is a Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise's internal "Studio 7" division alongside Tokyu Agency. It is the eighth and final installment in Takara's '' Brave series'' franchise. It is directed by

Yoshitomo Yonetani is a Japanese animator, storyboard artist, and director. Some of his major works directed include ''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar'', '' Betterman'', and '' Brigadoon: Marin & Melan''. He also directed the anime adaptation of '' Food Wars!: Shokuge ...

, with Yoshitake Suzuki handling series scripts, Takahiro Kimura designing the characters, Kunio Okawara designing the mechanical elements, Tomoaki Okada serving as art director and Kohei Tanaka producing the music. The series aired in Nagoya TV and TV Asahi affiliate stations from February 1, 1997, to January 31, 1998.

Plot

On a winter night, a mysterious mechanical lion came flying in front of a married couple, carrying a mysterious baby with it. As they took the baby in, the lion left them in confusion. About 7 years later, the space shuttle Spirits, in which high school astronaut Guy Shishioh is a passenger, collides with an unknown object bound to Earth. Despite being mortally wounded, he is rescued by the same mysterious lion and returns to Earth. In his hand, he holds a mysterious green jewel as Leo Shishioh uses it to revive Gai into a cyborg. Two years later in 2005, the mysterious baby under the care of the Amami couple, now named Mamoru, is living his life normally. This until the mysterious group known as Zonders begin their invasion of Earth. As a response, the Earth Defense Brigade Gutsy Geoid Guard, or GGG, was organized to fight against the Zonders. In an attack by the Zonders, the mysterious boy encountered Guy, who is now a member of GGG. Equipped with the green jewel, known as G-Stone, he becomes the pilot of the lion robot that saved him. Named Galeon, he fuses with it alongside 3 assist vehicles created by GGG to become the giant robot GaoGaiGar. After the battle against one of the Zonders, GGG discovered that Mamoru can purify people who became Zonders and wondered about his origins and how it was linked to the appearance of the Zonders.

Development

''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar'' was produced by Sunrise, with Takara promoting the toys for the series. Billed as the final installment of the ''Brave'' series, director

originally named the series as "The King of Braves Gaggatti" as well as other proposed names such as "GargaiGaa" and ""GO Gieger" until the finalized name is accepted. The series' overall theme was based on the folktale '' The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter'', reflecting on the strange origins of Mamoru Amami, the series' kid protagonist alongside the message of "If you have the courage, you can call in any miracle", woven into the series' narrative. In order to differentiate it from the other ''Brave'' series, Real Robot terms and concepts alongside Super Robot concepts were woven into the narrative, in which is much more ambitious in execution. Throughout the whole story, the narrative is made similar to a hot-blooded

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

, centering on the battle between a powerful extraterrestrial life form and a giant robot that brings together the best of human science, while incorporating detailed mechanic depictions each time throughout the series. The creation of such realistic-oriented mecha designs has also influenced the development of toys, and the gap between the depiction of the mechas in animation and the toys that were actually commercialized, which was remarkable than the previous series. In order to fill in the above, the series takes a stance in the animation production side and propose to toy makers more than ever. As a result, elements that have been regarded as "standard" in the ''Brave'' series, such as swords and guns as deadly weapons, power-ups in the form of "Super Combinations", have been eliminated in the series. In both the depiction in the series and the toys, the gimmicks and individuality of each mecha have become more fleshed out.

Media

Anime

''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar'' aired on Nagoya TV from February 1, 1997, to January 31, 1998, consisting of 49 episodes. Masaaki Endoh performed the series' opening theme while

Satoko Shimonari is a Japanese singer and occasional actress. She married Seiji Kameda, a musician. References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shimonari Satoko 1961 births Living people Anime musicians Japanese actresses Japanese women pop singer ...

performed the series' ending theme . Media Blasters once licensed the series on April 19, 2006, for

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n territories in DVD format, with only 25 out of the 49 episodes dubbed in English. But due to multiple issues followed with poor sales, the series was dropped. The show was available as part of a digital subscription package from

Daisuki ''Daisuki'' was a German manga anthology for girls published by Carlsen Verlag. It was the first girl's comics (shojo manga) magazine published outside Asia. One edition was about 256 pages long and costs 5.95 Euros in Germany. The chief editor ...

until the service was terminated in 2017. Muse Communication later licensed the series alongside its sequel, with Muse Asia's YouTube Channel streaming the series in Southeast Asian territories on February 1, 2022. Discotek Media later rescued the license from Media Blasters and announced to release the series, alongside the OVA sequel, on Blu-ray in Winter 2023. The show's popularity later resulted in the production of the eight–part sequel OVA '' The King of Braves GaoGaiGar Final'', released from January 21, 2000, to March 21, 2003, and the spinpoff TV series '' Betterman'', which aired in TV Tokyo from April 1, 1999, to September 30, 1999.

Episodes

Video games

The series received a video game spinoff titled which was published by Takara and released for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

on April 8, 1999. The series also appeared in Takara's other video game series: 2000's ''Brave Saga 2'' for the PlayStation, 2001's ''Brave Saga New Astaria'' for the

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

and 2005's ''New Century Brave Wars'' 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 3 ...

. The series also made appearances in the ''Sunrise Eiyuutan'' series. GaoGaiGar has later appeared in the long running '' Super Robot Wars'' franchise, beginning with the ''

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 ...

''.

Novel

A novel spinoff titled was published by Media Factory on December 1, 2003, written by Yuichiro Takeda and illustrated by Takahiro Kimura and Seiichi Nakatani. The novel takes place after the events of the series and before the events of FINAL, focusing on Renais Kaldiff Shishioh, her origins and her fight against the criminal organization named BioNet.

References

* "Brave Goukin GaoFighter" (November 2006). ''Newtype USA''. p. 126.

External links

* *
The King of Braves GaoGaiGar pachinko game
{{DEFAULTSORT:King of Braves GaoGaiGar 1997 anime television series debuts Television series set in the future Adventure anime and manga Alien invasions in television Brave series MF Bunko J Muse Communication Sunrise (company) Super robot anime and manga Television series set in 2005 Television shows set in Tokyo Video games about mecha Super Robot Wars