Line #68 Anime/GoLion


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4	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/golioncrop.jpg]]
5	[[caption-width-right:300:Let's [=GoLion=]!]]
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7	->''"One!... Plus one!... Plus one!... Plus one!... Plus one!... [=GoLion=]!!"''
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9	''Beast King [=GoLion=]'' (百獣王ゴライオン, ''Hyaku Jūō Goraion'') is a CombiningMecha from Creator/{{Toei\|Company}}[[note]]Not Creator/ToeiAnimation; the series was conceived by the main Toei company, but the animation was handled by other studios, with Creator/NakamuraProductions on character designs[[/note]] that aired in 1981-82. The show aired Wednesdays at 6pm on Creator/TVTokyo [[note]]Originally Tokyo 12 Channel, which became TV Tokyo in October 1981, during the show's run.[[/note]] and was syndicated to other stations across Japan. Since shows like this were a dime a dozen in Japan (TV Tokyo actually devoted the weekday 6pm time slot to robot anime at this time, with a different show airing each day), it unfortunately got overlooked. But [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff elsewhere, including the US]], where HumongousMecha shows were still practically unheard of, it got recognition as the lion robot of ''Anime/{{Voltron}}''.
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11	The show takes place in the then-future year of 1999, and Earth has just been hit by World War III, and all the cities are nuked. Five space academy students come across the ruins, and before they even have time to grieve, they are taken as slaves by ships of the Galra Empire. They manage to escape, are nearly shot down, but are pulled in by a mysterious force from the planet Altea.
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13	Stumbling across a ruined castle, they meet Princess Fala, the last survivor of the planet's royal family after the Galra empire ravaged the planet, and her advisor Raible. They determine that the explorers are there to pilot Golion, a robot that was unrivaled in battle thousands of years ago, but split into five lions after he tried to take on a goddess.
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15	So the pilots form Golion, and become the protectors of Altea (including Fala herself after one of the pilots is killed), and eventually overthrow the Galra empire.
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17	Even though the series never took off in Japan as well as ''Voltron'' elsewhere, it does have a cult following. In Italy, where the first 26 episodes aired dubbed in 1982 - two years before ''Voltron'' even existed - ''[=GoLion=]'' is arguably ''more'' popular than ''Voltron'', although ''Voltron'' was also released in Italy in 1986, creating a DuelingDubs situation. Also, ''[=GoLion=]'' appeared in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsW''.
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19	See also ''Anime/DairuggerXV''.
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21	----
22	!!''[=GoLion=]'' provides examples of:
23	* AfterTheEnd: The series is set after a nuclear war in 1999 between "the East and the West" wiped out most humans on Earth.
24	* AlienInvasion: Done by the Galra empire to just about everywhere else.
25	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: There doesn't seem to be a single decent member of the alien species that makes up the [[TheEmpire Galra Empire]]. They're smart enough to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm know when to give up though]].
26	* AllYourColorsCombined: The mechanical lions who combine to make [=GoLion=] are red, blue, black, yellow, and green.
27	* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The 1982 Italian dub of ''Golion'' (not to be confused with the Italian dub of ''Voltron''; see above and Trivia page) featured a new theme song.
28	* AnimalMecha: The series is called ''Beast King [=GoLion=]''. What'd you expect?
29	* AnimalMotifs: ''Guess''.
30	* AnyoneCanDie: ''Lots'' of characters die, often in quite gruesome ways. Creator/WorldEventsProductions had its work cut out for it when it adapted the show to the more kid-friendly ''Anime/{{Voltron}}''.
31	* AssKickingPose: [=GoLion=] does several of these when he transforms.
32	* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: There are times when Sincline and his father appear to genuinely care for each other, especially in the beginning when Sincline was introduced when they hug, and his father calls him his beloved son and Sincline tries to restore his father's honor. It seems as Sincline's obsession with Golion and Fala grows, so does his hatred for his father.
33	* BackupTwin: Ryoh Shirogane for his elder brother.
34	* BigBad: Daibazaal. [[spoiler: That is, until Sincline ends up usurping him.]]
35	* TheBigGuy: Tsuyoshi.
36	* ByThePowerOfGreyskull "Let's [=GoLion=]!"
37	* CallingYourAttacks: Naturally. King's Sword Jyuoken[[note]]Despite the show's title having Jyuu as in 'Beast' in, the Jyuu on the sword itself is rendered with 'Ten', thus the name's 'Ten Kings' Sword', not 'Beast King's Sword'[[/note]] (the "Blazing Sword" in the Voltron adaptation) is the most famous.
38	* CatsAreMean: [[WickedWitch Honerva]]'s RightHandCat, Jaga.
39	* ChestInsignia: The Altean royal family's crest appears on [=GoLion=] itself, as well as on the pilots' suits.
40	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Averted. The pilots' uniform color doesn't correspond to their respective lions, a pilot wearing red might own a black lion for example. In fact, only Shorty and Hothead wear uniforms that match their lion's color.
41	* ConvenientlyClosePlanet: When our heroes escape their initial captivity on the Galra capital world, and their space ship gets shot and damaged by their pursuers, they "fall" onto the planet Altea within what must be 10 minutes of launching. Luckily for them there's a castle and 5 lion robots there.
42	* CombiningMecha: One of many in Japan, but the quintessential example in other countries.
43	* DarkerAndEdgier: It never quite matches the works of Creator/GoNagai or Creator/YoshiyukiTomino, but it's still a fair bit more brutal than most kid-friendly SuperRobot shows of its day and downright shocking to anybody who's more familiar with ''Voltron''. It's particularly notable the way the director seems to take perverse delight in causing secondary or unnamed characters to drop like flies, most notably most of the entire population of Earth in the first episode (one episode indicates that there were at least a few survivors who later became prisoners as a human girl with psychic powers agrees to be a saboteur in order to win freedom for the other prisoners and her older brother [[WasOnceAMan volunteers to become a half-beastman for the same reason]].) The Galra Empire also stood out as one of the most brutal galaxy-wide enemies, playing AlwaysChaoticEvil straight and showcases just exactly what happens when they have enough power: Successful invasions, images of death and slavery always follow wherever Galra goes throughout the galaxy (Though notably, the destruction of Earth [[NotMeThisTime wasn't Galra's fault in the first place]]). They also have harem scenes if the violence was not enough (though they do not show 'action'.). The series would likely get a R-17 rating even in cartoon/animated form in the US if rated.
44	* DeathOfAChild: Raible's toddler son gets shot to death in episode 49.
45	* DeusExMachina:
46	** At the end of a two-parter where [=GoLion=] is trapped by a hyper-gravity planetoid, the space goddess shows up out of nowhere to free him.
47	** King Raimon appears out of nowhere several times to help the [=GoLion=] team.
48	* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Takashi Shirogane is quickly killed by Honerva, her cat, and a Beastman.
49	* EarFins: Emperor Daibazaal is an alien who has purple ear fins.
50	* TheEmpire: The Galran empire is even called ''the enemy of the universe.''
51	* ErmineCapeEffect: Even when not fancied up, even in uniform, Fala still wears her [[RequisiteRoyalRegalia tiara]].
52	* EverybodysDeadDave: The team are introduced returning to Earth only to find the rest of humanity has nuked itself into oblivion. Naturally this part was edited away for ''Anime/{{Voltron}}''...
53	* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: Fala does sparkle sometimes.
54	* EvolvingCredits: After[[note]]Actually, on the [[SpoilerOpening same episode]][[/note]] she replaces Shirogane, Fala also takes his place in the opening. However, [[SpoilerOpening she's always there in the end credits, while Shirogane isn't.]]
55	* EyeBeams: [=GoLion=]'s Eye Flash. It also shows up as a monster attack from time to time.
56	* FailedFutureForecast: WorldWarIII, when the US and USSR launch their missiles at each other, happens eight years after the USSR fell.
57	* FairytaleWeddingDress: A dress made for Fala to wear on her possible future wedding.
58	* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Why the censoring on ''Voltron'' isn't considered outright {{Bowdlerization}}. Indeed. The Earth itself even blows up in one episode; something WEP ''really'' couldn't show.
59	* FauxActionGirl: Fala when she isn't piloting the blue lion.
60	* FighterLaunchingSequence: There's StockFootage of the team getting in their Lions.
61	* FirstChurchOfMecha: Golion is worshiped as a god on Altea, but isn't actually one. When he went up against an actual Goddess, he got a major lesson in humility.
62	* ForGreatJustice: The opening song implores the heroes to "Defeat them in the name of justice!"
63	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Fala and the mice. She even knows their language.
64	* GratuitousGreek: The Mecha Beastmen were named for Greek letters.
65	* GratuitousEnglish: It's in the opening theme, both in Japanese ("One... plus one... plus one..." etc.) and in Italian ("Go, go, it's time to go!").
66	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Ryou, who stabs Prince Sincline in the heart before tackling him off the top of his exploding fortress.]]
67	* {{Hidden Backup Prince}}ss: Princess Fala, who is the only survivor of her family - Galra hadn't realized that the queen had just had a baby when they attacked.
68	* HighPressureBlood: The episode with the Red Beret fighters from Galra/Doom. While [=GoLion=] in general has a harder edge than Anime/{{Voltron}}, this episode rivals even the infamous first ten minutes of ''Manga/ElfenLied''. This is one instance where the edits made perfect sense for a syndie kids cartoon.
69	* {{Homage}}:
70	** It could be unintentional, but Fala's grand dress [[http://www.sfstlskyway.com/allurawall.jpg bears a resemblance]] to [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Princess Aurora]]'s.
71	** Right after the title card in the first episode, a Galran ship flies past the screen in a way reminiscent of the Star Destroyer at the beginning of ''Film/ANewHope''.
72	* HotBlooded: Tsuyoshi is called "Hothead" for a reason.
73	* HumongousMecha: Next to the original Megazord, it's one of the first things people think of when they picture "humongous mecha" - except in Japan, when it was neither the first nor the most memorable.
74	* IKissYourHand: Princess Fala receives this from the Earth pilots when pledging to fight for Altea, except for one guy who gets interrupted by an alarm.
75	* KickTheDog: Sincline has many.
76	* KingOfBeasts: Golion is called a King at several points, fitting this trope.
77	* TheLancer: Isamu. Which the renaming of his character "Lance" for ''Voltron'' quite apropos.
78	* LatexSpaceSuit: All of the pilot suits.
79	%%* {{Leitmotif}}
80	* LimitedWardrobe: Everyone has exactly two outfits - a uniform, and one set of civvies, save for Fala, who also has a dress.
81	* MeditatingUnderAWaterfall: Mentioned as a possibility in episode 10, when Fala is lured out to a waterfall by a Beastman (pretending to be the reincarnation of her mother as a lion), and Fala thinks she's going to be trained to be a better fighter.
82	* MentorOccupationalHazard:
83	** Averted with [[spoiler: Raible, who survived the series.]]
84	** Played straight with [[spoiler: Hys]]
85	* MiniDressOfPower: Amue, after she gets rescued and gets involved in the final battle.
86	* ModestRoyalty: Once Fala is a pilot, she usually wears her pink jumpsuit instead of her fancy dress.
87	* MonsterOfTheWeek: [=GoLion's=] gotta fight ''something'', doesn't he?
88	* ObviouslyEvil: The people of Galran Empire royalties are purple-skinned humanoid that looked rather vicious, its advisor is a witch shrouded in black and does satanic ritual from time to time, its {{Mook}} are clad in black steel and has vicious eyes, and its normal people looked beastly. There's no need to know for what they're actually capable of (which is even worse) to recognize them as a bunch of evil people.
89	* OjouRinglets: Fala, although the way they are drawn makes them easy to mistake for sideburns.
90	* OneTwoThreeFourGo: Hence the name; "''Go''-Lion."
91	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The original five Golion pilots usually called each other by nickname: "[[TheHero Chief]]", "[[SacrificialLamb Quiet]]", "[[TheLancer Moody]]", "[[TheBigGuy Hothead]]", and "[[TheSmartGuy Shorty]]". They were otherwise only known by their last names. (The "princess" manages to fit into the scheme later.)
92	* OverlordJr: Sincline, he's very much his father's son, perhaps even worse!
93	* ParentalAbandonment: Fala's parents and siblings were killed when she was still a baby. Raible raised her since then.
94	* PimpedOutDress:
95	** Fala's princess dress.
96	** Amue's princess dress isn't that fancy, but when she wears her battle mini dress, it fits this trope better.
97	** The wedding dress Hys made for Fala to wear for her eventual wedding.
98	* PrecisionFStrike: When Castle Gradam rises, Fala shoots down the Battle Beast fighting [=GoLion=] with a turret while yelling something ''very'' un-Princess-like, somewhere along the line of "Son of a bitch!". It's not clear when she's apologizing, it's for accidentally doing a friendly fire on [=GoLion=] or just realizing she gave an F-Strike unbefitting of a princess.
99	* {{Pride}}: As mentioned, [=GoLion=] was originally a single robot who thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread; when he tried to fight a space goddess, she split him into the five lions to teach him some humility.
100	* PrincessClassic: Even as a pilot, Fala is like this.
101	* PrincessesPreferPink: Fala wears pink with nearly everything, even her uniform.
102	* {{Robeast}}: The Deathblack Beastmen which have various origins: pre-existing creatures, enhanced animals, or [[WasOnceAMan captured prisoners]]. A group of more powerful, robot monsters called the Mechablack Beastmen were introduced later on.
103	* RocketPunch: [=GoLion=]'s Four Lion Attack has it launch the lion heads on its four limbs at the enemy.
104	* RockThemeNaming: The original five pilots have the names of metals as their surnames.
105	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething:
106	** Fala as one of the pilots.
107	** Sincline is an example, though in most cases it would have been better for Daibazaal and Galra if he was a Royal Who Did Not Do Anything.
108	* SpannerInTheWorks: Honerva's plan to take down Altea by [[spoiler: killing Shirogane]] falls victim to two spanners- one was Kurogane in Red Lion coming up with the idea [[spoiler: to push the Deathblack Beastman Galcia into some magma]], and when Galra attacks again before Altea could train a replacement,[[spoiler: Fala takes Blue Lion]].
109	* SpoilerTitle: Episode 6 is titled [[spoiler:"Death of Shirogane the Hero"]].
110	* TheShortGuyWithGlasses: Hiroshi.
111	* SlipperySwimsuit: Happens once to Princess Fala. A high dive while wearing a bikini leads to her top surfacing before she does.
112	* StandardizedLeader: Akira.
113	* TheStarscream: Prince Sincline wants his father's throne.
114	* StayInTheKitchen: The way Fala's guardians, Raible, and Hys treat her some of the time.
115	* StockFootage: The footage of the Golion team entering their vehicles, as well as Golion being formed.
116	* SuperRobot: Again, just another one of many at the time in Japan, although [=GoLion=] would receive worldwide fame when adapted into ''Voltron.''
117	* ThemeNaming: The original team all have metals for their names: Kogane (Gold), Shirogane (Silver), Kurogane (Steel), Seidou (Bronze), and Suzuishi (Tin).
118	* ThemeSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBYKvYT1BEc See here.]]
119	* ToServeMan: Alien example. Members of various alien races who are brought to Galra as slaves are split into two groups; Those who are capable of fighting are kept for entertainment in gladiatorial combat against Beastmen, or get turned into them. Those who are too weak to be of any use are cooked into a stew that is used as food for Beastmen and other slaves. Same fate befalls those slaves who die in gladiatorial combat.
120	* TransformationIsAFreeAction: Subverted oh so many times, that's what happens when you get clever villains.
121	* TransformingMecha: Mecha Beastman Delta went from robot to DrillTank.
122	* TrueBlueFemininity: Amue's main dress.
123	* UnwillingSuspension: Amue.
124	* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Sincline goes crazy and kills Honerva when he finds out that his mother was Altean.]]
125	* VillainousCrush: Sincline has it ''bad'' for Fala.
126	* WarriorPrince: Sincline is a very powerful, and skilled fighter who spent years conquering planets. Fala is a Warrior Princess after she becomes the Blue Lion's pilot, and even Amue becomes this near the end.
127	* WasOnceAMan: Several of the beastmen were prisoners transformed into monsters. They're sometimes called [[HalfHumanHybrid ''half beast men.'']]
128	* WickedWitch: Honerva wouldn't be out of place in a Disney film.
129	* TheWorfEffect: Every encounter the titular robot has with a beastman who is a physical threat to [=GoLion=] is an example of this.
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Context Anime / GoLion