Awesome moments in GaoGaiGar.
- How do you make delivering a baby to a couple trapped in a snowstorm awesome? Deliver him using a giant robot lion in place of the stork.
- The Premiere of the Dividing Driver. The Zonder gets the big idea to take the battle into the residential area of the city, to force GaoGaiGar into not being able to fight with his full power, for fear of hurting innocents. What's the GGG's response? A device that harmlessly splits space wide open, creating an open area where nothing can be damaged.
- Quite fitting that the tune titled "Dividing Driver" on the OST basically became the prelude to a vast majority of awesome moments in the series. It's pretty much "Betcha weren't expectin' THIS" in music form.note
- Keep in mind too that the way the scene is set up, a viewer who hasn't been paying close attention might assume that the Dividing Driver is a superweapon of some sort - which, after all, would be what most Mecha shows would do: New challenge comes out? Blow it up harder. It's really satisfying to see that they found a way to avoid the usual arms buildup, and instead prefer to just let the hero fight without one arm tied behind his back all the time.
- In GaoGaiGar Final, the protagonist Gai single-handedly tops all of his other exploits with one move. After receiving his final humongous mecha upgrade, he grabs a gravity hammer that is literally made out of three battleships and absolutely massive in size. With this hammer, he warps into the middle of a -star- and destroys the device that allowed his enemies to keep infinitely regenerating- and not before taking out several hundred clones of the Big Bad with one swing.
- "LET'S BREAK STUFF!"
- It should be noted that this is a Moment for everyone who uses G-Stone energy. Guy was initially struggling against Pisa Sol, which was to be expected since it had the equivalent mass and energy of a star. It was only after the receiving energy of every G-Stone in the series and a final word of encouragement from Mikoto that Guy proclaims he is not alone, and makes the sun itself Disappear Into the Light.
- Not only that, but Mikoto seems to have undergone some kind of Fusion with the Crusher. She doesn't hesitate to stay behind when everyone else evacuates, and it's her semi-evoluder powers that operate the Gutsy Galaxy Guard's ultimate ace in the hole.
- And, of course, the Goldion Crusher theme is pure Awesome Music. It just screams raw power and slow, unstoppable destruction, and wouldn't be out of place in some epic opera cycle..
- Difficult as it is to follow up the Goldion Crusher, the scene immediately preceding it is even more awesome. The one where Guy, backed up against a corner, facing down Palparepa at his highest A God Am I moment, drags Genesic GaoGaiGar up from the ruins and utters: "I'll show you... the power of true courage!" Cue visuals of Guy powering up GaoGaiGar like he's going full on super robot Super Saiyan. Genesic GaoGaiGar's mecha hair, golden power glow included, rises up behind him. Gai proceeds to beat the ever-loving snot out of Palparepa Prajna while charging up Hell and Heaven. Pure, concentrated gar. Seriously.
- If you pay extra close attention, you'll notice that Palparepa is struggling to regenerate and ultimately can't regenerate all the damage. Let's reiterate, he was inflicting so much damage on Palparepa that his infinite regeneration couldn't keep up with it!
- ...and the scene right in between those two. Pisa Sol is doing its' business and the bad guys are regenerating en masse. It's taken everything the heroes had just to defeat the Sol Masters in one-on-one combat, now they're outnumbered a hundred to one easily. The odds look so horrible that you almost can't help but think the series is headed for a Downer Ending, and Palus Abel sums up the situation quite nicely: "It appears that you've lost, doesn't it?" ...and then J turns and gives her a Look. A Look that is so utterly self-confident and so out of place in the face of imminent defeat that it could make a character GAR all by itself, and then J and Renais follow it up with a quote that is so epic that it makes Abel go Oh, Crap! before she's even seen what J and GGG still have up their sleeves.Soldato-J: You think so?Renais: I knew she wouldn't notice.
- And there's also the ass-kicking of Replica Mamoru... all with Guy shedding Manly Tears, and uttered, "Have you forgotten, Mamoru? Victory goes to... THOSE WITH COURAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!!!"
- The start of FINAL episode 5, when Gai, even after GaoFighGar had been demolished beyond any hope of repair or even the slightest chance of having anything work at all, continues to fight Palparepa by using his Evoluder abilities to hold it together just long enough to launch a Drill Knee strike. That's right: He was powering an entire Super Robot by force of will alone. Sure, he lost, but just the fact that even having his mecha completely demolished wasn't enough to stop him is just too awesome not to be a Moment of Awesome.
- Okay, let's be fair. Just about all the Braves get their own Crowning Moments.
- Take your pick with ChoRyuJin. He saves GaoGaiGar from a ground zero explosion with the Eraser Head. He uses Eraser Head after Eraser Head to try and stop the Grand Nova, resulting his tonfa shattering because he refuses to rest. He rescues GaoGaiGar, Mamoru, Hana, and the victim-of-the-week from the ocean even when the ships sonar couldn't locate them. He stops two megaton-level artillery shells by using the Eraser Head on one and the Mirror Shield and pure determination on the other. He single-handedly defeated Polonaise and Primada by connecting his tonfas to their tracks and railroading them to crash into each other. He sacrificed himself to save the world from an asteroid and killed the dinosaurs. Or you can take his Big Damn Heroes moment saving GaoFighGar from Repli-Mamoru's Shin Hell And Heaven in FINAL. Any work, really.
- For GekiRyuJin, the first appearance of the Tuan Tou Long, which channels his wind and lightning powers into two dragon-shaped beams that can penetrate Primeval armor and neatly extract Zonder cores en masse, nearly putting J-Quath to shame.
- This also contains a more subtle one, as well. GekiRyuJin's two component robots, FuRyu and RaiRyu, were programmed to follow orders, with "destroy the enemy" being a higher priority than "save lives". Early on, they're shown to adhere to their orders, so after combining, you'd expect the same when they attack the Zonders. ...But then, you see Geki holding all the cores and declaring that his top priority is the preservation of human life. Kind of a technological Screw Destiny, and proof that they've grown into true heroes.
- On top of that, Leo later confirms to their creators that it's that very feeling of selflessness that allows Symmetrical Dockers to synchronize in the first place. Or in other words, the Mobile Units are powered by The Power Of Agape (unconditional/selfless love). That's both Awesome and Heartwarming.
- Goldymarg drives out in the middle of a super gravitational field that has every single Brave on their knees (including GaoGaiGar himself) and experiences no ill effects, when the enemy notices it's not stopping him, it increases the gravity as high as it can, only slowing him to a snail's pace, it then uses anti-gravity and hurls him several kilometers into the air and then restores the super-heavy-gravity and slams him back into the ground. Then it does it again. And again. And again. AND AGAIN. Then it tries focusing its power into one point and fires him through a building. All this does is tick him off. He then uses its super-gravity field to alter his Marg Cannon's trajectory and disables it with one shot. Then he destroys it in the form of the Goldion Hammer.
- And also in FINAL, where, after the original is annihilated by Repli-Mamoru, Guy pulls out the Goldion Crusher. After three battleships merge together into the weapon, a panel slides away on the connector between Genesic GaoGaiGar and the Crusher, revealing that they rebuilt Goldymarg... who promptly chimes in to the action with a heartfelt "LET'S BREAK STUFF!"
- Volfogg, for his part, is a police car stealth ninja mecha. That should be enough, but he's also an exemplar of being cool, analytical, intelligent, and Hot-Blooded at the same time. A local maximum of this occurs in his near-sacrificial battle with Penchinon, which doubles as a Moment of Awesome for Entouji Kousuke, wherein he performs a Heroic Sacrifice, gets a Really Dead Montage, and yet is so badass that he's still Not Quite Dead. Speaking of which, the infiltration of the Bay Tower Base in the EI-15 (GGG Spare Parts Robo) episode is also a crowning moment for that pair.
- Volfogg also has a massive Moment of Awesome in the last episode of FINAL. Polturn, who is seen as more Ninja than Volfogg himself at this point, manages to turn Volfogg's Gunmachines against him while they are all combined as Big Volfogg. Big Volfogg's right arm (Gundober) shoots Big Volfogg in the face, both Gunmachines detach, proceed to keep blasting Big Volfogg, and then promptly mirror coat themselves and kamikaze on Big Volfogg, leaving all three Mechs in pieces. While observing the broken Brave Robot, Polturn apparently notices something amiss, and throws one of his katanas into the shadows, breaking Kit Number 08 and causing all of Big Volfogg's broken pieces to fade away. Right then, Volfogg removes his Camouflage, appearing right behind Polturn, and impaling him on one of his boomerangs. That means: sometime between realizing the Gunmachines turned on him, getting relentlessly attacked by said Gunmachines, and getting ripped to pieces, he escaped, transformed back to Volfogg, set up Kit Number 8, put in a false holographic Volfogg, AND snuck up behind Polturn without any hiccup in the action.
- Lest we forget, the voice of Volfogg is none other than Lord Kamina himself.
- It's the other way around. -Volfogg- is the voice of -Kamina-.
- Mic Sounders 13th, in addition to the above, got his first when he finally showed that he had a few levels of Badass hidden, singlehandedly saving the other GGG members by first wrecking two Zonders at once with Yuusha Oh Tanjou (Gao Gai Gar's title theme), then using POWER of DESIRE to revitalize the others. Then, after the Zonders try to combine their power, he singlehandedly holds back their attack to give Gai the time to transform and finish it off.
- That is utterly forgettable next to his CMOA in FINAL, where he unleashes Disc F on one of the Soul Masters in Repli-London. Yes, it gets better and blasts him a few seconds later, but rocking so hard that a giant shining GaoFighGar erupts from his guitar and explodes on his enemy takes it past the next level.
- Which he then one-ups by emerging from the Thames River, his Disc player destroyed, and wipes out the Sol Master by playing POWER of DESIRE on the cables of Tower Bridge.
- The Bass solo in particular, which is instantly recognizable in the actual song.
- In musical terms, isn't that part called a "Bridge"?
- The entire Mic Sounders Brigade get one by, with a little help from the J-Ark, crippling the entire Primeval invasion force with the debut of the Soliton Wave Cannon.
- GenRyuJin and GouRyuJin. All the time, but especially Maximum Tou Long, which combines the four Dragon Brothers' elements into four dragon beams that can destroy the moons of Jupiter.
- Hell, GenRyuJin and GouRyuJin's very existence counts as one.
- TenRyuJin only shows up for one episode but makes the most of it with the patently awesome Hikari to Yami no Mai, which traps the enemy in a giant field of mirrors, chaff, smoke, and reflecting MASERs from all directions. Then she... um, tops herself on the cool front - she uses her chestplate as a decoy for her enemy, appears behind that enemy, apologizes for "going topless", and then bisects her with the Double Lime à Ongle.
- Don't forget that she's voiced by Nanoha Takamachi.
- Also, note that TenRyuJin thought that calculating millions or billions of reflections per second is tedious.
- And that was totally reverse-engineered from Pasder's laser attack, too, which makes it a crowning moment for Chasseur R&D.
- A lot of things J does in the original series go into this, but the J-Phoenix of FINAL is the one that takes special mention.
- Hell, even before that: When the J-Ark rises back into the skies for the first time in FINAL. That scene was equal parts Moment of Awesome, Heartwarming Moment, He's Back!, and Tear Jerker. Having Utsukushiki Hikari no Tsubasa playing, regardless of the fact that not doing so would have just been blasphemous, simply made it all the more awesome and beautiful.
- Hell, J's introduction in the original series might also count. The GGG base has been destroyed, Guy is on his own and getting curb stomped by three primevals when suddenly the J-Ark appears from nowhere and proceeds kicking all three of the primevals' asses. Successfully.
- He didn't just appear from "nowhere". He launched the J-Ark out of a god damned VOLCANO.
- And then there's the fact the J-Ark's first shot utterly obliterates one of the Primevals in one shot. And, according to J, that was overkill!
- Don't forget Renais. While she only appears in FINAL and a tie-in novel, she makes up for her lack of screen time by repeatedly saving J and participating in a CMOA with him when, after being defeated, tied up, lit on fire, and left to die, they manage to escape and end up more powerful than before. She then proceeds to pilot the J-Ark with him for the rest of the series.
- All I know... Is a Phoenix... IS REBORN IN FLAMES! Shame it didn't work. Good thing a zero-range Maser blast DID.
- Let us not forget dear old Galeon. In saving Guy, he beat down EI-01 so hard that he had to spend 2 years in hiding before he was recuperated enough to begin his plans. It could be said that the reason EI-01 made himself so strong in their final encounter, was because he didn't want to get his ASS handed to him again!
- And of course, though they may be only used for a Volfogg power up normally, Gunglue and Gundober finally get their due in FINAL. All of the Braves have been shut down at this point (except Goldimarg, who's been destroyed), and J and Renais have been caught by the Sol Masters. All seems lost... before Mikoto rides in on Gunglue and Gundober with Mamoru in tow, saving the group for long enough for the return of King J-Der.
- Taiga, the chief of GGG, has several... including Calling his Attack when he pulls a driver out of a bag of golf clubs and prepares to beat on some Zonder-controlled humans that happen to be in his way. He also manages to make government approval of weapons deployment completely and totally awesome, which is a CMOA in itself.
- EP 31 is the instance were fans really see how much of a badass and a hero Gai is. Having survived the destruction of 3G Base and facing 3 Primeval ships, Gai manages to deal significant damage enough to ground em by deflecting their huge laser back at all 3 of em through Protect Shade. He then proceeds to go for the finisher using Hell&Heaven. All this despite having being grounded himself.
- Even after Hell&Heaven fails and GaoGaiGar's arms are destroyed. Gai upon finding that he is up against 3 100 ft opponents continues to charge at em with GaoGaiGar's Knee Drill, declaring "My Greatest Weapon is My Courage!" Even after GaoGaiGar is ripped to shred and unable to move, let alone fight Gai show his determinator status by declaring "My courage...Will Not...Die..."
- Geki Hyuuma, GGG's walking mountain of manliness, has several. Perhaps the best is his recurring tendency to talk into walkie-talkies... and then crush them in his fist for no apparent reason. When the Goldion Hammer was introduced, he actually pulled out TWO walkie-talkies, shouted into them... then crushed them both.
- Not to mention the space suit he's shown wearing in the last episode of FINAL. While everyone else wears normal, full suits, Hyuuma's is just a helmet... so he can continue to flex his bare, muscular arms in space.
- He's in the safety of a shuttle, but still...
- Not to mention the space suit he's shown wearing in the last episode of FINAL. While everyone else wears normal, full suits, Hyuuma's is just a helmet... so he can continue to flex his bare, muscular arms in space.
- After spending the entire series being Guy's love interest and the marginally best-treated of the Bridge Bunnies (plus the core of the Diabolus ex Nihilo at the end of the anime), Mikoto Utsugi finally gets one towards the end of FINAL. She flies through an asteroid field and pounds a giant crystal panel floating in space, activating Guy's final Transformation Sequence. "Genesic... DRIIIIIIIIIIVE!" Okay, so she spends the entire series smacking panels to activate something or other, but the asteroid-dodging made this scene stand out. And in the end, it's kind of the ultimate panel-smash at the end of an ever-building chain of awesome panel-smashes.
- She had an even cooler moment earlier in FINAL, when she (and Mamoru) save Renais and J from Palus Abel with nothing more than GunGlue and GunDober.
- The head of GGG's Chinese counterpart shows up in FINAL, commanding a space fleet to execute the world government's decision to block GGG's attempt to take a rapidly-closing wormhole to the Final Battle. He blocks GGG at every turn, and comes off as a massive prick for opposing the heroes and in the process dooming the universe... until they finally break through and sail past his fleet... and, as a massive sendoff, see that it has been arranged into a massive GGG logo the entire time.
- Making it better, the ultimate sign of his prickishness had been sortieing FuRyu, RaiRyu, and Mic Sounders against GGG. "What?" shouts the viewer. "How could he order that attack?" And then...turns out it was a setup. Mic was carrying Swan, Stallion, and Liger to Orbit Base, and you weren't going to keep the Chinese Dragons from coming along for this ride.
- Let's give credit where it's really due here: Rose Approval, the Secretary General of the United Nations. Taiga had practically begged her to send GGG to go investigate the problem that was threatening to destroy the whole universe. The rest of the UN delegates shot him down. But Ms. Approval, knowing Taiga and GGG as well as she does, sets into motion a series of events that, ultimately, gives the appearance of GGG committing mutiny and, in the process, gives her a perfectly good excuse to exile them from the Solar System...all so that they can go take care of the problem without anyone having any room to say otherwise, and without any of the UN officials losing face. Shrewd lady, that one.
- Making it better, the ultimate sign of his prickishness had been sortieing FuRyu, RaiRyu, and Mic Sounders against GGG. "What?" shouts the viewer. "How could he order that attack?" And then...turns out it was a setup. Mic was carrying Swan, Stallion, and Liger to Orbit Base, and you weren't going to keep the Chinese Dragons from coming along for this ride.
- In the PlayStation video game Blockaded Numbers, Taiga and Hyuma have been transformed into Zonders, and merged together to form one nasty monster. Over the course of the battle, the Goldion Hammer's energy is completely drained. But, being Gai, he never gives up, and instead keeps fighting by Rocket-Punching the Zonder using Goldymarg
. The day is finally saved when, in one version, J shows up, uses the J-Jewel to restore Goldymarg's power (turning the Goldion Hammer silver), and uses the Silverion Hammer to destroy the Zonder, extracting the cores with his fingers. - Two words: GENESIC DRIVE!!!
- And three more, when heard for the first time in FINAL, episode 6, signalling a truly epic He's Back! - GAO!!! GAI!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!
- Even before that, in the beginning of the same episode, King J-Der is struggling against a mind-controlled Guy piloting GaoFighGar and using a mind-controlled Goldymarg in hammer form. With the Jewel Generator exceeding it's limits and beginning to overload, it seems like the end for King J-Der, Renee, Mikoto and Mamoru when the Replicant Braves break free from their mind-control, and use themselves to shield King J-Der from the Goldion Hammer. The following quote says it all:En Ryu: We won't follow...Hyo Ryu: ... such a command!!!Volfogg: Even though we are just duplicates...!An Ryu: Even though our AI was modified...!Kou Ryu: We still have our memories!!Fuu Ryu: Even if we are Replicants...Rai Ryu: We are all...All: YUUSHA!!!Mic: Right on!!!
- The final battle versus Zonuda. Bonus points for The Power of Love and Heartwarming Moments.
- When Taiga orders Formation G, the activation sequence for the Goldion Crusher, the whole freaking crew gets their moment to shine when their unified response gets flashed over with the G-Stone/GGG insignia.
- Who could forget Mamoru's CMoA in episode 44, where he rescues Hana and takes down the strongest Zonder in the whole series on his own in a massive Determinator moment.
- Especially nice in how it immediately follows up his Heartwarming Moment with his parents, and is then itself followed up (after Gai steals the spotlight for a second to beat down the Zonder) by another Heartwarming Moment with Hana accepting what he is and realizing just who her knight in shining armor really was all this time.
- Ah, but who can forget Mamoru's original Moment of Awesome in episode 40, when he bursts through the floor of the Main Order Room riding Galeon and saves the GGG bridge crew from being mind-controlled by the Ear and Nail Primevals?
- While the stock footage for Final Fusion is awesome enough in itself, there were two that definitely stood out: The last time it's done in the main series (made especially awesome thanks to the Gao Machines being piloted by the A.I.s of the Mobile Unit), and the birth of Genesic GaoGaiGar.
- If there's one device in the series that showed just how heroic, brave, and all-out-freaking-awesome the Gutsy Geoid Guard is, it's Projectile X. Knowing full well that using its power will cost them their lives, the Mobile Unit requests its use to defeat EI-01 without any hesitation.
- Naturally, even though it doesn't kill them, the aftermath was probably the biggest Tear Jerker in the series.
- The best part? As with the Dividing Driver, it's set up in such a way that you could mistake it for a superweapon. Launched with great fanfare, fired directly at EI-01 Pazder, no one being comfortable with its use - NOPE. Gutsy Geoid Guard's style isn't to use outside weapons - it's to give the Strongest Yuusha Robo Corps the tools to make their bodies keep up (temporarily) with their courage.
- While the aftermath goes deep into Tear Jerker territory, Mamoru gets a (quite literal) moment to shine here: his pleading for the Mobile Unit to wake up unleashes so much G-Stone Energy that the sky glows green, as can be seen by his parents from miles away, while simultaneously jump-starting their GS-Rides and saving their lives. Given that the sky stayed dark during the final battle, it's entirely possible that Mamoru unleashed more energy than Projectile-X!
- Easily missed amongst all the others is a moment we see briefly referenced in a flashback during FINAL episode 5, where the GGG Orbit Base is falling into Earth's atmosphere and Guy and GaoFighGar are pushing it back.
- Episode 29 from the anime: Right at the beginning we were treated to Mic's first use of Disc X to destroy all the zonder metal. Then in the latter half of the episode, Guy and Pizza faced down each other one last time, the fight itself counting as an Awesome Moment for both combatants. But the biggest Awesome Moment was after Guy emerges from the flames, he is immediately caught by Pasder, and was about to be skewered by a drill when Pizza jumped in and got fatally wounded. He then declares that he wasn't through with Guy yet, and thanks Guy for inadvertently restoring part of his memories of his past life, right before launching himself at Pasder as his first, and final act of defiance.Pasder: What do you think you're doing, Pizza?!Pizza: I am NOT Pizza!!! My name is....*explosion ensues after collision, and a firebird emerges from the blast and into the sky*
- I would have to say the supercharged GaiGar/Galeon in FINAL is one of my favorite moments. In the original series, Guy's first form mech always gets fodderized despite being a Super Robot. Here? It took out 8 of the SoulMaster's super powerful cubes without even breaking a sweat.
- Another one: after defeating the first Palparepa, Guy and GaoGaiGar are laying down on the ground, looking seemingly out of energy as the Soul Masters replenish Palparepa, and make more of him. They move into finish him off...and then Guy gets the okay to use the Goldion Crusher. Opening his eyes, in a burst of courage and a Theme Music Power-Up, he defeats all the copies with a huge amount of pure awesomeness!
- The latter half of episode 34. After being put out of commission from the battle with Pasder and having their base, as well as the titular mecha itself, utterly trashed by the Primevals...ladies and gentlemen, the Gutsy Galaxy Guard is back in action, and the Primevals are officially on notice that they are not getting the Earth without a fight.
