Groizer X

In the New Testament, we are told the fate of Dismas, a thief sentenced to death and crucified beside Jesus. Dismas is penitent for his crimes and as such, upon his death, he is welcomed into the kingdom of Heaven. Groizer X is a penitent thief of sorts. Produced by Knack, the acclaimed studio behind Astroganger and Chargeman Ken, the series features similar production values that have made those series stand the test of time. Groizer X is about a group of aliens from planet Gaira who arrive on Earth but are frozen under ice in the Arctic. They wake up and decide to invade ... but Dr. Yan, a Gairan scientist, tries to escape with the aerial bombing super robot Groizer X. Dr. Yan is shot with a laser so his daughter Rita escapes and flees to Japan. In Japan she meets Joe and the pilots of the Tobishima Air Base. Together, Joe and Rita use Groizer X to fight against Gaira and protect Japan.

One of the most interesting aspects of Groizer X seldom discussed is the strange sense of nationalism throughout the series. Knowing Groizer X is hidden in Japan, Japan has become the target of their attack. There is an emphasis on protecting Japan and the heroes' love for Japan. At first it doesn't register as anything beyond simplistic writing as the show was intended for an audience of young Japanese children. However, these instances compound. For a "giant robot" anime there is a strange absense of giant robots as most combat is performed by way of dogfights. Its actually quite uncommon for Groizer X to transform probably performing this action 10 or less times throughout its 36 episodes. Because the enemies attack Japan with aerial bombers there's a lot of imagery invocative of the bombings of Tokyo from WW2. Reinforcing this imagery and creating an interesting continuity we have characters who show up recounted attacks from earlier episode and we see that these characters are both traumatized and suffering from illnesses caused by these attacks. The most notable is Masato-kun appears in a few episodes around the late 20s before his death said to be caused by an illness he contracted from the freezing attack done in episode 15. There is also the character Baku, a Zero fighter from WW2 who remembers the war quite romantically. He dies performing a Kamikaze attack that prevents the villains from stealing Groizer X. We also can't forget episode 32, where Joe and Rita sink into the ocean as they are fired on by Captain Golgo. Joe and Rita survive because the wreckage of a battleship sunk during WW2 protects them. Joe and Rita realize this and give the ship a moment of silence.

Some of the lore in this shows confuses me. The Gaira are humanoid aliens however while many like Rita and Dr. Yan are just straight up humans, others like General Dogos are cyborgs, clearly human with robot parts attached and then others like Emperor Ghelden are literal monsters. There is one instance where we're introduced to a character named Captain Dan. Dan is the son of General Dagger from episode 13 and is introduced alongside his brothers John and Gil in episode 26. John and Gil are killed in episode 26 but Dan survives and returns for revenge in episode 27. Strangely when he returns in episode 27 he seems to have morphed from a regular ugly man to a man with bug eyes and super-saiyan hair. I have no idea how this change occured, maybe I wasn't paying attention as I was grieving over the deaths of John and Gil. Speaking of inconsistent animation, there is another scene where Sabu, the Shiro (Mazinger) equivalent in this series, pilots the Groizer X. Instead of creating new footage of Sabu wearing the flight suit traveling towards the cockpit, his face is instead spliced over the pre-existing stock footage of the fully grown and muscular Joe creating a very odd image that disappears as soon as he actually reaches the cockpit.

In short, Groizer X is quite the ride. Having far less input from Go Nagai than advertised there isn't anything incredible in terms of the characters or action but the messiness of the production actually makes it quite enjoyable more so than some shows produced competently. I give Groizer X 5 golden yoshis out of 10. Thanks for watching.