, also known as ''Kotetsu Jeeg'' or ''Koutetsu Jeeg'', is a Japanese

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the meaning in Japanese is ...

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 created by manga artists Go Nagai and Tatsuya Yasuda and produced by

Toei Doga () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' ''GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' ''Mazinger Z'', ''Galaxy Express 999'', ''Cutie Honey'', ''Dr. Slump'', ' ...

(now

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

), directed by

Masayuki Akehi is a Japanese anime director. Works Director Source: *'' Steel Jeeg'' (TV series, 1975–1976) *'' Grendizer, Getter Robo G, Great Mazinger: Kessen! Daikaijuu'' (film, 1976) *'' Bonjour Galaxy Express 999'' (television film, 1979) *'' Cyborg 00 ...

. It was first broadcast on

NET Net or net may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Net (mathematics), a filter-like topological generalization of a sequence * Net, a linear system of divisors of dimension 2 * Net (polyhedron), an arrangement of polygons that can be folded up ...

in Japan from October 5, 1975 to August 29, 1976, lasting for 46 episodes. Steel Jeeg also ran as a manga in several children's publications, with the original manga was first serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', '' Afternoon'', '' Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' ...

's ''TV Magazine'' from August 1975 to June 1976. The series is the first installment in

Takara Takara Co., Ltd. (株式会社タカラ) was a Japanese toy company founded in 1955. In March 2006, the company merged with Tomy Co., Ltd. to form Takara Tomy. The Takara motto was 遊びは文化」("playing is culture"). Products Toys In 1 ...

's ''Magne-Robo'' Franchise, which later became its own series after the rights of the show were passed to Dynamic Productions. A

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

series called ''

Kotetsushin Jeeg is a 13-episode Japanese television anime sequel to the 1975 Super Robot series ''Steel Jeeg'', created by Go Nagai. It is directed by Jun Kawagoe (previously known for ''New Getter Robo'' and ''Innocent Venus''). This 21st century sequel be ...

'' aired on the satellite network WOWOW, beginning April 5, 2007.

Story

Hiroshi Shiba is a young car racer who is mortally wounded. His father Professor Shiba, a talented scientist and archaeologist, manages to restore him to life by means of a powerful relic from the ancient and mysterious Jamatai Kingdom, a bronze bell which is hidden inside Hiroshi's body and turns him unknowingly into a sort of

cyborg A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

. As the ruler of Jamatai, queen Himika, reawakens from her slumber in the underground, it is revealed that the bell is also key to the reconquest of the Earth surface. Her henchmen kill Prof. Shiba in vain pursue of the artifact, barely leaving the scientist time to upload his thought on a supercomputer at a specially built defense base. Anticipating the hidden menace, Professor Shiba has also prepared a giant fighting robot, Steel Jeeg, composed of interchangeable magnetic limbs and for which Hiroshi Shiba can become head and conscience. His mission is to defend modern Japan from the invaders, who also dispose of similar giant monsters (

haniwa The are terracotta clay figures that were made for ritual use and buried with the dead as funerary objects during the Kofun period (3rd to 6th centuries AD) of the history of Japan. ''Haniwa'' were created according to the ''wazumi'' techniq ...

) and an army of minions. In such battles, Jeeg is also aided by a robot horse known as Panzeroid, and a fighting jet capable of shooting replacement components and specialized weapons for his body. The series follows Hiroshi's character development and the underground civilization's efforts and subsequent failures to return to power causing internal civil war.

Concept

Steel Jeeg is formed by combining the parts released by the Big Shooter jet, piloted by Prof. Shiba's young assistant, Miwa Uzuki. Hiroshi Shiba becomes the head of Steel Jeeg by bumping his fists together.

Staff

Theme music

Opening theme: , by

Ichirou 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 ...

with

Columbia Yurikago-kai Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

and Koorogi '73. A complete and original intro theme called "El Vengador" (''The Avenger'') was composed and sung by musician

Memo Aguirre Juan Guillermo Aguirre Mandiola (born December 22, 1951), better known as «Memo Aguirre» or «Capitán Memo», is a Chilean singer and musician famous for performing the opening and closing themes of several Animated series during the 1970s and 1 ...

for the Spanish dub of the series released in Latin America. Ending theme: , by Ichirou Mizuki with Koorogi '73

Video games

Jeeg makes an appearance in

2nd Super Robot Wars Alpha This list provides an index of video game titles in Banpresto's ''Super Robot Wars'' franchise, known as ''Super Robot Taisen'' in Japan. Most of the games in the series are tactical role-playing games, but several games representing other genres ...

and

Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 This list provides an index of video game titles in Banpresto's ''Super Robot Wars'' franchise, known as ''Super Robot Taisen'' in Japan. Most of the games in the series are tactical role-playing games, but several games representing other genre ...

for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on ...

, and in Super Robot Wars K and

Super Robot Wars L This list provides an index of video game titles in Banpresto's ''Super Robot Wars'' franchise, known as ''Super Robot Taisen'' in Japan. Most of the games in the series are tactical role-playing games, but several games representing other genres ...

for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in t ...

International transmission

''Steel Jeeg'' was televised in many European countries, especially in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

(known as ''Jeeg Robot d'acciaio''), where it is still widely popular and has a huge fanbase. In the 1980s, the series was shown in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

as a part of ''El Festival de los Robots'' (Robot Festival) a giant robot show fashioned in the style of ''

Force Five ''Force Five'' is an American adaptation of five different anime television series. In the United States, this series was primarily shown only in New England, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, though it did make brief appearances in other markets, s ...

'', in which it was called ''El Vengador'' (The Avenger), along with ''

Gaiking is a Japanese Super Robot mecha anime series produced by Toei Animation. For distribution purposes, Toei refers to this television series as ''Dino-Mecha Gaiking'' or simply ''Gaiking''. It ran from April 1976 through January 1977 and co ...

'', '' Starzinger'' and ''

Magne Robo Gakeen is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. It is the third installment to Takara's ''Magne-Robo'' Franchise. It aired from TV Asahi from September 5, 1976 to June 26, 1977, with a total of 39 episodes. Outside Japan, se ...

''.El Festival de los Robots, la entrada del anime a Latinoamérica
/ref> The anime has never been released in the United States.

Sequel

On April 5, 2007 at 11:30 p.m. JST a sequel of Steel Jeeg called '' Koutetsushin Jeeg'' began airing on the satellite network WOWOW.

Other media

Besides its related media, ''Steel Jeeg'' has appeared in other media, including its appearance in the "Dynamic Super Robots Taisen" clips included at the end of the DVDs of '' Shin Getter Robot tai Neo Getter Robot''. ''Steel Jeeg'' appears alongside '' Great Mazinger'', ''Venus A'', ''

Getter Robot G , known as '' Starvengers'' in the United States, is a super robot anime series by Toei Animation based on ''Hundred Demons Empire'' arc of ''Getter Robo'' manga by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa. This direct sequel to ''Getter Robo'' was broadc ...

'', ''

God Mazinger , also known as , is an anime, manga and novel series created by manga artist Go Nagai. The anime aired on Japanese TV from to in the network Nippon Television with 23 episodes. It is given the international title ''Space Adventure: The De ...

'', ''

Govarian is a Japanese anime television series created by Go Nagai. It was produced by Knack Productions and TV Tokyo. The series was originally broadcast from to in Japan. Besides Japan, it was also broadcast in South Korea in 1988 by MBC where it ...

'' and ''

Groizer X is an anime series aired from 1976 to 1977. There were 36 episodes. It is also referred to as ''Gloyzer X'' and ''Gloizer X''. Story The Gaira aliens, hidden in the Arctic, plan to conquer Earth. Captured and forced to work for the aliens, ...

'' to rescue '' Mazinger Z'' and '' Aphrodite A'', but are defeated and in turn saved by ''

Shin Getter Robot is a Japanese mecha media franchise created by Ken Ishikawa and Go Nagai. An anime television series produced by Toei Animation was broadcast on Fuji TV from April 4, 1974, to May 8, 1975, with a total of 51 episodes. The manga was seriali ...

'' and ''

Grendizer , known as '' Grandizer'' in the United States, is a Japanese Super Robot anime television series and manga created by manga artist Go Nagai. It is the third entry in the ''Mazinger'' series, however it is non-canon due to '' Mazinger Z: ...

'' just before the arrival of ''

Mazinkaiser is a Japanese anime OVA produced by Brain's Base and Dynamic Productions, based on the Mazinkaiser design that debuted in ''Super Robot Wars'' games and the original '' Mazinger Z'' manga by Go Nagai. The OVA follows Kouji Kabuto, Tetsuy ...

''. The Italian film ''

They Call Me Jeeg ''They Call Me Jeeg'' ( it, Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot; ) is a 2015 Italian superhero film directed by Gabriele Mainetti and starring Claudio Santamaria in the lead role. The plot concerns a lonely misanthropic crook named Enzo, who gets superhuma ...

'' (''Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot'') is a tribute to ''Steel Jeeg'', from which takes up some thematics. The plot concerns a lonely misanthropic crook named Enzo, who gets superhuman strength after being affected by radioactive waste in the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by th ...

waters; he gradually loses his disinterest towards people thanks to Alessia, a mentally disabled girl who has mistaken him for Hiroshi Shiba, and gradually shifts from supercriminal to superhero in order to save her from a psycho gangster known as The Gipsy.