The Characters of Gigantor
open/close all folders
Main Characters
Shotaro Kaneda
Shotaro Kaneda (金田正太郎), Jimmy Sparks
Voiced by: Kazue Takahashi (60's series), Eiko Yamada (80's series), Hideyuki Tanaka (FX, adult), Ai Orikasa (FX, child), Motoko Kumai (2004 series), Tomomi Saito (gao!)
Shotaro Kaneda
- Age Lift: The original manga and 1963 series depict him as 12 years old whereas the 1980s and Imagawa-directed series depict him as 10 years oldnote . In addition a manga from 2007 made him 18 years old.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Happened once in the 47th Episode wherein he was used as a mindless "test pilot" of Tetsujin as part of the Canadian Criminal's plot to sell Tetsujin. He, however, was saved by Black Ox when the gyrocopter was destroyed by it.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: At the end of the 80's series, he takes out Uchuu Maoh, a living black hole!
- Disappeared Dad: His father dying is pretty much a constant in all versions of the story, usually done before the story even starts.
- The Power of the Sun: The source of Tetsujin's power in the 80's series. It turns out to be the opposite of Uchuu Maoh's black hole-granted power, making it the key to defeating him.
Kentaro Kaneda
Kentaro Kaneda (金田賢太郎)
Voiced by: Shōzō Iizuka
Dr. Kaneda
- Gadgeteer Genius: He was a brilliant scientist and inspired many people.
- The Professor: He was involved in the development of Tetsujin as the chief of the Tetsujin Project.
Professor Shikishima
Professor Shikishima, (Dr. Bob Brilliant)
Voiced by: Minoru Yada (60's series), Yoshio Kaneyuchi (80's series), Shigeru Ushiyama (2004 series), Kanehiro Yamamoto (gao!)
Dubbed by: Seongho Shin (Korean)
Professor Shikishima
- Parental Substitute: To Shotaro after his father dies.
- The Professor: He was Kaneda's assistant. Now that Dr. Kaneda has passed, he is the only one who knows Tetsujin best. He established Shikishima Heavy Industries and began dabbling in various scientific developments.
Shigeru Ohtsuka
Inspector Shigeru Ohtsuka (大塚署長), Inspector Ignatz Blooper
Voiced by: Kousei Tomita (60's and 80's series), Minoru Inaba (2004 series), Takashi Matsuyama (gao!)
Shigeru Ohtsuka
- Real Men Wear Pink: He wore a pink police uniform in the Gao! series.
- Transplant: The 80's version of him was later used in Godmars.
Kenji Murasame
Kenji Murasame (Dick Strong)
Voiced by: Shirou Kuno (60's series, 1st), Toshio Andou (60's series, 2nd), Yuji Mikimoto (Giant Robo & the 2004 series), Kanehiro Yamamoto (gao!)
Kenji Murasame
- Adaptational Personality Change: His characterization in the 2004 version is the same as his characterization in the Giant Robo OVA's, he even has the same voice actor due to Imagawa directing both series.
- Real Men Wear Pink: The one that Kenji wore from 2004 series and the 2007 movie is the same clothes as the one from the Giant Robo OVA's
- Dark and Troubled Past: Kenji, Ryusaku and Tatsu lost their family in the war. As a result they have a strong aversion to weapns, and work on sabotaging weapon development.
- Hypocrite: Dislikes weapons, but he is master knife user and his skill is top-notch.
- Meaningful Name: "Kenji" means strong, which makes sense for a guy who's well-versed in weaponry.
- The Rival: To Shotaro. It's kind of unfair as Kenji is a Former military intelligence officer, so he has more experience.
- Sibling Team: Together with his older brother Ryusaku and younger brother Tatsu. They work together to sabotage weapons.
- Unfortunate Names: In the American English dub, he was given the honourable name "Dick Strong".
80s Series Characters
This includes both recurring and minor characters in the 80s Series. Makiko Shikishima
Makiko Shikishima
Voiced by: Takizawa Kumiko
Makiko Shikishima
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Happened once in the series (22nd episode), wherein she was one of the children who were kidnapped during the rollercoaster ride and brainwashed to become mindless child soldiers plotted by a man disguised as a fancy-dressed lady. Fortunately, she was the first one to be "snapped" by Shotaro by having the helmet (brainwashing device) removed.
- Damsel in Distress: Happened a few times, notably being hostaged by villains (7th Episode) and her in the cliff along with the car she rode (12th Episode) with the purpose for the villains to defeat or rob Tetsujin (by robbing Shotaro's V-Con).
- Dub Name Change:
- American-English dub: Bonnie Brilliant.
- Arabic dub: Mamaa.
- Latin-American Spanish dub: Martha Espinoza.
- Gender Flip: ... and Composite Character to Tetsuo Shikishima from the original as the child of Prof. Shikishima
- Tsundere: Makiko has an obvious crush on Shotaro, but she hides it out of embarassment.
Utako Shikishima
Utako Shikishima (Bea Brilliant)
Voiced by: Ikuko Tani
Utako Shikishima
- Dub Name Change: Her name was changed to Bea Brilliant in the American English dub.
- Happily Married: To Professor Shikishima.
- Named In The Adaptation: The second anime reveals her name is Utako.
80's Series Villains
Includes both major and minor villians from the 80s Series. Branche
Branche (ブランチ), Dr. Murkybottom)
Voiced by: Osamu Kobayashi, Ikuya Sawaki (Super Robot Wars)
Branche
- Arch-Enemy: With Shotaro, due to him killing Dr. Kaneda in this version.
- You Killed My Father : By Episode 24 although this was hinted during his flashbacks in the second episode.
- Scary Black Man: He's portrayed as such, being the killer of Kentaro and the leader of the robot mafia.
- Token Minority: The only black character in the anime.
Gina Hayakawa
Gina Hayakawa/ El Satan (Marana)
Gina Hayakawa
Spoiler
- Beauty Is Bad: She's a pretty blonde woman, but her sociopathic tendencies are less apparent at first glance.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She was a known tennis player and a would-be coach to Makiko (Bonnie) but the inside is that she, as El Satan, was the leader of the criminal group planning to use Tetsujin for unsavory reasons.
Demon Beast Prince Gura
Demon Beast Prince Gura (グーラ・キング), Coldark
Voiced by: Keiko Toda, Mitsuki Saiga (Super Robot Wars)
Demon Beast Prince Gura
- Alien Prince: He is the Prince of the Demon Empire, despite his appearance being of a cute human child rather than a demon like Uchuumaoh.
- Amnesiacs are Innocent: When he's unthawed from cryostatis by the scientists, he befriends Shotaro, the Shikishimas and the rest of the humans. Unfortunately, this friendship doesn't last - he eventually regains his memories, and turns against the heroes.
- Canon Foreigner: Wasn't in the original series and debuted in The '80s version. Though he did remain one of the show's more popular characters, even in Super Robot Wars.
- Cheerful Child: Even though he was born from and raised by the show's Big Bad, Gura is friendly and cheerful.
- Children Are Innocent: Despite his villainous alignment, he's a noble tender-aged Prince who just wants to serve his dad and save his people. When he's not being villainous, he's a sweet, cute Cheerful Child. This is made all the more tragic when he dies.
- Conquering Alien Prince: Of the Demon Empire. His dad rules planets with fear and violence, and Gura sees nothing wrong with this and even helps him expand into more nations once he's of age.
- Cute Monster Boy: He has has long eyelashes and blue hair that fans out behind his head, which gives him a rather feminine-looking appearance. Throw in his good-natured innocence and how adorable he is about wanting to make his dad proud, and you get Gura.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He had to witness his planet being destroyed when he was young, which was not pretty.
- Does Not Like Spam: He didn't like high-quality black tea that was offered to him at the Shikishima mansion.
- The Dragon: As the son of Uchuu Maoh, Gura is his second in command. For all his flaws, Maoh isn't an Abusive Dad and rather affectionate to his son.
- Dub Name Change: His name was changed to Coldark in the American English dub.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: That's how his death looked like.
- Human Alien: The only one in Uchuu Maoh's group to look humanoid. This is odd, considering Uchuu Maoh and Gura are father and son.
- Human Popsicle: His father had him put into cryo-sleep for a while to protect him from his destroyed planet.
- Inconsistent Spelling: Is his name Gura, Gula or Guura? The world may never know.
- Kill the Cutie: Gura, being a child, is unprepared for war, and his eventual death sends Uchuumaoh over the Rage Breaking Point as he takes out his anger on Earth.
- Missing Mom: His mom is never mentioned in the story. Given how he's a Human Alien while Uchuu Maoh is unquestionably demonic, there's a chance that she's either a Human Alien herself, or Gura is adopted.
- Morality Pet: Although Uchuumaoh believes that power is everything, he showers Gula with love and attention. In the final battle, he is enraged by Gula's death and takes it out on the Earth.
- Otherworldly Technicolour Hair: Gura is the Prince of the Demon Empire and has cyan-blue hair, in contrast to Shotaro and his friends who have varying degrees of black/brown hair.
- Pretty Boy: See here
◊ and here◊ - The Rival: To Shotaro, as Shotaro is one half of the Big Good, while Gura is an associate of the Big Bad. They're both young children who want to serve their collective homelands, and are willing to die for their mission. And Gura does.
- Villain Respect: To Shotaro.Gura: "He's a noble guy. But he should have thought twice before resisting me. I'll fight anyone that gets in my way!"
Uchuu Maoh
Uchuu Maoh (宇宙魔王), Moldark
Voiced by: Kenji Utsumi, Yusaku Yara (Super Robot Wars)
Uchuu Maoh
- Big Bad: The main antagonist of the 80's anime, a demonic entity from space who aims to blow Earth into smithereens. The only things stopping him from being a Generic Doomsday Villain are his Once Was A Man backstory and his loving relationship with his son.
- The Caligula: He rules through fear and violence, and enjoys destroying planets for fun.
- Extreme Omnivore: Because he's fused with a black hole, he is able to swallow whole planets and stars.
- Galactic Conqueror: A giant alien warlord who wants to take over the universe.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: When your name (which may as well be just a title) means "Space Demon King", it's pretty easy to guess that 1. You're not a good guy, and 2. You are not somebody to be trifled with.
- Maou the Demon King: Ruthless warlord? Check. Dark Is Evil? Check. A literal demon, with supernatural abilities and rules over the other demons? Check, check and check.
- Papa Wolf: Uchuumaoh may be a self centered bastard, but when he's with Gura he morphs into his Papa Wolf mode. Gura loves him too, and desperately wants to make him proud because he idealizes him the same way every little boy idealizes their dad.
- Physical God: Due to combining himself with a black hole.
- Social Darwinist: Believes that the law of the universe is that only the strong survive.
- Villain Team-Up: With Emperor Zul and Hades in Super Robot Wars Z3.
- Was Once a Man: He used to be an ordinary human living on an unnamed planet in space, but when the it was swallowed up by a black hole, he became one the Demon King desire to live.
