RMWC Reviews: Shin Super Robot Sunday: The Mysterians

While Tetsujin 28-go got the Mecha genre officially rolling in 1956, the first on-screen post-Tetsujin manga mech would come from Toho Studios in December of 1957 in the sci-fi special effects extravaganza Chikyū Bōeigun (literally translated to “Earth Defense Force”) more widely known as The Mysterians.

Directed by Ishirō Honda, (who had previously directed 1954's seminal classic Godzilla), The Mysterians tells the story of scientists investigating strange astrophysical and geological phenomena, when an earthquake wipes out a mountain village.

The cause of the destruction turns out to be a giant drilling robot, Moguera, who emerges in Japan and rampages around for while as the military tries in vain to attack it with conventional weapons. Moguera is eventually destroyed when a bridge its crossing is detonated, sending the mech crashing to the ground.

Not long after Moguera's destruction, the real villains are revealed: an advanced, near-human alien race called the Mysterians whose planet, Mysteroid, was devastated by nuclear war. The survivors escaped to Mars, but radioactive Strontium-90 left most of them disfigured, crippled, and dying out as a species.

The Mysterians demand land and the right to marry Earth women, and things escalate from there. Initially, the humans are disadvantaged because their weapons can't defeat Mysterian technology, but with the development of the Markalite Flying Atomic Heat Projector (FAHP) Cannon, it turns into a fairer fight. During the battle, a second Moguera robot is activated, causing some havoc before being unceremoniously crushed by a collapsing Markalite Cannon. In the end, the Mysterians are driven off from Earth and the women the aliens kidnapped are rescued safe and sound.

The Mysterians was a success, and was released in the United States in 1959. It would spawn two loosely connected sequels, Battle in Outer Space (1959) and Gorath (1962), neither of which had a giant robot. The movie would inspire the name for the band ? And The Mysterians, whose biggest hit was 1966's “96 Tears.” (Amazingly enough, the band is still kicking around).

Aging rockers aside, we're here for the robot: Moguera.

On the surface, Moguera is a rather silly design, with big claw hands, a drill nose, and large corrugated panels covering the body that makes it look like Godzilla wrapped himself in a metal awning. The design begins to make more sense when you realize that “Moguera” is derived from “mogera,” which is the genus name for Japanese moles. Moguere is a 50 meter (164 ft) tall robot mole.

In action, Moguera is fairly powerful, if limited. It can burrow very well with a buzzsaw on its back, and can shoot lasers out of its eyes. The units also seems quite suseptible to falling damage, and don't seem to be intelligent.

This version of Moguera would reappear in small capacities in 1992's Adventure! Godzilland and 1994's Recommend! Godzilland (both are series of animated shorts), and shows up as “Proto-Moguera” (to differentiate from the other one that we won't get to for a loooong while) in 1997's Godzilla Island, which is a comedy series with very short episodes where the the residents of Monster Island are played by toys instead of actors in suits.

Its weird, and its real.

Other than that, Moguera would get an unexpected reference in the Sonic X anime series from 2003 as “Mongroun,” a visually similar 30 meter tall ancient robot that fought Sonic the Hedgehog.

The Mysterians is a science fiction classic that brought mechs into Toho's stable of giant monsters, and yet that same pioneering robot leaves a short shadow. The Mysterians themselves would return in later movies, but when Toho revisted the mecha concept well, Moguera would be left behind for other designs until the 1990s.