Large robotic constructs are no stranger to the restricted-viewing realm of Demo Disc. The very first volume in late 2014 was about one from each decade from the 70s to the 00s & the fifth volume in early 2016 returned to the genre with a similar focus, while the seventh, ninth, eleventh, & thirteenth volumes all featured at least one mech anime. The genre's even been featured in "single series" Demo Discs, specifically the fourth (Machine Robo) & sixteenth (Kiss Dum, though this one is tangential), and while there have been plenty of mech anime that have since seen complete English translations (both officially & by fans), I still managed to find a quartet that have only seen one or two episodes translated, much like how that original volume worked, so let's take a look at some first episodes of mech anime, even if it's for the last time as its own themed volume, from the 70s & 80s!
Gowapper 5, Moving Out!
While Tatsunoko Production is known for its various anime about heroes saving the day from evil, doing so by way of giant robots is a true rarity from the prolific studio. Sure, Gatchaman's Science Ninja Team occasionally fought a giant robot of some sort, Tekkaman had the large robot Pegas, & the original Time Bokan featured giant, robotic contraptions, but Tatsunoko didn't actually make a "standard" mech anime until 1976 with Gowapper 5 Godam, which itself would become mostly forgotten when later mech anime like Toshi Gordian, Golden Warrior Gold Lightan, & (especially) Genesis Climber Mospeada would later come out in the decade following Godam's run, which came to an early end after 36 episodes due to low ratings; one of the shows it competed against was Toei's UFO Robo Grendizer, so it had no chance. But let's instead act like it's April 4, 1976, the date Gowapper 5 Godam debuted on Japanese television, and see how well its first episode hyped kids up for this new mech anime from an already iconic studio.
(Fun Fact: Both this anime & Gold Lightan originally were each titled "Abaranger" in pre-production, though neither has any relation to the eventual Super Sentai entry that actually used this name)
Made up of leader Yoko Misaki, second-in-command Go Tsunami, giant Daikichi Kameyama, nerdy Goemon Koishikawa, & the little Norisuke Kawaguchi, "Gowapper 5" (get it? because they're five "kowappa/little kids"?) is the name a group of friends call themselves, as they like to go on adventures. After some bizarre meteorological accidents happen, Yoko researches & comes to the conclusion that they emanate from a mysterious island offshore, so she leads Gowapper 5 to head there, though they crash land & lose their boat in the process. While searching a cave on the island, they come across a mysterious computer control room, only to also come across Sentarou Shima, an agent for the Earth Crust Investigation Center, who came to the island himself in search for Dr. Ooarai, a scientist who went missing 30 years ago after revealing his theory that there lived a race of beings under the Earth's surface, "Undergrounders"; naturally, everyone thought he was crazy. After all six meet up, the room activates a hologram of Dr. Ooarai, as the good doctor saved his brain into the room's memory. He deems Gowapper 5 as the perfect candidates to pilot five vehicles he created before his death, along with the giant robot Godam, in order to combat the Undergrounders, who are the real culprits for all of Earth's meteorological quandaries. It's not long until an oil factory starts blowing up, prompting Gowapper 5 to investigate and see if these being truly exist...
Gowapper 5 Godam is notable for two things, one more important than the other. First, & most notably, this is the very first mech anime to feature a female character as the lead, as Yoko Misaki is the leader of Gowapper 5, which is something that has remained relatively rare in the 44 years since this show. The other is the American football theme, with each member of Gowapper 5 dressing like a football player when piloting, & the Godam itself looking similar to a linebacker; unfortunately, Eiken's UFO Warrior Dai Apolon did the same exact thing at the same time. Also, on a minor note, Godam's color scheme is apparently a reference to the packaging for Phillip Morris' Lark cigarettes, as the president of toy company sponsor Takara was a fan of the brand. Beyond all of that, though, this first episode is kind of poor. Yoko is definitely THE highlight, as she's a confident leader who has full respect & control of her team, and has a personality that you'd trust your life to; I'd argue that she's easily a decade+ ahead of her time. Unfortunately, everything else about this episode isn't all that special. Though that Tatsunoko charm does show itself every now & then, the way Gowapper 5 come to get their new robot & vehicles is contrived up the wazoo, Shima isn't shown to really be all that important since Dr. Ooarai's hologram exists, and the Undergrounders are almost non-existent for the entire episode. Seriously, aside from the beginning showing three flying vehicles coming out of the ocean & the teased reveal at the very end (plus the admittedly catchy OP theme), you only ever hear of these things, and only from Dr. Ooarai, making it truly sound like he was insane. Also, they aren't mole or lizard people, which is silly. Compared to other Tatsunoko first episodes of the time, like Gatchaman, Tekkaman, & even Time Bokan, this one doesn't do much to really catch your interest outside of Yoko, but she alone isn't enough to carry things here. It's not unwatchable, but it's absolutely nothing worth talking about.
Apparently, the show does expand out over time, as the Undergrounders (later revealed to be the Dronger Empire) do get properly revealed, which leads to the second half of the show being about an actual war between Earth & the Undergrounders, but Gowapper 5 Godam's first episode does nothing to make one want to get to that point; it's no surprise why Grendizer trounced it. Also, the football themed outfits have no explanation whatsoever & make no sense; at least Dai Apolon made its main character be a fan of the game.
The Angered Warrior of Io
Even though Toei Animation had existed for decades come 1980, it wasn't the only division of the larger conglomerate to actually produce animation at the time. Take, for example, the various mech anime that Toei had its name associated with, which were produced by parent company Toei Company but directly animated by other studios. Tadao Nagahama's "Robot Romance Trilogy" of Combattler V, Voltes V, & Tosho Daimos, for example, were all animated by an early Nippon Sunrise, & even Beast King GoLion (a.k.a. Voltron) was actually directed by an outside team lead by Space Battleship Yamato co-creator Yoshinobu Nishizaki. The latter situation can also be said for Uchuu Taitei/Space Emperor God Sigma, which Toei Company produced but was actually animated by Nishizaki & the studio Green Box. Running from 1980 to 1981 for a solid 50 episodes, God Sigma actually featured a fairly notable staff behind it, with original character designs by Kaoru Shintani (who had only debuted the manga Area 88 a year prior), early direction by Takeyuki Kanda (though only for the first 10 episodes), & music by Toei veteran Hiroshi Tsutsui, but kind of went into obscurity until 2008, when it was announced to be a part of Super Robot Wars Z. So let's see if the first episode can show why legendary seiyuu Tomokazu Seki (allegedly) jumped for joy when given the chance to voice main character Toshiya Dan for SRW, as original actor Kei Tomiyama passed away in 1995.
It's the year 2050 & Toshiya Dan manages to sneak his way onto the artificial island of Trinity City, which is where Dr. Kazami is showcasing the three giant robots he designed: Kurai-Ou, Kaimei-Ou, & Rikushin-Ou. The last robot suddenly goes berserk, but it's quickly shown to be due to Minako Markino, the entitled daughter of the man who sponsored Trinity City's creation, piloting it without any experience, and the issue is stopped by Julie Noguchi, Dr. Kazami's assistant. Immediately afterwards, though, Earth in invaded by humanoid alien forces from the planet Elda, who want to capture the "Trinity Energy" that powers the city for their own purposes. Toshiya, wanting to protect the people, commandeers Kurai-Ou & fights back, getting assistance by Julie in Kaimei-Ou. After protecting the city, word goes out that the colony on Jupiter's moon Io, where Toshiya comes from, has been attacked by Eldan forces, who have now made it their home base; though Toshiya wants to head over, it's too far away from Earth. After some time, the sole escape shuttle from Io arrives at Trinity City, with one of the survivors being Toshiya's friend Kira Kensaku, nicknamed "Kiraken" for short. Kiraken & Toshiya immediately want to fight back, so Dr. Kazami has the two team with Julie to protect the Earth from Elda... Right as one of the Eldan's giant "Cosmosaurus" monsters attacks Trinity City.
Sometimes you get a real shock when you go back in time to watch an anime from decades gone by, mainly because you get reminded of just how different storytelling was back then. I say this because God Sigma's first episode feels like it would have been two in today's style, and by that I mean that it takes absolutely no time getting going. Once the catchy OP theme finishes, you immediately see Toshiya sling himself onto the leg of a helicopter by way of his duffel bag so that he can get to Trinity City, before the episode title even appears! Not just that, but it's amusing how lackadaisically Toshiya becomes the pilot of Kurai-Ou, as there's no security at all to prevent him from commandeering the robot; certainly explains how Minako got into Rikushin-Ou. There's also no explanation as to HOW Toshiya knows how to pilot a robot, but he at least proves his worth in the fight. In comparison, Kiraken pretty much, instantly after landing on Earth, is whisked away with the others by Dr. Kazami, & then just asks the the creator of these robots if he could pilot Rikushin-Ou, despite never proving he could actually do so... And the good doctor effectively answers with "Sure, why not?". All that being said, though, this is still a very kinetic & entertaining intro, giving quick looks into our three leads' personalities, a small hint that the Eldan's aren't simply evil (they want to the energy to "save their planet"), & even some tragedy, as Kiraken's introduction is through a dream he has where his family is literally blown up right in front of him. Also, as fast-paced as this episode is, you don't actually see the robots combine into God Sigma at all. In fact, a quick glance at Episode 2 over at the Toei Tokusatsu World YouTube channel reveals that the titular combined form doesn't happen until Episode 3! Yeah, I could cover Episode 2 as well, but I'll just stick with the first for this Demo Disc.
Overall, a solid start for God Sigma, and if you are curious for more the first two episodes are available with English captions over at the previously-mentioned YouTube channel, which is legit & official; this is also one of the anime that isn't region-locked from North America on the channel.
Take Off! Galactic Prince Mito
Even though Mobile Suit Gundam wasn't exactly a hit while it originally aired on TV in Japan, it's not like it was the only mech anime Sunrise was making at the time; rather, it was just too different from the "super" norm. Therefore, Sunrise continued with more "traditional" mech anime going into the 80s, though usually giving them as much of their own twists as possible. A good example of that would be Saikyo/Ultimate Robo Daiohja, with ran from 1981 to 1982 for 50 episodes & was the creation of director Katsutoshi Sasaki (Transformers: The Headmasters, Mirai Robo Daltanious) & writer Horiyuki Hoshiyama (Round Vernian Vifam, Lord of Lords Ryu Knight), though Sunrise's legendary "Hajime Yatate" was credited as creator. In Daiohja's case, it was inspired by Mito Komon, the longest-running jidaigeki series in history, which ran from 1969 to 2011 for 1,227 episodes; five different actors had to play the main character because of how long it ran! Interestingly enough, Daiohja actually predated Ginga Senpuu Braiger, which was inspired by the similarly lengthy Hissatsu! Series, by nine months, and I only bring this up because both shows took a period drama & moved things over to a sci-fi aesthetic. So was this enough to make Daiohja unique enough from its first episode alone?
The planet of Edon rules over the other 51 planets that make up the Ipron Galaxy, and peace has reigned throughout for long. In reality, though, there are various planetary governors that secretly rule their lands with iron fists, and even dream of possibly overthrowing the King of Edon to rule the galaxy themselves. To help prevent this, the current Prince of Edon makes covert visits to all of the planets once he hits the age of 16, so as to fully understand things when he becomes King. Prince Edward Mito, though, hates the rigid life he currently has, so his father allows Mito to embark on this trip at only age 14. Accompanying him are his teachers/retainers Duke Skeid & Baron Karkus, but to keep things covert they take the identities of "Skei" & "Kark", tutors for their "Young Master" who they are showing the galaxy to; tagging along with them is Flora Shinobu, a young escort for the Queen of Edon who wishes to help. The four immediately see how things truly are, though, upon reaching orbit of the planet of Badland (nice name), as they have to rescue a girl who stole a robot in order to head to Edon to tell the King about how the people in charge of the planet take advantage of their citizens. Against the worries of Skeid & Karkus, Mito says that they'll enter Badland, and see the truth for themselves.
During this era of mech anime, arguably its "Golden Age", so many series were coming out at a time that originality was essential, and Saikyo Robo Daiohja's first episode is a perfect example of how to do this right. Instead of something like a war between ideologies or invaders from another planet, this instead takes the lead of the jidaigeki it's based on & focuses on investigating an entire kingdom, looking to find problems deep within & fixing them in order to maintain peace. Mito himself is also an instantly likable lead, as he seems like the standard "Prince who actually hates being a Prince" by seeing how he instantly loves the freedom that comes with him having to hide his identity, but when there's trouble he's the first to help out, showing that he still knows what comes with being the future leader of the galaxy. Skeid & Karkus, in turn, definitely look out for their Prince & don't want harm to to come him, but also know that when things look rough they'll always be there for Mito; same for Shinobu, but she doesn't appear until near the end of the episode. In fact, similar to God Sigma, we don't even see the titular robot in this first episode, instead focusing more on the individual robots that the three use, Mito's Ace Redder, Skeid's Aoider, & Karkus' Cobalter; actually, we only see Mito & Karkus piloting in this episode, and the mechs aren't even named here. Still, this is an extremely strong start of Daiohja, establishing the modus operandi for the series (while also showing that two-parters can happen), introducing the main characters, & setting up what sounds like a rather quaint concept for a mech series; even today, there really isn't much out there like Daiohja, conceptually.
Where Evil Spreads, Galatt Appears!!
The Dog Barks, The Mecha Roars!
"Wait, if you only did one episode for God Sigma, then why are you doing two for this?"
Simply put, I forgot that anime had an official option that went beyond Episode 1 when I conceived this article, while this show has two episodes that are fan translated; also, it's not like Demo Disc is ever meant to be all-encompassing, anyway. Moving on, while comedy was obviously a factor in mech anime from the very beginning, having a series that was primarily meant to be a comedy & poke fun at the genre wasn't really a thing until Sunrise's Choriki/Super-Powered Robo Galatt, which ran from late 1984 to early 1985 for 25 episodes. The closest thing before Galatt would be 1981's GoShogun by Ashi Pro, which did parody the genre, but still had an overall plot that could be taken seriously; the fact that its 1985 movie sequel told a dead serious story says it all. In comparison, even taking a mere glance at Galatt shows that it doesn't seem to want to be taken seriously at all, with its childish character designs, chibi-aesthetic robots, & super upbeat & poppy OP theme. So let's see if this instant impression proves to be true after the first two episodes.
It's been five years since the Robot Law went into effect, making it illegal to use robots for any sort of combat purpose, since peace has been achieved. This means nothing to the Space Syndicate, though, which attacks the planet as part of a giant space real estate scheme. Since the government has no way to fight back against the Syndicate's giant robots, the Governor decides to call Professor Kiwi for help, since he's always talked about "Universal Justics". Kiwi, in turn, decides to "borrow" Junbow, the assistance robot belonging to the Marsh family, usually helping the son Michael. Michael & his friend Patty Pumpkin head over to Prof. Kiwi's lab, where they find the mad doctor putting the final touches on upgrading Junbow with a new super alloy, alongside other upgrades, which allow Junbow to grow to giant size & transform into the (less silly) "hero" Galatt; to all but those three, though, Galatt is piloted by an alien Kiwi contacts. Kiwi chooses Michael to become the pilot of Junbow/Galatt & be the hero that will protect the populace from things like a group of construction workers who destroy the city, or a giant dinosaur mech that breathes fire.
Honestly, it's a good thing I gave Choriki Robo Galatt two episodes so as to properly get a feel for it, because it's definitely a weird one. As an introduction, we do get a good idea for our three main characters (Michael, Patty, & Kiwi), plus some world building in Episode 2, though the villains aren't really explained much, as space real-estate is only mentioned in Episode 2, while the actual name of the group is something I had to look up. In terms of our heroes, though, they definitely aren't exactly paragons of justice, as Michael mainly wishes that he could wallow in the fame he's secretly getting (as revealing his identity will get him arrested, as per the Robot Law), Kiwi is taking advantage of the situation to get paid by the government for each time Galatt is required, & Patty gets her father to buy her a robot like Junbow so that she can get Kiwi to turn it into her own giant robot, as she just wants to be part of the fun. Combine all of that with a with a barrage of word play, visual reference gags, Kiwi's constant lolicon tendencies towards Patty, & simply bizarre imagery at times, and this show just doesn't click with me. I'm not saying that it's a bad show from the little I saw here, as I did smile & have a chuckle at times (like seeing a bunch of cops fire their pistols, only for one of them to fire a rocket punch instead), and I definitely can see the appeal in its quirkiness, but Galatt isn't something I personally am going to try look for, in the future.
Honestly, I think it's just that, by being one of the earliest comedy-focused mech anime, it's kind of been outshone by other works of its ilk that have since come out following it. There's definitely fun to be had here, but it simply didn't pull me in, and that's okay.
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Looking over my list of potential candidates for future Demo Disc volumes, it really looks like this may very well be the final "multi-series" volume to focus all around giant robots & the people who pilot them; there are still one or two that can make up "single-series" volumes, though. To be honest, part of me creating Demo Disc nearly six years ago was because mech anime was a genre that was awash with stuff that only saw partial English translations, and that was mainly due to its status as such a niche genre for English-speaking anime fandom, and this was especially true for older series from before the 90s. Since that first volume, though, there has been more of an effort in making mech anime fully accessible with a translation, either via fan translations that slowly (but eventually) get it done, or by companies like Discotek releasing shows like Combattler V, Voltes V, the Lamune franchise, & even God Mazinger or Astroganger on home video over here; they may not be big sellers, but I guess Discotek feels there's a reliable market now.
As a fan of this genre, I am happy to see that happen. After all, I never planned on Demo Disc being an infinitely recurring segment here, as my main goal is to have there be a volume for every letter in the English alphabet, and as of this volume all I have left are E, H, K, L, U, V, W, Y, & Z.
"Where's X?", you ask?" Check back this October for that, as we do something a little different for once...
Gowapper 5 Godam © Tatsunoko Pro
Uchuu Taitei God Sigma © Toei
Saikyo Robo Daiohja © Sotsu・Sunrise
Choriki Robo Galatt © Sunrise
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