#Robo Daltanius

[werewolf-gimmick-2]

I'm about to finish Super Robot Wars GC so i'm going to give a short first impression of each series featured in this game that i haven't watched yet, cause i can't sleep.

-Future Robo Daltanius: it's cool that it's about a bunch of war orphans but other than that it looks rather uninteresting.

-Super Beast Machine God Dancouga: cool name. The characters from this seem to be constantly pissed off and at odds with one another which i enjoy. I particulary like sniveling shit Shapiro who has a god complex and starts dressing like a queen once he switches to the enemy side. Probably the most fun antagonist in the game, too bad he blows up halfway through.

-J9 trilogy: all of these guys are chill as fuck and their shows look really stylish. I love that their collective catchphrase is yelling "yay" over and over.

-Invincible Robot Trider G7: looks like a very funny show. Clearly inspired another of my favorite mech games Robot Alchemic Drive with the concept of the protagonist being the school aged ceo of a robot company and having to watch out for finances when fighting. Yeah!

-Strongest Robo Daiohja: the premise just being about a prince and his retainers travelling together doesn't interest me in the slightest so im unlikely to ever check this out. Death to royalty and all that. Doesn't help that you play through an scenario based on the show's finale in this game and it was very unexciting.

-Metal Armor Dragonar: seems extremely generic and boring. Has one of the most blatant Char clones to the point where he even has a Sayla clone! I kinda hated he was the only character Char really got paired up with in the whole game.

-Matchless Raijin-Oh: these characters didn't actually get to do much in the story so i didn't get much of an impression but idk looks like a cute series, great opening too. I feel a bit bad for these little primary school kids having to fight in an intergalactic war all of a sudden.

[holy-cucumber01]

Mirai Robo Daltanious

Genre : sci-fi, mecha, adventure

Аnime series : 47 duration 25 min

[galaxyhowl]

Day 20 The invaders, those evil being out of the space who only thinks in destroy and conquer every world they found. @dropthedrawing

[eternal80s90sanimeitalia]

https://www.facebook.com/Eternal-Un-Mondo-Di-Cartoni-714974938524935/

[nosanime]

Anime List from “History of Mecha: The 60s and 70s”

As promised, here are two lists for you related to “History of Mecha Pt. 1: The 60s and 70s”.  The first list covers all of the anime we mentioned during the course of the panel and in the order in which they were mentioned. The second, longer list below is the one which includes everything in the applicable decades that fit into our determinate factors for mecha anime that we ascribe to the purposes of the panel series.  Do enjoy!

 Shows in the panel:

1.      Tetsujin 28 [1963]

2.      Flying Ghost Ship [1969]

3.      Astroganger [1972]

4.      Mazinger Z [1972]

5.      Zero Tester [1973]

6.      Getter Robo [1974]

7.      Great Mazinger [1974]

8.      Mazinger Z vs. Devilman [1973]

9.      Mazinger Z vs. The General of Darkness [1974]

10.  Brave Raideen [1975]

11.  Super Electromagnetic Robo Combattler V [1976]

12.  Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V [1977]

13.  Tosho Daimos [1978]

14.  Invincible Superman Zambot 3 [1977]

15.  Mobile Suit Gundam [1979]

All mecha shows:

 1.      Tetsujin 28 [1963]

2.      Tetsujin 28: The Birth [1964]

3.      Flying Ghost Ship [1969]

4.      Astroganger [1972]

5.      Mazinger Z [1972]

6.      Mazinger Z vs. Devilman [1973]

7.      Zero Tester [1973]

8.      Getter Robo [1974]

9.      Mazinger Z vs. The General of Darkness [1974]

10.  Great Mazinger [1974]

11.  Great Mazinger vs. Getter Robo [1975]

12.  Brave Raideen [1975]

13.  Getter Robo G [1975]

14.  Tekkaman: The Space Knight [1975]

15.   The Great Battle of the Flying Saucers [1975]

16.  Great Mazinger vs. Getter Robo G: The Great Space Encounter [1975]

17.  Kotetsu Zieg [1975]

18.  UFO Robo Grendizer [1975]

19.  UFO Robo Grendizer vs. Great Mazinger [1976]

20.  Dino Mech Gaiking [1976]

21.  Gowapper 5 Godam [1976]

22.  UFO Senshi Daiapolon [1976]

23.  Super Electromagnetic Robo Combattler V [1976]

24.  Groizer X [1976]

25.  Blocker Gundan IV Machine Blaster [1976]

26.  Grandizer, Getter Robot G, Great Mazinger Decisive Battle! The Great Sea Monster [1976]

27.  Magnos the Robot [1976]

28.  UFO Senshi Daiapolon II [1976]

29.  Gasshin Sentai Mechander Robo [1977]

30.  Planet Robot Danguard Ace [1977]

31.  Ginguiser [1977]

32.  Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V [1977]

33.  Balatack [1977]

34.  Danguard Ace vs. Insect Robot Troop [1977]

35.  Invincible Superman Zambot 3 [1977]

36.  Danguard Ace: The Great Space War [1978]

37.  Tosho Daimos [1978]

38.  Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3 [1978]

39.  Daikengo [1978]

40.  Future Robo Daltanius [1979]

41.  Mobile Suit Gundam [1979]

42.  Toshi Gordian [1979]

[nomadicism]

Hello! If I may, what is Voltes V? I'd thought it was a part of the Voltron franchise, but apparently it isn't?

Hi Anon! Thank you for the Ask!

Voltes V is one of my favorite combining mecha anime series! I’ve posted about it a little bit before, and if you check my tags, you’ll find some posts that compare a bit with Voltron. I hope to be posting more about it as watch through the recent blu-ray release. I’ve never been able to watch it all the way through from the same source!

About Chōdenji Machine Voltes V

Voltes V (the ‘V’ is pronounced as ‘five’) is not part of the Voltron franchise. The series pre-dates Golion (and thus Voltron) by about a decade. It is a combining mecha series in the super sentai style and was the second part of Tadao Nagahama’s “Robot Romance” trilogy (technically not a trilogy, but that’s how fans refer to them collectively). Voltes V is the better known of the three. Voltes V was also very popular in the Philippines and Italy. The first series in the trilogy was Chōdenji Robo Com-battler V (‘V’ as in Victory), and the third was Tōshō Daimos.

Voltes V follows a team of five pilots, specially-trained and tasked with defending what remains of Earth after aliens lay waste to it. By today’s standards the story might not come across as deep, but for the time, it was a big deal. It has a lot of my favorite tropes, and I love the team and family dynamics, as well as the tragic rivalry between Ken’ichi Gō and Prince Heinel (top shelf angst right there).

Above: My scan from a Voltes V artbook. From left-to-right are Ippei Mine, Megumi Ota, Ken’ichi Gō, Daijirō Gō (in the background), and Hiyoshi Gō (in the foreground). Guess their archetypes based on uniform color and body shape!

Voltes V shows up frequently in the Super Robot Wars video game series and manga. I wish it could get a high quality remake like Space Battleship Yamato 2199/2202.

Above: screencap of game play video of Ken’ichi from Super Robot Wars.

Why Voltes V and Voltron Look Similar

A more thorough answer that explains why Voltes V looks like it would be part of the Voltron franchise would take more time than I have at the moment to get into. I touch on it a little bit in some of my other Golion and Voltes V posts.

Quick summary:

Nearly all of the combining mecha anime series from mid-70s until late 80s were mostly made by Toei, or by Toei in collaboration with other studios (the line between animation studio and production studio is fuzzy for me), which means that there is a very strong “look-and-feel” to all of these shows especially the ones that closely follow the super sentai formula.

Golion picks up some of Nagahama’s narrative tone/big ideas, and character archetypes, and tropes. His take on the combining mecha genre had a lot of impact, and Golion is just one of many series influenced by his Robot Romance trilogy. Some of the same people (not Nagahama) that worked for Toei during his time later worked on Golion. That’s why there is such a strong ‘family’ resemblance. Especially when you compare Nagahama villains like Prince Sharkin (from Brave Raideen, whom Yoshiyuki Tomino can also lay claim to) and General Garuda (from Combattler V) to Sincline/Lotor. Prince Heinel from Voltes V isn’t blue, but he’s also a tragic alien villain.

Above: Some tragic blue aliens. From left-to-right are Sharkin, Sincline/Lotor, and Garuda.

Speaking of ‘family resemblance.’ Below is an animated gif of Daltanius forming his Blazing Fire Sword from the lion head on his chest.

Aside: Mirai Robo Daltanius, was the 4th of Nagahama’s best-known series. Daltanius was originally going to be the source animation/story for Voltron. The only reason we got Golion was because Toei sent the wrong tapes when asked for “the one with the lion”.

So Anon, you’re close to the mark on Voltes V and Voltron being related enough to be part of the same franchise! Personally, I consider Golion/Voltron to be a 2nd cousin twice removed in the Robot Romance family.

I hope more people—especially Voltron fans—can watch it now that it’s finally got a proper English sub on blu-ray. Maybe a streaming service will pick it up soon.

[mandarake-en]

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[nomadicism]

For your anon...I might be able to walk it through a little deeper in a post, but that will have to wait for the weekend (very busy work schedule eating into my personal time this week).

Buuuut, TVtropes.com does a pretty good job of explaining sentai and their base entry on it leads down into dozens of rabbit holes, including color symbolism, mecha anime, and eventually Golion (and thus Voltron).

Start with the Super Sentai franchise page b/c that’s where it really took off and influenced anime like Voltes V and Golion. Pretty sure Super Sentai’s influences goes all the way back to Go Nagai’s anime as well. We can thank him for both super robot anime (Mazinger) and combining mecha anime (Getter Robo).

Or, if one searches for “sentai power rangers” or “tokusatsu sentai” on Tumblr, there is a sizeable fandom and there’s gotta be at least one diehard sentai fan who has dedicated their blog to breaking down the color symbolism for fans outside of Japan and Korea (I’ve only ever heard of sentai and tokusatsu in relation to Japan and Korea so I don’t know its pop culture influence on other East Asian nations).

The big thing about sentai colors and symbolism in Golion is that it has to be viewed in context of related series (by virtue of studio or director): Combattler V, Voltes V, Tōshō Daimos, and Daltanius. Which is...a lot of writing and screenshot hunting or art book scanning.

hi, i saw the post about sentai color thing with voltron, and i don't know anything about sentai so.. i wanted to ask if you could elaborate on the colors and symbolization thing in the OG series? thanks!!

oooooh I know some, but I’m no expert. @nomadicism, are you the go-to person on sentai questions?

[ju29robot]

Bandai Soul of Chogokin GX-59 Daltanius from Daltanious - Il robot del futuro (未来 ロボ ダルタニアス Mirai Robo Darutaniasu) #bandai #daltanious #daltanius #robot #action #figure #japan #cartoon #manga #mecha #collection #chogokin #diecast #soc #gx59 #sunrise #toei #animation #antares #beralios #gumper #danji #sanae #mita #jiro #tanosuke #manabu #kento #akron (presso Florence, Italy)

[nomadicism]

For someone wanting to get into the voltron franchise, would you suggest watching Golion (and Dairugger) first or DOTU?

Hi Anon! Thank you for the Ask!

This is a hard one! I think it would depend upon whether or not someone (you?) already enjoys anime with subtitles, and if one has a lot of patience and time. There are 124 episodes total for DotU, 72 for Lion Voltron, and 52 for Vehicle Voltron. Both Golion and Dairugger XV have 52 episodes, and good luck finding the final 16 of Dairugger XV in DVD quality with the official subs (more on that at the very end)†.

All together that’s 228 episodes plus the Fleet of Doom TV special. That’s A LOT of watching. Note, that Lion Voltron has 20 more episodes than Golion, this is because completely new episodes were made to create a second season after the show did so well. Alas, they couldn’t compete with all of the other toy-hustling cartoon shows, so the Lion Voltron story ends on an odd note with some un-resolved story, unless you count the Fleet of Doom TV special as the official ending of the story.

So what would I suggest?

Option 1: If you love anime and have patience and time, then I’d recommend watching Golion, then all of Lion Voltron, then Dairugger XV, then Vehicle Voltron, and then Fleet of Doom.

Option 2: If what you really want to focus on is Voltron, then don’t bother with Golion. Watch Lion Voltron and Vehicle Voltron and Fleet of Doom, and then decide if you want to check Golion and Dairugger out.

Option 2 is kind of self-explanatory, so I’ll break down why you might want to go for option 1. Mostly, it’s that I think it would be really interesting—as a first time viewer—to watch them back-to-back so you can see what was changed, and hopefully appreciate the work that went into DotU, especially Lion Voltron. It also brings an extra meta-meta perspective if VLD and Tumblr memes were your first introduction to Voltron.

Example above: The praying Keith meme comes from a scene that was partly cut for Lion Voltron due to religious connotations. In Golion, it’s a serious and—in my biased opinion—a very touching scene for Akira that reveals his spiritual nature. Being in touch with traditional Japanese beliefs, is part of his character (and arguably, an important team leader trait for the genre). It makes a lot of sense in context, but you’d never get that from DotU.

Speaking of work—a lot of work went into making Golion work for an American kid-friendly audience—from what I recall, they didn’t even have proper scripts of the original b/c they weren’t expecting to get Golion, they thought they were getting Mirai Robo Daltanius instead! I love DotU, but it’s campy and some parts don’t age well. I’m not sure what I would think if I were to watch it for the first time today as a teen or in my early 20s. You kind of have to go in expecting to laugh and cringe-cry at the weird stories that your oddball drunkle tells when he stops by once a year (not the whole thing, but there are some moments…)

It’s still a good story, but they don’t construct stories this way for animation anymore, and this was a time when broadcast rules were very strict for children’s TV. So if you’ve not watched a lot of 80s broadcast cartoons, then it’s gonna feel weird at first. Also, things were cut/censored (some obvious to cut, others less so): there’s a crucifixion scene, any-and-all references to religion, any time someone dies the dialog will mention something about robots, “Set your guns to maximum stun!”, “Wow! He sure escaped there fast!”, etc. You could play a very deadly drinking game with the obvious coverups.

Above: Cossack the Terrible is more camp than menace.

It’s worth watching all of Lion Voltron just to get to the made-for-US episodes where they introduce Merla and Cossack. Their dialog gets real weird sometimes, and there’s a bit of “flies right over the kids heads” going on if you know what I mean. Lotor is incredibly hammy. If you are serious about getting into the Voltron franchise and continue into later series—including the DDP comics which I highly recommend—then you’ll want to know where Merla, Cossak, and Stride the Tiger Fighter come from.

Above: Space Goddess appears to the Golion team in their hour of need. This scene is very different in DotU.

For Golion—relevant to Option 2, but also for comparing if you’re going with Option 1—I remember being super excited to track it down on IRC in the late 90s/early 2000s and then being very shocked when I first watched it. I was still new to older mecha anime at that time (was hard to find). I watched Golion with my childhood Voltron nostalgia goggles on, and they got ripped off in the first episode. This is why Option 2 works, b/c if you want to focus on Voltron, then Golion is totally skippable. It’s a different story, you’re not missing anything that will give you that sweet Voltron feeling.

If I were to watch Golion for the first time today, I’d still find it very dark, but also tame compared to some other shows. Two of my favorite things about Golion are, Sincline’s gradual descent into madness, and the way Princess Amue slap-shames some sense into Ryou—he’s a hot mess when they first meet—despite what she had just been through (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers). None of that is in DotU. In some ways, the story is deeper than DotU, while DotU is more fun and endearing.

Now onto Dairugger XV and Vehicle Voltron! 

If you’re new to my blog, then you might not have seen my posts giving the elevator pitch for this show. It’s my favorite part of DotU. I’m in that small minority of Voltron fans that prefers Vehicle Voltron to Lion Voltron.

Above: Vehicle Voltron has three team leaders! The XV of Dairugger XV stands for 15, as in 15 pilots.

Dairugger XV and Vehicle Voltron hold up better over time (I’ll admit, that’s subjective). They have a very different feel from Golion and Lion Voltron, even though the writers did their best to tie Lion and Vehicle Voltron together. The story is more intact between the two, with the noticeable changes being the censorship of death, the nature of the relationship between Teles/Hazar and Sirk/Dorma (my Tumblr avatar is Sirk/Dorma), and the ending.

If you were going with Option 2, then I’d still recommend watching Dairugger XV, because it’s probably one of the more unique of the super robot/combining mecha monster-of-the-week shows and there will never be another like it.

Overall, Dairugger is less dark than Golion, but Golion has the funnier humor. This is true of Lion and Vehicle Voltron as well. At least Dairugger/Vehicle Voltron has Hazar’s shower scene, and the infamous scene where Krik puts his hand waaaaay too far down the back of Jeff’s pants for a simple slip of contraband. ;-)

Best way to look at them is that Lion Voltron/Golion is like Star Wars, while Vehicle Voltron/Dairugger is like Star Trek.

I hope that helps, and I hope you enjoy your deeper dive into Voltron!

–––––––––

† Unless there’s been a recent change in streaming availability, it’s difficult to find all of Dairugger XV, especially those last episodes. I’ve only ever seen episodes 37–52 of Dairugger XV as low quality fansubs, and I’ll be damned if I pay $300+ for a used/second-hand final set of official DVDs. I have no qualms about paying for a good quality bootleg of the official release though, so if anyone knows where I can score that, then let me know. I sincerely hope that WEP re-releases them, perhaps they’ll do that if the new release of the DotU DVDs sells well. Check the Voltron store page for the new Lion and Vehicle Voltron DVD sets!

[mandarake-en]

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