History Manga / GiantRobo

-> ''"You have a lot of courage for a boy your size."''

-> ''"Yeah but I'd rather be tall like you."''

-> ''"You will!"''

--

->''In a future yet to be, the third energy revolution is ushered in by the invention of the Shizuma Drive, and with it, mankind celebrates a new era of prosperity.''

->''But lurking in the shadows cast by the brilliance of our new found hope, two great powers clash!''

->''Big Fire; a secret organization bent on total world domination!''
->''"Hail, Big Fire! Allegiance or death!"''

->''But despair not! To defend us from the threat they pose, the International Police Organization's mighty Experts of Justice have been formed, comprised of members from around the globe! Fighting by their side is the greatest robot on the planet, Giant Robo, commanded solely by one young man: Daisaku Kusama!''

->''"Crush them! '''Go, Giant Robo!'''"''

''Giant Robo'' is one of the oldest franchises in Japanese comics. It first appeared as a manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama that ran for nearly a year from 1967 and 1968. It was adapted into a live-action {{Toku}} series that same year, and the show gained a mild cult following when it was aired in the US as ''Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot''.

But history be damned, when somebody mentions Giant Robo today, they're not thinking of either of those... Okay, some people still think of ''Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot'', but usually only if they grew up in TheSeventies, watch over the air TV in the US or grew up in India and Brazil. Nowadays, they're thinking of ''Giant Robo The Animation: The Day The Earth Stood Still'', one of the most completely ''insane'' works to come out of the anime industry in the 20th century.

An (unholy) amalgamation of Wuxia, Superheroes, Music/RichardWagner, [[HumongousMecha Mecha Anime]] and pure insanity, ''Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still'' is notable for being an early and rather impressive example of the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, formed when director Yasuhiro Imagawa (''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'') was told that he couldn't use any of the supporting characters from the manga or TV versions of the ''Giant Robo'' story. Struck by inspiration, he instead decided to instead take characters from the rest of original creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama's work, including ''Manga/BabelII'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'' and many others. To add to the effect he decided to draw them all in Yokoyama's classic 1960s style, along with a [[{{Zeerust}} retro-futuristic world]] populated by {{Ninja}}, ancient Chinese warriors, [[BadassInANiceSuit Sharp Suited Businessmen]] and {{Badass Longcoat}}s walking side by side.

Oh and don't pay any attention to the synopsis above, or let the art style and KidHero [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids fool you into thinking this is a kids' series]] in the vein of ''Franchise/GIJoe'' or ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}''. ''Giant Robo'''s plot starts off slow and deceptively [[ClicheStorm cliché-ridden]], with a blatant MadScientist and McGuffin driving the first half of the plot, and then we get the WhamEpisode, rewriting the entire premise, beating the snot out of the good guys and resulting in several major characters getting KilledOffForReal. It's not the first, or even the most dramatic.

A new anime, ''Anime/GRGiantRobo'', premiered in 2007 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original manga; however, it was not related to the OVA series.

Imagawa also scripted a new ''Giant Robo'' manga, "The Day The Earth Burned" that started publication in 2006. While this version is also an AlternateContinuity, it does act as a SpiritualSuccessor to the {{OVA}}s, with the same tone and many of the same characters. The original manga has also recently become available on most major manga websites.

See also: ''Anime/ShinMazinger'', another SuperRobot series by Yasuhiro Imagawa. Like ''Giant Robo'', it is a revival of a classic series and involves heavy crossover from the [[Creator/GoNagai original artist's]] entire body of work. Alternatively, the 2004 ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28]]'' anime, also directed by Imagawa based on another famous Yokoyama story with similar design aesthetics and a few bits of RetroactiveRecognition (The depiction of Kenji Murasame and Robo's "Gao" noise reused for Tetsujin's roar, most notably).

[[foldercontrol]]
!!A series that LOVES its tropes, twisting them and playing them straight with the same vigor, the ''Giant Robo'' {{OVA}} features examples of:
[[folder: A-M]]
* ActionBomb: [[spoiler:Silent Chuujo, apparently. As the Sphere floats towards the last Shizuma Drive bastion, there's Chuujo on a bluff. He loosens his tie and shirt, takes a few practice jabs, then ''flies up to '''punch''' the Sphere''.]] That dialogue in episode 2 makes far more sense when you know this.
* ActionGirl: Ginrei and Youshi are both government operatives.
* AdaptedOut: GR-4, the land based Giant Robo from the 1992 manga, is completely absent from the OVA and from any subsequent media within the OVA universe.
* AgeLift: Daisaku is 12 years old in the OVA like his tokusatsu counterpart instead of being around teenage years in the original manga
* AllThereInTheManual: Since most of the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover characters lack in-universe backstories fans have ended up taking inspiration from the stories they originated from.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The last act of the first OVA episode.
* AnachronicOrder: This was the original intent of the OVA, as ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' was the second to last arc of a seven part story. The next arc was going to show how [[HowWeGotHere Daisaku joined the Experts of Justice]].
* AntiVillain: Hanzui the Evil Messiah, leader of the Magnificent Ten. Never actually does anything evil, proves extremely honorable and is a great deal nicer than most of the good guys.
* AnyoneCanDie: Murasame repeatedly, a few others as well. '''Alberto the Shockwave'''... [[spoiler:BWA HA HA HA HA HA - best twist ever.]]
* ApocalypseWow: The scene where France is being destroyed.
* ArcWords: "Beautiful Night!", "Can happiness be achieved without sacrifice?"
* BadassInANiceSuit: Most notably Alberto and the Commander.
* BadassBystander: The IPO's various RedShirts are all trained in gun use and are as capable of high-flying acrobatic leaps as the Experts of Justice themselves.
* BadassFingersnap: The Fabulous Fitzgerald, who can cut anything in half by snapping his fingers at it.
* BadassLongcoat: Murasame. The twist? It's [[RealMenWearPink BRIGHT PINK!]]
* BadassNormal: Daisaku. Sure, he owns "the world's strongest robot," but he's still the only normal human in the cast. Everyone else can fly, transform, use super strength and other bizarre powers.
* BattleCouple: Youshi and Taisou are married pair of government agents.
* BigGuy: Tetsugyu and Youshi both fit this role. In a slight subversion Youshi is a woman, and certainly not a CuteBruiser either.
* BigDamnHeroes: Giant Robo's introduction, and several other examples.
* BilingualBonus: Tetsugyu's name roughly translates to "Iron Ox", one of the nicknames of Li Kui in Yokoyama's manga adaptation of ''Literature/WaterMargin''.
* BittersweetEnding
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: Ginrei uses up her life power and her body disintegrates.]]
* BoisterousBruiser: Tetsugyu, Taisou, Youshi.
* BrokenPedestal: ''Zigzags'' with Vogler to one of his assistants. It goes back-and-forth at least 5 times, finally resulting in [[spoiler: subversion. Vogler really meant for the best for the world.]]
* TheBrute: In the BF there's Jujoji who has some devastating magic powers. The Fabulous Fitzgerald loves to carve up people with his snapping fingers.
* TheCallHasBadReception: Dr. Vogler had good intentions. Originally, his son had good intentions. The only problem was that by the time Dr. Vogler tells his son what needed to be done, he didn't have a very good vocabulary...
* TheCameo: Several Mecha from Mitsuteru Yokoyama's works make several apperances in the opening sequence such as GR-3, Black Ox, Monster and Gaia.
* CanonImmigrant: When Tetsujin #28 was remade in 2004, the Murasame Kenji that appears there isn't the original characterization - it's ''this'' one. He even calls himself "the immortal Murasame Kenji" just before [[spoiler:going down in a hail of bullets and encouraging Shotaro... then getting up and wiping off the ketchup.]] Additionally, Tetsujin uses Robo's '''growl''' rather than its original sound.
* CastOfExpies: Pretty much every named character is either lifted from or based on characters from other works in Yokoyama's opus; there are derivatives from ''Manga/BabelII'' and its sequel works ''Sono na wa 101'' and ''Ōkami no Seiza'', ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-gō]]'', ''Anime/GodMars'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', ''Iga no Kagemaru'', and from Yokoyama's ''[[Literature/WaterMargin Suikoden]]'' and ''[[Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971 Sangokushi]]''.
* CharacterDevelopment: Numerous but Tetsugyu has a great moment in the fifth OVA.
* TheChessmaster: Big Fire's head strategist Koumei repeatedly insists the events of the plot are all according to plan. [[InformedAttribute At no point are his strategy or tactics explained]], and Koumei repeatedly gives several indications of treachery, but he insists nonetheless.
* ClothingDamage: Ginrei gets blasted in episode four and this is the result.
* CombatStilettos: Ginrei wears these.
* CoolBigSis: Youshi, Ginrei acts like one towards Daisaku.
* CoolOldGuy: One of Big Fire's Magnificent Ten is actually called Old Man Kawarazaki. His fellow Magnificent Ten colleague Shockwave Alberto also has a lot of the traits, exchanging taunts with the early twenties BigBad over their respective ages.
* CultSoundtrack: The pompous Wagnerian soundtrack by Creator/MasamichiAmano is consistently mentioned in reviews as a major appeal of the OVA.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:It ultimately turns out that Dr. Vogler really did die at Bashtarle. His supposed “resurrection” was actually his son Genya disguising himself using a hologram.]]
* DeathIsCheap: It is ''very'' cheap for Murasame Kenji, since he just revives despite several violent deaths, and since he can apparently do so in an area he couldn't get to corporeally, it's part of his ''strategy''. He even shoots himself in the head to drive home the point, noting that he "''can't'' die."
* DeathlyDiesIrae: As appropriate for a story about a Doomsday Device and a tale of revenge against humanity, ''Dies Irae'' appears multiple times in the score, both in instrumental and OminousLatinChanting forms.
* DemotedToExtra: GR-3 only shows up as a cameo in the EvolvingCredits.
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Tetsugyu is apparently crushed to death by Genya's robot Gallop in episode five, and then, after going completely forgotten until episode seven, appears at the IPO base after Ginrei teleports it to St. Abbe wrapped in bandages]].
* EldritchAbomination: The ''Giant Sphere'' is an artificial example; it is a giant floating eyeball that, once it lifts its external layer of metal, reveals hundreds of other eyeballs.
* EmpireWithADarkSecret:
** In ''Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still'', the Shizuma Drive, which provides clean, cheap energy, is completely recyclable and looks cool too was built upon a foundation of [[spoiler:the deaths of billions at the Tragedy of Bashtarle]]. A little LockedOutOfTheLoop as well, seeing as [[spoiler:Daisaku's the only character (except maybe Sunny) who doesn't know -- it's just that we only find out when he does]].
** St. Abbe is the largest Shizuma Drive power plant in the world, and supposedly capable of providing half the world's energy by itself. It is also built directly atop the ruins of Bashtarle, which was destroyed by experiments with the prototype Shizuma Drive. The BigBad targets it for destruction with his DoomsdayDevice during the finale.
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Shockwave Alberto in the Finale, as he considers the IPO a WorthyOpponent and the BigBad an annoying, grandstanding brat trying to steal Big Fire's thunder.]]
* EnigmaticMinion: Ko-Enshaku is an especially unsettling one.
* EvilCounterpart: It seems that was going to be the case between Daisuke and Big Fire. One in charge of a giant robot, the other having three amazing guardians. Both very young. Though we don't know just how evil Big Fire really was.
* EvolvingCredits: "Earth, the terrifying world of our future! This is the Shizuma Drive, now broken and useless, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the great energy revolution undone in just ten days!]]"
* TheDragon: Ko-Enshaku serves as an all purpose Dragon for Genya and Cho-Katsu Komei, neither of whom like to get their hands dirty if they can help it. Ivan to Alberto.
* EvilerThanThou: [[spoiler:Genya screws over apparent BigBad Shockwave Alberto early on, and towards the end Cho-Katsu Komei does it to the rest of the Magnificent Ten.]]
* EvilGenius: Most obviously Vogler [[spoiler: or so it seems.]] Old Man Kawarazaki seems to be an inventor. Zangetsu, if epileptic tress turned out to be true.
* {{Expy}}: Most characters of the OVA (who aren't from the original manga or anime) are Expys of Yokoyama's other works, such as:
** Taiso (Dai Zong), Tetsugyu ("Iron Ox"/Li Kui), Youshi (Yang Zhi), Kosonsho Issei (Gongsun Shen), Koushin (Huang Xin), Kaei (Hua Rong), Kaihou and Kaichin (Xie Bao and Xie Zhen), Shutsu (Zhou Tong), the Fishermen Brothers (Ruan Xiaoer, Xiaowu, Xiaoqi), Hanzui (Fan Rui), Richu (Li Zhong), Goyo (Wu Yong), Zangetsu (Han Tao) and Ko-Enshaku (Huyan Zhuo) all hail from ''Suikoden'' (''Literature/WaterMargin'').
** Cho-Katsu Komei (Zhuge Liang) and Jujojii (Zhang Rang) are from ''Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi'' ("[=Records/=]Manga/{{Romance of the Three Kingdoms|1971}}").
** Big Fire (Babel II/Koichi Yamano), Achilles (Lodem), Garuda (Ropross), and Neptune (Poseidon) were originally created for ''Manga/BabelII''. Also, Chujo the Silent, Cervantes, Fitzgerald and even Daisaku's father, Dr. Kusama, were modeled after various characters in the series.
** Chujo also doubling as Azuma from the Giant Robo manga, having a near identical design to that of Daisaku's middle aged mentor.
** Likewise, Alberto the Impact, Ivan and Kawarazaki first appeared in ''Mars''.
** Sunny the Magician is the original name of ''Manga/SallyTheWitch''.
** Red Mask was originally from ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', and he is the main protagonist in that series.
** Kenji Murasame is a CanonImmigrant from [[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin-28]], and Dr. Vogler, Dr. Montalblan and Q Boss hail from there as well.
** Ginrei is from ''Sononawa 101'' (a sequel to Manga/BabelII) and ''Okami no Seiza''.
** Genya and Yuuki were both originally from ''Iga no Kagemaru''.
* EyesAlwaysShut: Professor Go. And Doki about half the time. The other half has one eye open.
* FallingIntoTheCockpit: Daisaku was forced to take command of Giant Robo when his father and Murasame were mortally wounded trying to escape (and Murasame wouldn't heal in time.)
* FanFiction: A popular ''review and synopsis'' of the nonexistent GrandFinale fooled a lot of people. In its defense it would have indeed made a kickass episode.
* GenderFlip: Youshi is a female expy of Yang Zhi from the ''Literature/WaterMargin'' and Yokoyama's Manga.
* GenreThrowBack: Daisaku's flashback on his origin plays a lot more like a typical giant robot show.
** Murasame: 'Daisaku! Use Robo's bazooka launcher!'
* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:'''Vogler.''']]
* GreaterScopeVillain: Big Fire himself, the leader and namesake of the BF Group, is only briefly seen and never takes part in the action, with Alberto and Genya instead serving as the active threats.
* HappilyMarried: Taiso and Youshi.
* HauntedTechnology: [[spoiler:Giant Robo appears to contain Professor Kusama's spirit/will,]] as hinted at throughout the series and seen in the last episode.
* HiddenDepths: Many characters like Daisaku, Tesugyu, Ginrei, and others. Really the entire OVA series itself as it first looks like a typical giant robot series.
* {{Housewife}}: One can be seen during the opening narration.
* HumongousMecha: In the main OVA, Robo and the Big Fire robots are of the more old-school, "vaguely sentient yet highly suggestible and obedient" variety, while the Ginrei Robo and neo Tetsujin-28 are more modern, directly piloted versions.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Murasame Kenji.
* ImplacableMan: The [[TheVoiceless silent]], [[TheFaceless armored]] Ko-Enshaku fills this role for the bad guys, enigmatically surviving everything thrown at him before turning up unharmed the next episode. The good guys on the other hand have Murasame, whose tendency to survive getting gaping holes blown through him becomes almost comical as the series goes on.
* InformedAbility: Tetsugyu is remarkably ineffectual in battle, despite frequent reference to his strength. We see him take down a swarm of Big Fire Mooks just fine, but that's about it. To be fair it's [[OvershadowedByAwesome more like the world around him is overpowered]] rather than him being weak.
* InNameOnly: The OVA has next to nothing to do with Giant Robo or it's title character, rather it functions as an MCU-esque crossover for all of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's characters to interact in.
* InterpolSpecialAgent: The "Experts of Justice" are a part of Interpol.
* {{Irony}}: The BigBad's plot to destroy the world [[spoiler: technically succeeded, but wound up ''saving'' the world. Von Volger had tried to eliminate the new energy source because it was producing an undetectable poison gas that would wipe out all life on the planet after a certain point in time. The Eye of Volger was temporarily shutting down all of the energy cores in order to ''fix the poison gas problem.'']]
* IWantThemAlive: Happens in the last episode to Daisaku. [[spoiler: He manages to get away and make it to Robo though.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Cho-Katsu Komei gets away with everything, despite arrogantly declaring himself TheChessmaster and having none of the sympathetic motives of his fellow BigBad. As a result he generally has a very poor survival rate in fan continuations.
* KickTheDog: Murasame skips between this and SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome so quickly his teeth must rattle.
* KidHero: Daisaku Kusama is only twelve at the start of the anime.
* KilledOffForReal: Played straight and averted, especially later on when everyone was expecting AnyoneCanDie. The anime still manages an impressive body count though, even with the odd couple of extremely unlikely NotQuiteDead.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Cervantes points a gun at Daisaku, despite the fact he can generate enough heat from his hands to melt a thick steel door.
* KubrickStare: Part of Giant Robo's design.
* LineInTheSand -- Subverted. Our hero (recovering from a HeroicBSOD) never crosses the line, but the ''battle'' crosses it from the other direction. And the "line" is a crevice deeper than he is tall.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Ginrei is revealed to be [[spoiler: Von Vogler's daughter, and Genya's sister.]]
* TheKidWithTheRemoteControl: Subverted, slightly. Robo has its own will[[spoiler: apparently that of Dr. Kusama]] and usually only follows the general gist of the commands.
** Example from the last episode, at the Monster Sphere: "Shoot, Robo!" *Robo fires everything it has, plus one of its booster rockets*
* MadScientist: Dr Von Vogler[[spoiler: who eventually turns out to be a kindhearted and inspirational man who for PR reasons was blamed for the disaster one of the other scientists caused. After all, as far as anyone knew, he had [[NotQuiteDead died in said disaster]] and couldn't say any different!]]
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Genya is nearly always dressed in a clean white suit and his home is a sumptuous mansion.
* {{Mooks}}: Made an art form. The basic IPO mooks at one point spontaneously form a human pyramid in order to block an energy blast.
* MookMaker: To a degree, Doki, who commands a whole army of warriors instead of general BF mooks.
* MoreDakka: Giant Robo carries enough firepower to wipe a couple of cities off the map.
* MotherhoodIsSuperior: Averted. Fatherhood drives ''a lot'' of the characters. The end credits even dedicate the film to fathers and sons.
* MsFanservice: Ginrei undoubtedly shows the most skin out of anyone.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Genya, when he realizes that he horribly misunderstood his father's last wish and even killed his sister as a result.]]
* MythologyGag: Despite only loosely taking inspiration from the 1967 ''Giant Robo'' tokusatsu, there's a remarkable amount of visual and even some plot similarities:
** Giant Robo's PapaWolf instincts in protecting Daisaku when he is in peril, much like how Robo was in the later episodes of the toku.
** The Eye of Volger being a robotic fusion between the Giant Robo kaiju, Ganmons and Glober.
** Robo's design being a muscular version of the tokusatsu design, rather than being based on the manga version like nearly every other Yokoyama character present
** Daisaku being 12 years old rather than being 18 years old like in the manga.
** In the EvolvingCredits, GR-3's rocket missile decoration are based off of Giant Robo's finger missiles in the toku version, also doubling as an homage to ''[[Anime/GunBuster Gunbuster]]''.
** The manga only GR-4 being an homage to Calamity, the EvilKnockoff of Giant Robo from the toku.
** The symbol on GR's forehead being the shape of a Unicorn, which is also the name of the IPO equivalent in the toku version.
** Robo being a much slower, lumbering mech being similar to the weightier version of GR seen in the toku.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: N-Z]]
* NewEraSpeech: Dr. Von Vogler's speech during the first flashback to the Tragedy of Bashtarle (the one repeated as the ColdOpen of the second episode):
-->'''Dr. Fogler:''' The future has shone upon us with its glorious brilliance! The time to seize our destiny and conquer all our fears is ''now''! In ancient times, man rubbed sticks together to create fire. Then he slaughtered the whale and battled one another for oil. After that came the atomic age. In every chapter of our history, we danced with danger. But now it will be different. For the first time in our existence, we will be ''delivered from fear!!'' Finally, we will escape the prison of our delusions, and [[ArcWords the Beautiful Night]] ''will embrace us all''!
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Averted! [[spoiler: Just barely, though.]] In the final episode you find out that [[spoiler: the Shizuma drives were actually creating a poisonous gas that would have destroyed all life on earth]] within days of the events that make up the series. The anti-drive [[spoiler: was actually created in order to eliminate this threat before it destroyed all known life.]] All of the "normal" drives [[spoiler: would have reactivated once all of the anti-drives had been activated at once, modified to correct the flaw.]] At the last minute,[[spoiler: despite the heroes' efforts]] all of the [[spoiler: anti-drives]] were activated, thus [[spoiler: saving the world.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: It turns out that when the three anti-drives are together they fixed the 2% problem or else they all would have exploded.]]
* {{Ninja}}: "Mask the Red" of Big Fire's Magnificent Ten. Word Of God says that there is an entire ninja community in the world of GR who takes interests in the fights Mask the Red has with his Celestial 9 counterpart, Kagemaru.
* NoIndoorVoice: Everyone, especially as everything goes to hell. The dialogue of the final episode consists of nothing but EPIC SPEECH!
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Daisaku and Genya.
** And Daisaku and Tetsugyu. [[spoiler: The latter saw Daisaku's expression when he damaged Robo's arm. The same feeling of pain as when Tesugyu slew his own father.]]
* OhCrap: Genya when[[spoiler: Alberto absorbs the heat energy from the sphere leaving it completely vulnerable to attack from Giant Robo.]] The look on his face as [[spoiler:Robo prepares to launch one of its rocket boosters as a missile]] is particularly priceless.
* {{Omake}}[=/=]{{Filler}}: The three ''Ginrei Special'' {{OVA}}s, ranging from a reasonably well-executed prequel Side Story to pure animated CrackFic, were created to maintain interest and raise funds during the main OVA's production delays.
** ClipShow: Most of the first Ginrei OVA.
** {{Crossdresser}}: Somehow, "Ginrei the Mighty" comes up with an excuse to have all the Experts wearing Ginrei's trademark Chinese mini-dress. Also, the first Ginrei OVA has Murasame[[LatexPerfection completely]] disguised as Ginrei for most of the episode.
** EvilTwin : Named "Electric Shock Rosa" by Alberto
** {{Fembot}}: The "Ginrei Robo".
** GoKartingWithBowser: The Experts and the BF organization drinking together in "Ginrei the Mighty".
** MoodWhiplash: The third episode is completely serious
** RefugeInAudacity: Ok, so the main series is this, but the omakes take this to another level. We have things like Giant Robo nosebleeding gasoline at the sight of Ginrei naked, everyone dressing in Ginrei dresses, the below mentioned VictoriasSecretCompartment moment, Daisaku claiming to be 29 years old and divorced...
** ShoutOut: Ginrei Robo is a parody of Venus A from ''Anime/GreatMazinger'', and Daisaku also gets to pilot an ersatz ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-go]]'', revamped in the same way Giant Robo itself was in the OVA series.
*** Daisaku even wears Shotaro's signature plaid jacket rather than his own drab grey while piloting the redesigned Tetsujin 28.
** VictoriasSecretCompartment: Ginrei pulls a full-sized bazooka from her cleavage in "Iron-armed Ginrei / Ginrei the Mighty".
** WholesomeCrossdresser: ALL OF THE (male members of the) IPO in Episode 2. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments And it is hilarious.]]
* OnceMoreWithClarity: The story behind the Tragedy of Bashtarle changes multiple times over the course of the OVA.
* OverclockingAttack: this is what the Monster Sphere actually does to the Shizuma drives. Except the resulting energy can be harnessed...
* PapaWolf: Giant Robo has a Auto-Guard Circuit allowing it to activate and act of its own will when its controller's life (sensed through the wristwatch) is in danger. Robo breaks out of its maintenance dock and takes off for Daisaku (who doesn't seem to be aware of it) the first time, where it's noted that Robo was running at ''50 times'' its usual power.
** Subverted slightly, when Robo crashes into an unbreakable barrier - it ''can't control its output'' while in full-on PapaWolf mode, and runs the risk of melting down if allowed to continue for too long.
* PetTheDog: The scene in the 5th OVA where Genya comforts a delirious Daisaku[[spoiler: and then learning about his motivation for revenge.]] Also Ivan mentioning how his home was destroyed from[[spoiler: the Bashtarle disaster.]]
* ThePlan: Cho-Katsu Komei claims several times that he is pulling one of these off, though it is left ambiguous whether this is actually [[IMeantToDoThat true.]]
* PlotHole: How, ''exactly'', was the Vogler Sphere created, and by whom?[[spoiler: If Vogler created the sphere, as his final recording indicates, how did he get the resources and the time required to do so, and did he ''really'' do it by himself as the story indicates? If Genya made it, how did he not know about his father's recording that was preprogrammed into the sphere, and thus, his father's intentions?]]
* PoorCommunicationKills:
** Interpol's decision to seal Giant Robo away immediately after the revelation of its nuclear power source, and especially Chuujo's ham-handed delivery of those orders serves no purpose except to frustrate and isolate Daisaku.
** The Big Fire Organization has a ''major'' internal communications problem, in which the only person who appears to know what's going on is the head strategist, who refuses to elucidate in the slightest and repeatedly appeals to the authority of Big Fire himself when questioned by the Big Ten,[[spoiler: even as hundreds of Big Fire agents die as casualties of the Vogler Sphere]].
** Probably one of the most brutal literal examples in any anime, [[spoiler: If Franken Von Volger had come up with an easier way to communicate his plan with his son Genya before he passed away, rather than the overcomplicated means to reveal it with a rigged briefcase, Genya wouldn't have gone insane and many lives would have not been wasted for his war.]]
* PowerAtAPrice: The children of Professor von Vogler are able to teleport, but the more of that power they use, the more their body fades away.
* PuttingOnTheReich: The "Big Fire" villainous organization wants to conquer the world using superweapons and has even copied the Hitler salute (the straight-arm salute with the right hand and transforming "Heil Hitler" into "Hail, Big Fire! Allegiance or death!").
* RealMenWearPink: Murasame's overcoat and Hanzui's cape. Are you dumb enough to mock them?
* RefugeInAudacity
* RetCanon: The original Animaze dub of the OVA (for L.A. Hero and later Creator/MangaEntertainment) was influential on the subsequent dub that Creator/MediaBlasters commissioned from NYAV Post, and on the fan perception of the series in general.
** First and foremost, the Animaze dub gave Kenji Murasame a GratuitousFrench [[FakeNationality accent]] in the first episode, because he first appeared investigating the murders of Shizuma's partners in Paris, and presumably the writers didn't know that he would be a recurring character. Over the years that the original series took to complete, Animaze stuck with their decision -- and NYAV Post followed suit in their new dub.
** The NYAV Post dub also included nods to other memorable lines from the older version, such as including "Allegiance or death!" in the Big Fire organization's BattleCry.
* {{Retcon}}: In episode three, Tetsugyu enables Daisaku and Giant Robo to take to the battlefield against orders. Episode five revises his intentions [[spoiler:to claim he was deliberately setting up Daisaku to fail]], which flies in the face of the shock and dismay he showed in episode three[[spoiler: when Giant Robo actually lost the fight]].
** Perhaps his shock came from [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizing he effectively 'murdered' Daisaku's father figure]][[spoiler: just like how he accidently killed own father?]]
* RoofHopping: You know an organization is bad ass when all of its support staff / engineering mooks can roof hop onto a zeppelin to clear off before an attack. No really, Daisaku is the only normal human in the show.
* RuleOfCool: How else do you explain a mecha anime with supernatural kung-fu fighters and a Wagnerian soundtrack?
* SamusIsAGirl: Ginrei's introduction as the BadassLongcoat "[[MaskPower Iron Mask]]" during the prologue of the first episode.
* SequelHook: *Cries*
* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: What it kind of boils down too when the three anti-drives are together at long last. A shame that the IPO were so good at their job. Even sadder that if Genya hadn't shot Ginrei then humanity would have been wiped out.]]
* ShoutOut:
** The subtitle of the OVA series is a shout out to the classic film ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951''.
** Ginrei first appears disguised as K from ''Series/RobotDetective''.
* SpiritualCrossover: Of Yokoyama's many works. See CastOfExpies and {{Expy}} for details.
* SuperRobot[=/=]RealRobot: The robots straddle the line. They are considered powerful enough that, even with WorldOfBadass in play, no one wants to fight Robo one-on-one without a heavily stacked deck; on the other hand the organizational and maintenance issues they'd require is fleshed out and clearly just this side of 'impractical'. They're superweapons, and unless they're specifically built to take a hit the hand-to-hand fights don't last very long - take the complex snake-train robot being paralyzed after one hit in the first episode, for example.
* TerminallyDependentSociety: All the world depends on the Shizuma Drive. When it is destroyed, everything else is. The only oil refinery left is at Shanghai, and then it's destroyed too; there's some solar and wind power left, but not much. ''The world ends in ten days''.
* ThisCannotBe[=/=]BigNo: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00RjATZasNo See here]]
* UnexplainedRecovery: Numerous characters. On the villainous side [[spoiler: Alberto]]. Jujoji and Zangetsu sure acted dead in the sixth OVA but are fine in the seventh.
* VasquezAlwaysDies: Youshi.
* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Currently providing the page image.
* VillainousBreakdown: Genya, several times during the final episode. While he normally finds a way to salvage the situation the last one truly breaks him, and not without reason.
* VillainousRescue: '''Alberto the Shockwave.'''
* WhamEpisode: Episode Five, which elaborates on Testugyu's backstory, reveals the true villain of the Tragedy of Bashtarle, gives more context to Vogler's revenge, [[spoiler:and crushes Tetsugyu beneath Genya's robot Gallop]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Episode six and the first part of episode seven completely forget about Tetsugyu, which means he goes ignored during several very relevant conversations. [[spoiler:It turns out he's alive after his DisneyDeath, but this opens {{Plot Hole}}s about how he went from being crushed and abandoned in the mountains to appearing at the IPO base after Ginrei moved it to St. Abbe]].
* WorldOfHam: This series' universe seems to work purely ON HAM!!!
* WorthyOpponent: Big Fire considers the IPO to be one of these, and at least a few of the good guys feel the same. [[spoiler: Also '''Alberto the Shockwave's''' entire reason for faking his own death.]]
* WreckedWeapon: [[spoiler:Daisaku orders an extremely unwise attack on the Eye of Volger during the WhamEpisode, resulting in Giant Robo getting itself seriously damaged.]] Cue an OhCrap reaction from just about every single good guy on the field.
* XMarksTheHero: Tetsugyu
[[/folder]]
----
!! And the 1967 manga's includes examples of..

!! And the second manga ''The Day the Earth Burned'' includes examples of...

----

!! And the 2007 anime ''GR: Giant Robo'' includes examples of...

* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: In previous media, Giant Robo was built by Big Fire. In this series, he originated from an ancient civilization.
* AdaptationNameChange: Big Fire, the evil organization from previous media is know as G.R.O. [[note]] Gigantic Rebellion Operators [[/note]] in this series.
* AdaptedOut: Commander Azuma, the leader of the UN spec ops team Daisaku is apart of in the manga, is nowhere to be seen in the series, with Alex Mckenzie taking over his role.
* {{BFG}}: [[spoiler: GR-1's arm turns into one in the Series Finale]]
* BodyHorror: Whenever Giant Robo defeats an enemy GR unit in this series, the operator of said unit is terminated in a gruesome manner.
* CompositeCharacter: Giant Robo's design for this series is a mix between his appearances from the Live Action series and the 1992 OVA.
** GR-2 is a mix between the manga and tokusatsu designs while GR-3 is a mix between his manga design and the design from his brief appearance in the OVA's EvolvingCredits.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The Series has a more grim and foreboding tone in comparison to previous adaptations.
* GrayAndGrayMorality: The GRO commits acts of terrorism to get their way,[[spoiler: however their intention of stopping the EldritchAbomination enemies]] [[spoiler: [[WellIntentionedExtremist by capturing all the GR units built to stop them isn't inherently bad]]]] and the UNISOM agents aren't much better, with them [[spoiler: being under the orders of the same man running the GRO]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Alex Mckenzie takes the full brunt of the GRO's machine gun fire to save the life of Daisaku near the end of the show]]
* ICannotSelfTerminate: After being contracted with GR-1, Daisaku effectively becomes immortal. Whether or not this only applied to his time operating the title character or if he really has been permanently immortalized is never addressed in the series. [[note]] In the manga version however, he and D and V are in fact permanently immortal and are among the last humans left at the very end of the manga about to face off the Old Ones for one last battle [[/note]]
* InNameOnly: While the series does feature Daisaku and Giant Robo battling an evil organization, it lacks the camp of the source material in favor of being a gritty reboot of the live action version.
* LostTechnology: The GR units are portrayed as ancient mecha from a lost civilization.
* MythologyGag: Plenty of them.
** GR-4 being based on Calamity/Cleopat from the live action series.
** One of the bad guys is named Johnny ''Soccor". [[note]] named after the English dub name for Daisaku Kusama (Johnny Sokko) in the live action version.[[/note]]
** [[http://blog-imgs-29.fc2.com/s/y/m/symphony007/yo007.jpg GR-5 is loosely based off of an obscure Giant Robo villain from a side manga Mitsuteru Yokoyama made for Shogakukan Comics.]]
** GR-0 and its planet destroying powers are modeled after Gaia from Mitsuteru Yokoyama's 1976 manga ''Mars''. GR-7 is based on Titan from the same manga.
** In Episode 10, Daisaku briefly wears the plaid trench coat, neck tie and khaki pants that his manga counterpart wore.
** The Manga version features a plethora of cameos of various Mitsuteru Yokoyama robots in the art style of GR Giant Robo at the very end of the manga. Several of the most identifiable ones include Monster, Black Ox, VL-2, and the titular robot from ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28]]'', The title robot from Yokoyama's obscure manga ''Thunder Daioh'' and Titan from ''[[Anime/GodMars Mars]]''.
** [[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/580210324708261889/620400652710838279/15646061460882348908709257073774_by_daimosz_ddczaro-pre.png?width=503&height=670 The Manga version features an upgraded "Shin" form for GR-4 that models itself after the obscure OVA GR-4/Calamity design from the 1992 OVA Giant Robo manga and a "Mummy" themed upgrade for GR-1 that takes on a monstrous, mouthless version of the design from the GR manga.]]
** The Organization UNISOM being a name changed variant of the UNICORN organization from the 1967 series.
* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Johnny Soccor, the producer of the BF tv network manipulated both GRO and UNISOM into fighting the GR units to sow fear and panic among the people to boost ratings.]]
* ThisIsADrill: GR-4's right arm can transform into a giant drill for combat.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: Alex [=McKenzie=] calls UNISOM an "independent United Nations army".
* WouldHurtAChild: In the manga, D and V are abused by the GRO [[spoiler: to the point where they [[ItMakesSenseInContext are turned into a power source for the Shin GR-4 Tempest to fight against Giant Robo]].]]
* [[WouldHitAGirl Would Shoot A Woman]]: GRO will take zero prisoners if it means achieving their goals, as Poor Alex found out...

A new anime, ''GR: Giant Robo'', premiered in 2007 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original manga; however, it was not related to the OVA series.

!!And much like its SpiritualSuccessor, the ''Giant Robo'' Toku adored its many tropes, [[UrExample inventing several examples of now classic Mecha and Tokusatsu tropes]]. The ''Giant Robo'' Toku includes examples of...
[[folder:A-M]]
* AchillesInHisTent: Hunter, the former U9 agent of Unicorn is a subverted example of this. [[NoodleIncident He abandons Unicorn after Azuma inadvertently killed his best friend during a training exercise]] and lived a life of a vagabond in the mountains stalking Gargoyle agents on his own. He only begrudgingly helps Johnny and Jerry once Gargoyle tries to deploy a missile launcher from the mountain and although he helped save the day and on good terms with Azuma again, he still doesn't rejoin Unicorn.
* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: Big Fire, the human terrorist group that built Giant Robo and his successors, is now an intergalactic syndicate with a mixture of human and alien agents as well as relying far more on kaiju than robot machines.
* AdaptedOut: GR-3, a flying robot capable of high-speed aerodynamics, never made an appearance in the series. [[note]] However, the Japanese toy company Marmit made a [[http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7020/6404636513_1d7450b913.jpg GR-3 vinyl in the style of the live action series robots as a "what if" figure]]. [[/note]]
* AmbiguouslyHuman: Dr. Snake, the Gargoyle scientist who built GR-2. His design has a strange, goblin-like ear and nose with burns and a mechanical visor.
* [[AnIcePerson An Ice Creature]]: Icelar (Referred to as Igganog in the dub). A large dinosaur-esque monster that can blow icy winds from the tendrils on the side of its head capable of freezing humans and even Giant Robot solid. It gets upgraded to an icy BreathWeapon in his second appearance.
* AnimatedArmor: Goldenaut (Mr. Gold in the Japanese version). One of Gargoyle's generals who is a living suit of golden knight's armor that is immune to gunfire.
* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: In episode 12, Mari gets the attention of Johnny and Jerry at Unicorn's shooting range by firing her sidearm over their heads at the target from the staircase behind them.
* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: There are plenty of times in the show where characters get exposed to some form of nuclear energy and suffer no ill side effects. Most notably in the first episode, where Johnny and Jerry escape the Gargoyle's Island base as a nuclear bomb detonates to activate the title character. Johnny and Jerry stand within several feet of the blast and even look up at the fireball and aren't even physically mutilated from the heat and force of the blast. Giant Robo can also just sap nuclear energy like a sponge which, while explaining why Johnny and the others haven't died of radiation poisoning, still is hard to believe along with a robot being able to just suck out any form of nuclear energy and not suffer the effects from Electro Magnetic Pulse.
* BackFromTheDead: Several monsters that were defeated early on usually reappear once in the show, relabeled with a "II" suffix-even for GR-2, while Icelar who appeared 3 times in the show is eventually given the "Icelar III" in the finale.[[note]] The English dub would sometimes rename the monsters in their second appearance (Ex. Ligon-Tyrox is renamed Lagorian in the Dubbed version of Episode 10).[[/note]]
* BadassNormal: Johnny Sokko is a 12 year old boy who controls a HumongousMecha, welds a pistol, has a jetpack and serves in an elite Spy Agency. He also goes to school and has classmate friends he spends his downtime with and generally lives a regular civilian life. The same could be said for each of the other UNICORN agents as well though this aspect was only inferred.
* BraggingThemeTune
* BeardOfEvil: Lieutenant Piranha, one of Gargoyle/Big Fire's recurring henchmen, has a goatee. Earlier episodes have it as a full beard [[note]] As do episodes that were filmed earlier in the production order such as Episode 10 and 17 [[/note]], but it becomes a goatee in Episode 7.
* BigBad: Emperor Guillotine
** BigGood: Commander Azuma
* BittersweetEnding: One that traumatized a number of childhoods in the 60s and 70s, both in America and Japan.[[spoiler: Giant Robo defeats Guillotine, but his body is "a mass of atomic energy" that would destroy the Earth when he dies.]] [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice To prevent this, Giant Robot grapples the Emperor and flies him into space to explode against an asteroid much to Johnny's and the other heroes horror]]]].
* BotanicalAbomination: The [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Satan Rose]] (Gargoyle Vine) is a lava spewing, space plant that can grow large enough to destroy the Earth with its gigantic growing tendrils. Giant Robo has a very tough time defeating it on the two battles they had, getting ensnared in its crushing vines.
* CallingYourAttacks: The [[UrExample Ur Example]] in the Mecha Genre. Daisaku/Johnny would call GR-1's attacks via shouting it in the watch.
* ChildSoldier: Bizarrely enough, the ''good guys'' have two child soldiers on their team, Johnny and Mari, seemingly without any qualms over the morality of putting fully armed children in front line combat against aliens and monsters. The Gargoyles have Agent X7 who is their answer to Johnny and controls the Iron Klaw monster (Gangar II in the original).
* {{UsefulNotes/Cold War}}: The show is set in [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture "The Latter Half of the 20th Century"]] where the various Cold War superpowers are presumably in power. Guillotine at one point attacks two nations that are {{Expies}} for America and The Soviet Union in order for the two nations to start a nuclear war, while another [[EagleLand America Expy]] tries to build their own clone of Giant Robot which causes the UNICORN Organization to worry that other nations might start a robotic arms race and potentially lead to a global RobotWar. Given that the show was produced in the 60's when the Cold War tensions were still very much high, it's not surprising in the least that the show would dabble with the geopolitics of the era.
* CompilationMovie: Several episodes of the American import were edited together into the movie "Voyage Into Space".
* CoolShades:
** Part of the Gargoyle Gang's uniform.
** A handful of Unicorn agents also wear these (Llyod from UNICORN's Canada Branch being one of them)
* DubNameChange: Every single character except for Commander Azuma, Mitsuko, Mari, Guillotine, Dr. Snake, and Spider got one in the English dub. Famously, Daisaku Kusama was changed to "Johnny Sokko" and Big Fire was changed to "Gargoyle Gang".
* EagleLand: The Republic of Melcon in episode 22 is of the type 3 variety. They don't intend to harm the world with the Giant Robo clone Cleopat and simply want to compete with Japan. However it is stated in universe that such a desicion could start an more destructive arms race with the possibility of each nation wanting their own national supercharged robot.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Since the show was filmed out of episode order, episodes later in the shows run that were filmed much earlier in production order have plenty of weird moments including Piranha's facial hair changing from a goatee to a beard between episodes and the character design of Red Cobra being completely different in Episode 17 due to the episode being the 5th episode in production order.
* EvilKnockoff:
** Subverted with the aforementioned Cleopat. It was originally built as a military robot with Giant Robo's blueprints that was meant to fight for justice but gets stolen by the Gargoyle's to fight and nearly defeat Robo.
** Played straight with the Android U7 in Episode 23. Doctor Engali tricks Johnny into building an exact replica of himself that steals the watch controlling Giant Robo and sends it on a rampage through Tokyo.
* EyepatchOfPower: Harlequin(Black Diamond in the Japanese version). It ends up being how Unicorn identifies him as a double agent in his debut episode.
* FalseFriend:
** Kenny/X7 pretends to befriend Daisaku in order to kill him. This conflict ends with a battle between Giant Robo and X7's personalized Gangar.
** Metron (Known as Metro-3 in the Japanese version) is a space policeman who arrives on Earth with the intent of catching Guillotine. He turns out to be actually an agent ''working for'' Guillotine. Whether he was a cop that Guillotine bribed into serving him or if he ever was a cop in the first place is uncertain.
* FalselyReformedVillain: The crux behind Harlequin's plan in his debut episode.
* FantasticRacism: The alien Gargoyles occasionally note how their kind would do things the weaker willed humans wouldn't do [[PlanetOfHats since Gargoylians are inherently evil by birth.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: Any villain that isn't a LargeHam is most likely this. Spider and Dr. Botanus are the best examples.
* FingerFirearm:
** Giant Robo's signature attack.
** And in the finale [[spoiler: Emperor Guillotine is shown to use one of his fingernail's as a nuclear bomb]].
* [[GiantRobotHandsSaveLives Johnny Sokko's Flying Robot's Hands Saves Lives]]: Happens many times throughout the series.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Giant Robo does this in the GrandFinale]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Several examples of this happen throughout the show:
** The Android U7 built by Dr. Eingali is destroyed using a counter serum made from the same magic glue that was used to built it.
** Two of Gargoyle's General's were inadvertently killed by the same monsters they used. [[spoiler: (Spider killed by Scalion's acid spray and Professor Hydra being frozen to death by Igganog's Ice Breath)]]
** In the final episode, Emperor Guillotine was ultimately defeated [[spoiler:by the very same robot that his organization created]].
* HollywoodAcid:
** Ikageras (Scalion in the English dub) can spew a stream of this from its mouth. Its strong enough to melt Giant Robo's arm and [[spoiler: Commander Spider]]
** The Hydrazona bacteria is an acidic BlobMonster that can melt entire bridges, a nuclear tanker, several Unicorn RedShirts and even [[spoiler: a tin decoy of Giant Robo.]]
* HumongousMecha: Notably the first {{Toku}} [[UrExample mecha show.]]
* ImMelting: [[spoiler: Spider's death via acid spray in Episode 7]]
* InNameOnly: The series has next to no resemblance to its then concurrent manga counterpart having kaiju and alien invasion plots akin to Series/UltraSeven than the Film/JamesBond esque spy drama of the manga. [[note]] In fact the disparity between the show and the manga was so great at the time, that Shogakukan Publishing commissioned Mitsuteru Yokoyama and his assistants to write and draw Giant Robo manga for their Elementary Learning magazines that utilized designs and characters from the toku unlike the Weekly Shonen Sunday counterpart. [[/note]]
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Daisaku Kusama (12) and his fellow Unicorn agent Juro Minami (Jerry Mano in the English dub) (20's).
* {{Kaiju}}: The most common of Gargoyle's weapons.
* LargeHam:
** A vast majority of the villains. Most notably Emperor Guillotine, Fangar, Dr. Snake, and The Space Mummy.
** Some of the good guys do this as well, the most prone to this are Commander Azuma and Dr. Dorian.
* LastVillainStand: In the finale Emperor Guillotine is forced to fight Giant Robo on his own.[[spoiler: He doesn't succeed]].
* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Averted for Drakulon. He had a large shield to protect him [[spoiler: but it's useless to save him from meeting his end from Robo's flaming crucifix weapon]].
* MadeOfIndestructium: Subverted. While Giant Robo is nearly invincible with his armor and weapons, monsters with acidic powers like Scalion and Hydrazona are shown to easily damage (and potentially destroy) Giant Robo.
* MakeMyMonsterGrow: Quite possibly the UrExample for the tokusatsu genre, several kaiju in the show [[spoiler: including Drakulon and the BigBad himself]] were able to change their size from human size monsters to giant size beasts to fight off Giant Robo.
* MasterOfDisguise: Spider and Harlequin.
* MonsterOfTheWeek
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N-Z]]
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Almost all of the villains in the show have these. Some of the more villainous names include Captain Spider, Lt. Pirahna, Emperor Guillotine, Professor Hydra and Fangar.
* {{Oculothorax}}: Ganmons/Opticorn is a rather famous example of this trope.
* OffWithHisHead: Or rather, in the case of GR-2 II, can have his head come on ''and'' off. GR-1 still tears off the head of him when he defeated him though.
* OurMonstersAreWeird: ''And how.'' Giant rolling balls that shoot out rockets from its retractible tips, Giant eyeballs with legs, Robot hands, Robot ''Jawbones'', And that's only a few of the weird monsters Big Fire uses...
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Drakulon and his female assistant are Space Vampire Knights who drain the blood of their victims to make them their mindless servants. [[MakeMyMonsterGrow Oh and he can turn into a gigantic form to fight the title character.]]
* PapaWolf: As the series progresses, Giant Robo becomes more self aware and protective of Daisaku. In episode 21, when Daisaku is captured and his watch is taken from him, Robo activates himself just to save his master. In Episode 23 he realizes at the very end he was deceived by the Android Daisaku and dispatches it and Dr. Germa. [[spoiler: This loyalty culminates in his HeroicSacrifice during the series finale where he takes Guillotine down with him...]]
* PuttingOnTheReich: The Gargoyle Gang uniform is very clearly influenced by Wehrmacht uniforms. Their human commander Spider wears an officer's hat that resembles an SS officer's hat. [[note]] In actuality it is the similarly designed Turkish Army Officer's Hat which bears a striking resemblance to the SS Hat. This is easy to spot in close up shots in Episode 2 and 5 where the emblem on his hat bears the Islamic Crescent Moon and Star Symbol that the Turkish Hats bore. [[/note]]
* PyrrhicVictory: In the final episode, Daisaku and the UNICORN agents managed to defeat Big Fire once and for all. [[spoiler: But at the cost of Giant Robo]].
* RealityWarper: Dr. Eingali (Dr. Germa in the Japanese version), a strange green alien from the "4th Dimension of Evil". He manages to create an android duplicate of Johnny that takes control of Giant Robo for a short time.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Poor Agent X7...]]
* ReluctantMadScientist:
** Dr. Lucius Guardian, a scientist who was kidnapped by Big Fire and was forced to help build Giant Robo for destructive purposes. Fortunately, He rebelled and gave the wrist watch controller to Daisaku so that Giant Robo won't be used for evil.
** Dr. Dorian, the only human being who knows how to grow the planet destroying Gargoyle Vine, kept the knowledge a secret to prevent it from being summoned until the Gargoyle Gang brainwashes him to produce one to wipe out Tokyo. Once the brainwashing loses effect he revolts against the Gargoyles until he is knocked unconscious by them.
* {{Robeast}}:
** Ligon (Known as Ligon-Tyrox and Lagorian in the English dub). In its debut episode it is a machine that is built to resemble a giant monster. Its second appearance in Episode 10 depicts it as a regular organic kaiju however.
** Dorogon (Known as Dragon and Starker in the English dub) in its second appearance is depicted as an artificial monster that can grow or shrink in size with a special control device.
* RocketPunch: GR-2 used it against Giant Robo in Episode 16.
* RubberForeheadAliens:
** Dr. Botanus (Dr. Over in the Japanese version), a recurring villain introduced in episode three, is a portrayed as an actor coated in silver paint with a prosthetic brow on his head. He also has the same clawed hands as Emperor Guillotine.
** Fangar (Red Cobra in the Japanese version) features a more traditional giant prosthetic rubber forehead.
* SacrificialLamb: In the first episode, Dr. Lucius Guardian gave his life in order to let Daisaku and Juro escape. Shortly before Dr. Guardian was gunned down, he sets off a bomb in order to destroy a part of Big Fire's base.
* ShoutOut:
** In the Japanese version, The Unicorn Agents password code is [[Series/TheManFromUNCLE "Napoleon's Trump Card is....King of Diamonds]].
** Episode 4 has a brief reference to [[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Nightmare From 20,000 Feet]] where Johnny waves at Jerry out of the window on the Unicorn spy jet, much to his horror.
* SuddenlyShouting: [[LargeHam Fangar]] has a habit of doing this.
* TransformationIsAFreeAction: Played ''painfully'' straight -- before he performs any attack, Giant Robo has to first go through a variety of stances, yet remains unmolested by the MonsterOfTheWeek. This is most evident during Robo's missile attack, which features StockFootage of him swinging his forearms side-to-side and up-and-down, then holding out his hands while missiles sprout from his fingertips... all while the monster waits for the routine to finish.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: [[AllThereInTheManual The UNICORN organization is the scientific superspy arm of the United Nations]] building and operating many gadgets, military vehicles and a Giant Robot at their disposal to fight against any threat the world faces.
* WouldHurtAChild: All the Gargoyles are not above harming children to get their way, [[spoiler: The absolute crowner is what they did to their child spy Agent X7 after he defected to the heroes..]]
* JustForFun/XMeetsY: ''Series/UltraSeven'' meets ''Anime/{{Gigantor}}'' meets ''Film/{{Daimajin}}.''
* YouDontLookLikeYou:
** GR-2 has a completely different design in this series. His head is shaped differently, and the rest of his body is identical to Giant Robo but with a black color scheme.
** Dakolar, the gigantic UFO mecha from the manga, is completely reimagined in the show, as an organic monster who fought Giant Robo twice.
** Red Cobra looks completely different in Episode 17 due to it being filmed early in the shows run. He is completely missing his buck teeth and has a cobra symbol embedded on his forehead that is never seen again after that episode. The producers of the English dub evidently mistook him for a new one off character and renamed him Dangor The Executioner as a result.
[[/folder]]
----

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/50092_robo_7.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Giant Robo, into the air! Up and Away!!!]]

[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/giant_robo_the_animation_chikyuu_ga_seishisuru_hi_3891.gif]]
[[caption-width-right:325: The future has shone upon us with its glorious brilliance...]]

* FiveManBand: The five members assembled at the BF HQ and eventually [[spoiler: oppose Genya and Komei.]]
** TheBigBad: Hanzui who seems to be in charge unless Komei is given instructions from BF himself.
** TheDragon: Zangetsu.
** TheEvilGenius: Old Man Kawarazaki
** TheBrute: Jujoji
** TheDarkChick: Yuuki.

* CastOfExpies: Pretty much every named character is either lifted from or based on characters from other works in Yokoyama's opus; there are derivatives from ''Manga/BabelII'' and its sequel works ''Sono na wa 101'' and ''Ōkami no Seiza'', ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-gō]]'', ''Anime/GodMars'', ''Anime/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', ''Iga no Kagemaru'', and from Yokoyama's ''[[Literature/WaterMargin Suikoden]]'' and ''[[Manga/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms1971 Sangokushi]]''.

An (unholy) amalgamation of Wuxia, Superheroes, Music/RichardWagner, [[HumongousMecha Mecha Anime]] and pure insanity, ''Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still'' is notable for being an early and rather impressive example of the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, formed when director Yasuhiro Imagawa (''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'') was told that he couldn't use any of the supporting characters from the manga or TV versions of the ''Giant Robo'' story. Struck by inspiration, he instead decided to instead take characters from the rest of original creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama's work, including ''Manga/BabelII'', ''Manga/SallyTheWitch'', ''Anime/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'' and many others. To add to the effect he decided to draw them all in Yokoyama's classic 1960s style, along with a [[{{Zeerust}} retro-futuristic world]] populated by {{Ninja}}, ancient Chinese warriors, [[BadassInANiceSuit Sharp Suited Businessmen]] and {{Badass Longcoat}}s walking side by side.

* CastOfExpies: Pretty much every named character is either lifted from or based on characters from other works in Yokoyama's opus; there are derivatives from ''Manga/BabelII'' and its sequel works ''Sono na wa 101'' and ''Ōkami no Seiza'', ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28-gō]]'', ''Anime/GodMars'', ''Anime/SallyTheWitch'', ''Manga/KamenNoNinjaAkakage'', ''Iga no Kagemaru'', and from Yokoyama's ''[[Literature/WaterMargin Suikoden]]'' and ''[[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Sangokushi]]''.

** Cho-Katsu Komei (Zhuge Liang) and Jujojii (Zhang Rang) are from ''Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi'' ("[=Records/=]Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms").

* PuttingOnTheReich: The Gargoyle Gang uniform is very clearly influenced by Wehrmacht uniforms. Their human commander Spider wears an officer's hat that resembles an SS officer's hat. [[note]] In actuality it is the similarly designed Turkish Army Officer's Hat which bears a striking resemblance to the SS Hat. This is easy to spot in close up shots in Episode 2 and 5 where the emblem on his hat bears the Islamic Crescent Moon and Star Symbol that the Turkish Hats bore. [[/note]]

* BittersweetEnding: One that traumatized a number of childhoods in the 60s and 70s, both in America and Japan.[[spoiler: Giant Robo defeats Guillotine, but his body is "a mass of atomic energy" that would destroy the Earth when he dies.]] [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice To prevent this, Giant Robot grapples the Emperor and flies him into space to explode harmlessly against an asteroid much to Johnny's and the other heroes horror]]]].

* CameBackWrong: Sometime in the show [[NoodleIncident Harlequin gets killed offscreen and is rebuilt as Fangar]]. A malformed, peg legged brute with a slight mental handicap. However that fact is only brought up in passing in the Japanese version [[note]] Originally, Harlequin was meant to be the villain of Episode 13 and was to be killed when his shed hideout blew up at the end of the episode, but his actor's schedule conflicted with the filming of that episode so Fangar was hastily rewritten in and had extra dialogue to explain his origin. [[/note]].

* CoolShades: Part of the Gargoyle Gang's uniform.

* EvilKnockoff: Subverted with the aforementioned Cleopat. It was originally built as a military robot with Giant Robo's blueprints that was meant to fight for justice but gets stolen by the Gargoyle's to fight and nearly defeat Robo.

* FalseFriend: Kenny/X7 pretends to befriend Daisaku in order to kill him. This conflict ends with a battle between Giant Robo and X7's personalized Gangar.

* FingerFirearm: Giant Robo's signature attack.

* HollywoodAcid: Ikageras (Scalion in the English dub) can spew a stream of this from its mouth. Its strong enough to melt Giant Robo's arm and [[spoiler: Commander Spider]]

* LargeHam: A vast majority of the villains. Most notably Emperor Guillotine, Fangar, Dr. Snake, and The Space Mummy.

* ReluctantMadScientist: Dr. Lucius Guardian, a scientist who was kidnapped by Big Fire and was forced to help build Giant Robo for destructive purposes. Fortunately, He rebelled and gave the wrist watch controller to Daisaku so that Giant Robo won't be used for evil.

* {{Robeast}}: Ligon (Known as Ligon-Tyrox and Lagorian in the English dub). In its debut episode it is a machine that is built to resemble a giant monster. Its second appearance in Episode 10 depicts it as a regular organic kaiju however.

* RubberForeheadAliens: Dr. Botanus (Dr. Over in the Japanese version), a recurring villain introduced in episode three, is a portrayed as an actor coated in silver paint with a prosthetic brow on his head. He also has the same clawed hands as Emperor Guillotine.

* ShoutOut: In the Japanese version, The Unicorn Agents password code is [[Series/TheManFromUNCLE "Napoleon's Trump Card is....King of Diamonds]].

* YouDontLookLikeYou: GR-2 has a completely different design in this series. His head is shaped differently, and the rest of his body is identical to Giant Robo but with a black color scheme.

But history be damned, when somebody mentions Giant Robo today, they're not thinking of either of those... Okay, some people still think of ''Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot'', but usually only if they grew up in TheSeventies, watch over the air TV in the US or grew up in India and Brazil. Nowadays, they're thinking of ''Giant Robo The Animation: The Day The Earth Stood Still'', one of the greatest - or at least the most completely ''insane'' - works to come out of the anime industry in the 20th century.

Amazingly, [[CrazyEnoughToWork it works]].

A new anime, ''GR: Giant Robo'', premiered in 2007 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original manga; however, it was not related to the OVA series, and many fans considered it a disappointment.

On the brighter side, Imagawa also scripted a new ''Giant Robo'' manga, "The Day The Earth Burned" that started publication in 2006. While this version is also an AlternateContinuity, it does act as a SpiritualSuccessor to the {{OVA}}s, with the same tone and many of the same characters. The original manga has also recently become available on most major manga websites.

See also: ''Anime/ShinMazinger'', another great SuperRobot series by Yasuhiro Imagawa. Like ''Giant Robo'', it is a revival of a classic series and involves heavy crossover from the [[Creator/GoNagai original artist's]] entire body of work. Alternatively, the 2004 ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28]]'' anime, also directed by Imagawa based on another famous Yokoyama story with similar design aesthetics and a few bits of RetroactiveRecognition (The depiction of Kenji Murasame and Robo's "Gao" noise reused for Tetsujin's roar, most notably).

* ILoveNuclearPower: Somewhat averted - it doesn't get significant screen time, but pretty much everybody who's around is shocked and aghast when it is revealed that [[spoiler: Giant Robo is ''nuclear powered'']]. This is ultimately the reason [[spoiler: Robo is able to fight against Genya in the first place, because he isn't powered by Shizuma drives.]]

-->'''Dr. Fogler:''' The future has shone upon us with its glorious brilliance! The time to seize our destiny and conquer all our fears is ''now''! In ancient times, man rubbed sticks together to create fire. Then he slaughtered the whale and battled one another for oil. After that came [[ILoveNuclearPower the atomic age]]. In every chapter of our history, we danced with danger. But now it will be different. For the first time in our existence, we will be ''delivered from fear!!'' Finally, we will escape the prison of our delusions, and [[ArcWords the Beautiful Night]] ''will embrace us all''!

* AdaptedOut: GR-3, a flying robot capable of high-speed aerodynamics, never made an appearance in the series. [[note]] However, toy company Marmit made a [[http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7020/6404636513_1d7450b913.jpg GR-3 vinyl in the style of the live action series robots as a "what if" figure]]. [[/note]]

* RubberForeheadAliens: Dr. Botanus(Dr. Over in the Japanese version), a recurring villain introduced in episode three, is a portrayed as an actor coated in silver paint with a prosthetic brow on his head. He also has the same clawed hands as Emperor Guillotine.
** Fangar(Red Cobra in the Japanese version) features a more traditional giant prosthetic rubber forehead.

* {{UsefulNotes/Cold War}}: The show is set in [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture "The Latter Half of the 20th Century"]] where the various Cold War superpowers are presumably in power. Guillotine at one point attacks two nations that are {{Expies}} for America and The Soviet Union in order for the two nations to start a nuclear war and another [[EagleLand America Expy]] tries to build their own clone of Giant Robot which causes the UNICORN Organization to worry that other nations might start a robotic arms race and potentially lead to a global RobotWar. Given that the show was produced in the 60's when the Cold War tensions were still very much high, it's not surprising in the least that the show would dabble with the geopolitics of the era.

** Played straight with the Android U7 in Episode 23. Doctor Engali tricks Johnny into building an exact replica of himself that steals the watch controlling Giant Robo and sends GR on a rampage through Tokyo.

* FingerFirearm: Giant Robo's signature attack is this.

** In the final episode, Emperor Guillotine was ultimately defeated by [[spoiler: the very same robot that his organization created]].

* OurMonstersAreWeird: ''And how.'' Giant eyeballs with legs, Robot hands, Robot ''Jawbones'', Giant rolling balls that shoot out rockets from their tips. And that's only a few of the weird monsters Big Fire uses...
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Drakulon and his female assistant are Space Vampire Knights who drain the blood of their victims to make them their mindless victims. [[MakeMyMonsterGrow Oh and he can turn into a gigantic form to fight the title character.]]

** Dr. Dorian, the only human being who knows how to grow the planet destroying Gargoyle Vine, keeps the knowledge a secret to prevent it from being summoned until the Gargoyle Gang brainwashes him to produce one to wipe out Tokyo. Once the brainwashing loses effect he revolts against the Gargoyles until he is knocked unconscious by them.

* NiceHat: Zangetsu, who has a five second role yet still manages to prove a fan favourite due to his very nice hat.

[[caption-width-right:350:That's what I call a great robot huh?!]]

* AntiVillain: Hanzui the Evil Messiah, leader of the Magnificent Ten. Never actually does anything evil, proves extremely honourable and is a great deal nicer than most of the good guys.

* DeathlyDiesIrae: As appropriate for a story about a Doomsday Device and a tale of revenge against humanity, ''Dies Irae'' appears multiple times in the score, both in intrumental and OminousLatinChanting forms.

* TheKidWithTheRemoteControl: Subverted, slightly. Robo has its own will [[spoiler:apparently that of Dr. Kusama]] and usually only follows the general gist of the commands.

* MadScientist: Dr Von Vogler [[spoiler:who eventually turns out to be a kindhearted and inspirational man who for PR reasons was blamed for the disaster one of the other scientists caused. After all, as far as anyone knew, he had [[NotQuiteDead died in said disaster]] and couldn't say any different!]]

* OhCrap: Genya when [[spoiler:Alberto absorbs the heat energy from the sphere leaving it completely vulnerable to attack from Giant Robo.]] The look on his face as [[spoiler:Robo prepares to launch one of its rocket boosters as a missile]] is particularly priceless.

** {{Crossdresser}}: Somehow, "Ginrei the Mighty" comes up with an excuse to have all the Experts wearing Ginrei's trademark Chinese mini-dress. Also, the first Ginrei OVA has Murasame [[LatexPerfection completely]] disguised as Ginrei for most of the episode.

* PetTheDog: The scene in the 5th OVA where Genya comforts a delirious Daisaku [[spoiler: and then learning about his motivation for revenge.]] Also Ivan mentioning how his home was destroyed from [[spoiler: the Bashtarle disaster.]]

* PlotHole: How, ''exactly'', was the Vogler Sphere created, and by whom? [[spoiler:If Vogler created the sphere, as his final recording indicates, how did he get the resources and the time required to do so, and did he ''really'' do it by himself as the story indicates? If Genya made it, how did he not know about his father's recording that was preprogrammed into the sphere, and thus, his father's intentions?]]

** The Big Fire Organization has a ''major'' internal communications problem, in which the only person who appears to know what's going on is the head strategist, who refuses to elucidate in the slightest and repeatedly appeals to the authority of Big Fire himself when questioned by the Big Ten, [[spoiler:even as hundreds of Big Fire agents die as casualties of the Vogler Sphere]].

* {{Retcon}}: In episode three, Tetsugyu enables Daisaku and Giant Robo to take to the battlefield against orders. Episode five revises his intentions [[spoiler:to claim he was deliberately setting up Daisaku to fail]], which flies in the face of the shock and dismay he showed in episode three [[spoiler:when Giant Robo actually lost the fight]].

* TerminallyDependentSociety: All the world depends on the Shizuma Drive. When it is destroyed, everything else is. The only oil refinery left is at Shangai, and then it's destroyed too; there's some solar and wind power left, but not much. ''The world ends in ten days''.

* WorldOfHam: This series's universe seems to work purely ON HAM!!!

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Since the show was filmed out of episode order, episodes later in the shows run that were filmed much earlier in production order have plenty of weird moments including Pirahna's facial hair changing from a goatee to a beard between episodes and the character design of Red Cobra being completely different in Episode 17 due to the episode being the 5th episode in production order.

* InNameOnly: The series has next to no resemblance to its then concurrent manga counterpart having kaiju and alien invasion plots akin to Series/UltraSeven than the Film/JamesBond esque spy drama of the manga. [[note]] In fact the disparity between the show and the manga was so great at the time, that Shogakukan Publishing commissioned Mitsuteru Yokoyama and his assistants to write and draw Giant Robo manga for their Elementary Learning magazines that utulized designs and characters from the toku unlike the Weekly Shonen Sunday counterpart. [[/note]]

** Dr. Dorian, the only human being who knows how to grow the planet destroying Gargoyle Vine, keeps the knowledge a secret to prevent it from being summoned until the Gargoyle Gang brainwashes him to produce one to wipe out Tokyo. Once the brainwashing loses effect he revolts against the Gargoyles until he is knocked unconcious by them.

* AnIcePerson: Two of the grade school manga's features two seperate Ice powered villains, an Ice Robot and an Ice {{Kaiju}} that used a BreathWeapon against Robo and the heroes.

** The remainder of the Celestial 9, whom were only inferred to exist in the OVA outside of Taisou and Go, play a much larger role in the manga. Considering their behavior towards Daisaku, it makes one wonder if it was worth seeing them.

** Giant Robo and his brethren are modeled after a mixture of their manga designs (moreso with GR-2 and GR-3 who virtually are identical to their manga counterparts) but with their OVA backstories. The same thing applies to the other Big Fire robots as well as Big Fire's guardians who all look identical to their counterparts from Manga/BabelII, [[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28]] and [[Anime/GodMars Mars]].

* {{Fanservice}}: ''Nearly every character in the manga'' has some fanservice element in play. Every character except for Inspector Ootsuka and Daisaku end up either being forcibly stripped naked, being put in sexual situations and in the case of the male characters, are given very noticable bulges on their crotch (Even ''Giant Robo himself'' [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot has a bulging crotch]].)
* HateSink: The IPO here are nasty and obnoxious {{Smug Snake}}s who constantly taunt Daisaku throughout the story. In the first chapter, Robo kills them all by crushing them with his hand, which at first seems pretty cathartic, but it turns out the characters Robo killed weren't the real IPO, who are less murderous then the ones first introduced yet somehow even more obnoxious.
* InNameOnly: Despite overt similarities in name, the manga makes radical {{Adaptation Deviation}}s from the OVA's meta narrative, such as Daisaku being raised by the BF Group and rendering the IPO as a competing group of villains. Several changes effectively make the manga appear to be one long winded and mean spirited TakeThat towards Mitsuteru Yokoyama's characters and legacy.
* {{Jerkass}}: Just about everyone who isn't Daisaku, Gin, Fei Long, and a few others.
* LeftHanging: The manga had a sequel/finale manga "The Siege Of Babel" that ran for 6 volumes...until that ''also'' ended on a cliffhanger. [[SarcasmMode Yippee]]...

** GR-2 is a mix between the manga and tokusatsu designs while GR-3 is a mix between his manga design and the design from his brief appearannce in the OVA's EvolvingCredits.

** [[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/580210324708261889/620400652710838279/15646061460882348908709257073774_by_daimosz_ddczaro-pre.png?width=503&height=670 The Manga version features an upgraded "Shin" form for GR-4 that models itself after the obscure OVA GR-4/Calamity robot from the 1992 OVA Giant Robo manga and a "Mummy" upgrade for GR-1 that takes on a monstrous, faceless version of the design from the GR manga.]]

** RefugeInAudacity: Ok, so the main series is this, but the omakes take this UpToEleven. We have things like Giant Robo nosebleeding gasoline at the sight of Ginrei naked, everyone dressing in Ginrei dresses, the below mentioned VictoriasSecretCompartment moment, Daisaku claiming to be 29 years old and divorced...

* AdultFear: Daisaku/Johnny and Mari (the two child agents of Unicorn) weld guns, get captured all the while the villians try to put an inch of their lives. The fact that the two weren't allowed to tell their families about their status as UNICORN agent doesn't help.

* AdultFear: Daisaku's mother constantly worries about her missing son after he dropped out of high school and ran away to Okinawa after the disappearance of his father, and is mostly unaware that her son in fact is piloting the title robot and constantly has a bounty on his head. At one point Daisaku calls her, where she pleads for her son to return to him, only for him to sadly decline her offer.

* WhoWearsShortShorts: Daisaku spends the whole OVA in what amounts to his [[SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack school uniform]], with its blazer and shorts.

** Episode 4 has a brief reference to [[Series/TheTwilightZone Nightmare From 20,000 Feet]] where Johnny waves at Jerry out of the window on the Unicorn spy jet, much to his horror.

* AdaptationalVillainy: The IPO and its premiere agents, The Celestial 9, are introduced as antagonists in the story, whose agents threaten to murder Daisaku -- an innocent child -- multiple times in the first chapter. When [[SubvertedTrope it's revealed]] that Daisaku was actually introduced to illusory copies of them, the ''real'' Celestisal 9 [[DoubleSubverted turn out to be]] a bundle of {{Manipulative Bastard}}s and {{Smug Snake}}s at their very best.

* InNameOnly: While the series does feature Daisaku and Giant Robo battling an evil organization, it lacks the campy charm of the source material in favor of being a gritty reboot of the live action version.

** GR-3, Gaia and Black Ox, three of the robots seen in the OVA's EvolvingCredits, play a fairly large role during the earlier volumes of the manga.

* {{Ninja}}: "Mask the Red" of Big Fire's Magnificent Ten. WordOfGod says that there is an entire ninja community in the world of GR who takes interests in the fights Mask the Read has with his Celestial 9 counterpart, Kagemaru.

* {{Ninja}}: "Mask the Red" of Big Fire's Magnificent Ten.

** Ginrei first appears disguised as a ''Series/RobotDetective''.