Shin Super Robot Sunday: Mazinger Z vs. Devilman

Mazinger Z began airing in 1972 and finished in 1974. 92 episodes is a long time in weekly television installments. On July 18, 1973, in the middle of that successful run, a 43 minute movie was produced by Toei Animation which would cross over with another Dynamic Production series created by Go Nagai. The result was Mazinger Z vs. Devilman. 

 

Mazinger Z was already covered on this project, so today we get to focus on Devilman. In 1971, Go Nagai wrote and illustrated a horror manga called Demon Lord Dante about a student who is merged with the body of an ancient demon. Dante initially ended when the magazine it ran in, Bokura Magazine, was discontinued by the publisher, but Toei Animation approached Nagai for an anime adaptation which evolved into a new manga (and related anime) called Devilman. 

Devilman (the manga, which ran in Weekly Shōnen Magazine) is the story of Akira Fudo, a teenager who learns of the existence of demons who are trapped in hibernation beneath the Earth and will invade soon. Akira is merged with Amon, the most powerful of these demons. As Devilman, Akira fights against the demons and wages an internal war of good vs evil as he struggles to control Amon. 

  

           

 

In the anime (which began airing on July 8, 1972, several months before Mazinger Z), the demon invasion is still planned, and Devilman is sent to Earth, where he possesses the body of the recently deceased Akira Fudo. There he learns the meaning of love and rebels against his people, and becomes a transformation hero (who can grow to giant size) to fight the demons. Both versions were successful, and while the anime was significantly toned down from the manga to be more kid friendly, they're essentially alternate universe stories of each other. Both carry the trademark Go Nagai mix of hot-blooded protagonists, cool monsters, hot chicks, and hot chicks who are cool monsters. 

 

Devilman aired for 39 episodes, and the franchise would see multiple manga down the line, as well as OVA miniseries, a spinoff series called Devilman Lady, a live action movie in 2004, and most recently the somewhat divisive Devilman Crybaby from 2018 (which aired on Netflix).

          

 

Which brings us up to speed for Mazinger Z vs. Devilman. 

 

While fighting the robotic monsters of Dr. Hell, Koji Kabuto in the Mazinger Z and Sayaka Yumi in the Aphrodite A accidentally unleash the beautiful female demon Sirene from the earth. The demon flies away before anyone can do anything, but not before beeing seen by Akira Fudo, who turns into Devilman to chase after her. 

Dr. Hell, seeing a potential ally, also follows, and frees a bunch of demons in the Himalayas. The two sides cut a deal. Dr. Hell will help defeat Devilman, and Sirene will help defeat Mazinger. Akira tries to warm Koji, but makes fun of Mazinger's inability to fly, so they get into a heated motorcycle race that ends in a tie. 

Then the bad guys attack and Devilman rescues Mazinger, Mazinger rescues Devilman, and when the situation gets hopeless, Mazinger Z gets its major upgrade: the Jet Scrander. That's right, the Jet Scrander appears in this movie before its debut in the show. With the day saved, the two part as friends. 

The movie is a fun bit of light entertainment that feels like a two-part episode with a higher animation budget. It doesn't exist in either show's continuity, instead acting as a kind of “what if” team up. It would, however, open the door for more crossovers between Dynamic Production series down the line. 

      

Next time on Shin Super Robot Sunday: Toho goes green.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger_Z_vs._Devilman

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AC%E3%83%BCZ%E5%AF%BE%E3%83%87%E3%83%93%E3%83%AB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3

https://mazinger.fandom.com/wiki/Mazinger_Z_vs._Devilman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Lord_Dante

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%87%E3%83%93%E3%83%AB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devilman

Shin Super Robot Sunday: Super Robot Red Baron

Coming off the success of tokusatsu shows like Iron King and the non-giant robot Silver Kamen, Senkosha Productions would follow up with Super Robot Red Baron, which began airing on Nippon Television on July 4, 1973.

       

 

Perhaps the most notable staff member who was involved in the creation of the show was Ryu Noguchi (the pen name of manga artist and illustrator Masaru Noguchi). After working as an assistant for Shotaro Ishinomori for a time, he went independent and illustrated the manga adaptation of Alistair MacLean's 1955 novel HMS Ulysses for Weekly Shōnen Sunday. Red Baron was his first television work, where he created character designs. It was the start of a long and successful career in tokusatsu production, and he would work on the Kamen Rider, Metal Heroes, and, most significantly, Super Sentai series. He even did creature designs for Resident Evil in the 90s. 

As for the show itself, Red Baron tells the tale of the the evil Iron Masked Party led by Dr. Deviler/Devilar, who have stolen a bunch of giant robots from around the world and their designers and plan to use them to conquer/destroy the Earth. Kenichiro Kurenai, the designer of the the titular Red Baron (the last robot not stolen), makes it so only his younger brother Ken can operate it, before being kidnapped and killed by the Iron Masked Party. Ken, already a member of the Secret Science Investigation (SSI) group of crimefighters/spies/ninjas, takes control of the robot and uses it to defend the Earth, first against the Iron Masked Party, then against the Space Iron Party, commanded by Giras Q. 

 

After a slow start, the show was a success and was extended from its initially planned 26 episodes and introduced an entire new faction (the Space Iron Party). Ultimately the show ran for 39 episodes, apparently only ending when one of the main sponsors went bankrupt. Senkosha Productions would make spiritual sequels, but those are stories for another time. 

       

 

The comparisons to Mazinger Z are unavoidable. A hot blooded hero inherits a powerful robot made of a special metal (in this case Baronium) that he has to use against a secret society bent on world conquest. What's different here is the presence of the SSI. They're an Ultraman style support team of agents in snappy uniforms and their own character arcs and personalities. There's the strict but kind captain Daigo, the hot-blooded marksman Tetsuya, comic relief brawler Daisaku, Mari, a high kicking photographer and sort-of love interest for Ken. Aiding them is Inspector Kumano, a somewhat silly police officer on a bicycle who has a sword-cane in his umbrella and a gun in his bicycle pump.

       

As for the Red Baron itself, its a 40 meter (131 ft) tall, bright red colossus with a staggering array of weapons ranging from missiles, to beams, to kicks, to a rocket punch (called the Baron Punch). Its powered by a nuclear reactor, can fly at Mach 10, and after an upgrade, is capable of space travel. Fairly standard kit for a super robot. 

 

While overshadowed by bigger contemporary tokusatsu franchises, Red Baron did get a western DVD release in 2010 that included the entire series in one cheap boxed set. For whatever reason, the sequels did not. 

 

Next time on Shin Super Robot Sunday: Things get spooky as Mazinger Z runs across some deviltry.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Robot_Red_Baron

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BC%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AD%E3%83%9C%E3%83%83%E3%83%88_%E3%83%AC%E3%83%83%E3%83%89%E3%83%90%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%8E%E5%8F%A3%E7%AB%9C

http://classichenshin.com/kewalaka/redbaron/index.htm

Shin Super Robot Sunday: Godzilla vs. Megalon

 

For this titanic twentieth entry in Shin Super Robot Sunday, its fitting that the King of the Monsters should get the spotlight. 

 

Toho Studios unleashed Godzilla upon the world in 1954 through director Ishirō Honda and special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya (both well-represented in this survey through The Mysterians, King Kong Escapes, and the Ultraman series). By 1973, Godzilla had already been the star of 12 feature-length movies, going from a metaphor for the shadow of nuclear annihilation to a grumpy wild-card monster that mostly wants to be left alone, to an unlikely superhero that defends the Earth from the likes of King Ghidorah, to a single dad trying to raise his son on Monster Island. It was a long, strange trip through the Shōwa era (named after the era of the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito), and the 13th Godzilla movie would be a high point for the kid-friendly, lovable superhero version of the character: Godzilla vs Megalon. 

 

Released on March 17, 1973 and directed by Jun Fukuda (himself a veteran director of several Godzila movies such as Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Son of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. Gigan) and the special effects direction of Teruyoshi Nakano (a former apprentice of Eiji Tsuburaya's who became the primary effects director for the later Shōwa Godzilla movies).

       

 

In 197X, underground nuclear testing near the Aleutian Islands causes significant seismic disturbances that cause havoc on Monster Island. Unbeknownst to the surface world, the tests have devastated the scientifically advanced underground kingdom of Seatopia, which sank below the surface thousands of years ago like the mythical continents of Mu and Lemuria. In Japan, inventor Goro Ibuki, his kid brother Rokuro Ibuki, and buddy Hiroshi Jinkawa get caught up in a plot by Seatopian spies who hijack Goro's recently completed robot, Jet Jaguar, to guide the underground monster Megalon on a path of destruction across the surface. 

 

A lot happens on in the first half of the movie, with fistfights, car chases, Hollow Earth-style civilizations, and the giant insectoid Megalon laying waste to Japan. Its all very pulpy in its sensibilities. After some close calls, Goro is able to regain control of Jet Jaguar and sends him to Monster Island to summon Godzilla to defend the Earth. Godzilla can't fly, though, and Jet Jaguar's AI overrides external control and he grows to giant size to confront Megalon to buy time for the King of the Monsters to swim to shore. In the meantime, the Seatopians sent a signal to the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens, who send Gigan to Earth as backup for Megalon. 

Godzilla really only features in the climactic fight scene of the movie: a two on two tag battle of Megalon and Gigan against Jet Jaguar and Godzilla. Gigan first appeared in 1972's Godzilla vs. Gigan, but Megalon and Jet Jaguar were new entrants to the series.

       

 

Megalon is a 55 meter (180 ft) tall giant beetle-like insectoid with a horn that shoots energy beams and two massive drill hands for digging through the Earth's crust. Viewed as a godlike protector by the Seatopians, Megalon isn't very smart, but he is durable, and a well-rounded battler. 

      

The real interesting story, though, centers around Jet Jaguar and his real-world origin. Initially the result of a contest held by Japanese department and grocery store chain Seiyu (now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wal-Mart) to design a kaiju for the next Toho Studios movie, the winning design was for a brightly colored robot monster called Red Alone which subsequently underwent significant redesigns by Teruyoshi Nakano into Jet Jaguar, with a deliberately garish/obnoxious appearance to set him apart from the many, many, many Ultraman-like giant heroes of the early 70s. The movie project was initially to be called Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon, but in the crowded tokusatsu hero market of the time period, production was halted to add Godzilla and Gigan to the movie for added star power. 

 

Jet Jaguar doesn't have many powers at his disposal compared to an Ultraman (in this movie, at least), but he does have flight, super strength, and incredible durability, as well as the ability to speak with giant monsters and can grow to a height of 50 meters (164 ft). 

 

The movie was successful, making about $20 million at the box office for a cost of $1.2 million, and it would see significant foreign releases, most notably in the US in 1976 where it became a mainstay of home video and matinee TV showings. It earned a divisive position in the Godzilla fanbase for its frequent goofiness, which is also a large part of its cult classic status. In 1991, the movie was featured as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the first of two Godzilla movies featured on the show, the other being Godzilla vs The Sea Monster AKA Ebirah, Horror of the Deep), and added to the movie's goofy reputation. In the modern era, the movie has a Criterion Collection release (alongside all of the Shōwa era Godzilla entries), which solidifies the Godzilla vs. Megalon as not just a movie, but as a film.

       

Haters gonna hate. 

 

Jet Jaguar and Megalon have not made any subsequent movie appearances, but have appeared frequently in multiple Japanese manga, American comics, and video games.

        

 

Mexican heavy metal band Jet Jaguar (founded in 2014 in Cancún) released their first full length album, Endless Nights, in July of 2020. Mixing 80's aesthetics, power metal, and a dash of synthwave, the name can't be a coincidence considering Godzilla vs. Megalon's significant international distribution in the 80's and 90's. After all, what's more metal than a giant robot? 

 

      

Next time on Shin Super Robot Sunday: Toho explores a newer zone: the small screen.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_vs._Megalon

https://infogalactic.com/info/Godzilla_vs._Megalon

https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Godzilla_vs._Megalon

https://godzilla.fandom.com/wiki/Godzilla_vs._Megalon

https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Teruyoshi_Nakano

https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Jun_Fukuda

https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Jet_Jaguar

https://godzilla.fandom.com/wiki/Jet_Jaguar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiyu_Group

https://godzilla.fandom.com/wiki/Jet_Jaguar_vs._Megalon

https://mst3k.fandom.com/wiki/MST3K_212_-_Godzilla_vs._Megalon

https://www.criterion.com/films/29349-godzilla-vs-megalon

Shin Super Robot Sunday: Jumborg Ace

The third of Tsuburaya Productions 10^th anniversary shows, Jumborg Ace was different from Ultraman Taro and Fireman in that it was chock full of robots. Jumborg Ace began airing on January 17, 1973 on Mainichi Broadcasting System, the show ran for 50 episodes and was primarily produced by staff who had previously worked on Mirrorman under the direction of Yoshiyuki Kuroda. While the show debuted in 1973, a prequel manga, Jumbo X, was serialized in 1970, with a number of elements that initially tied it to the Ultraman franchise before it was ultimately spun off into its own project.

      

Naoki Tachibana is an air delivery boy who flies a Cessna. When the evil alien Anti Go-Ne from the planet Groth invades with giant monsters, Naoki's brother, Shin'ya, a member of the Protective Attacking Team (PAT), dies in battle with a giant monster. In revenge, Naoki tries to ram his plane into the monster on a suicide run, fails, and is transported to an energy dimension where an alien named Emerald from Planet Emerald, saves Naoki's life, modifies his wristwatch, modifies his plane, and sends him back home. Guided by Emerald's voice, Naoki uses the watch and the command phrase “Jum-Fight!” to transform the plane into the giant mecha Jumborg Ace.

Giant robot it most certainly is. Naoki pilots Jumborg from inside the robot's head using a movement control suit to mirror his own actions (a feature that would show up in later Mecha shows like Daimos and G Gundam). 

The 40 meter (131 ft) tall robot features the standard tokusatsu giant hero fighting abilities: grappling, flight (Mach 11, which is not bad at all for a souped up Cessna), strength, and an emphasis on beam and energy weaponry.

      

But that's not all. During the course of the show, Naoki meets the brother of Emerald, Kain, who gives the hero a second robotic ally: Jumborg 9. Instead of a plane, Jumborg 9 is disguised as a Honda Z minicar called the Jum Car Z, and can transform into a 50 meter (164 ft) tall half silver, half reddish-orange powerhouse. 

Jumborg 9 can't fly, but he can run at 900 kilometers an hour (560 mph), and hits like a truck. He's also piloted like a regular car, with gearshifts, pedals, and steering wheels.

      

The minions of Planet Groth also numbered quite a few robots, among them Airdolmen (a flying robot); Giant Robot Zero (which was recycled from Mirrorman's Noah robot costume); Flight King (a quadrupedal missile launching robot with a drill on its head); an imitation Jumborg Ace (armed with a whip and rocket punches, see above); Honest King (a king-themed robot that can transform into a dog disguise); Gold Dragon (a two-headed golden dragon robot); Mirrorking (a robot that can invade dreams) and two more that deserve a little more attention:

      

Dump Kong is a 46 meter tall robot made from a dump truck that looks like King Joe if it had been made from scrap parts, and can shoot hooks and tires at Jumborg Ace. Its awesome. 

      

The other one is Jum Killer. Much like Ace Killer, Jum Killer is a robot designed specifically for destroying the hero of the show, and actually defeats Jumborg Ace. Jum Killer is ultimately defeated by the newly acquired Jumborg 9. A second robot, Jum Killer Jr., was a bigger challenge, but still also defeated by Jumborg 9.

DUMP KONG

Reflecting the growing trend of super robots in a post-Mazinger world, Jumborg Ace did well with a piloted transforming super robot protagonist and would see a follow up the following year, but that deserves its own entry.

      

Next time on Shin Super Robot Sunday: Toho brings out its heavy hitter.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumborg_Ace

https://ultra.fandom.com/wiki/Jumborg_Ace_(series)

https://ultra.fandom.com/wiki/Jumborg_Ace_(mecha)

https://ultra.fandom.com/wiki/Jumborg_9

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B0A

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BCX

https://ultra.fandom.com/wiki/Dump_Kong

https://ultra.fandom.com/wiki/Jum_Killer

Shin Super Robot Sunday: Mazinger Z

Throughout the course of this survey, giant robots have appeared in two forms: an enemy to be defeated by the hero, and a powerful external sidekick to the hero. 

Mazinger Z would add an entirely new dynamic to the Mecha genre. 

Go Nagai, the pen name of Kiyoshi Nagai, began working as a manga artist in the 1960s. In 1968, he was invited to be a contributor to the very first issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (intended as a competitor to the already successful Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazines aimed at teenage boys). His contribution was Harenchi Gakuen (Shameless School) a high school sex comedy series that inadvertently created the ecchi genre of manga. Controversial at the time, it proved to be a big success for Nagai, because if there's anything teenage boys like, its sex jokes and boobs. Despite outraged PTO groups, the series would eventually spawn multiple live action and animated adaptations, and the success of the comic allowed Nagai to start up Dynamic Productions in 1969 to manage his business relations and contracts, and it evolved into a kind of studio, with Ken Ishikawa joining the same year as an assistant and becoming a major manga artist in his own right (more on him in a later entry).

     

In June of 1972, Nagai's Devilman manga began, and in July an anime based on it began airing. A horror-action series that would become one of his flagship franchises, the anime was significantly toned down for television. The same year, on October second, Mazinger Z debuted in Weekly Shōnen Jump and a subsequent anime series from Toei Animation would begin airing on December third. 

 

A fan of Astro Boy and Tetsujin 28-go, Nagai added a significant twist to Mecha. The hero, a teenage boy instead of an adolescent or young adult, would pilot the robot from inside as a kind of alter ego. Giant heroes fighting monsters were not new. Giant robots with pilots were not new. Teenage heroes were not new. Combining all three of those element together was new. The pilot was now the superhero, and the giant robot was his costume. The Super Robot had arrived.

     

The hero in question is one Kouji Kabuto, a motorcyle riding average teenager with a kid brother Shiro, living with his grandfather Juzo Kabuto. Juzo is a scientist, and has been secretly building a giant robot, Mazinger Z, to combat the coming threat of Dr. Hell, a former colleague who went mad after discovering the ancient ruins of the Mycenae Empire and their mechanical beasts. 

Dr. Hell makes a power play to assassinate Dr. Kabuto, and succeeds, but not before Juzo gives Kouji control of the 18 meter (59 ft) tall robot, telling him he can have the power of a god or a devil with the robot. Without any training, Kouji's first attempts to pilot the robot are disastrous, until he teams up with Professor Gennosuke Yumi, the leader of the Photon Power Laboratory and former colleague of Juzo, and Yumi's tempestous daughter, Sayaka.

     

Sayaka has her own robot, first the Aphrodite A and later the Diana A, and Kouji is later joined by high school rival/biker/braggart/comic relief Boss, who gets his own robot later, the comical Boss Borot. 

Kouji fights his way through Dr. Hell's army of mechanical beasts and the mad scientist's lieutenants like Baron Ashura (a man and a woman merged together through bizarre superscience into a literal half-man half-woman), Count Brocken (a Nazi officer with a monocle whose body carries around his disembodied head), and the anime exclusive Viscount Pygman (a muscular tribal warrior with the upper torso of a pygmy where the head would normally be). 

Dr. Hell's into some weird stuff.

     

The manga and anime would bake a number of story tropes directly into the genre. Kouji is a hot-blooded hero with more courage than sense, which gets him into, and subsequently, out of danger. Sayaka is equally hot-blooded and she and Kouji bicker constantly, mixing arguments where they slap each other with moments of genuine care for each other. Kouji calls out most of his attacks, with his most signature move, the rocket punch (itself drawn from Giant Robo) becoming a signature element in mecha stories moving forward. Mazinger Z gets an upgrade partway through the series (the Jet Scrander, which allows him to fly). Sayaka gets an entire new robot after the Aphrodite A is trashed too many times. Not to mention things like a super metal alloy that allows the robot to survive punishing combat, and the oppai missiles, which are literal boob missiles. 

Mazinger Z was a smash success. The manga would run in both Weekly Shōnen Jump and Boken Oh (another shōnen magazine) until 1947.The anime itself would air for a staggering 92 episodes, concluding in September of 1974. Mazinger Z toys brought a new level of merchandising synergy to an animated franchise, The anime industry, which was in a general decline at the time, would rev up in response to the success of Mazinger, and the Super Robot boom of the 70s would follow.

     

Mazinger Z would see significant overseas success, as well. The show was exceptionally popular in Spanish speaking regions, from Spain to Mexico. So popular, that in the 1980s, a 40ft tall statue was built in Tarragona, Spain at the entrance of a planned suburban development. The suburb never materialized, but the statue still stands. 

     

In the US, a cut down version would be aired in Hawaii with an English dub for about 30 episodes. Notably, it had an English version of the theme song sung by the original singer, Isao Sasaki.

     


The anime would see a second release in 1985 as the heavily edited Tranzor Z, by Three B. Productions Ltd. Only 65 of the 92 episodes were aired, and everyone's names were Americanized, which was typical for the era. Hence, Kouji Kabuto became Tommy Davis, and so on. 

Releases of the actual show have been hard to come by over the years, with an infamously bad Hong Kong subtitle lovingly referred to as the "Crabstick Sub" as one of the few ways to watch the show in the past. In 2013, Discotek Media announced a Western DVD release for the series (along with other Go Nagai-created series like Devilman and Cutie Honey).

     

As the functional equivalent of Superman for the Super Robot genre, Mazinger Z has become a staple of the Super Robot Wars series of crossover strategy games from Banpresto. Super Robot Wars deserves its own entry because of how complicated it can get, but in brief, its a long-running series of tactical strategy games (in the vein of Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics) that features multiple Mecha series and their plotlines colliding in a crossover storyline. Mazinger, in one form or another, has appeared in every installment of Super Robot Wars, not counting the Original Generations series (again, its complicated).

     

Its not an exaggeration to say that Mazinger Z was a sea change for Mecha as a genre. Its success led to an immediate shift in giant robot storytelling and most subsequent Mecha series were an imiation or reaction to the kind of stories Mazinger Z was telling. This includes the birth of the Real Robot genre at the end of the 1970s. 

Go Nagai hit a goldmine with a combination of pure heroism, cool robots, freaky monsters, and beautiful women.

     

Next time on Shin Super Robot Sunday: Mitsuteru Yokoyama returns. Again.

Sources:

https://infogalactic.com/info/Mazinger_Z

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazinger_Z

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B8%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AC%E3%83%BCZ

https://mazinger.fandom.com/wiki/Mazinger_Z_(TV_Mecha)

https://infogalactic.com/info/Go_Nagai

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mazinger-z

Shin Super Robot Sunday: Astroganger

The first full-color animated giant robot anime debuted on October 4, 1972: Astroganger, from an up and coming studio founded by former employees of Toei Animation and Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production called Knack Productions.

  

Astrongager is notable for not being based on an existing manga (unlike Testujin 28-go), and follows the adventures of Kantaro Hoshi, a young boy who comes into possession of the eponymous giant sentient robot made of “living metal”: Astroganger (or Ganga for short). It turns out his deceased mother, Maya, was an alien scientist who fled her planet's destruction by the evil alien race known as the Blasters. She and her husband, Dr. Hoshi, built the robot to protect against the Blasters should they ever make Earth their next target. 

Naturally, the Blasters make Earth their target, and Kantaro learns the secret of his heritage and teams up with the robot to defend his planet.

  

Astroganger himself is a 40 meter (131 ft) tall blue and red robot with a flesh-colored, expressive face. With no onboard weapons, he fights spaceships and enemy robots in hand-to-hand combat and can fly (similar to Tetsujin 28). Unlike Tetsujin, Ganga can talk, think, and feel pain. When the robot is summoned, Kantaro merges with the badge/gem on Ganga's chest, enhancing the robot with human reflexes and intelligence. 

The show would see international releases in Korea, Italy (as Astroganga), Spain (as Astro Gungar), and in the Middle East (as Jongar), where it seems have been quite popular.

(This is a fan tribute remake of the show's opening) 

The show ran for a modest 26 episodes, but was immediately overshadowed by the show we'll look at next time, and largely became forgotten, aside from a few curiosities.

In 2017, an animated .gif of Ganga running toward an enemy turned into meme. Also in 2017, a deluxe (read: expensive) Soul of Chogokin style figure was released in Medicom's Carbotix line.

Weird memes and expensive collectibles aside, the most surprising Astroganger news is the most recent. On April 10 of 2020 (nine days before this post was written in an amazing bit of coincidental timing), Discotek Media announced that Astroganger would see a release of the entire series on a Standard Definition Blu Ray with English subtitles on June 30, 2020. 

Knack Productions would go on to a long history in anime, working with many major figures in the industry, including other super robot shows. However the studio earned a reputation for lower quality work, especially with Chargeman Ken!, a non-super robot show about alien invasions being fended off by a child hero with notoriously low budget animation.

  

Next time on Shin Super Robot Sunday: The Golden Age of Super Robots begins with a man named Go.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroganger

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%AD%E3%82%AC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AC%E3%83%BC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knack_Productions

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/running-ganger-%E6%AD%A2%E3%81%BE%E3%82%89%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84

https://www.facebook.com/Discotekmedia/posts/3352060024823068