As
seen last week, giant robots and mechs go back at least as far as the
19th Century, but even with early foundations being put in
place, Mecha, as a genre where the giant robot (usually piloted) took
center stage, still hadn't clicked into place. Until 1956.
Tetsujin
28-go (literally
translated to “Iron Man #28”),
a manga series written and illustrated by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, began
publication in Shōnen
magazine in 1956, is effectively considered the starting point of
Mecha
as an identifiable genre, and helped establish the tropes and
archetypes that carry through to today.
Shotaro
Kaneda is a twelve year old boy living in Japan shortly after WWII
(which was a very recent and vivid memory in 1956). His father was
the developer of a giant robot program that was part of a last-ditch
effort to turn the tide of the war in Japan's favor, but was never
completed. At some point, Shotaro's father died, and at the start of
the series, the kid is a boy detective, solving crimes, driving cars,
and even wielding guns (that last part got toned down over the
years). He comes into possession of the Tetsujin 28 robot, operating
it with a remote control.
The
design of the robot is stocky and barrel-like with influences from
Frankenstein's Monster, World War II bombs, and a little hint of the
Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. Yokoyama made a narrative point
that Tetsujin was designed as a weapon, and a weapon is neither good
nor evil, but dependent on the user. In the wrong hands, it could be
incredibly destructive.
If its a classic Super Robot, there's probably a
deluxe "Soul of Chogokin" figure of it.
Subsequently,
the robot lacks intelligence or free will, with his actions dependent
on the remote control, and certainly has no room for a pilot
on-board. There was no room for weapons, either, with Tetsujin 28
relying on a jetpack, immense strength, and two beefy robot fists to
do the heavy lifting. The robot originally stood about 3 meters tall
(9.84 ft), but the scale got fiddly over time, and the original
version seems to have settled around 18 meters (59 ft) tall. Tetsujin
is capable of carrying people around in his hands, which is hard to
do if you're only 10 ft tall.
Naturally,
a robot at powerful as Tetsujin 28 is a desirable weapon for a
variety of nefarious individuals, and Shotaro gets involved in
adventures against gangsters, mad scientists like Dr. Blackdog/Black
Dog (renamed to Shutain Franken in later series/reboots), and robots
created by said mad scientist like the Black Ox. Black Ox was created
as a counter to Tetsujin 28, and was programmed with a level of
intelligence strong enough to operate remotely.
Aiding
Shotaro are Professor Shikishima, a former assistant of Dr. Kaneda
and a mentor to Shotaro; Inspector Ootsuka of the Tokyo Police and an
enthusastic ally; and Kenji Murasame, a former gangster (in the
manga) and an intelligence agent (most other versions) who becomes a
staunch ally in the field.
The
manga was a big success, running for 97 chapters over the course of
ten years (1956-1966). It received a radio drama in 1959, then in
1960, it received its first televised adaptation with a 13 episode
live action tokusatsu special effects drama series. Here,
Tetsujin 28 was played by a man in a costume, and subsequently stood
much closer to the original height than later versions.
More significantly, a 97 episode black-and-white animated series ran from October 1963 to May 1966. Produced by Television Corporation of Japan (TCJ, now known as Eiken), the show was a big success and cemented Mecha's place as a genre. The actual visual quality of the show is hit-and-miss, with some surprisingly good animation in places, especially considering this is a black-and-white cartoon from the mid-60's, and some equally bad looking animation.
It
was so successful that it was brought over to the United States in
1964 by Fred Ladd (who previously oversaw the dub of the highly
influental Astro Boy). This would be Gigantor, the Space Age
Robot. Most of the names were changed to suit a Western audience (and
with Marvel's Iron Man debuting in 1963, using the literal
translation was just asking for legal headaches). Shotaro became
Jimmy Sparks, Kenji became Dick Strong, and so on. The upbeat, catchy
Japanese theme song was replaced with a jazzier but equally catchy
theme song. The show was cut down to 52 episodes and the chronology
was moved to the far future of the year 2000. Kids loved it and
critics apparently hated it, which just means there's nothing new
under the Sun.
Mecha
had finally arrived, and it was here to stay.
The flex that birthed a genre
Tetsujin
28-Go would prove to be an evergreen franchise, with merchandise,
sequels, reboots and adaptations, and even a life sized statue in the city of Kobe down the line, but those are stories for another time.
On
the next episode of Shin Super Robot Sunday: Toho brings Mecha to the
silver screen.
Sources
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