Tekkouki Mikazuki, a 6-episode miniseries produced by Keita Amemiya before GARO, is about a boy called Kazeo that find a Humongous Mecha via Robot Hands.
Shows examples of:
- A Boy and his Mikazuki
- Apocalypse How: Class0 after Mikazuki-Shingetsu starts attack.
- Ascended Fanboy: The president of Akebono Heavy Industries has been an old school toku fan for some time. Not surprising that she'd produce a Humongous Mecha for the government and then drive it herself!
- Butt-Monkey: Apparently all the Gekkouki units exist to get trashed.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Most of characters.
- Decapitation Presentation: How the Shingetsu makes its presence known.
- Destructive Saviour: The first sortie of the Gekkouki causes almost as much property damage as the thing it was sent after. The Mikazuki takes this up to eleven.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The ED is sung by Yuki's actress.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Akebono Industries also manufactures metalware, which inspires Akane to use the new frying pan they released to go into battle. Sadly it proves useless against some of the things facing them.
- Humongous Mecha:
- Super Robot: Mikazuki and Shingetsu are statues of metal with magic.
- Super Mode: Mikazuki Guy with inner Jet Pack and Shingetsu transform into Combat Gyro after Mikazuki-Shingetsu are splitted.
- Real Robot: Gekkouki are basically Real Robots and much weaker than Mikazuki
- Transforming Mecha: Gekkouki Mk.1
- Super Robot: Mikazuki and Shingetsu are statues of metal with magic.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In Episode 5 Shingetsu impale Mikazuki with Spikes of Villainy and creating a Fusion Dance with both.
- Kaiju: The IDOMS created by Victim of the Week.
- Kids Are Cruel: Kazeo is bullied everyday, up to and including treading on his face. In episode 2 this figures into the backstory of the Victim of the Week as well as AIT member Saori.
- Monster of the Week: Played with - the first one turns out to be a Mook Maker, and the second one comes with an additional man-sized one to act on the ground.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands:
- Kazeo is stuck in the field when a ninja-type Monster of the Week has him at sword-point, so the Mikazuki teleports to him.
- When the bell monster proves strong enough to grab the Mikazuki and drop it on AIT HQ, it triggers an Emergency Transformation into Mikazuki Gai.
- Non-Idle Rich: Akane is the owner of Akebono Heavy Industries, but she still goes to school, on top of actually driving the Gekkouki. Her brother can also qualify, being one of the AIT field agents. And the "rich" part is arguable when the company has problems with securing government funding.
- One-Winged Angel: Mikazuki-Shingetsu.
- Retraux: AIT cuts the Gekkouki team's funding for their initial failure. It's really hard to dispute when taxpayers' money is apparently going into a fifty foot walking robot toy from the 70s.
- Room Full of Crazy: Invoked. Kazeo takes out his frustrations by kneading clay - seems effective on paper, but he always kneads it into a grisly-looking hand with talons. By the time we meet him he has enough to fill a closet.
- Shout-Out:
- The members of a AIT team are colored with Red, Blue and Yellow armor, in episode two there is revealed a Pink member.
- Though the creator denies it, Mikazuki does look like a more beefed up non Egyptian looking Giant Robo as noted by various youtube commentators mistaking it for a remake of the live action Giant Robo.
- The AIT's regular uniforms look like the various science teams seen across the Ultra Series.
- The Shingetsu finishes its first monster using a move similar to the Dai Setsudan.
- Show Within a Show: Wonder 7, a parody of Kamen Rider.
- Signature Style: You'll see elements reused in GARO all over the place.
- Elaborate virtual backgrounds appear in both the AIT command center and inside the Mikazuki.
- The IDOM Mooks in episode 2 resemble Horror mooks.
- The third Monster of the Week has a beastly metal head of exotic design much like the Makai Knights and most of their monsters.
- Zame is a mostly naked demonic female, like so many throughout the Garo franchise.
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Spiritual Successor: This is probably the closest we will ever get to a remake of the live action Giant Robo series - The Smurfette Principle: AIT has just one female field agent, but their Commander and her Bridge Bunnies are all female. Akane seems to be the only female in Akebono Industries though.
- The Reveal: In Final episode Mikazuki is Kazeo father.
- Tulpa: Played with. It's words as well as thoughts that have power in this universe, and the Uterus reacts just as much to people's words as their thoughts or desires each time a monster is generated. The Mikazuki uses a highly streamlined version of this system, being a voice-activated robot, and the Big Bad is actually called Tulpa.
- Victim of the Week: Played with. The first one would be Kazeo himself, who gets bumped up to protagonist after that. The one in episode 2 was a Serial Killer.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: When Akebono Industries finally develops a weapon strong enough to blast off a monster's head, the head grows back.
