Golgo 13, part 4

Golgo 13's name is derived from the 13th hill of Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified.
As the writer did not know if a dark character and anti-hero themes would catch on, Golgo 13 laughed, made funny jokes, and displayed more emotion in earlier episodes.
Golgo 13 rarely shakes hands with others to avoid the risk of his right arm being harmed in any way.
He refuses to take a job if the contractor does not explain the reasons for contracting the hit (perhaps a plot device to allow background explanation).
Golgo 13 has never on any occasion referred to or introduced himself to others as "Golgo 13". On the occasion that he does have to introduce himself, it is usually with an alias.
He does not allow anyone to contact him twice, nor does he "report back" after a successful hit.
The first animated Golgo 13 movie was released in 1983 and called simply Golgo 13. During its releases in the U.S. it was given the title The Professional: Golgo 13. This is not to be confused with the live-action film The Professional which also had a hitman as a protagonist.
Both live action Golgo 13 films were produced by Toei Co. Ltd. In the rarely seen first live action film, Golgo 13, produced in 1973, he was portrayed by actor Ken Takakura. In the second live action film, Kowloon Assignment, produced in 1977, Golgo 13 was portrayed by actor and martial artist Sonny Chiba.
Golgo 13 was in two video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System: Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode and The Mafat Conspiracy: Golgo 13 II, Golgo 13 also appeared in a light gun arcade game that was released only in Japan.
His distinct visual style (his hair, grim expression) were reportedly the inspiration for Masahiro Chono's reinvention of his wrestling persona.
Takao Saito is also the author of the 4 issue James Bond manga that was published in 1964.
He had a slight Cameo in the Anime/Manga Gantz as the Sniper Dude in the third game

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Golgo 13, part 3

In 1989 and 1990, Lead Publishing returned with two new Golgo 13 comic books, this time in association with Vic Tokai as part of the promotion of the two Golgo 13 video games produced by them for the NES: Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode, released in 1988 and The Mafat Conspiracy, released in 1990. The comics were released to the US public via a mail-in offer with the purchase of the games and were later even found packaged with the video games. Each issue contained one complete story and had nothing to do with the storylines of the video games themselves.

No.1: The Impossible Hit (1971)- Golgo 13 kills a financier with Mafia connections in Manhattan but is soon hounded by detectives when the single shell casing from the bullet used in the killing is found!
No.2: Hopper The Border (1971)- Swiss authorities hire Golgo 13 to kill a criminal who is well-known for smuggling people on the run out of Switzerland.
In 1991, Lead Publishing returned once again with another Golgo 13 series, now released by VIZ Media, formerly VIZ comics, under the title, The Professional: Golgo 13. This series ran for only 3 issues and featured a 3-part story called The Argentine Tiger.

The Argentine Tiger- In 1982, in the middle of the Falklands War, the British government hires Golgo 13 to assassinate the ex-president of Argentina, Juan Perón, who was supposedly dead but is alive in Buenos Aires.

In January 2006, Golgo 13 was brought back by VIZ Media in their Viz Signature collection. These volumes of the Golgo 13 manga are taken not in order of their release, but in a seemingly arbitrary way that is decided by Viz Media and will feature 2 complete stories and a dossier titled "File 13" explaining the inner workings and machinations of the Golgo 13 character. These volumes are also advertised under the moniker "13 volumes of Golgo 13's greatest hits."

The first volume is entitled Golgo 13: Supergun.

Story #364, The Gun at Am Shara, May 1997
In 1997, the US government hires Golgo 13 to stop Saddam Hussein from reactivating Project Babylon, a supergun able to hurl a missile from an extremely long range.

Story #144, Hit And Run, April 1979
A private investigator in San Francisco plots vengeance on a crime boss responsible for his fiancé getting hurt in a hit and run accident by making him believe he's hired freelance assassin Golgo 13 to kill him.

In April 2006, VIZ media released the second volume, entitled Golgo 13: Hydra.

Story #290, The Deaths of June 3rd, October 1990
In 1989, Golgo 13 goes to Tianamen Square in the middle of the massive student protests to assassinate a Tibetan activist.

Story #88, Hydra, October 1974
Once again in the employ of the CIA, Golgo 13 must infiltrate a Corsican mafia drug ring operating in Marseille and kill their chemist known as Doctor Z. This storyline was also used as a basis for part of the first anime film.

In June 2006, the third volume was released, entitled Golgo 13: Power To The People.

Story #333, Amandala Awethu: Power To the People, July 1994
After the fall of apartheid, newly-elected South African president Nelson Mandela hires Golgo 13 to stop a terrorist plot to bring the country into civil war.

Golgo 13 Special Edition Story #39, A Fierce Southern Current, April 1994
The ownership of an island in the South China Sea is disputed by a number of countries over the discovery of its rich oil reserves and an international finance company decides to use Golgo 13's name and financial assets to broker a deal with whichever country gains ownership, all unbeknownst to Golgo 13.

In August 2006, the fourth volume was released, entitled Golgo 13: The Orbital Hit.

Story #137, The Orbital Hit, September 1978
When a secret U.S. government spacecraft carrying a nuclear payload is damaged in orbit and its crew is killed, Golgo is recruited by President Gerald Ford to prevent the craft from interfering with the scheduled Apollo-Soyuz rendezvous.

Story #369, English Rose, November 1997
Golgo is recruited to assassinate Ahmad Al-Farid (a fictional take on Dodi Al-Fayed) while he is away from England with Princess Diana. He is explicitly ordered to make sure that Diana returns to England safely, but complications arise when another assassin is employed to kill her. The scenario is a heavily fictionalized take on the actual events surrounding the death of Princess Diana in 1997.

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Golgo 13, part 2

The origin of Golgo 13 is left in total mystery, his age and birthplace both completely unknown. Various episodes throughout the Golgo 13 series have tried answering this mystery, but all of the 'Origin Series' end with a note of uncertainty that never make sense if the story's theory was definitely true, and others end revealing that the theories were false. Some theories state that Golgo 13 is either: Japanese, Japanese-American, Chinese, Chinese-American, mixed Japanese and Russian, or of other mixed Asian descent. Some theories even suggest that he may be of former Manchurian or Central Asian descent, but these are deemed unlikely.

A few Golgo 13 stories were translated into English and released in the USA. In 1986, in collaboration with translator Patrick Connolly, Lead Publishing Co.,Ltd. (author Takao Saito's brother's company) released four trade paperback comics, each with 2 complete stories, called the Golgo 13 Graphic Novel Series:

No. 1: Into the Wolves' Lair (August 1986)
Into the Wolves' Lair- In 1982, the Israeli government hires Golgo 13 to rescue a Mossad agent and eliminate Neo-Nazis operating in Argentina under the leadership of Nazi war criminal Martin Bormann.

Fighting Back- In 1980, Soviet commandos pursue Golgo 13 after he assassinates a Soviet general in Afghanistan.

No. 2: Galinpero (October 1986)
Galinpero- In 1980, a peasant villager hires Golgo 13 to kill the Galinperos, a group of vicious criminals hiding out in the jungles of the Amazon Basin.

The One-Ten Angle- In 1983, the Saudi royal family hires Golgo 13 to find and execute the murderer of one of their own in New York.

No. 3: Ice Lake Hit (December 1986)
Ice Lake Hit- The CIA sends Golgo 13 to Canada to assassinate a CIA double agent, while Eastern Bloc intelligence agents try to stop him.

Machine Cowboy- A horse rancher hires Golgo 13 to hunt down horse thieves in Texas.

No. 4: The Ivory Connection (February 1987)
Ivory Connection- On behalf of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Golgo 13 hunts ivory poachers in Africa and faces the FNLA.

Scandal! The Unpaid Reward- The leader of a West German political party hires Golgo 13 to assassinate his political rival, to secure his lobby's bid for a defense contract with the government of West Germany.

These four books are out of print, and are very rare and hard to find.

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Golgo 13, part 1

Golgo 13 is a fictional assassin and is the lead protagonist in his own manga series, also titled Golgo 13, created by Japanese mangaka Takao Saito.

The Golgo 13 series is one of the longest running adult manga in Japan and has been adapted into two live action films (Golgo 13 and Golgo 13: Kûron no kubi), two anime movies directed by Osamu Dezaki, and three video games including Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode and its NES sequel, The Mafat Conspiracy: Golgo 13 II and a light gun arcade game released only in Japan. Since its debut in 1968, it has sold over 200 million copies in various formats, including compilation books.

Golgo 13 has been called a Japanese counterpart to James Bond, except with a darker character, a much more hardcore attitude towards sex, and a complete lack of morality. Golgo 13 is described as a mystery man of undetermined origin, possibility being at least part Japanese, who takes any assignment for any employer (it has been said he has worked for the CIA and the KGB) as long as the right price is given (usually around 1 million dollars for a hit) and will always fulfill his contracts, even if he has two or more opposing contracts at the same time. He is an uncanny sharpshooter, with near 100% accuracy (with only one missed shot) and capable of lethal trick shooting, and regularly uses a customized, scoped M-16 rifle in his assassinations. He also is a heavy smoker of cigars.

Despite Golgo's "amoral" status, the stories are always set up so that Golgo is at least nominally a "good guy" -- his targets are typically criminals or people who otherwise at least partially "deserve" what they get. There are no stories that involve completely innocent people being assassinated.

Particularly in the later volumes, Golgo himself tends to take a back seat to the other characters involved in the contract. It's not uncommon for Golgo to only appear in a single panel or two out of a 150-page story.

Two animated movies were created, The Professional: Golgo 13 and Golgo 13: Queen Bee. The Professional: Golgo 13 was once licensed by Orion and Streamline Pictures and now is licensed by Urban Vision. Queen Bee is also licensed by that same company and celebrity voice actor John DiMaggio (Bender of Futurama) plays the role of Golgo 13 in Queen Bee.

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Gloizer X

Gloizer X was an anime series that ran from from 1976 to 1977. There were 36 episodes in all. It is often referred to as "Gloyzer X" and "Groizer X".

The Gaira aliens, hidden in the Arctic, plan to conquer Earth. Captured and forced to work for the aliens, Dr. Yan creates the ultimate weapon, a transformable aerial robot called Gloizer X. Entrusted to his daughter Rita, Gloizer X escapes the clutches of the Gaira and lands in Japan, where pilot Jo Kaisaka meets a wounded Rita. Taking up the controls of Gloizer X, Jo and Rita fight against the Gaira invasion.

The anime was created by Go Nagai as a side project during the time he was busy with the various Mazinger series, Gloizer X nevertheless managed to be converted into a TV series. The robot transforms into a jet, while the show included intense battle sequences and aerial combat, it remained a secondary super robot series.

The original Gloizer X toyline are one of the very few super robot toys produced by Nakajima Manufacturing Company instead of the industry dominant Popy Pleasure.

Gloizer X was 100 meters tall and weighed 1200 tons.
While not being a great success in Japan, "Gloizer/Groizer X" had a considerable impact in Brazil, where it was aired under the name O Pirata do Espaço ("The Space Pirate") in 1984/1986 at the Manchete Network. Only two mecha animes were shown in the country, and "Groizer" was the only full-exhibited (the other one, Voltes V, had only five episodes aired there).

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Getter Robo G

Getter Robo G was a super robot anime series created by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa and produced by Toei Animation. This sequel to Getter Robo was broadcast on Fuji TV from May 15, 1975 to March 25, 1976, with a total of 39 episodes (some episodes were rebroadcast, giving the impression that there were 43 episodes).

People familiar with Mattel's popular Shogun Warriors toy collection will remember all three of Getter Robo G's robot formations in that toy line: Getter Dragon (Dragun), Getter Liger (Raider) and Getter Poseidon (Poseidon). As a result of the popularity of these toys in the US, Jim Terry included this series in his Force Five anime lineup under the title of Starvengers. The original Getter Robo series, however, has yet to appear in the US (although the Shin Getter Robo OVAs have appeared).

After the final defeat of the Dinosaur Empire and the death of Musashi Tomoe in the original Getter Robo anime series. Dr. Saotome, creator of Getter Robo fears that the peace the Getter Robo team has won will be short lived and that an even greater enemies would appear. Dr. Saotome's fears are justified when the militaristic Hyakki Empire appears, but Dr. Saotome is prepared with the creation of an even more powerful Getter Robo, Getter Robo G and a new Getter Robo base. Also with Musashi Tomoe dead, Dr. Saotome needs a third pilot which he finds in baseball player Benkei Kuruma.

Although the new Getter Robo G team basically had the original Getter Robo land, sea, air specialties each could now fly and had added specialties.

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Getter Robo

Getter Robo (ゲッターロボ - Gettâ Robo) is a Super Robot anime series created by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa and 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. This anime series featured the first heroic giant robot to combine from individual parts.

The plot involves three strong-willed teenagers: soccer player and martial artist Ryoma Nagare, rebel loner Hayato Jin and Judo master Musashi Tomoe, who pilot three specially designed combat jets which can be combined together in different forms to form three different kinds of giant robots, Getter-1 (used for aerial combat), Getter-2 (for land-based conflicts), and Getter-3 (for undersea battles). They were assembled by Prof. Saotome, who conceived the Getter Robo project as a means of deep-space exploration, but became instead Earth's first line of defense against the Dinosaur Empire, which is a civilization of reptile-like humanoids, who evolved from the now-extinct dinosaurs that roamed the earth millions of years ago. They have lived many years underground, and they now want to reclaim the Earth as theirs and destroy humanity.

The series was groundbreaking in the anime mecha genre: for the very first time, it introduced the concept of separate machines combining to form a Super Robot. Using three jets, Getter Robo could combine in three different ways to create three different versions of Getter Robo for different conditions and situations. This idea was originally discussed during the creation process for Mazinger Z (the first Super Robot to be piloted internally), but was dropped and then developed for Getter Robo. This combination idea proved to be a very powerful concept that has been used in the super robot genre ever since. Also, by adding three pilots to the robot was able to add an element of teen drama, probably influenced by the already popular anime sci-fi team show Gatchaman or G-force (better known in the U.S. as Battle of the Planets).

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Daikū Maryū Gaiking

Daikū Maryū Gaiking (Japanese:大空魔竜ガイキング; In English "Great Sky Demon Dragon Gaiking") was a Super Robot mecha anime series produced by Toei Animation on an original idea by Akio Sugino (not Go Nagai, contrary to legend, even though his company, Dynamic Productions, co-produced the show from Episode 22 on, but he had no direct involvement), which 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. Gaiking was part of Jim Terry's Force Five anthology series.

The story chronicled the battle between the crew of the semi-transformable carrier Daikū Maryū (also called the Kargosaur) and the Super Robot Gaiking against an invading race of aliens from the planet Zela, whose home planet is facing destruction by a black hole. 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 a baseball star named Sanshiro Tsuwabuki (Sanshiro's name was changed to Aries Astonopolis for the English version of the show 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"). It 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 Darius, and all of their ships and mecha were fish-shaped, which most likely inspired the Darius series of video games.

Gaiking is 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 & 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). Daikū Maryū Gaiking was aired also in Italy, on the local networks, under the name Gaiking.

A new Gaiking series ("Gaiking: Legend of Daiku-Maryu") premiered on TV Asahi on November 12th 2005 (replacing Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo). This version, also produced by Toei, features a completely different story and main character, However, some of the names are very similar to the original series. Both Daiku Maryu and Gaiking have similar designs to the originals; Gaiking's torso is still skull shaped and the support machines come from Daiku Maryu and the open face form of Gaiking is a tribute to the old Gaiking. This series ended September 24, 2006 with the 39th episode.

5 years ago, the main character Daiya Tsuwabuki was on a fishing trip with his father when giant monsters attacked. Daiya was saved by the crew of Daiku Maryu. Present Day, Daiya believes that his father is still alive but no one is prepared to believe him, even his own mother. But when the same monsters attack the city Daiya becomes the pilot of Gaiking and joins Daiku Maryu as they go to the world of Darius to stop them from taking over the surface world.

Despite the similarity in family name, Daiya and Sanshiro from the original Gaiking are NOT related at all.

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Devilman, part 4

The cast of Devilman, including Akira, Miki, Ryo Asuka, and Silene, also crossed over with characters from Mazinger Z and Violence Jack in the 1991 OVA CB Chara Go Nagai World, also released in the Italian market as Il pazzo mondo di Go Nagai. This release featured the familiar characters in comical and lighthearted antics, in squashed-down "super deformed" form ("CB" in the title may refer to "chibi", a Japanese term meaning "little" or "small").

The rich story line in Devilman, in the opinion of several readers of manga, made it stand apart from other manga of the time. However, its extreme violence made it a major target of protest for the PTA and other groups. Still, the story has become a classic in Japan and has even been working its way through the U. S. over the past decade or so. The manga has been translated into English, although the only piece of Devilman anime to have been commercially released in America is the two-part late 1980s OVA.

Interestingly, Go Nagai is said to have been highly shocked that his giant-robot work Mazinger Z, which was on Japanese TV at the same time as Devilman and which he originally did not take very seriously, far surpassed Devilman in popularity. The reason was that he had worked especially hard on Devilman and only made Mazinger as a way to blow off steam.

In an essay written three decades after the debut of the original manga and TV series, Nagai commented that he designed Devilman as an anti-war work. According to Nagai, the fusion of humans and demons is an analogy for the draft, and Miki's gruesome death parallels the death of peace. "There is no justice in war, any war," wrote Nagai, "nor is there any justification for human beings killing one another. Devilman carries a message of warning, as we step toward a bright future." [See: http://www.devilworld.org/revelations.html.]

Akira Fudo/Devilman and other characters from the series have shown up in cameo appearances numerous times in other Go Nagai works. Most notable is Tomoharu Katsumata's 1973 feature film Mazinger Z vs. Devilman (Majinga Z tai Debiruman), which featured Devilman teaming up with Nagai's titular robot to fight Dr. Hell. The original Devilman TV series itself featured cameos from Mazinger Z's Yumi Sayaka (a.k.a. "Jessica" in the American version, TranZor Z), in episodes 27 and 33.

Akira has appeared in various incarnations of Cutey Honey, most notably the 1994 OVA Shin Cutey Honey. Episode one features gargoyles of Amon and other demons. Devilman appears as a guitarist in episode three, and Akira himself shows up later on to team up with Honey. In addition, the second opening sequence to the OAV featured a brief cameo of Akira fighting Silene the Demon Bird. Hideaki Anno's Re: Cutey Honey featured cameos by Akira and Miki in their trademark clothing from the original TV series, as well as Himura, a villain from the TV series.

Devilman, part 3

Also in 2000, Amon: Apocalypse of Devilman was released as a pay-per-view event in Japan and later released on video and DVD. Perhaps the most violent of all the anime incarnations of the franchise, it covers the period between the humans becoming aware of demons and the final battle between Devilman and Satan. It has also spawned a video game for the PlayStation. (One other Devilman video game was previously released for the Nintendo Famicom in 1989, and characters from the series have also been featured in other video games such as Banpresto's Battle Dodgeball and the Dynamic Robot Wars series. None of these games have been released in North America.)

Many other manga titles were created later on including Shin Devilman (which replaced the entire third volume of the original manga in later editions), Neo Devilman and Amon: The Darkside of the Devilman. Several other books have been published dedicated to Devilman over the last 35 years.

In 2004, a tokusatsu Devilman movie using CGI effects was released. Unfortunately, it was universally rejected in Japan, even by Devilman fans. As a consequence, it won Grand Prize in Japan's Bunshun Kiichigo Awards (the Japanese version of the Razzie Awards, which are given to the worst movie of the year).

Go Nagai also released a manga series called Violence Jack. The series takes place during the aftermath of Armageddon and the battle between Satan and Devilman. This series became an OVA anime in 1986, and was released in the U. S. sometime during the 1990s in an edited version by Manga Video and an uncensored release by Critical Mass.

In 1997, Go Nagai revamped the series and created Devilman Lady (Devil Lady in the U. S.). Devil Lady is based on Go Nagai's idea of "What if the main character was a woman?" The story takes a different approach to the story presented in its Devilman counterpart. In Devil Lady, a woman named Jun Fudo learns that she has the power to transform into a being known as a "devilman" or "Devil Beast". A woman named Ran Asuka shows up and explains to her that her "powers" or "gifts" are actually believed to be somewhat of a disease known as the "Devil Beast Syndrome". It is even stated that these "devilmen" are actually the next step in human evolution as a means of survival. The story became very popular and was made into an anime series in 1998. The series consists of 26 episodes and was released in the U. S. during late 2002 and early 2003. The Devil Lady series is very popular and contains its own original story that stands out from the Devilman series.

Devilman, part 2

The storyline of the TV series is markedly different from that of the manga and of the OVAs. Akira and his father are killed while mountain climbing in the Himalayas, and Devilman chooses Akira's body as a cover to disguise himself. Although Devilman takes the form of Akira Fudo, Akira as he was before is completely gone, and the being occupying his body is purely Devilman. Devilman's mission is to cause death and destruction on Earth to pave the way for a demonic invasion of the human world. However, when he moves in with the Makimuras, he finds himself attracted to Miki's tough, no-nonsense ways, and is thus distracted from his mission. The lord of the demons sends forth a succession of demons to eliminate the distraction by killing Miki, and Devilman/Akira resolves to fight to protect Miki. In the TV series, Devilman's motives for fighting are much less altruistic than in the manga or the later OVAs - he fights only to protect the woman he loves and for nothing more. The TV series also had more comedy than the manga or later anime incarnations of the franchise, especially after Lala's debut.

Devilman evolved from a previous manga titled Mao Dante (Demon Lord Dante) after Toei Animation approached Go about turning Dante into a television series. The producers wanted certain elements toned down, and a more human-like anti-hero created. Devilman was born as a result of this; Go Nagai worked on the anime's scenario along with Masaki Tsuji, a well-known anime scenario writer and a highly successful and regarded novelist of several mystery fictions. Along with the television series, Devilman was also produced as a serialized manga in Shukan Shonen Magazine over 53 issues beginning in 1972. Go Nagai designed the manga to be more horror-like and mature than the anime version. It was later reprinted in a five-volume series, and has enjoyed over a dozen reprints and in five different languages. The manga's extreme violence and excellent story line made it an instant hit.

The anime series was 39 episodes long and ran from July 1972 to March 1973 on NET (now TV Asahi). The series sported some differences from the manga (the character of Ryo Asuka wasn't created until Go started working on the manga after he finished working on the anime), but was still very popular. Both the anime and the manga also vary on the ending; while the anime series had a bittersweet open-ended finale, the manga had a tragic ending. Rather surprisingly given its level of violence, the Devilman TV series was also broadcast on TV in Italy in the 1980s.

Two OVAs (Original Video Animation) were released in 1987 and 1990. These videos were what Go Nagai originally intended the first anime series to be like, since the censors made him tone the series down back in 1972 because of its extreme violence. The late Kazuo Komatsubara, an animation director on the original TV series, returned for the OVAs as character designer. The videos revolve around Akira's transformation into Devilman up until his battle with Silene (also called Sirene, Siron, Shiranu or Shienru). The OVAs are well animated and, other than a few minor alterations, are faithful to the original manga, and were released in the U. S. during the mid 1990s on video by L.A. Hero, and then on DVD in 2000 by Manga Entertainment. The U. S. DVD release, much to the consternation of many American Devilman fans, is English redub only and does not include the original Japanese audio track, whereas the series was released in both subtitled and dubbed form on VHS. The OVAs remain the only Devilman anime to have been commercially released in the United States.

Devilman, part 1

Devilman (デビルマン, Debiruman?) is the title of a popular manga and anime created by Go Nagai, as well as the name of the main character of the manga and anime. Devilman began as a manga in Kodansha's Shonen Magazine and a 39-episode anime TV series in 1972, and has since spawned numerous other anime, manga and film spinoffs.

A long time ago, the Earth was ruled by demons. The demons constantly fought each other for survival. They soon found themselves fighting a new race of beings. These beings were the first humans. The demons then became imprisoned in ice after a great cataclysm. They would remain there until the ice melted. Satan would then rise up and lead them in Armageddon. That time has come in Go Nagai's Devilman.

Devilman is about a teenager named Akira Fudo. At first, Akira is very modest, avoids conflict, and is very gentle. When his parents are lost on a business trip, Akira goes to stay with his childhood friend Miki Makimura; both soon form a close relationship as the story progresses. Miki, a tough, smart, self-sufficient girl, loves Akira but wishes that he would stand up for himself when he gets pushed around and is frustrated by his lack of a backbone. She often has to defend herself from bullies even when Akira is with her; in the OVA version, she rescues Akira from a gang of bullies who are threatening him.

One day, Akira's best friend, Ryo Asuka, shows up and completely changes Akira's life. Ryo's father had discovered the existence of demons when he found a mask during an excavation of the ruins of an ancient Mayan temple. This mask turned out to be a fossilized demon skull which showed whom ever wore it what the world was like when demons ruled over it. Ryo shows Akira how the world was and informs him about the demons' revival. Akira then sees Ryo's plan, "To fight a demon, one must become a demon."

Demons have the ability to possess and control humans. However, Ryo believes that Akira may be able to harness a demon's powers when possessed due to the fact that Akira has a pure heart. Ryo takes Akira to a demonic nightclub and begins to bring out the demons in the club. The demons begin to attack Akira until he becomes possessed by Amon. Amon is the Lord of War and also one of the strongest demons. His possession of Akira causes Akira to transform into Devilman. Devilman contains the strength and power of the demon Amon, as well as the heart and soul of the human Akira Fudo, giving Akira complete control. After he becomes Devilman, Akira is no longer timid and shy. He becomes very aggressive and no longer lets anyone push him around. This new change pleases Miki, although she is unaware of Akira's new found powers (and although, in the TV series, she often has to step in to stop Akira when his temper gets out of control).

Throughout the manga and anime, Devilman has many battles with the demon hordes. He encounters many foes such as Silene (Sirene, Siron and Shirenu) the demon bird (she was also Amon's lover before he possessed Akira), the water demon Geruma (also called Gelmer), a large turtle-like demon called Jinmen, Welvath, Kaim, Zannin, Zan, Zenon (Zenon is basically Satan's right-hand, and strongest, demon), Psycho Jenny, Lala (a demon in the TV series who transformed herself into a beautiful young woman and attempted, unsuccessfully, to seduce Akira), and Saylos (Saylos is one of the main villains in the movie Amon: Apocalypse of Devilman).

The story ends with Akira discovering that his friend Ryo is really Satan in a dormant state. After Miki and her whole family are brutally slain by a horde (in a particularly famous scene, Akira retrieves Miki's dismembered body from her burned house and later is seen holding her head in his arms), the final fight between Devilman and Satan ensues. The earth is totally destroyed during this battle, and Devilman dies at the hands of Satan. Satan regrets what's he had done, and then creates the Slumking to punish him for what he did to his beloved Akira. This leads it onto the related series Violence Jack.

Demetan Croaker, The Boy Frog

Kerokko Demetan (Japanese: けろっこデメタン, English Demetan Croaker, The Boy Frog also know as Demetan the Frog, The Brave Frog) is 39 episode anime series by Tatsunoko Productions first aired in 1973. The story is about Demetan poor young frog becomes friends with a girl frog named Ranatan and together they go through many life learning adventures. Like many other 1970s anime series such as Candy Candy series, Heidi, Girl of the Alps series, and Cat's Eye series, Kerokko Demetan was not officially translated in English and because of this it was unable to reach an English audience. Like Candy Candy and Heidi, Girl of the Alps series the only incarnation of the series to reach the English language was a dub of a 1973 feature-length movie adaptation of the TV series(the movie was made of scenes from the TV series), released on VHS in the United States in 1985 (the first two episodes of the Candy Candy series were also translated, but for unkown reasons the rest of the series was not translated)titled The Brave Frog. Recently the movie was released on DVD in 1999.

Despite the fact that the series was not officially translated in English, the series like the Candy and Heidi series became very popular in other continents such as: Asia, Europe (particularly in France where the entire series was recently was released on DVD), and Latin America were the series was dubbed in multiple languages such as Japanese, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Arabic, and Spanish.

Demetan Croaker, The Boy Frog is an anime series made of 39 episodes of thirty-minutes each. The story is about Demetan a young boy frog that comes from a poor family that he cannot even go to school in his woodland pond community. However, he becomes a friend of a girl frog named Ranatan, a lovely, gentle frog girl who is the daughter of the pond's rich ruler. Naturally her father is quite displeased by this relationship and he seeks to break it up. Nevertheless the young frogs continue with courage and confidence, not only to live their own lives but to guide the heartless leopard frog to a sense of justice and generosity. Gradually the pond community responds to their sincerity and joins them in a march toward a bright future.

Kerokko Demetan is one of the few anime series that does not have a specific English title. Some of the titles used to name this series are:Child Frog Demetan, Demetan Croaker, The Boy Frog, Demetan the Frog, and The Brave Frog.
There was a movie of Demetan released in the USA on DVD and VHS titled "The Brave Frog." The movie was a compilation movie made of scenes from the animated series.

Future Robo Daltanius

Future Robo Daltanius (Japanese: 未来ロボ ダルタニアス) was an anime series that aired from 1979 to 1980. There were 47 episodes. Alternate spellings include "Daltanius", "Dartanius", and "Daltanias".

It is the year 1995. Earth has been conquered by an alien army from the Saar cluster known as the Akron. The cities of Earth have been destroyed, and the remaining survivors live in harsh shanty towns and villages. Kento, a war orphan, hides within a cave along with his companions in order to escape some bandits. In the cave, they find the secret base of Dr. Earl, who was an inhabitant of the planet Helios, a planet conquered by the Akron. Dr. Earl then fled to Earth, bringing with him the greatest achievement in Helian technology: the super robot Daltanius, whose power is increased when combined with the intelligent lion robot, Beralios. Dr. Earl entrusts the fight for Earth to Kenta, who happens to be a descendant from the long disappeared Helian royal line.

Tadao Nagahama had a heavy influence in the artistic style and direction of the show. The style resembles that of Voltes V and Combattler V.

The main attraction super robot, Daltanius, was formed with 3 components: the main robot, Atlaus; the space ship, Gunper; and the mechanical lion, Beralios, which was recovered after the first battle with Akron.

The Japanese Mirai Robo Daltanius series was originally planned to be adapted by World Events Productions as one act of the Voltron: Defender of the Universe series in the United States and abroad. Unlike the ill-fated Light Speed Electric God Albegas conversion (which never even materialized, due to the lower ratings of the Dairugger XV Voltron run), the pilot episode of Daltanius was actually translated and dubbed into English, and adapted to fit the Voltron mythos. This pilot episode was test-marketed by World Events in locales such as Hawaii (and, reportedly, San Francisco), but was never again re-broadcast after these airings.

One factor which led to the scuttling of these plans was the intention to have the three-act Voltron trilogy (similar to Robotech's three-act adapted structure) consist of Daltanius (whose robot featured a lion-component on its chest), Dairugger XV (the "Vehicle Voltron"), and Albegas ("Gladiator Voltron"). When requesting master tapes from Toei Animation for translation purposes, the World Events producers mentioned that they should be sent "[The] ones with the lion." Mistakenly, Toei then proceeded to ship World Events copies of Hyakujuu-ou Golion — another "combining-robot" animé featuring lion-shaped fighters. In this case, however, the World Events producers greatly preferred the GoLion series to Daltanius, and the GoLion episodes went on to become arguably the most popular portion of the original Voltron run.

A rather remarkable irony is that as a Voltron, Daltanius would have been composed from one Lion, one Vehicle, and one Gladiator.

The robot is named after the main hero of the Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan.
Daltanius is 56 meters tall and weighs 678 tons.
Daltanius was the first combining super robot to have an animal component, as well as the first to have a lion's head chest; the lion's head would be incorporated into several Brave Series robots, most notably Gaogaigar.

Tosho Daimos

Tosho Daimos is an anime series produced by Nihon Sunrise.
Daimos is the third installment of Tadao Nagahama’s Romantic Trilogy, following Chōdenji Robo Combattler V and Chōdenji Machine Voltes V. It ran from 1 April 1978 to 27 January 1979 and consisted of 44 episodes. A movie with the pivotal episodes strung together titled Starbirds was released in the US by the same company that released Tranzor Z. The name Daimos is derived from Deimos, one of the two moons of Mars. Apart from Japan, the show also aired in the Philippines and in Italy. In the early 1980s there was a VHS release in France, but only the first seven episodes were available.

Akira Kamiya, who voiced Kazuya, is a veteran seiyuu (voice actor) who also voiced such heroes as Ryouma Nagare, the pilot of Getter-1.
Hiroya Ishimaru is better known for voicing the pilot of Mazinger Z, Kouji Kabuto. In most other animes, his characters and those of Akira Kamiya are friends and allies.
The name of one of the Barmians, Gurney Halleck, may have been inspired by the character Gurney Halleck from Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune.
The album Circus by the Filipino alternative band Eraserheads contains quotes from different people who supported the band, two simple quotes are included “Erika” from a person named Richard and “Richard” from a person named Erika are seen. The quotes are in reference to the two main protagonists of the show and their multiple scenes in which they are running to each other while saying the lines quoted. (Kazuya’s name is changed to Richard in the dubbed show shown in the Philippines.)

Daimos was banned in the Philippines during the term of then president turned dictator Ferdinand Marcos around the early 1980s. Along with other super-robot-anime shows like Voltes V, it was banned citing reasons of its negative effects on young people.
The only time you can see all three Super Robot Romance Trilogy mechas, featured in one package, namely Combattler V, Voltes V and Daimos, is in the following games: Super Robot Taisen Advance for the Game Boy Advance, and Super Robot Taisen Alpha 2 and Super Robot Taisen Alpha 3 for the PlayStation 2 under the company Banpresto. The last features a special combination attack involving all three, the Chōdenji Reppū Seikenzuki (超電磁烈風正拳突き Super Electromagnetic Gale Piercing Righteous Fist). The opening of the attack features Daimos’ Fire Blizzard, Combattler’s Grand Light Wave and Voltes’ Choudenji Ball. Daimos then finishes it off by transforming into his Battle Truck mode and starts to accelerate on top of the Grand Light Wave to increase his momentum before delivering his devastating move: the Reppu Seikenzuki. Super Robot Taisen Alpha 3 is so far, the only Super Robot Taisen game that features this move which is also dubbed as the “Final Nagahama Special” among Super Robot Taisen fans.
The name “Richter” is probably inspired by legendary pianist and perfomer of Chopin’s work, Svyatoslav Richter.

Filipino band Parokya ni Edgar make reference to Daimos in their song “Mang Jose.”
Daimos was one of the many Super Robots featured in Mattel's line of imported Shogun Warriors toys during the late 1970s and early 1980s. A late addition to the toy series, the Daimos Shogun Warriors toy (a two-foot tall "Jumbo Machinder") was available in the U.S. for only about a year between 1979 and 1980 before the Shogun Warriors toy line folded in the U.S. market.

Cutey Honey , Part 4

In the original Cutey Honey TV series, whenever Honey changes into one of her many forms, she is seen nude briefly while the transformation takes place. The series also contains a number of panty shots when Honey is in her normal human form.

The degree of nudity in the different Cutey Honey series has varied over the years. While the all-ages Cutey Honey Flash featured the least nudity (and what little there was featured no detail), New Cutey Honey contained the most openly graphic sexual content, and was probably the closest to border on hentai of any of the series (it is even listed on The Right Stuf International's website as being an "adult" title). Because New Cutey Honey is the only Cutey Honey series to have been released in the United States (or indeed, in the English language), Cutey Honey often has an undeserved reputation in the English-speaking world as a hentai title (even though it technically isn't).

Despite the presence of nudity in Cutey Honey, most of it is done in a tongue-in-cheek manner, and there are no explicit scenes of sexual intercourse. Honey deals with lecherous old men, hormone-driven teenagers, and even beautiful, lesbian women in a humorous context. However, the franchise was parodied in hentai fashion in Angel Blade, part of the Vanilla Series.

The Cutie Honey theme song, titled simply "Cutie Honey," is considered by many fans to be one of the classic anime theme songs of all time. In the original 1973 television series, it was sung by Yoko Maekawa, who also performed the ending theme, Yogiri no Honey (Foggy Night of Honey). Other vocalists to have sung the Cutie Honey theme include les-5-4-3-2-1 (Shin Cutey Honey 1st opening), mayukiss (Shin Cutey Honey 2nd opening), SALIA (Cutey Honey F 1st opening), Kumi Koda (Cutie Honey live-action movie main theme and Re: Cutie Honey opening), GO!GO!7188 (included in their [[Tora no Ana]] anime cover song album), Okui Masami (included in her Masami Kobushi anime cover song album) and Ahyoomee (from Sugar, who did a Korean cover). The Mayukiss version (the second opening theme to the Shin Cutey Honey OAV) was sung in English, although its lyrics were not a direct translation of the Japanese lyrics. In the Spanish dub, all versions of the opening theme were dubbed by Patricia Acevedo, who was the original Spanish voice of Honey Kisaragi.

The original Japanese lyrics (in Romaji) and a closer (though still loose) English translation can be viewed at this site.

One thing that many of the versions of the theme song share is Honey's playful declaration, "Kawaru wa yo!" ("I'm going to Change!") at the end of the song. In the English dubbed version of Shin Cutie Honey, the line was spoken by voice actress Jessica Calvello as, "All right, it's time to change!" And in the Spanish versions, the line spoken is "¡Yo voy a cambiar!"

The theme song showed up again in the 1974 Toei mahou shoujo TV series Majokko Megu-chan, in a scene in which the heroine, Megu, watches Misty Honey (the pop idol form of Cutie Honey in the original series, not Honey's arch-rival from Cutey Honey F) on TV performing the song. Interestingly, Yoko Maekawa also sang the opening and ending theme songs to Majokko Megu-chan, a series which itself made heavy use of "panchira" and "fan service" humor.

The theme song also showed up in the 2006 anime Princess Princess. In the seventh episode, "A Chorus Concert with Sweat and Tears", the Princesses perform a shortened and faster version of the original theme song. Mikoto also exclaims the phrase "I'm going to change now." at the end of the performance.

Cutey Honey , Part 3

After her return, Honey moves into the home of Danbei Hayami, a cyborg guardian and "dirty old man," as well as Danbei's grandson Chokkei, and his parents Daiko and Akakabu.

The series, originally intended to be a 12-part series ended at episode 8. While the first 4 episodes which contain a complete story was considered a success, the second set of 4 episodes, intended to set up the final 4 episodes failed to generate new interest in 1995. Toei did not fund the production of the last 4 episodes and the series concluded without a true ending. In 2004, when this OAV series was released in DVD in Japan, the scripted but not filmed episode 9, a Christmas story, was turned into a CD drama. The remaining three episodes were never scripted.

The series is full of nods to Go Nagai's other work.

Many of Danbei's weapons are miniature versions of those used by Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger and Grendizer. The first two robots were created by the scientist Dr. Kabuto. In fact, his appearance in Shin Cutey Honey matches how he looks in the Mazinkaiser OAV, and Mazinger Z manga.
The villains stand behind a Devilman gargoyle at the end of the first episode.
In a prison episode, Honey turns herself into an inmate who looks exactly like Kouji Kabuto. She also teams up with Akira from Devilman in the same episode.
The second opening sequence to the OAV also features a cameo from Dr. Kabuto as well as a scene of Akira Fudo fighting his arch-nemesis Silene.
The designs for Chokkei's parents, Daiko and Akakabu are based off the parents from Go Nagai's Deliquent in Drag.
In episode 2, there is a bust of Mazinger Z on her nightstand, and one of the villain's captives looks looks like Sayaka Yumi.

In 2004, Gainax produced a live-action Cutey Honey film, starring popular Japanese model Eriko Sato as Honey Kisaragi/Cutey Honey. Directed by Hideaki Anno, the film loosely retells the classic story of Cutey Honey's battle to defend humanity and avenge her father against Panther Claw. Villains Honey faces include Sister Jill, Gold Claw, Cobalt Claw, Scarlet Claw and Black Claw. The film also features a cameo by creator Go Nagai.

Simultaneous to the release of the Cutey Honey live action film, Gainax also produced a new three-part OAV (Original Animated Video) series entitled Re: Cutey Honey. The OAV tells the same story as the film, although with significantly more detail and plot elements added. A radical departure from the style of previous Cutey Honey incarnations, Re: Cutie Honey uses simplistic animation and bold lines that are heavily influenced by the original Cutie Honey TV series. The simplicity of many of the backgrounds and characters creates a distinct visual style that has its supporters and detractors, like the original.

At Anime Expo 2006, Bandai Entertainment announced they will release the movie in 2007 (DVD to be released on April 17), but it is unknown whether they licensed the OAV or not.

Cutey Honey , Part 2

The OVA continued the story several years later, with Honey not having aged, but having forgotten her true identity. Once she recovers her memory, she continues to battle evil. In this stage, her shapeshifting powers have increased to the point of being able to imitate any person's form (but not to change gender, curiously, even when mimicking a man). The notion of a shape-shifting android can, of course, be traced back as far as Hirai and Kuwata's science fiction manga series, 8 Man. In some respects, Cutie Honey was an overtly sexualized version of the earlier character; significantly, Honey's deceased father is a dead ringer for 8-Man's creator, Doctor Tani.

The manga contains even more violence, gross out humor, and nudity than in the original TV series. In the manga the whole Saint Chapel School was lesbian, including Honey's best friend Aki Natsuko. While the Panther Claw were androids in the anime (excluding Sister Jill and Panther Zora), they are referred to as cyborgs in the manga. Honey does not join Paradise School, nor does Danbei have a nephew named Naojiro in the manga. The idea of Paradise School, and the characters Naojiro and Goeman (a teacher at Paradise School) were borrowed from another Go Nagai manga, Abashiri Family. However there is a female character in the manga that looks like Naojiro, named Naoko. She was the "boss" of Saint Chapel, while Naojiro was the "boss" of Paradise School. The manga ends in a similar (although a bit more comical) way. However, the story completely ended in Cutie Honey 90's.

The Ken Ishikawa manga follows a more episodic formula like the TV series. The art work is quite crude, and inconsistent. Unlike the TV series or original manga, Honey always knew Panther Zora was the leader of Panther Claw. Sister Jill does not even show up until the last chapter of Ishikawa's version. Like the original manga, and TV series the manga ends with Honey defeating Sister Jill, and continuning her battle with Zora.

Also notable is that creator Go Nagai based Cutey Honey off of two classic tokusatsu superhero shows, 7-Color Mask (1959) and Rainbowman (1972), which both featured superheroes with 7 different forms (7-Color Mask had 7 disguises and Rainbowman had 7 different superhero forms). Both shows were created by Yasunori Kawauchi (who also created Japan's first superhero TV show, Moonlight Mask ["Gekko Kamen", which itself became an anime in 1972], which Nagai spoofed as Kekko Kamen).

Honey is notable for being mischievous for a Japanese female hero, often teasing her male friends and mocking her enemies in combat. When transforming into Cutie Honey, she gives a brief rundown of the forms she has previously taken in that particular episode, and then declares, "But my true identity is..." before yelling "HONEY FLASH!" and transforming. Such pre- and post-transformation declarations (as well as the nudity during the transformation sequences themselves) have since become common for other transforming magical girls, such as Sailor Moon and Wedding Peach.

Many years after the events of the first series, the citizens of Cosplay City are struggling with the criminals attacking it. Into this chaos, a new mayor, Light, has vowed to reign in the criminal element and bring back peace. However, the dark lord Dolmeck, along with his sidekicks Black Maiden (actually Panther Zora) and Peeping Spider seek to derail his efforts. However, when it is learned that his secretary Honey Kisaragi is the legendary Cutey Honey, she resumes her campaign to save the city with the power of love.

Cutey Honey , Part 1

Cutey Honey or Cutie Honey (キューティーハニー, Kyūtī Hanī?) is a widely known anime and manga series created by Go Nagai in 1973.

Cutie Honey first appeared to the public on volume 41 of the 1973 edition of the manga "Shōnen Champion". Volume 41 was the October edition of the manga and was released 13 days prior to the start of the TV series.

The Cutie Honey TV series began on the 13th October 1973 and ran until 30th March 1974. The series was aired in France in the late 1980s under the title Cherry Miel (Cherry Honey).

Although an android, the main character Honey is considered a prototype for the transforming magical girl character (previous "magical" girls were characters who had "magical" powers, and/or used magic, such as Sally the Witch, another Toei series), with a few key differences.

Being an android, Cutey Honey's powers are mechanical rather than magical (a device known as the Fixed System of Air Elements).
However, in the 1997-98 shōjo anime adaptation, Cutey Honey Flash, Honey Kisaragi does transform by magical means, though she is an android.
In the live-action Cutie Honey movie and its animated adaptation, Honey's transformation powers come from the Imaginary Induction System, called the I-system for short. The English letter "I" also sounds like the Japanese for "love" (愛; ai).
Despite its elements of nudity and sexuality, the original 1973-74 Cutey Honey was intended for all audiences in Japan.
Cutey Honey is considered to be the original template for the group of magical girls who are active fighters, particularly in the "darker" magical girl series aimed at male audiences rather than female. Honey herself is referred to and parodied overtly in many manga and anime series over the years, perhaps most famously in Sailor Moon. Like Cutey Honey, Sailor Moon has a tendency to "speechify" before a fight in an amusing way. This would occur as a three stage speech, recapping whatever alternate forms she had taken earlier in the episode, and culminate into her transformation into Cutey Honey and announcing herself as Ai no Senshi! Cutey Honey! or "The Warrior of Love." She was also known for fighting attractive, yet bizarre, exclusively female monsters as well.
In 1994, the first OVA sequel (Shin Cutey Honey, known as New Cutey Honey in English) was released. To date, this is the only version of Cutey Honey to have been licensed and released in the US. Jessica Calvello, the voice actress who plays Honey in the English-language dub was hand-picked by Go Nagai [citation needed].
In 1997, a new shōjo version of Cutey Honey assumed the timeslot that the long-running magical girl anime Sailor Moon had recently vacated. Cutey Honey Flash was a cuter, gentler version aimed at the young female audience that Sailor Moon had kept entertained for five years. This is the most popular version of "Cutey Honey."
In 2004, Studio Gainax released a live-action tokusatsu film version starring Eriko Sato in the title role along with a new OVA series (Re: Cutie Honey) animated by Gainax.
At Anime Expo 2006, Bandai Entertainment announced they will be releasing the live-action Cutey Honey in the US in 2007.

Honey is an android girl created by an elderly scientist to be his "daughter". She had no idea she was an artificial being, and she also attended a Catholic school. She found the truth about herself on the day her "father" was killed by members of a villainous organization called the "Panther Claw". She discovered that by saying "Honey Flash!" she could transform into a red-haired female superhero, with great strength and agility, as well as a sword. In fact, she had several other forms, all beautiful women with different abilities. (Her "real" form has long blonde hair.) She was able to transform with the device in her body, Fixed System of Air Elements. Honey continued to get revenge against the Panther Claw (and its woman-android agents) while attending school, until defeating them. Aiding Honey in her quest for revenge is the Hayami family. Hayami Danbei, his two sons Seiji, Junpei, and later on his nephew Naojiro. The organization "Panther Claw" is ruled by Panther Zora, and her younger sibling Sister Jill. Their main goal is unlimited wealth, and obtaining the Fixed System of Air Elements Device. The original series ending leaves the story open-ended, with Honey defeating Sister Jill and discovering Panther Zora is the true leader of Panther Claw.

Conan, The Boy in Future

Conan, The Boy in Future (未来少年コナン, Mirai Shōnen Konan?, lit. Future Boy Conan) is an anime series, which premiered across Japan on the NHK network between April 4 and October 31, 1978 on the Tuesday 19:30-20:00 timeslot.

Spanning a total of 26 episodes, the series was produced by Nippon Animation and featured the likes of Hayao Miyazaki (director, character designs, storyboards), Isao Takahata (storyboards) and Yoshiyuki Tomino (storyboards). It is an adaptation of Alexander Key's novel The Incredible Tide.

The story begins in July 2008, during a time when mankind is faced with the threat of extinction. A devastating war fought between two major nations with ultramagnetic weapons far greater than anything seen earlier brings about total chaos and destruction throughout the world, resulting in several earthquakes and tidal waves, the earth thrown off its axis, its crust being rocked by massive movements, and the five continents being torn completely apart and sinking deep below the sea.

An attempt by a group of people to flee to outer space failed, with their spaceships being forced back to earth and vanishing, thus shattering their hopes. But one of the spaceships narrowly escaped destruction and crash landed on a small island which had miraculously survived the devastation. The crew members of the spaceship settled there, as if they were seeds sown on the island.

Amidst these survivors, a boy named Conan was born, bringing a new ray of hope to the earth. After several years, during which most of the other survivors had died and the only people left on the island were Conan and his grandfather, he meets a young girl named Lana, and their adventure begins.

Conan, The Boy in Future first aired across Japan on the NHK TV network between April 4 and October 31, 1978, during the Tuesday, 7:30pm timeslot. It has been regularly broadcast across Japan on the anime satellite television network, Animax, who have also later translated and dubbed the series into English for broadcast across its respective English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

The series was also translated into numerous other languages, including French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Arabic, being broadcast across Europe, Latin America, the Arab world, and numerous other regions.

Chōdenji Robo Combattler V

Chōdenji Robo Combattler V is the first part of Tadao Nagahama's Robot Romance Trilogy of Super Robot series. The robot's name is a portmanteau of Combine, Combat and Battle, and the V is intended both as an abbreviation for "victory" and in reference to the five component machines that form the robot, as well as its five pilots. The V is proununced as the letter V, whereas in the follow-up series, Voltes V, it is prounounced "five". It is also known as "Combattra".

Thousands of years ago, the people of the planet Campbell decided to leave their planet and seek out new worlds to inhabit. One group, lead by the scientist Oreana, landed on Earth, but was delayed from their mission. In the early 21st century, Oreana's group reawakens and begins their plan to conquer the Earth. The only effective defense against the Campbellians' giant biomechanical slave beasts is the super-electromagnetic robot, Combattler V and its pilots.

Casshan

Casshan is the English title for Shinzo Ningen Casshern (新造人間キャシャーン, Shinzō Ningen Kyashān?), an anime series created by animation studio Tatsunoko Productions in 1973.
The American publisher did an awkward katakana to romaji transcription, and actually made a mistake, by translating "キャシャーン" as "Casshan" instead of "Casshern" which is the correct name used in Japan and in other countries, and even used in the 2004 live action film.

Tetsuya Azuma (Azuma Tetsuya), also known as Casshern, is a cybernetic "neo-human" (shinzo ningen in Japanese) who was turned into a cyborg by his father for the purpose of hunting down and destroying robots that have taken over the world. His late biological father, Dr. Azuma, was the inventor of the robots that were originally intended to serve humankind, but mutinied en masse when their cold logic concluded that the good of the Earth Ecosystem required the destruction of the human race.

Casshern and his robotic dog, Friender, join forces with a beautiful girl named Luna to battle the robots led by their brutal boss known as the Black King.

http://www.casshan.com/

Captain Future

Captain Future is a fictional character, the creation of science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton.
The original character was published by Ned Pines' Thrilling/Standard/Better publications company. A different Captain Future was published in Pine's Nedor Comics line.

In 1978, one year after Hamilton's death, Toei Animation of Japan produced a Captain Future TV anime series of 52 episodes, based on 13 original Hamilton stories. Despite the strong cultural differences and the large gap between a literary work and animation, the series was close to the original in many ways, from the didactic scientific explanations to the emphasis on the usefulness of brains as opposed to brawn.

The series was translated in several languages and distributed globally. The four episodes comprising the series' second story arc were dubbed into English and released on video by Ziv in the early 1980s. In the late 80s, Harmony Gold dubbed the series' initial four-part story as an edited together TV movie simply entitled Captain Future.

While only eight episodes were dubbed into English, the series met huge success particularly in France, where the title and lead character's name were changed to "Capitaine Flam" (based on Flame), and in Germany, where it appears under its original title. The success of "Capitaine Flam" and japanimation in France was especially due to anthemic theme tunes (in French language) which became true hits in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the French charts.

For the German version, which was cut by about a quarter of the original length - the producers erronously assumed it to be aimed at younger audiences and thus cut out more violent scenes - a completely new soundtrack was created by Christian Bruhn. To this day the soundtrack is considered cult and the theme song can be heard as background music in many magazines and other shows. A soundtrack CD was released in 1995, and a remix called "The Final" by Phil Fuldner entered the top ten of the German and Swiss single charts in 1998. Also, the German Bastei Verlag publishing house released a Captain Future comic series with original adventures, but the artistic rendering was far below the animation series' quality.

On a more literary plane, in 1996 the Hugo award for best Novella was given to a psychologically and socially complex pastiche of Hamilton's space opera: The Death of Captain Future by Allen Steele.

Calimero

Calimero is a Japanese anime series (based on an Italian creation) about a charming, but hapless anthropomorphized cartoon chicken; the only black one in a family of yellow chickens. He wears half of his egg shell still on his head.

The characters were created by Nino and Toni Pagot and originated as a series of animated advertisements shown throughout Italy. The characters were later licensed to Japan as an anime series, twice. The first was made by Toei Animation and ran from October 15, 1974 to September 30, 1975, and the second, with new settings and characters, was made in 1992. Altogether, 99 Japanese episodes were made (47 in the 1974 Toei series, and 52 in the 1992 series).

Co-starring are his girlfriend Priscilla, a shy bird with common sense; Valeriano, a green bird who is obsessed with film-making; Susy, a wealthy girl duck; Piero (Susy's boyfriend), another wealthy green duck; and Rosella (Valeriano's girlfriend), another shy bird. The series mostly consists of the group's many adventures as they solve mysteries and make documentaries. However, their adventures usually get them into quite a bit of trouble.

Calimero is the name and subject of a Welsh language song by the Super Furry Animals.

Calimero's "little boy lost" persona and distinctive speech patterns caused him to have a worldwide fan base, which was officially headquartered in Hampton - a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.