Steel Jeeg ( 鋼鉄ジーグ , Kōtetsu Jīgu ) , also known as Kotetsu Jeeg or Koutetsu Jeeg , is a Japanese mecha anime series created by manga artists Go Nagai and Tatsuya Yasuda and produced by Toei Doga (now Toei Animation ), directed by Masayuki Akehi . It was first broadcast on NET in Japan from October 5, 1975, to August 29, 1976, lasting for 46 episodes. Steel Jeeg also ran as a manga in several children's publications, with the original manga was first serialized in Kodansha 's TV Magazine from August 1975 to June 1976.
66-561: The series is the first installment in Takara 's Magne-Robo franchise, which later became its own series after the rights of the show were passed to Dynamic Productions . A sequel series called Kotetsushin Jeeg aired on the satellite network WOWOW , beginning April 5, 2007. Hiroshi Shiba is a young car racer who is mortally wounded. His father Professor Shiba, a talented scientist and archaeologist, manages to restore him to life by means of
132-554: A Kuwaiti volunteer group made a Grendizer mural in Kuwait City during Urban Culture Week. Karim El Mufti, a professor of political science, said in his article about the anime, " UFO Robo Grendizer has surpassed the initial expectations of its producers. Although the conversion works of the original Japanese version into Arabic had kept the Japanese phonetics, sites and cultural references, the cartoon has actually blossomed into
198-592: A flying saucer he personally designed and built, called the TFO. He heads to the Space Science Lab after hearing of multiple sightings of "flying saucers". He plans to contact the aliens if possible and make peace with them. Daisuke, however, scoffs at the notion and fears that these aliens, the Vegans, led by generals Blaki and Gandal , are preparing to attack Earth. Koji ignores his warnings and flies out to meet
264-527: A hit at the French box office, selling 922,964 tickets upon release in 1979. In Arab countries, the show was extremely popular, first airing in war-torn Lebanon on Télé Liban in 1979 under the title مغامرات الفضاء: يوفو - غرندايزر ( Moughamarat Al Fada: UFO - Grendizer, Adventures In Space: UFO - Grendizer ) before being distributed to most other Arabic speaking regions. Unlike the Italian and French dubs,
330-598: A large selection of Disney , Pokémon and Thomas the Tank Engine merchandise. They also publish video games in Japan (mostly based on Zoids and Naruto anime series), and are responsible for the distribution of some Hasbro products in Japan, such as Play-Doh , Jenga and Monopoly . The company was formerly responsible for distribution of the My Little Pony products in Japan before Bushiroad acquired
396-627: A life of its own. As such, the domestication process of this character and of its whole narrative set was intimately connected to the Arab context and politics at the inception moment of the series, thus mirroring the deep preoccupations of the generations of that time. High exposure to violence, aggression, and injustice in the Middle East had established a hospitable environment for the super-powerful resistance figure and pro-justice hero." Go Nagai stated in an interview with Arab News that he believes
462-472: A multimedia franchise. However, Tomy established a relationship with Shogakukan and created the successful Wedding Peach and Let's & Go . Tomy learned about the growing popularity of Pokémon through monthly CoroCoro Comic and obtained the commercial rights. Bandai at the time was busy with its big hit, Tamagotchi , and was not interested in Pokémon. Tomy acquired the rights to commercialize
528-415: A pilot in order to assist him despite his objections. Later on, it is revealed that there were two more survivors from planet Fleed: Duke's younger sister Maria Grace Fleed and a man who had rescued her and fled to Earth, raising her under the guise of her grandfather. Caught in a crossfire between Grendizer and a Vegan beast, he reveals to Maria that she is the last survivor of the royal family of Fleed (under
594-466: A powerful relic from the ancient and mysterious Jamatai Kingdom, a bronze bell which is hidden inside Hiroshi's body and turns him unknowingly into a sort of cyborg . As the ruler of Jamatai, queen Himika, reawakens from her slumber in the underground, it is revealed that the bell is also key to the reconquest of the Earth surface. Her henchmen kill Prof. Shiba in vain pursue of the artifact, barely leaving
660-468: A psycho gangster known as The Gipsy. Takara Tomy This is an accepted version of this page Tomy Company, Ltd. ( 株式会社タカラトミー , Kabushikigaisha Takara Tomī ) ( trading as Takara Tomy in Asia and Tomy elsewhere) is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama as Tomiyama Toy Manufacturing Company ( 富山玩具製作所 ) , became known for creating popular toys like
726-545: A substitute planet to settle upon, the ruthless King Vega unleashes his armies—composed of flying saucers and giant robotic monsters—and turns first against neighbors such as Fleed, a highly advanced but peaceful world. The once verdant, idyllic Fleed is turned into a radioactive wasteland. Too late, the only known survivor of the royal family, the Crown Prince Duke Fleed , manages to steal the Grendizer,
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#1732798160340792-529: A wide range of merchandise, mainly toys, and released the "Monster Collection" of figures next year. The anime became a huge hit, and sales of related products doubled. Tomy (who had been the third largest company in the toy industry since the 1980s) rose to second place in 1997. In 2001, competitor Takara's hit franchise, Beyblade , and Pokémon's slump saw Takara regaining second place and Tomy falling again to third. However, Beyblade subsequently faltered (which adversely affected Takara's fortunes; Tomy merged with
858-453: Is a Japanese manga and animated television series created by Go Nagai . The series is the third entry in the Mazinger series, later relegated into a spinoff series. The series is produced by Toei Doga and Dynamic Planning , directed by Tomoharu Katsumata , and written by Shozo Uehara. It aired on Fuji TV from October 5, 1975, to February 27, 1977. The mecha's first appearance in
924-481: Is a tribute to Steel Jeeg , from which takes up some thematics. The plot concerns a lonely misanthropic crook named Enzo, who gets superhuman strength after being affected by radioactive waste in the Tiber waters; he gradually loses his disinterest towards people thanks to Alessia, a mentally disabled girl who has mistaken him for Hiroshi Shiba, and gradually shifts from supercriminal to superhero in order to save her from
990-532: Is also aided by a robot horse known as Panzeroid, and a fighting jet capable of shooting replacement components and specialized weapons for his body. The series follows Hiroshi's character development and the underground civilization's efforts and subsequent failures to return to power causing internal civil war. Steel Jeeg is formed by combining the parts released by the Big Shooter jet, piloted by Prof. Shiba's young assistant, Miwa Uzuki. Hiroshi Shiba becomes
1056-533: Is killed when she takes a shot aimed at Duke. This makes Duke even more determined to wipe out the Vegan menace once and for all. King Vega decides to gather his remaining forces and make an all-out attack on Earth, destroying the Moon Base to coax his troops into fighting to the end and finally succeed in invading Earth and taking it as their new home planet. Duke and company go out to intercept them in Grendizer and
1122-711: The PlayStation 2 , and in Super Robot Wars K and Super Robot Wars L for the Nintendo DS . Steel Jeeg was televised in many European countries, especially in Italy (known as Jeeg Robot d'acciaio ), where it is still widely popular and has a huge fanbase. In the 1980s, the series was shown in Latin America as a part of El Festival de los Robots (Robot Festival) a giant robot show fashioned in
1188-599: The "Dynamic Super Robots Taisen" clips included at the end of the DVDs of Shin Getter Robot tai Neo Getter Robot . Steel Jeeg appears alongside Great Mazinger , Venus A , Getter Robot G , God Mazinger , Govarian and Groizer X to rescue Mazinger Z and Aphrodite A , but are defeated and in turn saved by Shin Getter Robot and Grendizer just before the arrival of Mazinkaiser . The Italian film They Call Me Jeeg ( Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot )
1254-575: The Arabic dub retained the characters’ names and kept songs from the Japanese version. Unlike most other Arabic dubs of anime, the show retained most of its plot details without any alteration or censorship in most Arabic-speaking markets, although some markets—such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE did censor certain scenes. The Arabic language version of Grendizer was so popular when it first aired that it spawned several long-running Grendizer comics published for
1320-769: The Arabic market. Many of these were translations of the Italian-produced comics, the most well known of these being for the Lebanese comics anthology ما وراء الكون ( Ma'Wara El Koun, Beyond The Universe ). The magazine founded by Lebanese publisher Bassat Al Reeh (Flying Carpet) and headed by the company's editor Henry Matthews, published Arabic translations of science fiction comics ranging from one-off short stories to licensed Star Trek , Star Wars , and Marvel superhero comics, as well as TV licensed comics adaptations like Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman . Grendizer did not make its appearance until
1386-591: The B-29 friction toy and luck-based game Pop-up Pirate . In 2006, Tomy merged with another toy manufacturer, Takara , and although the English company name remained the same, it became Takara Tomy in Asia. It has its headquarters in Katsushika, Tokyo . The company was named Tomy as an abridgement of Tomiyama, which was the founder's surname. Starting as a manufacturer, Tomy had the largest product development team in
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#17327981603401452-554: The Flying Saucers , a 1975 animated short film created by Go Nagai and produced by Toei Doga. It is also known as Space Disk War and was also released in Italy under the name UFO Robot Gattaiger-La grande battaglia dei dischi spaziali . It was originally shown along with the short film Great Mazinger tai Getter Robot G: Kuchu Daigekitotsu , also from Toei and Nagai. Nagai and Dynamic Productions created Grendizer using some of
1518-509: The March 1975 Toei Manga Festival a remake was pitched using elements from Mazinger . To breathe new light into the series, the villains of the series were decided to be aliens, a trend that followed in other Toei mecha series while also making Duke a more Blue Blood character with his suit being based on a knight including more romantic elements with its characters and sense of adventure. Go Nagai, however, at one point stated in an interview that
1584-1039: The Tomy side: Tomica , Plarail , Zoids , Idaten Jump , Nohohon Zoku and Tomy branded baby care products, and, from the Takara side: Space Pets , Choro-Q (also known as Penny Racers), Transformers , B-Daman, Koeda-chan (also known as Treena) and Microman . The merged Takara-Tomy also produces and/or sells a wide variety of toy and game brands under license, such as Thomas & Friends , Disney , Astro Boy , Pokémon , Beyblade , Duel Masters , Naruto , The Game of Life (also known as Life Game ), Rock Man (also known as Mega Man ), Wedding Peach , Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch , My Hero Academia , Sakura Kinomoto , Sakura Kinomoto: Clear Card , Slayers , Revolutionary Girl Utena , Kirarin Revolution , Sugarbunnies and Animal Crossing . Tomy's rights to these licenses vary by region. One of
1650-661: The United States in the late 1970s by Mattel as part of the Shogun Warriors line of super robot toys. The titular mecha is also included in Bandai 's line of Soul of Chogokin figures, starting with the GX-04 Grendizer. Grendizer was the second longest running animated Mazinger series in Japan, having 74 episodes. However, it has been criticized about its connection to the other Mazinger series in
1716-465: The United States was as a part of the Shogun Warriors line of super robot toys imported in the late 1970s by Mattel , then in Jim Terry's Force Five series. A remake of the original anime series, Grendizer U , aired from July to September 2024. The Vega homeworld has become unstable due to the exploiting of Vegatron, a powerful radioactive ore. Seeking to expand his militaristic empire and find
1782-514: The West. Tomy UK's slogan has traditionally been "Trust Tomy". In 2006, Tomy UK launched a website on which consumers can buy online from Tomy's catalogue. In early 2011, Takara-Tomy acquired RC2 Corporation and the RC2 sub-brand Learning Curve , which included The First Years, Lamaze , and Compass . Takara-Tomy has manufactured a broad range of products based on its own properties which include, from
1848-410: The anime series was considered a fun side project and does not consider Grendizer to be part of the series timeline. This is mainly because he had many disagreements with Toei and Shingo Araki over the direction the show should take as well has Toei not paying him royalties for the show's overseas airings, which culminated in a 1986 court settlement that lead to Toei paying Nagai his royalty earnings. In
1914-483: The anime was actually quite successful in Japan: “It was actually a hit in Japan. Maybe some people thought it was not as popular as Mazinger Z , because Mazinger was super popular.” The average viewership metrics for UFO Robot Grendizer 's original Japanese broadcast was around 20.9% audience share across its 74 episodes with a peak share of 27.6% for Episode 21. Regardless of its disputed success in Japan, Grendizer
1980-411: The belief that Duke was killed) before dying from his wounds. Maria swears revenge on Grendizer and its pilot. She tries to ambush Duke, Koji and Hikaru at the Space Science Lab, but the fight is short. Maria's attacks bring Duke's necklace (which is the same as the one she wore) into view and the truth is revealed. The lost siblings are reunited at last and Maria becomes the last addition to the team. As
2046-546: The characters, Kō Inaba, AF_KURO and Junichi Akutsu providing mechanical designs and Kohei Tanaka composing the music. It aired from July 5 to September 28, 2024 on all TX Network -affiliated stations in Japan. The opening theme song is "Kaishin no Ichigeki" performed by Glay , while the ending theme song is "Protect You" performed by Band-Maid . Toei released the entire series in Japan on DVD from May 21 to October 21, 2006. In 2013, following an agreement with Toei, an official "fully remastered and uncensored" DVD release of
Steel Jeeg - Misplaced Pages Continue
2112-442: The comics story, which serves as a sequel to the original Toei anime set 10 years after the final episode. The comic has received positive reviews from readers for its detailed art and a story that keeps the spirit of the original series. To coincide with the graphic novel's release, the French postal company, La Poste issued stamps inspired by the anime. UFO Robot Grendizer Raid was released theatrically as Goldorak and became
2178-511: The complete series is available on French-speaking countries following the controversy regarding the unlicensed DVD releases by Manga Distribution and Déclic Images which resulted to a court ruling to pay €7,200,000 back to Toei. The series has also aired on the French Mangas anime TV channel. The entire Arabic dub is available on Istikana , a paid streaming service that has On-Demand Arab movies and TV shows. The manga adaptation
2244-410: The conflict nears its end, it is shown that Duke Fleed was engaged to King Vega's daughter, Princess Rubina, prior to the attack on Fleed. When Rubina discovers that planet Fleed is no longer polluted with Vegatron radiation and that her fiancé is alive and well, she rushes to Earth to bring him the good news. Unfortunately, one of King Vega's generals uses this opportunity to ambush Duke Fleed, and Rubina
2310-526: The distribution rights to them starting with the franchise's Friendship Is Magic line (though the animated television series was owned by Hasbro ). Later in 2015, after Bushiroad disowned the distribution rights, Sega Toys reacquired the rights to all generations of the franchise before selling the rights back to Hasbro. A list of notable products include: Grendizer UFO Robot Grendizer ( UFOロボ グレンダイザー , Yūfō Robo Gurendaizā ) , also known as Grandizer , Goldrake and Goldorak ,
2376-487: The elements and characters from Daiseno including Duke, the Makiba family, and even Blaki. Some changes were made to make it more original. The most obvious are the changes in design and the addition of characters such as Koji Kabuto and Maria Fleed. UFO Robot Grendizer was developed to be a sequel to Great Mazinger after the initial concepts of a sequel were rejected by Toei. With the appearance of Uchu Enban Daisenso at
2442-615: The end, UFO Robo Grendizer is more of a stand-alone spin-off in the Mazinger universe. The series was first aired on Fuji TV from October 5, 1975, to February 27, 1977, replacing Great Mazinger in its initial timeslot. Isao Sasaki performed both the show's opening and ending themes: "Tobe! Grendizer" ( とべ!グレンダイザー , Tobe! Gurendaizā , "Fly! Grendizer") (with Columbia Yurikago-kai and Ko'orogi '73) and "Uchuu no Yuusha Grendizer" ( 宇宙の勇者グレンダイザー , Uchū no Yūsha Gurendaizā , "Grendizer, Hero of Space") . Shunsuke Kikuchi composed
2508-401: The fifth issue, but was so popular that it became the top feature on the title, running for 140 issues. It later spawned its own comic series titled مغامرات غرندايزر ( Moghamarat Grendizer, Grendizer Adventures ) that ran for over 70 issues. The series' popularity continues on in the region, as Arab News journalist Hala Tashkandi stated; “ Grendizer memorabilia still sell like hot cakes in
2574-435: The first examples of product synergy for the merged company was the combining of Takara 's Jinsei Game (Game of Life) license and Tomy's Pokémon license to produce a Pokémon Jinsei Game. Tomy sells many products worldwide, including baby and pre-school toys, baby monitors , mechanical and electronic games, consumer electronics, children's arts and crafts products, and a vast range of toys suited to girls or boys. They make
2640-440: The franchise, especially with Koji's status as a mere sidekick and giving him a different romantic interest who was not Sayaka, as well as the lack of the other Mazinger mechs. This created the popular assumption that the anime was not a success in Japan, especially since the merchandise based on the anime did not sell as well as the merchandise for both Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger . However, Go Nagai disputes this, saying
2706-711: The head of Steel Jeeg by bumping his fists together. Opening theme: "Song of Kotetsu Jeeg" ( 鋼鉄ジーグのうた , Kotetsu Jīgu no Uta ) , by Ichirou Mizuki with Columbia Yurikago-kai and Koorogi '73 . A complete and original intro theme called "El Vengador" ( The Avenger ) was composed and sung by musician Memo Aguirre for the Spanish dub of the series released in Latin America. Ending theme: "Theme of Hiroshi" ( ひろしのテーマ , Hiroshi no Tēma ) , by Ichirou Mizuki with Koorogi '73 Jeeg makes an appearance in 2nd Super Robot Wars Alpha and Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 for
Steel Jeeg - Misplaced Pages Continue
2772-615: The incoming saucers, only to discover the horrible truth. In order to save Koji and protect his adoptive homeworld from destruction, Daisuke is forced to return to his true identity as Duke Fleed. He unearths Grendizer from its hiding place under the lab and sets off to fight his enemies. The Vegans establish a base on the far side of the Moon and start to attack Earth from there. Koji discovers Duke Fleed's true identity and their bitter rivalry soon turns to friendship. The daughter of Danbei Makiba, Hikaru, also discovers Daisuke's secret and becomes
2838-616: The low episode count, it enjoys a small but dedicated cult following among East Coast American viewers who saw the show as children, as well as children who grew up with military families because Force Five was frequently aired on the cable TV feed of US military installations in Europe. This was also the version of the show broadcast in the United Kingdom, India, and the Philippines (though an earlier local Filipino English dub of
2904-521: The mainline games but has recently been making a comeback starting with Super Robot Wars MX . An open world action video game adaptation titled UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves ( UFOロボ グレンダイザー たとえ我が命つきるとも , Yūfō Robo Gurendaizā Tatoe Waga Inochi Tsukirutomo ) was announced by French video game publisher Microids in February 2021. The game is being developed by Endroad and
2970-629: The move was a merger of both companies on an equal basis. Post-merger media speculation about the control of brands from the Takara Tomy merger arose from the new use of a "TOMY" copyright on all packaging (including former Takara brands shipped by Hasbro) (but this was merely a consequence of the decision to use only the Tomy name in international subsidiaries). In Japan, Takara Tomy continues to use both Tomy and Takara as distinct brand names on toy ranges which originated in each separate company, and most new toy ranges or stand-alone products now carry
3036-410: The music for the series. A reboot of the original anime series, titled Grendizer U ( グレンダイザーU , Gurendaizā U ) , was announced on August 5, 2023. It was produced by Gaina and directed by Shun Kudō with Mitsuo Fukuda serving as chief director, Nagai serving as executive producer, Ichirō Ōkouchi overseeing and writing series scripts alongside Tatsuto Higuchi, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto designing
3102-622: The new Takara Tomy brand. Takara purchased a majority stake in Tatsunoko Production in June 2005. The studio then became a full subsidiary of Takara Tomy following the March 2006 merger until Nippon Television bought out the majority of Tatsunoko's stake in 2014. Tomy UK was founded in 1982 for the sale and distribution of Tomy products in Europe , and it has successfully brought toys such as Zoids, and games like Pop-up Pirate , to
3168-467: The newly designed space combat Spazers. After a fierce battle, they finally manage to destroy the Vegan mother ship along with King Vega himself. Soon afterwards, Duke and Maria bid a tearful farewell to Earth and their friends and return to help reconstruct planet Fleed. UFO Robo Grendizer 's origins dates back to Uchu Enban Daisenso (宇宙円盤大戦争, Uchū Enban Daisensō ), translated and also known as Battlefield of The Space Saucers and The Great Battle of
3234-579: The region, and its popularity has barely declined.” Lebanese pop star Sami Clark , who sang the Arabic version of the opening and ending in the Arabic dub, had frequently sung the theme in his concerts, including an orchestral rendering in 2018 . Clark also performed a duet with the singer of the original Japanese themes, Issao Sasaki, at the 2019 Saudi Anime Expo. There's even a store in Kuwait that started out mainly selling Grendizer merchandise, before expanding to selling other anime merchandise. In 2016,
3300-522: The robotic embodiment of the Fleedian God of War, from the Vegan invaders who plan to use it to spearhead their invasion fleet. Grendizer is a giant monster robot that interfaces with Spacer (Spaizer), a flying saucer that enables the robot to fly. Fleeing Vegan space by flying at faster than light speed, the Duke enters our solar system and switches course to Earth, making a rough landing in Japan, on
3366-456: The scientist time to upload his thought on a supercomputer at a specially built defense base. Anticipating the hidden menace, Professor Shiba has also prepared a giant fighting robot, Steel Jeeg, composed of interchangeable magnetic limbs and for which Hiroshi Shiba can become head and conscience. His mission is to defend modern Japan from the invaders, who also dispose of similar giant monsters ( haniwa ) and an army of minions. In such battles, Jeeg
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#17327981603403432-464: The series’ original opening and ending themes into French. Some versions of the dub have a completely different theme simply titled "Goldorak", which was sung by Franco-Israeli singer Noam Kaniel . Kaniel's performance earned him unprecedented celebrity status in France; by the time Goldorak had ended its original run on French TV, its theme song achieved platinum status in France. The Francophone dub
3498-621: The show existed before it was taken off the air by orders of the Ferdinand Marcos regime). In Europe, Grendizer was a major success in France and Italy, known in both countries as Goldorak and Goldrake respectively. In Italy, the Italian dub theme songs were among the best-selling singles of 1978, with the first selling over 700,000 copies and the second selling over 1,000,000 copies. It would also get its own comic series titled Atlas UFO Robot Presenta Goldrake (Atlas UFO Robot Presents Goldrake) , whose story diverged even further from
3564-486: The sixth chapter of Dynamic Superobot Wars and in 2004 in Dynamic Heroes , also known as Nagai Go Manga Gaiden—Dynamic Heroes ( 永井豪まんが外伝 ダイナミックヒーローズ , Nagai Gô Manga Gaiden Dainamikku Hîrôzu ) and as Go Nagai Manga Heroes Crossover Collection—Dynamic Heroes , a Japanese manga based on several works of Go Nagai, including most of his most famous robots, such as Mazinger Z, Getter Robot and Great Mazinger. It
3630-530: The slopes of Mount Fuji . He is befriended by Doctor Umon, a noted scientist who oversees a research laboratory called the Space Science Lab near a small ranch . The kindly Umon takes in the young humanoid alien as his son, under the assumed name of Daisuke, and assists him in hiding Grendizer. Taking the name Daisuke Umon, Duke Fleed works at the ranch run by Danbei Makiba (based on Abashiri Daemon of Go Nagai's manga Abashiri Ikka ). Roughly two years later, Koji Kabuto , after studying abroad, returns to Japan in
3696-457: The source material. This comic ran for 89 issues and spawned several other similar comic adaptations of anime airing on Italian television at that time. The French dub was the first anime series to be telecast in France and legend goes that the series was so popular among French viewers that several episodes scored a 100% TV rating. Like the Italian dub, it changed all of the characters’ names and inserted additional songs, although it did translate
3762-443: The style of Force Five , in which it was called El Vengador (The Avenger), along with Gaiking , Starzinger and Magne Robo Gakeen . The anime has never been released in the United States. On April 5, 2007, at 11:30 p.m. JST a sequel of Steel Jeeg called Koutetsushin Jeeg began airing on the satellite network WOWOW. Besides its related media, Steel Jeeg has appeared in other media, including its appearance in
3828-431: The suffering company and became Takara Tomy). The company decided to use the name "Tomy" in international subsidiaries, and "Takara Tomy" in Japan, because Tomy had built considerable international brand recognition while Takara's products ( Microman , Transformers , Battle Beasts , Beyblade , B-Daman etc.) had been sold and branded by other toy companies such as Hasbro . Additionally, the financial cost of rebranding
3894-492: The toy industry and plaudits for its technology. Nonetheless, by its third generation, president Mikitaro Tomiyama decided to streamline the company to be more competitive with wholesaler Bandai . Bandai developed its products more quickly, which was more appealing to television properties that required a fast turnaround. Despite internal and external opposition, Tomiyama was determined to aggressively pursue TV licenses such as Akakage , Giant Robo and Osomatsu-kun . Tomiyama
3960-490: Was also one of the first anime programs to be a major success in Canada where it was broadcast on Quebec's TVA network . The show continues to have a strong following, garnering widespread news coverage of its DVD release and return to broadcast TV in Canada. In October 2021 a fully licensed French-language Goldorak graphic novel was released by Editions Kana. According to the creative team, Go Nagai himself gave his blessings to
4026-510: Was one of the first anime programs to be a major success in both Europe and the Arabic regions of the Middle East, and continues to have a strong following in those parts of the world to this day. It only had limited success in the United States, where it was one of 5 mecha shows included in the 1980 TV anthology Force Five . The series was renamed Grandizer for the American market, and only had 26 episodes, which were run out of order. Despite
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#17327981603404092-438: Was originally published as a monthly manga magazine e-manga from Kodansha, from June 2004 to July 2007. Characters from the series also appeared in several installments of Banpresto 's (now Bandai Namco Entertainment ) popular crossover video game series Super Robot Wars , making its debut in the second installment of the franchise, 2nd Super Robot Wars . In recent years, however, Grendizer has made far less appearances in
4158-457: Was prohibitive. In Western media, the Takara Tomy merger was typically characterised as a 'takeover' of Takara by Tomy (likely because several years of losses had put Takara in a financially weakened state at the time of the merger (although Takara did have significantly higher sales than Tomy)). However, the companies' management teams had previously discussed merging (including at times when Takara appeared stronger). Under Japanese corporate law,
4224-468: Was released worldwide for Steam as well as PlayStation and Xbox consoles on November 14, 2023, while it releases in Japan on April 18, 2024. A Nintendo Switch port is also planned to be released in 2024. Japanese Toy company Popy released several toys based on the mechs on the series in the show's initial run in Japan under both the Chogokin and Jumbo Machinder labels, which were later released in
4290-470: Was serialized in several magazines in Japan, notably in Akita Shoten 's Boken Oh magazine from October 1975 to March 1977. A remake of the series, titled Grendizer Giga ( グレンダイザー ギガ , Gurendaizā Giga ) was serialized in Akita Shoten 's Champion Red magazine from September 2014 to July 2015. Two tankobon volumes were released. Grendizer makes several cameos in other media, one in 2002 in
4356-423: Was shocked when his son told him that Tomy's toys were bad and that he wanted to work for Bandai when he grew up. In response, he created the moderately successful Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh (then Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger ) (but the product development team followed these with Nekketsu Saikyō Go-Saurer ) (which was a catastrophic failure). It became common wisdom within the industry that Tomy could not support
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