Tetsujin 28 FX

           
Chou Dendou Robo Tetsujin 28 Gou Fx (超電動ロボ 鉄人28号FX, Super Electric Iron Hero 28 Future X, or as the intro calls it The Iron Hero 28 Future X) aired in Japan in 1992 until 1993 for a total of 47 episodes and is the third animated entry in the Tetsujin franchise.

            Tetsujin 28 FX answers the age old questions of what happens to robot pilots after the end of their series. The series is a sequel to the original Tetsujin 28 series that aired in 1963 and takes place around 40 years later. The only real returning character from the original series is Shotaro himself.

Father and son fighting together: Masato (left) and Shotaro (right)

 In the 21^st century robot development has advanced greatly. Supreme Ruler Zone has created his own organization the New Black Army and has declared a war against humanity using his robots. The one to stand up against his army is the new Tetsujin robot: Testujin 28 FX.

In the first half of the series the main robot of the series is Tetsujin 28 FX. Tetsujin 28 FX is the 28^th robot of a new generation of robots which is why it’s still called 28. What makes Tetsujin 28 FX different from the other robots is that it’s powered by Cho Dendou power which once activated gives Tetsujin 28 FX great power. As with the original Tetsujin it’s controlled from a distance via a handheld gun controller called a Grid Lancer which gets pointed at Tetsujin 28 FX. As times goes on Tetsujin 28 FX gets wings which is from Tetsujin 17 Phoenix they combine on the back similar to Mazinger Z and its Jet Scrander. The original Tetsujin 28 also makes it’s return still controlled by Shotaro.

Tetsujin 28 FX docked with the Phoenix

The series starts off at the World Robot Competition which is showing off various robots of the world which includes America’s Tetsujin 18 Iron Eagle, China’s Tetsujin 24 Sekiryugou, France’s Tetsujin 25 Mirage and Guiena’s Tetsujin 26 Jumbo. The first to be shown off was the original Tetsujin 28 and its pilot the famous Shotaro. Shotaro has continued to use Tetsujin 28 over the years and has created the Kaneda Junior Detective Agency and got married to a woman named Yoko who is robot engineer. Yoko is the one who created Tetsujin 28 FX but the Grid Lancer wasn’t completed in time for the show so it was to be a no show.

During the World Robot Contest however the Neo Black Army appears with Devilcuto, taking this opportunity to declare war on the world and capture the robots shown at the show. However Yoko managed to finish the Grid Lancer on time which is taken by Masato who uses Tetsujin 28 FX to save the day.

Mastao is the son of Shotaro and Yoko who went missing one day and tells his story of how he was on a plane which was captured by the Neo Black Army, trained by them to become a pilot (if you control a robot you are a pilot, regardless of being in the robot or not) along with others. However Masato tells a story of how he had a daring escape and returned that day to be the hero and pilot Tetsujin 28 FX. Masato afterwards included in the Kaneda Junior Detective Agency which includes Saburo, Futaba, Shiori and Genichi. 

From left to right: Saburo, Genichi, Shiori, Futaba and Yoko in the front in front of the computer

 While Masato wants to be the pilot of Tetsujin 28 FX they haven’t decided on the official pilot and they go through some training stages as time goes on. Masato ends up rejecting the training as he’ll be the pilot but at the time the only one with real aptitude to pilot Tetsujin 28 FX is Saburo. While Masato isn’t the official pilot he’s the one who mainly uses Tetsujin 28 FX, Saburo also does on time as he has a rivalry going on with Masato. Genichi is more of a mechanic, Shiroi is better with intelligence and well Futaba is just there.

The Neo Black Army only really has three main people Supreme Ruler Zone the leader who is portrayed as a giant fire eye of sorts, Devilcuto and Zoldick. Devilcuto and Zoldick are the front line commanders Devilcuto is the smart one who doesn’t talk a lot and Zoldick is comic relief failure who constantly gets punished by Zone.

Zoldick on the left and Devilcuto

Zone

 The show continues on for a while with the battling against the Neo Black Army with the normal interpersonal conflicts and what not and the fights over who gets to pilot Tetsujin 28 FX in today’s episode. Eventually as time goes on Masato ends up running into a girl that he tried to escape from the Neo Black Army from while Masato got away back then she didn’t. The girls name is Ranfan and she’s been brainwashed to think Masato is her enemy and left her behind. She manages to trick Masato and use gas on him and steal Tetsujin 28 FX away. It’s worth noting that unlike the 80s Tetsujin where a daily ordeal was some enemy stealing away Tetsujin and Shotaro having to get it back this is the only time Tetsujin 28 FX is stolen away. It’s recovered the next episode thanks to a pendant that Masato gave Ranfan. However the Neo Black Army weren’t just sitting around and instead they made a copy of Tetsujin 28 FX which is the next episode a battle of Tetsujin 28 FX vs Tetsujin 28 FX. However since they weren’t able to copy the Choudenou Power they added some missiles on it. During the battle Masato is forced to activate the Choudenou Power which allows them to copy the data and activate the fake Tetsujin 28 FX’s Choudenou Power as well however since it didn’t have the Choudenou microchip the fake Tetsujin 28 FX loses.

This whole chain of events has lead to one of the most important events to happen in the series. The Neo Black Army created a clone of Professor Franken from the original series the creator of the Black Ox, the very same one who died back then and still remembers his death. However the clone is a kid with the worst character design in the series but he’s still a genius and still bares a grudge.

After the failure of the fake Tetsujin 28 FX Franken ends up getting close enough to meet Masato and Masato being the big show off he is ends up explaining that Tetsujin 28 FX has a Choudenou Microchip and the only other one is in France’s Mirage. Franken also ends up briefly controlling Tetsujin 28 FX showing off his skill and saying that Tetsujin 28 FX is no match for Black Ox before leaving. Franken proceeds to head to France and steal the Choudenou Microchip with Black Ox and install it. 

Black Ox

Black Ox ends up being the main rival of Tetsujin 28 FX for the early part of the series built of course by Franken with the help of the Neo Black Army. Franken had returned from hell to take revenge on Shotaro for his death. Black Ox like Tetsujin 28 FX gets a massive upgrade from the original. The design has been completely overhauled and can transform into a Jet Mode which allows transportation of the pilot as well. Black Ox also comes with mounted weapons the Arm Laser and Arm Vulcan on each arm. In the initial fights Black Ox uses Choudenou attacks like Tetsujin 28 FX the most common being the Choudenou Punch. However as time goes on Black Ox loses these attacks in favor of its ultimate weapon the Genocide Buster which is a large powerful beam weapon of great destructive power. 

Black Ox in Flight Mode

               The Kaneda Junior Detective Agency quickly learn that Franken is a clone created from Franken’s DNA as a relative of his handed over Franken’s body to create a clone for revenge. However since Franken isn’t a perfect clone he’s limited in time outside his capsule. Since Black Ox is more than a match for Tetsujin 28 FX what generally happens is Franken gets sick and has to retreat which proves to be the key for Mastato’s survival as Black Ox is constantly on the verge of destroying Tetsujin 28 FX.

The Neo Black Army and the Kaneda Junior Detective Agency move to America to a genius professor of genetics who can prove to be the key to making Franken a perfect clone. The Neo Black Army gains the upper hand and captures the data which is used on Franken. However the data that they captured was fake data and this instead ages Franken to around the age of 16. Thankfully this greatly improves not only his character design but his personality as well as he’s no longer crazily bent on revenge, the wonders of aging.

Franken as a kid

 Using the new aged Franken to their advantage they send him to the Kaneda Junior Detective Agency and he ends up meeting Shiori and they celebrate her birthday party and his as well, despite him not knowing when his actually is, before he ends up attacking with Black Ox. However since his meeting with Shiori he starts to have new feelings inside of him that of love for Shiroi and is unable to finish off Tetsujin 28 FX due to Shiori and instead retreats. These new feeling continue the development of Franken as a character and gets to be quite likeable as time goes on.

Adult Franken

 This is really the height of the series at this point as we get great battles between Tetsujin 28 FX and Black Ox. Specifically at one point Tetsujin 28 FX learns the one episode Choudenou Counter which destroys Tetsujin 28 FX’s arm but launches Black Ox into the air in a stunning fight. The new Franken continues to meet Shiori and starts to learn that he is just being used as everyone tries to convince him that he is being used.

As time goes on the Neo Black Army decides to capture Shiori which gives Franken his opportunity to turn on the Neo Black Army which allows Devilcuto to take control of Black Ox. Devilcuto ends up explaining that Franken is just an experiment and upon his success he was going to be mass produced for pilots of the Neo Black Army’s robots. Tetsujin 28 FX and Tetsujin 28 arrive to save the day and they reclaim Black Ox but Franken is unable to control Black Ox so he hands over the Black Ox controller to Saburo to protect Shiori. Black Ox unlike Tetsujin 28 FX is controlled by a bracelet. With the combination of the robots they save Franken and Shiori and escape however in true dues ex machina Zone appears in the middle of the sky and kills Franken. Honestly with things like he could have just killed Masato in episode 1. This is just really horrible writing.

With the death of Franken the end of the Neo Black Army is near as now with the combined power of Tetsujin 28, Tetsujin 28 FX, Black Ox, France’s Mirage, America’s Iron Eagle, Guinea’s Jumbo and China’s Sekiryugou they move in to attack the Neo Black Army’s base of Devil Island. At this time however Devilcuto reveals to Zoldick that Zone is just an illusion and he is really the ruler. A fierce battle takes place in which even Devilcuto forces Zoldick to get in a robot and fight in however he is defeated and captured.

Devilcuto escapes in the Neo Black Army ship but is perused by Tetsujin 28 FX in the ship and the rest of the robots follow. Devilcuto merges with the ship to create a massive robot that makes every other robot look like a speck. This giant robot also has the ability to regenerate and can take control of other robots. It turns that out Devilcuto was a robot created by the humans to work in space but due to an accident in space he was abandoned and he just waited for the humans to return. Space however gave him great power the great power he decided to use to destroy the humans who abandoned him. Tetsujin 28 FX ends up in the ship fights Devilcuto which allows the other robots to break free of the control. The only option left is for Black Ox to destroy the robot with the Genocide Buster however from the fighting Black Ox is damaged and doesn’t have the energy but with the support of Mirage, Iron Eagle, Jumbo and Sekiryugou the power is granted and Black Ox destroys the robot killing Devilcuto and ending the reign of terror of the Neo Black Army which also allows Masato to escape from inside.

This is really the height of the series and is the halfway point. The next episode is largely a clipshow which shows off the entire Tetsujin series of robots in the show. A lot of the early ones are worker robots or just robots created to test out concepts used in Tetsujin 28 FX. Various countries aside from the previous mentioned countries also have robots including England, Canada, Russia, Norway, Italy and Mexico. However this episode ends with an announcement from Shotaro that he is closing the Kaneda Junior Detective Agency as Interpol’s new leader has asked for their help in fighting crime all around the world. The new chief of Interpol is none other than Shotaro himself! Interpol played a very minor role in the series prior to this as there was one Interpol guy who was worthless and vanishes. Shotaro then hands out the new positions to everyone. Shiori is sent to pilot Australia’s Tetsujin 27 Sakigake, Genichi is to be sent to Mexico to become the new pilot of the Tetsujin 13 Azteca. Mastao is officially made the pilot of Tetsujin 28 FX and Saburo the pilot of Tetsujin 29 Black Ox. Masato and Saburo are to report directly to Shotaro and go anywhere in the world as needed. As for Futaba she’s supposed to stay with Yoko and continue studying… well that’s what they say but she stays with Mastaro and Saburo and never studies.

The show does take a downward turn for the remainder of the show. Genichi only makes two appearances in the show at this point in time for a Mexican episode and the last episode. Shiori doesn’t fair much better but gets three episodes. Tetsujin 28 FX and Black Ox are written at this point to be weaker for the most part.

The original Tetsujin 28 still puts up a fight

            The remainder of the show is Mastaro, Saburo and Futaba traveling wherever Shotaro sends them. There are various episodes which include the various country Tetsujins but quite a few aren’t used like Canada, Russia and Norway. The most interesting one to note is the episode of Tetsujin 19 Kingdom. Not so much because it follows the same way as Mobile Fighter G Gundam and looks the same as John Bull Gundam but because the pilot is Charles Bond. Charles Bond is a genius boy working with MI6 what makes this interesting is that Charles Bond is the grandson of James Bond 007! Continuing with this awesome trend at one point Charles and Masato are tied up but Charles got a present from James the Rolex chainsaw watch that James Bond used in Live and Let Die!

After continuing adventures of random enemies the story comes to an end with an unimportant episode plot of a comet heading towards the Earth to destroy it. Tetsujin 28 FX and Black Ox are both sent to space to destroy it and they do so thanks to the Genocide Buster Cannon. The last episode is largely a clip show with Masato rejecting an award for peace saying they have to continue to fight for the peace.

Like Getter Robo in the previous year which saw a new version come out which was Getter Robo Go, the Tetsujin 28 franchise came out with a new version which proved to be the superior of the two. It’s a fun show to watch but faces some problems. The writing in the first half was great but once the Neo Black Army was defeated the writing failed to keep up. Why they would write out two of the main characters is confusing at best. But more to the point is the fact that once they had the two strongest robots team up they had two main choices. The first being the standard choice of constantly make stronger enemies the second choice being the choice they took was to weaken the robots with bad writing. So in the second time you have them struggling against robots that look really weak and you see them somehow unable to mop the floor but a few times there was something to stand up against them so it wasn’t all bad.

 

Mechander Robo

 

             Combining Squadron Mechander Robo (合身戦隊メカンダーロボ) is a super robot show that aired in Japan in 1977 for a total of 35 episodes.

            The Kongista Army of the Doron Empire from the planet Ganymede arrive and attack the Earth, against their superior might the Earth forces stand little chance. Their chances are even less as the Kongista Army has put into orbit satellites that fire powerful Omega Missile which target nuclear reactions. These Omega Missiles have destroyed nuclear research sites, nuclear power plants, nuclear ships, submarines and nuclear weapons. In a short amount of time 95% of the Earth has fallen to the Kongista Army with the only place not taken is Japan and all hopes rely on the mysterious Mister X and the robot he has created Mechander Robo.

An Omega Missile being launched, why it looks like it fell in mud I'm not sure.

            Mister X is actually Shikishima Shousou and he has created the powerful Super Robo known as Mechander Robo as well as King Diamond, a camouflaged baseball stadium for use as their base. The three pilots he selected to pilot Mechander Robo are Jimmy Orion, Yashma Kojirou and his son Ryusuke. Jimmy Orion is from the Orion System from the planet Ganymede which was previously taken over by the Doron Empire. Jimmy was sent in a capsule when he was just a baby by his mother. It takes him 15 years to arrive at the Earth at which point the professor finds him and makes the random guy he found the pilot. Jimmy’s back-story was clearly taken from Superman as he is seemingly the only survivor of his planet. Mechander Robo isn’t a show without problems and this one presents itself rather early the characters really don’t have any personalities at all. They never develop them either from episode 1 to episode 35 they are the same. It’s hard to really care about characters like this. King Diamond does have other characters but they serve as nothing more than filler but they are the token kid who wants to pilot the super robot, the token mechanic, and the rare anime black guy. By the end these characters virtually vanish from the show as well. None of these characters have any personality or really any use in existing at all thus I see no need to actually use their names. There is also the professor’s daughter Mika who is worthless until near the end of the show when she becomes Mechander Robo’s fourth pilot, but more on that later. There is also the Earth Force’s commander Yamato he takes the role of sometimes giving missions and commanding the worthless Earth forces to their constant defeat while waiting for Mechander Robo to save them.

From left to right: Kojiro, Jimmy, and Ryusuke.

             The Doron Empire is ruled by Hedron, he’s never on the Earth and just hands down orders and punishes Ozmel from time to time. You don’t really find out too much about Hedron or the origins of the Doron Empire until the last episode so I’ll leave that till later. The Kongista Army is lead by Ozmel he’s an arrogant character and a robot. Subordinate to Ozmel is Medusa she’s more of the front line commander and as quickly revealed Medusa is really Jimmy’s mother the Queen of the former of Ganymede before they fell. They quickly reveal the fact she is Jimmy’s mother and for some reason can turn back into her more human form, however they then ignore this for 20 episodes.

Ozmel and Medusa

            Aside from the falling of 95% of the Earth Mechander Robo is a bit different from other super robot shows at the time. A lot of the time the battles take place around the Earth in different locations. King Diamond is not constantly the target of attacks time and time again, it remains hidden for a good part of the show until it transforms into its ship form and goes around the Earth. Another difference is Mechander Robo fights side by side with the Earth forces a lot of the time. Well it’s more like Mechander Robo fights while the Earth forces blow up. Mechander Robo will also fight the same enemy multiple times but there is a bad part to this as you’ll see.

            The pilot each launch in their own planes known as Mechander 1, Mechander 2 and Mechander 3 these combine into a larger plane known as known as Mechander Max. Mechander Max plugs into the back of Mechander Robo which is launched from King Diamond this activates its nuclear power source. The planes each have standard plane weapons (missiles). Mechander Robo’s main weapons are its spiked arm shields known as Mechander UFO; they smash, they can be thrown, they can be combined into various forms. Mechander Robo also has a flame thrower (Mechander Flame), sword (Mechander Fencer), shark missiles (Large Air Torpedo Jaws) and so on. Episode 15 introduced the three Triker vehicles, they are basically identical to the Mechander planes except they drive, however they basically vanish as quickly as they appear.

Mechander Robo getting ready to throw the Mechander UFOs on its arms.

             There really isn’t a whole lot story going around here aside from the introduction but that’s more or less to be expected from an early super robot show. Mechander Robo fights against the Doron Empire with the earth forces. Yamato will hand down missions from time to time which are generally absurd which involve Mechander Robo doing something crazy while the Earth forces sit back and wait. The Omega Missiles serve as a plot device allowing for Mechander Robo only to fight for a short amount of time around three minutes before the battle has to end or Mechander Robo will be struck down as it is nuclear powered. Eventually the Mechander Robo pilots get tired of this and head into space and destroy the satellites; however the last ones combine into a robot to fight Mechander Robo. Unfortunately this robot is really weak and can’t fire Omega Missiles on its own and dies quickly in a horribly anti-climactic battle. Regardless this ends the plot device of timed battles.

Large Air Torpedo Jaws

        As time goes on Medusa starts to act more suspicious. A new weapon is created called Dragon Driller which is powerful enough to destroy Mechander Robo but Ozmel warns Hedron that Medusa isn’t a complete cyborg and may return to being her former self. Being the blind villain Ozmel gets punished for his insolence. Mechander Robo gets into combat with this new mecha piloted by Medusa and gets straight up defeated, however before Medusa can finish off Mechander Robo and kill the pilots she turns back into her former self. She learns from her bird of exactly what she’s been doing this entire time and kills herself after saving Jimmy and the rest of the Mechander pilots.

Mechander Robo falls under the power of Dragon Driller.

             Of course if Mechander Robo stayed defeated the show would be over, honestly this would be for the best but that’s not what happens. Mechander Robo is rebuilt and and is supposedly stronger then ever. Mechander Robo gets rebuilt as a four part combining robo with Mechander 1, Mechander 2, Triker 3 and a new Triker 1. Each vehicle carries a part of Mechander Robo, however since they are smaller then Mechander Robo they have the power to grow once launched. Since Mechander Robo is now a for part combiner they needed a new pilot and Mika was chosen. The way this worked out was silly as you have the professor explaining the new Mechander Robo and then he turns to Mika and says something to the effect of "You are now the new pilot go launch as well", but to be fair Ryusuke got the same treatment in episode 1. This whole thing is really poorly done and you can tell they were just trying to sell toys. The new Mechander Robo is more powerful than the old one; however it doesn’t gain any new attacks or anything just a new combination sequence and a new pilot who does nothing.

Mechander 1, Mechander 2, Triker 3 and the new Triker 1 carrying the parts of Mechander Robo

            On the Kongista side normally what would happen is that with Medusa’s death is that she would be replaced with a new general. However with 11 episodes left we don’t get that, Ozmel is left by himself with an army of guys that look the same. So the remainder of show either has Ozmel talking to himself in monologue or random soldiers which make their side not interesting to watch anymore.

            The show continues on with more or less the same as before however at episode 28 of 35 we are told the final battle is close at hand as the Earth forces are moving in on the Kongista flying fortress in North America. This is where we run into severe problems, and more specifically the show itself but I’ll get into this later. Episodes 29 to 33 are clipshows with little to no animation. So at episode 34 we reach the final conformation between Mechander Robo and the Earth’s forces and the Kongista Army. The Kongista Army faces a great attack by the combined Earth forces until they take their flying fortress on the offensive decimating the Earth forces. With the help of Mechander Robo the flying fortress falls and only that’s left is the final conformation between Jimmy and Ozmel which happens on the land. This basically boils down to Ozmel pointing his gun at Jimmy however Jimmy draws his gun and fires killing Ozmel before he can pull a shot off. I should be surprised at this point but really what’s happen in the show I’m not. Regardless to say by the end of 34 the Earth is saved as the Kongista army has been defeated.

Shikshima Shousou and his daughter Mika

            Of course there is still one episode left and the mysterious Hedron is still out there. Episode 35 is once again mostly a clipshow but we learn that Hedron is just garbage sludge from Orion that mutated and turned into a monster. This garbage sludge grew ambitions turned the people of Orion into cyborgs and created his army with ambition to be the emperor of space. However since Orion started to revive once again he died. It’s really as silly as it sounds.

Hedron made of broken computers, microfilm and other garbage

 Now I said there are gems and dangers of robot show well Mechander Robo is the danger as this show is really just garbage and should be avoided at all costs. I won’t say this often and really the only other show that I’ve seen that I can say is Groizer X. As I mentioned all the characters are blank slates that never advance past that and even the mecha action is quite poor. Mechander Robo itself was essentially a failure in Japan as well. The show aired from the start of March till the end of December but in October the main sponsor of the show Blue Mark went bankrupt and they were unable to find a new sponsor. Prior to this the toy sales were also failing which is why they introduced seemingly random vehicles for the Mechander Robo pilots to use once and then get reintroduced later. The sponsors were apparently hoping these to sell good, they didn’t.

As a result of the bankruptcy Mechander Robo suffers greatly as episodes 29 to 33 are clipshows as well as the majority of episode 35 about 3 minutes of this episode was animated to show the origin and death of Hedron. Only episode 34 is animated, admittedly very poorly animated they just barely managed to scrape this together. This episode involved lots of enemy mecha returning and fighting again however this was just to reuse clips. It’s a good thing they managed to scrape together a conclusion but really at that point I didn’t care anymore. The trend of reusing old clips started early on in Mechander Robo as so many times we get to see the same fights with the same enemy mecha. It’s nice to see the enemies of a robot show reusing the same mecha but if it’s just to see the same fights countless times, regardless of how silly they are, it’s not worth it. The problem of reused scenes extends a lot deeper than this sadly. My favorite one is in an early episode the Mechander Robo pilots go to Crete to try to save the people there. They end up in a stadium full of clapping people that turn out to be Kongista soldiers with guns shooting them. We see this scene reused at least three other times in multiple locations across the world.

Aside from the reuse of scenes multiple times throughout the show, the battles of Mechander Robo aren’t really that interesting to watch the show is obviously low quality from episode one. You get your standard mix of whacky enemy robot designs and Mechander Robo.

            Mechander Robo is a show that is best forgotten. The characters are blank slates and the mecha action is filled with reused scenes. With no draw between characters and mecha action and with an almost non-existent super robot story there really isn’t anything left to be drawn to this show.

Mission Outer Space Srungle

 

             Mission Outer Space (Aku Daikuseen) Srungle (亜空大作戦スラングル) is a super robot show that aired from 1983 until 1984 and ran for a total of 53 episodes. The show was created by MIC (Movie International Company) who also created Baldios, the J9 Trilogy and Acrobunch to name a few.

Srungle was very loosely based on the American spy television series Mission Impossible which also aired in Japan. While I have not seen the entire Mission Impossible TV series I did watch the first two episodes in preparation for this write up. There isn’t exactly a whole lot that carries over between the two series. The main concepts brought to Srungle seem to be the idea that everyone on the team had a specialized role such mechanic expert, explosive expert, espionage expert and so on. The show also focused a lot more on information coming and planning just how to execute the operation.

            If you’ve read a story summary of Srungle online you’ll most likely find something to the effect of “In the year 2545, an experiment gone wrong puts test pilot David Jance through the center of the galaxy and into another universe, which ends up in the middle of life and death struggle against the armies of GRIP, led by Dark Star.” This summary is completely wrong and is actually the summary of the Srungle portion of Macron 1 which was a combination of Srungle and GoShogun.

Srungle

           A more accurate summary of Srungle is that in the 26^th century humanity has moved into the stars and has inhabited the Galac Space in a special area known as the Outer Space Zone. This special area is in between two stars that has basically created oxygen and gravity in that area of space. Humanity has built a large city known as Galac Town and inhabits many asteroids in the area as well and is protected by the United Galac Space (UGS) and the Galac Police. However the large evil organization known as Crime disturbs the peace; however Doc Mandy of the Galac Police has gathered six pros and created Gorilla to oppose Crime.

Hyper Srungle

           The first thing that is said about Srungle is how the names are super lame and that Crime is such a bad name for a criminal organization and I want to change the opinion of that. First this show is created in Japan for a non-English speaking audience so the word crime wouldn’t be well known to the general populace. If there was a show created here and the organization was named crime in a different language like Latin or French it would be more accepted and seen as a better name. It’s the same deal over there; it’s just looked at in a different perspective. Second point to make is that calling Crime a criminal organization is quite faulty. Crime is essentially an army a very massive one at that they have many bases and organizations and are able to stand up to the United Galac Space in a straight up fight.

UGS's Mass Production Srungle appearing in the latter part of the show

                     Srungle is divided into two main factions the United Galac Space who Gorilla is a part of and Crime. Gorilla was created by Doc Mandy of the Galac Police who is their supervisor and hands down their missions. Captain Chance is the leader of Gorilla, he was previously a member of the Galac Police graduating from the Galac Space police academy and leading a special team in the past. Chance works a lot on collecting the data and is cool and composed.  Jet is the marksman of the team and previously graduated from the military academy he forms a friendship with Super Star. Super Star is the expert pilot of the team, Sexy is the explosive expert and ends up naked a lot in the show and she’s not shy about it at all, Babyface despite his large intimidating appearance is a very gentle person and a mechanics expert, Magician is the espionage expert on the team and the oldest member he can pull of magic which is the only way to describe his ability to turn into anyone despite body shape and fit right in.

From left to right: Super Star, Jet, Baby Face and Sexy

Crime starts off as an organization without many lasting characters, Crime is lead by the Crime Boss and an organization helps out known as the Boss Brain and a company known as Head Company. Volkraser is the most important Crime figure in the show his initial role is as a general and leader of the Crime Army Secret police known as Hell Messenger.

From left to right: Doc Mandy, Chance and Magician

The mecha in Srungle are different from your every day mecha seen in most robot shows. In other words generally they do not take on a human like form. They are known as Trekkers and like the pictures show they are closer to the Gerwalk form of the Valkyrie in Macross then anything. The main exception to this is the title robot known as Srungle which is classified as a SR Type Trekker. I can’t find out what SR is supposed to stand for if anything but my bets are on Super Robot. Srungle was created during the early parts of the real robot boom but since a lot of shows were adjusting during this period of time Srungle is like the J9 robots among others that are a lot more powerful then the grunt mecha. Of course Crime has their own mecha similar to Srungle to go against as well. Srungle has the ability to transform into a Tank Mode which is rarely used, a Vehicle Mode which is mainly used for transportation, and the main mode known as Attack Mode.

The Brit Jetter and the Centro Super with Pac Man chasing a ghost

Srungle starts off with showing off just how skilled Gorilla is to be a team. The opening of the show is a test for Gorilla to prove themselves to be a team by getting sent to a maximum security prison separately and breaking out. Through planning and pure skill they are able to keep to their schedule and break out of the prison verifying their existence. Failure was not an option since as far as the guards knew it was a prison break and failure would mean death. Not a bad way to show off your skills.

The show doesn’t continue at this pace and instead goes into more of a pattern of Doc giving Chance information on a Crime plot and the Gorilla team going after them to stop the plot these largely included going against Volkraser and Hell Messenger. The best of these episodes was the episode where the Gorilla team was taken into some Crime computer world which had cameos of Pac Man and Tron. Srungle actually fights against Tron and the Light Cycles from Tron as well! An interesting thing about the first half of the show was the large amount of cameos present. Some are obscure like Daitarn 3 sitting in the shadows but there are many others including ET, Lum from Urusei Yatsura, Milia from Macross, and a female from Dunbine. There were many obscure ones to me as well, but they were clearly out of place. Srungle even managed to pull off the famous Gundam final shooting pose!

Srungle pulling off Gundam's famous last shooting pose

Light Cycles from Tron make a cameo appearance

The show picks up significantly at episode 23 when Volkraser stages a coup d’etat against the Crime Boss for the sake of a new reborn Crime, a Crime revolution so to say. The unimportant Crime Boss is killed by Volkraser who than takes over with his first act as killing the president of the United Galac Space which the Gorilla team fails to protect. Volkraser continues his wrath taking out the Boss Brain and takes over the Head Company who accepts his new leadership. At this time Crime gets a new character known as Gelhart who is the second in command and good with information but also as a front line commander. The interesting thing about Gelhart is the fact he constantly seems to die in first few appearances. Gelhart’s first order is to kill the most dangerous man left in the Galac Police - Doc Mandy. Doc Mandy just happens to be attending a parade that he refuses to not attend, however Gorilla’s streak of not being able to protect people continues and Doc Mandy dies. Volkraser ends up ordering the surrender of the United Galac Space upon threat of an all out attack. This prompts Gorilla to get to asked to stop Crime and they launch an all out attack on their base and quite successfully blow up their brand new ship and their base saving the UGS for now. This pace continues with Crime learning about the camouflaged Gorillan Base and attacking it. This ends up being a devastating attack for Gorilla as they lose their base and more to the point Sexy gets gravely injured and is unable to be a part for Gorilla anymore as she is now hospitalized, however worse yet Superstar dies saving Srungle while trying to take out Gelhart.

From left to right: Rongelf, Volkraser and Gelhart

At this point both sides have lost their base the Gorilla team meets up with the all women Cat’s Eye team and joins with Sexy’s replacement known as Dolly. The Cat’s Eye team has also brought Doc Mandy more specifically a computer brain transfer, he saw his death coming and prepared for that. Doc Mandy tells the Gorilla team that a UGS base should be near completion of the Srungle upgrade parts and Gorilla’s new base. At the UGS base they meet up with Sugar who becomes Superstar’s replacement, he is quite the silent guy and doesn’t say a whole lot and unlike Superstar, Jet and Sugar don’t get along as nicely. Gorilla proceeds to get their new base known as Gorilla Ooki which is a ship that has the power to camouflage itself. They also get the Srungle upgrade parts which is known as Shoulder Mighty a plane that combines with Srungle to form Hyper Srungle. This upgrade gives Srungle quite the considerable fire power upgrade, at this point Sugar becomes the main pilot of Shoulder Mighty and Jet the main pilot of Srungle.

The replacements from left to right: Sugar and Dolly

The show takes on a more normal pace at this point with Gorilla back to fighting this new reborn Crime, the episodes take a less episodic pace than the earlier half, this helps with the introduction of Gelhart and the shift in Crime leadership. The battles are also shifted to a much larger scale with Volkraser’s desire for the destruction of the United Galac Space. Also introduced Rongelf who used to be a highly respected tactician of the Galac Police until a corruption case brought the end of that and his wife which causes him to join up with Crime.

Gelhart's trekker with a random Crime trekker

Near the end the show starts to pick up once again as Volkraser gets contacted by a mysterious voice in his head that identifies himself as the true Crime emperor known as Overlord. Overlord is the ancient leader of Crime who has his programming inside Volkraser which inplanted the idea to stage the coup d’etat and create the ultimate army. Crime as it turns out is a really ancient organization ruled by Overlord in the past, this Crime has mostly robotic and Overlord himself is basically a giant brain. As time goes on Overlord starts to be referred to as the Emperor of Darkness. However Crime ended up getting attacked by the Earthlings who more or less destroyed Crime at the time and created the United Galac Space. The first objective for Crime is to retrieve the Emperor’s Ship which is referred to as a time capsule, the ship ends up splitting in two with half to the UGS and half to Crime. Crime gets many power ups at this that have been sealed away in the past including the ancient robot Majin Mura who is a giant cyborg that is near immortal, the giant beast known as Gikiru which is like a cloud with a giant eye that is immune to attacks and eats mecha and can separate once again near immortal. In order to form the ultimate army more specifically a steel army Crime starts turning it’s people in cyborgs including Rongelf, however Gelhart and his squad is against this plan and says he won’t do it until he defeats Gorilla. With these new changes Volkraser and the Emperor of Darkness now plan to eliminate the Earthlings as revenge.

Volkraser looks on at Gikiru

Majin Mura attacks the UGS

With all the pieces finally in place Srungle advances into it’s conclusion with the final confrontation between the United Galac Space and Crime. The battles get fiercer and Crime has the advantage with Majin Mura, Gikiru, their cyborg army and their new resolve to kill civilians as well which works quite horribly for the residents of Galac Town. Volkraser learns from the Emperor of Darkness that they need to free the Emperor of Darkness himself who has been sealed and holds all the secrets. The Emperor is sealed in Block 44 in Galac Town. Thanks to strength of Majin Mura Crime obtains the second half of the Emperor’s Ship however at the same time Gorilla breaks into the Crime Base with Gorilla Ooki and steals their half. What follows is Hyper Srungle versus Majin Mura the great invincible Majin Mura has it’s sword break and Hyper Srungle punches it and it blows up. The two ships carrying half of the Emperor’s Ship collide and the ship combines once again the combination creates all sorts of weirdness in the sky.

The Emperor of Darkness

The battle continues on as everyone heads to the location where the Emperor of Darkness is sealed, Dolly creates a bomb that destroys Gikiru and Majin Mura somehow returns. However Majin Mura’s second death is no less stupid then his first as Hyper Srungle manages to trick Majin Mura into slicing Gelhart’s trekker which causes a massive explosion that destroys Majin Mura and kills Gelhart. Doc Mandy devises a plan that includes attaching boosters to the Emperor’s Ship and sending it where the Emperor is sealed while Srungle goes in and finishes off Volkraser at the same time. Hyper Srungle infiltrates Volkraser’s giant ship and starts wrecking the ship; Volkraser unable to move decides to launch in his trekker to get to the Emperor of Darkness. However before this can happen Srungle literally kicks down the door and Jet says “There’s time no time for greetings just die” and proceeds to shoot Volkraser dead with Hyper Srungle at the same time the Emperor’s Ship hits the Emperor of Darkness killing him as well. Rongelf doesn’t get a great death and just dies in the subsequent explosions. After this all is well and the show comes to an end. Magician tells Jet he isn’t really sure what happened and it would take the scientists and professors a long time to find out as the space now looks like the sky of the Earth.

This screenshot cannot caption the awesomeness of Srungle kicking down the door and killing Volkraser

And that ends one of the longest write ups that I’ll probably ever do for this blog. This is the difference between real and super robot shows a lot more story happens, even though most of that story was compressed between four episodes in the middle and the last ten or so episodes. The last ten episodes of the show were really action packed which included all the revelations of what Crime really was and their ancient super weapons. However Majin Mura really bothered me a lot, it got killed twice in a span of two episodes and both deaths were horribly pathetic. For a giant ancient robot that Hyper Srungle can barely stand up against you’d think it’s deaths would be better. I actually had hope it’s second would be better that it returned so they could redeem it’s first death but no. But on the plus side Volkraser has one of the most awesome deaths ever in the history of robot shows. Character wise I really like Magician a lot of the magic he pulled out was quite nice. Most of the cast was nice as a whole, however I was sad to see Super Star die and Sugar just never lived up to him. Also this is one of the few robot shows out there that while the Earthlings are mentioned and we can assume they came from Earth the planet itself never shows up or is mentioned. 

The death of Volkraser and the Emperor of Darkness brought out Scream

Saikyo Robo Daiohja

           Ultimate Robo (Saikyo Robo) Daiohja (最強ロボ ダイオージャ) was a Sunrise robot series from 1981. The Japanese Wikipedia says that this show was created as a kind of transition show easing fans into more real robot oriented shows. Because of this Daiohja has elements from both shows in place. Basically the robot designs of the enemies are more realistic and they’re fighting human controlled robots so you got the more human aspect, however Daiohja itself is a super robot.

                                          The title robot Daiohja in all it's glory                           

            The story of Daiohja is based on a very popular old long running Japanese drama known as Mito Komon which has been running since 1969. In Mito Komon the main character is much older and there are no robots and the show takes place in Feudal Japan but the concept is the same even the names of Suke-san and Kaku-san are taken from Mito Komon.

            In the interstellar kingdom known as Edon the 16 year old prince Edward Mito heads on a trip with his two retainers as a coming of age journey of sort to view the kingdom that he will one day rule. The kingdom is a dangerous place filled with criminal and unjust rulers so Mito has brought his combining robot Daiohja.

                                              All bow before Mito and Daiohja

          Daiohja starts off with Mito and his retainers Suke-san and Kaku-san leaving for their trip to visit the various planets in the kingdom. Since this trip is done incognito generally no one is supposed to know who they are. We are quickly introduced to most of the small cast in the first episode. Edward Mito is the prince of Edon he has a very playful attitude and doesn’t like being stuck in the castle being all proper, but when the time comes he will be serious, when he needs to give a name on the planet he is called Miito. Duke Sukedo is one of Mito’s retainers and is usually referred to as Suke-san he usually takes a more strict approach and wants Mito to study on his journey like he’s supposed to do. Baron Kaksu is Mito’s second retainer he loves food and is more light headed then Suke-san, he is usually referred to as just Kaku-san. Flora Shinobu is a ninja who has joined up with Mito, Suke-san and Kaku-san her role is generally sneaking around and finding out what is up with the planet she secretly deeply cares for Mito. Barujan is the chief retainer of the Edon Empire he usually runs around yelling loudly for the prince, he’s basically a stick in the mud and provides comic relief at times too he appears in the first episode but then disappears for the next 15. Jinai is Barujan’s assistant and is just comic relief, he’s less serious then Barujan and gets on his nerves a lot.

                                       Suke-san, Mito, Kaku-san, and Shinobu dressed incognito
           

                                       Kaku-san, Mito and Suke-san dressed in more royal attire

            Daiohja doesn’t really have a lot in terms of plot. The show is very episodic in nature and there is no all encompassing villain who everyone is working under. In the end every planet just has a jerk in some sort of position in power that needs to be shown their place, which is generally their own grave.

            Daiohja the robot is a three-part combining robot which is made up of Ace-Reder piloted by Mito and is armed with Ace Saber, Aoider which is piloted by Suke-san and mainly uses a Beam Gun and Cobalter which is piloted by Kaku-san and uses the Hammer Chain. The Hammer Chain is really an awesome original weapon which can be used as a mace on one end and the other end shoots out spikes attached chains.

                                        Hammer Chain in medium range combat                                                                    

                                             Hammer chain in melee combat         

              The robots are summoned by yelling “Cross Sword” and doing so and shouting out “Cross Triangle” causes the combination into Daiohja. Daiohja’s main weapon is the Raimei Ken (Thunder Sword) and it’s attack the Denkou Raimei Kuzushi (Thunder and Lightning Destruction or something), the only other attack worth mentioning is the Beam Bowgun, it’s a bow that shoots out a beam arrow. Daiohja actually has quite a few other attacks as well but it’s worth noting that the eyecatch of the show shows the Grapper (see the top picture) which never appeared once in the show another a commonly listed attack is also the never seen Rocket Punch. Partway through the show Ace-Reder, Cobalter and Aoider do get an upgrade from a crazy professor which basically allows them to fly and has extras guns but while they always launch with these parts they are rarely used. These parts disengage when it’s time to combine into Daiohja and can form Shinobu’s rarely used Crossaider.

                                   Daiohja finishing off an enemy robot with the Denkou Raimei Kuzushi

            Daiohja follows a very simplistic formula for almost the entire show this involves Mito arriving on some planet running into someone which leads to finding out about some problem on the planet, Shinobu uses her ninja powers to investigate, Suke-san and Kaku-san reveal to the villain of the episode that the kid is Prince Mito, no one believes it, Daiohja comes out, everyone bows cause it’s Daiohja the villain realizes he has no choice and fights to the death. With the appearance of Barujan and Jinai added is run away from them and avoid them. There are a few variations in this formula which includes the random person who knows who Mito is and wants him dead, or Mito sparing the life of the villain generally through another begging for their life.

                               Barujan and Jinrai randomly dress up and dance for no explained reason at all
                                             but they are comic relief so it's all right.

                                                The space blimp of Jinrai and Barujan known as 
                                                 Hindenberg Zeppelin Enterprise Dirigible Baron
                                      Also known as  Hindenberg Airship Zeppelin Dirigible Baron

The planets vary quite significantly throughout the kingdom, one planet will be highly technologically advanced while the next planet will have people living in huts without electricity. Planets are usually filled with weird animals of sort which are generally some combination of normal animals and some weird one like the random cactus creature.

                      Almost looks like a person in a cactus costume but it's a cactus creature from the planet Daikin

            While the show is quite episodic in nature the show does have a conclusion in the end, while the villain isn’t anything great and to write home about the journey completes itself back on planet Edon where the show started. Mito is actually given the opportunity to become king from all he’s learned from his adventure. Mito rejects this offer at the moment and takes off on another journey.

                              The final villain Derth Vander appears very Darth Vader-ish

            Without knowing a lot about Daiohja I found myself liking this show a lot. At the first episode I was worried we’d see another Daltanious with a prince who doesn’t want to be a prince (they’re voiced by the same guy even!) but that wasn’t the case as I enjoyed a lot seeing Mito become serious on the enemies, it was almost like he had a split personality! Since this show has a very episodic nature a lot of the liking of the show will hinge on if you like the characters or not. A lot of the plots in the episodes were weird some highlights include the movie director who wanted realism so was killing people in the movies, the jungle safari where the poor people became entertainment for the rich, the factory that separated the building section of slackers into the air and blew them up, the planet where the ruler turned people into dominos for entertainment, the planet where only the ruler was allowed to have ceramics, and the planet where people became part of the art for the ruler. A weird thing to note about this show is the unusually high number of two part episodes which makes up for a total of 8 out of 50 episodes.

                                On the planet Dorimu people were strapped to boards and used as dominoes 
                                                   for the ruler's enjoyment until Mito put an end to that