Giant Robo the Animation: Chikyuu ga Seishi Suru Hi

Take a good greek tragedy, add some Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (or a similar wuxia based tale, throw in a bit of steampunk, and add a dash of giant robots. Mix together for 8 years, then serve to the public.

A recipe for disaster? One would normally think so, but Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still defies all expectations to that end.

The brainchild of Yokoyama Mitsuteru (Tesujin 28-go, Babel II, Outlaws of the Marsh), the manga first appeared in 1967, and immediately spawned a live action production in that same year. Over 20 years later, the series was "reinvented" for release as an anime ... OVA, however the original form had been drastically altered due to restrictions on the use of characters from the manga and live action versions. The director, Imagawa Yasuhiro, being a self confessed fan of Yokoyama's work, approached the mangaka for permission to use characters from his other works.

To many this may seem like a haphazard approach to an anime adaptation however this OVA stands as a testament to how good a re-envisioning of a story can be (I'm looking at you in particular NGE). The fact that production for the entire series took 8 years in total, an average of just over one year per episode, should highlight how seriously Imagawa and his staff approached the project, especially as he wrote the screenplay for it.

The story centres around Kusama Daisaku, a young boy who is a member of the International Police Organisation, a quasi=superhuman group of individuals who have come together under international charter to protect the earth from the ravages of the shadowy syndicate known as Big Fire.

At the time of the story the world has undergone an energy revolution with the invention of the Shizuma Drive, a device that makes nuclear power and fossil fuel dependency obsolete. The drive is a clean, renewable source of energy, however the development of it came at a huge cost. The tale begins with the creator of the drive, Professor Shizuma, on the run and fearing for his life. The IPO is charged with his protection, and whilst the group members may all have superhuman abilities, Daisaku is simply a normal boy who inherited his father's greatest creation, the most powerful robot on earth - Giant Robo.

As far as anime goes, Giant Robo is one of a select few titles that can literally be said to have everything. Love, war, tragedy, action, friendship, revenge, rage, desperation, sacrifice, and much more. Watching this show is quite literally a rollercoaster of emotions, all leading up to an extremely bittersweet ending, with a twist that you'll never see coming.

The animation is excellent given today's standards. The action scenes are very simple, extremely fluid, and have a visceral edge that is lacking in shows like DBZ. Given that this is a show with giant robots, it's wonderful to see that the majority of action centres around the humans instead. Most of the combat is hand-to-hand in the best wuxia style, and the addition of "super powers" can sometimes make this seem a bit like Dragonball (without the lengthy power ups I hasten to add).The background visuals are nicely drawn, although they are sometimes very stylised to reflect the origins of the OVA.

The character designs were purposely made to emulate the style of Yokoyama's manga, and as with everything else in this anime, they have a certain "retro" feel to them because of this. That said, the characters are well animated, and are sometimes very expressive in their actions.

The score used for the series was composed by Masamichi Amano, a reknowned composer and Academy Award nominee, and performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. The music is often very grand and operatic, however there are some lighthearted pieces, as well as Giant Robo's own version of Dies Irae (Days of Wrath), entitled Tragedy Strikes Again. The sound effects are extremely good throughout the series and, barring a few events where the expolosions drown out everything else, are well used and add to the atmosphere.

The voice actors for both the English and Japanese dubs are extremely good. Yamaguchi Kappei, who always plays Inuyasha, dramatically brings to life the character of Daisaku, especially through his trials and tribulations as he strives to find out if happiness can be achieved without sacrifice. Similarly, Michelle Newman, who takes the role of Daisaku for the English dub, also manages to convey Daisaku's anger, fear, love, despair, and a whole range of other emotions. The other voice actors are just as good as these two for both dubs, and Giant Robo stands as one of the few anime that I will happily watch in either Jaanese or English.

Given the emphasis on combat and the inclusion of giant robots it's easy to think that characterisations or development play a minimal role in this show, however nothing could be further from the truth. Giant Robo is as much a character driven piece as Maria-sama ga Miteru or Kare Kano, something which is highlighted by the enormous amount of growth Daisaku goes through during the course of the series. The viewer is treated to something rarely seen in anime, and barring Clannad, I can't think of another show from recent years where the audience can see the boy grow into a man.

One thing I should mention is the naming conventions used in the show. Imagawa was followed Yoyoyama's naming tradition in Outlaws of the Marsh, as well as other wuxia tales where names are given based on skill, appearance or demeanour. Hence, names like "Shockwave Alberto" and "The Immortal Kenji" abound in this show, a nice change from the norm to my mind.

So, will you enjoy this? To say I was blown away by the show would be an understatement. I had the opportunity to watch it on it's first release in the UK, and scenes from it have remained in my mind ever since. From it's retro stylings, in particular the black and white depictions of the tragedy at Bashtarle, to the fights to the death (no resurrections here - one life is all you get), to the epic and tragic storyline with it's scorpion sting at the end, Giant Robo has remained a firm favourite of mine for over a decade.

Fans of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann will find themselves warming to this show in a way that is familiar, as this series is in many way the spiritual older brother of TTGL. Likewise, fans of mecha or giant robot shows should check this out as it literally contains everything, including the coolest Frenchman since Lupin III.

If you're after some extremely well rounded characters, and you don't mind the odd punch up here and there, then this may also be right up your street.

The anime does have it's detractors, as purists would have you believe that this is inferior to the manga. I prefer to view this as an alternative to the manga, especially given the fact that Yokoyama was consulted at length about the series.

This has all the hallmarks of a classic in the retro style, something which TTGL has tried to duplicate in recent years, with some success I might add. It's a show that has everything, and it should be no surprise that it appears in my top five anime.

Try it, and see for yourself what I'm talking about.

Overall/Enjoyment:
A few of the things in my review have been covered by others already, but I wrote all this anyway so I might as well just post it. The first thing I would say is that Giant Robo isn't as bad as you might be led to believe. The second thing I'd say is that Giant Robo also isn't as good as you might hope. It is heavily dependent on your perspective, preference, expectations and experience.

Sure, it's epic and has plenty of action and drama and charm, but it's far from flawless. It's about as long as 14 regular episodes, and though I personally enjoyed ... it, I would not recommend it without several caveats. It's very up and down and hit and/or miss.


Story:
Giant Robo definitely has the feel of classic anime. Most of the recognizable staples are there, making it a good choice for an introduction to anime perhaps, but if you are an anime veteran, what may be considered classic by someone may come across as cliche to someone else. The story isn't bad, but not much about it is really innovative or unique. It has good foreshadowing and does a good job of gradually resolving mysteries in the main plot. However it also can be quite absurd at times, not to mention deceptive.

Most notably, for a show called Giant Robo, you would expect, well, more robots. Every episode teases you with this opening presenting different possible robo-nemisis but robotic combat actually plays a very small role in this anime. In fact, the robots are largely overshadowed by the characters incredible special abilities. Their powers are so fantastic, it doesn't really make any sense why robots/mecha are even involved at all. People can practically fly, destroy buildings, carry several tons of weight, and are ridiculously hard to kill. It makes the whole robot angle superfluous at best, and arbitrary at worst.

The overall plot is pretty good, it reminded me almost of Fullmetal Alchemist, and the twist ending is so ripe with irony it's almost redeeming. I really wish the story would've just jumped right away to and revolved around BF vs IPO. Unfortunately, the show gets really melodramatic and over-the-top towards the end which almost completely undoes its merits. There are also little annoyances like characters being able to talk to each other from unbelievable distances. The character's are extremely overpowered, especially the villains. It's a wonder the world isn't half destroyed from their conflicts and supersonic voices alone.

Did I mention at some point Robo cries? Apparently he was programmed for two things: to fight... and feel pain? There's nothing wrong with machines having emotions, it's a common plot device, but it's out of place here. He doesn't have steam vents to show when he gets angry, so not only is this inconsistent, but there's no possible logical reason for adding this feature.

The worst part of the story is probably how much they overplay Daisaku's importance. The way the character's bend over backwards for him felt really forced. Giant Robo isn't even the biggest or strongest robot really, he's just a big robot with something "unique." Their whole presence in the show felt like it was a token they were contractually obligated to include amidst the real story.

The ending is a mixed bag. Some parts of it are touching, surprising, and gratifying. The rest is just contrived and ridiculous. Some of it gets so cheesy your eyes may roll right out of your head. As if that wasn't bad enough, everything but the main story arc is left kind of up in the air. So after watching about a season's worth of episodes the end result is basically one big "To Be Continued..."

Oof...


Characters:
Some of the characters like Alberto or Ko-Enshaku or GinRei are kind of cool and central to the story, others not so much. Some of them had a lot of potential to be cool but most are just so sudden and random they aren't much more than cameos. With a few exceptions, the "bad guys" aren't even that bad, you almost want to root for them instead.

The tragedy in this is that it feels like they're trying way too hard to convince you Daisaku/Giant Robo are more important than they really are. I think I probably enjoyed them least of all. You could probably remove Daisaku and the few robots in it and have a better show.

The names are classicly generic. "So the Magnificent Ten are on the move again." Then there's "Big Fire" or the "Experts of Justice" and of course "GIANT ROBO." One guy might as well have been called Fingersnaps McDoom, it would've fit in just as well.


Art:
The mech design is very much like Big O, and the art's pretty good. It's bright and full of color and nice and clean for the most part. I'm not a big fan of the older anime style/look. Such as the tight modelesque Astroboy look or the weird long-nosed Cyborg 009 character designs, but something about this still felt kind of fresh.


Sound:
The music's also pretty good. I thought the whole orchestral sound fit pretty well and probably wouldn't mind having the soundtrack. The English dub is ok, and it certainly sounds a lot better than the older English dub. I still prefer the sub (of course).

Giant Robo OVA 20.10.08

Fanfiction is not something I ever got into. I did try it, but the ratio of dross to quality was far too high, and even when you find something that is well written, it's almost never created in the spirit of the original; another person's vision and ideal has inevitably crept in and improved/tweaked/changed/adulterated/spoiled/messed up/ruined it - circle your preferred response.

Giant Robo OVA is, when you come right down to it, fanfiction. If I read wikipedia right, all that remains of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's original Giant Robo is Robo itself and its operator, Daisaku. Cropped from Yokoyama's highly ... varied other works and stretched or shrunken to fit are the entire remainder of the cast; to create a world that fits this elaborate homage is the basic reason for the shape and nature of the world that is created in Giant Robo OVA (as opposed to traditional things like the story dictating the setting, for example). What that world basically amounts to is a peculiar blend of retro sci-fi, superhero and chinese kung fu legend; any resemblance you may see to our world is purely coincidental, and fairly rare.

From a personal perspective, Giant Robo OVA is fundamentally difficult to deal with. The reason? It is trying to be something that I don't actually like but I can at least appreciate it, and at that aim it is succeeding spectacularly.

Let me elaborate. That this has not only been made in the first place but in fact hailed as a classic is a pretty amazing achievement for something that basically amounts to a gigantic cut and paste manoeuvre. However, the key thing to consider when pondering whether to watch this OVA is this: how much you enjoy this is likely proportional to how important consistency and logic are to you, or rather how important superpeople and giant robots fighting each other are over the former. This is because, looked at from one viewpoint, you can consider this a masterpiece of old-style giant robot action with a remarkably well-crafted cast and an epic yet affecting story, while from another point of view Giant Robo is a cliche-ridden, overblown mother of all messes, with a hodgepodge of ill-assorted and basically unbelievable characters, a formulaic and nonsensical storyline, and no sense whatsoever of its own ridiculousness. Both of these are right, neither is mutually exclusive.

The narrative approach, for one thing, is interesting, if basically a bit misleading. For something called Giant Robo, there is in fact remarkably little of Giant Robo. The scale is epic in the literal sense, with huge numbers of people involved, clashes of armies and chaos and destruction on an enormous scale. Despite this, in actual fact, character interaction is the soul of the thing, and therein lies the quality of the piece, and the trouble. The tone is unremittingly fantastical; all the heroes are death-defyingly heroic, all the villains death-defyingly villainous, harking straight back to classical heroic pulp fiction, the Golden Age of Comics or chinese Wuxia novels (Yokoyama's manga adaptations of which many characters are lifted from) when supermen were Super, had named attacks, needed to be killed at least twice, flew faster than a speeding simile, etcetera. All the values are old-fashioned and absolutist - good is good, bad is bad and the ethics gradient is a cliff.

There's a large number of people who will lap that sort of thing up. However, the reason that this harks back to classics, in the past tense, is that the prevailing style has moved on. Suffice it to say that I can see what the creators of this OVA are trying to do, I even think they've done it, but while it delights existing fans, this does nothing to convince non-believers of the fun they are missing out on. Logic or common sense is notable by its absence from the story; at no point did anyone give any kind of reason why the good guys don't simply destroy the piece of doomsday machine they have hold of and foil the naughty plot; nor is any attempt made to explain the soopahpowahs that the characters have. Now, the likelihood is that either you're reading that and going "Hmm, good point", in which case I suggest not watching this, or you're going "but who cares about that stuff?" in which case this is an OVA for you.

Characters are similarly problematic. You could argue the case for these characters being tried and true heroic/villainous archetypes fairly convincingly. But for me, the characters are unbelievable despite their careful construction, ridiculous despite their sincerity, and above all, anachronistic despite their archetypicality. A character driven story needs complex and credible characters; without them, in my estimation anyway, it's a basic failure. The script is far from genius, frankly, which doesn't help. I was unable to take anyone seriously, which made the whole thing fall down on the serious level it wanted to be taken at, and doing things like suddenly introducing characters called Mr Wonderful who splits things in half by snapping his fingers at them (I'm not joking) does not improve this situation. The world has mostly moved on from such old-fashioned, one-dimentional characterisations, and for me at least, Giant Robo acts as a regrettably faithful tribute to the bad parts alongside the good parts of the old days.

On the up side, however, I did feel that if I didn't already find the whole thing too essentially ridiculous to get over, I might enjoy the breadth and richness of the universe that was being shown to me. The villains, for example, were every bit as diverse and sympathetic as the heroes, and thanks to its good direction, unlike many such things, despite its flaws , it felt like a universe imagined as a whole system.

However one feels about the story or characters, however, one has to give high praise to the animation, which is of a consistently excellent quality, smooth and richly coloured. Direction is also thoughtful and highly atmospheric. Alongside this is the highly elaborate orchestral soundtrack, that rivals the best the world can offer. Here too, however, I have reservations; the art may be immaculate in quality, but I'm not really a fan of the 1970s art style, I find the design ethos unco-ordinated and incomprehensible, and while the music may be of the highest quality, it nonetheless sounds unpleasantly overdone and of a hackneyed and eclipsed style in my ear. Everything about Giant Robo, in fact, harks back to an era that began and ended well before I became interested in anime. However, the massive respect some have for this series is all that stops me from saying it is outdated - while I personally prefer more modern things in terms of style and narrative, it is fair to say that mine is not the only perspective.

Perhaps I'm suffering here from my constant search for an Evangelion successor; highly regarded mecha series are few enough, and while such a combination of cool stompy robots and grown-up seriousness as Eva gave us is unlikely to come around again any time soon, the continuing apparent inability of anyone or anything to compete with Evangelion on that ground and claim a slice of its pie is baffling to me. This is a fundamentally different beast to Eva and makes no attempt to cover the same ground.

So, getting back on track, for me, I don't much like it, to be honest. However don't go believing that I consider it a trainwreck, because I don't; I simply dislike what it is trying to do more than I enjoy the high standard of work it employs to achieve it. If you enjoy old-fashioned superhero stories, or want exciting without having to worry overmuch about logical, this is very much up your street. I may not like it much, but I am highly impressed by it.

This review will be harsh. But I literally just watched the last episode & the ending was so crap I hated everything I liked about this. After watching all those long, confusing episodes to find that the fight is still going on is like racing an Ironman & being slapped in the face at the end.

Fuck you guys.

You didn't even give closure for half the characters. It felt like a prologue.

The story is disjointed & confusing. A fucking mess. Seriously I couldn't even begin to explain how bad it is. From what I understand a boy's Dad gets killed by the badguys for ... some reason. So then he becomes a robots partner because the robot represents the people who sacrificed themselves for him...or something. This makes the boy & the robot justice fighters in a plot about pollution. With a few twists along the way. I mean the story isn't just rubbish. It's confusing too. AWESOME.

It uses odd formats, often in X-Files fashion where something will happen leaving you asking WTF & then it will decide to explain a few episodes later with either a flashback or some kind of twist. But it really doesn't work. It often just confuses things worse & I see no point in it at all. It provides no dramatic effect. It just makes more work for them. I mean in a few places it worked really well. But it failed a lot more often than it worked... If you're going to introduce something, just explain it at the same time. I'm not thick, but having a sense of order to your anime should be expected.

The animation ranges from ok - mediocre - bad. The animations are fine. But this is really showing its age. Often the art is either ugly or cheap looking. Like the animators were trying their hardest to do the least amount of work & skipped or rushed certain parts.

The characters are amazing. The use of them isn't. Characters are thrown in at random times. And can die within five minutes of appearing. Big characters to. And then randomly turn up again slightly later with a few bandages & then they fight some more. Some didn't even have bandages. They just turned up again completely fine. And some of them weren't even tied up by the end of it. It was just as messy as everything else. They had more characters than they could handle clearly. I mean some didn't even do anything if I remember correctly, but they were big main characters in the universe at least. I mean what was the point of them?

I've never seen anything else from the GR franchise, so I was actually like o_O When suddenly they're flying around & firing off energy attacks like some kind of cheap DBZ. Off the handle & unexpected. But AWESOME.

But with the sheer number of characters the powers just seemed to get crapper & crapper towards the end. Synchronized drums? Laaaaaame.

The story died ages ago & now we have synchronized drums? Talk about running out of steam.

Although I wouldn't say I hated this anime. This anime frustrated me in so many ways. But I don't deny that this was epic, intense, GAR & in places quite moving. I cheered along to the fights, beamed when certain people did the resurrection act & even cried in certain places. YUP! I cried. Shame so many characters have no closure at all....and that fucking ending. I feel like I've been given a piece of anime in the middle of something larger. Terrible.

I wouldn't recommend it to be honest. It's long & the ending & the terrible use of characters just takes away anything that was worth watching in this to be honest.

Blah.

Notice how I keep saying. THE ENDING WAS TERRIBLE.

Well that's because...

THE ENDING WAS TERRIBLE.

This is a beautiful anime to watch and to hear (except for every time Daisaku speaks), but not so much to think about or try to buy into a lot of the individual scenes. It was a worthwhile watch, and certainly was most enjoyable when I could zone out the art and just enjoy the art and action for a while, but that cannot last.

Another important note is that the ending is not THAT much of a twist; it is set up very, very, very clearly from the fifth OVA onward, specifically when you see Emannuel/Genya's flashback, and was even clearly entailed by the plot ... to be possible before that. It is literally revealed to you in the fifth OVA, so anyone who was not expecting it was just not paying much attention.

The art in this series is just gorgeous. The colors still retain some of the bad idiosyncrasies of late '80s art, but are usually incredibly vivid and a treat to look at. With the older style character designs, this series feels like some sort of unique bridge between Black Jack and any early Gainax works (minus the obnoxious size F tits), or perhaps the coloring mirrors Akira a bit more, though needless to say it does not touch that level of animation, like most everything else does not. The style very obviously influenced Big O, but has smoother action and more vivid coloring here. It is simply a treat for the eyes, despite the limitations of the characters faces and expressions.

The music is, at the worst, "irrelevant" but still pretty much enjoyable, and at its best sets a very distinct tone at certain points in this anime; e.g. really setting a cheery, mischevous tone, sort of like Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche at one point . The extended finales as the credits roll are a very mature touch, and show how the feel of this anime is something a bit more mature and serious than a normal action anime. The voice acting is also mostly smooth and professional, including Norio Wakamoto sounding serious instead of absurd, although the generally whiny voice of Daisaku clashes with this the entire way, particularly whenever he grows whinily emotional.

The characters all could be nice enough in all this, but what we are shown of them is always banal and trite. We see one character take several episodes to realize that being jealous of a 12 year old might be stupid, Ginrei is flat at all times, the various professors all supposedly struggle with their grief, but really are just being really tepidly halfhearted (as in, the way they are depicted is very tepid even when repenting), and Daisaku is given a gigantic robot and shoved into the plot repeatedly for no apparent relevant reason. Daisaku is not anything close to a center of this series; perhaps we are "supposed to feel" like he is, but the action is sprawling and he is often out of place and clearly being forced into scenes a bit, and even then is not present enough to be anything like a superbly main piece of the plot. No, people have inexplicable superpowers that are never explained, so that takes up a good bit of the time...

Which brings us to the story, which on the surface is about the Shizuma drive, and that is really fleshed out pretty nicely. It is not exactly original to have either an apocalyptic plot, let alone one related to energy, but the personal motives and personalities were fun. That was kind of murdered by the rash of superpowered characters running all over the place, Giant Robo being incredibly useful and alternately completely useless, and the "become a man already, Daisaku!" elements. Of course, it was also obviously hurt by the generally poor characters. Despite all that, the typically cliche revivals for the ending are definitely the most egregious story element.

This is definitely not an anime that has somehow "showed age", unless what people mean is that it has old art styles instead of copy and paste modern art with even LESS expression in the characters, but it is not a slick package. You are not going to enjoy it, perhaps, if your idea of a good time is ef. Also, I do not think I did a good job emphasizing up to here; if you can just sit back and enjoy action, then there should be plenty of that in this anime for you. I am a person who is not really satisfied by just a lot of action, so that did not really come across in my review style.

A great tribute for the late Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Giant Robo is a show that revives classic characters and puts them in an interesting storyline that includes elements of science fiction and even fantasy.

The animation in Giant Robo is gorgeous, which is expected from its production values. Anyone who enjoys good old fashioned cel animation can expect some of the highest quality.

The sound and music department is another element where the series excels. Classical styled music and even a little opera are used to fill up you with excitement or pull out tears from your eyes during its dramatic moments.

The story is an epic and coming ... of age tale of its main character, Daisaku. However, one can become overwhelmed by the number of characters and their involvement in the plot as well as the many mysteries that are slowly resolved or dragged on through the story. Its also inconclusive as the project for the series could not be sustaind any further, ending it abruptly.

Given opportunity, Giant Robo can be a highly enjoyable experience. Especially for fans of the mecha and scienfe fiction genres as well as seasoned manga readers who may recognize elements that inspired this project.

One of my alltime favorites.. Giant Robo is a mecha anime project which took nearly a decade in the making, a remake of the GR original of roughly 30 years further past.

The series consists of seven action packed episodes, each with their share of drama, battle and a stunning (live) orchestral soundtrack to accompany it all. "Can happyness be achieved without sacrifice?" is a returning question, leading the story further along its path, a path which twists at every turn: what exactly happened ten years ago, at the world-shaking tragedy at Bashtarlle? The truth seems to change with every episode, and will only be revealed ... at the end...

Good character development, and sort of a tribute to the series' original creator, featuring characters from various of his series in one giant spectacle. Pity about the first episode, which I found a bit mediocre (as is usual with introduction episodes it seems) else it wouild've gotten a perfect ten...

Innovative mangaka Mitsuteru Yokoyama used his talents mischievously, but his inspiration was not in vain. Director Yasuhiro Imagawa and his team, intentionally or not, breathed new life into Yokoyama's oeuvre with Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still. Formally and morally, no greater purpose could be found in Yokoyama's collection of occult tales than what is expressed here. It's stunning that such a complete artistic work exists, let alone in the barren wasteland of negative creative nourishment that is the anime industry. That the entire thing feels almost accidental, had a terribly managed production schedule and is missing multiple intended extra seasons serves only ... as proof of its paradoxical (providential?) perfection.

The ridiculous fanboy plot of Giant Robo should not work in any way yet reveals its seriousness from the opening scene. It's an incredible train chase made of kinetic reversals and visuals, introducing the world of Giant Robo as an incoherent smorgasbord of figures and cultures that reflects the chaos of adult life. What could, in concept, have been another dreadful monomyth spiced up with retro manga tropes turns out, in practice, to be something more accurately described as a faction war where everyone is trying their best while also being wrong, and no one has the whole truth.

The history of art weighs heavy on Giant Robo's shoulders, quite literally from the Ancient Egyptian architecture on the titular robot's face, but also more abstractly in its writing, which constantly defies expectation and definition by virtue of not just wisdom, but moral sincerity. This unstoppable train of a plot that blends Wuxia, ancient myths, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Mitsuteru Yokoyama and Yoshiyuki Tomino could easily have been merely surprising and inventive, but Giant Robo isn't willing to stop there. The hopeful innocence of Daisaku, the series' protagonist (but not the main character), brings together the disparate worlds and baggage of the massive cast into a cohesive thesis. After dismantling the idols and ideologies of these opposing worlds, Giant Robo isn't content to give its audience an easy answer, and thus Daisaku is not simply a ray of perfection in a sea of weasels. Nor is he the only truly honest player in this game, though there is plenty of painful dishonesty to be found. He's not even necessarily right in the grander context of the story, nor is he the ultimate role model in the eyes of the narrative, but the series, and half the cast, recognizes his sui generis devotion to true open-mindedness, something greater than team spirit or passion. In the context of a universe full of misguided soldiers, too blind to step back and see the big picture, having such a good-natured kid to bring some hope back is more than welcome.

Imagawa's baby is more than a respectful, compassionate treatise against idolatry, though that would certainly be special enough on its own. It's a triumph on multiple levels, artistically. It's a testament to ingenious pacing that a series with this many characters isn't unwatchably confusing; that it is also actively engaging on an emotional and visceral level in addition to that is a truly inimitable magic trick. Part of that is due to the clarity of its emotional beats. Bleeding kindness, heartfelt determination, real connection and its absence, love, jealousy and of course sacrifice are depicted vividly and without didacticism. Witnessing the struggle these characters face doesn't only convey thoughts about the world, it allows the audience the opportunity to see beyond themselves and feel complex emotions, both empathizing with the characters in the moment and also, often conflictingly, recognizing (and feeling) what said instance means in the greater context of the narrative. These meanings are more than thematic, they're psychological, personal and universal. A powerful example would be Gin-Rei's speech at the end of episode 2; it is incredibly striking on its own yet continues to gain meaningful layers as the series progresses, up until the finale. Is it tragic? Is it beautiful? Is it a moral truth, or an expression of her subconscious troubles? It's all of the above and more.

That legendary moment at the end of episode 2 would not be nearly as effective as it is now without the magnificent score by world-renowned composer Masamichi Amano. His orchestral pieces for Giant Robo are bombastic and varied but also nuanced and sensitive. That this massive score contains tracks as tender as "Taisou and Yoshi" alongside exciting genre pieces such as the Main Theme is a real feat. It would be good enough to listen to on its own, but thankfully you don't have to, as this wonderful music has perfect company.

The visual sensibility of Giant Robo fits its eclectic spread of influences perfectly well. It's a retrofuturistic world, already an oxymoron but of course it gets even weirder, as the cast travels from snowy mountains to cities that resemble Paris if it had gotten taken over by Ancient China, and sci-fi fortresses that look more like Angel's Egg than a mecha anime for children. There is no world map in Giant Robo; it's more like a 90s adventure game's concept of a planet, but the absurdity of the entire tone allows that to be a strength instead of a weakness, emphasizing the creative and expressionistic qualities of such a loose construct and downplaying any predicted unimmersive value. The connected, semi-believable insanity becomes the new atmosphere, and this is expressed in the mech and character designs as well. Each of the three major teams is made up of the widest possible variety of kooky fighters (with equally kooky abilities) and impractical robots. This has an obvious surface level effect, allowing for exciting conflicts and unforgettable images, but it has a greater psychological effect as well. This visual style not only compliments the writing by matching its diversity, but aides the thematic throughline of numerous, sovereign identities living, interacting and colliding with one another. An ironic consequence of this concept, which would seem to divide the cast into bubbles, is that these differences heighten the similarities between these characters. The visual contrast between a bald shaolin monk and a classy French thief serves to emphasize the common humanity they share (because they nonetheless are a part of the same team), not obscure it. It's a beautiful idea, one that only works because the heart and foundation is there to support it.

It's always been strange to me that the genre elements of Giant Robo are the most frequently discussed, but in contrast to its contemporaries, it's easy to see why. The animation quality in Giant Robo is nearly unrivaled in the realm of mecha anime. The action scenes in the work of skillful artist Yoshiyuki Tomino seem static and cheap when placed next to the restrained genius of Giant Robo's electric battles. More expensive, opulent mecha titles such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Code Geass may attempt similarly fluid animation but lack the engaging emotional core and weight of Giant Robo's relatively rare action scenes, and their pretense brings them down. In my experience, only the epochal space massacre in Gunbuster and gritty, tactile city brawl in 08th MS Team match the vision and technique of Giant Robo, and even those two don't even attempt the complexity that Imagawa pulls off in the grand finale. Tying it up with such moving expressions of spiritual philosophy on multiple sides would constitute showing off if it wasn't so involving.

It seems almost like fate that the greatest works are so often plagued by foiled plans. In the realm of cinema there are numerous examples; shots that were never filmed (L'Avventura, American Graffiti), lives cut tragically short (Sam Peckinpah, Andrei Tarkovsky), works taken out of their creator's hands (Numerous films by Orson Welles, Micheal Cimino), etc. Yet are we worse or better for it? These films are fantastic, and art would cease to be worth creating if there was a perfect work out there. Is an artist's original intention for their work always the ideal scenario? It would be great arrogance on the part of the human race to say so, I believe. Tragedies happen, undeniably, but no one can fight the ocean. Best to work with it, not against it. Sometimes artists recognize this and do so intentionally, and other times the truth prevails as if by the grace of God. That is to say, perhaps this world, in which Giant Robo was intended to have sequel and prequel OVAs that were never made, is fine how it is. Any open ends or questions left by the series are implicitly and inspiringly answered by its final shot. Why risk opening up this better-than-perfect anime to possible ruin by wishing for its continuation? If the extra materials were disappointing, they would be a blemish on Giant Robo's name. If they were just as good, well, perhaps life would be a tad unfair.

The series being literally incomplete joins a few other hiccups, such as awkward pacing in episodes 4 and 6, occasional loose plot elements and a visual style change in episode 5. But Giant Robo's valiant attempt to be its best self inspires a philosophy, rather than acting as a textbook or ideal. Its strengths (and weaknesses) don't eclipse, they encourage. To be amazed is to be uplifted; to be amazed and left still wanting more is to be inspired. The great thing about Giant Robot is that at the end, the door is wide open.

This series is a tricky beast. On paper it should be the perfect anime for me. I love the style of Post-Tezuka Manga/Anime, so character designs that embrace the look of the era like these sold me on watching it alone. The show's premise too seems interesting. A new energy source that turns out to be far less perfect than we initially believed. Dueling agencies of secret agent martial artists duking it out in the best wuxia battles this side of Crouching Tiger. This show should be amazing, but sadly, it falls a bit flat. And Here's Why

Pros:

-The art design in this show is ... phenomenal. I liked how they didn't just copy the art style of the late 60s/early 70s, but rather took elements of that style and mixed it with the style of the time. The character designs I love, I really love, and even though some feel kinda bland, this show definitely has a distinct look.

-The animation is phenomenal. This show is definitely one of the highlights of the pre-CGI era of anime. Everything is smooth and crisp, and it is a joy to look at, even if the content lacks substance at times.

-The music is also interesting and distinct. It has this operatic/orchestral feel that makes it stand out from it's contemporaries. It helps to underscore the tragic themes that the series inhabits.

Cons

-As other reviewers have pointed out, for a show called Giant Robo, the show really doesn't feature that much in the way of Mecha Battles. It saves the action for individual fights of the wuxia variety. This isn't a bad thing, it's just that this show bills itself as mecha, but doesn't really feel like it.

-The story starts out really interesting. Once I understood that this wasn't a mecha show, just more of a sci-fi shounen, I started to find it interesting. However, it doesn't elaborate enough on the interesting mythology of the world, and instead continues to give us meaningless action, death, and explosions.

-This show has some great character designs and animation, but that can't make up for the lack of connection I feel towards these people. There are about a dozen that we are told to empathize with, and the way that they're introduced makes it hard to latch onto them. There are some interesting ones in the bunch, but the time that the show would use to show us these details is used to introduce us to more characters instead. A lot of them start to feel really homogeneous after a while too. I can only have so many Chinese Warriors. A few of these characters die, and this lack of connection I feel towards them makes these deaths feel trite.

-The ending of this show is effing ridiculous, and not in a self referential way. It's bad, and the last few episodes are these really long, drawn out battle scenes. I'm not against sequences like this, but when I'm not really feeling the characters or the story, it makes me feel disconnected. The last two episodes are a non stop battle that doesn't take a breather, and this really messes with the pacing of the show. The unending pace makes me feel desensitized to everything that's going on and makes me feel disinterested.

TL;DR
This show is a joy to look at and appreciate as long as you don't pay too much attention to the story. This isn't a mecha anime as much as it's a weird sci-fi shounen. It throws at lot at you at once, but if you are in the mood for some crazy action battles, this may fit the bill.

In case you’re not up on your 90s anime and don’t know what Giant Robo is about, I’ll fill you in. Sometime after the third energy revolution due to a new invention called the Shizuma Drive replacing petroleum energy for the nuclear kind, two rival organizations called the Experts of Justice and Big Fire are locked in a fierce battle because the latter wants to dominate the world whilst the former thinks that’d be a bit of a bad idea. Said organizations fight in a sort of downtrodden future due to mankind’s dependency on their new technology along with the circumstances that gave birth to ... it in the first place being pretty damn grim on account of it nearly destroying the world. But people have superpowers for no adequately explained reason, so it’s not that bad a future. Although I could do without the blue skin, thank you very much.

Despite not having superpowers and being only twelve years old, Daisaku Kusama is the Experts of Justice’s main player due to him being in control of giant robot that looks like an Egyptian pharaoh and surpasses all superpowers on Earth, Giant Robo. Because apparently, in this universe, mecha >>>> superheroes. You know, as a guy who grew up on superhero stuff and doesn’t care one bit for the robot genre, I am pretty offended. Although Giant Robo does need regular maintenance to stay in top shape, especially when it comes to refilling his artificial tear ducts after his hand gets blown off, so I guess it’s a fair trade-off. But getting back to the story, there’s not really much else to say about it. It’s two organizations fighting each other with both sides taking casualties and secrets regarding the Shizuma Drive along with the characters’ own histories being revealed in the process. Oh, and Daisaku grows into more of a man even if he can’t fight without his robot buddy. Pretty standard stuff on paper, and the same is sort of true in practice as well.

I suppose if you’re one of those people who get entertained solely by seeing all your favorite nerdy things together in one place along with some excellent direction and a decent operatic score, Giant Robo does a pretty good job of scratching that itch. Certainly a lot better than Pixels - which I’m not going to review because it was a given that it’d be doomed the moment Adam Sandler’s name was attached to it. Everything actually has a purpose besides looking cool - although given the director’s resume, that’s mostly why the superhumans fight like Jet Li to begin with - and it’s all done on an epic scale to boot. The only thing that’s not quite so epic is the characterization, which is pretty much my main fault with the OVA series. They conform mostly to standard 90s stereotypes that you can see in most of today’s JRPGs, and even Tales of Symphonia in its dated nature had more complexity to its cast than this.

Daisaku is pretty much your standard goody-two shoes trying to accomplish things he’s too young to actually handle, and goes through all the usual challenges someone on his position would get into such as failing, having people sacrifice themselves for him, and ultimately saving the day in his own way. In other words, he’s basically a Disney protagonist combined with Edward Furlong from Terminator 2. The other characters are mostly there to support his journey with only hints of a much larger story for each of them. This would have been fine bordering on awesome if Daisuke had been a stronger “heart” that glued the various set pieces together, but since he’s not, they’re just kind of there to move the plot along at best. The closest another character gets to being really integral to the story is Ginrei, and that only happens when she gets chained up and has her entire lower body shot off with a cannon.

As for the villains, they’re pretty much your average Saturday morning cartoon stereotypes right down to the main bad guy doing evil because he had a communication error with his daddy. And boy are the voice actors aware of this, because I watched the entire thing dubbed and they were hamming it up like they were in a 4Kids studio except under competent management. This makes them somewhat entertaining, but it also makes the clash of ideals that this thing wants to really sell kinda weak since it’s clear I’m not supposed to be rooting for a team who hires guys with an evil moustache. I did kinda like the moustache guy though, because something about antagonists joining the good guy side at a critical moment since he doesn’t want to be controlled by a buffoon and denying that he’s really helping in the process is cute to me. Aw, who’s a good little moustache with an eyepatch that would blow me apart in a nanosecond if I so much as said that stuff to your face? You are.

With the story not providing great characterization, the themes are not quite as epic as they should be. And it’s not like Giant Robo has really aged in any noticeable way unless you just really hate retro-90s designs, in which case you’ve given yourself away “Ushio and Tora should have gone under the same modernization as Parasyte” whiners, as what it has to say about humanity’s energy evolution and such is still relevant today, hence why I’m able to enjoy some of the more recent monster movies that have come out. Having said that, I think the kitchen sink approach to this show doesn’t work as well today as it did in the 90s. Whilst I generally like the idea of Imagawa combining so many genres I usually enjoy into one complete package, they have a tendency to interfere with each other, preventing Giant Robo from ever reaching the same peaks its genre predecessors have achieved.

If you don’t get what I mean, compare how wuxia is used here to another cartoon that tributes from that era like, say, the Airbender series. True, I’m one of the few people who doesn’t really care for it, but you can’t deny that Airbender achieves much more with its kung-fu elements and not just because it’s a much longer series. Whilst the change in overall quality if you put everything else that characterizes Giant Robo in the franchise is debatable, the martial arts aspect wouldn’t shine nearly as much in Airbender as it does now. Unless you made Robo join in the fun of course, but by then, we’re just going into straight fantasy territory occupied by the American-made Silent Hill sequels. And lord knows those actual sequels are bad enough.

So whilst I can still recommend Giant Robo as a generally fun time, it’s no longer the kind of fun that makes me go “yes, yes. All of this and more. I want to rewatch this every year! Give it to me!” More like the kind of fun that makes me go “well that was alright, but I think I’d rather watch Terminator 2 again”. If you are a mecha fan - let alone a fan of the classic style - than Giant Robo will probably be to you what The Lion King is to Disney fans. And even if you’re not, it’s still worth a watch for the epic scale of the production alone. Basically, what I’m saying is “give it a chance, but don’t expect to love it if you don’t have any particular fondness for generic 80s-90s nostalgia”.

I remember watching the first episode of the OVA back when I was a kid, and I always wanted to finish the special but never had a chance to up until now. Giant robo is a special kind of anime that is like no other because it's based off of a 60's manga. This klind of classic doesn't get the attention it deserves so I intend to share my experience with others in hopes of having more people recognize this great anime.

Story: The anime shoves it's plot down your throat consistently throughout the entire anime, which is sort of a bad thing. While the story ... is epic in proportions and has a drama and intensity of greek theater, the plot is riddled with holes and inconsistencies that plague the anime from about the middle to the end. What's charming is that it never fails to make the audience want to care and understand the world in which the protagonists and antagonists live in; and because of this it keeps the story enjoyable because it's bad plot doesn't take away from the story told.

Art & Sound: By far the strongest aspect of the anime. It's production value is INSANELY high. The original score is absolutely fantastic and the animation is top notch. The art style is much like astro boy or the more recent kikaider with an older, more traditional anime character design as in the 60's and 70's manga and animation. It's a nice change of pace from the huge eyes and pointy colorful hair. Also, the English dub is AWESOME. The quality of the English dubs in this OVA were spectacular! Never were there lines lost in translation and nothing sounded off and strange, it was just perfectly suiting for the anime. The main characters had a great cast that had enthusiasm and voices to match their respective characters.

Overall: While the anime struggles to deliver a good plot for the audience, it doesn't fail to present to us a beautiful story told with great animation, sound, and character design. While it has many flaws, there was never a dull moment watching this long OVA. Every minute you spend, regardless the good or the bad were enjoyed because the anime is incredibly enjoyable to watch.

It's a flawed masterpiece.

The setting of the background applies to the Water Margin, which also adds some spoof to the story. Moreover, there is a lot of investment in animation production. Therefore, it should be a relatively sophisticated work in the 90s.

However, one thing that stings me is that the title is suspected of fraud. Under the guarantee that each episode lasts at least forty minutes, it does not make people feel that the whole story has any intuitive connection with the giant robot. Tbh, even removing the hero and his robot doesn't seem to affect the story much, because they are not the center of the story. ... After realizing these things, this well-made anime started to frustrate me.

Of course, I am very interested in Yokoyama Mitsuteru, the author of this series, but I can't deny that GR is a bad start to getting to know him.

Wanna know something that never gets old? Saving the world from a league of supervillains with the power of an Egyptian giant robot and super-powered individuals! That's the premise of the Giant Robo OVA and oh boy is the execution glorious.

This seven episode series details the inexplicably badass adventures of Daisaku and the Experts of Justice as they face off against Big Fire, a secret society bent of world domination. With all the hamminess and ludicrous fight scenes, Giant Robo often feels like a Saturday morning cartoon with Hollywood movie levels of scale. Subtlety isn't a concept here. Everything is loud and in your face, ... just the way I like it.

The ensemble cast of characters is also incredibly endearing. Daisuku is an idyllic kid hero, Ginrei is a smooth operator who knows how to get what she wants, and chief Chugo is a suave piece of sexy eye candy that's the highlight of the entire ova for me. Big fire consists of villains who have so much fun being evil you can't bring yourself to hate them. A special mention goes to Alberto with his butt shaped hairdo who is as pompous as he is cool. Even his crony knows how to kick ass and give the heroes a threat. It's hard to believe that all of these characters are taken from Mitsuteru's Yokoyama various manga series cause this is the most organic(and badass) crossover I've ever seen.

Giant Robo is a retro-futurist masterpiece that combines everything awesome about the mecha genre.

Giant Robo is a remarkably strange anime. it's opening episode starts in media res and through exposition and characters' interactions we are made to feel that we are being caught up with a story previously seen on a lenghty classical 80s anime and what we are about to see is the crowning arc of the tale that had not been previously animated. We get hintsand glimpses of a succession of robots defeated in the past, of deep seated rivalries, origin stories, mysteries, and character arcs. However, when you take a minute to check if you maybe should watch that series before you watch this, ... you realise that there's not such a thing. And when you decide to go to the manga for the original source, you find out that it was a short, rather silly spy thriller with a few names that you may recognise and a Giant Robo that looks so goofy as to be near unrecognisable.

You realise, then, that you were had and that GR:TA successfully packed massive amounts of worldbuilding in what was pretty much a fake recap for something that never existed.

The series then proceeds to touch upon and develop several important and profound themes such as energy crises, the irrationality of nuclear panic, the burden that parents put on their children when they expect them to carry on with their legacies, the perils of the recklessness of progress, and whether happiness and peace can be achieved without sacrifice. This is a quote from the series that shows how heacy it can go with those themes:

"For oil, man once fought and killed the whale. Later, they fought and killed each other."

Watching some of the scenes in the first couple of episodes, it's hard not to imagine a disgruntled anime director, one Hideaki Anno, watching it the year it was released and getting some inspiration and ideas for an inconsequential anime he'd create shortly after. But I digress.

In addition to the impressive worldbuilding and powerful themes, the series also sported extremely well crafted animation, a potent soundtrack, and appealing character design that married a retro aesthetic to the best of the early 90s sensibilities. So why, you must be wondering, did I only give 7 to this OVA?

Unfortunately, too enamoured with its themes and the pure spectacle it offered from one impressive action set to the next, the story was extremely liberal with the way it pushed suspension of disbelief. Powerful, moving, or thrilling scenes often came as result of near non-sensical or pointless actions by the characters to the point that it was obvious that the big moments were planned first and the connective tissue was haphazardly woven after the fact. Similarly, dramatic twists and reveals were masked by the use of devices or artifice that was jarringly unbelieavable even in a setting with giant robots and superhumans. Had this sort of thing happened only a few times, it would have not been enough to detract from the great elements of the series. However it happened frequently enough that by the end, it all had aggregated on a nettling buzz of annoyance at not being able to apply the slightest amount of critical thinking to developments and characters actions without they crumbing down in front of your own eyes.

Still I recommend this series and I don't regret watching it, and I don't think you will, either.