Getter Robo Episode 1 Discussion

What did you think of this episode?

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Jun 18, 2015 5:23 PM

ZetaZaku

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Feb 2008

4958

THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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This is really different from the manga, looks like it's just the basic Getter Robo vs Dinosaur Empire concept that was used, everything else is pretty much original. Ryoma, Hayato and Musashi are pretty much different characters with different backstories. Ryoma probably suffered the most, since he's really batshit insane in the manga, while his anime counterpart is pretty tame, ordinary joe.

Ok start, but it makes zero sense to use Ryoma, Hayato and Musashi in the show. Based on what they said, it could have been really anyone.

"Your sight, my delight. Will you marry me?"

Oct 20, 2015 1:46 PM

RafaelDeJongh

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May 2012

25828

Pretty solid episode if you ask me, quite lovely OP and ED and that's pretty much the reason why I started watching this series just because Isao Sasaki is the best :v

Pretty lovely in general though, looking forward to see what's next!

Dec 30, 2021 8:09 AM

removed-user

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Jul 2018

564054

This is a harmonica anime.

May 16, 2023 8:59 PM

satyrelfheim

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Jul 2017

1727

Interesting first episode. I didn't expect the original pilots to be killed. The final fight had great pacing! Really intrigued by the guy carrying the crucifix; is it simply a sort of like unique, less common style of necklace, or is it more relevant to his character?

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May 18, 4:09 PM

Paperypip

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Dec 2008

If you're an English-speaker watching this at all, it's probably because you've read the manga or watched later OVAs— there are plenty of folks in Japan that have nostalgia for 70s Getter Robo, but few people with similar nostalgia in the West. It is therefore interesting to most English-speakers primarily for how different it is from other incarnations, with significantly more "sedate" versions of protagonists who are usually incredibly wild.

It's worth noting that Getter Robo was an anime-first production. Insofar as it's based on Ken Ishikawa's ideas (he's part of Dynamic Planning who are credited as producers), it's not based on an already published manga— the manga was published in parallel and didn't start until the show had already began airing. Even fellow Dynamic Planning franchise Mazinger, which also had its manga largely running at the same time as its anime, managed to have its manga predate its anime by a few months. And in Mazinger's case, Go Nagai largely treated the manga as a bonus treat for fans of its anime, whereas for Getter Robo, Ishikawa seems to have used the manga as a way to take the same ideas in a different direction.

So— Getter Robo as an anime is in a real sense "evolutionary divergence", and most of those divergences are there from this first episode of the anime and the first chapter of the manga. We end up with very, very different versions of these characters— Ryouma and Hayato in particular— because a lot of what would go on to define "who they're supposed to be" simply did not exist yet, but also, because the manga was simply less interested in doing the same things the anime was.

As different as they are, the first episode still gives a sense of what over-the-top personalities we're dealing with here, in the sports scenes unique to this incarnation. It's this stuff that manages to give this episode its individual flavour, insofar as it has one. Hayato's crucifix gives a very amusing twist on his dickish personality, which comes through even though he's not a violent sociopath here, unless you count trying to singlehandedly beat up and humiliate a judo team as violent sociopathy. (To be fair, that would count as such for a lot of characters, but it's extremely tame next to, say, the manga version of Hayato.) Tying Ryouma's motivation to the death of his soccer coach Tatsuhito also gives him a very different flavour than he usually has— he's always vengeful, but here, he's vengeful more on behalf of others rather than for something that more immediately effects him (like the destruction of his father's dojo, as is often the case in other iterations of this franchise).

This episode was a lot of people's introduction to Getter Robo in Japan. Does it still serve that function particularly well? I'd have to say no, unless you're someone with a love for old anime who's somehow not already familiar with this franchise (whether through manga, OVAs, or Super Robot Wars), in which case you don't need someone like me to sell it to you. But if you've already gotten some familiarity with the franchise from elsewhere, the first episode of its first incarnation is still at least worth a look.

PaperypipMay 18, 4:19 PM

See All Discussions

Poll: » Getter Robo Episode 22 Discussion ZetaZaku - Jun 21, 2015	1	by Epiccgaymer »» Dec 19, 1:58 PM
Poll: » Getter Robo Episode 21 Discussion ZetaZaku - Jun 21, 2015	2	by Epiccgaymer »» Dec 19, 1:34 PM
Poll: » Getter Robo Episode 12 Discussion ZetaZaku - Jun 21, 2015	1	by Leongolleyn »» Oct 25, 5:50 AM
Poll: » Getter Robo Episode 8 Discussion ZetaZaku - Jun 19, 2015	1	by Paperypip »» Sep 5, 12:46 AM
Poll: » Getter Robo Episode 3 Discussion ZetaZaku - Jun 19, 2015	2	by satyrelfheim »» Aug 18, 3:39 AM

Getter Robo Episode 1 Discussion

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