Manga / Getter Robo

The pinnacle of evolution is... universal domination.^note From front to back: Getter-1, Getter Dragon, Getter Go, Shin Getter-1. Background: Getter Āḥ (left), Getter Emperor (right)

"Looks like the only ones who can pilot Getter Robo are either superior pilots... or insane!"

—Hayato Jin

A classic Humongous Mecha manga, created in 1974 by manga author Ken Ishikawa, who had previously collaborated with Go Nagai in the production of his smash-hit series Mazinger Z. Where Mazinger pioneered the concept of a Humongous Mecha piloted by a human, Getter Robo effectively created the Combining Mecha with its title machine, which required its three pilots to work in harmony in order to function at its best. Its three component jets can quickly separate and recombine mid-combat, producing different specialised forms depending on which pilot takes the lead of the formation - the red Getter-1 (a well-balanced machine with Flight, an axe weapon and energy attacks), the white Getter-2 (a sleek form with amazing speed and a large drill used for both tunnelling and piercing armour), or the yellow Getter-3 (a heavily-armored Tank-Tread Mecha armed with missiles and Extendable Arms).

Five arcs of the manga were created before Ken Ishikawa's death in 2006 - the original, G, Go (created after a 17-year time gap), Shin and Āḥ - which were later edited into a compilation edition titled Getter Robo Saga. Though they all form a single coherent continuity, there is also a significant Time Skip between them, and each series is vastly different in tone, technology level and setting, usually involving the next generation of Getter Robo pilots. In the thirty years since its creation, Getter Robo has also had a number of spinoffs and alternate tellings, which, while not direct adaptions of the manga, usually feature the same characters but in different storylines and settings.

All major installments in the franchise

Manga (Getter Robo Saga)

• Getter Robo: The original manga released in 1974. The primary antagonists are the Dinosaur Empire and its ruler, Emperor Gore, the remnants of the dinosaurs who escaped extinction by hiding deep below the Earth's surface. To fight them, Professor Saotome is desperately looking for pilots for his newly constructed Super Robot Getter Robo. These pilots ultimately turn out to be Ryoma Nagare (a young and Hot-Blooded karateka, who lost his purpose in life after having avenged his father's honor at a martial arts tournament), Hayato Jin (a Teen Genius terrorist who, before Ryoma and the dinosaurs found him, was plotting to kill the prime minister out of sheer boredom), and Musashi Tomoe (a Big Fun judoist training on Mt. Daisetsu).
• Getter Robo G: The direct sequel to the original. With the Dinosaurs defeated, Earth is menaced by the Hundred Demon Empire, who wish to conquer the world and subjugate humanity. Recruiting a new member, Benkei Kuruma, in place of the deceased Musashi, the team pilots a new and improved machine called Getter Robo G in order to oppose the demons.
• Getter Robo Go: 16 years after the events of Getter Robo G, the original Getter Team has disbanded, Saotome Labs lies in ruins, and Hayato has taken over as head of Getter Ray research. With the world under threat from the forces of the evil Professor Rando, Hayato assembles a new Getter Team consisting of Go Ichimonji (an especially talented school athlete), Sho Tachibana (daughter of Professor Tachibana) and Gai Daido (a mechanic from around the base). Go greatly expands the scope of the series, with the Getter pilots working as part of a military squad alongside experimental Humongous Mecha from other nations; things expand even further after the introduction of Shin Getter Robo, an ominous Super Prototype machine somehow connected to the fall of the original Getter team.
  Note that this manga has very little in common with the anime of the same name, which used similar character designs but was more of a Continuity Reboot. Was briefly released in English by Viz Media as Venger Robo, a nod to Starvengers.
• Shin Getter Robo: Published from 1996 to 1999, it serves as an interquel between Getter Robo G and Getter Robo Go, delving into the origins of the title machine. One year after the defeat of the Hundred Demon Empire, mecha-insectoid aliens came from the future to destroy the Saotome Research Facility, and the newly-developed Shin Getter Robo was deployed to fight them. The plot builds on the more philosophical themes introduced in Go, dealing with the nature of the Getter Rays and the evolution of Getter Robots.
• Getter Robo Āḥ: Pronounced "Arc". Was meant to be the finale to the Getter Robo saga, but the magazine's cancellation and Ken Ishikawa's death due to health issues lead to it coming to a grinding halt. It follows a new Getter Team struggling against the Andromeda Country (the same enemy from the Shin Getter Robo manga), while humanity and the weakened Dinosaur Empire negotiate an uneasy truce. The new team consists of Takuma Nagare (son of Ryoma), Kamui (a half-reptiloid and son of Emperor Gore), and Baku Yamagishi (younger brother of Messiah Tayel from the Getter Robo Go manga).

Manga (Other)

• Getter Robo Hien: The Earth Suicide: A spin-off manga based on some of Ishikawa's notes. In the time period between Getter Robo Go and Getter Robo āḥ, Hayato builds a new Getter to fight plant-monsters.
• Getter Robo Anthology: The Will of Evolution: A collection of what-if chapters made by different authors.
• Apocrypha Getter Robo DASH/Apocrypha Getter Robo DARKNESS: A Darker and Edgier Alternate Universe comic not unlike a Fan Fic.
• Dino Getter: A manga made to promote a new line of toys.
• Getter Robo Devolution: the Last Three Minutes of the Universe: A manga by Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi of Linebarrels of Iron fame, released on December 12, 2015. Most of the cast are now aged down into middle-schoolers, but the dark themes have not been toned down in the slightest. The concept of parallel universes teased in prior works is brought into the forefront as the Getter Team fight off the Devolved, invaders from destroyed universes and try to prevent their own from suffering the same fate. Contains a wealth of Mythology Gag and Continuity Nod to past works.
• Getter Robo High: A spin-off Mahjong-themed manga for Mahjong-themed magazine Kindai Mahjong. It has a female protagonist and involves both the lost city of Atlantis & beating up monsters with majong move-controlled robots. The manga artwork is done by NSFW Artist Drill Jill and the scenario was written by Bingo Morihashi, the same guy who wrote for Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Devil May Cry 4, light novel series Shinonome Yuuko, and 7th Dragon 2020. Seriously.

Anime

• Getter Robo: The first TV series, made by Toei Animation and airing from 1974-1975. This series is considerably much Lighter and Softer than the manga, with an atmosphere and Monster of the Week format more similar to Mazinger Z.
• Getter Robo G: The sequel series to the above, and was originally pitched by a toy sponsor who wanted to extend the series and garner more profit. Was (partially) dubbed into English as Starvengers, part of the Force Five animation block.
• Getter Robo Go: A 90s version of the series, Go is a reboot of the original TV series with little relation to the manga of the same name.
• Getter Robo Armageddon: Also known as Change! Getter Robo - the Last Day of the World, Armageddon is an OVA set in a world where Professor Saotome apparently goes rogue and allies with the monstrous, saurian creatures called Invaders, producing a bio-organic Getter monster dubbed "Shin Dragon"; and the Only One who can stop him might be Ryoma, who was imprisoned years ago for murdering the good Professor. When the United Nations fires a nuclear missile at Shin Dragon, the resulting fallout kills 90% of the world's population. Almost a decade later, a new team of Getter pilots formed by Benkei's adoptive daughter Kei and his right-hand Gai, as well as a clone made by Saotome named Go, battle the Invaders with the super-powerful Shin Getter Robo, eventually joining up with the original team. Second animated series brought to the U.S., courtesy of ADV Films, in 2001. This series is also the one credited to finally getting the over-the-topness of the manga into animated form, and is a perennial favorite of fans of the franchise. Yasuhiro Imagawa was originally chosen as director, but was fired after three episodes for unknown reasons. It is a common misconception that it is a sequel to a Radio Drama called Moon Wars, but that was not produced until after the end of the OVA.
• Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo: An Alternate Continuity sequel to the original series, where Musashi's Heroic Sacrifice destroys all of Manhattan, causing the government to crack down on Getter Energy research. Several years later, the remnants of the Dinosaur Empire resurface, and Hayato assembles a new Getter Team to pilot the Neo Getter Robo and fight off the enemy. Some fans consider this series a redemption of Getter Robo Go, as the team of Go, Shou and Gai are lifted almost directly from the manga version, while Neo Getter's design is a hybrid of G and Go.
  • Dynamic Super Robots Soushingekki: Released as a three-part special with the episodes of Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo, this little special features every single Super Robot made by Go Nagai (more or less) teaming up to punch things and generally promote the upcoming Mazinkaiser OVA and Dynamic Productions' plans for more output generally (as using an OVA format was, for Dynamic, a new idea at the time).
• New Getter Robo: Essentially a condensed adaptation of Ishikawa's original Getter Robo and Shin Getter Robo manga, with some scenes lifted directly from it. The Dinosaur Empire is skipped altogether, with the Oni getting put front and center - their new depiction including elements from some of Ishikawa's non-Getter manga. The entire Getter Team is much more violent (bordering on psychopathic) as well as older than their predecessors, while Musashi and Benkei are combined into a single character - the aptly-named Musashibo Benkei. The Getter is also redesigned, but fans tend to refer to it as "New Getter" in order to distinguish it from the original (which appears in New as a prototype). Is generally considered a good starting point for new viewers because of its straightforwardness; conveniently, this was brought over by Geneon Entertainment in 2005 and is still available from many online retailers and can be found on Hulu.
• Getter Robo Āḥ: Airing from July 2021 to September 2021, it is an adaptation of Ishikawa's final work Getter Robo āḥ. The anime is an unusually direct adaptation by Getter standards, having most of the same events as the manga but with some new and expanded scenes, including an original ending.

It's a common misconception that the Getter Robo series is the work of Go Nagai; in truth he only pitched the concept of combining jets (as opposed to combining cars, the original idea) to Ishikawa, while the rest was made without his involvement. Nevertheless, Getter Robo is now closely linked in the minds of people who think about that sort of thing with Nagai's Mazinger trilogy. Do note that Getter Robo IS considered part of the Dynamic Publishing family, so its crossovers with Go Nagai's robots have pseudo-canonical status. That, and most super robot fans LOVE having those robots mix it up.

See also Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, a Spiritual Successor series written by one of Ishikawa's editors after his death.

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This show provides examples of the following tropes:

• Abnormal Ammo: One of the weapons used by the original Getter Robo, in the Anthology series, is a "Missile Machine Gun" which is a chain gun huge enough to use missiles for bullets. That speaks for itself.
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: An Ax-Crazy character cuts down a Shinto Shrine (and the building it's in) with a sword in New Getter Robo.
• Abusive Precursors: The Dinosaur Empire and the Oni Empire.
• Ace Custom: Ryouma's infamous Black Getter from Armageddon, which he custom built from the wreckage of a regular Getter Robo, with the addition of a LOT of spikes. Originally, it was red just like a regular Getter-1. However, it was charred black during atmospheric reentry, giving the unit its name.
• Action Girl: Shou from Getter Robo Go and her re-appearance in Shin vs Neo; Kei (being basically a replacement for Shou with a twist) from Getter Armageddon also qualifies. Basically, if the second Getter Team has a woman in it, she's probably going to be awesome.
• Actor Allusion: Yuu Asakawa, who voiced the stoic samurai sword wielder, Sho Tachibana, in Shin vs. Neo would later go on to voice Chou'un Shiryuu, who, like Sho, is also a stoic samurai sword user.
• Adaptational Wimp: Shin Getter Robo is significantly less powerful in Armageddon and Shin Vs Neo than it was in the manga.
• After the End: Setting of most of the Armageddon OVA and the manga following the conclusion of Getter Robo Go.
  • The setting of Darkness takes place several years after Saotome’s discovery of Getter Rays caused a huge explosion that mutated a large number of people into horrific monsters that have been working to convert or wipeout the rest of humanity.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Emperor Gore of all people gets this treatment in his last moments, denied his final battle with the Getter and warrior's death. Even the Getter Team realizes the tragedy of the moment and simply hold his ruined ship in the Getter's hand as he slips away.
• Alien Invasion: It is shown that several aliens and alien weapons end up on Earth because of aliens attempting to time-travel in an attempt to stop Getter Robo from being developed to the point that Getter Emperor can exist. The UFO that the Dinosaurs use in Shin vs Neo is one of their weapons, while in the Shin Getter manga, Ryoma actively fights one of these vessels that had managed to get close enough to threaten Saotome Labs.
• All Your Powers Combined: The video game-exclusive Shin Getter Dragon (not to be confused with Shin Dragon from Armageddon, this is a unique Getter that first appears in Getter Robo Daikessen! and returns in Super Robot Wars T and Super Robot Wars 30) has this going on. Instead of changing forms, it's "locked" as a Getter Dragon-type but can transmute its body to use Getter Liger and Getter Poseidon's unique weapons and abilities, such as sprouting a Drill Arm or conjuring a Strong Missile from its torso.
• Alternate Continuity: Every anime adaption and the Getter Robo DASH manga
  • Many fans theorize and confirmed as of Getter Robo Devolution, all the continuities form a sort of multiverse, which makes every series canon in a way. YEAH.
• Amazon Chaser: Misogynist Jerkass Schwarzkof falls for Shou (as does Linda) due to her piloting skill, strength and strong character.
• Americans Are Cowboys: Jack King and Texas Mack.
• Anachronism Stew: Dark Capital arc of New Getter. Of course its justified, since this is what leads Hayato to suspect someone is messing up the timestream.
• Anime Theme Song: Notably, the original TV series and Getter Robo G shared one theme, simply titled "Getter Robo!"
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Everything in the universe has a consciousness, apparently. The Getter Rays themselves are the living embodiment of "evolution", or looked at another way, life itself.
• Anti-Hero: Ryouma would rather brawl and train in martial arts than anything else. His Hot Blood never cools off, which makes interacting with other people just a bit difficult.
  • Hayato is introduced tearing a guy's face off for deserting his revolution, and continues to be extremely cold-blooded in his decisions in later series, such as having soldiers defuse elaborately booby-trapped nuclear bombs by trial-and-error.
• Anti-Villain: The Bug Aliens from Shin Getter Robo manga. While their dialogue is very villain hammy they're trying to stop the Getter Emperor from annihilating every other life force in the universe. Their home planet is destroyed, their first attempt to erase Shin Getter from history was by direct attacks against Saotome's lab. And out of only desperation the Admiral of the fleet allows the remaining ships to flee and attempts a kamikaze attack against planet Earth.
  • Radora and Princess Gora in the 70's anime.
• Applied Phlebotinum: Getter Rays, which are essentially A Wizard Did It combined with Rule of Cool. Later series eventually start explaining what Getter Rays are, and the answer comes in as a selectively benevolent Eldritch Abomination.
• Art Evolution: Ishikawa's style in 1974, when he created the original manga, looks almost identical to Go Nagai's. When he revived the series in 1991 with Getter Robo Go his style looked completely different and distinct, with more detail and stronger anatomy.
  • This ends up creating some awkward shifts in the Getter Robo Saga manga compilations, which inserted new bonus chapters in between the original material, meaning the art goes back and forth between Ishikawa's 70's and 90's art styles.
• Art Shift: During certain intense moments, the art shifts to a black and white (or black and green), extremely sketchy style. This has become well-known and homaged/parodied by several shows.
• Assimilation Plot: Getter Robo Go. Okay, not exactly, but this is what happens to ANYTHING exposed to too much Getter energy. Also the philosophical speeches given by the conscious Getter fall very much into this.
  • Touched upon or is one of the main plot points in all of the OVAs. Notably, unlike the manga, OVA characters decisively reject the idea of being assimilated by the Getter Rays without fail.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Stoner Sunshine in Armageddon. It's used a total of three times, and it fails two of those times. Meanwhile, Getter Beam is used frequently, and backfires only once.
• Ax-Crazy: Hayato starts out this way in many adaptions, and Ryoma, appropriately enough, backs up his Crazy Is Cool with actual axe use. There's also the fact that at least three versions of Getter-1, which all wield axes, have gone absolutely batshit nuts.
• Badass Arm-Fold: Getter Dragon was the first Humongous Mecha to use the pose. It seemed so downright badass it was copied for many mechas, including GunBuster, and of course Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
• Badass Longcoat: Ryoma in Armageddon, and Hayato in his role as a commander.
• Bad Future: In several different continuities, Ryoma is given visions of the bad futures made possible by Getter Robo's technology; it often resulted in his quitting the team to prevent Getter Robo from being abused as such.
• Bare-Handed Blade Block: The original Getter Robo manga provides possibly one of the earliest examples when Ryoma fights assassins sent by Saotome to test his fighting skills (reproduced in New Getter). Unlike most examples of this trope, Ryoma gets his palms cut badly in the process.
• Beam-O-War: Last episode of New Getter.
• Beneath the Earth: The Dinosaur Empire, primarily.
• Berserk Mode: Getter Robo Hien, is also a common side effect of Getter Rays exposure.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: In Armageddon, Michiru. She preferred to mess with a test flight and die rather than be killed by the Invader infection she was carrying. This was not only a bad way for her to go, and screwed over others, but she may have already been being influenced by the infection, just not completely taken over.
  • When you think about it, she may have killed herself specifically to prevent the invader from taking her over completly, which, as Professor Saotome's daughter, would've caused so many problems. So it's more like Dying as Yourself. Still a bad way to go all things considered...
• Beyond the Impossible: The manga and anime were the main inspiration for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
  • Lampshaded by Hayato Jin in Armageddon, "So much for the laws of physics!"
• Big Applesauce: New York has been featured twice. First as a locale in episode 8 of Armageddon, and then in the Cold Open of Shin vs Neo. In both of it's appearances it was destroyed, in Armageddon due to the After the End setting, and in Shin vs Neo it was obliterated in Musashi's Heroic Sacrifice.
• Bigger Is Better: Part of the logic behind Getter Rays. As they grow in power (or "evolve"), the machines grow in size. And they can get really big.
• Big Brother Instinct: In Armaggedon, Go behaves this way towards Kei. Well, he is an Opposite-Sex Clone of Kei's deceased older sister, Michiru.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows. Very common among the cast.
  • Notable on Armageddon Ryoma.
• Black-and-Grey Morality: Tends to hover somewhere around here, with the heroes being flawed and antiheroic on a good day and the villains being utterly monstrous (if occasionally bearing a somewhat sympathetic motivation). In cases where the Getter Team is better-adjusted, it tends to fall into Black-and-White Morality instead.
• Body Horror: The Invaders, the Oni, the plant monsters from Hien, the insect creatures from the Āḥ manga, the Devolved from Devolution... hell, nearly every Getter Robo enemy race can possess and deform other creatures (mostly humans) into horrible monsters.
• Book Ends: Arc's anime climax end with the Dinosaurs attacking the surface, much like how the original manga/anime began with their invasion. However the tables have turned as Kamui has Bug, an Anti-Getter weapon that is capable of recreating the universe in contrast to Humans having the Getter which was an Anti-Dinosaurs weapon.
  • 'Arc's anime also ends with the final Getter introduced being a evolved Shin Getter in a form that is similar to the original Getter 1. So Arc's anime ends with both the Dinosaur Empire attacking the surface and the creation of Getter 1.
• Bragging Theme Tune
• The Bus Came Back: So you may have wondered, while reading Getter Robo Go, where General Bat went off to - after all, he was still alive at the end of the original manga, and the Dinosaur Empire was the main villain of that saga. Well, as it would turn out, He's Just Hiding with most of the Dinosaur Empire, and would return in Arc.
• By the Power of Grayskull!: "Change Getter (insert: 1, 2, 3 or Dragon, Liger, Poseidon)! Switch on!"
• BFS: in this case, a Big Fragging Axe for Getter-1 and a Big Fragging Drill for Getter-2, especially their Shin versions.
• BFG: Some versions of Getter Robo either carry giant guns or incorporate them into their design. Perhaps the most flashy example(s) belong to Getter Robo Hien from the latest manga, which has a handheld BFG and two built-in ones, although those are more of a dual Wave-Motion Gun
  • One of the American mecha in Getter Robo Hien gets a BFG made from the transformed Statue of Liberty.
  • And Texas Mack's cannon, which is so powerful that it can't even be used on ground targets or it'll obliterate the surrounding area. "This cannon has too much high power man!".
  • The Russian transforming mobile fortress Volga from Getter Robo Go manga has the alternate mode that is practically one humongous cannon. Even the 840-mm main gun of the American mobile fortress Texas from the same series seems small by comparison.
• Bug War: Shin Getter Robo and Getter Robo Āḥ.
• Butch Lesbian: Linda, Great Britain's main pilot. Even her mecha looks like a muscular woman.
• Calling Your Attacks: It's a Super Robot show, ain't it? Lampshaded in Shin vs. Neo, where the eponymous robot was designed this way on purpose to simplify operation. Squarely averted in the manga continuity, where they usually use the moves without calling names, though there is still a lot of general yelling.
• Canon Immigrant: Dr. Saotome originally piloted Getter-3 himself. After the anime and Musashi's popularity was clear, he showed up in the manga to take the machine for himself.
  • Genki, also from the anime, just appears in the manga with zero introduction.
• Caped Mecha: Getter Robo (Specifically, Getter 1) and Black Getter Robo in Armageddon.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Getter Robo Go and later installments were much darker than the lighthearted fun of the original Getter Robo series.
• Charles Atlas Super Power: Ryoma apparently specializes in the art of breaking dinosaurs with his bare hands.
• Chest Blaster: GETTER BEAM!
• Colony Drop: The Andromeda Flow Country try this with their enormous battleship, in the manga.
• Colossus Climb: In the first volume of Getter Robo Go, a Robeast is going on a rampage through a city. Not having -yet- a Humongous Mecha to stop it, Go and Sho climb up its body to reach the cockpit and disable the pilot, all the while avoiding its Combat Tentacles and giant pincers.
• Cool Airship: The Dinosaur Empire has one with Mechasaurus Guda from episode 41 of the classic anime. Essentially a flying aircraft carrier with a giant dinosaur head.
• Cool Ship: When it isn't combined into a Humongous Mecha, the Getter Emperor comprises three very cool ships surrounded by countless other cool ships. There's also the Texas, from Getter Robo Go.
• Combining Mecha: The Trope Maker. Getter Robo is also the ultimate example of this trope, as it can apparently combine with absolutely anything and make it work.
  • It also presents some pretty creative uses and reasons for combining and separating. Since all of the parts are modified fighter jets, separating at a moment's notice to dodge attacks or strike from other angles, and also, fighter jets are a hell of a lot easier to maintain and keep secret.
• Composite Character: There are two in two of the adaptations.
  • Musashibo Benkei in New, a composite of, obviously, Musashi and Benkei.
  • Kei in Armageddon, a composite of THREE(!) characters: Kei Minamikaze, Sho Tachibana and Genki Saotome.
  • Shin Dragon's final form is essentially a mix between Uzahra and Getter Robo G, with its humanoid upper body resembling Getter Dragon.
  • The Neo Getter Robo from Shin Vs Neo is an amalgamation of the Getter G and Getter Go.
  • The Shin Getter Tarak that's exclusive to the Arc anime is an amalgamation of the Black Getter and Shin Getter.
• Continuity Nod: There have been a lot in the OVAs for the old series and the manga, but probably the most notable in series nod was in Getter Arc. Shikishima was getting a weapon for Takuma Nagare, and when Takuma picked one, it turned out to be the same one Ryoma (his father) used waaaaaaaay back during the Dinosaur Empire invasion in the original manga.
• Cosmic Horror Story: Armageddon and New, as well as the manga depending on your perspective, the twist being that the Eldritch Abomination in this case are the Getter Rays themselves.
• Covers Always Lie: For Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo, the DVD cover features a large bald man who is supposedly Gai. In the anime, Gai has hair and looks completely different. Ryoma is prominently featured in the covers and art in his pilot suit but aside from the prologue opening scene, he never gets back to piloting again.
• Crossover: 70's anime has The Movie crossover with Great Mazinger, while Getter Robo G anime has two - one with Great and another with both it and UFO Robo Grendizer at the same time. There is also manga in which classic version of Getter and its pilots encounters Devilman. Go Nagai has done a sequel to that last one with Getter Robo G and Demon Lord Dante.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Many, many examples abound, both for the humans and the enemies alike. For example:
  • In Armageddon, Michiru dies from being crushed between Getter Machines during a botched combination sequence. Invaders also die in a particularly nasty fashion, grotesquely swelling up and developing tumors and extra eyes before bursting.
  • In the first manga series, numerous human prisoners die from the horrific experiments the Dinosaur Empire was performing upon them.
  • In the Cold Open of Shin Vs Neo, Musashi melts inside the cockpit before being vaporized by the Getter-explosion, and villain-wise, all the cyborg Dinosaurs he fought were killed by the Getter in brutal fashion, from being torn apart by Getter 2, sliced to ribbons by Getter 1, and finally melting from exposure to the raw Getter radiation pouring from the gaping wound in Getter 1's torso.
  • In Devolution, Michiru dies from being bisected when the Devolutionary enemy attacks Ryoma's school.
  • In New Getter, one of the Oni was killed by Getter 2 grabbing its head with its pincer hand, spinning it, then ripping the head with spine attached free after unscrewing it. In the final battle, Getter 2 kills one of the Heavenly Generals by twisting them into a painful pretzel with the force generated by Getter Drill Hurricane before piercing them with the drill.
  • In Arc, some of the base guards got killed by the Bug Queen infiltrator going all Alien on them. The original Patient Zero she incubated in exploded in the shower after she finished growing inside him.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • In the second volume of Go, the trio flies off to fight Rando's army instead of letting Japan surrender the Getter. Cue them losing and getting heavily damaged against overwhelming forces and the mecha being out of action until the middle of the fourth book.
  • The final battle between Seimei and the Getter team in New Getter goes both ways. Seimei dominates when Ryoma is missing, meaning the Getter Robo can't draw out its full power, but once he returns.... This example overlaps with Roaring Rampage of Revenge and Oh, Crap! at the least...
• Cute Monster Girl: The 1975 anime version of Getter Robo G features Hotaru alias Kochouki, a female member of the Hundred Demon Empire who's a beautiful woman with a horn sticking out of her forehead.
• Cybernetics Will Eat Your Soul: Is there any Getter pilot who didn't fuse with the machine at some point? Also, the Bad Future seen in New, where humans became a simple part of their mech (they even show a newborn baby, complete with cables and half a cockpit growing out of it) and are constantly fighting each other or scavenging corpses for spare parts...
• Darker and Edgier: New Getter Robo, among other changes such as skipping the first set of enemies from the manga, ages all characters by four years and adds plenty of new Grimdark elements that weren't there in the original manga. Keep in mind the manga was already quite bloody from the start.
  • Getter Robo Go is considerably darker compared to the original manga. Even though Getter Robo had lots of gore, heroic sacrifices, and showed children dying Go is much bleaker. And the more realistic artwork and mechanical-monsters make it all the grimmer.
  • Apocrypha Getter Robo DARKNESS takes the already dark themes introduced in the original manga to another level, showing us how horrific a world ruled by the Getter Rays could be.
• Deadly Euphemism: Among the pilots in the Getter Robo army, being killed in action is referred to as "embarrassment".
• Death of a Child: Repeatedly, gruesomely occurs in the original manga. The worst is probably two kids who the Hyakki Empire vaporizes from the waist up.
• Depending on the Writer: In general, the behavior of individual characters varies pretty wildly depending on who's writing. This is largely due to the manga and anime using very different characterizations, leading to other stories picking and mixing. It's especially noticeable with Go Nagai's work, which tends to use the anime characterizations. In general, Ryoma tends to be the biggest dividing line; sometimes he's a rather vanilla Standardized Leader, and other times he's a battle-crazed, hypercompetent Sociopathic Hero.
• Destructive Saviour: Fights between Super Robots and biomechanical Kaiju are never totally without collateral damage, but Shin Getter goes even further when, with a single attack that can be seen from space, it not only obliterates the enemy but a good portion of Japanese countryside, horrifying everyone on board and showing exactly why Ryoma considers it to be a danger to humanity.
  • A similiar event happens in New Getter during the final fight with Seimei, where an overloaded Getter Beam leaves a gigantic crater where Shinjuku used to be.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Dinosaurs? Not a problem. Giant carnivorous plants? No sweat! Shapeshifting aliens? No biggie. An empire of demons? Happens all the time. Even ancient primal gods are no match for the might of Getter Robo. Of course, this is probably why lots of aliens see the Getter Rays as Cthulhu themselves.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Musashi singing the first anime theme in the original manga. Benkei tries to do it too in Shin, as part of a general gag of him trying to be more like Musashi.
• Difficult, but Awesome: In many, many incidents and discussions in-story, the Getter Machines are said to be incredibly good and have amazing performance, but they are so demanding that only the toughest or most badass of pilots can even withstand the immense G-Forces involved when piloting them. In fact, one of the test pilots of the Neo Getter actually failed to initiate the combination sequence because he could not endure the stress on his body! Despite this "flaw", the Getter machines are indeed ferociously powerful and effective when piloted by the extremely tough and/or badass protagonists.
• Do-Anything Robot: All versions of Getter Robo do absurd things, but the manga version of Shin Getter Robo is hax incarnate.
• Doing in the Scientist: Getter Energy is initially explained as being produced by small Getter-particles that come from space. Then Getter Robo Go reveals that the Getter is a supernatural being that has existed since the birth of the Universe.
• Doomed by Canon: Shin Getter Robo is an Interquel that narrates the events between Getter Robo G and Getter Robo Go. So readers know that Ryoma and Hayato will survive but Benkei will die, the Saotome Lab will be destroyed and abandoned, Ryoma will quit and leave... and Shin Getter Robo is terribly dangerous.
• Drill Tank
• Driving Question: In Armageddon, who murdered Professor Saotome and who was responsible for Michiru's death. Of course, the answer is Invaders.
• Eagleland: America's Super Robot is Texas Mack, which looks like a giant cowboy and is piloted by an Engrish-spouting cowboy named Jack King and his sister Mary. Borderline offensive in Getter Robo, but toned down in Neo Getter Robo, resulting in this version of Jack and his machine becoming fan favorites.
  • Not to mention it rides around on a giant robot horse called Pasture King, piloted by Jack's ranch dog.
  • In the manga and Armageddon however, America's Super Robot is the less offensive Stilva, which is a transforming stealth bomber piloted by two adult soldiers.
    • Yeah, the robot's not that offensive, but the pilot claims that he hates "Asians, Indians, Mexicans, and niggers" in the english translations of the manga. He's racist, crude, and hates everyone aside from Americans—though he turns around and admits he was wrong eventually.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The Getter Mandala in EP 12 of Getter Arc had two interesting inclusions Getter Saint Dragon and a mysterious never before seen Getter that looked like a Getter 1 with broken chest plates. Come ep 13: Getter Saint Dragon and the mysterious Getter appear towards the end, with the mysterious Getter being an evolved Shin Getter that looks like a mix between Getter 1, Shin Getter 1 and Getter Emperor
• Eldritch Abomination: The Invaders from Armageddon.
  • As powerful and horrifying like they were, they pale compared to the most terrible and most powerful cosmic abomination from the manga. It is immensely powerful. It's so large it dwarfs planets. Its mere passing destroys worlds. It is told that it is able to devour a whole universe. One single beam blast can blow a planet to dust and its fists can crush tears in the fabric of space-time. Vast armies have tried destroying it only to be easily obliterated in turn without even managing damaging it slightly. Its name? Getter Emperor, the final evolution of Getter Robo. The narration goes as far as to state: "The voice that quakes the universe itself was indeed that of Ryoma Nagare"
• Emerald Power: Getter Rays, the power of life and evolution, is usually depicted as green light streaming through the cosmos or pouring from a reactor.
• Emperor Scientist: Rando from Getter Robo Go has a citadel at the North Pole and technology that's a match for (almost) anything the rest of the world can throw at hit. Naturally, he decides to try to conquer everything else.
• The Engineer: Gai.
• "Everybody Dies" Ending: Pretty much the ending of Getter Robo Go. Not only that but it kills off the cast of the original Getter Robo leaving only Hayato to be the sole survivor of the first manga. While Kei is left brain dead, Go, Gai, Ryoma and Tayel are absorbed into Shin Getter. The only cast not to be absorbed, killed, or messed up are Hayato, Sho and Schwartz. Okay more like absorbed being ascending to a higher plane of existence in a way.
• Everything's Better with Samurai: The Dark Capital arc of New Getter Robo
• Eviler than Thou: The Hundred Demon Empire to the Dinosaur Empire.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: See Enemy Mine.
• Expository Theme Tune: "Gan! Gan! Gan! Gan! Youth burns with a crimson fire! Getter Spark! Lightning up the skies! Behold! The transformation! Getter Robo!"
• Expressive Mask: Stilva mimmicks its pilots expressions and even has a tongue and an uvula. Also toyed with in a rather disturbing manner near the end of Getter Robo Go where Shin Getter Robo, after absorbing Gou, takes on his face.
• Expy: Ryoma's costume and a few aspects of his personality in the Armageddon OVA were taken from the protagonist of Maju Sensen, another manga by Ken Ishikawa. Stinger and Corwen from the same series were also characters from Maju Sensen.
  • Also, in that same series, Go and Kei are expies of Getter Robo Go's Go and Kei. Gai still remains pretty much the same, though.
  • The final enemy in Armageddon as well as the four Oni Gods are from Kyomu Senki Miroku.
• Evolutionary Levels: A major theme in the series, since Getter Rays are the actual power of evolution itself. They're used, variously, as a metaphor for progress, survival/life, and certain Buddhist/eastern ideals which Ishikawa was fond of. An extreme example of this trope in action occurs when they terraform Mars into the new Earth— within an instant. The problem being that later entries show Getter Rays show them both as evolution and assimilation. In addition, the enemies revealed in Devolution use genetic dead-ends in humans to create their monstrous bioweapons.
• Eye Scream: Happens several times, particularly when Hayato - and his razor-sharp fingernails - are involved)
• Face Death with Dignity: Dignity might be the wrong word, since he's still his usual, frothing self, but Emperor Gore accepts his death and wants to die with honour.
• Femme Fatalons: Male example with Hayato.
• Foreshadowing: The idea of the Getter Robo becoming a threat to the entire universe was implied as early as the Getter Robo G manga, where the source of Emperor Burai's power was a crashed alien ship sent back to destroy Getter Robo before it became too powerful, which was later confirmed in the Shin Getter Robo manga to be a vessel from one of the many alien fleets futilely struggling against the Getter Emperor; another such vessel appears in the Shin Vs Neo OVA.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Schwartz has one in Getter Robo Go for his racism. His grandfather was killed at Pearl Harbor and his dad's business was put out of business by a Japanese company.
  • Ryoma's detached personality in Devolution is due to the loss of much of what he valued in his life, from his parents to Michiru.
• Freudian Trio:
  • Id: Ryoma — Though if they're playing it Lighter and Softer, he could be Ego, as a typical Hot-Blooded anime hero/team captain. If it's Darker and Edgier, he'll be Hot Blooded to the point of being psychotically violent.
  • Superego: Hayato - Whether he's a cool-headed foil to Ryo's loud, flashy super robo antics or a cold an calculating sociopath, Hayato almost always fits into the Superego mold. His Getter-2's hit and run fighting style reflects this nicely.
  • Ego: Musashi/Benkei — Could also be Id, depending on the version. While he's generally a bumbling oaf who charges into battle without thinking, in darker Getter stories, while still more violent, he's usually less so than his teammates and has a great deal more empathy.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Kei in Armaggedon. Justified Trope since she just was coming back from an Out-of-Clothes Experience in which she found the equally naked Go for the first time.
• Glass Cannon: In general, most of the Getter Robo mecha tend to take very visible damage in the course of battling. In particular, Armageddon and Shin VS Neo have plenty of lavishly-detailed battle damage marks and scars forming as the Getters get crushed and even get their arms ripped off. While they can exhibit very impressive and outright terrifying offensive potential, the Getters tend to get beat-up far more than many traditional Super Robots.
• Good All Along: Professor Saotome in Armageddon, revealed when he gets to die as his human self.
• A Good Way to Die: In Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo (adapted scene by scene from the manga), Musashi has the most dignified death of all his incarnations, gleefully taking the Dinosaur Empire with him as he goes.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Gai, when he realizes the true nature of the Getter Rays.
• Going Critical: Some of the Getter Ray reactors are shown to be unstable, usually due to grievous battle damage.
• Gonk: A common trait of Getter-3 pilots and minor characters, due to Ishikawa's cartoony art style.
• Good is Not Nice: They're freaking sociopaths.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: The manga with its evolution themes is basically about the battle for survival of species. The humans, dinosaurs and aliens just can't coexist and have to fight each other to extinction.
• Hammerspace: Getter Robo pulls weapons out of thin air, or from places where they cannot conceivably fit.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Several, though the most famous is undoubtedly Musashi, who dies in multiple continuities. There's a reason fans nickname him "Kenny"...
• High-Pressure Blood: While many enemies in Getter Robo have this quality, the Invaders from Armageddon are the most obvious.
  • One of the scientists in New Getter Robo has blood squirt out his neck with so much force that it pushes him away from the wall he was leaning against.
• Hot-Blooded: Getter is the undisputed KING of Hot Blood. It tells something when Gurren Lagann, the first anime most people think of when somebody mentions hot blood nowadays, is an explicit homage to Getter Robo. Believe in Getter, indeed.
  • Any time attacks are called. Especially when Ryoma does it. GETTTTTEEEEEER BEEEEEEEAM!!! STONEEEEER SUUUUUUUUNSHHHHHINEEEEEE!!! GETTTTEEEEEER SHIIIIIINEEEE SPAAAAARK!!! If you're on the receiving end of any of these attacks, you're screwed. Big time.
  • Any time you hear Ryoma screaming in anger, much ass-kicking will ensue.
• Hot-Blooded Sideburns: Ryoma's sideburns especially. Pretty much any parody and reference to a Hot-Blooded Super Robot hero will use his chops as the standard length.
• Humans Are Bastards: In the "G" portion of the manga, it's revealed that the biological weapon the Getter team was fighting over was not made by the Demon Empire, but by the Japanese government.
• Humans Are Special: "Why did the Getter Rays choose lowly humanity!"
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Kamui definitely comes to this viewpoint after hearing the commander of the Getter Armada's justification for slaughtering other civilizations:
  "Why does Getter act towards human evolution? That's because it has chosen us to become the rulers of all space. The pinnacle of evolution is... UNIVERSAL DOMINATION!"
• Humongous Mecha: Some of the largest in the medium. Shin Dragon is at least city sized, Kyodai Dragon from New Getter and Shin Getter at the end of Getter Robo Go are comparable to planets or moons, while the Getter Emperor starts off the size of Mars, is large enough to destroy planets by casually flying into them in Shin Getter Robo and in Will of Evolution it rises from the top of a galaxy, completely dwarfing it. Better yet, it's continuously growing.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: And not just for the giant robots. Ryoma's arsenal during his one man assault on the Oni capital in New Getter Robo was positively ridiculous.
• If It Swims, It Flies: Getter is -literally- built around this concept. Depending on how the three jets combine, the form a different robot, capable to fly on Earth and space, fly or burrow underground, or swim and dive.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hayato, in most incarnations. His methods are cold, and he can be rude and downright mean with his teammates sometimes, but you better not doubt that he's ALWAYS on the good guys' side. He does get better in his older incarnations, where being put into a position of authority softens up his disposition. But he will ALWAYS be an asshole in his first appearance.
• Kamehame Hadoken: Shin Getter Robo's Stoner Sunshine attack.
• Kill Sat: Gigant X-2 and X-3 in Getter Go.
• Lady of War: Shou from Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo.
• Lovecraft Lite: Later iterations of the series bring in a few more Cosmic Horror elements in, with the twist being it's the Getter Rays, the force supporting the protagonists, that are the Eldritch Abomination.
• The Legions of Hell: The Hundred Demon Empire of Getter Robo G. The Dragon of the organization looks like Hitler with demon horns. For bonus points, his name is "Hidler".
• Lensman Arms Race: Several of the Getter shows have elements of this (gotta keep them monsters of the week coming, after all) but it hit pretty epic/ridiculous heights in the finale of Getter Armageddon.
  • And the manga continuity, which quickly advances from a lone Super Robot fighting monsters, to every nation on Earth having them and engaging in large scale wars, to epic space battles with aliens, to the ridiculous universe-shattering exploits of the Getter Emperor.
• Lethal Joke Character: Or rather, a lethal joke mecha. The Beetle is a tiny, seemingly useless mecha used for scouting and with no real firepower. That is, until you master the art of spinning very fast.
• Licking the Blade: Emperor Gore does this once. Knowing this series, it probably happens elsewhere, too.
• Life Energy: Some depictions of Getter Rays fall closer to this than merely being a power source.
• Lighter and Softer: The 70's Getter Robo and Getter Robo G anime series, and even moreso with the Getter Robo Go anime.
  • Shin Getter vs Neo Getter, compared to the Armageddon and Neo OVA series.
• Macross Missile Massacre: While many Getters use variants, the most obvious would be Shin Getter-3's Missile Storm.
• Mad Scientist: Saotome in the OVAs and manga, though he's more blatantly insane in Armageddon. (Admittedly, later on it really isn't his fault.) Shikishima is a (helpful!) lunatic in every appearance he's made. Hayato in his role as a scientist in Āḥ and Hien definitely applies too, in terms of cruelness and coldness.
  • Then there are, of course, professors Rando and Jacov, who play the role of Big Bads in Go and Hien mangas respectively.
• Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Michiru Saotome, naturally. Also Kei in Armageddon, via an Ass Pull for the ages.
• Mandatory Unretirement: A recurring theme is that if you piloted Getter at some point, no matter how far you run from it, destiny keeps throwing you back in the cockpit.
• Mechanical Lifeforms: Certain versions of Getter Robo are borderline this, and it's played straight in some continuities.
  • Ryoma gets to see this firsthand in New Getter Robo in what may be simply a Mind Screw or an actually possible Bad Future, and it is played for maximal horror.
• Mêlée à Trois: Much to a lot of newer fans surprise but in the original manga the Hundred Demon Empire first appears BEFORE the defeat of the Dinosaur Empire, there is something of a three-way fight between them before the Dinosaurs are defeated first.
• Monster of the Week: The 70's TV versions.
  • Lampshaded and Subverted towards the end of the First manga arc during the 3-way war between Humanity, the Dinosaur Empire, and the 100 Demon Empire when Emperor Gore orders the deployment of all incomplete Mechasauruses, stating that they don't have time to deploy them one at a time and will fight with pure numbers. This proves to be his undoing, as the incomplete Mechasauruses prove to be far more vulnerable to Getter Ray degeneration, which resulted in Musashi's sacrifice doing far more damage than it would have otherwise and utterly crippling the Dinosaur Empire army.
• More Dakka: Getter Hien-3. Literally every surface of his body can pull back to reveal missile launchers. Also the Stellbomber.
• Multiform Balance: Every incarnation of Getter has among its forms a Jack of All Stats, a Fragile Speedster, and a Mighty Glacier. These forms will also be optimized for either air, land, or sea-based combat.
• The Multiverse: Confirmed as of Devolution
• Mythology Gag: Armageddon and New Getter have loads of these. Such as three ambassadors, the former, that look a lot like the three thugs that were sicced on Ryoma in the original manga. To Michiru of New Getter turning out that she looked like the manga and classic version in her high school years.
  • The Shin Dragon's final form in Armageddon is directly based on Uzahra, the massive Guardian machine of Atlantis from Getter Robo G.
  • Due to the characters in Devolution having knowledge of the Multiverse, there are a ton of these but the biggest was when Saotome tried to convince Ryoma to get in the Getter-1 by stating it's his fate in every universe to pilot it and the scene cuts an obscured shot of the original Ryoma Nagare and Getter-1.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The number of things this applies to in the series is astounding. It helps that the Dinosaur Empire are, you know, the dinosaurs, so all of their creations count as this by default.
• Not as You Know Them: Armageddon: Ryoma imprisoned for a murder which he didn't commit, Professor Saotome as the apparent Big Bad (he ultimately wasn't), Michiru dead, Genki traumatized and female!, Benkei and Musashi both alive at the same time (at least at the beginning)...
• Obviously Evil: All enemies of Getters are this, except when they masquerade as normal humans. In the mangas their twisted forms, drawn by Ishikawa in loving detail, regularly reach nightmarish territory.
  • Most of the antagonists in the series are Well Intentioned Extremists, however nasty they might look. The only one who isn't is Rando, the human, albeit an menacing-looking one.
    • The Hundred Demon Empire, The Invaders, Seimei and Jacov are simply evil as well.
• Older and Wiser: Hayato has a tendency to be promoted to The Captain in sequels and after Time Skips.
• Omniscient Morality License: Dr. Saotome and Hayato both frequently fall into this trope. Sometimes in the same series.
• Opposite-Sex Clone: In Armageddon: Go turns out to be one of Michiru.
• Orifice Invasion: The Invaders, unsurprisingly. Even having them bleed on you is enough.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Professor Saotome gets a double dose of this, first losing his daughter Michiru to a horrific failed combination of the Getter Robo G, and then discovering the Invader infection in her body upon autopsy. No wonder he was so upset and vengeful.
• The Professor: Saotome in most incarnations.
• Parental Neglect: Ryoma's father did nothing for him other than teach him martial arts so he could avenge his dojo.
• Phlebotinum Overload: During the test sequence for the prototype Neo Getter Machines in Shin VS Neo, the test pilot for Neo-Getter One is unable to withstand the G-forces and fails to trigger the combination sequence, resulting in his Getter machine exploding.
• Raised as the Opposite Gender: In Armaggedon, Genki was a girl raised as a boy. She identifies as a girl, however, and ultimately grows into the tomboyish Action Girl Kei.
• Real Robot: The series has enough elements of this to cause disputes on how to categorize it, especially after the second part of the manga.
• Redshirt Army: Hayato's Super Robot Army in Armageddon. In every single appearance they make, they are usually being destroyed in droves by the Invaders, with Schwartz being the sole exception (even so, his machine is frequently damaged and rescued by the Getter Team). They occasionally provide an occasional Big Damn Heroes when supporting the Getter Team, only to explode mere seconds later.
• Retcon: Hayato's recounting of the destruction of Saotome Labs in Getter Robo Go differs on several counts from the events depicted in the Shin Getter Robo prequel manga.
• The Reveal: As Go implies and Shin later fully confirms, Getter Rays are alive. In what is probably one of the earliest examples of Sentient Phlebotinum in manga history, it is revealed that what we understand as "Getter Rays" are in reality a sentient energy source that embodies evolution. It uplifted humanity to use them as a vehicle for its ultimate end goal: universal domination. This turns the Getter technology, which has been seen as nothing less than a shining beacon of hope, into a much darker rumination on the end-goal of evolution in our universe.
• Retired Badass: Ryoma retires to the mountains to practice and teach karate between Shin Getter Robo and Getter Robo Go, and comes back having taken a level in badass. Note that he was already one of anime/manga's greatest badasses before then.
• Reverse Cerebus Syndrome: Getter Robo Armageddon is noticeably less dark after the so-called apocalypse, owing to the director shift.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ryoma and Hayato. The color of their machines even line up, if only with Getter Robo G.
• Robeast: Mechasauruses and the Mecha Oni.
• Rocket Punch: Getter-2's Drill Missile combines this with This Is a Drill, and Neo Getter has rocket punches attached to chains. Several monsters use these, too.
  • In a particularly humorous example, Professor Shikishima has weaponised his ENTIRE BODY by Getter Arc, and his arms work like this.
• Rule of Cool: This is the entire reason for Getter Robo's existence. Nothing about it is realistic. Everything about it is awesome.
  • "So much for the laws of physics!"
• Scarf of Asskicking: Even the Humongous Mecha wear them.
• Scary Black Man: Dr. Cowen in Armageddon (for a given value of "man").
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: They just can't seem to decide how big Shin Dragon is in Armageddon.
• Serial Escalation: One of the better examples is Ryoma in New. You see 13 episodes of him being a Hot-Blooded Determinator with constant Slasher Smiles. And then we see his Unstoppable Rage in the last episode which goes way over-the-top.
• Shapeshifter Showdown: At various points in the manga and anime series, the Getter team fight an enemy that has obtained a Getter of their own. Every time, both sides start shifting forms to gain an advantage (for example, using a Getter 2 vs the slower Getter 3). Every time, Ryoma's team wins because transformation is not a free action and they are able to combine just a fraction of a second faster, allowing them to attack a vulnerable half-transformed enemy.
• Shapeshifter Weapon: The Invaders specialize in this.
• Shoulders of Doom: Shin Getter-1, Getter Hien and Stilva.
• Shout-Out:
  • Among others, New Getter Robo contains a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Shout Out to Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.
  • Armageddon also features shout outs to several dozen mecha anime shows in the grunt forces of the good guys... including half of them being various Gundam mecha.
    • Don’t forget, the Towers ID is apparently NCC-1701-F
  • Another one from New : the password to the information about Getter Rays-powered weaponry? CUTIEHONEY. Yeah, that's pretty stupid.
  • The Andromeda Strain shows up in a chapter of Getter Robo G explicitly by name, which serves as the basis of a biological weapon that the Hundred Demon Empire tries to steal.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: A typical reaction of more sociopathic Getter pilots, like Ryoma in New Getter, whenever a villain attempts some grand speech.
  Thinly-Veiled-Son-Goku: A soul should not be placed inside a doll!
  Ryoma: Don't talk shit that I don't understand! *Stuff Blowing Up*
• Signature Style: The art in the original manga is pretty much a carbon copy of Go Nagai's early work, which is probably a major contributing factor to the frequent confusion over authorship. However, as time went on, Ishikawa broke away from this mold and developed his own unmistakable blend of hyperkinetic, highly stylized and most importantly Hot-Blooded visuals and Blood Knight Sociopathic Hero characters who were somehow even more cheerfully psychotic than any his old colleague had come up with. The best way to describe it is probably Fist of the North Star meets Jack Kirby.
• Sinister Scythe: Early on in Armageddon, Shin Getter has a scythe instead of his usual tomahawk. It inexplicably switches back to the axe after the original team starts using it again.
• Slap-on-the-Wrist Nuke: Many examples, with at least two involving an actual nuke.
• Slasher Smile: Michiru might just be the only character in the entire series without one of these.
• Super Prototype: Subverted in Neo Getter and New Getter, where the Proto-Getters were either weak Mecha-Mooks for the latest version of Getter Robo to waste, or mere cannon fodder for the Monster of the Week to blow up in the first episode.
  • But played very, very straight when we find out that Shin Getter Robo is the prototype for Getter Robo Āḥ. Āḥ was intentionally made to be less powerful and more stable than Shin, which was so overly powerful that it was a danger, not just to Earth but the entire freakin' universe.
• Super Robot: Getter Robo and Mazinger Z are considered by many to be the grandaddies of Super Robots.
• Spell My Name With An S: Getter Robo Āḥ causes this with its Sanskrit title, which the Japanese would write as "Ark" or "Aku". In English, it's Āḥ.
• Spiritual Successor: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is this to Getter Robo, in that it's one of the only other series besides this one where the finale has Mechs that are the size of Galaxies. Getter Rays and Spiral Energy are also very similar.
  • Also, the head of the second form of Shin Dragon and the Gurren's sunglasses look extremely similar.
• Starter Villain: The first foe faced in the anime is Saki, a Mechasaurus sent by Emperor Gore to eliminate the Getter Robo tech before it can be used against him. Despite his anti-Getter energy defenses, he gets decapitated first episode.
• Storming the Castle: Halfway through New Getter Robo
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Benkei for Musashi.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: Getter Rays.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Hayato.
• Tank-Tread Mecha: Most Getter Robos have this as their third, least-used form:
  • The original "Getter 3" formation consists of the Bear and Eagle jets combining into a crude humanoid torso mounted on top of the Jaguar (which sprouts tank treads). It's the Mighty Glacier of Getter's forms, outfitted with extending arms (which its pilot uses for judo throws) and two large missiles, and is also the best adapted to underwater combat.
  • Averted by Getter Robo G's equivalent to the Getter 3 form, "Getter Poseidon", which is fully humanoid.
  • Getter Robo Go's third form "Getter Gai" combines in the same way as Getter 3 and has a similar "mishmash of reused parts" look, but its lower body is a Drill Tank.
  • Shin Getter Robo makes this form look less like an afterthought, with Shin Getter 3 having a H-shaped, vaguely spider-like lower body - two wheels to the front and two heavy tread sections to the back from which it can unleash a Macross Missile Massacre.
  • Neo Getter Robo (an Alternate Continuity design incorporating elements of both G and Go) looks like a Tank Tread Mecha on stilts - it's humanoid but squat, with massive lower legs that can deploy either tank treads or rocket engines.
  • Getter Robo Hien has a Getter 3 form similar to Shin Getter 3, but blockier and with a second pair of tank treads in place of wheels.
  • Getter Robo Arc's third form, Getter Khan, plays with the theme a bit - it's humanoid but wears spiked treads on its legs and shoulders, which can dock together to transform it into a giant crushing wheel.
• Telescoping Robot: Getter Robo Gou aside, the combined machines never resemble their component parts. They can also produce far more weapons than what could conceivably fit inside the mech, and are often bigger than the robot itself.
  • In fact, the combinations look so incredibly akward that some say that the Getters break not only basic physics, but the laws of hammerspace itself.
    • Despite this, the Perfect Change series of models take a pretty good stab at making the patently ridiculous transformations work. Another action figure, the Simple Change Getter Robo, has its own attempt at making the combinations functional.
• Terraform: One of the many applications of Getter Rays.
• This Is a Drill: Every form of Getter-2.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: TOMAHAWK BOOMERANG!
  • Granted, axes are slightly more suited to throwing than swords, but it's still awesome.
  • See also: Ryoma's fight against the assassins in New Getter. He throws the thing (one handed. By the blade) hard enough to cleanly sever a guy's arm.
• Toilet Humor: Special chapter of Getter Robo vol. 2 has everyone except Musashi incapacitated by food poisoning, which gave them a bad case of diahrrea. While observing Musashi's battle against a newly deployed Mechasaurus... everyone, and we mean everyone present (Ryoma, Hayato, professor Saotome and some other staff) is shown soiling their pants! By the time the battle is over, the observation room's floor is covered in feces, and Ryoma and Hayato can barely stand anymore.
• Transforming Mecha: Unlike most examples of Combining Mecha, Getter Robos can combine into multiple patterns to suit the situation. However, in order to do so, the Robo must separate into its constituent parts and recombine.
• Transformation Name Announcement: An old example, say it with us: CHANGE GETTAAAAA ONE! SWITCH ON!
  • The voice that makes galaxies quake in terror: CHANGE GETTAAAAA EMPEROR ONE! SWITCH ON!
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Nope. Multiple incidents prove against this trope in the OVAs and the manga.
  • In the pilot episode of the 70's anime, the unarmed prototype Getter was destroyed by a Mechasaurus when it attempted to combine to get better speed for escaping.
  • In the Shin Getter manga and the Armageddon OVA, the Getter Team fought intense battles against enemies with hijacked Getters of their own. Both times, they won simply because they tricked the enemy into Transformation Combat and managed to outmaneuver the enemy by simply completing their combination faster.
  • On the other hand, the Getter Team has taken advantage of concealment to combine uninterrupted, or on other occasions, they are in fact skilled enough to combine at eye-watering speeds that make it difficult to track them accurately. Difficult, but Awesome indeed.
• Transformation Trauma: Don't get bitten by an Oni. Or so much as touched by an Invader.
• Tranquillizer Dart: Subverted, though the writers were probably more concerned with the Rule of Cool than realism. Ryoma gets hit by an animal tranquiliser in the first episode, but it doesn't stop him from running across the street and dropkicking his two attackers before going down. Note that this is after he had just fought a 3-on-1 fight against some Yakuza goons and had gotten a knife buried into his shoulder.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: Some of the versions take place in 'our time', except 'our time' also has Getter Rays, giant monsters, and Combining Mecha.
• Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: In Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo, Shou and Gai end up piloting Neo Getter Robo against an army of Getter Prototypes piloted by members of the Dinosaur Empire. It's a massive curbstomp battle until Gou is able to reawaken Shin Getter Robo and has it absorb the prototypes' Getter Energy.
• Visual Innuendo: Getter Gai has its drill in an... interesting place. There's also the infamous "space vagina" from Armageddon.
• Warrior Heaven: In the ending of Armageddon, Ryoma, Hayato and Benkei find themselves in a dimensional rift where they will fight eternally alongside parallel versions of themselves, against innumerable monsters and villains from other dimensions. New Getter Robo seems to put its Ryoma in the same place.
• Weaponized Animal: The Dinosaur Empire uses dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals equipped with cannons, missile launchers, flame-throwers, blades attached to their claws...
• Weaponized Landmark: In Hein, the Statue of Liberty is a giant cannon/jet piloted by a Humongous Mecha.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Dinosaur Empire and the Andromeda Flow Country, who are pretty much martyrs for the universe. The Oni gods from New Getter Robo are similar. Averted with the Hyakki empire and Lando's empire, who have no redeeming qualities.
  • In Getter Robo Arc, Kamui becomes this after returning from the future where he saw the Getter Emperor in action. Deciding to exterminate humanity to prevent them and the Getter Rays from eradicating all other life in the universe.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Wait a minute, there was an early issue where a village was turning into monkeys earlier... they found the source of the problem and yet nothing is said of those who transformed ever again.
  • The entire area got toasted.
    • There was still that one in Ryoma's unit. Eh, it probably got dissected by the professor.
  • And in Go, Linda and her BB-5 disappear once Rando's forces are stopped in Canada.
  • The Andromeda strain (yes, that one) shows up near the end of Getter Robo G, causing Dr. Saotome to quarantine the Getter Research lab. however, this is apparently resolved at some point due to Ryoma beating the virus back with Hot Bloodedness, as he shows up perfectly fine and the quarantine is never mentioned again.
  • Armageddon is made of this trope post-Director switch. Only a handful of questions raised in Imagawa's version ever got answered, and stuff like Musashi's realization were never followed up on.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Musashi Tomoe in the original manga combined this trope with Wrong Genre Savvy. After meeting Ryoma and co. for first time he insists on becoming a pilot. When he is said he is not strong, sturdy and intelligent (or crazy) enough to pilot Getter (a task which is very taxing for both body and mind), he replies he has got the most important skill to become a mecha pilot: hot-bloodedness. Ryoma and Hayato wondered if he was serious. Apparently nobody told him that Getter Robo is a Cosmic Horror Story and Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa Humongous Mecha mangas (Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, Kotetsu Jeeg) are way darker than the idealistic fare of later series that the genre would be stereotyped with.
• Wolverine Publicity: Downplayed, as even in-series its the most commonly seen configuration, but you can bet nearly any marketing material for the series will depict some variation of Getter-1 with Getter-2 and 3 in reduced fashion, assuming they even show up at all. An outsider could be forgiven for assuming the red, demonic-looking form is in fact Getter Robo itself rather than just one of the three forms it can take.
  • After its debut, the Shin-Getter became this as well. Often getting the lion's share of appearances in merchandise and crossover works.
• The Worf Barrage: The Getter Beam suffers this in Shin vs. Neo, with Gou never once successfully landing of of the Getter's most iconic attacks.
• Wrench Wench: Kei in the manga.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Musashi in the original manga thinks he lives in something like the Getter Robo anime, annoying the rest of the team.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Even insane Evil Overlord-like Professor Rando should know better than working with the human-hating Dinosaur Empire.

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"Open Getter! Change Getter One! SWITCH ON!"