I
messed up slightly on last week's preview since there were a couple
more things to cover before the follow up to Tetsujin 28-go.
We'll get there soon enough, but first a lesser known work by one of
the most important individuals in the world of manga.
Manga
writer/artist Osamu Tezuka has a well-earned reputation for being the
“God of Manga” and the “Japanese Walt Disney” for works like
Astro Boy and Kimba
the White Lion. Astro
Boy in particular,
which began as a manga in 1952 and was later turned into a
show, would have a huge influence on the mecha genre, despite the
titular character being an android and not at all humongous. Respect
is most certainly due, but the character is outside the scope of this
project.
Astro Boy, in case you didn't know what he looked like.
What
is inside the scope is another series by Tezua: Maguma
Taishi (translated to
Ambassador Magma).
First
published in Shōnen
Gaho magazine in 1965, the series ran until
1967. On July 4, 1966, a live-action, color tokusatsu
television from P Productions (an anime and tokusatsu studio) which
aired on Fuji TV, beating out the first Ultraman
series by a matter of days (we'll get to Ultraman in some capacity
eventually).
Historical
footnotes aside, the plot of Ambassador Magma
is that young Mamoru Murakami (and his parents) are warned by the
arrogant Lord/Emperor Goa of his impending invasion and demonstrates
his power by transporting the family to a jungle and destroying a
dinosaur that threatens the kid. Mamoru's father is a journalist with
international connections, and Goa gloatingly wants him to spread the
word.
Help
arrives in the form of a 15 meter (50 ft) tall golden giant who can
transform into a rocket. This is the titular Ambassador Magma, and
despite being an artificial being created from metal who can
transform into a vehicle, is “not a robot.” Magma is the creation
of an ancient wizard named Earth who lives deep underground and
protects the planet. Magma is accompanied by his human-sized wife Mol
(who looks like a normal woman in a silver jumpsuit with antennae)
and eventually his son Gam (a kid made in the image of Mamoru with a
helmet and antennae). All three can transform into rockets, but only
Magma is huge. Mamoru is given a whistle that he can blow to summon
members of the magical robot family; one toot for Gam, two for Mol,
and three for Magma. Over the course of the show's 52 episodes, Magma
and family would fight the giant and human-sized monsters sent by Gao
to conquer Earth (the planet, not the wizard).
\
In
addition to transforming into a flight form, Magma also possessed
great strength, could fire a volley of missiles when he opened his
chest, and could shoot energy/electricity bolts from his antennae. For the show, mostly he wrestled with giant dinosaur enemies. He
also had a mane of glorious golden Fabio hair.
The
show was a success and subsequently dubbed into English and aired in
the United States as The Space Giants
as early as 1970, then subsequently dubbed into Spanish as Monstruos
del Espacio
(Monsters from Space) or in other English speaking markets as Space
Avenger. Most of the show
remained the same, but the the names were changed: Gao became Rodak,
Magma became Goldar, and Earth became Methusan (the wizard, not the
planet), for example.
Ambassador
Magma doesn't hold a candle to Astro Boy in terms of
lasting impact, but it did usher in a number of firsts for the
post-Tesujin 28-go mecha genre. A sentient, transforming giant
“robot” with a mystical origin instead of a purely technological
one. The mystical aspect is similar to the Daimajin trilogy of
films (also released in 1966) where a giant stone statue is animated
by an angry mountain spirit and wreaks havoc on Feudal Japanese
warlords/bandits. (As cool as Daimajin is, I have to draw a line
somewhere, and he's much more of a golem than a mecha). These aspects
would be downplayed in subsequent mecha shows for a time, but
mystical mechs would come back in a big way later on.
On
the next episode of Shin Super Robot Sunday: Hanna-Barbera. Seriously.
Sources
