Demon Dragon of the Heavens Gaiking (大空魔竜ガイキング Daikū Maryū Gaikingu?) 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.
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 Nagai.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 Robot 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 planetZela 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.
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 Robot 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 planetZela 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.
Mecha
Gaiking
A mysterious mecha with a Daikū Maryū's head on its chest. The unit was piloted by a baseball 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.
Gaiking
A mysterious mecha with a Daikū Maryū's head on its chest. The unit was piloted by a baseball 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.
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 Plesiosaur (called Dynatar in the English version). It is used for aquatic reconnaissance missions. It could fire lasers or fire from its eyes.
A miniature robot located inside the Daikū Maryū that looks like a Plesiosaur (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.
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 Triceratops. (Called Rhinatar in the English version) It was used for scout missions on land. Very fast on land, it used lasers for attack.
A miniature scout robot located inside Daikū Maryū, which resembles a Triceratops. (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 Kamiya
Doctor Daimonji (大文字博士)
Hidekatsu Shibata
Fan Li
Kan Tokumaru
Gen Sakon (左近元)
Shunji Yamada(Keaton Yamada)
Bunta Hayami (速水文太)
Kenichi Ogata
Peter Richardson
Makio Inoue
Midori Fujiyama (藤山みどり)
Mami Koyama
Yamagakake (山ヶ岳)
Osamu Kato
Hachirō (八郎)
Noriko Tsukase
Guest
Erica
Noriko Ohara
Sanshirō Tsuwabuki (石蕗三四郎)
Akira Kamiya
Doctor Daimonji (大文字博士)
Hidekatsu Shibata
Fan Li
Kan Tokumaru
Gen Sakon (左近元)
Shunji Yamada(Keaton Yamada)
Bunta Hayami (速水文太)
Kenichi Ogata
Peter Richardson
Makio Inoue
Midori Fujiyama (藤山みどり)
Mami Koyama
Yamagakake (山ヶ岳)
Osamu Kato
Hachirō (八郎)
Noriko Tsukase
Guest
Erica
Noriko Ohara
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 Z, 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.
Game appearances
The original Gaiking first appeared in New Super Robot Wars for the PlayStation and later in Super Robot Wars Alpha 2 and Super Robot Wars Alpha 3, both for the PlayStation 2.
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The Daiku Maryu Gaiking series was born as the first original robotic work by Toei Animation. Before that, the robotic anime produced by Toei Animation were based on drafts and ideas provided by Go Nagai and his company Dynamic Productions (Dynamic Planning), but Daiku Maryu Gaiking was born as a project from scratch without a reference manga. The first proposal was formulated by Toei, who hired Takeshi Tamiya to develop a draft and select the production staff[5]. The draft of the story thought up by Kunio Nakatani, pseudonym of Mitsuru Kaneko, who was also recognized by Toei as the original author of the series, was chosen, while the character design was based on the ideas of Akio Sugino, and the mecha design was based on the ideas of Dan Kobayashi. Dynamic Planning appears in the opening credits of the Japanese opening credits for the first twenty-two episodes of the series as a collaboration for the creation of some drawings of the Black Monsters. It is said that Dynamic also proposed his idea for the Gaiking robot, but Toei instead chose the idea of another Toei staff member (Dan Kobayashi). The collaboration ended from episode 23 of the series onwards, and it turns out that the problems between Go Nagai and Toei Animation were mainly related to the dispute over the foreign rights to Mazinger Z. This led to Go Nagai and Dynamic's departure from Toei towards other companies such as Knack. At Napoli Comicon 2007, in response to a question from the audience about Gaiking, Go Nagai replied that the question posed would raise several problems with Toei Animation, from which Go Nagai now feels disconnected, no longer considering the idea his own (by virtue of the choices made by Toei) (full transcript of the interview https://web.archive.org/web/20070623024355/http://guide.dada.net/cartoni_animati/interventi/2007/05/295347.shtml). There are several manga versions of the Daiku Maryu Gaiking anime by Megumu Matsumoto (Akira Oze), Yuji Hosoi, Takeshi Koshiro, Yoshihiro Morito and Yuzo Matsumoto which tell alternative versions of the events narrated in the television series. In 2005, a reboot series titled Gaiking - Legend of Daiku-Maryu. (abbreviated as “Gaiking LOD”) was made which pays homage to the classic 1976 series with references and homages but still tells a new story. In the opening credits of the Gaiking LOD series, Mitsuru Kaneko (MK Co.) is once again confirmed as the original author. A computer graphics film based on the series was announced but unfortunately never made.
ReplyDeletet's now all too common to read online that Go Nagai deliberately claimed to be the creator of Gaiking at Napoli Comicon 2007. In reality, however, in the official transcript of the interview he gave while answering questions from the audience (which you can find here: https://web.archive.org/web/20070623024355/http://guide.dada.net/cartoni_animati/interventi/2007/05/295347.shtml), he explicitly stated that the matter raised long-standing and complex issues with Toei Animation, from which Go Nagai now feels estranged and no longer considers himself. This is due to the choices made by Toei, which rejected Dynamic's idea for the robot and instead chose Dan Kobayashi's. Toei's distancing itself stems from the fact that Go Nagai had sued Toei for the rights to Mazinger Z, and that Toei subsequently decided to produce its own works. More details are available in the Italian book "Gaiking la leggenda continua".
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