After Go Nagai’s great success with Mazinger Z, he went ahead to pursue making another great super robot classic series. And this time, it is about having three air units that can “combine” into a robot. In three different ways. I keep thinking of myself “Oh, really? How on earth could they design something like that?”. So I questioned my doubt. And my curiosity grew as I researched and found out the truth further on how three futuristic warplanes have the capability to ‘transform’ into 3 different robots, with each of them can perform unique functions that’s different to one another.

Though it’s part of Go Nagai’s signature, the majority of the credits go to Ken Ishikawa, Go Nagai’s protege. He was the one notably contributed the ideas on making Getter Robo series a running success after so many years since its Getter Robo days, including several re-incarnated series during the 90s and 00s like Shin Getter Robo, Neo Getter Robo, Getter Robo G, New Getter Robo etc. It ran as part of the manga series with its main publisher, Shonen between 1974 and 1975, covered in 5 volumes. It was later converted into TV series and it become another great mecha anime sensation again, for Go Nagai.

The original Getter Robo Gang with Getter-1 in the background

Getter Robo story begins with a story with a brilliant scientist by the name of Professor Saotome, who invented the three planes that come with hidden special abilities of thwarting the evil plots of their nemesis, Dinosaur King, from Dinosaur Empire. The special planes are powered by Getter Ray, a rare source of energy ray obtained from outer space, which were originally used for deep-space exploration of solar systems, galaxies and beyond. However, this scientific project was called and “redubbed” for far more important use as Earth’s greatest defense against the might of the invading Dinosaur Empire whose attempts are nothing short of evil ambitions to take over the world, for they claim to be the ‘true rulers‘ of Earth since they existed several million years ago.  As the story unfolds, we learned that Professor Saotome went on a hunt for three pilots who are capable of riding such scientifically sophisticated machines. So a talented martial artist(Ryoma Nagare), a delinquent loner(Hayato Jin) and a judo expert(Musashi Tomoe) were called upon to take up such honorary task to defend the Earth, and they learned the secret powers of their Getter planes.

Getter Robo battles with Dinosaur Empire

This robot series was helmed as the first Super Robot anime in history that produced a groundbreaking concept of merging (or combining) units into one super robot. And not only one type of super robot can be formed but in three types! Each robot is unique in its own way to handle different situations/struggles our Getter heroes face in the heat of battle. I was pretty dissapointed the fact I remembered back in the early 80s as a kid there was Getter Robo G whose licencing rights were bought by American company Force Five Series and later relabelled as the Starvengers and I couldn’t comprehend why is that Getter Robo was never queued to broadcast in Malaysia before Getter Robo G. Was it because of no money, or demand for Japanese robot was nonexistent? It’s a mystery to me. Nevertheless, it’s good to know that after all these years I finally know the truth behind the great legend of that is Go Nagai’s Getter Robo.

Anyway, I digress. The concept of combining units is this (at least in Getter Robo Universe). Getter Robo has 3 transformations, Getter 1, Getter 2 and Getter 3.  The three planes are named Eagle (red plane), Jaguar (white plane) and Bear (yellow plane). Getter 1 transformation goes with Eagle jet, Jaguar jet and Bear Jet, in an order.  Getter 2 transformation goes with pushing the previous order ‘up’ having Jaguar first, Bear second and Eagle last.  And lastly Getter 3 transformation goes with pushing Getter 2’s order up having Bear first, Eagle second and Jaguar last.  Here’ the illustration

Getter 1 Transformation – In this order

Eagle + Jaguar + Bear = Getter 1

Getter 2 Transformation – In this order

Jaguar + Bear + Eagle = Getter 2

Getter 3 Transformation – In this order

Bear + Eagle + Jaguar = Getter 3

The 3 Getter Robo come with unique and amazing fight capabilities when facing tougher mechanical monsters dispatched by the Dinosaur Empire with notable signature attacks. Getter 1 being very agile with its Tomahawk, Getter 2 with its highly-powered drill arm that can penetrate on any type of surface, and lastly Getter-3 with its overly-stretchy arms that extend up to several hundred metres in range to grasp any opponent to do a ‘throw’ ie Hammer Throw (as Musashi’s a judo expert). And they’re all come together along with Professor Saotome’s support and his children, Michiru and Genki Saotome to thwart the evil attempts of Dinosaur Empire’s conquest for Earth domination.

And so there lies a question I’ve been meaning to ask myself about. Was Getter Robo considered as the first “Transformer” ever in the history before the prime days of Transformers G1 that took over USA and the rest of the world? Well. Yes and no, depending on how you look at it. Facts gathered that even though Getter Robo succeeded in combining three units into one large unit, and its morphing capabilities into 3 robots suggest transformation is the valid description for this. However, another angle pointed out that a true Transformer is really a robot that puts itself in disguise of any object, be it cars, radios, trucks, construction equipment or even your Iphone! They can transform into robots that hold all the properties of their respective disguises, which shapes their robotic appearance. It makes you think logically Transformers do what they always do best. They always put into disguise. And they can always transform back to being robots again. Whereas Getter Robo can’t. It couldn’t fit in this category because the three units were not ‘transformable’, separately. So there’s no way Getter Robo is truly the first Transformers, so to speak.

But then again, you could also argue that if Getter Robo did not introduce this ‘morphing’ capabilities in its series, then it would have not inspired other countless super robot anime artists who incorporated this element into their own robot shows and continue to thrive their imagination to take place. Meaning, the Transformers as we know today oughta give plenty of credit to Getter Robo for bringing its own existence, doesn’t it? I really do believe it should. After all, you’ll come to know there are other startling facts behind the Transformers that the Japanese did invented the Transformers, whereas USA was responsible for the branding behind the titular name (and the catchy opening music).

Later on, I’m planning to add further interesting details about the series in regard of the plot and character development, once I get the original classics on DVD release in my hands.  More to come.

Mazinger Z.  Yes, the greatest robot anime of all time in Japanese animation industry as anime industry analysts said.  I heard so much about it from many great accolades of fans(old and new) that the show trully defined its own special subgenre of anime , of that we all  now know as ‘Mecha’. The show’s popularity had grown exponentially over the years between 1972-1974  and many children at the time gave incredibly high ratings for it.  The scale of its popularity is almost comparable to likes of the Beatles’ mania that exploded throughout the 70’s!  But at a much smaller scale, matter-of-factly, within the shores and soils  of Japan. But sources gathered that it became a

Mazinger Attack - Rocket Punch

major hit in Spain and Italy so the show made quite an impact that Mazinger Z is recognized as a symbol of ‘cult’ status just as much as what Beatles did in other specific continents of the world.  Yet, personally I never knew anything about Mazinger until last year when I run into Wikipedia, and looking up for all great super robot shows.  As I read the history on the developments of this genre, I arrived at the conclusion that (hence my post’s title) our infamous anime creator, Go-Nagai, delivered a simple manga produce that turned itself to be the great ‘mother’  of all super robot genre shows in our lifetime so far.  Without it, we would not have seen so many talented anime artists coming out of Japan to produce great mileage of robot series and ever growing fan base of robot anime enthusiasts out there, across the globe.

So what is Mazinger Z, truly?  What is it all about?

Mazinger Attack - Breast Burn

Mind you, I never watched this show in my country of Malaysia while growing up, but I distinctly remembered seeing programmes produced by Go Nagai, but it appeared under a different broadcasting agency called Force Five series.  And I saw the opening credits that went by saying ‘Animation created by Go Nagai’ for the shows of Getter Robo(known as Starvengers) and UFO Robo Grendizer (also known as Grandizer). I was deeply shocked about this because we lacked the public information that Go Nagai was truly

Mazinger Attack - Koushiryoku Beam

the great genius behind these shows and we didn’t have the privilege to watch Mazinger Z which started it all??  It doesn’t make any sense.  How can we supposed to acknowledge his great works of art when the media came and made us to think these programmes were made in USA, but it’s all because of licensing and broadcasting rights USA companies like Force Five Series can take and rebrand the product to get a different name and the kids just watched thinking these are memorable cartoons on Saturday mornings??  I felt my mind’s been plagued by these distortions and I find it sad I only came to know the truth at the later stages of my life.  Tsk…. Tsk….

Mazinger Attack - Rust Hurricane

But still, I’m glad to say even where I’m at in my life now, I finally get to know what Mazinger Z is thanks to the ever-growing presence of internet that lets you connect people in so many ways.  Especially in the mecha community field.  I’m glad this technology has allowed me to seek the bigger and better picture of what mecha anime industry is going about.  I’ve learnt heaps about this in particular.  Go Nagai pioneered the whole mecha genre inside out and that’s how many animators in Japan could produce several, if not all, successful anime programmes of this genre for last 30 years.  His visual concept of a person ‘piloting’ a robot as if he was riding an aeroplane was a genius idea in the making.  The coolest part of his design is that when giant robots are given special commands for attack, the pilot would yell the attack sequence and the robot will launch them.  And suddenly everybody’s gotten completely bonkers over this and soon many robot shows are following the same ‘format’.  Really ingenious and stupendous. So it would be fair for me to acknowledge that his series also sparked another new mecha subgrene, called “Real Robot”.  Go Nagai  was not involved with any of Real Robot developments.  It was one of other famous Japanese mecha artists and producers by the name of Yoshiyuki Tomino, who’s responsible for converting Super Robot mecha genre into Real Robot genre (click here on his Wiki page for more info). Yoshiyuki used to do a lot of previous work on Super Robot genre for several years before he’s decided to make Real Robot a success with his life-long series of Gundam shows.  Officially, he’s the godfather of “Real Robot” since then.  Thanks to ongoing success of several super robot anime series in the early 70s, 80s this part of animation industry enjoyed, Real Robot became a possibility.  You gotta give plenty of credit for Go Nagai how much impact his Mazinger Z did on Tomino’s works, including others.

One other interesting element I find about Mazinger Z is how so many successful super robot series shared the same element of story-telling Go Nagai had for Mazinger Z ie “father-builds-robot-for-son-so-he-can-ride-it-to-save-the-world-from-bad-guys” part to  having every new enemy robot featured on every episode.  Examples for these are Toshi Gordion, Steel Jeeg, Groizer X , Mechander Robo, Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3, Trider G7 etc.  It’s very refreshing to think back how great every robot anime I watched in those days all shared one common thing.  And that to me that’s the winning formula for making great mecha anime series, all the time.

I’m looking forward to watching the original series from beginning till the end now that I have the copy of its DVD release.