his days as a doctor along with Fa. ZZ's underappreciated. I've watched it and I liked it. Unlike Tomino's previous Gundam works, the effective female pilot on the protagonists side doesn't die for pointless reasons and the cast is colorful as always. Bright also gets punched in the end for revenge on all the times he slapped someone around, which is also appealing to viewers, and the second season is pretty serious as far as a Gundam series will go without losing its light. Another Colony Drop happens, something they managed to *avert* in Zeta, Hayato Kobayashi from the original Gundam series dies, a lot of noble sacrifices are made, and it does give the whole series closure. Well... sorta. Tomino's original plan was to have Char be the focus of ZZ. Some of Judau's characteristics echo Char's, such as the red jacket, relying more on natural piloting skill than Newtype powers, and appeal for little girls to follow him around. In Char's case, the reasons were mainly romantic. In Judau's, it was more they looked up to him like a big brother. After changing his mind, he planned on Char to appear during the last arc of the series since he was hinted at surviving after Haman defeated him, mainly to let him and Amuro have a final, decisive battle. But then he got an offer he couldn't refuse. That offer was a full-length Gundam movie; Char's Counterattack. Char's Counterattack takes place in UC 0093. The Earth Federation's gotten over the crap that's screwed it up since the original series and finally the good guys again. Char makes a glorious return, creating the second Neo Zeon movement, and having since given up on his ideals. Humanity must escape from the vice-like grip of the Earth's gravity, and he naturally believes the best way to solve this is to crash the new Axis base into it. The movie was originally a novel Tomino wrote, but it changes a few things, like the final machines that Amuro and Char use. The Earth Federation has an anti-colonial force designed to make sure problems like the old Neo Zeon never resurface again, the Londo Bell. In charge and given complete authority over it is Bright Noah, with Amuro Ray back in action as its chief piloting ace. Char himself has a nice little attack team all lined up with the intent of forcing all of humanity to flee to the colonies and become an entirely space-based civilization, and Amuro is determined to stop him. Rounding out the cast includes Amuro's second "true" girlfriend, Chien, a few more Londo Bell pilots and the unofficial one Hathaway Noah, Bright's son first mentioned in Zeta and shown briefly in ZZ. Char himself has his own little horde of goons too, including a young girl named Quess that has somewhat of a past with Hathaway. Naturally, this creates a *lot* of friction and difficulties. After struggling and fighting his rival for much of the movie, along with getting his hands on the now-famous and iconic Nu Gundam (Unfinished in the movie, finished in the novel), Amuro succeeds in defeating Char who had been using either the Nightingale in the book or the Sazabi in the movie. To stop the asteroid, Amuro bravely tries to push it back, his courage moving the remaining Federation and Zeon grunts to the point they all pitch in and save the day via a miracle, although at the cost of presumably Amuro and Char's lives. ... Well, Char MIGHT be alive, but we have to wait until Unicorn Gundam explains the things with Full Frontal, and that could take a while. Nevertheless, again most of the cast dies off save for Bright and his family, and that's the end of that. These three series and Char's Counterattack set the standard for Gundam, and stand out as some of Tomino's best works. Even detractors of ZZ admit it got much better during its second season, although being the person I am I see nothing wrong with it. These are not necessarily the *best* Gundam series out there, that's an issue open to debate, but they are certainly responsible for all the others. And now... SRW time! I'm only doing the iconic Gundams of the protagonists in each of the four series... four is enough. First, the original Gundam in Super Robot Wars Advance
Next, Zeta Gundam in Super Robot Wars Z
Check out the Shining Newtype Sword at 3:14. Domon Kasshu is not pleased. Next, the Full-Armored Gundam ZZ (a further-armored ZZ that's been sold as a toy and appeared in the manga) in Super Robot Wars Alpha 2. Since SRW Z uses the Zeta Gundam movies, the odds of Judau and company showing up is VERY slim. V_V
And lastly, Amuro's Nu Gundam from Char's Counterattack.
WHEW! Much easier than if I had also done Stardust Memory, War in the Pocket, 08th MS team, F91, Unicorn, Crossbone, and Victory. MUCH easier.
This post has been edited by MorriganAensland: Dec 22 2008, 6:35 PM
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Hey, look! My sig's back! |
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Dec 23 2008, 5:09 AM
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Cosmix Fairy
Group: Admins
Posts: 6,051
Joined: April 7 2008
From: Escaping the Matrix
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Mobile Suit Gundam:
Admittedly, the idea of Gundam suits is pretty cool.
(You stumped me with Lagrange Points. Stupid physics *grumble*. Had to look that up, haha. So basically they are positions around the earth (or sun) where something can remain in place due to equal pulls of gravity from two bodies? Instead of being pulled down to the Earth's surface?)
There's that Zaku again. I don't even know the full joke, but I still see that darn youtube vid in my head when someone says that word.
Colony Drop. Australia. Ahh! Non-Gundam Fa!
Okay, wow. All of the reoccuring jokes I have been hearing are clicking one by one into place.
Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta:
Gah...
Well, I should say something nice about the show so...as always, I love the 80s animation style. That should do it ^_^.
Mobil Suit Gundam ZZ:
I like the change in main character personality. Always good to get off the linear path of reoccurring protagonist characteristics.
Judau: looking at his early battle skills, I'd say he's probably alive by sheer dumb luck. Somehow natural selection didn't get to him.
Char's Counterattack:
"...the intent of forcing all of humanity to flee to the colonies and become an entirely space-based civilization..."
Darn, if only Char succeeded. Then I'd sneak back onto Earth and live happily on a planet without any stupid humans trying to destroy the environment. (And if he had succeeded, how stupid does that sound to put billions of people on relatively small colonies when there is a huge planet down below with muuuuuch more room. Not to mention natural resources...I'm just saying...)
Yay, slap-happy Bright survives. But not any of the nicer people? Bleh. lol
Thanks for wrapping that up so nicely. The story definitely interests me, but can't promise I'll ever get around to watching any of them =(. However, if I'm ever at an anime party or convention I can pretend to know what I'm talking about ^_^.
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Dec 29 2008, 10:51 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
Group: Members
Posts: 3,850
Joined: September 7 2007
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Whew! Today's belated update is for Tomino's pre-Gundam works. First up is the first Super Robot anime that decided to focus on more than just action and explore character-driven stories, Brave Raideen.
The year was 1975, and young and sensational director Yoshiyuki Tomino, fated to create the Real Robot genre, found himself directing his first Super Robot anime, Brave Raideen. Raideen set itself apart from Go Nagai's Getter Robo and Mazinger Z by, as stated before, look much deeper into the characters. Not by much, but it did set the standard other stories of the genre would follow. Anyways, our hero this time is Akira Hibiki, upstanding soccer player (like Ryoma from Getter Robo) and friends with a girl in the soccer club, Mari Sakurano, that happens to be the daughter of a prominent scientist. Incidentally, Akira was voiced by the same guy that did Ryoma in Getter Robo. And the villainous Demon Empire, much like the Hundred-Demon Clan of Getter Robo, has emerged after 12 millenia to crush civilization again. However, this is where the faint similarities to Getter Robo end. Akira, rather than piloting some amazing technological machine made at his friend's father's lab, is guided by a mysterious voice and discovers a strange golden pyramid. Inside of it is the last remaining artifact of the Mu Civilization, which had been destroyed by the Demon Empire all those centuries ago, the giant robot Raideen. Akira soon discovers he is in fact the only person in the world that can merge with and pilot Raideen, and vows to oppose the Demon Empire to the best of his abilities. Sakurano Labs decide to house and take care of upkeep for Raideen, in the meantime developing support crafts known as Bluegars to help out Raideen to the best of their abilities. Akira's friends and Mari help take care of piloting them. What separated Raideen the machine apart from Getter and Mazinger was, for one thing, it was technically self-aware. It was guided by a mysterious spirit and had a mind of its own, a first in the franchise. It also relied much more on long-ranged combat with its bow and various projectiles, although its trademark finishing move, the God Bird, involved transforming into an eagle and dive-bombing the enemy. There was also a *very* powerful attack known as the God Voice, involving Raideen releasing sonic waves powerful enough to destroy *anything*, but Akira used them rarely because of the tremendous stress they put on his body. In fact, even during the nigh-hopeless battle against the final enemy in the series, Akira never considered using the God Voice because of its risky nature. Raideen proved successful, spawning two sequels related to it in name only, and solidified Tomino's stance as a director in the genre. However, for whatever reason he left after completing the first half of the series, leaving Tadao Nagahama to direct the second season. Raideen ran for 50 episodes, but still remains influential today. RahXephon, a series often derided as a rip-off of Evangelion, actually has much more in common with Raideen. Nagahama's experiences, picking up the torch for Tomino, helped inspire him to work on his own more-serious and character-driven Super Robot anime a few years down the road. I will be covering those next week. Anyways, while working on Raideen, Tomino found his niche in Sunrise Productions, and would stay there for a very long time. It was there he made the various Gundams, but this isn't a post about them, it's about his pre-Gundam works. And his next one was the one where justice was in the shape of a giant robot. And it's name was Zambot 3.
Zambot 3, it's full name being The Invincible Superman Zambot 3, takes place in the not-too-distant future, wherein a group of surprisingly human-looking aliens, which would become a Tomino staple, flee to Earth seeking asylum. These aliens, the sole survivors of the planet Bael, are fleeing from a terrifying military force led by the mysterious and malevolent entity known as Gaizok. At Gaizok's disposal are dozens of automated robots known as Mecha Boosts, and Earth is quickly sent into a panic at the fear of being attacked. The aliens, taking responsibility for what they've set upon the Earth, quickly retrofit three of their spacecraft into parts of a robot known as Zambot 3. Three young Bael children, the boys Kappei and Uchuta and the girl Keiko, take over piloting. Kappei handles most of Zambot 3's primary functions when the vehicles combine, and serves as the main focus for the story. Gaizok, setting a nice precedence, is not shown until very, *very* late into the story. Read that as "not until the final battle is nearly over and done with." Instead, Gaizok uses the fatass named Killer the Butcher as a proxy to lead his forces. Killer seems bumbling, oftentimes fawning over jewelry, eating like there's no tomorrow, and trying to suntan on his ships, but he genuinely lives up to his named and is responsible for a *lot* of people dying, which is what Zambot 3 is all about. You see, humanity quickly discovers that Gaizok has absolutely NO interest in Earth at all. He just wants to kill the rest of the Bael survivors. This, combined with the shockingly high civilian body-count as Zambot battles the Mecha Boosts, causes public outcry against the aliens and more than one assassination attempt on them. Kappei even gets a lot of flack from kids at school who beat him up more than once, and his only real support outside of the other Bael aliens are two girls that compose his fanclub. Eventually though, Gaizok changes his mind and begins to view Earth as a wonderful place to conquer for its resources, and by story's end humanity is thankful that Zambot 3 has defeated him. Of course, not without lots of sacrifices... Zambot 3's weapons were pretty cool too. It had a pair of sais that could be combined to make a spear or a sword, and it could also do the really cool Moon Attack. Unfortunately, since Tomino wanted to make a more edgy Super Robot show to make it stand out from his and Go Nagai's previous works, all those attacks added up to lots of collateral damage. Because, hey, that kinda makes sense. Zambot 3 also received support from Bael spaceships, including being provided with an Ion Cannon from Kappei's father's vessel that would be the start of Tomino's habit of having a robot get its best/biggest weapon from a ship, fire it, and then be done with it. Anyways, Tomino *really* didn't like making sequels, and did what he could to ensure sequels wouldn't be possible. This often involved killing off copious amounts of the cast, which is what happened during the final battle against Gaizok. In short, all the Bael spaceships get destroyed, Zambot 3 is forced to do a suicide crash into Gaizok's vessel after its arms and legs are destroyed, and Kappei barely survives the battles and ends up being the last Bael alive. This was the beginning of Tomino's habit of evoking a Kill 'em All ending, which would become his nickname in just a few years. *EDIT*: As I have found out a few days ago, it turns out not all of the Bael race had been wiped out. Before the final battle, all the non-combatants fled to Earth... so at least a number of the women and other children survived. Zambot 3 had a very short run, only 23 episdoes starting in 1977, and has since been fansubbed in its entirety. This was the start of all those "depressing" Super Robot anime like Evangelion. If you want to know where those kind of stories came from, look no further. Anyways, Tomino also had another habit. After making a *really* depressing anime, he would always try to follow it up with a comedy, or at least something a little more light-hearted. Immediately after wrapping up Zambot 3, Tomino wished to make another anime immediately afterwards and managed to get some of the Zambot 3 staff to stay around. And they got two really cool ideas in mind. 1. Let's make a spiritual sequel to Zambot 3, something absurdly similar in so many ways, yet entirely different. 2. What would happen if James Bond had a giant robot of his own? The result was Daitarn 3.
The Invincible Steelman Daitarn 3, officially known as the Unchallengeable Daitarn 3, came on four months after Zambot 3 and its first episode was in June of 1978. Daitarn 3's name and design obviously seems akin to Zambot 3's, complete with a "Sun Attack" similar to Zambot's "Moon Attack", but they really couldn't be further apart. Daitarn 3 was not three machines that combined into one, it was one that could change to become a tank, Super Robot 120 meters in height, or a really big jet. It was also explicitly stated to be solar-powered, giving it theoretically unlimited running time in outer space. As for James Bond getting his giant robot, we must look at the guy with the crazy hair in that opening, a man by the name of Banjou Haran. Banjou's father was yet another brilliant scientist, studying robotics on a specialized and isolated lab on Mars with his family. He successfully created the first free-thinking robots, known as the Meganoids. Unfortunately, the Meganoids quickly unite under the militaristic ideals of the robot Don Zauser, and kill Professor Haran and nearly his entire family. The only survivor is an allegedly sixteen year old Banjou, who escapes with the titular Daitarn to Earth. Two years go by, and Banjou is now ridiculously rich, lives in a mansion with a butler named Garrison, and famous amongst Interpol and often works with female agents Reika and Beauty. He is also an accomplished student at a university. These facts, along with his mannerisms more akin with a man in at least his mid-twenties, often consider people to disregard Banjou's "official" age of 18 for the series since it was never stated in the anime. Banjou has also been training in Daitarn 3 for the time when the Meganoids would finally launch their assault on Earth, studying firearms and the like as well. This gave the story an intended Secret Agent-ish spirit to it, including having Banjou have colorful gadgets like the transforming car and the ring that could summon Daitarn. The overall effect was quite impressive, along with giving the faceless grunts serving the Meganoids some depth by letting them often discuss things with each other. Banjou was also, interestingly enough, pretty much the only instance in all of Tomino's career of making a hero that was "Lawful Good." If Banjou gives you his word, he will keep it. He saved enemy Meganoids from outside threats that were victimizing them, and generally was a pretty nice guy about it. These more favorable and arguably mainstream elements let Daitarn 3 be more universally accepted than Zambot 3 and it ran for forty episodes, culminating with Banjou's final duel with Don Zauser. These three series have been staples in Super Robot Wars for a long time, Raideen and Daitarn first appearing in Super Robot Wars 3 and Zambot in Super Robot Wars 4. Raideen has been noticably absent on most of the portables, including the entire GBA lineup, but Daitarn and Zambot have appeared in a few more. It's interesting to note that unlike most Super Robots that are meant to be tanks, Raideen is meant to fight from a distance off, at least until it gets a few upgrades and gets new melee weapons. Zambot is decidedly a close-range fighter, but Daitarn can play both roles quite well, and often has team-attacks with Zambot. Raideen's also had some team-attacks with RahXephon when they met in Super Robot Wars MX. Raideen's attacks, from Super Robot Wars Alpha 3:
Zambot's from Super Robot Wars Z
Daitarn's from Super Robot Wars Z
This post has been edited by MorriganAensland: Jan 22 2009, 8:49 PM
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Dec 30 2008, 9:30 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
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From: Escaping the Matrix
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I uh, think I'm better off not understanding that picture.
Okay, homework time.
Brave Raideen:
The mysterious calling and hidden sentient robot are really interesting traits for the show, a nice jump away from war-bots and typical flying machines. I think the fantasy of that appeals to me more as well, since it brings an unknown element into the plot. Not cut and clear technology that anyone can take apart and determine how it ticks. (This reminds me a little from what I've seen of Eureka 7, but then I'm sure many animes have borrowed the sentient robot plot. Oh, also Zoids New Century.)
A fighting move that resembles an eagle. Yay ^_^.
Zambot 3:
@Video: Oh my gosh! They are chanting my name. lolz
Wowies, check out all the different weapons. And for some reason I am drawn to the crescent moon on its forehead. A pair of sai (wielded by a robot that looks pretty cool), a double-sided lance (sweet, reminds me of Cye from Ronin Warriors), a sword, flying discs, and a rifle. Ooo, lots of accessories for a potential model kit. *whaps self* Shut up Sarah, no one wants to hear you prattle about model kits!
Kids piloting a giant robot. That's pretty unconventional, especially if they could do it well. It's different, I like that.
Okay, just looking at the premise but, wth?? The remaining Bael survivors on Earth, bringing a psychotic killer along with them, leading to countless numbers of innocents being killed, all because they thought they'd hang out on Earth and doom another race of people by accident? And oh my gawd...after ALL that trouble, only 1 measly Bael survivor stands! W-w-wha... @_@ That's it! Give me a flipping robot! I'm going after the Bael people myself! *And with that, Zhanneel is dragged away to a mental hospital where she is lobotomized.* (Okay, Morri already knows my views on this, so I'll stop attacking Tomino like the vindictive girl I can be ^_^.)
Daitarn 3:
Seriously, that is James Bond, and there are the extra females to tag along and give the show sex appeal, lolz. The whole father dying, being rich, having a butler also makes me think Batman.
Wow! Environmentally friendly too! Solar powered. *hugs Daitarn 3*
I do like the less somber mood of this series too. Thank you Tomino.
SRW game videos:
Raideen: @2:34, and @3:42 (eagle attack!)
Zambot 3: @2:12 (all three weapon attacks, cool)
Daitarn 3: @3:03 (solo sun attack, also spiffy)
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Dec 30 2008, 9:51 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
Group: Members
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Tomino's less-tragic shows are, without a shadow of a doubt, Daitarn, L-Gaim, Xabungle, Gundam ZZ, and most anything he made starting with Turn A up to today. The guy's had a lot of problems, and working through them took a lot of time. Even Brain Powerd, which is farily serious, doesn't have too many deaths on the side of the protagonists.
Overman King Gainer and Xabungle are the ones much more focused on comedy than any of the others. Only two regular cast members in Gainer die, both of them villains. And Xabungle's got enough slapstick humor that during the famous ICBM toss, *nobody* dies or suffers from radiation poisoning in the aftermath.
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Jan 5 2009, 9:14 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
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Our subjects for today is the famous Romance Robot Trilogy directed by Tadao Nagahama, a trilogy not in terms of taking place in the same continuity, but building on certain themes from story to story. Now, Nagahama's first breakthrough work was directing the latter half of Brave Raideen after Tomino left the director's chair, and he did a fairly good job at it, building on Tomino's emphasis of character-driven plots. With his taste for directing Super Robot anime whetted, he signed up to direct Combattler V one year later in 1976.
Choudenji Robo Combattler V, translated as Super Electromagnetic Robo Combattler V, was created by Suburo Yatsudo, an anime development team at TOEI. Nagahama picked up the reins and oversaw the anime's production, although his difficulty with overseeing art development meant a subordinate director needed to be hired to help create Nagahama's visions. Anyways, Combattler V took place in a reality where thousands of years ago, a group of explorers from Planet Campbell left their home to explore and find new worlds to settle and conquer. A group led by the Campbellian scientist Oreana, discovers Earth but tragedy strikes and causes her and her explorers to fall into suspended animation. They reawaken in the 21st century, discovering humanity has since flourished but decide to conquer Earth for their own gain. However, world-renowned and brilliant scientist Professor Nanbara has been researching the power of electromagnetism and created a set of five vehicles that, when combined together form the powerful Combattler V, capable of using the likes of yo-yos, missiles fired from its abdomen and fingers, and a twirly-spinny attack called the Choudenji Spin to defeat its enemies. Its pilots fulfill the requirements of being a "Five man band". The Hero and main pilot of the machine is motocycle fanatic Hyoma Aoi. The Lancer and Hyoma's friendly rival is Juzo Naniwa... incidentally voiced by the same guy that did the laid-back and intellectual Hayato in Getter Robo. The Big Guy is Daisaku Nishikawa, judo expert. The Chick/love interest for both Juzo and Hyoma is Chizuru Nanbara, daughter of the good Professor. Lastly, is the brainy yet tiny Smart Guy Kosuke Kita. Rounding out the cast for the protagonists is Ropet, a small robot that tags along with the Combattler V team and gives the okay for combining, the quirky kids of the lab's cook who eventually pilot a small robot of their own called Kerot, and Nanbara's friend Professor Yotsuya who takes over leading the lab after Professor Nanbara dies early in the series to hold off an enemy attack. The villians initially are Oreana and her son Garuda, who in turn has a number of subordinates tasked with various operations and duties. Hyoma sparks a rivalry with Garuda, made even more bitter when Hyoma loses his arms due to a machine Garuda personally piloted, forcing Hyoma to get cybernetic replacements. Nevertheless, they all eventually are defeated, however the exploration force has long since let the Campbellian homeworld know of Earth, and Combattler V suddenly has a new threat on their hands. During this second season, we discover that one reason why the Campbellians were hesitant to invade the Earth was because it went against the wishes of the current Emperor Deus. However, by the time of the second season, he has been ousted by the utterly monsterous and amoral Empress Janera and her own horde of goons. One of Janera's most reviled and evil moments involved having one of her more bumbling subordinates have a bomb implanted in his body and then discussing with the others how stupid and incompetent the poor guy was right before the bomb went off. Anyways, through great struggles and the sacrifice of Professor Yotsuya near the end of the series, Combattler V forces Janera to spearhead one last invasion, only to be warned that Emperor Deus has found the support and manpower to retake his empire. Janera follows through anyways, nearly succeeding until being defeated by Combattler V and her last-ditch effort of using a thermonuclear bomb to destroy the Earth thwarted by Deus's intervention. With Earth at last saved from those Campbellians that were evil, Deus decides to lend support to rebuild Earth. Combattler V, in comparison to the second and third parts of the trilogy, was not as ground breaking. Not to say it wasn't good, far from it, but it was really the springboard. Nagahama was still getting the hang of being in charge of a story and not just carrying the torch for someone else. However, the next part in the trilogy truly established him as a great Super Robot director.
The second part of the trilogy was Choudenji Machine Voltes V (pronounced "five" instead of Combattler's "Vee"), literally Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V, which came out in 1977. The series seems like a rehash of Combattler, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Voltes was one of the first Super Robot anime to explore a lot of human values and tendencies, and also explored issues dealing with family members. In fact, the Hero Kenichi, Smart Guy Hiyoshi, and Big Guy Daijiro, are all brothers. Their father, Kentaro Gou, has been missing ever since the birth of the youngest boy, Hiyoshi, but worked with his wife Mitsuyo to create Voltes V. Rounding out the Five Man Band is Ippei Mine for the Lancer position and Megumi Oka for the purposes of being the Chick. Rounding out the protagonists are a few more professors and military generals that are trying to overcome the tyrannical rule of Zu Zambijil. Zambijil is the ruler of the Boazan aliens, humanoid individuals who usually have horns, although there are a few exceptions. Zambujil usurped rulership from the rightful heir, and in turn branded him and his son Prince Heinel as traitors. Heinel himself, in an effort to redeem his family name, spearheads many of the operations to defeat Voltes V and finish the Boazan's domination of the galaxy, but finds it more and more difficult as he clashes with Kenichi. Unlike Garuda beforehands, Heinel survives until the final episode, which ends with a swordfight between him and Kenichi on foot rather than a duel in giant robots. He also was the first and one of the most iconic times a villain would have greater depth than simply cackle all the time and desire the defeat of his opponents. Heinel was a man of honor and decency, and died not by Kenichi's blade but in a moment of self-sacrifice and able to look back with pride at his accomplishments. Many other Boazans were shown to be genuinely good people as well, including Heinel's love interest Katherine and the honorable soldier Jangal who opted to die a warrior's death against Voltes than surrender. The overall effect of Voltes V was phenominal and silenced critics that thought it would just go through the same motions of Combattler V. Combattler V, in spite of its sometimes serious tone, had a great deal of comedy and humor in it whilst Voltes had a much more somber tone throughout. Its emphasis on character depth, and with such a large cast as well, was arguably a first in the genre of Super Robots since the original Gundam wouldn't be made for two whole years afterwards, and raised the struggles of both humans and Boazans to defeat Zambijil to heroic proportions... enough that Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos banned the show after realizing that Zambijil reminded him too much of himself. Voltes V quickly became the symbol of the Philippine rebels after that, where it enjoys a large fanbase even to this day. Anyways, after having two healthy runs with Five Man Band shows, Nagahama had finally gotten himself warmed up. He had hit his stride with making a serious Super Robot show, one where the story had just as much focus on the characters as the titular robots. But now he needed to do something new, something different. Something involving karate and motion-capture technology.
Tosho Daimos, meaning Fighting General Daimos, was the last of the three series part of the trilogy. Unlike the previous two, the robot in question was piloted by a single individual, did not have any kind of Electromagnetic theme going on, and the story is as much a tale of love and loss as it is a story of a karate expert piloting a giant robot. It began airing in 1978. The story again features humanoid aliens, this time the winged Baamians. After their planet became inhospitable due to natural disasters, the Baamians migrated and found Earth, where they managed to convince world governments to give them the opportunity to purchase land for settling. After debate and compromises, a date is set for the negotiations. However, a hardline group in the remnants of the Baamian military uses the summit to kill their leader Leon, frame the Earth delegates, and create an excuse for letting them take over the planet. During the ensuing chaos and gunfire, renowned scientist Doctor Issamu Ryuzaki is killed. Leon's son, Ricther, in the dark about the truth of his father's death like nearly all Baamians, jumps at the chance to spearhead the campaigns on Earth. Things look like they will be easy enough until he discovers a strange machine that battles whilst emulating the fighting style of a karate expert. This machine is Daimos. And piloting it is Kazuya Ryuzaki, world-renowned karate master and son of the murdered doctor. Daimos's greatest advantage is the motion-capture technology that lets it mimic Kazuya's actions, resulting in the first Super Robot to be able to use genuine martial arts moves. Although Grendizer did make a minor sub-plot out of the fact damage to it also hurt Duke Fleid, this was the first time a synchronization went the other way and this feature would be mimicked quite often in later works. G Gundam is one of the most prominent examples of "Motion Capture mechs", along with the Western movie Robot Jox. Helping out Kazuya is Kyoshiro Yuzuki, the afro-clad modern Samurai that pilots Daimos's support jet Galva FX-II; Shinichiro Izumi, Kazuya's karate teacher and the new man in charge of Doctor Ryuzaki's Daimobic Labs; and Shinichiro's granddaughter Nana who helps Kyoshiro in the Galva and harbors a crush on Kazuya. Another prominent human is General Sakamori Miwa, a racist who hates all Baamins and had demanded them to be killed long before Leon's death. On the side of the Baamians is a colorful cast as well and further proving just as there were good and bad humans, so too were there good and bad Baamians. The leader of the people after Leon's death was Leon's military adviser and the man in charge of the military hardliners Olban. Richter features prominently as well, along with his sister Erika who eventually sparks a romance with Kazuya, along with a few other Baamians who were genuinely good people that did believe that Leon had been killed by humans. This results in Kazuya often engaging in loyal soldiers who fought with utmost honor and respected him and died deaths befitting heroes, saving both Baamian and human lives from dangers and superweapons developed from individuals on both sides of the conflict. Daimos also received numerous upgrades over the course of the series. Being the first of the "Martial arts in giant robots" anime, Daimos typically used its weapons to simply immobilize its enemies at the end of battles before defeating them with karate chops, diving kicks, or punches that destroyed the machines. In fact, all of Daimos's more powerful techniques relied much more on Kazuya's skill as a karate master than any kind of advanced weapon. Then, after the Baamian scientists introduces machines with upgraded armor, Daimos responds by upgrading its wind-based Double Blizzard into the heated Fire Blizzard along with getting equipped with chilling Freezer Beams. Daimos would then freeze enemies, use the Fire Blizzard to rapidly heat and compromise the enemies defenses, before delivering one final blow. However, there were plenty of times Daimos skipped all that and just beat the enemies up with conventional attacks. Anyways, starting from Combattler V and moving on, one can see the overall development the series had. Nagahama grew a lot during those years in charge of Hyoma, Kenichi, and Kazuya's struggles, and the results were for the best. He died in 1980 due to hepatitis, but left his mark on the genre and managed to complete one more series afterwards, Future Robo Daltanius which would be a considerable influence as well, bringing the symbolism of lions to the genre. But that's for another time. Anyways, Combattler V, Voltes V, and Daimos have all been staples in Super Robot Wars. Combattler V appeared first in Super Robot Wars 3, where its introductory level featured events from the last episode of season one. It was a good unit, albeit with a few too many weapons where most were utter crap. After getting an upgrade near the end of the game though, it became much more effective, with a few attacks stronger than even Great Mazinger or Grendizer's with no energy cost. Voltes and Daimos then appeared one game later in Super Robot Wars 4. They all appeared together over the course of the Alpha series and standalone titles Advance and MX. Daimos was usually an early acquisition due to only having one pilot and hence one set of Spirit commands, whilst Combattler and Voltes appeared later on. Combattler V's attacks in Alpha 3
Voltes V's attacks from Alpha 1
Daimos's from Alpha 2
The three machines have occasionally had a team attack known as the Choudenji Reppu Seikenzaki, combining three of their iconic Grandasher, Choudenji Ball, and Hissatsu Reppu Seikenzaki attacks. The video is from Alpha 3.
This attack is sometimes called the "Final Nagahama Special", in reference to the frequency of the "Final Dynamic Special", a team-attack between Getter Robo and Mazinger Z units inspired by one of their crossover movies where Grendizer, Great Mazinger, and Getter Robo G fought an ancient and terrifying entity known as the Dragonsaurus. Since I didn't post it before and it wouldn't be nice to make you backtrack, here's the most recent Final Dynamic Special from Super Robot Wars Z, considered by most fans to be the most unique and awesome.
I chose the ground version of it due to the fact the first "round" of attacks is nearly identical to the ones from the original movie's Final Dynamic Special, except for the fact Kouji was piloting one of Grendizer's Spazers instead of Mazinger Z. And yes, the guy that did Kazuya also did Ryoma from Getter Robo. AND Akira from Brave Raideen. AND the guy from Gaiking. AND Suguru from Kinnikuman. AND Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star. AND Perseus and Siegfried in Saint Seiya. AND, in a twist, the intellectual Dr. Tomeo in Sailor Moon. The guy's name is Akira Kamiya, and he's very iconic in Japan. Just looking at him, however, you wouldn't believe it.
This post has been edited by MorriganAensland: Jan 6 2009, 12:52 AM
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Jan 12 2009, 9:20 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
Group: Members
Posts: 3,850
Joined: September 7 2007
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There are plenty of those in Super Robot-dom. Like Noriko from Gunbuster. You'll just have to be patient. Besides, Evil is known for being an equal-opportunity-advancement kind of career choice. Anyways, it's Monday, and you know what that means! This next show is one very near and dear to my heart, considering it was the first Super Robot anime I ever watched. Granted, it was its watered-down version... but...
The King of Beasts Golion, called Golion for short, was a story made by TOEI was a bit of an amalgamation of aspects from three separate anime before it: Space Emperor Godsigma for the robot design, Voltes/Combattler V for the Five Man Band dynamic, and Future Robo Daltanius for the inclusion of lions. I'll get to Daltanius and Godsigma eventually though, so don't worry too much about it. It came out in 1981. Anyways, Golion starts in the far-off year of 1999 (LOLZ!!!!), where a group of space explorers from Earth return home to discover that their planet has been ravaged by nuclear war. They are quickly swept up by slavers of the alien Galra Empire and forced to be gladiators. We also discover that the alien planet Altea has been conquered by the Galra Empire as well. After escaping and fleeing to Altea, the explorers find themselves entrusted with the might robotic lions that form Golion. Ages ago, Golion had been a brash and haughty-yet-powerful soldier that was taught humility by a goddess that split him into five mechanical lions. With no other choices, the explorers decide to take charge and pilot the lions. The Hero and general good guy Akira Kogane pilots Black Lion and most of Golions functions while at the same time being a strategic thinker, Lancer Isamu Kurogane pilots Red Lion and is a bit of a show-off and ladies man, Hiroshi Suzushi is the glasses-wearing Smart Guy and is surprisingly vocal for a twelve-year-old, Tsuyoshi Seido is the gentle giant of a Big Guy and pilots Yellow Lion, and Takashi Shirogane is the ill-fated Odd Man Out that pilots Blue Lion. It is interesting to note that Kogane, Kurogane, Suzushi, Seido, and Shirogane are all Japanese names for the metals Gold, Iron, Tin, Copper, and Silver. Anyways, Takashi gets the shaft quickly and dies early on. Princess Fala, heir apparent to the Altea throne picks up the slack and pilots Blue Lion afterwards. Fan outcry for Takashi's death eventually caused the inclusion of a new character near the end of the series, Takashi's identical looking brother Ryou. Incidentally, he *also* dies. The supporting cast for the heroes included a couple of surprisingly intelligent mice, Fala's caretaker, an advisor for the Golion team, and Altea's dead father that appears as a ghost occasionally to lend advice to people. On the bad guy side of things, the ultimate villain is the monstrous-looking villain Daibazaal who had quite a short fuse and would kill his messengers and stuff like that. Daibazaal first tasked his top general Sadak to bring about Golion's defeat, but repeated failures cause him to dismiss Sadak. Afterwards, Daibazaal's equally evil son Sincline steps in to oversee attacks on Golion. Being half-Altean, his appearance looks somewhat more humanish than others and in fact harbors somewhat of a crush on Princess Fala. Sincline would soon discover Akira Kogane shares an intrest in her and they become severe rivals. Following in the habits of the Romance Robot princes, Sincline was a great deal more direct and honorable in comparison to his father, yet just as corrupt in his heart of hearts. His plan was to win favor with his father to get into a position to kill him, which tragically never came to fruition due to his repeated defeats. He was finally killed when Ryou sacrificed himself to kill Sincline in a duel. The last big villain was the witch/sorceress Honerva, who often created the monsters as a mix of magic and technology. In the end of the series, she turned traitor and tried to help Voltron, but Sincline killed her due to her lack of loyalty. Well, that was the Japanese version. Decent and popular enough to eventually get in a Super Robot Wars game, but nothing to write home about. Well, then World Events Productions got the idea of doing a three-act anime epic, and originally planned to have Future Robo Daltanius be the first part. When they approached TOEI and were asked which anime they wanted to use, they said "The one with the lion", meaning Daltanius. Instead they got Golion and decided it was better. Voltron first aired in 1984 in America.
Due to the relative lack of Super Robot anime available in America, Voltron, or "Voltron III" as it was officially known became phenominally successful. A lot of names were changed around and most deaths were edited out. In most cases, it was instances of the individuals being very hurt and going away for medical treatment, never to be seen again. With Ryou's character, however, it was simply stated that Takasi -or Sven as he was known in Voltron- had finally recovered from his injuries. Sven would go on to pilot Blue Lion one more time before the end of Voltron. I remember watching Voltron all the time when I was a little kid and was overjoyed when they made a CGI sequel that brought back most of the original American cast. I also recall one particular story arc that World Events Productions commissioned dealing with this Queen Merla person who decided being selfless made her feel good and stuff. It was surprisingly well done. Then again, I was a little kid and we all know how Asher loves his Daimos. Voltron is pretty much the Super Robot most Americans will remember the best if they watched cartoons in the 80s. It was planned in fact for two more Voltron series, with Lion Voltron defending the Far Universe, Vehicle Voltron (which did come about using Dairugger XV) defending the Near Universe, and Gladiator Voltron (planned to use Albegas but the company went bankrupt) defending the Middle Universe. The Lion one is most fondly remembered for its fitting music, violent and epic fights, and sci-fi battles with space ships shooting the crap out of each other. Golion was included in the DS Super Robot Wars W, where crossover elements did ensue. Honerva worked with Dr. Hell and the Mycean Empire from Mazinger Z and the Galra Empire partnered up with the Eleven Masters of Sol from GaoGaiGar. Takashi/Sven's death also came about early on in the game and a few levels after that deal with Princess Fala's struggling to get used to piloting Blue Lion. Anyways... go, go Golion!
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Jan 19 2009, 9:04 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
Group: Members
Posts: 3,850
Joined: September 7 2007
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Update time again. This time I'm covering two very serious and tragic Super Robot anime which came out at about the same time, Space Runaway Ideon and Space Warrior Baldios.
Space Runaway Ideon was another story made by Yoshiyuki Tomino, in fact made right after the end of the original Gundam anime. It takes place in the far-off year of 2300, and humanity has since developed faster-than-light travel (Known as the DS Drive) and colonized many planets. It is on one of them, the planet Solo, that we have discovered three ancient tank-like machines and a huge ship simply referred to as the "Solo Ship". For half a year, colonists and researchers have worked to restore their functionality, but in spite of their repairs neither the Solo Ship nor the machines work. Things get shaken up with the appearance of the *extremely* humanoid race known as the Buff Clan when one of their ships arrive at Solo. And by "extremely" I mean they share many cultural similarities like the idea of Samurai, the Buff Clan calls their home planet Earth, and they look exactly the same as normal humans except for the absence of pupils. The daughter of one of the military commanders, Karala, goes down to the planet along with her advisor in search of the legendary Ideon, an invincible machine. Soldiers quickly follow, but cannot find her and instantly assume the humans have kidnapped Karala and declare war on the planet. What follows is the frantic struggle of many inhabitants of Solo and an afro-clad hero named Cosmo Yuki, along with two of his friends, somehow activating the 100-meter tall Ideon and fending off the Buff Clan attacks. More Buff Clan soldiers, furious that Ideon is being used against them, destroy the human cities on Solo whilst survivors flee to the now-activated Solo Ship and plan to flee to the safety of Earth. Joining them is the Buff Clan member Karala, who in spite of tension with the humans, sparks a romance with the man Bes. It is then that she explains the nature of Ideon and the Buff Clan's interest in it. Ideon is an interesting subversion of the "Sentient robot" idea first created in Raideen. Ideon itself has no will of its own, but the source that powers it, the Ide, does. The Ide is a force of infinite energy and adamant in the desire to defend any and all innocent life, granting Ideon more and more strength as the hopelessness of battles increase. The Buff Clan views the Ide as their savior due to past calamaties, believing if they can seize Ideon and the Solo Ship for themselves they will be able to reach the Ide. Over the course of the story, Ideon gradually shifts from fiction's largest Real Robot, only armed with punching and kicking and shooting some missiles at the enemy, to a terrifying machine nearly indestructible capable of shooting Black Holes, cutting planets at two, and destroying entire armadas of Buff Clan ships in scant seconds. The story itself had a very slow and gradual rate in it, and is often considered the less screwy spiritual ancestor of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Most episodes involved the Buff Clan calling in a new specialist to try to defeat the Ideon with whatever scheme, be it "use ships", "use lasers" or whatever. Ideon's action was also less intense than Gundam's, simply because unlike Gundam with its hordes of Mobile Suits battling against each other, it was just the Solo Ship and Ideon. Like Gundam, it also suffered from low viewership ratings and was canceled four episodes before the end, at which point the situation had taken a turn for the worst. Reaching Earth, things seemed okay at first, but things radically do downhill *fast*. Military hardliners wishing for nothing more than the destruction of all of humanity take control of the Buff Clan, Earth denounces the crew of the Solo Ship for their acceptance of the Buff Clan member Karala, and the Earth military also decides the infinite power of the Ide means it would be a wonderful weapon for them to seize for themselves. Thankfully, like Gundam, Ideon got a movie deal and made a double-feature. The first of the two movies, Ideon: A Contact, is just a recap of the series while explaining a few things better as well. The second movie though... *whistle* Ideon: Be Invoked is notorious for its ending. The storyline of Be Invoked takes the story to its bloody, bloody conclusion. The Buff Clan starts pulling out all the stops while also beginning work on the massive Ganda Rowa, a ship touted to surpass Ideon in power, and in the meantime the Solo Ship crew go through utter hell. Granted, Karala announces that she and the human Bes are having a baby and she is pregnant with a child everyone decides to name "Messiah", but it is not to last. Karala's sister Harulu, a recurring character, comes to the decision the Ide is being summoned somehow by her sister and the unborn child, and through a sequence of events, kills her. Harulu is killed a short while later due to the Ideon Gun. The death of Messiah and Karala is the final straw, pushing Cosmo too far and summoning the full strength of Ideon, inadvertently summoning meteor storms that destroy all human and Buff Clan settlements in the Universe. The attack on the Ganda Rowa devolves into a struggle of attrition, members of the cast dropping like flies even faster than before until only Cosmo is left, Ideon battling the Ganda Rowa until they are both destroyed, taking the entire Universe and *all* life in existence with them. The movie ends with the spirits of those that died being led to a possible "new" Universe by none other than Messiah. The ending also solidified Tomino's nickname since Zambot 3, "Kill 'Em All Tomino", a title he maintains to this day. The ideals of Ideon are those Tomino still looks fondly on, and he often says that of all the series he has directed, Ideon was his favorite. That being said, he still admits wondering how he could think up and *allow* an ending such as Ideon has. There were also a few shout-outs to Gundam over the course of the series, including a few minor cameos from the her from the original Gundam, Amuro Ray. There was also a poster of Char Aznable. It is actually ironic, since a certain manga taking place a few years after Gundam ZZ explains that the Universal Century Universe was in fact the result of Ideon restarting the Universe, creating Newtypes in the hopes that they would end war. It is also revealed Judau Ashta, hero from Gundam ZZ, is actually the reincarnation of Cosmo Yuki. Anyways, Ideon is very iconic in Japan, in spite of never having phenomenal ratings. Even today, it is regarded as an important milestone in Super Robot anime but not exceptionally popular in Japan. Oh well. Can't win them all. Ideon ran from May of 1980 to 1981, with the movies being aired in 1982. My other Super Robot show for today was a spiritual cousin, Space Warrior Baldios.
Baldios, as you can see, shares some similarities to Ideon in terms of having a giant robot combined from three separate vehicles. Whether TOEI was moved by Ideon's story and wanted a sibling tale to impart strong messages or just be competition, I haven't a clue. Anyways... The year is unknown... far, far into the future of the planet S-1, where we again get humanoid aliens. It happens *A LOT*. Anyways, S-1 is a planet with great civil instability due to a nearly destroyed ecosystem. The only hope is world-renowned scientists developing an experimental terraform procedure... only to be stopped at the point of success by insane military general Zeo Gattler eager to get his hands on other machines of theirs, including an experimental jet capable of warping the fabric of time and space to a certain degree. The son of one of the scientists, Marin, is entrusted with the jet, who gets caught in a time warp and is sent hurtling back into the past to the planet known as Earth in the year 2100. Things look bad when Gattler and much of his military follows Marin, destroying a human colony on Mars. Gattler has convinced those of S-1 that Earth can be their new home, refusing any attempt at negotiation and wishing for the extinction of humanity along the way. Marin quickly sides with the military group known as Blue Fixer, and they together develop a pair of vehicles capable of docking with Marin's jet to form the 120-meter tall machine Baldios, a Super Robot that like Ideon held tremendously over-the-top powers. Baldios, unlike the semi-spiritualism of Ideon, opted more for stressing environmentalism and having parallels to the Cold War and nuclear stockpiles. The sober nature of the story, devoid of any kind of plucky little kid hanging around for comic relief (a first in the genre if I recall correctly), became much more serious as the story dragged on. Unfortunately, poor toy sales caused Baldios to be canceled early. The shock that the writers experienced was reason enough for them to have a nerve-wracking ending, wherein Gattler melts the polar ice caps and triggers gigantic Tsunamis that destroy civilization on Earth, the anime ending with Marin looking on in utter helplessness. Fans naturally were outraged, and managed to get a movie to wrap up the story. Enough of humanity is revealed to have survived under cryogenic stasis induced by Gattler that the population *could* be revived... but the odds of that are slim. In the end of the struggle, which includes further devastating Earth with nuclear bombs, Marin finally retires back to his home with the woman he loves, knowing they have absolutely nothing anyways. In some foreign localizations, it is revealed S-1 is actually Earth of the future, pinning the ecological damage as the result of the battles in the past, although this plot element is not present in the original Japanese version. Similar to the depressingly true representation of genuine nuclear war present in the movie The Day After, which would come out in a few years after Baldios's run, the lesson is simple. War is abhorrent. The escalation of war is even worse. And in the end, nobody wins. Baldios was also one of the rare instances of a Super Robot show getting a shot in America, in this case in the form of a compilation movie called "Space Warriors Battle for S/1". The Super Robot element of the story was toned down, but the downer ending remained as did the names, violence, and language. It is available, last I checked, on youtube. Baldios ran for 32 episodes of an intended 34. The remaining two are available on order, but were never aired during TOEI's television run of it. As said before, it was the first time a story discarded even the most basic and fundamental elements of comic relief, choosing to be a bitter and somber story of adults from beginning to end. It, along with Ideon, were the first times that a Super Robot was shown to be, well, *super*. Mazinkaiser, Shin Getter Robo, and many of the more powerful Super Robots of today such as Gunbuster and Gurren Lagann were results of Ideon and Baldios's tales of monstrous steel golems, one with power proportional to the level of danger of innocent life and the other nearly unbeatable if one just tried conventional tactics. They both have appeared in Super Robot Wars, in each case their "bad" endings have been available to watch although they are intended to be averted. Ideon has appeared in two games, Super Robot Wars F/Final and Super Robot Wars Alpha 3. In each case, its Ide power increases more and more as it takes damage, to the point it unlocks attacks that amount to game breakers which can be done indefinitely with no drop in performance. In F/Final, if Ideon was damaged too much, however, it would go berserk and destroy the Universe, although this weakness was removed in Alpha 3. In Alpha 3, instead, taking certain options after your first playthrough can trigger the events of Be Invoked, which are infamous in the fan community for having the various brave and noble heroes like Kouji from Mazinger Z and Ryoma from Getter Robo admitting they are helpless to stop the coming apocalypse and giving up all hope. Baldios was one of the new series included in Super Robot Wars Z, and losing on the 44th stage of the game (around the 3/4th mark) triggers the Baldios TV show's ending with the Tsunami wave. But enough of this tragedy! Time to marvel at the awesomeness of the robots in action! First, Ideon's three "big" moves, the All-Range Missiles, Ideon Sword, and Ideon Gun. There are others, but for some reason nobody did an Ideon attack exhibition, and besides, once Ideon maxes out its Ide gauge these are the main breadwinners. These clips are from Alpha 3.
And now Baldios! Note it making the laws of reality its *****.
This post has been edited by MorriganAensland: Mar 13 2009, 5:03 PM
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