Jex
Member
Introduction
It clear that the anime community seemed to quite like 2007's Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Actually, let me fix that so that's it's more accurate.
You folks loved it so passionately, so vocally and so consistently that I'm sure it drove everyone else completely bonkers. But such is the way of the internet..
But hang on, there's been a ton of so called Super Robot (see Glossary, below) shows in the past, and if you're a fan of TTGL I'd imagine quite a few of these shows would be right up your street, or collective streets.
Plenty of them have been awesome and I believe they are due some attention. So here I am, making a modest suggestion : why not trying watching a little program from the 90's called Giant Robo : The Day the Earth Stood Still?
Confessions..
While I bring up the comparison in the title of this thread it should be noted that two shows are actually fairly different in theme, look, story and so forth. Yet at their heart, these are both excellent Super Robot shows. (I'm sure purists will slightly vexed by my comparison between the two works, but as many current anime fans have only seen TTGL I felt it would be instructive to lead with the most well-known work of the day.)
Hell, I think is GR one of the finest shows ever made and you should give it a shot even if you didn't enjoyTTGL, after all they are two very different works. For example, there's no fanservice present here, and things never quite reach the same level of absurdity.
But as I'm getting ahead of myself let me explain why this show is worth your time. As usual I won't include any spoilers in my summary, but please feel free to discuss the work below (with spoiler tags on, of course!).
Origins
GR is based of a 1967 manga by Mitsutery Yokoyama (Gigantor) and was also adapted into a live-action TV show known in the U.S. as Johnny Sakko and His Flying Robot. However, this OVA is fairly different to both those properties.
Giant Robo - The Day The Earth Stood Still
Giant Robo : The Day The Earth Stood Still is a seven-part OVA released from 1992 to 1998 and directed by the well known Super Robot director Yasuhiro Imagawa. Here's a brief summary :
The Anime Encyclopaedia said:
Just to get one thing out of they way first : despite appearances this show is not just made for kids, or stunted man-children. This show actually has far more in common visually with Golden Age superheroes, complete with clearly defined heroes and villains, Art Deco designs, classical music and battles on an a grand scale.
Story and Characters
I won't be going into much more detail then that, as this OVA is only seven episodes long (although these are actually twice the length of standard anime episodes). Suffice to say, the events portrayed manage to rise above the rather kitsch and clichéd elements that bog down so many of shows of this type, which sometimes end up as being overly-simplistic.
This story goes to certain places, and contains particular scenes, that are not generally found in 'kids shows'. It may appear visually 'retro' but the storytelling is modern, consistent and excellently paced. None of this would matter, of course, without a good cast of characters.
On that front, the show is packed to the rafters. This is largely the result of huge amount of cross-over characters, pulled from various sources. Interestingly, whilst many of these characters are unabashedly based off of familiar tropes : the scientist, the strong man, the cool headed boss, the diabolic villain - they still manage to strike the right note within the overall tone of the show. It's not always bad being a trope, after all.
When titans clash
At the same time, the show also managed to deliver on it's action front. There's a certain type of action, prevalent in shows such as Gundam or Macross, where robots move as flexibly as a human being, fly around with ease and engage in battles that are as graceful and nimble as any ballet.
Then there's shows like GR, where robots move as if they were actually 90ft tall and weighed a thousand tonnes. They are slow, ponderous, and deliberate. But none of this stops them having excellent battles. The creators of GR really understand this variety of battle well and it shows in the direction and cinematography.
A common technique involves not revealing the full of size or shape of the robot, instead we get a sense of it's massive scale through comparison with buildings.
The use of low-angle shots, combined with powerful shadows make Giant Robo a menacing figure.
Observing battles from this distance allows us to witness the events clearly, while also making the battle seem more 'epic' as we see the robots tower over the buildings.
But it's not only large and ridiculous looking robots that duke it out. The creators were aware that something more energetic would sit as a good counterpoint to the plodding of the robots. To this end it seems that every hero and every villain has their own unique superpower. Therefore battles between them will often revolve around a high-speed clash powers, as opposed to a robot slugging match. Thankfully, the show never stops to explain how any of this is possible, it just runs with it.
It's a real testament to the shows quality that the whole thing work without descending into a completely incomprehensible mess. A large part of what holds all these diverse pieces together is the impressive visual design and excellent musical direction.
Design
It's almost pointless to talk GR's visual design when I can just post pretty pictures, but I'll do both anyway. Unfortunately I've never taken any art classes on the history of art, so what my thoughts on the subject will be rather amateurish. Impressively, the shows retro look inspired a whole selection of other shows :
The Anime Encyclopaedia said:
Here's a choice selection :
The Shadowy Organization, Big Fire
One of Big Fire's hideouts. It couldn't look any less subtle
The creation of the Shizuma Drive, as shown by flashback
Even the small stuff, like car radio's, look awesome
Suffice to say, GR looks stunning. The aesthetic choices blend design elements from a number of decades including : the 20's, 30's and 50's, all combined with the futuristic technology made possible by the Shizuma drive. Once again, credit must go to the art director Yusuke Takeda. He managed to pulled off the difficult taking all these divergent styles and not simply placing them side-by-side, but actually blending them into one coherent world. Think Fallout, but with a lot more colour.
Animation
The animation is equally fantastic, thanks to the work of numerous skilled animators (see the ANN page) these episodes almost look 'movie quality' in a number of places. This is all thanks to this show being an OVA with a considerable budget.
The Music
GR's musical score is equally impressive. It was composed by Masamichi Amano (Battle Royale, Urotsukidoji) and performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Here's a brief sample of the aural treats this work has to offer GR-Main Theme
The music used in this particular sequence is especially haunting
A great score score is (generally) important for any work of visual media, but it is especially effective in a work such as GR. The sweeping Wagneresque elements of the score match with the melodramatic and exaggerated action present on screen, but even the more light-hearted tunes are fitting.
Conclusion
I know Giant Robo is awesome, and hopefully this thread will have persuaded you to at least check out the first episode. I'll finish by taking the words of someone whose views on the subject mirror my own
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Related Works
If for whatever reason you find that you enjoy this kind of madness, there are plenty of other works worth investigating in the Super Robot field. I am far, far from an expert in this strange world, but I'll throw out a few brief recommendations.
The same director who brought you Giant Robo also created G Gundam'(1994) and, more recently, Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z Hen (2009). However, be aware that both these works are far longer then GR. Shin Mazinger is the same length as Gurren Laggan (26 episodes) and G Gundam clocks in at a far longer 49 episodes.
A sizeable chunk of these Super Robot shows are based off Go Nagai properties, as he laid the ground work for this genre in 1972 with his famous Mazinger Z. On the plus side, if you like one of his works you'll probably enjoy the rest.
I heartily recommend Gunbuster as well, but I presume the majority of anime fans have already experienced this classic Gainax OVA . For those short on time, it has the added benefit of only being six episodes long.
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Glossary of Terms
Anime : That thing where pictures magically move around.
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Bashtarle : We...we don't go there any more...
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Cross-over characters : The act of taking characters from a number of separate and distinct works, and placing them all together in one particular titles.
In the case of GR, Imagawa discovered he couldn't use the original manga characters, so he borrowed characters from a number works by Yokoyama, the author of the original manga. These included Godmars, Babel II and even Little Witch Sally.
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Fanservice : A name given to a scene or event inserted into a work solely for the purpose of pleasing fans, even if it doesn't make any kind of thematic sense. In the medium of anime this often refers to sexual fanservice via provocatively dressed characters, shower scenes, upskirt camera angles and so forth. However, you can also please the fans in numerous other ways, such as bringing back old characters, extravagant fight scenes, playing a 'classic' musical theme from the shows past, etc.
There isn't any of the classic 'titillating' fanservice in GR, although it is present in three part Gin-Rei specials.
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Franken Von Vogler : The name you should bestow upon your first born son.
No, really. He'll thank you when he grows up to be a real man.
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Gainax : An animation studio which has produced such well known works as Gunbuster, Evangelion, FLCL and Gurren Lagann.
They also happen to be well known purveyors of Fanservice.
See Wikipedia's article here and my own earlier thread for further details.
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GAR : "To feel GAR for someone is to be is such awe of another guys manliness that one agrees to follow and be protected by that dude. It is an acknowledgement of someone elses obvious superiority in manliness." This isn't the kind of definition I'd use, but then, I couldn't find any others.
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Giant Robo (the Robot) : A 90ft tall robot with a terrifyingly blank face, reminiscent of an Egyptian statue. His growl sounds like a cross between a lion and a V8 engine.
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Go Nagai : is the creator of such works as Mazinger Z, Cutie Honey, Devilman and many others.
Wikipedia will tell you that Go Nagai is "is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica" but I feel it's more succinct to describe him as "one crazy bastard" as a variety of his works are fairly deranged. In the best possible way.
Suffice to say, his first manga "influenced Japanese society radically, effecting both social mores and what was considered appropriate for manga." It also pissed off the PTA. Score.
See articles here Go Nagai.
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GR : An abbreviation of Giant Robo : The Day the Earth Stood Still, simply to save me writing it out a thousand times. Or even twice, that's a damn long title.
Confusingly, this series is technically the middle part of a trilogy of shows, except that the first and last parts haven't been made yet. Sadly, they probably won't ever be made because they cost too much and make too little back.
Not to be confused with 'GR:Giant Robo' a re-imaging of the original manga, produced for television in 2007.
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Jerk 2.0 : Someone who might not enjoy this show. But they should give the first episode a spin anyway!
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Manly tears : Super Robot shows, despite appearing to be simple wish fulfilment fantasies for eight year-old boys, are often surprisingly sentimental. For whatever reason, it's alright to cry when watching something that's 'manly' (as opposed to some kind of 'feminine' romance work) and so tears spilled when watching this variety of work are 'manly tears'.
See article here, beware minor spoilers Manly Tears
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OVA : Stands for Original Video Animation. It refers to any work which is created to be sold directly to the home video market, and not for broadcast television. As they often have a large budget (and aren't constrained to a tight television schedule) these works often feature high quality animation, lengthy running times and scenes that could never be shown uncensored on broadcast television.
See articles here : http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OriginalVideoAnimation?from=Main.OVA and OVA-Wikipedia.
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Pathos : When a work directly appeals to the audiences emotions. In Super Robot shows this often involves passionate and 'manly' speeches. The director of GR certainly wants you to cry some manly tears. Synonymous with hot-blooded passion and related to the concept of GAR.
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Super Robot :
via Wikipedia.
Although frankly, there's plenty of room for discussion about what counts as what, especially when certain shows mess up everyone's tidy definitions (I'm looking at you, Anno).
See articles here : Super Robot and here Real Robot
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TTGL : An abbreviation of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, so save me writing it out four times. If you haven't heard of this show you must have been living in a drill-proofed cave.
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Urotsukidoji : The first in a number of horror/erotica OVA's that would be compiled into 'Legend of the Overfiend' for release outside of Japan. Yes, that one, with the tentacles. Innovation!
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Bibliography
McCarthy Helen (2006) The Anime Encyclopaedia (Stone Bride Press, USA)
www.animenewsnetwork.com
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.genjipress.com/2006/02/giant-robo.html
http://ghostlightning.wordpress.com/
http://tvtropes.org
Where to buy
Amazon Economy Pack
