Gekigangar III
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| Gekigangar III | |
|---|---|
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| 熱血ロボ ゲキ・ガンガー３ | |
| Genre | Comedy, Mecha, Sci-fi, Shōnen |
| OVA | |
| Directed by | |
| Studio | Xebec |
| No. of episodes | 1 |
| Released | 1998 |
Gekigangar III (ゲキ・ガンガー3 Gekigangaa Surii?) is a "meta-anime" of the anime series Martian Successor Nadesico that plays a critical part in the plot thereof. Initially, only Gai Daigoji and Akito Tenkawa are depicted as enjoying the series. Later in the series, Hikaru Amano becomes the other resident anime fanatic.
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[edit] Story
Many years ago, the Super Paleolithic Empire resided at some point on Earth, and foresaw the coming of the Kyo'Akk Empire's troops from the Dark String Universe. As a defence measure, they left behind designs for a super robot in a cave deep beneath the Earth in the form of a rock carving. Years later, Professor Kokubunji, and a team of archaeologists (which included some students) found this cave, and using these designs, built the super robot Gekigangar III. It was to be piloted by three students: Tenku Ken, Umitsubame Joe, and Daichi Akira.
Each one of them pilots one of the three lesser machines (Gekigan Jet, Gekigan Marine, and Gekigan Tank respectively) that combine into one of three different forms depending on their configuration. Whoever pilots the head section is usually the one in dominant control.
The most powerful form, Gekigangar III, is formed with Jet as the head and torso, Marine as its waist and upper legs, and Tank as its lower legs. This form specializes in air combat. Umigangar, the fastest yet weakest form, is formed with Marine as the head and torso, Tank as the waist and Jet as the legs. It is most proficient in undersea combat, or any situation in which speed is a necessity. Rikugangar, the slowest yet strongest form, is created with Tank at the head and torso, Jet as the waist and Marine as the legs. This form is used when superior firepower or melee strength is needed.
Eventually the Kyo'Akk Empire's demonic mecha monsters attack at the order of Emperor Hyperion. The evil Prince Akara, with his own super robot the Big Akara Special, leads them in battle, together with his sidekick Mii-e Mii-e, who is hopelessly in love with him.
And so, the constant war wages, with the Gekigangar team fighting more and more unusual mecha monsters every episode and the group facing other challenges in their personal lives outside of the combat. For example, Ken and Nanako (Professor Kokubunji's granddaughter) seem to have feelings for each other at the start of the series. Later on, it is seen that Nanako falls in love with Joe.
At first, Ken and Joe find it hard to tolerate one another's company, and eventually exchange fisticuffs on the beach after another fight against the Kyo'Akk. When they compliment each other on their fighting skills, they stop fighting and develop a friendship.
In one episode, Joe finds out that he's actually an alien from another civilization when he and the team go up against another robot sent by the Dark String Universe. The pilot of this robot, Sapphire, used to be a part of that civilization until it was conquered by the Kyo'Akk. She falls in love with Joe during the course of the episode, and eventually self-destructs rather than destroying Gekigangar as was ordered, so that Joe may live.
In another episode, Prince Akara, disguised as school student Akara Ginji, enrolls into the Gekigangar III team's school, and discovers that humans have emotions, and know how to love. In this same episode, Mii-e Mii-e attacks the city with another monster hidden by Akara, which results in her death at the hands of Gekigangar. Akara, now realising his love for her, vows revenge upon Ken and Gekigangar. In the next episode, after a dramatic duel between the two, he is killed. One of the most quoted lines in Nadesico from Gekigangar is spoken here by Ken: "Had we been born at another time or place, we may have been friends."
Come episode 27, the Kyo'Akk army has been taken over by General Masaka. He succeeds in heavily damaging Gekigangar to a great extent: his final attack impales the mecha through the waist, directly through Joe's cockpit and him. With his final breath, Joe orders Ken to use Gekigan Flare, which defeats Masaka. In the episode's final scene, Ken is seen holding Joe in his arms, both he and Akira weeping in mourning, with the setting sun behind them. A faint image of Joe is seen on the horizon, showing the viewer that he will always be alive in spirit.
With Gekigangar heavily damaged, and one of the team members lost, it is dangerous to linger as the Kyo'Akk forces make their advance. With the newly built Gekigangar V, and a new pilot Ryuzaki Tetsuya, they continue to show that justice and passion prevail over all.
[edit] Gekigangar within Nadesico
As Nadesico progresses, we find that the very reason the Jovians (who are really humans) are attacking Earth is because they believe their cause to be just and they idolize the Gekigangar anime series. Toward the end, even Captain Yurika is a Gekigangar otaku. In the end, the Gekigangar series becomes a lesson on why people should not assimilate fictional stories into their moral code. A lot of violence and death occurs as a result of the Jovian's adaptation of the series into their society and their leader's attempts to preserve this adapted moral code.
[edit] Spelling
It is often debated how Gekigangar is actually spelled. In the series, many times is it seen on posters or otherwise as Gekiganger, despite the kana for the title saying "Ge-ki-ga-n-gaa". Both the '-ger' and the '-gar' sound are represented with the kana 'ガー' for 'ga', with the horizontal stroke added to lengthen the syllable.
[edit] Trivia
- The various Gekigangar clips that were shown throughout the Nadesico series were later compiled together into an OVA.
- The title, Gekigangar is a parody name with Gekiga and "-er" combined meaning "people of/from serious manga".
- Gekigangar, created as a parody of the early super robot genre, shares a great many similarities to some of the most well-known titles from that era. At the onset of the series, Gekigangar III is almost a clone of Go Nagai's Getter Robo. The combination of the three machines into three different robots is the most obvious testament to that effect. Each main character also follows the visual and personal archetype of a character from Getter Robo. The death of Joe and subsequent recruitment of Tetsuya runs parallel to the events at the end of Getter Robo and the beginning of Getter Robo G (they replacing Tomoe Musashi and Kuruma Benkei, respectively.) After this, Gekigangar is redubbed "Gekigangar V," an homage to two of the three works in Nagahama Tadao's Romance Robot Trilogy (Combattler V and Voltes V.) Similarly, many of Gekigangar's attacks are synonymous with other famous super robot special moves, such as:
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- Gekigan Punch - Rocket Punch (Mazinger Z)
- Gekigan Cutters - Devil Cutter (Devilman)
- Gekigan Beam - Kyoshiroku Beam (Mazinger Z)
- Gekigan Flare - Shine Spark (Getter Robo G)
- Gekigan Vision - Getter Vision (Getter Robo)
- Gekigan Spin - Choudenji Spin (Combattler V)
- Prince Akira's shock over the fact that humans apparently know of love and emotion is a play on the idea of Protoculture from Macross wherein the alien invaders were physically repulsed by such actions and were actively driven to distraction by it.
- The character name 'Tenku Ken' is a pun on the martial art, as well as the name of Voltes V's sword.
- Umitsubame, from Joe's name means 'Sea Swallow', referring to a bird.
- Similarly, Daichi, from Daichi Akira, means 'earth'.
- 'Ryuzaki Tetsuya' is a combination of the names of two super robot pilots, Ryuzaki Kazuya from Toushou Daimos and Tetsuya Tsurugi from Great Mazinger.
- "Let's Gekiga-in!" is a play on "Let's Volt-in!" from Voltes V.
- In ADV film's English dub for Nadesico, Gekigangar V is referred to as Gekiganger 5.
- "Kyo'Akk" refers to a word, kyouaku, which means "brutal" or "inhuman".
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Gekiganger 3 at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
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| Series | |||||
| Akito Tenkawa | Yurika Misumaru | Ruri Hoshino | Gai Daigoji | Megumi Reinard | Jun Aoi | Inez Fressange | Izumi Maki | Ryoko Subaru | Hikaru Amano | Nagare Akatsuki | |||||
| Other Info | |||||
| Nergal | ND-001 Nadesico | Gekigangar III | The Prince of Darkness | Chulip | |||||
