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[Bebpo]

This thread made me check to see if GGG Final ever got released in the US and it didn't. Now I am depressed I wish I could just go to the store and buy it in English and hand it to starving children around the world to give them COURAGE, LOVE AND HOPE.

I gave up on GGG a while back. I should give it another try. I went from 'woah this is pretty awesome' to 'this is getting dull' in about eight episodes. Maybe I'll skip ahead to 25, or wherever it is that gets good.

GGG is amazing, and Final is right behind Giant Robo as one of the greatest tales of robots ever, but the pacing in the first half of GGG TV is killer.

GGG is one of my top10 anime, yet I actually bailed on it the first time. Made it up to ep22 or 23 and just got bored of the monster of the week formula. Came back a year or two later and picked it up where I left off and like the next ep it got GOOD and just kept getting better and better and then Final is just off the charts. Definitely give it another shot.

 

[Dresden]

GGG is amazing, and Final is right behind Giant Robo as one of the greatest tales of robots ever, but the pacing in the first half of GGG TV is killer.

GGG is one of my top10 anime, yet I actually bailed on it the first time. Made it up to ep22 or 23 and just got bored of the monster of the week formula. Came back a year or two later and picked it up where I left off and like the next ep it got GOOD and just kept getting better and better and then Final is just off the charts. Definitely give it another shot.

Part of the charm was witnessing the transition from monster of the week. It does have a slow start though.

Sounds about right, just make sure you see the bird guy first + fire trucks.

Hmm, I will, soon.

 

[RSLAEV]

What's this no mention of the 40th anniversary Giant Robo cartoon released in 2007?...

ahhahhaha hey GR you looking kinda thin man

 

[Jex]

What's this no mention of the 40th anniversary Giant Robo cartoon released in 2007?...

ahhahhaha hey GR you looking kinda thin man

Hey, it's in the Glossary man. You just gotta read up.

 

[AquaticSquirrel]

:lol

Fight the good fight, noble manly purist.

 

[Salazar]

Edit: This thread doesn't need futile moe wars.

 

[RSLAEV]

Hey, it's in the Glossary man. You just gotta read up.

ack sorry I missed it

 

[Jex]

The story behind the creation of it is really interesting in and of itself considering they were not allowed use the characters from the original manga so instead the combined all of the authors other work into this strangely awesome amalgamation of animation.

Not to mention that Giant Robo essentially pioneered and popularised the "retro" look for modern anime.

Thanks for reminding me. OP updated. Although that does bring the whole thing up to a nearly unreadable 2699 words :lol

That's what I get for not triple checking before I post a thread.

 

[AquaticSquirrel]

This thread made me check to see if GGG Final ever got released in the US and it didn't. Now I am depressed I wish I could just go to the store and buy it in English and hand it to starving children around the world to give them COURAGE, LOVE AND HOPE.



GGG is amazing, and Final is right behind Giant Robo as one of the greatest tales of robots ever, but the pacing in the first half of GGG TV is killer.

GGG is one of my top10 anime, yet I actually bailed on it the first time. Made it up to ep22 or 23 and just got bored of the monster of the week formula. Came back a year or two later and picked it up where I left off and like the next ep it got GOOD and just kept getting better and better and then Final is just off the charts. Definitely give it another shot.

Actually I watched about 7 or 8 episodes in expecting it to be awesome and I was really dissapointed at the MOTW shit that I just gave up on it, this thread is making me go back to see what I'm missing, though I might just skip like 20 episodes ahead. I really hate filler.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Giant Robo is one of my favourite anime of all time. It really is just that damn good and it barely seems to get a mention from most modern anime fans who seem to only care about harem "comedy" and loli panty shot shit.

If you aren't looking for shit, don't try to start shit.

I'm going to need a break from giant robots after I finish up Eureka 7 but I might eventually get around to watching this. I prefer nimble robots to slow ponderous robots though, it's why Mechwarrior bores me to death.

 

[AquaticSquirrel]

If you aren't looking for shit, don't try to start shit.

Dude chill, it's just my opinion on stuff and I don't want to shit up this thread, I respect the other guy in this thread much more than you because at least he was the bigger man and realised it wasn't the place for that shit, I give him allot of respect for that.

Besides it was an off the cuff comment anyway, stop being so sensitive.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Dude chill, it's just my opinion on stuff and I don't want to shit up this thread, I respect the other guy in this thread much more than you because at least he was the bigger man and realised it wasn't the place for that shit, I give him allot of respect for that.

This paragraph is the equivalent of punching someone in the face and then saying whoa whoa, you're the bigger man so you shouldn't punch me back. You were the one who shitted up this thread when you brought shit into this thread which didn't belong there.

Besides it was an off the cuff comment anyway, stop being so sensitive.

You knew damn well what you were posting when you posted it. Period. Now be the bigger man and admit that you were the one who was starting shit, nobody said a word about anything unrelated to Giant Robo until you posted:

It really is just that damn good and it barely seems to get a mention from most modern anime fans who seem to only care about harem "comedy" and loli panty shot shit.

 

[Narag]

Way to shit up the thread.

 

[AquaticSquirrel]

*sigh* I'm out....

 

[Lafiel]

:lol @ unknown solider.

 

[Doink]

It's nice to see this show getting some love. I remember being wowed by this trailer on one of the Berserk DVDs (sorry I couldn't find it on youtube). It's a shame that the series hasn't sold well, but I suppose that the retro look does turn people off.

 

[Salazar]

Jexhius, I am buying this tomorrow. I should refrain, because I am accumulating dvds at an untenable rate, but I am keen.

Please keep up the periodical badass recommendation threads. They are joyous.

 

[Dresden]

It's nice to see this show getting some love. I remember being wowed by this trailer on one of the Berserk DVDs (sorry I couldn't find it on youtube). It's a shame that the series hasn't sold well, but I suppose that the retro look does turn people off.

I always blame the hotpants.

 

[Narag]

Please keep up the periodical badass recommendation threads. They are joyous.

Seconding this. Thanks for that Patlabor thread. You should add links to all the previous topics like this to your OPs. They unfortunately slip away too fast and end up overlooked.

 

[Jex]

Thanks guys, I've been waiting for an excuse to post this delightful .gif

But yes, I'm sure everyone is aware that anime-related threads have a tendency to spiral off into bickering and I'm sure no-one wants that.

 

[AquaticSquirrel]

Thanks guys, I've been waiting for an excuse to post this delightful .gif

But yes, I'm sure everyone is aware that anime-related threads have a tendency to spiral off into bickering and I'm sure no-one wants that.

That gif is oddly hypnotic, can't stop watching it....:lol It get's extra cool points for being from Ideon!

Yeah I apologise to the thread participants for any part I've had in shitting up the thread, really wasn't my intent as I'm too big of a fan of GR to want to do that to an appreciation thread, especially after all the hard work Jexhius put into the OP, that must have taken like an hour to type out and format, sorry man.

Anyway it's a real shame that the director won't ever return to his vision of Giant Robo because my god it was awesome, although he has made his own Manga version that is pretty interesting, although it is again a different interpretation again than the OVA version, it's called "The Day The Earth Burned".

I really do need to get on watching GaoGaiGar again because by all accounts it seems to get holy shit awesome, although at the moment I'm trying to make my way through VOTOMS and I still need to finish Ideon and a few others.

But everyone should try to give Giant Robo a shot because it's a fantastic anime, I try to watch it once every year or so and I religiously listened to the OST for years, I still do!

 

[Jex]

It really is just that damn good and it barely seems to get a mention from most modern anime fans...

I imagine this isn't a case of modern anime fans dismissing works such as these, but it's a result of the fandom lacking a sense of 'history'.

Which isn't necessairly their fault, after all, who is there to tell them? The odd reliable magazine? Fairly obscure podcasts? A large volume of poorly written blogs?

When you get into music, or film, or literature, or even video games there's a vast array of people (family and friends) who will point you to 'classics' or 'important works'.

Anime fan's have to be largely self-taught, unless they are part of some society or club with a wider background. This means they need to be extremely proficient researchers, with a keen ability to differentiate bad advice from the good, a skill which takes time to properly develop.

Frankly, all that takes time and effort so I suppose people don't get very far. Unless they have access to excellent information sources such as this http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=347831.

Anyway that's why I make these threads, to shed light on works which will probably be outside the real of information possessed by a casual fan. (That's right, I have an...ulterior motive)

 

[Narag]

although at the moment I'm trying to make my way through VOTOMS

You're a good person for that and all is forgiven.

 

[AquaticSquirrel]

I imagine this isn't a case of modern anime fans dismissing works such as these, but it's a result of the fandom lacking a sense of 'history'.

Which isn't necessairly their fault, after all, who is there to tell them? The odd reliable magazine? Fairly obscure podcasts? A large volume of poorly written blogs?

When you get into music, or film, or literature, or even video games there's a vast array of people (family and friends) who will point you to 'classics' or 'important works'.

Anime fan's have to be largely self-taught, unless they are part of some society or club with a wider background. This means they need to be extremely proficient researchers, with a keen ability to differentiate bad advice from the good, a skill which takes time to properly develop.

Frankly, all that takes time and effort so I suppose people don't get very far. Unless they have access to excellent information sources such as this http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=347831.

Anyway that's why I make these threads, to shed light on works which will probably be outside the real of information possessed by a casual fan.

Yeah that's probably true, although it not having large sales volume and a bigger word of mouth fanbase on the net is probably to do with the western coverart and terrible font/marketing. I mean I know that when I used to see the cover on shelves I overlooked it for years thinking it was something really shitty.

It was only by accident that one of my friends had some spare cash and bought a VHS of episode 1, I was skeptical and was giving him shit about it but then after the first episode my jaw hit the floor and I realised how holy shit awesome it was and I purcahsed every episode on VHS in all that formats shitty quality, then later I got it on DVD. It's now one of my most treasured DVDs and along with Empire of The Sun I try to watch it once a year.

So to be honest I blame a bad representation/image of it at the time from people who didn't know anything about it, I mean given it's obvious quality it should be immensely popular/well known as a classic but the distributors fucked it up I think and back then as a kid/teenager knowing how expensive anime VHS was taking a risk on something that by all accounts seemed really lame was not something allot of people would have done.

It just really annoys me the extent at which it is overlooked and not mentioned along side some of anime's well known classics.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

FWIW, I apologize as well for responding to an unprovoked attack with excessive force. I do like you quite a bit Jex and I appreciate these threads you make even if it's not something I would necessarily be interested in. You did get me wanting to watch more giant robots though, however I'm going to watch something non-giant robot related after I finish E7. I'll probably finish Paranoia Agent since I put it on hold to marathon E7 to the end. You might be happy to hear I'm going to watch more giant robots, but you might not be so happy when I tell you I'm thinking of starting into Gundam 00. :lol

 

[Salazar]

but you might not be so happy when I tell you I'm thinking of starting into Gundam 00. :lol

That is the Gundam I see most often on shelves in Australia.

 

[Lafiel]

Frankly, all that takes time and effort so I suppose people don't get very far. Unless they have access to excellent information sources such as this http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=347831.

It's pretty amazing that i didn't even know what maison ikkoku was until i read that thread! and it's pretty much considered a pioneer of the genre.

You're a good person for that and all is forgiven.

Yeah votoms is awesome.

That is the Gundam I see most often on shelves in Australia.

The only gundams i see here is 00 seed, seed destiny. (ugh) and wing. (even more ugh). Our selection of mecha is pretty damn terrible.

On the bright-side 0083 was released here recently, and there's a box-set for zeta coming out soon.:lol

FWIW, I apologize as well for responding to an unprovoked attack with excessive force. I do like you quite a bit Jex and I appreciate these threads you make even if it's not something I would necessarily be interested in. You did get me wanting to watch more giant robots though, however I'm going to watch something non-giant robot related after I finish E7. I'll probably finish Paranoia Agent since I put it on hold to marathon E7 to the end. You might be happy to hear I'm going to watch more giant robots, but you might not be so happy when I tell you I'm thinking of starting into Gundam 00.

Should be like me, when i got into mecha starting with gurren lagann and eureka seven i moved on to the classics like 0079, turn a & super dimensional fortress macross and plus! the modern stuff like 00 came later.

 

[Jex]

FWIW, I apologize as well for responding to an unprovoked attack with excessive force. I do like you quite a bit Jex and I appreciate these threads you make even if it's not something I would necessarily be interested in. You did get me wanting to watch more giant robots though, however I'm going to watch something non-giant robot related after I finish E7. I'll probably finish Paranoia Agent since I put it on hold to marathon E7 to the end. You might be happy to hear I'm going to watch more giant robots, but you might not be so happy when I tell you I'm thinking of starting into Gundam 00. :lol

Peace in our time.

Anyway, anime fans are necessairly defensive by nature, I know that every-time I see a post about Evangelion I generally have to stop writing my reply and just close the whole page :lol

Gundam 00 season one isn't that bad really. It's not great, but it's not bad, for a modern AU Gundam.

In relation to your earlier comment on robot fights - the strange thing about Giant Robo is how few robot fights there actually are, per episode. In episode one only two minutes out of fifty is devoted to a robot fight.

This is one of the reasons why GR goes beyond 'good show' and races all the way up to 'classic' territory. They spend the rest of the time on characterisation, story-set up, world building and so forth. Not just an endless cycle of combat.

And now to post some of that weird Gin-Rei art :

Just kidding.

Oh wait, now I have no choice :

I always blame the hotpants.

Jexhius, I am buying this tomorrow. I should refrain, because I am accumulating dvds at an untenable rate, but I am keen.

Please keep up the periodical badass recommendation threads. They are joyous.

Seconding this. Thanks for that Patlabor thread. You should add links to all the previous topics like this to your OPs. They unfortunately slip away too fast and end up overlooked.

Nice job.

Going to buy it and give it a shot, I haven't bought any new anime in at least a year and have wanted to get some older anime that's worth watching. Thanks for the informative thread.

Thanks for all the kind words. I'll be sure to make another thread like this once I've forgotten how long they take to write.

Then again, I have no idea what to talk about next. Possibly some proto-Miyazaki Toei Work like Hols and Treasure Island, following up with Future Boy Conan and finishing with Cagliostro.

 

[AquaticSquirrel]

Don't forget the awesome music, I just love how they use character themes and have different versions of most of the themes depending on what's happening in the story, I think it's called leitmotif in music.

For example:

From this

Ahh....youtube doesn't have the track...lame I wanted to show the three part progrssion of this tune...oh well two parts will have to do.

To this

Men's Heated Battle

And finally to this

Friendships' Shockwaves

 

[ScientificNinja]

Dear god... I have so many fond memories of watching this OVA, back in the day when Laserdisc was still around, Interwebs was barely known and bootlegged fansubs were the way to go.

Loved it so much I even built my own flat html fansite. Laughably bad in hindsight, but that's how much I loved it.

 

[Archon]

Amazing topic Jexhius you have done Giant Robo proud. It is truly an amazing piece of work, epic in every way. Still my favorite anime of all time, bar none (not even GGG which I love to death).

Funny story--I was out in Chicago for a sci-fi con with a couple friends. We were hanging out in someone's room getting drunk (as one might do at this sort of con), and oddly enough Asari Yoshito was there. He's not exactly a household name, but he worked on a manga called Space Family Carlvinson; more importantly he was a reviewer for Animage magazine.

So we're all sitting around doing lots of nothing when Asari asks if anyone would like to watch this anime he had to do a review for. So he pulls out an relatively unmarked tape and tosses it in. Turns out it was Volume 2 of GR,well over a month before release. I don't even think his translator Dan knew that he had it. It was a glorious moment where everyone in the room had their jaw drop--EVERYONE at the time was in love with GR. It was horrible in a way however--I had to go back and tell my Detroit friends how amazing it was but they wouldn't be seeing it for weeks (if not longer), nor could I watch it again and again. Ah, those were the days...

Come to think of it, almost all of my best memories in the anime fandom revolve around GR in some way. Heck we used to throw room parties under the name "Big Fire".

So...yeah. Giant Robo. Still awesome to this day.

 

[hteng]

since this thread is becoming slightly off topic, i might as well throw this in.

new Mazinkaizer anime coming soon. MazinKaiser Skull!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rljd-cOxJS4&feature=related

hope it's good

 

[JKTrix]

I had a science fiction class a year or so ago, and one of the assignments was to watch the 1951 version of The Day The Earth Stood Still and answer specific questions about it. I twisted the assignment a little to talk about the few similarities between that movie and Giant Robo. The teacher (a 65-year-old English PhD) had no interest in anime, but said that Giant Robo sounded like a better homage to the 1951 film than the 2008 remake of the same film and gave me an A :lol

 

[Finaika]

Giant Robo is the best OVA ever. If you haven't seen this yet, you are not a true anime fan.

Anyone seen the recent TV series remake not too long ago? How was it?

 

[JKTrix]

Not worth it.

 

[Grzi]

I love Giant Robo. Greatest OVA ever.

Also, I saw someone mention GaoGaiGar Final, yes, that's also amazing, it's definitely among the best super robot shows ever.

Also, Getter Robo Armageddon, not enough people have seen it, too bad, considering the fact everyone loved Gurren Lagann, and GRA is much better.

 

[JKTrix]

And the first 3 episodes of Getter Robo Armageddon were directed by Giant Robo's director. So it all ties together!

 

[Grzi]

Shit, didn't know that. :lol
There you go people, go watch Getter Robo Armageddon.

 

[Eiji]

Seriously, play this game nao if you haven't!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTFM0fYtioc

 

[JKTrix]

For people who can't play Japanese PS2 games, there's this.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000071OWY/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Made by the same folks as the Tetsujin 28 game, but a little older/more convoluted. And you can actually buy it.

There was a Giant Robo game that used similar mechanics, but it was a shameless, inferior ripoff of these other games.

 

[tokkun]

Anyone seen the recent TV series remake not too long ago? How was it?

It kinda sucks.

There is also a manga series by Yasuhiro Imagawa with the same general universe as the OVA, but with a re-imagining of the story (think of the Escaflowne TV series vs the movie) called Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Burned.
http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=7915

Finally, there is another recent GR manga that is basically a retelling of the OVA story in manga form without major differences.

 

[antispin]

Is this in any way related to the live action johnny sokko and his flying robot? The design seems familiar

 

[Jex]

Is this in any way related to the live action johnny sokko and his flying robot? The design seems familiar

I mention that in the opening :

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

 

[mm04]

Wow I didn't even know this existed. I actually own the complete live action series on DVD. I hope this is good because I just bought the Giant Robo - Complete Thin Pack from Amazon .

 

[BattleMonkey]

I could never get into GGG, even watching the whole thing, by the end I was still bored out of my skull especially when so many of the episodes turned into watching an army of robots transforming with stock animation for almost half the episodes. The show had some holy crap moments later on and a bit over the top but I was always bored with it. GGG Final was so much better.

I really not a fan of any of the Brave series I've seen, lot of really stupid designs and overly kiddy plots. The Getters, Mazinkaizer, Giant Robo, Gurren Lagan, now those were perfect over the top shows to me.

 

[antispin]

I mention that in the opening :

Oops

 

[Jex]

I really not a fan of any of the Brave series I've seen, lot of really stupid designs and overly kiddy plots. The Getters, Mazinkaizer, Giant Robo, Gurren Lagan, now those were perfect over the top shows to me.

So basically you're a gentleman of the Go Nagai school. Which happens to be run by sexual predators.

 

[Priz]

Is this in any way related to the live action johnny sokko and his flying robot? The design seems familiar

When I was a kid I used to watch this show in the SF Bay Area called "Captain Cosmic". He showed Space Giants (aka Ambassador Magma) first, then Ultraman (check out the 70's intro!) and then Johnny Sokko.

So when Giant Robo: The Animation came out it was a given that it was something I had to sub.

 

[TreIII]

I loved this show. Definitely glad a friend of mine introduced me to it a few years ago. :lol

Any way, if you guys like this and G Gundam, you really should follow the OP's suggestion to get into Shin Mazinger. It's AMAZING.

 

[kazuo]

Hmm, the old dub certainly has the correct tone and energy.

But I'll say it, both are inferior to the original Japanese cast.

Pretty much.

The original dub is hilarious and in my opinion adds to the show quite a bit. The borderline schlocky delivery feels right at home with the overall retro feel of the show. The original dub isn't a "shake my head, this is terrible" kind of hilarious, either. Shockwave Alberto pretty much sums up my feelings on why I think the original dub is fantastic.

That said, I still prefer to watch it in Japanese.

ALLEGIANCE OR DEATH, BIG FIRE!