R1 Giant Robo Vol 1 & 2
I've given considerable thought on how to start this review and this is how I can best sum up the experience of watching the first two volumes of the 1992 OAV Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still…
Giant Robo kicks you flat on your ass. Picks you up. Dusts you off. Asks if you're okay. And then kicks you on your ass again. And repeat.
Giant Robo from AnimeWorks is heroism at its peak. Its a large scale tale of heroism and villainy! Villains and Heroes square off and entire city blocks disappear into dust. Casualties of the conflict amass on a pandemic scale. It is a relentless onslaught of action and emotion and it wants to come to your living room and kick you flat on your ass as well.
The Experts of Justice, a crack team of super powered crime fighters, are out to stop the evil organization Big Fire from bringing the world to ruin. The story takes place in a future earth where a clean energy source, the Shizuma Drive, has replaced all other forms of energy. The idea that true beauty can only emerge out of the ashes of destruction rings true here: the creation of the Shizuma Drive started amid a disastrous explosion leveling the laboratory where the drive was created and the fictional city of Bashtarlle, killing one of the five scientists working on the project, Dr. Franken von Volger [A character hybrid of Dr. Frankentstein, Abler Emanuel Vogler in Ingmar Bergman's 1958 film The Magician and Dr. Frank N. Furter of The Rocky Horror Picture Show].
The story starts ten years later as Big Fire and Dr. Volger's son, Emmanuel, are exacting revenge on the world and the remaining four scientists. Aiming to protect the last surviving scientist, The Experts of Justice, including the story's main character - a young boy named Daisaku Kusama - and his titular giant robot, discover dark secrets of past events and attempt to bring an end to Emmanuel's evil plot to destroy the world. One question emerges throughout the course of the story in the first two volumes: Can happiness be achieved without sacrifice? Daisaku struggles with this question, a question asked of him by his dying father before he handed over control of Giant Robo to his son. The theme of family runs strong through the story for other characters as well, including Emmanuel and Ginrei who are still dealing with the death of their father ten years earlier. Giant Robo is a highly emotional series brought about not only by the swelling action but also by the deep humanity potrayed by each character as events unfold in each episode.
Animation: It's just gorgeous. I imagine it does not sway from the artistic style of the period of manga from which this series has its roots. The animation style of Giant Robo reminds me of the anime I watched when I was a kid during the 70s and 80s and anime series from the 60s and 70s were just making their way over to our shores. Its vibrant and full of color. The detail in some shots is astounding. The character and production design is awesome. Everything just looks really cool. The video was digitally remastered and restored so everything looks crisp and clean as well.
Characters: This is what really sells this series. First, you should know that all the characters were taken from original manga written by Giant Robo creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama [Water Margin, Wolf Constellation, Tetsujin 28-go, Giant Robo, Babel II, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Mars, Sally the Witch and Seven Shadows of Kagemaru]. Each character is awesome! The villains are truly dangerous and the heroes are valiant in word and deed. But nothing is what it seems and plot twists keep you guessing throughout the series. But I love a series where the characters have there own identities and you don't have to depend on hair style and color to tell them apart. The only question I have is where the heck does Ginrei keep her guns? Big guns. Small white dress. Ah, the joys of impossible anime physics.
Music: The music is by the Poland National Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and written by Masamichi Amano. The soundtrack is comprised of rolling pieces of music that you would feel belong in a great music hall of some Norse mythological opera. The music compliments the massive scope and scale of the anime series. The theme and feel of Giant Robo cannot be accompanied by sugar pop or techno. It is a classically sensed anime series and it needs a classically sensed score to build the tension and give greater sense to the overwhelming energy.
Sound: Dual audio Japanese and English presented in 5.1 with English Subtitles. Episode 1 has commentary by the voice actors for Daisaku and Ginrei. Episode 3 has commentary by the Episode Director and the Animation Director. Episode 5 has commentary by Amano, the composer of the brilliant soundtrack, and the sound coordinator of the series. The English soundtrack isn't so bad for those unable to cope with the original audio and English subtitles.
Should you own Giant Robo. Yes you should. There have been other giant robot series that followed this one but you will be hard pressed to find one that invokes such an emotional interaction with the story line and the characters. The action is awesome and the drama and sacrifices are moving. Aided by fantastic old school production design and one of the best anime scores you will ever hear Giant Robo is an awesome tale of heroism and adventure. And though my research has somewhat revealed some of the plot twists at the end of the series I hope to have Volume 3 in my hands soon so I may know how this stunning series draws to a close.
Research for this review was aided by Patrick Drazen's book Anime Explosion!
