Koutetsu Jeeg

If your reading this and you have finished all 46 episodes of this show, i congratulate you for doing so. If you plan to watch/are currently watching, hopefully my review will convince you to watch/continue watching.

Going into Kotetsu jeeg I didn't have very high expectations, but after finishing it I can safely say that in some ways I was pleasantly suprised. Running in 1975 along with Grendizer, Jeeg is another entry into Go Nagai and toei's (going under the name dynamic productions) yearly lineup of super robot shows and i don't want to sound too presumptuous, but this might stand out as one ... of the best of 70s super robots.

(WARNING,THERE IS SPOILERS FURTHER DOWN)

Story: 5
Kotetsu jeeg's story is about as basic as you can get for this type of show. An ancient evil race awakens from the ground to reclaim the surface of japan and rebuild what was once the Yamati (or jamati in the subs) kingdom. A professer who is the father of the protagonist Hiroshi Shiba, is assasinated by this while researching a defense mechanism to this invasion and his final gift to his son is a pair of gloves. These gloves give him the power of 'Kotetsu Jeeg' and with the the help of the Build Base crew and friends, Hiroshi vows to fight for justice and defeat Himika and her soldiers.

Jeeg follows the 'monster of the week' structure, with the stakes getting higher as the series progresses. There were a few twists along the way, playing out how pretty much how you'd expect. I was disapointed by how the 'Bell' subplot was handled, being the source of Hiroshi's power, they didn't really say what is was or how it works and why Himika really wanted it. Hiroshi's dream to be a top racer also seemed to be forgotten after some episodes and never brought up again, with him pretty much giving it up to save the world and protect his family.



Art and animation/Sound: 6
I think the artstyle is fine, the characters look like basically all the other toei 70s mecha shows, i will say i like the designs for Hiroshi and Uzuki the most. The villians especially queen Himika and her generals look pretty cool aswell. Jeeg's robot design is what I can only describe as a 'Diaper-wearing lemon', with Watermelon like arms and legs. Its pretty goofy but i do quite like it, his different forms feel quite tacked on and probably there just to sell toys, but i did like his drill form and patheroid even tho it looked quite ridiculous. The animation seems pretty standard for the time, with the stock footage for the Gattai/Combination scenes being the only possible stand out (which aren't really all that impressive in terms of animation, but i dig the magnet gimmick). I did feel during must of the fights Jeeg's head looked too big most of the time, however it is from the 70s so i didn't really dwell on it. Not much i can really comment on in terms of sound design, so ill say its Ok.



Characters: 7
I'd say that i did enjoy most of the characters when they were on screen, but a part from Hiroshi Shiba, none of them were all that suprising or interesting. I think that Hiroshi was a really good main character, as he's first displayed as an tough, uncaring sort of cocky guy, but we see how the death of his Father really affects him throughout the series. Beyond the grave his father gives him several words of encouragement, turning him into a serious compassionate hero, who pushes the limit of his body and really becomes the new father of his family, as will defend his mother and little sister in harmsway. He also gets some pretty badass fight scenes.

The villians consisting of Queen himika and her generals, were pretty basic villians and didn't really say or do anything too note-worthy, i will say tho i did like Himika and her Voice, she did seemed very evil and i enjoyed whenever she was on screen, shame she was replaced by Satin in the second half

Don and Pancho were probably my 2nd and 3rd favourite characters, but i'd like to address some wasted potential. Don is first potrayed as Hiroshi racing rival, and during a race he'd often scheme to try and sabotage it in a goofy, comedic relief fashion with his dumb lacky Pancho. For some reason they also build a robot and try and compete with jeeg, even tho they lack reason to, as they don't and no one except for the build base crew and Hiroshi's mother, know that he's kotetsu jeeg. From there that's it, i suppose Don turns into a nicer guy in the end, but all him and pancho do is show up at a random mech fight and get blown up for comedy which gets really repetitive, and one more thing...THEY WEREN'T IN THE FINAL EPISODE, and Hiroshi's racing career and they're rivalry are never mentioned again, WASTED POTENTIAL.



Music: 7
Jeeg's music is very Catchy. I really like the opening, getting me pretty exicted to watch the show and the ending sounds pretty good too. I feel like the OP/ED are extended for a bit too long but its not too bad.



Overall: 7
Desipte my issues with it, i did have a fun time with jeeg, with its goofy design, main protagonist and villian and catchy music being the best of the series in my opinion. Being relatively unknown to most anime fans except for Hardcore mecha junkies, i'd say its probably only worth checking out if you are super into the history of mecha and super robot anime, and i wouldn't blame you for dropping it or skipping some eps (believe me i felt like it). Not expecting too much but I hope the sequel 'Kotetsushin Jeeg' can aleast recon some of my problems.


Extra:
Interestingly, i found that jeeg has somewhat of a cult following in italy, even inspiring a live action superhero film there called 'they call me jeeg', so i guess they must have really liked it back in the day.