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Mazinger/Grendizer
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| This article uses Creative Commons licensed content from revision 172659214 of Wikipedia's Grendizer article.
The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. |
| UFO Robo Grendizer | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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UFO Robo GrendizerUFOロボ・グレンダイザーUFO Robo Gurendaizā | |||
| Genre | Mecha, Shonen, science-fiction, adventure | ||
| Anime series: Grendizer | |||
| Directed by |
Masayuki Akihi | ||
| Studio |
Toei/Dynamic Planning | ||
| Network | |||
| |||
| Original run |
5 Oct 1975 — 27 Feb 1977 | ||
| No. of episodes |
23 | ||
UFO Robo Grendizer (UFOロボ・グレンダイザー, UFO Robo Gurendaizā), is a super-robot show created by manga artist Go Nagai. It was shown on Japanese TV in 1975 and lasted 74 episodes.
The titular mecha was created by the Vegan Empire and stolen by the Prince of Planet Fleed, who piloted it under the guise of the masked warrior Duke Fleed.
Contents |
Plot 
Edit
The Vega homeworld is becoming unstable due to the exploiting of Vegatron, a powerful radioactive ore. Seeking to expand his militaristic empire and find a substitute planet to settle upon, the ruthless King Vega unleashes his armies - composed of flying saucers and giant robotic monsters - and turns first against neighbors such as Fleed, a highly advanced but peaceful world. In a tragically ironic twist, the invaders' blitzkrieg turns against them: the once verdant, idyllic Fleed is turned into a radioactive wasteland. Too late, the only known survivor of the royal family, Prince Duke Fleed, manages to steal the Grendizer, the robotic embodiment of the Fleedian God of War, from the Vegan invaders who plan to use it to spearhead their invasion fleet. Grendizer is a giant robot that interfaces with Spazer, a flying saucer that enables the robot to fly. The french version of UFO Robot Grendizer, however, mistakenly credits the construction of the Grendizer robot to the Vegan Forces using hybrid Vegan & Fleedian technology. Most french-speaking Grendizer fans mistakenly regards this fact as cannon. The mistake lies in the french translators' liberties taken with the original Japanese script. The Arab and Italian versions, however, retained the original Grendizer origin in the plot.
Fleeing Vegan space by flying at faster than light speed, Duke enters the Solar system and switches course to Earth, making a rough landing in Japan, on the slopes of Mount Fuji. He is befriended by Dr. Umon, a noted scientist who oversees a research laboratory (called the Space Science Lab) and owns a small ranch. The kindly Umon takes in the young alien as his son, under the assumed name of Daisuke, and assists him in hiding Grendizer. A rough two years later, Kouji Kabuto returns to Japan after studying abroad in a flying saucer he personally designed and built (called the TFO). He heads to the Space Science Lab after hearing of multiple sightings of "flying saucers". He plans to contact the aliens if possible and make peace with them. Daisuke, however, scoffs at the notion and fears that these aliens: the Vegans, led by generals Blaki and Gandal, are ready to attack Earth. Kouji ignores his warnings and flies out to meet the incoming saucers, only to discover the horrible truth. In order to save Koji and protect his adoptive homeworld from destruction, Daisuke is forced to return to his true identity as Duke Fleed. He unearths Grendizer from its hiding place under the lab and launches.
The Vegans establish a base on the dark side of the moon and start to attack Earth from there. As the show progresses, Kouji discovers Duke Fleed’s true identity and their bitter rivalry soon turns to friendship. The daughter of Danbei Makiba (the man who runs Umon’s ranch), Hikaru, also discovers Daisuke’s secret and becomes a pilot in order to assist him despite his objections. Later on, it is revealed that there were two more survivors from the planet Fleed, Duke’s younger sister Maria Grace Fleed and a man who had rescued her and fled to Earth, raising her under the guise of her grandfather. Caught in a crossfire between Grendizer and a Vegan beast, he reveals to Maria that she is the last survivor of the royal family of Fleed (under the belief that Duke was killed) before dying from his wounds. Maria swears revenge on Grendizer and its pilot. She tries to ambush Duke, Kouji & Hikaru at the Space Science Lab, but the fight was short lived. Maria’s attacks brought the Duke’s necklace (which is the same as the one she wore) into view and the truth was revealed. The lost siblings were reunited at last and Maria becomes the last addition to the team.
Near the end, it is shown that Duke Fleed was engaged to King Vega’s daughter, Princess Rubina, prior to the attack on Fleed. When Rubina discovers that planet Fleed was no longer polluted with Vegatron radiation and that her fiancé was alive and well, she rushed to Earth to bring him the good news. Unfortunately, one of King Vega’s generals used this opportunity to ambush Duke Fleed, and Rubina was killed when she took a shot aimed at Duke. This made Duke even more determined to wipe out the Vegan menace once and for all.
When the Vegans’ moon base was destroyed by Vegatron radiation, King Vega had no choice but to gather his remaining forces and make an all-out attack on Earth. Duke and company went out to intercept them before they reached Earth in Grendizer and the newly designed space combat Spazers. After a fierce battle, they finally manage to destroy the Vegan mothership along with King Vega himself. Soon afterwards Duke and Maria bid a tearful farewell to Earth and return to help reconstruct planet Fleed.
Production Edit
The original concept was shown in a 1975 30-minute pilot movie War of the Flying Saucers. The movie had the same basic plot, with a few changes: Daisuke appears as the Professor's biological son, the enemy was Princess Teronna from Planet Yarban, and the robot's original name was Gattaiger (gattai = Japanese for "combine"). The series, which started later the same year, is considered another sequel to the Mazinger series, partly because of the inclusion of Mazinger Z's pilot Koji Kabuto, and having giant robots, which made it a "Super Robot" mecha anime.
A lot of speculation has been made about the two half-turns executed when the pilot passes from the ship mode to the robot mode. Once asked about it, Go Nagai answered that "Duke being suspicious, he always checks that no one is following him", but it can be assumed that he was joking, leaving the mystery unsolved and strange explanations abound (one being that Grendizer originally needed a crew; Dr Umon managed to create a computer able to automate most of the missing crew's capabilities, but due to data storage space shortage of the time, the pilot had to turn the data tape when switching mode...).
The Grendizer robot and Daisuke have been included in two short Go Nagai cross-over features: UFO Robot Grendizer vs. Great Mazinger, and Great Mazinger, Grendizer, Getter Robo G: Decisive Showdown! Great Sea Beast..
Grendizer is best remembered as one of the first anime shows to have a huge success in Europe and Canada, particularly in France and Quebec (known as Goldorak), Italy and Malta (known as Goldrake), where it holds a strong following even today. Grandizer was also one of the most popular anime series ever shown in Arabic countries. (All the episodes were shown in these countries. It is interesting to note that the Arabic version was identical to the Japanese one, the names remained the same.)
Twenty-six episodes of Grendizer were shown on American TV as part of the multi-mecha show Force Five, out of the total of 74 in the original series. Many character's names were changed: Grendizer spelling was changed to Grandizer, Duke Fleed was Orion Quest, and then changed his name to Johnny Bryant; Planet Fleed's name was changed to Antares, and so on. This corresponds to the first season and story arc (ending with the death of one of the main villains, who is replaced afterwards). Although Mazinger Z was later imported to the United States, Kouji Kabuto's character appearing in both Tranzor Z and Grandizer was not acknowledged.
DVD releases Edit
The licensed dubbed version for some French-speaking countries was officially announced in 2006. In 2005, a major crisis led Toei to take legal actions against DVD customers, all French megastores, and two major French anime publishers in France, Belgium, Swiss and Luxembourg. The crisis started with the official release of unlicensed Goldorak DVD by Manga Distribution and Déclic Image websites and on E-bay. By November 28th 2005 the Manga Distribution and Déclic Images publishers were sentenced to pay 7.200.000€ to Toei and Dynamic Planning for selling unlicensed DVD boxset.
Upcoming section material:
