Getter Robo G 29
There are frequent points when I am watching Macross, Gundam, Mazinger and Getter where I feel fatigued, and I confess that of the four none wears upon me more heavily than Getter Robo. It's a highly, extremely formulaic series with maybe five standard episode plots that loop endlessly, whose mechanical combat lacks Mazinger's comedy to make up for its now extremely aged animation, and whose villains are occasionally the stupidest, most pathetic kind of evil.
But what makes up for the honest chore that trudging through these four franchises can at times be, is that buried beneath the constant returns to status quo and maddening old timey science babble are hidden treasures, episodes of real worth, of value that I dare say outshine episodes of lots of modern mecha anime.
Episode 29 of Getter Robo G is precisely such an episode because it focuses almost entirely on developing one of its main characters. Hayato Jin remains listed as "homicidal psycopath" on wikipedia to this day, and over the last 80 episodes it isn't hard to see why some misguided nerd might mistake him for such. Hayato is rowdy, violent, and much, much colder about his violence than any of the other Getter guys. He's anti-social to a similar degree, and honestly at times one wonders how he came to be one of Earth's protectors. It can be hard to realize, between the masculine physique and the deep voice that Hayato is still a High Schooler--a very needy teenage boy. Over the last 80 episodes Hayato has undergone some softening, to the point where he's like an ill-behaved pet of the Saotome household. Friendly to them and no one else, but this episode really gets at what's going on behind him.
No, seriously, they're all like, 17-18 years old.
The episode begins in the throne room of the Pandemonium Empire, with Emperor Burai being informed that Doc Saotome has built a lab in secret that is doing all of the peacetime applications of the Getter tech, while Doc has apparently been forced into developing just the Getter weapons. Presumably because when you're up against your second evil empire straight you realize peacetime is a tenuous thing. Anyway, Burai mockingly asks General Hitler: "Can you think of any peaceful applications for the Shinespark?"
As it turns out, the man heading the peacetime application laboratory is none other than Doctor Jin, Hayato's father. Hayato, it turns out, hates his guts and won't go anywhere near him. After Michiru hands him a letter from his sister (who, if you recall, fled to France after the demons had modified her brother and Hayato had been forced to put him down) saying she's coming to visit. At this moment Hayato reveals part of what has shaped him into who he is: his father is a work obsessed individual, and Hayato's sister is the one who raised him. What isn't said in this moment is even more important: we had never before been told what the fate of Hayato's mother, whose face is in the cross he always wears, was prior to this. After Hayato's sister comes to visit, they go to their mother's grave, where she confronts him about their father.
Hayato, we learn, has blamed his father's obsession with his work for their mother's death. His sister pleads with him to go and see their father, insisting Hayato is mistaken, but he will hear nothing about it. Not long after, the demons attack their father's lab, with Hayato's sister inside. She sustains heavy injuries and suffers from severe blood loss. Hayato finds himself powerless to help as his blood is of an incompatible type, and rushes off to kill the demons alone while Ryoma's blood is transfused.
The episode comes to a head when Hayato's father sees Hayato in peril (since one Getter Machine has never been much of a match for a Mechasaur or a Demon Mech). He uses the self destruct on his facility to destroy the enemy with him and save Hayato's life.
Afterward, his sister presents him with a pocket watch from their father, containing a picture of their mother. The episode's climax is amidst the ruins of Hayato's father's laboratory, where he finds his father simply staring into the sunset. His father tells him the watch was meant for him. Hayato begins to apologize for the loss of the facility when his father stops him cold: "Doctor Saotome and I can always build another laboratory, but I only have one family."
I don't deny that I was in tears at that point. Hayato certainly was, as he clasped his father's hands in a reunion the two had awaited for who knows how long. In one episode we learn of the immense grief and rage that have driven Hayato's character for 80 episodes, and we see it resolved in a moment of profound, emotional healing. Hayato's basic, operative character, which has been operative for nearly 100 episodes is fully explained, all the little clues that have been scattered over the course of the show are brought together and the final product is truly wonderful. The image of Hayato and his father, clasping hands amidst the ruins in the setting sun, calling to one another with fondness is perhaps one of the best depictions of what Getter Robo and the entire genre is really about. It isn't just about crazy science or beating the shit out of monsters with ridiculously cool giant robots. It's really about using those as a vehicle to tell stories of very real people with very real pain, and how no matter what the circumstances, people will survive, and will remain the strong, beautiful human race they are underneath it all.
Episodes like this are what this genre should strive for. It isn't enough to shout about libidos in your overdesigned CGI robot as you vampire bit someone to unleash your psychic final form. Not if you have forgotten that inside these steal titans there needs to be a character who is truly human, regardless of what species they are.
