Anime / Red Baron

Red Baron (レッドバロン, Reddo Baron) is an anime series directed by Akio Sakai and produced by Nippon TV along with TMS Entertainment. The show is a remake of the 1973 live-action series Super Robot Red Baron. It aired from 1994 to 1995 for a total of 49 episodes.

In the future, technology has advanced to the point that humanoid giant robots piloted by humans are now a reality. The "Metal Fight" games are the most popular televised sport in the world and many robot contestants compete for the title of Best Metal Fighter in the World.

The story follows Ken Kurenai, who pilots the titular robot, along with Shoko Saeba, its creator. Ken enters the world tournament to become the number one Metal Fighter. He must, however, face an army of other rivals from around the world including "Kaizer" and the three Iron Mask doctors, and while also making several allies along the way, and trying to find Dr. Saeba, Shoko's father, who was mysteriously kidnapped.

This anime series features examples of:

• Adaptational Curves: Compared to its bulky live-action counterpart, the Red Baron's design is more streamlined and closer to a Heroic Build, with broad shoulders and well-toned arms and legs.
• The Ahnold: Ken's opponent in one episode is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. His Metal Fighter is even called "Eliminator" and looks a lot like a skeletal robot from the Terminator movies.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Big Bad for the last arc of the series, the Sigma supercomputer created by Tetsuo Saeba, Shoko's father. It starts out as an Expy of Skynet but then develops two personalities.
• Always Identical Twins: Ken's opponents in Episode 24 are a pair of identical twin sisters (albeit with different personalities, one being cheery and friendly, the other aggressive and easy to anger).
• Always Someone Better: Shadow was this for Ken when they studied martial arts together under the same master. Ken eventually turns it around when the Red Baron finally bests the Gold Baron.
• And Show It to You: Chatatsu's Signature Move does this to enemy robots, ripping out their internal mechanisms as if ripping out a man's heart or some organ, and he can use it both inside and outside of his own mecha, the Kung-Fu Tiger (utilizing the Kung-Fu Tiger's retractable Wolverine Claws for the Humongous Mecha version of his attack). The Gold Baron later on does the same to the Red Baron.
• Animal Motif: Some of the Metal Fighters are designed with animal armors. Komei's Shinryu has its armor designed after a Chinese dragon. Chatatsu's Kung-Fu Tiger and Asimov's Black Jaguar also count.
• Bear Hug: Hashmikov's Metal Fighter, the aptly-named Big Bear can use this as a signature move, making it even more deadly as it has sawblades on its body to hurt its opponent during the hug.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Plenty between Ken and Shoko, and later between Komei and Dr. Marilyn.
• Big Bad: Kaiser. At least until it's revealed that he's the Brainwashed and Crazy Dr. Saeba, Shoko's father.
• Big Red Devil: The Death Baron is almost completely purple but looks very devilish, with big horns on its head, its face decorated with a wicked laughing mouth, big batlike wings on its back and even a demon tail. Might just as well have been named the "Devil Baron" instead.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: As its Mid-Season Upgrade, the Red Baron gains a couple of bladed gauntlets to increase its damage output. King Sword also has a couple of hidden blades on the wrists as its default weapon.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": The Red Baron's initials are visible on its belt buckle. Also applies to the Gold Baron and Big Bear.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Komei. He just can't stop talking about ancient Chinese cooking metaphors and proverbs — even as he is fighting for his life against monster robots.
• Chef of Iron: Komei is a skilled martial artist, as well as a pretty good chef (often using cooking metaphors when speaking).
• Combat Clairvoyance: The Gold Baron is equipped with a secondary system that allows it to predict the enemy's moves with 100% accuracy, and dodge or counter them accordingly.
• Combining Mecha: The twins Ken fights in episode 24 pilot almost-identical Metal Fighters that can combine into one back-to-back, creating a four-armed Goddess.
• Cross Counter: The Gold Baron exploits this in Episode 31 against the Red Baron, using its own versions of the Rolling Thunder and the Electrigger against it.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Chatatsu. He is typically the Butt-Monkey within the group of Ken and his friends (moreso than Ken himself) and cannot confess his feelings to Shoko which makes him appear clumsy, but he's an extremely competent fighter when piloting his mech, or even outside it, specially when Shoko is in trouble and needs to be rescued.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Subverted and Played for Laughs in Episode 31. A beaten up Marilyn approaches Komei to tell him what she discovered about the Gold Baron, and acts like she's happy to die in Komei's arms. Then Asimov wakes her up and she gets pretty angry about it, showing that she wasn't actually dying.
• Disney Death:
  • After he breaks out of his brainwashing, Dr. Saeba tries to destroy the Sigma Supercomputer, staying behind as the base explodes. He's later shown to have escaped and survived somehow, and helps the heroes during the finale by drawing out the spiritual energy in their Metal Fighters to defeat the Death Baron.
  • During the raid on the Sigma Tower, the Viking Brothers, Hashmikov, Asimov and Marilyn seemingly perform Heroic Sacrifices to help their comrades. The final episode reveals they survived and were being used by Sigma as a Living Battery to power up the Death Baron with spiritual energy.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Marilyn often exploits this to her advantage. Ken himself has fallen for it, especially when he fights female opponents.
• Dwindling Party: During the raid to the Sigma Tower to rescue the captive Shoko, the members of the team end up sacrificing themselves to help the others go forward. First the Viking Brothers, later Hashmikov, Marilyn and Asimov. Only Ken (with Shadow's help), Chatatsu and Komei make it back out.
• Enforced Method Acting: The movie's director in Episode 25 intends to destroy the Red Baron for real to make his movie a hit.
• Epic Flail: King Ox uses several heavy balls tied to cables as its main weapon. Unusually for this trope, they're actually stored in the torso and not in the arms or held separately.
• Escape Pod: Most Metal Fighters are equipped with this, to save the pilot in the event that the robot gets completely destroyed.
• Evil Counterpart: Shadow's Gold Baron is initially this for Ken's Red Baron. The Gold Baron can use its own versions of the Electrigger and Rolling Thunder, although it also has other techniques and equipment unique to it.
  • For the last arc, there's also the Evil Ken, who is a robotic evil doppelganger of Ken, with his own Metal Fighter, the Death Baron, both created by the Sigma supercomputer that Tetsuo Kaeba created.
• Evil Is Bigger: The Death Baron is like three times the size of the Red and Gold Barons. The Death Baron's sidekicks, the drone Metal Fighters Fujin and Raijin are also bigger than the heroes' Metal Fighters.
• Faking the Dead: After his fight with Shadow and the Gold Baron, Ken is forced to pretend having died in order to investigate more about Kaiser.
• Femme Fatale: Marilyn knows how to use her good looks and charms to get men to do what she wants. She especially exploits it with Amadeus in Episode 22, as he was in love with her since their college days and she promised they'd be together if he defeated the Red Baron for her.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Marilyn is a female example, as she's obsessed with defeating the Red Baron "beautifully" and is a Proud Beauty on top of it.
• Finger Poke of Doom: The rival Metal Fighter from episode 8, Needle, can extend its index fingers into a long stinger to pierce its opponent.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • Ken often makes friends with his rivals this way. An almost literal example is with Hashmikov, whom he befriends when their battle is interrupted by a forest fire and they work together to try and contain it until the firefighters arrive.
  • A flashback reveals that Chatatsu once saved Komei when the latter was fighting some thugs, and one of them got up and tried to stab him from behind.
• The Four Gods: Just barely subverted in the finale with the four main Metal Fighters. Chatatsu has the Byakko motif and his element is wind, and Komei has the Seiryu motif and his element is water. Ken and Shadow do not possess the motifs for the other two gods, but their elements (according to Komei) are fire and earth (which would make them Suzaku and Genbu respectively).
• Frame-Up:
  • During the Ultimate Metal Fighter Tournament, Marilyn, Asimov and Freud send a fake Red Baron to attack King Sword while training, causing everyone to believe that Ken had done it as a cheap move.
  • In Episode 29, Kaiser's computer hacks the database of the local police department, to send them after Ken, Komei and Chatatsu by framing the Red Baron for a bank robbery. Freud finds out and decides to go a step further, hacking it more to give the officers to destroy the Red Baron on sight.
• From Dress to Dressing: In Episode 40, when Komei gets a nasty shoulder injury, Marilyn uses her bra to bandage it. She smacks Ken when he ogles at her before doing so.
• Gentle Giant: Hashmikov is a huge and muscular man, but also very kind and soft-spoken.
• Gold-Colored Superiority: The Gold Baron was specifically designed to be superior to the Red Baron (and for a while, it seemed it was).
• Good Old Fisticuffs: While several Metal Fighters have some kind of weapon, the Red Baron relies entirely on its punches and kicks for combat.
• High-Heel–Face Turn: Marilyn defects from the Iron Mask organization and helps the heroes largely due to her feelings for Komei.
• Hollywood Chameleons: In Episode 13, Ken faces a robot chameleon built by Dr. Freud, with the ability to turn completely invisible.
• Hopeless Suitor: Chatatsu is this to Shoko, who only has eyes for Ken.
• Horny Vikings: The aptly-named Viking Brothers, Orjin and Norman, dress up the part complete with horned helmets. Their Metal Fighters also have horns in their heads.
• Hurricane Kick: Komei's Shinryu uses a spinning kick that creates a freaking tornado. The Gold Baron later uses its own version.
• Humongous Mecha: The titular Metal Fighters are giant robots piloted by the sole purpose of fighting.
• Immune to Fire: The Red Baron was designed to withstand extremely high temperatures, being able to come out of hot lava completely unscathed.
• In Name Only: The story deviates completely from the original series.
• Kame Hame Hadoken: The Gold Baron's ultimate technique, Rising Hurricane, fires an energy blast from the hands (even performing the typical poses while preparing the attack).
  • Subverted with Chatatsu's technique. He charges his attack in the same fashion as the standard Kame Hame Hadoken, putting both his hands behind him as if holding a ball of energy, but this is not an energy attack, and instead of shooting an energy blast, he just shoves his hands (deploying his mecha's signature Wolverine Claws at this point) into the chest of the enemy robot, ripping out its internal power mechanisms as if ripping out a man's heart. He can also do this technique outside of his mecha with his own hands, against a smaller robot closer in size to an actual person, as seen in Episode 41.
• Line-of-Sight Name: In the first episode, when Ken is asked for his full name, he doesn't answer immediately, only adding "Kurenai" when he catches sight of some roses nearby.
• Love Is a Weakness: Marilyn apparently had this view, thinking that falling in love with someone would mean defeat to her pride. Until she met Komei, who apparently was the only person she didn't mind losing to.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The series heavily implies that the Red Baron may be sentient, as it doesn't allow anyone else but Ken to pilot it, and at one point refuses to obey him when he gets cocky after winning a tournament. There's also the fact that it gets a massive power-up from Ken's "spiritual energy" even after taking huge damage, and quickly defeats the Gold Baron with a single punch.
• A Mech by Any Other Name: The robots in this series are known as Metal Fighters. Justified as their main purpose is to fight for sport.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Halfway through the series, Shoko creates some accessories for the Red Baron: armored shoulder pads, bladed gauntlets, and armored boots to boost its jumps and kicks.
  • It also happens very early to Komei, whose original mecha, known as the Shinron, is defeated by Chatatsu's Kung-Fu Tiger during the Metal Fighters tournament. Komei replaces his destroyed Shinron with the much improved Shinryu, which has a dragon-themed head armor and is roughly equal to the Kung-Fu Tiger in fighting power.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: Dr. Asimov is the most glaring example, being the oldest and smallest among the main characters.
• Mistaken for Gay: During Chatatsu's introduction, a flashback shows him trying to deliver a letter to confess to a girl he liked in school, only for Komei to get in his way and mistakenly assume the letter was for himself.
  • Then it happens AGAIN to him when he tries to confess his feelings to Shoko with a letter, only this time for Ken to interfere and assume Chatatsu wrote it for him.
• A Molten Date with Death: In Episode 45, Chatatsu lures Fujin and Raijin into a trap set by Shadow and Komei, who take advantage of a geotermal energy center to trap them into a makeshift magma pit. Unfortunately, the Death Baron comes and rescues them before they suffer fatal damage.
• Monumental Damage: The Red Baron is forced to destroy the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon in Teotihuacan (as they were powering up his enemies' Metal Fighters).
• More Hero than Thou: When Komei plans to sacrifice himself using Shinryu to fight the Gold Baron to try and find any possible weakness to exploit, Chatatsu tries to take his place, using a fortune cookie to trick him. Komei later punches him in the gut to knock him out and goes to fight the Gold Baron anyway.
• Ms. Fanservice: Dr. Marilyn, as she's often wearing very sexy clothes and showing off her curvaceous figure. In one episode she even gets to do a Marilyn Maneuver while dressed like her namesake. The female pilots who fight Ken under her orders, like Mermaid and Lady Muscle, also qualify for the fanservice factor.
• Musical Assassin: Amadeus in Episode 22 is a musical conductor who controls his metal fighter remotely using his baton.
• Named After Someone Famous: The three Iron Mask doctors:
  • Dr. Asimov is named after Isaac Asimov.
  • Dr. Freud is named after Sigmund Freud.
  • Dr. Marilyn is named after Marilyn Monroe.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Aside from The Ahnold above, the same episode features a caricature of Steven Spielberg as the movie's director.
• Off with His Head!:
  • When Shoko, Kumano and Robby are trapped inside the Fake Red Baron's head (which is set to explode with a one-kilometer blast radius if defeated), Ken has to chop off its head to separate it from the body to save them.
  • Similarly, in Episode 27, Komei chops off Venus' head to save Marilyn after she's trapped by the melted bronze against the Arc de Triomphe.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Too many characters seem to want to claim this title by defeating the Red Baron. For Komei and Chatatsu, it seems more like an excuse to help Ken and hang out with him more than anything. For Shadow, this seems to be his reason to defect from Iron Mask and join forces with Ken and his friends during the last arc against the Sigma supercomputer.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: The Red Baron, for some reason, won't allow anyone but Ken to pilot it, reacting to Ken's presence and opening its cockpit to allow him inside. Later it won't respond to Ken's orders after he got cocky from winning the Ultimate Metal Fighter tournament.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: In Episode 10, Ken faces a metal fighter named Knight, shaped like a centaur and capable of rotating its humanoid half to deflect the Red Baron's Electrigger.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: The Metal Fighter from episode 6, Siren, can fuse its legs into a mermaid tail to fight underwater.
• Parting-Words Regret: In Episode 8, Kumano asks Ken and Shoko to help him find his daughter Kyoko, who went missing while researching an icy mountain. He's afraid of this trope because the last time he spoke he got angry at her for taking a dangerous job and told her she could just go and die.
• Power Copying: Villainous version, with the Gold Baron piloted by Shadow (who is a villain at the time) using its advanced computer systems to predict and analyze the Red Baron's moves, the Electrigger and Rolling Thunder, then creating its own versions of those techniques (Hunter Electrigger and Fighter Rolling Thunder).
• Power Floats: During the final episodes, Dr. Saeba modifies the Red Baron's control system so that Ken is able to use his spiritual energy to power it up at any time, and not just when he's near death. This also gives it the ability to fly, allowing it to fight the Death Baron in midair on equal grounds.
• Readings Are Off the Scale: When the Red Baron stands up after being beaten up by the Gold Baron, its energy readings start going over 100%, causing the Gold Baron's sensors to give a system error.
• Revealing Skill: Ken almost recognized Shadow when the latter attacked him at night using a technique he'd previously used when they trained Muay Thai under the same master.
• Rival Turned Evil: Shadow, who was Ken's rival when he studied martial arts in Thailand, joins up with Kaiser for the chance to fight Ken.
• Robot Buddy: Shoko's robot assistant, Robby (who seems to be named after Robby the Robot).
• Seppuku: After Samuraider is defeated by the Red Baron, he gets enraged at his survival and attempts to commit suicide by detonating his Metal Fighter (using the tip of his broken katana to do it). His son's intervention breaks him out of his brainwashing and thus he's able to use the escape pod to save himself.
• Shock and Awe: The Viking Brothers' Metal Fighters, King Ox and King Sword, can generate electric shocks from their horns.
• Signature Move: The Red Baron has two main techniques: Electrigger (channel hot energy into its arms to deliver devastating punches) and Rolling Thunder (channel the energy into the legs for an aerial spinning kick).
• Teen Genius: Shoko is the creator, engineer and designer of the Red Baron, despite being in her mid-teens at most.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Whenever the opening theme starts playing, you know that the Red Baron is about to kick some ass. One of the most notable instances is when the Gold Baron has seemingly won, the Red Baron almost literally comes back to life, powers up and defeats the Gold Baron with a single Megaton Punch through its chest.
• This Is a Drill: The Metal Fighter from Episode 9, Maul, has giant drills for hands as its main weapons.
• Tiger Versus Dragon: Played with during the Metal Fighters tournament, with Komei (the dragon) who faces Chatatsu (the tiger). Although Komei is piloting his first Metal Fighter Shinron, which doesn't have the dragon Animal Motif his second mecha Shinryu later has, the trope is still somewhat into play as the tiger and dragon motifs do apply to Chatatsu and Komei themselves. Though there was some animosity between the two prior to and during their fight, after the fight however, they are bonafide friends with each other.
• Twin Switch: The twin sisters from Episode 24 pull this on Ken before and during their fight.
• Wolverine Claws: Kung-Fu Tiger has retractable claws that replace its normal hands when using its Finishing Move.
• You Have Failed Me: When Marilyn, Freud and Asimov fail too many times to destroy the Red Baron, Kaiser decides to dispose of them (literally by opening Trap Doors under them and dumping them on a garbage truck that takes them away).
• Zorro Mark: Shadow would often mark a G with his opponents' blood after beating them up. He later starts doing it with the Gold Baron to get Ken to fight him.

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