was an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series aired in 1977 in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. There were 35 episodes aired at 25 minutes each. It is also known as ''Gasshin Sentai Mechander Robo'', ''Mekander'', ''Mechander'', ''Combiner Battle Team Mekander Robot'', ''Combining Squadron Mechander Robo'', ''Mekander Robot'' and ''Mekanda''. It was produced by Tokyu Agency and animated by Wako Productions.

Original story

The Doron Empire, hailing from the Ganymede system came to Earth in order to conquer it. General Doron already overthrew the queen Medusa of Ganymede in the Magellan star cluster. Earth's defenses were no match; in a matter of days, 95% of the Earth fell under Doron's occupation. Doctor Shikishima, a brilliant scientist, places his last hopes for Earth in a robot (Mechander Robo) that he has created. The mother of Jimi would be reborn into a cyborg who is now the leader of the opposing forces and her memory could not recall the past. An interesting twist to the usual giant robot formula was that the Doron empire, after having devastated Earth in their successful first strike, ringed it with energy-detecting satellites programmed to lob hugely destructive payloads (similar to H-bombs) on Earth's surface wherever they picked up energy signatures suggesting human technological activity. Having no means to tackle the alien satellites the Mechander's crew had less than three minutes to successfully engage and beat the invaders' mecha on Earth's surface, before being atomized by the incoming alien bombardment.

Production note

The production company was plagued with bankruptcy issues, so the main sponsors forced the studios to reuse footage from old episodes to patch newer episodes without redrawing new animation. The final episode was merely a complete recap of the series.

Concept

Three command jets - Mechander-1, Mechander-2 and Mechander-3 - combine to form one larger jet known as Mechander Max, which then would dock at the back of Mechander Robo. Some of the trademark weapons include spiked shields, missile pod forearms, chest flame throwers and missiles shaped like sharks. Halfway through the series, Mechander Robo is severely damaged, but is rebuilt as four component ships combining to form the robot before docking with Mechnder Max. Despite the show targeting young audiences at the time and that the opposing forces were robots, the attack techniques and damages in battle are quite violent by today's standards.

Staff

*Additional Director
Takashi Anno

Yasuo Hasegawa Yasuo is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yasuo can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *安雄, "tranquil, male" *安男, "tranquil, man" *安夫, "tranquil, husband" *安� ...

Rintaro is the pseudonym of , a well-known director of anime. He works frequently with the animation studio Madhouse (company), Madhouse (which he co-founded), though he is a freelance director not employed directly by any one studio. He began working i ...

*Producer
Sumio Takahashi *Screenwriter

Hisayuki Toriumi , sometimes credited as Eikō Toriumi, was a Japanese animation director, storyboardist, screenwriter, and novelist. He is best known for directing the TV show ''Science Ninja Team Gatchaman'' and also credited for his contributions to several ot ...

*Designer

Nobuhiro Okaseko Nobuhiro (written: 信広, 信宏, 信尋, 信淵, 信弘, 信敬, 修宏, 修弘, 伸宏, 伸博, 伸洋, 敦弘, 敦彦, 暢彦, 順大, 順裕, 展裕, 伸啓, 宣浩, or 亘弘) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name i ...

Tsuneo Ninomiya *Mechanical Designer

Kunio Okawara is a mechanical designer in the Japanese anime industry. Okawara was the first in the industry to be specifically credited as a mechanical designer. He designed mecha for the ''Gundam'' and ''Brave Series'' franchises, as well as those of numerou ...

*Animator
Satoshi Touzan
Tsuneo Ninomiya

Masayuki Hayashi is the pseudonym of , a well-known director of anime. He works frequently with the animation studio Madhouse (which he co-founded), though he is a freelance director not employed directly by any one studio. He began working in the animation ind ...

Satoshi Tozan is a generally masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings *哲, "intelligent, philosophy, clear" *悟, "bodhi, enlightenment, apprehension" *敏, "quick, sharp" *智, "knowledge, wisdom" *聡, "intelligent, clever, bright" *慧, "bright, ...

Takeshi Honda *Music

Michiaki Watanabe , born , (August 19, 1925 – June 23, 2022) was a Japanese film score and television score composer. He worked on various tokusatsu shows and mecha anime. Personal life His son, Toshiyuki Watanabe, is a musician and composer, who also has scor ...

*Opening theme
"Tri-Attack! Mechander Robo" by

Ichiro Mizuki , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese singer, lyricist, composer, voice actor and actor best known for his work on theme songs for anime and tokusatsu. For over 50 years, he had recorded over 1,200 songs for Japanese film, televisio ...

and the Columbia Cradle Club

Characters

International broadcasts

''Mechander Robo'' was dubbed in English for broadcast in the Philippines in the late-1970s. It also aired by MBC TV Korea in 1986 as "메칸더V" MechanderV and was dubbed in Korean, and was one of the most popular robot animations. Outside of Asia, it was only broadcast in Italy, in 1982, under the title Mechander Robot.

Video game appearance

''Mechander Robo'' debuted in the

Super Robot Wars ''Super Robot Wars'', known in Japan as is a series of tactical role-playing video games produced by Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Banpresto. Starting out as a spinoff of the ''Compati Hero'' series, the main feature of the franchise is ...

series as part of ''Super Robot Wars Compact 3'' for the

Wonderswan Color The (ワンダースワン) is a handheld game console released in Japan by Bandai. It was developed by Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto Laboratory and Bandai, and was the last piece of hardware Yokoi developed before his death in 1997. Released i ...

. True to the anime, if Mechander Robo is deployed and a certain number of turns pass, the Omega Missile will appear and attempt to destroy as many robots in the player's force as it can reach.

Toys

During the series' release, a toy of Mechander Robo was released by

Bullmark Bullmark (ブルマァク) is a Japanese toy company that is most famous for selling PVC kaiju character toys in the 1960s and 1970s. Founded in 1969 after the bankruptcy of pioneering toy manufacturer Marusan, the company was also known simply a ...

. In 2009, CM's Corporation released an 18 cm. action figure of Mechander Robo as part of the Mecha Action Series line. The figure features a Mechander Max jet that docks in the back, as well as cargo bays on the feet to store either the Triger-3 ship, the New Triger or two Jaws shark missiles. The forearm shields can combine into the Mechander UFO weapon. Other accessories include the Mechander Fencer sword, additional hands and an Omega Missile. A second edition in a metallic finish was also released.HobbyLink Japan - Mechander Robo Standard Version Limited Edition Metallic Color
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References

{{reflist 1977 anime television series debuts Super robot anime and manga