"Onward, Giant Robo! Rise Up, Giant Robo!"
"You have a lot of courage for a boy your size."
"Yeah but I'd rather be tall like you."
"You will!"
Giant Robo, also known in the US as Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot is a 26-episode Tokusatsu adaptation of the Mitsuteru Yokoyama manga. It was produced by Toei and aired from October 1967 to April 1968.
The plot goes as such: Earth is invaded by an interstellar terrorist organization by the name of Big Fire (the Gargoyle Gang in the US dub). Hidden away in an underwater base, the group attempts to conquer Earth by capturing scientists and forcing them to create an army of giant monsters. However, when a young boy named Daisaku Kusama and a Unicorn agent named Juro Minami (Johnny Sokko and Jerry Mano in the US dub, respectively) are captured by Big Fire, a rogue scientist named Lucius Guardian gifts the former with the controls to the titular Giant Robo. After escaping, Daisaku joined Unicorn in the fight against Big Fire, armed with the mighty Giant Robo at their side.
Envisioned as Toei's answer to Ultraman, Giant Robo performed quite well in ratings. Unfortunately, the show's high budget, coupled with Toei's inexperience in merchandising, led to its early conclusion. Despite this, Giant Robo accomplished several milestones during its run, such as being the first Toku show in color to star a giant robot as its protagonist, preceding Toei's future original mecha such as Leopardon and Battle Fever Robo. On a long-term scale, the show stands as one of Toei's first major Tokusatsu series, paving the way for future franchises such as Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, in addition to later adaptations.
The Giant Robo Toku includes examples of...
A-M
- Achilles in His Tent: Hunter, the former U9 agent of Unicorn is a subverted example of this. He abandons Unicorn after Azuma inadvertently killed his best friend during a training exercise and lived a life of a vagabond in the mountains stalking Gargoyle agents on his own. He only begrudgingly helps Johnny and Jerry once Gargoyle tries to deploy a missile launcher from the mountain and although he helped save the day and on good terms with Azuma again, he still doesn't rejoin Unicorn.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Big Fire, the human terrorist group that built Giant Robo and his successors, is now an intergalactic syndicate with a mixture of human and alien agents as well as relying far more on kaiju than robot machines.
- Adapted Out: GR-3, a flying robot capable of high-speed aerodynamics, never made an appearance in the series. note
- Ambiguously Human: Dr. Snake, the Gargoyle scientist who built GR-2. His design has a strange, goblin-like ear and nose with burns and a mechanical visor.
- An Ice Creature: Icelar (Referred to as Igganog in the dub). A large dinosaur-esque monster that can blow icy winds from the tendrils on the side of its head capable of freezing humans and even Giant Robot solid. It gets upgraded to an icy Breath Weapon in his second appearance.
- Animated Armor: Goldenaut (Mr. Gold in the Japanese version). One of Gargoyle's generals who is a living suit of golden knight's armor that is immune to gunfire.
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: In episode 12, Mari gets the attention of Johnny and Jerry at Unicorn's shooting range by firing her sidearm over their heads at the target from the staircase behind them.
- Artistic License – Nuclear Physics: There are plenty of times in the show where characters get exposed to some form of nuclear energy and suffer no ill side effects. Most notably in the first episode, where Johnny and Jerry escape the Gargoyle's Island base as a nuclear bomb detonates to activate the title character. Johnny and Jerry stand within several feet of the blast and even look up at the fireball and aren't even physically mutilated from the heat and force of the blast. Giant Robo can also just sap nuclear energy like a sponge which, while explaining why Johnny and the others haven't died of radiation poisoning, still is hard to believe along with a robot being able to just suck out any form of nuclear energy and not suffer the effects from Electro Magnetic Pulse.
- Back from the Dead: Several monsters that were defeated early on usually reappear once in the show, relabeled with a "II" suffix-even for GR-2, while Icelar who appeared 3 times in the show is eventually given the "Icelar III" in the finale.note
- Badass Normal: Johnny Sokko is a 12 year old boy who controls a Humongous Mecha, welds a pistol, has a jetpack and serves in an elite Spy Agency. He also goes to school and has classmate friends he spends his downtime with and generally lives a regular civilian life. The same could be said for each of the other UNICORN agents as well though this aspect was only inferred.
- Bragging Theme Tune
- Beard of Evil: Lieutenant Piranha, one of Gargoyle/Big Fire's recurring henchmen, has a goatee. Earlier episodes have it as a full beard note , but it becomes a goatee in Episode 7.
- Big Bad: Emperor Guillotine
- Big Good: Commander Azuma
- Bittersweet Ending: One that traumatized a number of childhoods in the 60s and 70s, both in America and Japan. Giant Robo defeats Guillotine, but his body is "a mass of atomic energy" that would destroy the Earth when he dies. To prevent this, Giant Robot grapples the Emperor and flies him into space to explode against an asteroid much to Johnny's and the other heroes horror.
- Botanical Abomination: The Satan Rose (Gargoyle Vine) is a lava spewing, space plant that can grow large enough to destroy the Earth with its gigantic growing tendrils. Giant Robo has a very tough time defeating it on the two battles they had, getting ensnared in its crushing vines.
- Calling Your Attacks: The Ur-Example in the Mecha Genre. Daisaku/Johnny would call GR-1's attacks via shouting it in the watch.
- Child Soldier: Bizarrely enough, the good guys have two child soldiers on their team, Johnny and Mari, seemingly without any qualms over the morality of putting fully armed children in front line combat against aliens and monsters. The Gargoyles have Agent X7 who is their answer to Johnny and controls the Iron Klaw monster (Gangar II in the original).
- Cold War: The show is set in "The Latter Half of the 20th Century" where the various Cold War superpowers are presumably in power. Guillotine at one point attacks two nations that are Expies for America and The Soviet Union in order for the two nations to start a nuclear war, while another America Expy tries to build their own clone of Giant Robot which causes the UNICORN Organization to worry that other nations might start a robotic arms race and potentially lead to a global Robot War. Given that the show was produced in the 60's when the Cold War tensions were still very much high, it's not surprising in the least that the show would dabble with the geopolitics of the era.
- Compilation Movie: Several episodes of the American import were edited together into the movie "Voyage Into Space".
- Cool Shades:
- Part of the Gargoyle Gang's uniform.
- A handful of Unicorn agents also wear these (Llyod from UNICORN's Canada Branch being one of them)
- Dub Name Change: Every single character except for Commander Azuma, Mitsuko, Mari, Guillotine, Dr. Snake, and Spider got one in the English dub. Famously, Daisaku Kusama was changed to "Johnny Sokko" and Big Fire was changed to "Gargoyle Gang".
- Eagle Land: The Republic of Melcon in episode 22 is of the type 3 variety. They don't intend to harm the world with the Giant Robo clone Cleopat and simply want to compete with Japan. However it is stated in universe that such a desicion could start an more destructive arms race with the possibility of each nation wanting their own national supercharged robot.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Since the show was filmed out of episode order, episodes later in the shows run that were filmed much earlier in production order have plenty of weird moments including Piranha's facial hair changing from a goatee to a beard between episodes and the character design of Red Cobra being completely different in Episode 17 due to the episode being the 5th episode in production order.
- Evil Knockoff:
- Subverted with the aforementioned Cleopat. It was originally built as a military robot with Giant Robo's blueprints that was meant to fight for justice but gets stolen by the Gargoyle's to fight and nearly defeat Robo.
- Played straight with the Android U7 in Episode 23. Doctor Engali tricks Johnny into building an exact replica of himself that steals the watch controlling Giant Robo and sends it on a rampage through Tokyo.
- Eyepatch of Power: Harlequin(Black Diamond in the Japanese version). It ends up being how Unicorn identifies him as a double agent in his debut episode.
- False Friend:
- Kenny/X7 pretends to befriend Daisaku in order to kill him. This conflict ends with a battle between Giant Robo and X7's personalized Gangar.
- Metron (Known as Metro-3 in the Japanese version) is a space policeman who arrives on Earth with the intent of catching Guillotine. He turns out to be actually an agent working for Guillotine. Whether he was a cop that Guillotine bribed into serving him or if he ever was a cop in the first place is uncertain.
- Falsely Reformed Villain: The crux behind Harlequin's plan in his debut episode.
- Fantastic Racism: The alien Gargoyles occasionally note how their kind would do things the weaker willed humans wouldn't do since Gargoylians are inherently evil by birth.
- Faux Affably Evil: Any villain that isn't a Large Ham is most likely this. Spider and Dr. Botanus are the best examples.
- Finger Firearms:
- Giant Robo's signature attack.
- And in the finale Emperor Guillotine is shown to use one of his fingernails as a nuclear bomb.
- Johnny Sokko's Flying Robot's Hands Saves Lives: Happens many times throughout the series.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Giant Robo does this in the Grand Finale
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Several examples of this happen throughout the show:
- The Android U7 built by Dr. Eingali is destroyed using a counter serum made from the same magic glue that was used to built it.
- Two of Gargoyle's General's were inadvertently killed by the same monsters they used. (Spider killed by Scalion's acid spray and Professor Hydra being frozen to death by Igganog's Ice Breath)
- In the final episode, Emperor Guillotine was ultimately defeated by the very same robot that his organization created.
- Hollywood Acid:
- Ikageras (Scalion in the English dub) can spew a stream of this from its mouth. Its strong enough to melt Giant Robo's arm and Commander Spider
- The Hydrazona bacteria is an acidic Blob Monster that can melt entire bridges, a nuclear tanker, several Unicorn Red Shirts and even a tin decoy of Giant Robo.
- Humongous Mecha: Notably the first Toku mecha show.
- I'm Melting!: Spider's death via acid spray in Episode 7
- In Name Only: The series has next to no resemblance to its then concurrent manga counterpart having kaiju and alien invasion plots akin to Ultraseven than the James Bond esque spy drama of the manga. note
- Intergenerational Friendship: Daisaku Kusama (12) and his fellow Unicorn agent Juro Minami (Jerry Mano in the English dub) (20's).
- Kaiju: The most common of Gargoyle's weapons.
- Large Ham:
- A vast majority of the villains. Most notably Emperor Guillotine, Fangar, Dr. Snake, and The Space Mummy.
- Some of the good guys do this as well, the most prone to this are Commander Azuma and Dr. Dorian.
- Last Villain Stand: In the finale Emperor Guillotine is forced to fight Giant Robo on his own. He doesn't succeed.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Averted for Drakulon. He had a large shield to protect him but it's useless to save him from meeting his end from Robo's flaming crucifix weapon.
- Made of Indestructium: Subverted. While Giant Robo is nearly invincible with his armor and weapons, monsters with acidic powers like Scalion and Hydrazona are shown to easily damage (and potentially destroy) Giant Robo.
- Make My Monster Grow: Quite possibly the Ur-Example for the tokusatsu genre, several kaiju in the show including Drakulon and the Big Bad himself were able to change their size from human size monsters to giant size beasts to fight off Giant Robo.
- Master of Disguise: Spider and Harlequin.
- Monster of the Week
N-Z
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Almost all of the villains in the show have these. Some of the more villainous names include Captain Spider, Lt. Pirahna, Emperor Guillotine, Professor Hydra and Fangar.
- Oculothorax: Ganmons/Opticorn is a rather famous example of this trope.
- Off with His Head!: Or rather, in the case of GR-2 II, can have his head come on and off. GR-1 still tears off the head of him when he defeated him though.
- Our Monsters Are Weird: And how. Giant rolling balls that shoot out rockets from its retractible tips, Giant eyeballs with legs, Robot hands, Robot Jawbones, And that's only a few of the weird monsters Big Fire uses...
- Our Vampires Are Different: Drakulon and his female assistant are Space Vampire Knights who drain the blood of their victims to make them their mindless servants. Oh and he can turn into a gigantic form to fight the title character.
- Papa Wolf: As the series progresses, Giant Robo becomes more self aware and protective of Daisaku. In episode 21, when Daisaku is captured and his watch is taken from him, Robo activates himself just to save his master. In Episode 23 he realizes at the very end he was deceived by the Android Daisaku and dispatches it and Dr. Germa. This loyalty culminates in his Heroic Sacrifice during the series finale where he takes Guillotine down with him...
- Putting on the Reich: The Gargoyle Gang uniform is very clearly influenced by Wehrmacht uniforms. Their human commander Spider wears an officer's hat that resembles an SS officer's hat. note
- Pyrrhic Victory: In the final episode, Daisaku and the UNICORN agents managed to defeat Big Fire once and for all. But at the cost of Giant Robo.
- Reality Warper: Dr. Eingali (Dr. Germa in the Japanese version), a strange green alien from the "4th Dimension of Evil". He manages to create an android duplicate of Johnny that takes control of Giant Robo for a short time.
- Redemption Equals Death: Poor Agent X7...
- Reluctant Mad Scientist:
- Dr. Lucius Guardian, a scientist who was kidnapped by Big Fire and was forced to help build Giant Robo for destructive purposes. Fortunately, He rebelled and gave the wrist watch controller to Daisaku so that Giant Robo won't be used for evil.
- Dr. Dorian, the only human being who knows how to grow the planet destroying Gargoyle Vine, kept the knowledge a secret to prevent it from being summoned until the Gargoyle Gang brainwashes him to produce one to wipe out Tokyo. Once the brainwashing loses effect he revolts against the Gargoyles until he is knocked unconscious by them.
- Robeast:
- Ligon (Known as Ligon-Tyrox and Lagorian in the English dub). In its debut episode it is a machine that is built to resemble a giant monster. Its second appearance in Episode 10 depicts it as a regular organic kaiju however.
- Dorogon (Known as Dragon and Starker in the English dub) in its second appearance is depicted as an artificial monster that can grow or shrink in size with a special control device.
- Rocket Punch: GR-2 used it against Giant Robo in Episode 16.
- Rubber-Forehead Aliens:
- Dr. Botanus (Dr. Over in the Japanese version), a recurring villain introduced in episode three, is a portrayed as an actor coated in silver paint with a prosthetic brow on his head. He also has the same clawed hands as Emperor Guillotine.
- Fangar (Red Cobra in the Japanese version) features a more traditional giant prosthetic rubber forehead.
- Sacrificial Lamb: In the first episode, Dr. Lucius Guardian gave his life in order to let Daisaku and Juro escape. Shortly before Dr. Guardian was gunned down, he sets off a bomb in order to destroy a part of Big Fire's base.
- Shout-Out:
- In the Japanese version, The Unicorn Agents password code is "Napoleon's Trump Card is....King of Diamonds.
- Episode 4 has a brief reference to Nightmare From 20,000 Feet where Johnny waves at Jerry out of the window on the Unicorn spy jet, much to his horror.
- Suddenly Shouting: Fangar has a habit of doing this.
- Transformation Is a Free Action: Played painfully straight — before he performs any attack, Giant Robo has to first go through a variety of stances, yet remains unmolested by the Monster of the Week. This is most evident during Robo's missile attack, which features Stock Footage of him swinging his forearms side-to-side and up-and-down, then holding out his hands while missiles sprout from his fingertips... all while the monster waits for the routine to finish.
- United Nations Is a Superpower: The UNICORN organization is the scientific superspy arm of the United Nations building and operating many gadgets, military vehicles and a Giant Robot at their disposal to fight against any threat the world faces.
- Would Hurt a Child: All the Gargoyles are not above harming children to get their way, The absolute crowner is what they did to their child spy Agent X7 after he defected to the heroes..
- X Meets Y: Ultraseven meets Gigantor meets Daimajin.
- You Don't Look Like You:
- GR-2 has a completely different design in this series. His head is shaped differently, and the rest of his body is identical to Giant Robo but with a black color scheme.
- Dakolar, the gigantic UFO mecha from the manga, is completely reimagined in the show, as an organic monster who fought Giant Robo twice.
- Red Cobra looks completely different in Episode 17 due to it being filmed early in the shows run. He is completely missing his buck teeth and has a cobra symbol embedded on his forehead that is never seen again after that episode. The producers of the English dub evidently mistook him for a new one off character and renamed him Dangor The Executioner as a result.
