Tag Archives: super robot

Bokura no Garadoubla

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One of the most amazing and shocking reveals in the world of giant robot villainy was the discovery that Mazinger Z’s infamous first two adversaries, Garada K7 and Doublas M2, were actually once a single sentient entity known as Garadoubla. Garadoubla turns out to be a heroic figure to the Mycenae and also a warrior of honor and pride (and also three heads). In fact, he was so beloved that they referred to him as the Hero Garadoubla. Thanks to extensive research, I have unraveled more information on this god of the Mycenae.

Archaeological evidence shows that Garadoubla was to the Mycenaeans what Mazinger Z is to the modern Japanese. Children would play with clay dolls fashioned after Garadoubla’s visage. Musicians would sing about the strength, size, and reliability of Garadoubla when he unites the power of justice, love, and friendship. The most famous of the songs celebrating Garadoubla began with the following opening chorus:

Ga Ra Ra! Ga Ra Ra! Garadoubla! Ga Ra Ra! Ga Ra Ra Ra Garadoubla!

According to records, the heroic tales of Garadoubla, the honorable warrior of the Mycenae, were recorded on ancient illustrated stone tablets by a well-regarded artisan known as Gonagacles. Sadly most of his work was destroyed in the great fire that exterminated the Mycenae Empire, but the memories of his adventures would remain in the Greek consciousness and would eventually be retold as Garadoubkaisar and Etumos Garadoubla.

Did You Listen to Me the First Time? I Said, “Watch Shin Mazinger”

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Back when Shin Mazinger first began, I told everyone to go check it out based purely on the strength of its first episode. I assume some of you followed my advice, but there are probably many readers who were still unsure. Maybe they checked out the first episode (which acts like a final episode), and got too confused. Well, with over half of the series finished at this point I am back to tell you once again and emphatically to take some time out to watch Shin Mazinger Shougeki!! Z-Hen.

The director Imagawa, famous for Giant Robo and G Gundam, among others, does not make the story unwatchable for those who are unfamiliar with the Mazinger series of classic and pivotal giant robot anime. Every character that matters is introduced as if you’ve never seen them at all, and many of the characters weren’t even originally in the Mazinger Z manga or anime! Now, Imagawa has a tendency to pull characters from other works loosely related to the source material in question, but it’s never done in a Marvel comics kind of way where they refer you back to a previous comic book release to get all the details. No worries there.

Unlike what many would expect, there isn’t a giant robot fight scene every episode, which I know disappoints some, but know that what’s really happening is a buildup to an even better fight later on in the series. This happens again, and again, and again. On top of that, each fight is choreographed and animated surprisingly well, especially when it seems like the show was (and possibly still is) operating on a very limited budget. No matter what’s going on, you can expect a certain degree of high quality.

As for the story itself, Shin Mazinger plays out like a children’s story as one might expect based on its source material, but it’s done with a strong sense of sophistication and respect for what it means to be a children’s story, with enough twists to make it watchable for its new intended audience of older viewers. It’s not like Alan Moore who is all, “Well what if we took superheroes and made them crazy and grim and realistic?” If Imagawa were to do super hero comics, he would ask, “Well what if we took real life, and made it more like super hero comics?” That’s pretty much where Shin Mazinger comes from.

If you’re still hesitant about watching Shin Mazinger, you should maybe check out the episode reviews of it over at Subatomic Brainfreeze, as Sub is all about HYPING it up.

Oldie but Goodie

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And for those of you who’ve already seen it, you should know I was the one who originally posted that screenshot on the internet.

Super Robot Wars NEO for the Wii ~Real Robots are for Suckers~

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Weekly Famitsu has announced a new Super Robot Wars for the Nintendo Wii, and boy is the cast something. I don’t care who you are, there’s no way you could have possibly guessed this list. It is craziness incarnate.

Series new to SRW in bold.

Mazinger Z
Great Mazinger
Juushin Liger
New Getter Robo
Sengoku Majin Goshogun
NG Knight Lamune & 40
Ginga Senpuu (Galaxy Gale) Braiger
Zettai Muteki Raijinoh
Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger
Nekketsu Saikyou Gosaurer
Kanzen Shouri Daiteioh
Shippuu! Iron Leaguer
Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Lord of Lords Ryu Knight

THIS LINEUP IS BONKERS!

Also, as you can see, there’s a bunch of super robots, and then a bunch of robots which may or may not qualify as real robots. This isn’t the land of sissy whiny boys, my friends!

For those unfamiliar, Raijinoh, Ganbaruger, Gosaurer, and Daiteioh are from the same “series” called the Eldran series, similar to how Exkaiser, Might Gaine, Gaogaigar, etc. are the “Brave” series.

It’ll be 3D instead of the normal 2D sprites, which some say is a death sentence for SRW games, but you know what? I LIKED SRWGC. And really, I will take 3D graphics because they gave us this psychocrazy series lineup.

What I find most hilarious of all is that on the Anime 3000 Giant Robot podcast that I participated in, I had a brief discussion with Mike Dent from R5 Central about whether or not Juushin Liger was a giant robot. I was like, “Naaaaahhhhh…!” and Mike Dent said that it was possibly a Powered Armor or a Bio Armor, but I think we agreed that we couldn’t really call it a giant robot per se.

WELL I GUESS YOU PROVED ME WRONG BANPRESTO/BANDAI/NAMCO.

What I’m looking forward to is Great Mazinger channeling a Thunder Break through Liger and creating-

Nah, too easy.

I’m also wondering if I’ve accidentally stumbled onto some terrible power where my offhanded comments actually affect the SRW series…

Catch Me Talking About Giant Robots on the Anime 3000 Podcast

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I was a guest on the Anime 3000 podcast on a topic very near and dear to my heart: giant, monster-punching, war-fighting robots.

I was on there along with Gerald from Anime World Order, John-Paul from Fight Bait, and Mike Dent from R5 Central.

Sadly, due to personal obligations I was not around for the whole podcast, and came in starting at the section about Nagai and Ishikawa. If you want to hear me talk you can skip to that part of the podcast, but I highly recommend that you DO NOT, as the discussions concerning Imagawa and Tomino are also important.

Looking back at my picks for recommend giant robot anime for beginners, I realize my list has many flaws, such as Shows that are Too Long, Old-Looking Animation, and No Super Robots. I’m not sure how I would solve any of these though, so you’re stuck with what I gave you.

Download is available here.

Imagawa and the Pile of Money in Eternity Island – A Dilemma in Anime Direction

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Imagawa Yasuhiro does not have very many works tied to his name in a directorial capacity, but mention the ones that he has worked on and you will tend to get very positive reactions from some very loyal fans. His most prestigious work is probably the Giant Robo: The Animation OVA series, an intense labor of love that took many years and many more delays to complete, while his most famous work in America is probably Mobile Fighter G Gundam. And in my personal opinion, he is an astounding director. Possibly more than any other director, he has the ability to take the endless dreams of childhood and translate them into something mature and complex while still remaining faithful to those childhood notions. So why does he get so little work?

We have his latest work, Shin Mazinger. You look at this series, and see a lot of areas that seem to suffer budget-wise. The opening consists entirely of reused footage. Scenes are repeated over and over, and a lot of shortcuts are used. However, the show is still amazing, and still coming out without too many hitches. Sub suggested to me that Imagawa is so much of a perfectionist that the more money you give him, the more likely your anime will never see the light of day because he’ll be too busy making his animators re-do everything to get that one moment just right. As mentioned above, he took practically forever to finish Giant Robo OVA, but he was also kicked off of Shin Getter Robo Armageddon for taking too long. But with Shin Mazinger, where his spending power is limited, Imagawa is forced to make decisions and the result is something that is both Great and On Time.

Imagawa is thus the kind of director to whom you could give 25 cents and he would make the most astounding animation ever that will challenge your very ways of thinking. Imagawa would take those 25 cents, create GEORGE WASHINGTON AND THE LEGENDARY EAGLE, and when the show reveals that WASHINGTON AND THE EAGLE WERE THE SAME FIGURE ALL ALONG (like two sides of the same coin one might say!!), you will notice that your ass is no longer in your chair.

Money is to Imagawa as Time is to Tomino Yoshiyuki and No Editors is to Kawamori Shouji.

Just a Waitress

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Examples of Anime’s Cel to Digital Conversion

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Though much less frequent these days as the anime industry has all but completely converted to using digital means to animate shows (Sazae-san I believe is an exception which still uses cels), it wasn’t so long ago that debates about the merits of cel animation vs digital animation were a common sight among certain groups of otaku. Those on the side of cels would accuse digital animation of lacking life and energy, those on the side of digital would ask the cel supporters why they liked having dust on their animation frames so much. These days, I think it’s fair to say that much like 2d vs 3d animation, or drawing with paper vs drawing with a tablet, each has its own merits.

It can be difficult to compare digital to cel in the sense that usually entire shows have been done one way or the other, but there are a few which were made during that transitional period between cel and digital, and so they too are transitional. A brief list follows, if you want to take a closer look.

1) The Big O

Season 1 was done with cel animation, the Cartoon Network-sponsored Season 2 was done entirely digitally. Some will say that the second season lacked something the first had in terms of visuals, possibly that everything feels too “clean.” Judge for yourself.

2) Galaxy Angel

Again, Season 1 was all cel while for Season 2 Broccoli decided to go digital. They also decided to cover up Forte Stollen’s cleavage but that’s a discussion for another time.

3) JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Stardust Crusaders)

In an odd twist, the later parts of the manga were animated in the 90s while the earlier parts were animated in the 2000s. Watching this show in chronological order can be very unusual.

4) Gaogaigar Final

Now this was really meant to be a big budget OVA and it shows. Gaogaigar Final began production in 1999 (with the first episode out in 2000), and ended in 2003. Being an OVA, there was a long period between each episode, so the jump to digital is rather sudden when watched side to side. This is probably the one that best exemplifies the power of both cel and digital animation.

Hey You, Watch Shin Mazinger

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Episode 1 of Shin Mazinger aired in Japan, and I am telling you right now: Watch it, watch it, watch it.

Some of you I can convince to watch Shin Mazinger when I say it’s Mazinger Z as directed by Imagawa Yasuhiro, director of Giant Robo the Animation and G Gundam.

For you others who are unsure, or may not be familiar with Mazinger at all, let me explain it this way:

You know how a lot of shows, especially giant robot shows, have like 20 minutes of setup per episode to lead to a 5-minute climactic fight at the end? Shin Mazinger replaces all of that setup with MORE FIGHTING. Or rather, to put it more accurately, every moment in this first episode is SIMULTANEOUS SETUP + FIGHTING.

Things are HAPPENING in this show, and they’re happening on the field of battle where a boy can become a god or a devil. Whether you’re a big fan of Mazinger or you’ve never even heard of it, know that this show has potential to go places and the visionary force to take it there.

Reideen and the Awesome Final Battle

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I occasionally mention to people that I think the original 1970s Reideen anime has one of the best final battles ever. In the past, I have not been able to support this with visual evidence, but thanks to the power of Youtube and some guy, I can now present to you the decisive battle between Akira in Reideen against the evil Baraoh. Seriously, go watch it and see how action-packed and smartly choreographed it all is.

As an aside, Akira’s mom is really hot.