Movies - Giant Robo

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	Movies - Giant Robo

Giant Robo (ジャイアントロボ), is a tokusatsu, anime and manga series created by Mitsuteru Yokoyama. It is similar to his famous manga/anime series, Tetsujin 28 (the OVA version of Giant Robo features characters from Tetsujin 28), only Giant Robo has more fantastic elements.

Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot is the name given in the U.S. to the 26-episode tokusatsu (live-action) series based on Giant Robo, produced by Toei Company Ltd. in 1967.

The later 7-episode OVA series was produced by Mu Films in an interval between 1992 and 1998, it is considered as one of the best of the "retro-anime" produced in the 1990s, and also one of the greatest anime series ever to be produced. It is available on six VHS tapes by Manga Video and three DVDs by Media Blasters.

The 1967 Series

The original tokusatsu TV series aired on NET (now TV Asahi) from October 11, 1967 to April 1, 1968, with a total of 26 episodes.

The plot

The Earth is under invasion by a terrorist group called Big Fire (Gargoyle in the US version), led by the alien Emperor Guillotine. The group captures scientists to create an army of giant monsters to rampage the Earth. But fate stumbles on a little boy named Daisaku Kusama (Johnny Sokko in the US) and a young man named Jūrō Minami (Jerry Mano in the US), the latter is secretly Member U3 of the top-secret peacekeeping organization, Unicorn. Daisaku and Jūrō are shipwrecked on an island after the ocean liner they were on was attacked by a giant sea monster called Dracolon, and are captured by members of Big Fire. When trying to escape, they end up in an elevator that leads down to a huge construction complex where a giant robot is being built! Pharaoh-like in appearance, this indestructible humanoid robot is being built by captive scientist Dr. Lucius Guardian, who decides to give the two escapees its control device, a miniature transmitter built into a wristwatch. The robot can only be controlled by the first voice that is recorded in its electronic brain (but he first needs to be charged up by atomic energy). Dr. Guardian helps Daisaku and Jūrō escape, only to be shot to death, but not before he set an atomic bomb that destroyed the base, the resulting explosion activates the giant robot, which moves to Daisaku's every command! As the controller of the robot (heretofore known as "Giant Robo," or just "Giant Robot" in the US), Daisaku is invited by Jūrō and his chief Azuma to join Unicorn as its 7th member, U7! As U7, Daisaku fights the evil forces of Big Fire with the help of U3/Jūrō and Giant Robo.

Weapons and functions

The Giant Robot has numerous weapons systems which Johnny can command the robot use:

Finger missiles: Fired from the fingers with an undetermined number of rounds
Eye beams: A twinned energy blast from the eyes.
The center V on the chest can launch and ram against the enemy to force it back

As a security precaution in case Johnny is forced to give unwanted orders, the boy can give an seeming line of gibberish into the communicator before doing so "Od ton yebo redro!", claiming it is a communication test. However, the Robot is programmed to play the message backwards as "Do not obey order!" With that message, the robot is programmed to take it as a signal that his controller is captured and regardless of any subsequent order, the Robot will launch and trace the signal to rescue his controller.

What's Robo Saying?

It's generally known that Giant Robo doesn't speak, but every time Daisaku gives him a command, he responds with an echoing, roaring "MASSHHHH!!!" (In the OVA , it lets out an echoing "AOOOOOOHHHHHHHMMMM!")

The US Version

The entire series was first broadcast in the United States in 1969 and became quite popular in the next few years. In 1970, several episodes were edited together to create the movie Voyage Into Space which has now reached cult film status.

While recently released on DVD by Toei Video in Japan, the 26 episode series and the movie have never been officially released in the United States, with the exception of the first eight episodes, which were released on videocassette by Orion Home Video.

The OVA Series

Plot

Giant Robo takes place in 2049. It is a retro-esque future where the invention of the Shizuma Drive has brought about the third energy revolution, ascending mankind into an age of prosperity that began ten years ago. At that time, Dr. Shizuma and his four colleagues began to develop the drives. They were to be the perfect energy source; non-polluting and recyclable.

With this new revolution there came a heavy price...

Dr. Franken Von Forglor (Renamed (Mispelled? ) as "Vogler" in the US ) , one of the five men who created the drives, went insane and activated an experimental reactor core that was being developed by the five scientists in their laboratory in Bashitarlle. A core meltdown ensued, causing a world-wide energy neutralization field and an explosion that resulted in the destruction of the entire city, and the loss of one third of the Earth's population. The event was entitled The Tragedy of Bashitarlle and became the greatest tragedy in the history of mankind.

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