Getter Robo Go facts for kids

Getter Robo Go
Cover of Getter Robot Go Ongakushu CD album. From left to right, characters Gai, Go and Sho, and Getter Robot's main form in the back.
Quick facts for kids ゲッターロボ號 (Gettā Robo Gō)
Manga
Written by	Tatsuya Yasuda
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Kodomo (boys)
Magazine	TV-kun
Original run	December 28, 1990 – April 30, 1991
Volumes	1
Anime television series
Directed by	Hiroki Shibata
Produced by	Chiyo Okazaki Tatsuya Yoshida
Written by	Hiroyuki Hoshiyama Yukiyoshi Ohashi [ja] Junki Takegami [ja] Shoji Tonoike Katsuhiko Chiba
Music by	Michiaki Watanabe
Studio	Toei Animation
Network	TXN (TX, TSC)
Original run	February 11, 1991 – January 27, 1992
Episodes	50
Manga
Written by	Tatsuya Yasuda
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Kodomo (boys)
Magazine	Bessatsu Coro Coro Comic Special
Original run	February 1991 – February 1992
Volumes	1
Manga
Written by	Ken Ishikawa
Published by	Tokuma Shoten Daitosha
English publisher	US Viz Media
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Monthly Shōnen Captain
Original run	February 1991 – May 1993
Volumes	7

Getter Robo Go (ゲッターロボ號, Gettā Robo Gō) or Getter Robot Go, also known as Venger Robo or Venger Robot Go outside Japan, is a Japanese mecha anime and manga series created by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa.

The anime was originally broadcast from February 11, 1991 to January 27, 1992 on TV Setouchi and TV Tokyo with a total of 50 episodes. Along with the TV series, a few manga versions were released. One of them was released in the US under the name Venger Robo and in Spain as Venger Robot Go. The anime and manga are unrelated, and while the anime is a remake of the original series, the manga is a sequel of the original manga. The series is sometimes wrongly written in Japanese as ゲッターロボ号. The international title given to the anime on Toei's website is Goldbang.

Anime

Anime plot

In the year 200X, Doctor Rando, a genius scientist gone mad, has broken the peace on the Earth by trying to conquer the world from his Polar base, using an army of his Metal Beasts, super robots developed by him to conquer the world and led by his genetically created officers. No regular weapons seem to work against the Metal Beasts. To combat him, Japan's Defense Agency request the cooperation of NISAR, the Japan International Aerospace Corporation, which has developed a robot, the Getter Robo. Dr. Tachibana, the head of the Getter Robo project, is reluctant to use the robot for battle. Despite this, Getter Robo, piloted by Go Ichimonji (later joined by Sho Tachibana and Daido Gai), is able to defeat a Metal Beast with the sacrifice of Shinichi, the son of Dr. Tachibana. This prompts the improvement of Getter to make it a transforming machine piloted by three persons, capable of defeating the Metal Beasts and stopping Dr. Rando from conquering the world.

Episodes

Source(s)

Home video

The series was released on Laserdisc by Toei Video. Toei also released the series on DVD:

Music

The opening and ending themes have been released as singles and have been compiled in albums of the artists who performed them. The soundtrack is available in two CDs, one of which was re-released years later,

The opening and ending themes are available in several compilation albums of the Getter Robot series.

Manga

Three manga versions were published with the release of the TV series. Two of them were drawn by Tatsuo Yasuda, the first one was published in the magazine TV-kun from December 28, 1990 (1990-12-28) to April 30, 1991 (1991-04-30) and the second one in the magazine Bessatsu Coro Coro Comic Special from February 1991 (1991-02) to June 1991 (1991-06), both Children's publications of Shogakukan. None of these have been re-printed outside the magazines.

Another version, written and illustrated by Ken Ishikawa, was published in the magazine Shōnen Captain, published by Tokuma Shoten, from February 1991 to May 1993. This version was originally compiled in 7 volumes, and later reprinted in other collections published by Daitosha and Futabasha.

From this manga, the first stories were published in the United States by Viz Media in 1993 in 7 issues (not volumes) under the name Venger Robo.

Some of these numbers were also published in Spain by Planeta DeAgostini in 1995, under the name Venger Robot Go. In France, the series was published from 1999 to 2001 for a total of 5 volumes by Dynamic Vision. A volume of the series was also published in South Korea by Seoul Cultural Publishers. In Italy, the series was published integrally as part of the Getter Saga series, which included all Getter Robot series in a single series of 12 volumes. There are a lot of major differences between Ken Ishikawa's version and the TV version. The whole plot is rewritten to match as the sequel to the last series, Getter Robo G as well as incorporating characters and storyline that would later be adapted in the OAVs Getter Robo Armageddon and Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo. Another interesting thing is the debut of the iconic Shin Getter Robo in the Manga's last volume.

Manga plot

Sixteen years after Ryouma Nagare, Hayato Jin and Benkei Kuruma defeated the Hundred Oni Empire (百鬼帝国, Hyakki Teikoku), research has begun to develop a new set of Getter Machines in order to fight the threat of a new, cyborg-like species known as Metal Beasts, led by the evil Professor Rando of the "Vega Zone". Leading this project is Hayato himself, who soon scouts and enlists three young pilots: Go Ichimonji, a young professional athlete, Sho Tachibana, the daughter of Prof. Tachibana (leader of the Getter-Go project) and a skilled sword-fighter, and Gai Daidou, a former Getter mechanic. Together, these three pilots use a new set of Getter Machines to form the super robot known as "Getter Robo Go", and begin a battle to stop Rando once and for all.

Manga exclusive characters

• Hayato Jin (神隼 人)
• Ryoma Nagare (流 竜馬)
• Kei Minamikaze (南風渓)
• Schwartz Koff (シュワルツ・コフ)
• Messiah Tahir (メシア・タイール)
• Empress Jatego (女帝ジャテーゴ)