History Anime / Gaiking

''Daikū Maryū Gaiking'' (''Great Sky Demon Dragon Gaiking''[[note]]official international name: "Dino Mech Gaiking"[[/note]]) was a Super Robot mecha anime series produced by Creator/ToeiAnimation, credited as an original idea by Akio Sugino. However, in reality the original idea was Creator/GoNagai's. [[ExecutiveMeddling Toei deliberately took Nagai out of the credits in order to avoid paying him royalties]]. Because of that, Nagai sued Toei and refused to collaborate with them for many years. The legal battle lasted over a decade. [[WordOfGod Nagai himself confirmed that he was the creator of Gaiking]] at the 2007 Naples Comicon.

** Arguably, a case of JerkassFacade. See [[spoiler: FailureKnight.]]

Gaiking was piloted by former up and coming baseball star named Sanshiro Tsuwabuki (Aries Astronopolis in the dub), who was drafted for the job because his latent psychic powers made him the only one capable of doing so. All other similarly empowered candidates were assassinated by alien agentsm, with Sanshiro himself injured in an attack that ended his sports career. Gaiking is most easily distinguished from other mecha by its skull-shaped golden torso formed from the head of the Daikū Maryū and its golden horns.

Gaiking was piloted by former up and coming baseball star named Sanshiro Tsuwabuki (Aries Astronopolis in the dub), who was drafted for the job because his latent psychic powers made him the only one capable of doing so. All other similarly empowered candidates having been assassinated by alien agents with Sanshiro himself having been injured in an attack that ended his sports career. Gaiking is most easily distinguished from other mecha by its skull-shaped golden torso formed from the head of the Daikū Maryū and its golden horns.

Gaiking was piloted by former baseball star named Sanshiro Tsuwabuki (Aries Astronopolis in the dub), who was drafted for the job because his latent psychic powers made him the only one capable of doing so. All other similarly empowered candidates having been assassinated by alien agents with Sanshiro himself having been injured in an attack that ended his sports career. Gaiking is most easily distinguished from other mecha by its skull-shaped golden torso formed from the head of the Daikū Maryū and its golden horns.

''Daikū Maryū Gaiking'' (''Great Sky Demon Dragon Gaiking'') was a Super Robot mecha anime series produced by Creator/ToeiAnimation, credited as an original idea by Akio Sugino. However, in reality the original idea was Creator/GoNagai's. [[ExecutiveMeddling Toei deliberately took Nagai out of the credits in order to avoid paying him royalties]]. Because of that, Nagai sued Toei and refused to collaborate with them for many years. The legal battle lasted over a decade. [[WordOfGod Nagai himself confirmed that he was the creator of Gaiking]] at the 2007 Naples Comicon.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Gen Sakon and his DisappearedDad.

* BadassBookworm: Gen was not only the head mechanic, he also pretty decent at self-defense.
* BigBrotherMentor: Gen is this to Sanshirou. Arguably, Yamagakake was this to Hachirou

* BruceLeeClone: Arguably, Fan Lee. He's even seen making a BadassPose a la Creator/BruceLee in the original series's ED.

* CountryMouse: Yamagakake's backstory.

* HarmfulToMinors: More than one kid gets hurt or in danger here, with Hachirou the Tagalongkid being only ''one'' of them. [[spoiler: Fan Lee's kid brother San-Lee (who's fifteen years old ''tops'') is shot to death, and so is a little girl named Lisa who's the daughter of a member of Darius's army. Peter's pre-teen brother Tom gets used as a hostage.]]

* BruceLeeClone: Arguably, Fan Lee. He's even seen making a BadassPose a la BruceLee in the original series's ED.

In 2009, William Winckler, the man behind the infamously cheesy english dub for ''Anime/{{Tekkaman}}'', produced equally cheesy english {{Compilation Movie}}s for Gaiking, along with several other of Toei's older titles. Creator/ShoutFactory [[http://www.shoutfactory.com/?q=node/216952 released all three movies on DVD]] on May 21, 2013.

''Daikū Maryū Gaiking'' (''Great Sky Demon Dragon Gaiking'') was a Super Robot mecha anime series produced by ToeiAnimation, credited as an original idea by Akio Sugino. However, in reality the original idea was Creator/GoNagai's. [[ExecutiveMeddling Toei deliberately took Nagai out of the credits in order to avoid paying him royalties]]. Because of that, Nagai sued Toei and refused to collaborate with them for many years. The legal battle lasted over a decade. [[WordOfGod Nagai himself confirmed that he was the creator of Gaiking]] at the 2007 Naples Comicon.

* VideoGame/SuperRobotWars: Appears in ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'', [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Alpha 2 and Alpha 3]].

** Arguably, a case of JerkAssFacade. See [[spoiler: FailureKnight.]]

''Daikū Maryū Gaiking'' (''Great Sky Demon Dragon Gaiking'') was a Super Robot mecha anime series produced by ToeiAnimation, credited as an original idea by Akio Sugino. However, in reality the original idea was GoNagai's. [[ExecutiveMeddling Toei deliberately took Nagai out of the credits in order to avoid paying him royalties]]. Because of that, Nagai sued Toei and refused to collaborate with them for many years. The legal battle lasted over a decade. [[WordOfGod Nagai himself confirmed that he was the creator of Gaiking]] at the 2007 Naples Comicon.

In 2009, William Winckler, the man behind the infamously cheesy english dub for {{Tekkaman}}, produced equally cheesy english {{Compilation Movie}}s for Gaiking, along with several other of Toei's older titles. Creator/ShoutFactory [[http://www.shoutfactory.com/?q=node/216952 released all three movies on DVD]] on May 21, 2013.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Creator/AkiraKamiya for Sanshiro Tsuwabuki, MamiKoyama for Midori Fujimiya (her debut role), Creator/KeatonYamada for Gen Sakon, HidekatsuShibata as Professor Daimonji, KenichiOgata for Bunta, Creator/MakioInoue for Peter.

* HeyItsThatVoice: AkiraKamiya for Sanshiro Tsuwabuki, MamiKoyama for Midori Fujimiya (her debut role), KeatonYamada for Gen Sakon, HidekatsuShibata as Professor Daimonji, KenichiOgata for Bunta, Creator/MakioInoue for Peter.

It ran from April 1976 through January 1977 and consisted of 44 26-minute episodes. ''Gaiking'' was notable for being one of the few super robot series to take place in real places outside of Japan, and for being the first Super Robot series to have a mobile carrier for the chief robots. In the USA, Gaiking was part of Mattel's popular Shogun Warriors import toy line of the late 1970's and Jim Terry's Force Five anthology series. In 2005, an InNameOnly reimagining titled ''Gaiking: Legend of Daikuu-Maryuu'' was produced.

And in a rather surprising twist over other Super Robots, ''Gaiking'' is getting a CG movie remake. Watch the trailer [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS6E-Nu3xsg here.]] In January of 2011, Toei put up the entire ''Legend of Daikuu Maryuu'' series subtitled on Hulu. [[http://www.hulu.com/gaiking People living in the United States can view it here.]] The show is also available on Crunchyroll, Crackle, and the U.S. Playstation Video Store.

!!Tropes associated with the 2005 series: ''Gaiking: The Legend of Daikuu Maryuu''
* ADayInTheLimelight: [[PluckyComicRelief Yanma, Hacho and Bubi]] trying to become more useful. They end gettting a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* AdaptationDyeJob: [[spoiler: Proist]] is a blonde in the anime (though [[spoiler: her]] hair looks pink sometimes) but pink-haired on ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK''.
* AlternateContinuity / InNameOnly: The only things the two shows share in common are the mecha (obviously including the Daikuu-Maryuu and Gaiking themselves), and Daiya's last name among other things. Otherwise, the second series is a completely separate series that has no relation to the original.
* AnAxeToGrind: Gaiking and Vulking's Great Axes. Surprisingly, despite being on the cover art for ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK'', Gaiking's axe [[SomethingWeForgot does not show up in the game]]. In episode 14 Shizuka arises from scrap and seems to be dual wielding two that appear to be Getter Tomahawks of the Shin Getter - Armageddon variety...
* AnimeThemeSong: GAI GAI GAI DAIKUU MARYUU GAIKING!
* AscendedExtra: Kain started out as one of Nouza's direct subordinates. Very, ''very'' quickly, all the other subordinates got killed off. Kain, however, sticks around and pretty much is the only reason Nouza got over his HeroicBSOD. Daiya's childhood friend also becomes very prominent in the last eight episodes.
** Kain is also the only one of Nouza's lieutenants that actually makes it into ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK''.
* BadExportForYou: Toei has released the entire series on Hulu....only with the 16:9 aspect ratio squished into a 4:3 ratio for no apparent reason. Additionally, the subtitles are full of typos, plus some words, even entire sentences are either left out completely (sometimes with no subtitles appearing at all), or are given the wrong translations.
* {{BFG}}: The Serpent support ship can dock with Gaiking's right arm to be a gun
* BigBad: At first, Emperor Darius 17th who spends most of the series [[OrcusOnHisThrone focusing on other matters]], so his generals take center stage. Later on Proist ascends to being TheDragon, again near the end to being the BigBad after Darius reveals his intentions.
* BookEnds: Daiya's first and last battles both end with him using a point-blank Hydro Blazer while the show's theme plays.
** A nice one for the [[RocketPunch Puncher Grind]] attack. When Daiya first uses it, he fires it off without warning, WrongGenreSavvy in his belief that it'll return using propulsion and guidance like any other RocketPunch. The first time he [[spoiler: uses Giga Puncher Grind as Gaiking The Great, it's propelled through the air by Daiya's and The Great's immeasurable flame power, surprising Proist, who dodged it the first time, expecting the attack to work as always, by tearing through Dvorak on the return path, like a boomerang]].
* BreatherEpisode: A whole lot of them take place after Proist becomes the Emperor's [[TheDragon Dragon]]. Arguably too many.
* CallingYourAttacks: It is a SuperRobot show, after all.
* ChekhovsGun: In the first episode, when Naoto grabs Daiya's Gridder, it burns. This seemingly is because enemies are approaching, or because the Daiku Maryu entered the human world again. [[spoiler:The real reason turns out to be that Naoto has a flame JUST AS HOT as Daiya. This would come in handy later when Rongo is unable to pilot Daiku Maryu, as he is the only other person capable.]]
* ChestBlaster: The Hydro Blazer and the Zaul Geyser.
* CombiningMecha: Gaiking, Vulking, Raiking, and Gaiking the Great.
* CurbStompBattle: The battle between Chouryuu Dborak and Gaiking the Great. [[spoiler:Proist]] doesn't even get a single hit in, and is not only badly beaten but horribly humiliated as well.
** The first use of Face Open also counts, as Noza is reduced to being beaten around like a ragdoll while screaming [[ThisCannotBe IMPOSSIBLE!]] [[OhCrap WHAT IS HE?!]]
* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler: the black flame of the Darius is not inherently wrong or evil, although Proist's was potent enough to kill her father without even noticing]]
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Subverted. Face Open appears to be this at first, but it's not forbidden, per se - they just hadn't installed the restraint mechanism to turn it off before Daiya collapsed from heat exhaustion. After this, it becomes a standard SuperMode.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Especially beginning in episode 27.
* DarkSkinnedBlonde: Puria, but not in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK'' for some reason.
* DesignatedHero: Double-subverted in-universe. Daiya finds out fairly quickly that the people on Darius view the Daikuu Maryuu as invaders and he has to face the fact that technically they ''are'' the bad guys. And then we find out they're just helping out a pre-existing rebellion that got started by inhabitants of Darius anyways and the Darius Empire isn't as noble as the citizens think.
* DeadlyUpgrade: Face Open at first. During his first time using it, Daiya had no way of turning it off and was exhausted of all possible strength. It wasn't until later that an emergency shut-off was installed.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK'' omits this little detail as the emergency shut-off is in the attack's animation all the time, including when it first debuts in the game proper.
* DistantFinale: One that combines with the HereWeGoAgain ending.
* EldritchAbomination: Chouryuu Dborak is a lesser version of one, but it's still overpowered
** Its head is also a ShoutOut to the original Gaiking, as it matches the "Face Open" mode found there and in SRW.
* EmpathicWeapon: the various machines respond to certain people's "Fire", which is why Rongo is the only person that can steer the Daiku Maryu even though he's not the strongest.
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Inverted. [[spoiler: Proist is rotten to the core]].
* EyeBeams: The Despair Sight on Gaiking. On Raiking and Gaiking the Great, they are stored in the fingers.
** Actually, both Raiking and Gaiking the Great HAVE EyeBeam Despair Sights. Raiking only uses it one time (under enemy control), and Gaiking the Great never chooses to use it.
* FastballSpecial: The Shinryu Hydro Blazer and the Death Fire attacks are variations. While Daiya doesn't exactly throw an ally at the opponent, he does throw a ball-shaped Hydro Blazer either directly at an enemy or towards Dick to launch back at the enemy.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Proist generally maintains a cool, regal air about her person, masking her ruthless nature with a persona of elegance. The illusion shatters whenever she loses face and succumbs to her inner rage.
* FragileSpeedster: In premise Raiking and Tenkuu Maryuu are supposed to be this. In ''execution'', they're freaking [[LightningBruiser Lightning Bruisers]] that shrug off some of Gaiking and Vulking's best attacks
* {{Gainaxing}}: [[spoiler: Proist, twice.]]
* GenreSavvy: Proist. All. The. Freaking. Time. Eventually the heroes shape up too and start keeping up
** Well, up until the end, at least. Kinda loses it with the whole "power is everything" credo.
* GratuitousEnglish: Duh, this is a SuperRobot series.
* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler: Ruru. Becomes a minor plot point later on]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Vestanuu, Nouza, and all their subordinates including Kain
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Prof. Sakon [[spoiler:until episode 23]].
* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Nouza does NOT handle the fact he's just spare parts for Proist to claim if she ever gets injured very well.]]
* HeyItsThatVoice: MayumiTanaka for Daiya Tsuwabuki
* {{Jerkass}}: Dick. Puria starts off like this, but eventually mellows out and becomes more likable.
* ImportantHaircut: Ruru [[spoiler: after becoming the Daikuu Maryuu's Captain]].
* ImprobableAge: Daiya's piloting a SuperRobot at the age of ''nine''. [[spoiler: his best friend ends up piloting a CoolShip and TheCaptain has his equally-young daughter fill in for him]]
** They're actually 14 according to official material, but thats still pretty young.
* InNameOnly: Aside from Daiya's last name, the Daikuu Maryuu and Gaiking themselves (which both use the same attacks) and the names "Darius" and "Death Cross", this series has no other connections to the original series.
* JackOfAllStats: Gaiking and the Daikuu Maryuu, of the three sets of CombiningMecha, are considered the most balanced of the three
* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal: Dick... or maybe not]]
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Ooooh boy. This series has ''lots'' of people in it.
* {{Lolicon}}: Dick seems to be ''specially'' interested in Ruru, y'know...
* LukeIAmYourFather: Again, double-subverted. [[spoiler: Captain Garis, despite minor foreshadowing, is ''not'' Daiya's father. He's Ruru's.]]
** [[spoiler: ''"Minor"?'' He says the same things and even has the same mannerisms as Daiya remembers his father having. It's even foreshadowed in the ''opening theme'' - during the "voice of your father" line, the camera does a close-up on Garis' mask. This was nothing less than an intentional bait-and-switch on the part of the writers, and it was executed brilliantly.]]
* MeaningfulName: "Puria" is a subversion; she's not exactly pure in personality.
* MidSeasonUpgrade: Superior Stinger (Puria), [[spoiler:Vulking and Raiking (Lee and Nouza, respectively)]]. Gaiking the Great sort of counts as well for Daiya.
* MightyGlacier: In contrast to Raiking and Tenkuu Maryuu who subvert the FragileSpeedster trope, Vulking and the Daichi Maryuu play this one straight
* MinovskyPhysics: Hydroroot, the material that powers Gaiking
* MoreDakka: Vulking's ultimate attack in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsK'' is basically a "fire all the weapons" type.
* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler: Proist convincing Ruru not once, but ''twice'' to attempt to kill her father]]
* OffModel: People do... not watch this show because of its good animation. Except for [[ArtShift episode 13]]
** There was also the occasional scene where the animation got to episode 13's standards for whenever Daiya pulled off a BigDamnHeroes moment, but they were very rare and often hard to spot.
** While most of the series was made up of the usual Toei choppiness, pretty much any scene animated by Hiroyuki Imaishi (of Gurren Lagann and Dead Leaves fame) was really fun to watch. Other than that, a surprising amount of scenes actually looked above average.
*** In general, the animation before episode 13 was very poor, but the episodes afterwards were about average for anime as a whole. Things moved, but not with incredible fluidity, but nothing looked as broken as before episode 13.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Mecha variation. Puria is one of the very few people who refers to the Crab Bunker by its actual name. Everyone else pretty much uses Daiya's nickname for it, "Kani Tank", which pisses off Puria. Daiya takes the nickname further when the Crab Bunker docks with Gaiking by calling the new combined form
* PowerUpLetdown: A variation. After Gaiking the Great (who is definitely NOT this) appears, Daiya and Puria are [[spoiler:forced into the surface world. While there, the Darius representatives on Earth give him as good of Parts as they can to supplement Gaiking's Face part... except they're not nearly as strong. Kaikink holds out for one episode, though, and would do reasonably well in the next, lasting long enough for the Daiku Maryu to pick him up and give him the REAL parts.]]
* PunchCatch: Episode 31 has Gaiking The Great do this [[spoiler: to a HumongousMecha several times its size. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Daiya then asks if that was Proist's best punch, then say that if it was, then she's lost, just before crushing Dborak's fist and part of its arm.]]]]
* SerialEscalation: [[SuperMode Face Open]] increases the power of Gaiking's flame by 8. [[CombiningMecha Gaiking the Great]] has ten times the flame of regular Gaiking. [[spoiler: The FinalBattle gives us Face Open: The Great, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Gaiking the Great using Face Open. In other words, it has EIGHTY times as much flame as regular Gaiking!]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Daiya has the habit of mispronouncing Puria's last name, Richardson, as "Richard-san". Puria does not like it at all.

'''Tropes relating to the 2005 reimagining Legend of Daiku Maryu do not go here; instead they go in Anime/LegendOfDaikuMaryu.'''

** A nice one for the [[RocketPunch Puncher Grind]] attack. When Daiya first uses it, he fires it off without warning, WrongGenreSavvy in his belief that it'll return using propulsion and guidance like any other RocketPunch. The final time he uses it [[spoiler: is as Gaiking The Great, in which it's propelled through the air by Daiya's and The Great's immeasurable flame power, surprising Proist by tearing through Dvorak twice like a boomerang]].

** PowerUpLetdown: A variation. After Gaiking the Great (who is definitely NOT this) appears, Daiya and Puria are [[spoiler:forced into the surface world. While there, the Darius representatives on Earth give him as good of Parts as they can to supplement Gaiking's Face part... except they're not nearly as strong. Kaikink holds out for one episode, though, and would do reasonably well in the next, lasting long enough for the Daiku Maryu to pick him up and give him the REAL parts.]]

* SerialEscalation: [[SuperMode Face Open]] increases the power of Gaiking's flame by 8. [[CombiningMecha Gaiking the Great]] has ten times the flame of regular Gaiking. [[spoiler: The FinalBattle gives us Face Open: The Great, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Gaiking the Great using Face Open. In other words, it has SIXTY times as much flame as regular Gaiking!]]

* SuperRobotWars: Appears in ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'', [[SuperRobotWarsAlpha Alpha 2]] and [[SuperRobotWarsAlpha Alpha 3]].

* AdaptationDyeJob: [[spoiler: Proist]] is a blonde in the anime (though [[spoiler: her]] hair looks pink sometimes) but pink-haired on ''SuperRobotWarsK''.

* AnAxeToGrind: Gaiking and Vulking's Great Axes. Surprisingly, despite being on the cover art for SuperRobotWarsK, Gaiking's axe [[SomethingWeForgot does not show up in the game]]. In episode 14 Shizuka arises from scrap and seems to be dual wielding two that appear to be Getter Tomahawks of the Shin Getter - Armageddon variety...

** Kain is also the only one of Nouza's lieutenants that actually makes it into SuperRobotWarsK.

* DarkSkinnedBlonde: Puria, but not in SuperRobotWarsK for some reason.

** SuperRobotWarsK omits this little detail as the emergency shut-off is in the attack's animation all the time, including when it first debuts in the game proper.

* MoreDakka: Vulking's ultimate attack in SuperRobotWarsK is basically a "fire all the weapons" type.

In 2009, William Winckler, the man behind the infamously cheesy english dub for {{Tekkaman}}, produced equally cheesy english {{Compilation Movie}}s for Gaiking, along with several other of Toei's older titles. ShoutFactory [[http://www.shoutfactory.com/?q=node/216952 released all three movies on DVD]] on May 21, 2013.

* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Daiya has the habit of mispronouncing Puria's last name, Richardson, as "Richard-san". Puria does not like it at all.

* SerialEscalation: [[SuperMode Face Open]] increases the power of Gaiking's flame by 8. [[CombiningMecha Gaiking the Great]] has ten times the flame of regular Gaiking. [[spoiler: The FinalBattle gives us Face Open: The Great, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Gaiking the Great using Face Open. In other words, it has SIXTY times as much flame as regular Gaiking!]]

* HeyItsThatVoice: AkiraKamiya for Sanshiro Tsuwabuki, MamiKoyama for Midori Fujimiya (her debut role), KeatonYamada for Gen Sakon, HidekatsuShibata as Professor Daimonji, KenichiOgata for Bunta, MakioInoue for Peter.

And in a rather surprising twist over other Super Robots, ''Gaiking'' is getting a CG movie remake. Watch the trailer [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS6E-Nu3xsg here.]] In January of 2011, Toei put up the entire ''Legend of Daikuu Maryuu'' series subtitled[[hottip:*: [[BadExportForYou badly]] on Hulu. [[http://www.hulu.com/gaiking People living in the United States can view it here.]] The show is also available on Crunchyroll[[hottip:*: although the version shown here may actually be worse than the Hulu version]], Crackle and the U.S. Playstation Video Store.