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''Giant Robo The Animation: The Day The Earth Stood Still'' is an {{OVA}} reimagining of Manga/GiantRobo and [[Series/GiantRobo its Tokusatsu adaptation]] directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa and released by Discotek Media. Originally planned to be finished in 3 years but taking [[ScheduleSlip twice as long]], the series was released between 1992 and 1998 as seven episodes, each between 40 and 60 minutes long.
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''Giant Robo The Animation: The Day The Earth Stood Still'' is an {{OVA}} reimagining of Manga/GiantRobo and [[Series/GiantRobo its Tokusatsu adaptation]] directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa Imagawa, animated by Phoenix Entertainment, and released by Discotek Media. Originally planned to be finished in 3 years but taking [[ScheduleSlip twice as long]], the series was released between 1992 and 1998 as seven episodes, each between 40 and 60 minutes long.
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* CastOfExpies: Pretty much every named character is either lifted from or based on characters from other works in Yokoyama's opus; there are derivatives from ''Manga/BabelII'' and its sequel works ''Sono na wa 101'' and ''Ōkami no Seiza'', ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-gō]]'', ''Anime/GodMars'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', ''Manga/IgaNoKagemaru'', and from Yokoyama's ''[[Literature/WaterMargin Suikoden]]'' and ''[[Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971 Sangokushi]]''.
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* CastOfExpies: Pretty much every named character is either lifted from or based on characters from other works in Yokoyama's opus; there are derivatives from ''Manga/BabelII'' and its sequel works ''Sono na wa 101'' and ''Ōkami no Seiza'', ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-gō]]'', ''Anime/GodMars'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', ''Manga/IgaNoKagemaru'', ''Iga No Kagemaru'', and from Yokoyama's ''[[Literature/WaterMargin Suikoden]]'' and ''[[Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971 Sangokushi]]''.
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* CastOfExpies: Pretty much every named character is either lifted from or based on characters from other works in Yokoyama's opus; there are derivatives from ''Manga/BabelII'' and its sequel works ''Sono na wa 101'' and ''Ōkami no Seiza'', ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-gō]]'', ''Anime/GodMars'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', ''Iga no Kagemaru'', and from Yokoyama's ''[[Literature/WaterMargin Suikoden]]'' and ''[[Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971 Sangokushi]]''.
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* CastOfExpies: Pretty much every named character is either lifted from or based on characters from other works in Yokoyama's opus; there are derivatives from ''Manga/BabelII'' and its sequel works ''Sono na wa 101'' and ''Ōkami no Seiza'', ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-gō]]'', ''Anime/GodMars'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', ''Iga no Kagemaru'', ''Manga/IgaNoKagemaru'', and from Yokoyama's ''[[Literature/WaterMargin Suikoden]]'' and ''[[Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971 Sangokushi]]''.
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* KillTheParentRaiseTheChild: The third ''Gaiden Ginrei'' special follows an ex-Big Fire soldier raising a child he orphaned as a baby out of guilt. [[spoiler:After pulling a HeelFaceTurn, his own life is brought to an end when his former coworker remains loyal to Big Fire and holds the kid hostage]].
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Imagawa also scripted a new ''Giant Robo'' manga, "The Day The Earth Burned" that started publication in 2006. While this version is also an AlternateContinuity, it does act as a SpiritualSuccessor to the {{OVA}}s, with the same tone and many of the same characters. The original manga has also recently become available on most major manga websites.
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Imagawa also scripted a new ''Giant Robo'' manga, "The Day The Earth Burned" that started publication in 2006. While this version is also an AlternateContinuity, it does act as a SpiritualSuccessor to the {{OVA}}s, with the same tone and many of the same characters. The original manga has also recently become available on most major manga websites.
websites. Another anime series based on the ''Giant Robo'' franchise, ''Anime/GRGiantRobo'', was released in 2007, though doesn't build upon the continuity of the OVA or any other prior entries.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/giantrobotheanimation.png]]
->''In a future yet to be, the third energy revolution is ushered in by the invention of the Shizuma Drive, and with it, mankind celebrates a new era of prosperity.''
->''But lurking in the shadows cast by the brilliance of our new found hope, two great powers clash!''
->''Big Fire; a secret organization bent on total world domination!''
->''"Hail, Big Fire! Allegiance or death!"''
->''But despair not! To defend us from the threat they pose, the International Police Organization's mighty Experts of Justice have been formed, comprised of members from around the globe! Fighting by their side is the greatest robot on the planet, Giant Robo, commanded solely by one young man: Daisaku Kusama!''
->''"Crush them! '''Go, Giant Robo!'''"''
''Giant Robo The Animation: The Day The Earth Stood Still'' is an {{OVA}} reimagining of Manga/GiantRobo and [[Series/GiantRobo its Tokusatsu adaptation]] directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa and released by Discotek Media. Originally planned to be finished in 3 years but taking [[ScheduleSlip twice as long]], the series was released between 1992 and 1998 as seven episodes, each between 40 and 60 minutes long.
An (unholy) amalgamation of Wuxia, Superheroes, Music/RichardWagner, [[HumongousMecha Mecha Anime]] and pure insanity, ''Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still'' is notable for being an early and rather impressive example of the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, formed when Imagawa (''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'') was told that he couldn't use any of the supporting characters from the manga or TV versions of the ''Giant Robo'' story. Struck by inspiration, he instead decided to instead take characters from the rest of original creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama's work, including ''Manga/BabelII'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'' and many others. To add to the effect he decided to draw them all in Yokoyama's classic 1960s style, along with a [[{{Zeerust}} retro-futuristic world]] populated by {{Ninja}}, ancient Chinese warriors, [[BadassInANiceSuit Sharp Suited Businessmen]] and {{Badass Longcoat}}s walking side by side.
Oh and don't pay any attention to the synopsis above, or let the art style and KidHero [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids fool you into thinking this is a kids' series]] in the vein of ''Franchise/GIJoe'' or ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}''. ''Giant Robo'''s plot starts off slow and deceptively [[ClicheStorm cliché-ridden]], with a blatant MadScientist and McGuffin driving the first half of the plot, and then we get the WhamEpisode, rewriting the entire premise, beating the snot out of the good guys and resulting in several major characters getting KilledOffForReal. It's not the first, or even the most dramatic.
Imagawa also scripted a new ''Giant Robo'' manga, "The Day The Earth Burned" that started publication in 2006. While this version is also an AlternateContinuity, it does act as a SpiritualSuccessor to the {{OVA}}s, with the same tone and many of the same characters. The original manga has also recently become available on most major manga websites.
See also: ''Anime/ShinMazinger'', another SuperRobot series by Yasuhiro Imagawa. Like ''Giant Robo'', it is a revival of a classic series and involves heavy crossover from the [[Creator/GoNagai original artist's]] entire body of work. Alternatively, the 2004 ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28]]'' anime, also directed by Imagawa based on another famous Yokoyama story with similar design aesthetics and a few bits of RetroactiveRecognition (The depiction of Kenji Murasame and Robo's "Gao" noise reused for Tetsujin's roar, most notably).
----
[[foldercontrol]]
!!A series that LOVES its tropes, twisting them and playing them straight with the same vigor, the ''Giant Robo'' {{OVA}} features examples of:
[[folder: A-M]]
* ActionBomb: [[spoiler:Silent Chuujo, apparently. As the Sphere floats towards the last Shizuma Drive bastion, there's Chuujo on a bluff. He loosens his tie and shirt, takes a few practice jabs, then ''flies up to '''punch''' the Sphere''.]] That dialogue in episode 2 makes far more sense when you know this.
* ActionGirl: Ginrei and Youshi are both government operatives.
* AdaptedOut: GR-4, the land based Giant Robo from the 1992 manga, is completely absent from the OVA and from any subsequent media within the OVA universe.
* AgeLift: Daisaku is 12 years old in the OVA like his tokusatsu counterpart instead of being around teenage years in the original manga
* AllThereInTheManual: Since most of the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover characters lack in-universe backstories fans have ended up taking inspiration from the stories they originated from.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The last act of the first OVA episode.
* AnachronicOrder: This was the original intent of the OVA, as ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' was the second to last arc of a seven part story. The next arc was going to show how [[HowWeGotHere Daisaku joined the Experts of Justice]].
* AntiVillain: Hanzui the Evil Messiah, leader of the Magnificent Ten. Never actually does anything evil, proves extremely honorable and is a great deal nicer than most of the good guys.
* AnyoneCanDie: Murasame repeatedly, a few others as well. '''Alberto the Shockwave'''... [[spoiler:BWA HA HA HA HA HA - best twist ever.]]
* ApocalypseWow: The scene where France is being destroyed.
* ArcWords: "Beautiful Night!", "Can happiness be achieved without sacrifice?"
* BadassInANiceSuit: Most notably Alberto and the Commander.
* BadassBystander: The IPO's various RedShirts are all trained in gun use and are as capable of high-flying acrobatic leaps as the Experts of Justice themselves.
* BadassFingersnap: The Fabulous Fitzgerald, who can cut anything in half by snapping his fingers at it.
* BadassLongcoat: Murasame. The twist? It's [[RealMenWearPink BRIGHT PINK!]]
* BadassNormal: Daisaku. Sure, he owns "the world's strongest robot," but he's still the only normal human in the cast. Everyone else can fly, transform, use super strength and other bizarre powers.
* BattleCouple: Youshi and Taisou are married pair of government agents.
* BigGuy: Tetsugyu and Youshi both fit this role. In a slight subversion Youshi is a woman, and certainly not a CuteBruiser either.
* BigDamnHeroes: Giant Robo's introduction, and several other examples.
* BilingualBonus: Tetsugyu's name roughly translates to "Iron Ox", one of the nicknames of Li Kui in Yokoyama's manga adaptation of ''Literature/WaterMargin''.
* BittersweetEnding
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: Ginrei uses up her life power and her body disintegrates.]]
* BoisterousBruiser: Tetsugyu, Taisou, Youshi.
* BrokenPedestal: ''Zigzags'' with Vogler to one of his assistants. It goes back-and-forth at least 5 times, finally resulting in [[spoiler: subversion. Vogler really meant for the best for the world.]]
* TheBrute: In the BF there's Jujoji who has some devastating magic powers. The Fabulous Fitzgerald loves to carve up people with his snapping fingers.
* TheCallHasBadReception: Dr. Vogler had good intentions. Originally, his son had good intentions. The only problem was that by the time Dr. Vogler tells his son what needed to be done, he didn't have a very good vocabulary...
* TheCameo: Several Mecha from Mitsuteru Yokoyama's works make several apperances in the opening sequence such as GR-3, Black Ox, Monster and Gaia.
* CanonImmigrant: When Tetsujin #28 was remade in 2004, the Murasame Kenji that appears there isn't the original characterization - it's ''this'' one. He even calls himself "the immortal Murasame Kenji" just before [[spoiler:going down in a hail of bullets and encouraging Shotaro... then getting up and wiping off the ketchup.]] Additionally, Tetsujin uses Robo's '''growl''' rather than its original sound.
* CastOfExpies: Pretty much every named character is either lifted from or based on characters from other works in Yokoyama's opus; there are derivatives from ''Manga/BabelII'' and its sequel works ''Sono na wa 101'' and ''Ōkami no Seiza'', ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-gō]]'', ''Anime/GodMars'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', ''Iga no Kagemaru'', and from Yokoyama's ''[[Literature/WaterMargin Suikoden]]'' and ''[[Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971 Sangokushi]]''.
* CharacterDevelopment: Numerous but Tetsugyu has a great moment in the fifth OVA.
* TheChessmaster: Big Fire's head strategist Koumei repeatedly insists the events of the plot are all according to plan. [[InformedAttribute At no point are his strategy or tactics explained]], and Koumei repeatedly gives several indications of treachery, but he insists nonetheless.
* ClothingDamage: Ginrei gets blasted in episode four and this is the result.
* CombatStilettos: Ginrei wears these.
* CoolBigSis: Youshi, Ginrei acts like one towards Daisaku.
* CoolOldGuy: One of Big Fire's Magnificent Ten is actually called Old Man Kawarazaki. His fellow Magnificent Ten colleague Shockwave Alberto also has a lot of the traits, exchanging taunts with the early twenties BigBad over their respective ages.
* CultSoundtrack: The pompous Wagnerian soundtrack by Creator/MasamichiAmano is consistently mentioned in reviews as a major appeal of the OVA.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:It ultimately turns out that Dr. Vogler really did die at Bashtarle. His supposed “resurrection” was actually his son Genya disguising himself using a hologram.]]
* DeathIsCheap: It is ''very'' cheap for Murasame Kenji, since he just revives despite several violent deaths, and since he can apparently do so in an area he couldn't get to corporeally, it's part of his ''strategy''. He even shoots himself in the head to drive home the point, noting that he "''can't'' die."
* DeathlyDiesIrae: As appropriate for a story about a Doomsday Device and a tale of revenge against humanity, ''Dies Irae'' appears multiple times in the score, both in instrumental and OminousLatinChanting forms.
* DemotedToExtra: GR-3 only shows up as a cameo in the EvolvingCredits.
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Tetsugyu is apparently crushed to death by Genya's robot Gallop in episode five, and then, after going completely forgotten until episode seven, appears at the IPO base after Ginrei teleports it to St. Abbe wrapped in bandages]].
* EldritchAbomination: The ''Giant Sphere'' is an artificial example; it is a giant floating eyeball that, once it lifts its external layer of metal, reveals hundreds of other eyeballs.
* EmpireWithADarkSecret:
** In ''Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still'', the Shizuma Drive, which provides clean, cheap energy, is completely recyclable and looks cool too was built upon a foundation of [[spoiler:the deaths of billions at the Tragedy of Bashtarle]]. A little LockedOutOfTheLoop as well, seeing as [[spoiler:Daisaku's the only character (except maybe Sunny) who doesn't know -- it's just that we only find out when he does]].
** St. Abbe is the largest Shizuma Drive power plant in the world, and supposedly capable of providing half the world's energy by itself. It is also built directly atop the ruins of Bashtarle, which was destroyed by experiments with the prototype Shizuma Drive. The BigBad targets it for destruction with his DoomsdayDevice during the finale.
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Shockwave Alberto in the Finale, as he considers the IPO a WorthyOpponent and the BigBad an annoying, grandstanding brat trying to steal Big Fire's thunder.]]
* EnigmaticMinion: Ko-Enshaku is an especially unsettling one.
* EvilCounterpart: It seems that was going to be the case between Daisuke and Big Fire. One in charge of a giant robot, the other having three amazing guardians. Both very young. Though we don't know just how evil Big Fire really was.
* EvolvingCredits: "Earth, the terrifying world of our future! This is the Shizuma Drive, now broken and useless, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the great energy revolution undone in just ten days!]]"
* TheDragon: Ko-Enshaku serves as an all purpose Dragon for Genya and Cho-Katsu Komei, neither of whom like to get their hands dirty if they can help it. Ivan to Alberto.
* EvilerThanThou: [[spoiler:Genya screws over apparent BigBad Shockwave Alberto early on, and towards the end Cho-Katsu Komei does it to the rest of the Magnificent Ten.]]
* EvilGenius: Most obviously Vogler [[spoiler: or so it seems.]] Old Man Kawarazaki seems to be an inventor. Zangetsu, if epileptic tress turned out to be true.
* {{Expy}}: Most characters of the OVA (who aren't from the original manga or anime) are Expys of Yokoyama's other works, such as:
** Taiso (Dai Zong), Tetsugyu ("Iron Ox"/Li Kui), Youshi (Yang Zhi), Kosonsho Issei (Gongsun Shen), Koushin (Huang Xin), Kaei (Hua Rong), Kaihou and Kaichin (Xie Bao and Xie Zhen), Shutsu (Zhou Tong), the Fishermen Brothers (Ruan Xiaoer, Xiaowu, Xiaoqi), Hanzui (Fan Rui), Richu (Li Zhong), Goyo (Wu Yong), Zangetsu (Han Tao) and Ko-Enshaku (Huyan Zhuo) all hail from ''Suikoden'' (''Literature/WaterMargin'').
** Cho-Katsu Komei (Zhuge Liang) and Jujojii (Zhang Rang) are from ''Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi'' ("[=Records/=]Manga/{{Romance of the Three Kingdoms|1971}}").
** Big Fire (Babel II/Koichi Yamano), Achilles (Lodem), Garuda (Ropross), and Neptune (Poseidon) were originally created for ''Manga/BabelII''. Also, Chujo the Silent, Cervantes, Fitzgerald and even Daisaku's father, Dr. Kusama, were modeled after various characters in the series.
** Chujo also doubling as Azuma from the Giant Robo manga, having a near identical design to that of Daisaku's middle aged mentor.
** Likewise, Alberto the Impact, Ivan and Kawarazaki first appeared in ''Mars''.
** Sunny the Magician is the original name of ''Manga/SallyTheWitch''.
** Red Mask was originally from ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', and he is the main protagonist in that series.
** Kenji Murasame is a CanonImmigrant from [[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin-28]], and Dr. Vogler, Dr. Montalblan and Q Boss hail from there as well.
** Ginrei is from ''Sononawa 101'' (a sequel to Manga/BabelII) and ''Okami no Seiza''.
** Genya and Yuuki were both originally from ''Iga no Kagemaru''.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Professor Go. And Doki about half the time. The other half has one eye open.
* FallingIntoTheCockpit: Daisaku was forced to take command of Giant Robo when his father and Murasame were mortally wounded trying to escape (and Murasame wouldn't heal in time.)
* FanFiction: A popular ''review and synopsis'' of the nonexistent GrandFinale fooled a lot of people. In its defense it would have indeed made a kickass episode.
* GenderFlip: Youshi is a female expy of Yang Zhi from the ''Literature/WaterMargin'' and Yokoyama's Manga.
* GenreThrowBack: Daisaku's flashback on his origin plays a lot more like a typical giant robot show.
** Murasame: 'Daisaku! Use Robo's bazooka launcher!'
* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:'''Vogler.''']]
* GreaterScopeVillain: Big Fire himself, the leader and namesake of the BF Group, is only briefly seen and never takes part in the action, with Alberto and Genya instead serving as the active threats.
* HappilyMarried: Taiso and Youshi.
* HauntedTechnology: [[spoiler:Giant Robo appears to contain Professor Kusama's spirit/will,]] as hinted at throughout the series and seen in the last episode.
* HiddenDepths: Many characters like Daisaku, Tesugyu, Ginrei, and others. Really the entire OVA series itself as it first looks like a typical giant robot series.
* {{Housewife}}: One can be seen during the opening narration.
* HumongousMecha: In the main OVA, Robo and the Big Fire robots are of the more old-school, "vaguely sentient yet highly suggestible and obedient" variety, while the Ginrei Robo and neo Tetsujin-28 are more modern, directly piloted versions.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Murasame Kenji.
* ImplacableMan: The [[TheVoiceless silent]], [[TheFaceless armored]] Ko-Enshaku fills this role for the bad guys, enigmatically surviving everything thrown at him before turning up unharmed the next episode. The good guys on the other hand have Murasame, whose tendency to survive getting gaping holes blown through him becomes almost comical as the series goes on.
* InformedAbility: Tetsugyu is remarkably ineffectual in battle, despite frequent reference to his strength. We see him take down a swarm of Big Fire Mooks just fine, but that's about it. To be fair it's [[OvershadowedByAwesome more like the world around him is overpowered]] rather than him being weak.
* InNameOnly: The OVA has next to nothing to do with Giant Robo or it's title character, rather it functions as an MCU-esque crossover for all of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's characters to interact in.
* InterpolSpecialAgent: The "Experts of Justice" are a part of Interpol.
* {{Irony}}: The BigBad's plot to destroy the world [[spoiler: technically succeeded, but wound up ''saving'' the world. Von Volger had tried to eliminate the new energy source because it was producing an undetectable poison gas that would wipe out all life on the planet after a certain point in time. The Eye of Volger was temporarily shutting down all of the energy cores in order to ''fix the poison gas problem.'']]
* IWantThemAlive: Happens in the last episode to Daisaku. [[spoiler: He manages to get away and make it to Robo though.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Cho-Katsu Komei gets away with everything, despite arrogantly declaring himself TheChessmaster and having none of the sympathetic motives of his fellow BigBad. As a result he generally has a very poor survival rate in fan continuations.
* KickTheDog: Murasame skips between this and SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome so quickly his teeth must rattle.
* KidHero: Daisaku Kusama is only twelve at the start of the anime.
* KilledOffForReal: Played straight and averted, especially later on when everyone was expecting AnyoneCanDie. The anime still manages an impressive body count though, even with the odd couple of extremely unlikely NotQuiteDead.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Cervantes points a gun at Daisaku, despite the fact he can generate enough heat from his hands to melt a thick steel door.
* KubrickStare: Part of Giant Robo's design.
* LineInTheSand -- Subverted. Our hero (recovering from a HeroicBSOD) never crosses the line, but the ''battle'' crosses it from the other direction. And the "line" is a crevice deeper than he is tall.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Ginrei is revealed to be [[spoiler: Von Vogler's daughter, and Genya's sister.]]
* TheKidWithTheRemoteControl: Subverted, slightly. Robo has its own will[[spoiler: apparently that of Dr. Kusama]] and usually only follows the general gist of the commands.
** Example from the last episode, at the Monster Sphere: "Shoot, Robo!" *Robo fires everything it has, plus one of its booster rockets*
* MadScientist: Dr Von Vogler[[spoiler: who eventually turns out to be a kindhearted and inspirational man who for PR reasons was blamed for the disaster one of the other scientists caused. After all, as far as anyone knew, he had [[NotQuiteDead died in said disaster]] and couldn't say any different!]]
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Genya is nearly always dressed in a clean white suit and his home is a sumptuous mansion.
* {{Mooks}}: Made an art form. The basic IPO mooks at one point spontaneously form a human pyramid in order to block an energy blast.
* MookMaker: To a degree, Doki, who commands a whole army of warriors instead of general BF mooks.
* MoreDakka: Giant Robo carries enough firepower to wipe a couple of cities off the map.
* MotherhoodIsSuperior: Averted. Fatherhood drives ''a lot'' of the characters. The end credits even dedicate the film to fathers and sons.
* MsFanservice: Ginrei undoubtedly shows the most skin out of anyone.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Genya, when he realizes that he horribly misunderstood his father's last wish and even killed his sister as a result.]]
* MythologyGag: Despite only loosely taking inspiration from the 1967 ''Giant Robo'' tokusatsu, there's a remarkable amount of visual and even some plot similarities:
** Giant Robo's PapaWolf instincts in protecting Daisaku when he is in peril, much like how Robo was in the later episodes of the toku.
** The Eye of Volger being a robotic fusion between the Giant Robo kaiju, Ganmons and Glober.
** Robo's design being a muscular version of the tokusatsu design, rather than being based on the manga version like nearly every other Yokoyama character present
** Daisaku being 12 years old rather than being 18 years old like in the manga.
** In the EvolvingCredits, GR-3's rocket missile decoration are based off of Giant Robo's finger missiles in the toku version, also doubling as an homage to ''[[Anime/GunBuster Gunbuster]]''.
** The manga only GR-4 being an homage to Calamity, the EvilKnockoff of Giant Robo from the toku.
** The symbol on GR's forehead being the shape of a Unicorn, which is also the name of the IPO equivalent in the toku version.
** Robo being a much slower, lumbering mech being similar to the weightier version of GR seen in the toku.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: N-Z]]
* NewEraSpeech: Dr. Von Vogler's speech during the first flashback to the Tragedy of Bashtarle (the one repeated as the ColdOpen of the second episode):
-->'''Dr. Fogler:''' The future has shone upon us with its glorious brilliance! The time to seize our destiny and conquer all our fears is ''now''! In ancient times, man rubbed sticks together to create fire. Then he slaughtered the whale and battled one another for oil. After that came the atomic age. In every chapter of our history, we danced with danger. But now it will be different. For the first time in our existence, we will be ''delivered from fear!!'' Finally, we will escape the prison of our delusions, and [[ArcWords the Beautiful Night]] ''will embrace us all''!
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Averted! [[spoiler: Just barely, though.]] In the final episode you find out that [[spoiler: the Shizuma drives were actually creating a poisonous gas that would have destroyed all life on earth]] within days of the events that make up the series. The anti-drive [[spoiler: was actually created in order to eliminate this threat before it destroyed all known life.]] All of the "normal" drives [[spoiler: would have reactivated once all of the anti-drives had been activated at once, modified to correct the flaw.]] At the last minute,[[spoiler: despite the heroes' efforts]] all of the [[spoiler: anti-drives]] were activated, thus [[spoiler: saving the world.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: It turns out that when the three anti-drives are together they fixed the 2% problem or else they all would have exploded.]]
* {{Ninja}}: "Mask the Red" of Big Fire's Magnificent Ten. Word Of God says that there is an entire ninja community in the world of GR who takes interests in the fights Mask the Red has with his Celestial 9 counterpart, Kagemaru.
* NoIndoorVoice: Everyone, especially as everything goes to hell. The dialogue of the final episode consists of nothing but EPIC SPEECH!
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Daisaku and Genya.
** And Daisaku and Tetsugyu. [[spoiler: The latter saw Daisaku's expression when he damaged Robo's arm. The same feeling of pain as when Tesugyu slew his own father.]]
* OhCrap: Genya when[[spoiler: Alberto absorbs the heat energy from the sphere leaving it completely vulnerable to attack from Giant Robo.]] The look on his face as [[spoiler:Robo prepares to launch one of its rocket boosters as a missile]] is particularly priceless.
* {{Omake}}[=/=]{{Filler}}: The three ''Ginrei Special'' {{OVA}}s, ranging from a reasonably well-executed prequel Side Story to pure animated CrackFic, were created to maintain interest and raise funds during the main OVA's production delays.
** ClipShow: Most of the first Ginrei OVA.
** {{Crossdresser}}: Somehow, "Ginrei the Mighty" comes up with an excuse to have all the Experts wearing Ginrei's trademark Chinese mini-dress. Also, the first Ginrei OVA has Murasame[[LatexPerfection completely]] disguised as Ginrei for most of the episode.
** EvilTwin : Named "Electric Shock Rosa" by Alberto
** {{Fembot}}: The "Ginrei Robo".
** GoKartingWithBowser: The Experts and the BF organization drinking together in "Ginrei the Mighty".
** MoodWhiplash: The third episode is completely serious
** RefugeInAudacity: Ok, so the main series is this, but the omakes take this to another level. We have things like Giant Robo nosebleeding gasoline at the sight of Ginrei naked, everyone dressing in Ginrei dresses, the below mentioned VictoriasSecretCompartment moment, Daisaku claiming to be 29 years old and divorced...
** ShoutOut: Ginrei Robo is a parody of Venus A from ''Anime/GreatMazinger'', and Daisaku also gets to pilot an ersatz ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-go]]'', revamped in the same way Giant Robo itself was in the OVA series.
*** Daisaku even wears Shotaro's signature plaid jacket rather than his own drab grey while piloting the redesigned Tetsujin 28.
** VictoriasSecretCompartment: Ginrei pulls a full-sized bazooka from her cleavage in "Iron-armed Ginrei / Ginrei the Mighty".
** WholesomeCrossdresser: ALL OF THE (male members of the) IPO in Episode 2. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments And it is hilarious.]]
* OnceMoreWithClarity: The story behind the Tragedy of Bashtarle changes multiple times over the course of the OVA.
* OverclockingAttack: this is what the Monster Sphere actually does to the Shizuma drives. Except the resulting energy can be harnessed...
* PapaWolf: Giant Robo has a Auto-Guard Circuit allowing it to activate and act of its own will when its controller's life (sensed through the wristwatch) is in danger. Robo breaks out of its maintenance dock and takes off for Daisaku (who doesn't seem to be aware of it) the first time, where it's noted that Robo was running at ''50 times'' its usual power.
** Subverted slightly, when Robo crashes into an unbreakable barrier - it ''can't control its output'' while in full-on PapaWolf mode, and runs the risk of melting down if allowed to continue for too long.
* PetTheDog: The scene in the 5th OVA where Genya comforts a delirious Daisaku[[spoiler: and then learning about his motivation for revenge.]] Also Ivan mentioning how his home was destroyed from[[spoiler: the Bashtarle disaster.]]
* ThePlan: Cho-Katsu Komei claims several times that he is pulling one of these off, though it is left ambiguous whether this is actually [[IMeantToDoThat true.]]
* PlotHole: How, ''exactly'', was the Vogler Sphere created, and by whom?[[spoiler: If Vogler created the sphere, as his final recording indicates, how did he get the resources and the time required to do so, and did he ''really'' do it by himself as the story indicates? If Genya made it, how did he not know about his father's recording that was preprogrammed into the sphere, and thus, his father's intentions?]]
* PoorCommunicationKills:
** Interpol's decision to seal Giant Robo away immediately after the revelation of its nuclear power source, and especially Chuujo's ham-handed delivery of those orders serves no purpose except to frustrate and isolate Daisaku.
** The Big Fire Organization has a ''major'' internal communications problem, in which the only person who appears to know what's going on is the head strategist, who refuses to elucidate in the slightest and repeatedly appeals to the authority of Big Fire himself when questioned by the Big Ten,[[spoiler: even as hundreds of Big Fire agents die as casualties of the Vogler Sphere]].
** Probably one of the most brutal literal examples in any anime, [[spoiler: If Franken Von Volger had come up with an easier way to communicate his plan with his son Genya before he passed away, rather than the overcomplicated means to reveal it with a rigged briefcase, Genya wouldn't have gone insane and many lives would have not been wasted for his war.]]
* PowerAtAPrice: The children of Professor von Vogler are able to teleport, but the more of that power they use, the more their body fades away.
* PuttingOnTheReich: The "Big Fire" villainous organization wants to conquer the world using superweapons and has even copied the Hitler salute (the straight-arm salute with the right hand and transforming "Heil Hitler" into "Hail, Big Fire! Allegiance or death!").
* RealMenWearPink: Murasame's overcoat and Hanzui's cape. Are you dumb enough to mock them?
* RefugeInAudacity
* RetCanon: The original Animaze dub of the OVA (for L.A. Hero and later Creator/MangaEntertainment) was influential on the subsequent dub that Creator/MediaBlasters commissioned from NYAV Post, and on the fan perception of the series in general.
** First and foremost, the Animaze dub gave Kenji Murasame a GratuitousFrench [[FakeNationality accent]] in the first episode, because he first appeared investigating the murders of Shizuma's partners in Paris, and presumably the writers didn't know that he would be a recurring character. Over the years that the original series took to complete, Animaze stuck with their decision -- and NYAV Post followed suit in their new dub.
** The NYAV Post dub also included nods to other memorable lines from the older version, such as including "Allegiance or death!" in the Big Fire organization's BattleCry.
* {{Retcon}}: In episode three, Tetsugyu enables Daisaku and Giant Robo to take to the battlefield against orders. Episode five revises his intentions [[spoiler:to claim he was deliberately setting up Daisaku to fail]], which flies in the face of the shock and dismay he showed in episode three[[spoiler: when Giant Robo actually lost the fight]].
** Perhaps his shock came from [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizing he effectively 'murdered' Daisaku's father figure]][[spoiler: just like how he accidently killed own father?]]
* RoofHopping: You know an organization is bad ass when all of its support staff / engineering mooks can roof hop onto a zeppelin to clear off before an attack. No really, Daisaku is the only normal human in the show.
* RuleOfCool: How else do you explain a mecha anime with supernatural kung-fu fighters and a Wagnerian soundtrack?
* SamusIsAGirl: Ginrei's introduction as the BadassLongcoat "[[MaskPower Iron Mask]]" during the prologue of the first episode.
* SequelHook: *Cries*
* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: What it kind of boils down too when the three anti-drives are together at long last. A shame that the IPO were so good at their job. Even sadder that if Genya hadn't shot Ginrei then humanity would have been wiped out.]]
* ShoutOut:
** The subtitle of the OVA series is a shout out to the classic film ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951''.
** Ginrei first appears disguised as K from ''Series/RobotDetective''.
* SpiritualCrossover: Of Yokoyama's many works. See CastOfExpies and {{Expy}} for details.
* SuperRobot[=/=]RealRobot: The robots straddle the line. They are considered powerful enough that, even with WorldOfBadass in play, no one wants to fight Robo one-on-one without a heavily stacked deck; on the other hand the organizational and maintenance issues they'd require is fleshed out and clearly just this side of 'impractical'. They're superweapons, and unless they're specifically built to take a hit the hand-to-hand fights don't last very long - take the complex snake-train robot being paralyzed after one hit in the first episode, for example.
* TerminallyDependentSociety: All the world depends on the Shizuma Drive. When it is destroyed, everything else is. The only oil refinery left is at Shanghai, and then it's destroyed too; there's some solar and wind power left, but not much. ''The world ends in ten days''.
* ThisCannotBe[=/=]BigNo: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00RjATZasNo See here]]
* UnexplainedRecovery: Numerous characters. On the villainous side [[spoiler: Alberto]]. Jujoji and Zangetsu sure acted dead in the sixth OVA but are fine in the seventh.
* VasquezAlwaysDies: Youshi.
* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Currently providing the page image.
* VillainousBreakdown: Genya, several times during the final episode. While he normally finds a way to salvage the situation the last one truly breaks him, and not without reason.
* VillainousRescue: '''Alberto the Shockwave.'''
* WhamEpisode: Episode Five, which elaborates on Testugyu's backstory, reveals the true villain of the Tragedy of Bashtarle, gives more context to Vogler's revenge, [[spoiler:and crushes Tetsugyu beneath Genya's robot Gallop]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Episode six and the first part of episode seven completely forget about Tetsugyu, which means he goes ignored during several very relevant conversations. [[spoiler:It turns out he's alive after his DisneyDeath, but this opens {{Plot Hole}}s about how he went from being crushed and abandoned in the mountains to appearing at the IPO base after Ginrei moved it to St. Abbe]].
* WorldOfHam: This series' universe seems to work purely ON HAM!!!
* WorthyOpponent: Big Fire considers the IPO to be one of these, and at least a few of the good guys feel the same. [[spoiler: Also '''Alberto the Shockwave's''' entire reason for faking his own death.]]
* WreckedWeapon: [[spoiler:Daisaku orders an extremely unwise attack on the Eye of Volger during the WhamEpisode, resulting in Giant Robo getting itself seriously damaged.]] Cue an OhCrap reaction from just about every single good guy on the field.
* XMarksTheHero: Tetsugyu
[[/folder]]
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->''In a future yet to be, the third energy revolution is ushered in by the invention of the Shizuma Drive, and with it, mankind celebrates a new era of prosperity.''
->''But lurking in the shadows cast by the brilliance of our new found hope, two great powers clash!''
->''Big Fire; a secret organization bent on total world domination!''
->''"Hail, Big Fire! Allegiance or death!"''
->''But despair not! To defend us from the threat they pose, the International Police Organization's mighty Experts of Justice have been formed, comprised of members from around the globe! Fighting by their side is the greatest robot on the planet, Giant Robo, commanded solely by one young man: Daisaku Kusama!''
->''"Crush them! '''Go, Giant Robo!'''"''
''Giant Robo The Animation: The Day The Earth Stood Still'' is an {{OVA}} reimagining of Manga/GiantRobo and [[Series/GiantRobo its Tokusatsu adaptation]] directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa and released by Discotek Media. Originally planned to be finished in 3 years but taking [[ScheduleSlip twice as long]], the series was released between 1992 and 1998 as seven episodes, each between 40 and 60 minutes long.
An (unholy) amalgamation of Wuxia, Superheroes, Music/RichardWagner, [[HumongousMecha Mecha Anime]] and pure insanity, ''Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still'' is notable for being an early and rather impressive example of the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, formed when Imagawa (''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'') was told that he couldn't use any of the supporting characters from the manga or TV versions of the ''Giant Robo'' story. Struck by inspiration, he instead decided to instead take characters from the rest of original creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama's work, including ''Manga/BabelII'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'' and many others. To add to the effect he decided to draw them all in Yokoyama's classic 1960s style, along with a [[{{Zeerust}} retro-futuristic world]] populated by {{Ninja}}, ancient Chinese warriors, [[BadassInANiceSuit Sharp Suited Businessmen]] and {{Badass Longcoat}}s walking side by side.
Oh and don't pay any attention to the synopsis above, or let the art style and KidHero [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids fool you into thinking this is a kids' series]] in the vein of ''Franchise/GIJoe'' or ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}''. ''Giant Robo'''s plot starts off slow and deceptively [[ClicheStorm cliché-ridden]], with a blatant MadScientist and McGuffin driving the first half of the plot, and then we get the WhamEpisode, rewriting the entire premise, beating the snot out of the good guys and resulting in several major characters getting KilledOffForReal. It's not the first, or even the most dramatic.
Imagawa also scripted a new ''Giant Robo'' manga, "The Day The Earth Burned" that started publication in 2006. While this version is also an AlternateContinuity, it does act as a SpiritualSuccessor to the {{OVA}}s, with the same tone and many of the same characters. The original manga has also recently become available on most major manga websites.
See also: ''Anime/ShinMazinger'', another SuperRobot series by Yasuhiro Imagawa. Like ''Giant Robo'', it is a revival of a classic series and involves heavy crossover from the [[Creator/GoNagai original artist's]] entire body of work. Alternatively, the 2004 ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28]]'' anime, also directed by Imagawa based on another famous Yokoyama story with similar design aesthetics and a few bits of RetroactiveRecognition (The depiction of Kenji Murasame and Robo's "Gao" noise reused for Tetsujin's roar, most notably).
----
[[foldercontrol]]
!!A series that LOVES its tropes, twisting them and playing them straight with the same vigor, the ''Giant Robo'' {{OVA}} features examples of:
[[folder: A-M]]
* ActionBomb: [[spoiler:Silent Chuujo, apparently. As the Sphere floats towards the last Shizuma Drive bastion, there's Chuujo on a bluff. He loosens his tie and shirt, takes a few practice jabs, then ''flies up to '''punch''' the Sphere''.]] That dialogue in episode 2 makes far more sense when you know this.
* ActionGirl: Ginrei and Youshi are both government operatives.
* AdaptedOut: GR-4, the land based Giant Robo from the 1992 manga, is completely absent from the OVA and from any subsequent media within the OVA universe.
* AgeLift: Daisaku is 12 years old in the OVA like his tokusatsu counterpart instead of being around teenage years in the original manga
* AllThereInTheManual: Since most of the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover characters lack in-universe backstories fans have ended up taking inspiration from the stories they originated from.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The last act of the first OVA episode.
* AnachronicOrder: This was the original intent of the OVA, as ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' was the second to last arc of a seven part story. The next arc was going to show how [[HowWeGotHere Daisaku joined the Experts of Justice]].
* AntiVillain: Hanzui the Evil Messiah, leader of the Magnificent Ten. Never actually does anything evil, proves extremely honorable and is a great deal nicer than most of the good guys.
* AnyoneCanDie: Murasame repeatedly, a few others as well. '''Alberto the Shockwave'''... [[spoiler:BWA HA HA HA HA HA - best twist ever.]]
* ApocalypseWow: The scene where France is being destroyed.
* ArcWords: "Beautiful Night!", "Can happiness be achieved without sacrifice?"
* BadassInANiceSuit: Most notably Alberto and the Commander.
* BadassBystander: The IPO's various RedShirts are all trained in gun use and are as capable of high-flying acrobatic leaps as the Experts of Justice themselves.
* BadassFingersnap: The Fabulous Fitzgerald, who can cut anything in half by snapping his fingers at it.
* BadassLongcoat: Murasame. The twist? It's [[RealMenWearPink BRIGHT PINK!]]
* BadassNormal: Daisaku. Sure, he owns "the world's strongest robot," but he's still the only normal human in the cast. Everyone else can fly, transform, use super strength and other bizarre powers.
* BattleCouple: Youshi and Taisou are married pair of government agents.
* BigGuy: Tetsugyu and Youshi both fit this role. In a slight subversion Youshi is a woman, and certainly not a CuteBruiser either.
* BigDamnHeroes: Giant Robo's introduction, and several other examples.
* BilingualBonus: Tetsugyu's name roughly translates to "Iron Ox", one of the nicknames of Li Kui in Yokoyama's manga adaptation of ''Literature/WaterMargin''.
* BittersweetEnding
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: Ginrei uses up her life power and her body disintegrates.]]
* BoisterousBruiser: Tetsugyu, Taisou, Youshi.
* BrokenPedestal: ''Zigzags'' with Vogler to one of his assistants. It goes back-and-forth at least 5 times, finally resulting in [[spoiler: subversion. Vogler really meant for the best for the world.]]
* TheBrute: In the BF there's Jujoji who has some devastating magic powers. The Fabulous Fitzgerald loves to carve up people with his snapping fingers.
* TheCallHasBadReception: Dr. Vogler had good intentions. Originally, his son had good intentions. The only problem was that by the time Dr. Vogler tells his son what needed to be done, he didn't have a very good vocabulary...
* TheCameo: Several Mecha from Mitsuteru Yokoyama's works make several apperances in the opening sequence such as GR-3, Black Ox, Monster and Gaia.
* CanonImmigrant: When Tetsujin #28 was remade in 2004, the Murasame Kenji that appears there isn't the original characterization - it's ''this'' one. He even calls himself "the immortal Murasame Kenji" just before [[spoiler:going down in a hail of bullets and encouraging Shotaro... then getting up and wiping off the ketchup.]] Additionally, Tetsujin uses Robo's '''growl''' rather than its original sound.
* CastOfExpies: Pretty much every named character is either lifted from or based on characters from other works in Yokoyama's opus; there are derivatives from ''Manga/BabelII'' and its sequel works ''Sono na wa 101'' and ''Ōkami no Seiza'', ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-gō]]'', ''Anime/GodMars'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', ''Iga no Kagemaru'', and from Yokoyama's ''[[Literature/WaterMargin Suikoden]]'' and ''[[Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971 Sangokushi]]''.
* CharacterDevelopment: Numerous but Tetsugyu has a great moment in the fifth OVA.
* TheChessmaster: Big Fire's head strategist Koumei repeatedly insists the events of the plot are all according to plan. [[InformedAttribute At no point are his strategy or tactics explained]], and Koumei repeatedly gives several indications of treachery, but he insists nonetheless.
* ClothingDamage: Ginrei gets blasted in episode four and this is the result.
* CombatStilettos: Ginrei wears these.
* CoolBigSis: Youshi, Ginrei acts like one towards Daisaku.
* CoolOldGuy: One of Big Fire's Magnificent Ten is actually called Old Man Kawarazaki. His fellow Magnificent Ten colleague Shockwave Alberto also has a lot of the traits, exchanging taunts with the early twenties BigBad over their respective ages.
* CultSoundtrack: The pompous Wagnerian soundtrack by Creator/MasamichiAmano is consistently mentioned in reviews as a major appeal of the OVA.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:It ultimately turns out that Dr. Vogler really did die at Bashtarle. His supposed “resurrection” was actually his son Genya disguising himself using a hologram.]]
* DeathIsCheap: It is ''very'' cheap for Murasame Kenji, since he just revives despite several violent deaths, and since he can apparently do so in an area he couldn't get to corporeally, it's part of his ''strategy''. He even shoots himself in the head to drive home the point, noting that he "''can't'' die."
* DeathlyDiesIrae: As appropriate for a story about a Doomsday Device and a tale of revenge against humanity, ''Dies Irae'' appears multiple times in the score, both in instrumental and OminousLatinChanting forms.
* DemotedToExtra: GR-3 only shows up as a cameo in the EvolvingCredits.
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Tetsugyu is apparently crushed to death by Genya's robot Gallop in episode five, and then, after going completely forgotten until episode seven, appears at the IPO base after Ginrei teleports it to St. Abbe wrapped in bandages]].
* EldritchAbomination: The ''Giant Sphere'' is an artificial example; it is a giant floating eyeball that, once it lifts its external layer of metal, reveals hundreds of other eyeballs.
* EmpireWithADarkSecret:
** In ''Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still'', the Shizuma Drive, which provides clean, cheap energy, is completely recyclable and looks cool too was built upon a foundation of [[spoiler:the deaths of billions at the Tragedy of Bashtarle]]. A little LockedOutOfTheLoop as well, seeing as [[spoiler:Daisaku's the only character (except maybe Sunny) who doesn't know -- it's just that we only find out when he does]].
** St. Abbe is the largest Shizuma Drive power plant in the world, and supposedly capable of providing half the world's energy by itself. It is also built directly atop the ruins of Bashtarle, which was destroyed by experiments with the prototype Shizuma Drive. The BigBad targets it for destruction with his DoomsdayDevice during the finale.
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Shockwave Alberto in the Finale, as he considers the IPO a WorthyOpponent and the BigBad an annoying, grandstanding brat trying to steal Big Fire's thunder.]]
* EnigmaticMinion: Ko-Enshaku is an especially unsettling one.
* EvilCounterpart: It seems that was going to be the case between Daisuke and Big Fire. One in charge of a giant robot, the other having three amazing guardians. Both very young. Though we don't know just how evil Big Fire really was.
* EvolvingCredits: "Earth, the terrifying world of our future! This is the Shizuma Drive, now broken and useless, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the great energy revolution undone in just ten days!]]"
* TheDragon: Ko-Enshaku serves as an all purpose Dragon for Genya and Cho-Katsu Komei, neither of whom like to get their hands dirty if they can help it. Ivan to Alberto.
* EvilerThanThou: [[spoiler:Genya screws over apparent BigBad Shockwave Alberto early on, and towards the end Cho-Katsu Komei does it to the rest of the Magnificent Ten.]]
* EvilGenius: Most obviously Vogler [[spoiler: or so it seems.]] Old Man Kawarazaki seems to be an inventor. Zangetsu, if epileptic tress turned out to be true.
* {{Expy}}: Most characters of the OVA (who aren't from the original manga or anime) are Expys of Yokoyama's other works, such as:
** Taiso (Dai Zong), Tetsugyu ("Iron Ox"/Li Kui), Youshi (Yang Zhi), Kosonsho Issei (Gongsun Shen), Koushin (Huang Xin), Kaei (Hua Rong), Kaihou and Kaichin (Xie Bao and Xie Zhen), Shutsu (Zhou Tong), the Fishermen Brothers (Ruan Xiaoer, Xiaowu, Xiaoqi), Hanzui (Fan Rui), Richu (Li Zhong), Goyo (Wu Yong), Zangetsu (Han Tao) and Ko-Enshaku (Huyan Zhuo) all hail from ''Suikoden'' (''Literature/WaterMargin'').
** Cho-Katsu Komei (Zhuge Liang) and Jujojii (Zhang Rang) are from ''Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi'' ("[=Records/=]Manga/{{Romance of the Three Kingdoms|1971}}").
** Big Fire (Babel II/Koichi Yamano), Achilles (Lodem), Garuda (Ropross), and Neptune (Poseidon) were originally created for ''Manga/BabelII''. Also, Chujo the Silent, Cervantes, Fitzgerald and even Daisaku's father, Dr. Kusama, were modeled after various characters in the series.
** Chujo also doubling as Azuma from the Giant Robo manga, having a near identical design to that of Daisaku's middle aged mentor.
** Likewise, Alberto the Impact, Ivan and Kawarazaki first appeared in ''Mars''.
** Sunny the Magician is the original name of ''Manga/SallyTheWitch''.
** Red Mask was originally from ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', and he is the main protagonist in that series.
** Kenji Murasame is a CanonImmigrant from [[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin-28]], and Dr. Vogler, Dr. Montalblan and Q Boss hail from there as well.
** Ginrei is from ''Sononawa 101'' (a sequel to Manga/BabelII) and ''Okami no Seiza''.
** Genya and Yuuki were both originally from ''Iga no Kagemaru''.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Professor Go. And Doki about half the time. The other half has one eye open.
* FallingIntoTheCockpit: Daisaku was forced to take command of Giant Robo when his father and Murasame were mortally wounded trying to escape (and Murasame wouldn't heal in time.)
* FanFiction: A popular ''review and synopsis'' of the nonexistent GrandFinale fooled a lot of people. In its defense it would have indeed made a kickass episode.
* GenderFlip: Youshi is a female expy of Yang Zhi from the ''Literature/WaterMargin'' and Yokoyama's Manga.
* GenreThrowBack: Daisaku's flashback on his origin plays a lot more like a typical giant robot show.
** Murasame: 'Daisaku! Use Robo's bazooka launcher!'
* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:'''Vogler.''']]
* GreaterScopeVillain: Big Fire himself, the leader and namesake of the BF Group, is only briefly seen and never takes part in the action, with Alberto and Genya instead serving as the active threats.
* HappilyMarried: Taiso and Youshi.
* HauntedTechnology: [[spoiler:Giant Robo appears to contain Professor Kusama's spirit/will,]] as hinted at throughout the series and seen in the last episode.
* HiddenDepths: Many characters like Daisaku, Tesugyu, Ginrei, and others. Really the entire OVA series itself as it first looks like a typical giant robot series.
* {{Housewife}}: One can be seen during the opening narration.
* HumongousMecha: In the main OVA, Robo and the Big Fire robots are of the more old-school, "vaguely sentient yet highly suggestible and obedient" variety, while the Ginrei Robo and neo Tetsujin-28 are more modern, directly piloted versions.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Murasame Kenji.
* ImplacableMan: The [[TheVoiceless silent]], [[TheFaceless armored]] Ko-Enshaku fills this role for the bad guys, enigmatically surviving everything thrown at him before turning up unharmed the next episode. The good guys on the other hand have Murasame, whose tendency to survive getting gaping holes blown through him becomes almost comical as the series goes on.
* InformedAbility: Tetsugyu is remarkably ineffectual in battle, despite frequent reference to his strength. We see him take down a swarm of Big Fire Mooks just fine, but that's about it. To be fair it's [[OvershadowedByAwesome more like the world around him is overpowered]] rather than him being weak.
* InNameOnly: The OVA has next to nothing to do with Giant Robo or it's title character, rather it functions as an MCU-esque crossover for all of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's characters to interact in.
* InterpolSpecialAgent: The "Experts of Justice" are a part of Interpol.
* {{Irony}}: The BigBad's plot to destroy the world [[spoiler: technically succeeded, but wound up ''saving'' the world. Von Volger had tried to eliminate the new energy source because it was producing an undetectable poison gas that would wipe out all life on the planet after a certain point in time. The Eye of Volger was temporarily shutting down all of the energy cores in order to ''fix the poison gas problem.'']]
* IWantThemAlive: Happens in the last episode to Daisaku. [[spoiler: He manages to get away and make it to Robo though.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Cho-Katsu Komei gets away with everything, despite arrogantly declaring himself TheChessmaster and having none of the sympathetic motives of his fellow BigBad. As a result he generally has a very poor survival rate in fan continuations.
* KickTheDog: Murasame skips between this and SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome so quickly his teeth must rattle.
* KidHero: Daisaku Kusama is only twelve at the start of the anime.
* KilledOffForReal: Played straight and averted, especially later on when everyone was expecting AnyoneCanDie. The anime still manages an impressive body count though, even with the odd couple of extremely unlikely NotQuiteDead.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Cervantes points a gun at Daisaku, despite the fact he can generate enough heat from his hands to melt a thick steel door.
* KubrickStare: Part of Giant Robo's design.
* LineInTheSand -- Subverted. Our hero (recovering from a HeroicBSOD) never crosses the line, but the ''battle'' crosses it from the other direction. And the "line" is a crevice deeper than he is tall.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Ginrei is revealed to be [[spoiler: Von Vogler's daughter, and Genya's sister.]]
* TheKidWithTheRemoteControl: Subverted, slightly. Robo has its own will[[spoiler: apparently that of Dr. Kusama]] and usually only follows the general gist of the commands.
** Example from the last episode, at the Monster Sphere: "Shoot, Robo!" *Robo fires everything it has, plus one of its booster rockets*
* MadScientist: Dr Von Vogler[[spoiler: who eventually turns out to be a kindhearted and inspirational man who for PR reasons was blamed for the disaster one of the other scientists caused. After all, as far as anyone knew, he had [[NotQuiteDead died in said disaster]] and couldn't say any different!]]
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Genya is nearly always dressed in a clean white suit and his home is a sumptuous mansion.
* {{Mooks}}: Made an art form. The basic IPO mooks at one point spontaneously form a human pyramid in order to block an energy blast.
* MookMaker: To a degree, Doki, who commands a whole army of warriors instead of general BF mooks.
* MoreDakka: Giant Robo carries enough firepower to wipe a couple of cities off the map.
* MotherhoodIsSuperior: Averted. Fatherhood drives ''a lot'' of the characters. The end credits even dedicate the film to fathers and sons.
* MsFanservice: Ginrei undoubtedly shows the most skin out of anyone.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Genya, when he realizes that he horribly misunderstood his father's last wish and even killed his sister as a result.]]
* MythologyGag: Despite only loosely taking inspiration from the 1967 ''Giant Robo'' tokusatsu, there's a remarkable amount of visual and even some plot similarities:
** Giant Robo's PapaWolf instincts in protecting Daisaku when he is in peril, much like how Robo was in the later episodes of the toku.
** The Eye of Volger being a robotic fusion between the Giant Robo kaiju, Ganmons and Glober.
** Robo's design being a muscular version of the tokusatsu design, rather than being based on the manga version like nearly every other Yokoyama character present
** Daisaku being 12 years old rather than being 18 years old like in the manga.
** In the EvolvingCredits, GR-3's rocket missile decoration are based off of Giant Robo's finger missiles in the toku version, also doubling as an homage to ''[[Anime/GunBuster Gunbuster]]''.
** The manga only GR-4 being an homage to Calamity, the EvilKnockoff of Giant Robo from the toku.
** The symbol on GR's forehead being the shape of a Unicorn, which is also the name of the IPO equivalent in the toku version.
** Robo being a much slower, lumbering mech being similar to the weightier version of GR seen in the toku.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: N-Z]]
* NewEraSpeech: Dr. Von Vogler's speech during the first flashback to the Tragedy of Bashtarle (the one repeated as the ColdOpen of the second episode):
-->'''Dr. Fogler:''' The future has shone upon us with its glorious brilliance! The time to seize our destiny and conquer all our fears is ''now''! In ancient times, man rubbed sticks together to create fire. Then he slaughtered the whale and battled one another for oil. After that came the atomic age. In every chapter of our history, we danced with danger. But now it will be different. For the first time in our existence, we will be ''delivered from fear!!'' Finally, we will escape the prison of our delusions, and [[ArcWords the Beautiful Night]] ''will embrace us all''!
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Averted! [[spoiler: Just barely, though.]] In the final episode you find out that [[spoiler: the Shizuma drives were actually creating a poisonous gas that would have destroyed all life on earth]] within days of the events that make up the series. The anti-drive [[spoiler: was actually created in order to eliminate this threat before it destroyed all known life.]] All of the "normal" drives [[spoiler: would have reactivated once all of the anti-drives had been activated at once, modified to correct the flaw.]] At the last minute,[[spoiler: despite the heroes' efforts]] all of the [[spoiler: anti-drives]] were activated, thus [[spoiler: saving the world.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: It turns out that when the three anti-drives are together they fixed the 2% problem or else they all would have exploded.]]
* {{Ninja}}: "Mask the Red" of Big Fire's Magnificent Ten. Word Of God says that there is an entire ninja community in the world of GR who takes interests in the fights Mask the Red has with his Celestial 9 counterpart, Kagemaru.
* NoIndoorVoice: Everyone, especially as everything goes to hell. The dialogue of the final episode consists of nothing but EPIC SPEECH!
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Daisaku and Genya.
** And Daisaku and Tetsugyu. [[spoiler: The latter saw Daisaku's expression when he damaged Robo's arm. The same feeling of pain as when Tesugyu slew his own father.]]
* OhCrap: Genya when[[spoiler: Alberto absorbs the heat energy from the sphere leaving it completely vulnerable to attack from Giant Robo.]] The look on his face as [[spoiler:Robo prepares to launch one of its rocket boosters as a missile]] is particularly priceless.
* {{Omake}}[=/=]{{Filler}}: The three ''Ginrei Special'' {{OVA}}s, ranging from a reasonably well-executed prequel Side Story to pure animated CrackFic, were created to maintain interest and raise funds during the main OVA's production delays.
** ClipShow: Most of the first Ginrei OVA.
** {{Crossdresser}}: Somehow, "Ginrei the Mighty" comes up with an excuse to have all the Experts wearing Ginrei's trademark Chinese mini-dress. Also, the first Ginrei OVA has Murasame[[LatexPerfection completely]] disguised as Ginrei for most of the episode.
** EvilTwin : Named "Electric Shock Rosa" by Alberto
** {{Fembot}}: The "Ginrei Robo".
** GoKartingWithBowser: The Experts and the BF organization drinking together in "Ginrei the Mighty".
** MoodWhiplash: The third episode is completely serious
** RefugeInAudacity: Ok, so the main series is this, but the omakes take this to another level. We have things like Giant Robo nosebleeding gasoline at the sight of Ginrei naked, everyone dressing in Ginrei dresses, the below mentioned VictoriasSecretCompartment moment, Daisaku claiming to be 29 years old and divorced...
** ShoutOut: Ginrei Robo is a parody of Venus A from ''Anime/GreatMazinger'', and Daisaku also gets to pilot an ersatz ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-go]]'', revamped in the same way Giant Robo itself was in the OVA series.
*** Daisaku even wears Shotaro's signature plaid jacket rather than his own drab grey while piloting the redesigned Tetsujin 28.
** VictoriasSecretCompartment: Ginrei pulls a full-sized bazooka from her cleavage in "Iron-armed Ginrei / Ginrei the Mighty".
** WholesomeCrossdresser: ALL OF THE (male members of the) IPO in Episode 2. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments And it is hilarious.]]
* OnceMoreWithClarity: The story behind the Tragedy of Bashtarle changes multiple times over the course of the OVA.
* OverclockingAttack: this is what the Monster Sphere actually does to the Shizuma drives. Except the resulting energy can be harnessed...
* PapaWolf: Giant Robo has a Auto-Guard Circuit allowing it to activate and act of its own will when its controller's life (sensed through the wristwatch) is in danger. Robo breaks out of its maintenance dock and takes off for Daisaku (who doesn't seem to be aware of it) the first time, where it's noted that Robo was running at ''50 times'' its usual power.
** Subverted slightly, when Robo crashes into an unbreakable barrier - it ''can't control its output'' while in full-on PapaWolf mode, and runs the risk of melting down if allowed to continue for too long.
* PetTheDog: The scene in the 5th OVA where Genya comforts a delirious Daisaku[[spoiler: and then learning about his motivation for revenge.]] Also Ivan mentioning how his home was destroyed from[[spoiler: the Bashtarle disaster.]]
* ThePlan: Cho-Katsu Komei claims several times that he is pulling one of these off, though it is left ambiguous whether this is actually [[IMeantToDoThat true.]]
* PlotHole: How, ''exactly'', was the Vogler Sphere created, and by whom?[[spoiler: If Vogler created the sphere, as his final recording indicates, how did he get the resources and the time required to do so, and did he ''really'' do it by himself as the story indicates? If Genya made it, how did he not know about his father's recording that was preprogrammed into the sphere, and thus, his father's intentions?]]
* PoorCommunicationKills:
** Interpol's decision to seal Giant Robo away immediately after the revelation of its nuclear power source, and especially Chuujo's ham-handed delivery of those orders serves no purpose except to frustrate and isolate Daisaku.
** The Big Fire Organization has a ''major'' internal communications problem, in which the only person who appears to know what's going on is the head strategist, who refuses to elucidate in the slightest and repeatedly appeals to the authority of Big Fire himself when questioned by the Big Ten,[[spoiler: even as hundreds of Big Fire agents die as casualties of the Vogler Sphere]].
** Probably one of the most brutal literal examples in any anime, [[spoiler: If Franken Von Volger had come up with an easier way to communicate his plan with his son Genya before he passed away, rather than the overcomplicated means to reveal it with a rigged briefcase, Genya wouldn't have gone insane and many lives would have not been wasted for his war.]]
* PowerAtAPrice: The children of Professor von Vogler are able to teleport, but the more of that power they use, the more their body fades away.
* PuttingOnTheReich: The "Big Fire" villainous organization wants to conquer the world using superweapons and has even copied the Hitler salute (the straight-arm salute with the right hand and transforming "Heil Hitler" into "Hail, Big Fire! Allegiance or death!").
* RealMenWearPink: Murasame's overcoat and Hanzui's cape. Are you dumb enough to mock them?
* RefugeInAudacity
* RetCanon: The original Animaze dub of the OVA (for L.A. Hero and later Creator/MangaEntertainment) was influential on the subsequent dub that Creator/MediaBlasters commissioned from NYAV Post, and on the fan perception of the series in general.
** First and foremost, the Animaze dub gave Kenji Murasame a GratuitousFrench [[FakeNationality accent]] in the first episode, because he first appeared investigating the murders of Shizuma's partners in Paris, and presumably the writers didn't know that he would be a recurring character. Over the years that the original series took to complete, Animaze stuck with their decision -- and NYAV Post followed suit in their new dub.
** The NYAV Post dub also included nods to other memorable lines from the older version, such as including "Allegiance or death!" in the Big Fire organization's BattleCry.
* {{Retcon}}: In episode three, Tetsugyu enables Daisaku and Giant Robo to take to the battlefield against orders. Episode five revises his intentions [[spoiler:to claim he was deliberately setting up Daisaku to fail]], which flies in the face of the shock and dismay he showed in episode three[[spoiler: when Giant Robo actually lost the fight]].
** Perhaps his shock came from [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizing he effectively 'murdered' Daisaku's father figure]][[spoiler: just like how he accidently killed own father?]]
* RoofHopping: You know an organization is bad ass when all of its support staff / engineering mooks can roof hop onto a zeppelin to clear off before an attack. No really, Daisaku is the only normal human in the show.
* RuleOfCool: How else do you explain a mecha anime with supernatural kung-fu fighters and a Wagnerian soundtrack?
* SamusIsAGirl: Ginrei's introduction as the BadassLongcoat "[[MaskPower Iron Mask]]" during the prologue of the first episode.
* SequelHook: *Cries*
* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: What it kind of boils down too when the three anti-drives are together at long last. A shame that the IPO were so good at their job. Even sadder that if Genya hadn't shot Ginrei then humanity would have been wiped out.]]
* ShoutOut:
** The subtitle of the OVA series is a shout out to the classic film ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951''.
** Ginrei first appears disguised as K from ''Series/RobotDetective''.
* SpiritualCrossover: Of Yokoyama's many works. See CastOfExpies and {{Expy}} for details.
* SuperRobot[=/=]RealRobot: The robots straddle the line. They are considered powerful enough that, even with WorldOfBadass in play, no one wants to fight Robo one-on-one without a heavily stacked deck; on the other hand the organizational and maintenance issues they'd require is fleshed out and clearly just this side of 'impractical'. They're superweapons, and unless they're specifically built to take a hit the hand-to-hand fights don't last very long - take the complex snake-train robot being paralyzed after one hit in the first episode, for example.
* TerminallyDependentSociety: All the world depends on the Shizuma Drive. When it is destroyed, everything else is. The only oil refinery left is at Shanghai, and then it's destroyed too; there's some solar and wind power left, but not much. ''The world ends in ten days''.
* ThisCannotBe[=/=]BigNo: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00RjATZasNo See here]]
* UnexplainedRecovery: Numerous characters. On the villainous side [[spoiler: Alberto]]. Jujoji and Zangetsu sure acted dead in the sixth OVA but are fine in the seventh.
* VasquezAlwaysDies: Youshi.
* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Currently providing the page image.
* VillainousBreakdown: Genya, several times during the final episode. While he normally finds a way to salvage the situation the last one truly breaks him, and not without reason.
* VillainousRescue: '''Alberto the Shockwave.'''
* WhamEpisode: Episode Five, which elaborates on Testugyu's backstory, reveals the true villain of the Tragedy of Bashtarle, gives more context to Vogler's revenge, [[spoiler:and crushes Tetsugyu beneath Genya's robot Gallop]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Episode six and the first part of episode seven completely forget about Tetsugyu, which means he goes ignored during several very relevant conversations. [[spoiler:It turns out he's alive after his DisneyDeath, but this opens {{Plot Hole}}s about how he went from being crushed and abandoned in the mountains to appearing at the IPO base after Ginrei moved it to St. Abbe]].
* WorldOfHam: This series' universe seems to work purely ON HAM!!!
* WorthyOpponent: Big Fire considers the IPO to be one of these, and at least a few of the good guys feel the same. [[spoiler: Also '''Alberto the Shockwave's''' entire reason for faking his own death.]]
* WreckedWeapon: [[spoiler:Daisaku orders an extremely unwise attack on the Eye of Volger during the WhamEpisode, resulting in Giant Robo getting itself seriously damaged.]] Cue an OhCrap reaction from just about every single good guy on the field.
* XMarksTheHero: Tetsugyu
[[/folder]]
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