Yûsha ô Gaogaigar

..."Hot-Blooded". It's a kid's show, but before that, it's a giant robot anime that hearkens back to the good IL' days of the genre.

To put it simply, things blow up, and they blow up good. There is a level of action here that you have to watch to really understand. And... there are what I like to call "the sequences". The Final Fusion sequence (the best Giant Robot combination ever!), the Hell and Heaven sequence (final attack), the other combination sequences, and so on.

And the music... A lot of it is performed by a full orchestra, and it is as hot-blooded as the series. The Title song (Yuusha-oh tanjou! - The King of Braves is Born!) sets the tone for the show. And the tune that is simply titled "Final Fusion"... Listening to it, you get the feeling that it really is the "final" fusion, that one massive walking machine (why isn't Xabungle listed here, anyway?) will subsequently be beating another into a pile of explosive scrap.

The plot... Is amazing. I shouldn't say anything about it - there's not much to spoil, but it's best to see it for yourselves. Suffice it to say that we finally learn how the dinosaurs went extinct...

...I can't say anymore without burning those behind me with my "fanboy flames", except that you should find Yuusha-oh GaoGaiGar, and watch it.

It's as if some people in Japan finally got sick of these so-called 'real robot' shows trying to be all serious, deep, and angsty and decided to give the anime industry a collective flying heel drop on the form of Gaogaigar. This is not intelligent or thought-provoking, and doesn't have deep themes or character development. Instead, it decides to do away with anything too weighty in favor of doing something many animus have forgotten to do in the quest to become the next Evangelion--entertain the viewer.

Gaogaigar has everything a fan of the true super robot anime could have; screaming attack names, bizarre villains, a cast of funny support characters, and a catchy title song. Gadgets! Transformations! A convoluted plot! Robots beating each other into horrendous piles of worthless scrap! It's ALL in this ONE SHOW.

The best part? You actually get into the show because it appeals on such a base level. You really want the good guys to win. You don't want them to get hurt. You want the bad guys to pay because in Gaogaigar, justice is absolute, heroism is all! It's truly great entertainment.

If you want angst, boring teenage pilots, and an anti-war message, feel free to pick up just about anything else with a robot on the cover.

If you want an injection of pure awesome, pick up Gaogaigar.

...then you'll truly enjoy "Yuusha Ou - GaoGaiGar". Especially if you grew up with the big titles from the 70s, such as "Voltron", and the 80s, such as "Transformers". Considering that this originally came out in 1997, following the release of "Gundam Wing", it just adds fuel to fire. Much of the music certainly gets the blood pumping, playing well when the action gets going; the opening song is definitely no exception as one example. The transformation sequences? Bring out the geek and nerd within you, fans.

If you're a sci-fi nut, like big robots, or just love a little "old school" action, recommended pick up.

This series is hailed as a classic and masterpiece of the mecha genre, but why? it's a knockoff of transformers with a cool main mecha and good animation overall, but that's it. The longer the runtime, the more it gets boring and all the mysteries sorrounding the cast of characters suggested in the intros of the first episodes are thrown away for a uninteresting sequence of fights between zonders and mechas mixed with toy product placements. The problem is, since this is supposed to be based on 70's mecha animes, I don't remember the plot being so exhaustively meandering in mecha shows like Voltes V or Daimos, in particular in this one the plot and characters were really interesting albeit not exactly original material (Romeo and Juliet mixed with War and Peace). Hell, even Golion King of Beasts (!) had more plot than this show. Here you have no connection with the characters, no plot threads, nothing. Just a catchy intro song, some nods to other animes, flashy and colorful animation, a good main design of the titular mecha and...nothing else at all. Disappointment is an understatement. NOT recommended.