Gaiking
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese Super Robot
mecha
anime
series produced by Toei Animation.
It ran from April 1976 through January 1977 and consisted of 44 26-minute episodes. Gaiking was notable for being one of the few super robot series to take place in real places outside of Japan, and for being the first Super Robot series to have a mobile carrier for the chief robots. In the USA, Gaiking was part of Mattel
's popular Shogun Warriors import toy line of the late 1970s and Jim Terry's Force Five
anthology series. In 2005, a remake titled "Gaiking: Legend of Daiku-Maryu" was produced. In 2009, William Winckler Productions produced three all new English dubbed movie versions edited from the original series. Producer William Winckler, known for Tekkaman the Space Knight, wrote, produced and directed the English films, which are seen on broadband in Japan. On March 28, 2010, a Live-Action Movie based on the series, simply entitled, Gaiking, was announced at the 2010 Tokyo Animation Fair. An international production will be helmed by American filmmakers, Jules Urbach and Matthew Gratzner. Gaiking is being prepped for a 2012 world-wide release.
. Toei deliberately took Nagai out of the credits in order to avoid the payment of royalties. Because of that, Nagai sued Toei and stopped further collaborations with Toei for a long time. The legal battle lasted more than 10 years. Nagai himself confirmed that he was the creator of Gaiking in the Comicon 2007 in Naples, Italy.
Gaiking invented by Dr. Daimonji (Prof. Hightech in the English language version of the show) against an invading race of aliens called the Dark Horror Army from the planet Zela whose home planet is facing destruction by a black hole
as their population starts to mutate (the fact that their bearded ruler now wears his face on upside-down is considered only a minor mutation). Notable aspects of the series include the dinosaur
-based designs of the Daikū Maryū and its support machines and the use of part of the carrier to form the main robot. The robot Gaiking was piloted by former baseball
star named Sanshiro Tsuwabuki (Sanshiro's name was changed to Aries Astronopolis for the English version with the carrier being called the "Great Space Dragon", a literal translation of "Daikū Maryū". Likewise, for the Latin America version the main character was called Brando Drummond and the carrier "Gran Dragon del Espacio") who was drafted for the job because his latent psychic
powers made him the only one capable of doing so, all other similarly empowered candidates having been assassinated by alien agents with he himself having been injured in an attack that ended his sports career. Gaiking is most easily distinguished from other mecha
by its skull-shaped golden torso formed from the head of the Daikū Maryū and its golden horns.
The leader of the alien villains was named Prince Darius, and all of their ships and mecha
were fish
-shaped, which most likely inspired the Darius series of video games.
star named Sanshiro Tsuwabuki, known as Aries Astronopolous in the English version, and as Brando Drumont in Latin America. It is launched when the Head of Daikū Maryū while Daikū Maryū launches Parts 1 (Arms and Chest) and 2 (Torso, Legs and Feet), combining it to form the mecha. The unit has a powerful feature called "Face Open", which utilizes Gaiking's hidden weapons. However, this machine's origin and why it is made remains a mystery.
(called Dynatar in the English version). It is used for aquatic reconnaissance missions. It could fire lasers or fire from its eyes.
. (Called Rhinatar in the English version) It was used for scout missions on land. Very fast on land, it used lasers for attack.
, Getter Robo
, etc. were based on manga series by manga artist and writer Go Nagai
). It was shown in English internationally as part of Jim Terry's Force Five
lineup, and was also broadcast in Latin America as "El Gladiador" as part of a 4 anime mecha show called El Festival de los Robots (with the other 3 being "Starzinger
", "Magne Robo Gakeen
" and "Kotetsu Jeeg", known as "El Galactico", "Supermagnetron" and "El Vengador" respectively).
The first 26 episodes of Daikū Maryū Gaiking were aired also in Italy, on local networks, under the name Gaiking during the Japanese super robot craze of the early 1980s. In the late 1990s the whole series was released in Italy in dubbed DVD boxes. 2 episodes from Jim Terry's Force Five Gaiking series would be redubbed as an episode of Robo Formers
.
and later in Super Robot Wars Alpha 2
and Super Robot Wars Alpha 3, both for the PlayStation 2
.
Super Robot
is a term used in manga and anime to describe a giant robot or mecha, with an arsenal of fantastic super-powered weapons, extreme resistance to damage unless the plot calls for it, sometimes transformable or combined from two or more robots and/or vehicles usually piloted by young, daring heroes,...
mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series produced by Toei Animation.
It ran from April 1976 through January 1977 and consisted of 44 26-minute episodes. Gaiking was notable for being one of the few super robot series to take place in real places outside of Japan, and for being the first Super Robot series to have a mobile carrier for the chief robots. In the USA, Gaiking was part of Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
's popular Shogun Warriors import toy line of the late 1970s and Jim Terry's Force Five
Force Five
Force Five was a syndicated anime cartoon anthology during the late 1970s/early 1980s. In the US, this series was primarily shown only in New England and Virginia, though it did make brief appearances in other markets, such as Dallas, Texas and San Jose, California on KICU-TV 36. It was also shown...
anthology series. In 2005, a remake titled "Gaiking: Legend of Daiku-Maryu" was produced. In 2009, William Winckler Productions produced three all new English dubbed movie versions edited from the original series. Producer William Winckler, known for Tekkaman the Space Knight, wrote, produced and directed the English films, which are seen on broadband in Japan. On March 28, 2010, a Live-Action Movie based on the series, simply entitled, Gaiking, was announced at the 2010 Tokyo Animation Fair. An international production will be helmed by American filmmakers, Jules Urbach and Matthew Gratzner. Gaiking is being prepped for a 2012 world-wide release.
Legal issues
Toei Animation credited the show as being based on an original idea by Akio Sugino. However, in reality the original idea was of Go NagaiGo Nagai
, better known by the penname , is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z in the 1970s. In 2005, he became a...
. Toei deliberately took Nagai out of the credits in order to avoid the payment of royalties. Because of that, Nagai sued Toei and stopped further collaborations with Toei for a long time. The legal battle lasted more than 10 years. Nagai himself confirmed that he was the creator of Gaiking in the Comicon 2007 in Naples, Italy.
Plot
The story chronicled the battle between the crew of the semi-transformable carrier Daikū Maryū (also called the Kargosaur in the US version, and also known as The Great Space Dragon) and the Super RobotSuper Robot
is a term used in manga and anime to describe a giant robot or mecha, with an arsenal of fantastic super-powered weapons, extreme resistance to damage unless the plot calls for it, sometimes transformable or combined from two or more robots and/or vehicles usually piloted by young, daring heroes,...
Gaiking invented by Dr. Daimonji (Prof. Hightech in the English language version of the show) against an invading race of aliens called the Dark Horror Army from the planet Zela whose home planet is facing destruction by a black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
as their population starts to mutate (the fact that their bearded ruler now wears his face on upside-down is considered only a minor mutation). Notable aspects of the series include the dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
-based designs of the Daikū Maryū and its support machines and the use of part of the carrier to form the main robot. The robot Gaiking was piloted by former baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
star named Sanshiro Tsuwabuki (Sanshiro's name was changed to Aries Astronopolis for the English version with the carrier being called the "Great Space Dragon", a literal translation of "Daikū Maryū". Likewise, for the Latin America version the main character was called Brando Drummond and the carrier "Gran Dragon del Espacio") who was drafted for the job because his latent psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
powers made him the only one capable of doing so, all other similarly empowered candidates having been assassinated by alien agents with he himself having been injured in an attack that ended his sports career. Gaiking is most easily distinguished from other mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
by its skull-shaped golden torso formed from the head of the Daikū Maryū and its golden horns.
The leader of the alien villains was named Prince Darius, and all of their ships and mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
were fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
-shaped, which most likely inspired the Darius series of video games.
Gaiking
A mysterious mecha with a Daikū Maryū's head on its chest. The unit was piloted by a baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
star named Sanshiro Tsuwabuki, known as Aries Astronopolous in the English version, and as Brando Drumont in Latin America. It is launched when the Head of Daikū Maryū while Daikū Maryū launches Parts 1 (Arms and Chest) and 2 (Torso, Legs and Feet), combining it to form the mecha. The unit has a powerful feature called "Face Open", which utilizes Gaiking's hidden weapons. However, this machine's origin and why it is made remains a mystery.
Daikū Maryū
A gigantic Dragon-shaped robot (known as The Great Space Dragon or Kargosaur in the English version) that protects the earth from the invaders from Planet Zala. It houses a lot of weapons and the needed Weapon Parts for Gaiking.Nesser
A miniature robot located inside the Daikū Maryū that looks like a PlesiosaurPlesiosaur
Plesiosauroidea is an extinct clade of carnivorous plesiosaur marine reptiles. Plesiosauroids, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods...
(called Dynatar in the English version). It is used for aquatic reconnaissance missions. It could fire lasers or fire from its eyes.
Skylar
A miniature robot located inside Daikū Maryū, which resembles a Pterodactyl. This is used as an aerial scout, and is armed with missiles. In the English version, its name remains the same.Bazolar
A miniature scout robot located inside Daikū Maryū, which resembles a TriceratopsTriceratops
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
. (Called Rhinatar in the English version) It was used for scout missions on land. Very fast on land, it used lasers for attack.
Cast
- Sanshirō Tsuwabuki (石蕗三四郎)
Akira KamiyaAkira Kamiyais a Japanese voice actor. He has been represented by Theater Echo, Aoni Production, and others. He is currently represented by Saeba Shoji.-Career:Kamiya made his debut on Mahou no Mako-chan in 1970 while working for Theater Echo... - Doctor Daimonji (大文字博士)
Hidekatsu ShibataHidekatsu Shibatais a Japanese voice actor from Asakusa, Tokyo who is affiliated with Aoni Production. He was a classmate of Yasuo Fukuda at Azabu High School. He is married to voice actress Akiko Sekine.... - Fan Li
Kan Tokumaru - Gen Sakon (左近元)
Shunji Yamada(Keaton Yamada) - Bunta Hayami (速水文太)
Kenichi Ogata - Peter Richardson
Makio InoueMakio Inoueis a Japanese voice actor. He began voice acting in the '60s, landing small roles in Astroboy, and was the actor of choice for deep-voiced, serious males in the '70s. These days, he rarely takes on new roles... - Midori Fujiyama (藤山みどり)
Mami KoyamaMami KoyamaMami Koyama is a veteran seiyū and J-pop vocalist who was born in Nishio, Aichi. She was once married to fellow seiyū Tōru Furuya, her co-star in Mobile Suit Gundam, Urusei Yatsura, Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, and Casshern Sins... - Yamagakake (山ヶ岳)
Osamu Kato - Hachirō (八郎)
Noriko TsukaseNoriko Tsukasewas a Japanese voice actress and chanson singer active during the 1970s and 1980s.Tsukase was born in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. Her most popular roles included Spank in Ohayō! Spank, Miss Alphonne in the original Cutie Honey TV series, and Non in Majokko Megu-chan... - Guest
- Erica
Noriko OharaNoriko Oharais a Japanese voice actress. She is currently represented by Production Baobab. Her son is Sunrise animator .She is most well known for the roles of Nobita Nobi , Doronjo , Conan , Peter , and Oyuki and Claudia LaSalle from Super Dimension Fortress Macross...
Production notes
Gaiking was Toei Animation's first super robot series not based on an existing manga (the company's previous super robot anime Mazinger ZMazinger Z
, known briefly as Tranzor Z in United States, is a Super Robot manga and anime series created by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. In...
, Getter Robo
Getter Robo
is a Super Robot manga series created by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa, as well as an anime series produced by Toei Animation. The series was broadcast on Fuji TV from April 4, 1974 to May 8, 1975, with a total of 51 episodes.- Plot :...
, etc. were based on manga series by manga artist and writer Go Nagai
Go Nagai
, better known by the penname , is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z in the 1970s. In 2005, he became a...
). It was shown in English internationally as part of Jim Terry's Force Five
Force Five
Force Five was a syndicated anime cartoon anthology during the late 1970s/early 1980s. In the US, this series was primarily shown only in New England and Virginia, though it did make brief appearances in other markets, such as Dallas, Texas and San Jose, California on KICU-TV 36. It was also shown...
lineup, and was also broadcast in Latin America as "El Gladiador" as part of a 4 anime mecha show called El Festival de los Robots (with the other 3 being "Starzinger
Starzinger
is an anime series aired in Japan from 1978 to 1979. It translates literally to "Science Fiction Journey to the West Starzinger". In the United States it is referred to as Spaceketeers and is part of Jim Terry's Force Five series...
", "Magne Robo Gakeen
Magne robo gakeen
is a Japanese anime television series that aired from 1976 to 1977 in Japan. There were 39 episodes. It is also referred to as "Magnerobo Ga-Keen", "'Gakeen Supermagnetron", "'Gakeen Magnetic Robot", "Robotman Gakeen", "Gakeen"...
" and "Kotetsu Jeeg", known as "El Galactico", "Supermagnetron" and "El Vengador" respectively).
The first 26 episodes of Daikū Maryū Gaiking were aired also in Italy, on local networks, under the name Gaiking during the Japanese super robot craze of the early 1980s. In the late 1990s the whole series was released in Italy in dubbed DVD boxes. 2 episodes from Jim Terry's Force Five Gaiking series would be redubbed as an episode of Robo Formers
Robo Formers
Robo Formers was a series of VHS videos distributed in the 1980s and 1990s. The episodes revolve around the Evil Empire of the Pandamoniums and their attempts to take over the Earth to which the Robo Formers team stands in their way as defenders of the planet.The episodes themselves were taken from...
.
Game appearances
The original Gaiking first appeared in New Super Robot Wars for the PlayStationPlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
and later in Super Robot Wars Alpha 2
2nd Super Robot Wars Alpha
, for the PlayStation 2, is the third game in the Alpha series, continuing from Super Robot Wars Alpha and Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden. The 2nd Super Robot Wars Alpha, or simply Alpha 2, includes series debuts Brain Powerd, The King of Braves GaoGaiGar and Steel Jeeg...
and Super Robot Wars Alpha 3, both for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
.