One of my all time favourites! It was between the late 70's or the early 80's. A special cartoon show from Japan came out of nowhere and quickly won the hearts of Arab children everywhere, that show was UFO Robot Grendizer.From the mind of Mazinger Z, Cutey Honey, Getter Robo and Devilman creator Go Nagai, comes a story that chronicles the tale of Duke Fleed, a young alien prince from a now destroyed alien planet who lands on planet Earth and landed in Mount Fuji, Japan. Wounded, he was rescued by Dr. Umon of The Space Science Lab. Taking up the name Daisuke Umon, he began working in a ranch near the Lab helping out Hikaru Makiba an ordinary girl who helps out in Shirakaba farm with her UFO obsessed father Danbi Makiba and her little brother Goro. Duke Freed wanted to live a peaceful life, but when he realised that the Vegans, the same alien force that conquered his home planet have selected Earth as their next target, he is forced to use Grendizer, a robot built on planet Freed and which helped escape from his home planet to fight against the Vegan invasion. He isn't alone in his battle, joining him is Mazinger Z's Kouji Kabuto who unfortunately doesn't use Mazinger in this show, Hikaru joins in the fight and near the end he is joined by his long lost sister Maria Freed.If you're expecting this to be another campy Go Nagai super robot show, well prepare to be surprised, this 72 episode anime made in 1975 has a lot of great drama, wonderful character development and beautiful music score especially the ones used to give the perfect atmosphere for a tragic scene which occurs a lot in the show. One of the many reasons why Grendizer became such an enormous hit in Arabic speaking countries was because it was the first "Serious" cartoon Arabs have ever seen and something different to other cartoons that were shown at that time like Disney, Looney Toons, Popeye and Tom & Jerry.UFO Robot Grendizer could be seen as an Anti-War cartoon as it shows the horrors of wars (Not as shocking as Gundam shows or Ideon)as Duke Fleed hates war, fighting, and destruction.Mazinger Z and Mazinkaiser fans would be disappointed that Kouji isn't using Mazinger Z in his battle but he is still an important character, him and Daisuke started on the wrong foot but then became a reliable friend and has helped out Daisuke/Duke when he needed help. Hikaru started out as a usual damsel in distress type of role but with more character but then she becomes a member of the team and gets her own ship and is quite the fighter. Maria, Duke's lost sister appears in the later half of the show then developed feelings for Kouji and was also hinted that he became attracted to her as well. This become a running gag in many Super Robot Wars games as well in the Dynamic Heroes e-click manga that Maria and main female Mazinger Z character and Diana A pilot Sayaka Yumi are rivals for Kouji's attention.The other characters are great Umon and his crew at the centre serve as the men behind the gadgets as well as Umon plays something as a father figure to Daisuke. Hikaru's father Danbi serves as a great comic relief of the show, who started from UFO freak to a caring father who would do anything to save his family while still being the comic relief.The Vegan empire had a lot of great villains like Lord Vega who is your usual Galactic dictator, but not all of them are pure evil, some do it because of their loyalty to their empire like General Zuril, while were forced to fight believing that Grendizer was an evil threat to their planet like in the episode when Vegan assigned a group of young Vegans mostly children who were trained to be fight and who were learnt to believe from Vega that Grendizer was an evil force bent on destroying the Galaxy. While did because they were either brainwashed or doing it to save their planets from an Vegan attack.Although not as popular in Japan as Go Nagai's other Super Robot classics Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger and Getter Robo, Grendizer is often credited as one of the major contributors to popularising Anime in Central Europe (particularly in France and Italy) where it was called Goldrake. I hear it also holds a strong following in the Quebec part of Canada, Russia and Malta. 26 episodes of the anime were shown on American TV as part of the multi-mecha show Force Five. However, it wasn't a big success in the US.With all the remakes of Go Nagai works that came out recently, I've been waiting forever for a Grendizer remake. Well, I guess the original anime is satisfying enough.This anime is a MUST SEE for Mecha, anime and cartoon fans.

Note: This review also concerns the following "Goldrake" feature films - GOLDRAKE L'INVINCIBILE, GOLDRAKE ADDIO! and MAZINGA VS. GOLDRAKE.I grew up watching the original series – and a handful of similar anime – on Italian TV; consequently, re-acquainting myself with it on DVD via an Italian 5-Disc Set proved extremely nostalgic...but, at the same time, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it generally held up after all these years! Admittedly, I'm averse to today's children's programmes – from what little crosses my path while TV zapping, the style of animation itself has largely gone to the dogs: even if the "Goldrake" series dates from the mid-1970s, the detail is incredible – with beautiful colors, imaginative settings and an action-packed narrative. The four films (compiled expressly for Italian consumption where Goldrake was, at the time, a phenomenon) package together a number of episodes, so that they feature a battle (designating the climax of each programme) every 20 minutes or so. Characterization is not exactly one-note, but certainly clearly-defined (especially the villains); it was also interesting to note the changes made to characters, robots, vehicles and settings throughout the films which in the series was, obviously, done more gradually. The comic relief is the most dated and childish aspect about it, though this is thankfully downplayed in the last 2 films.The third film is the longest and best – with the villains more engrossed in doing in one another, and which includes scenes that never made it into the series as originally broadcast on Italian TV! The fourth, then, was exhibited in the widescreen format: it brings together a plethora of robots/mutants (Devilman, Mazinga Z, Mazinger, Getta Robot) and villains – but results in being extremely muddled in development (and disjointed in effect) by trying to cram too much in a mere 75 minutes! Other DVDs of these type of animated series – such as Mazinga Z and Mazinger (the latter being a continuation of the former, and both among my personal favorites) – are available for rental and I'd love to check them out eventually...

There are at least two United States versions of this series. One (the superior in my opinion) was part of Jim Terry's Force Five, a show composed of five different animated series from Japan. Another is a feature-length "movie" composed of four or five of the show's pivotal episodes spliced together. The Force Five version went all the way through the original series while the "movie" only covers the first "boss villain's" introduction and defeat.Either way you get it, Grandizer is a fun show. The hero, Duke Fleed (aka Orion Quest) is an experienced pilot right off the bat so they can skip the tedious training and such that seems to be the mainstay of most super and giant robot shows. Grandizer is also interesting in that he doesn't triumph because he is much more powerful than his foes (though he is powerful), he wins because he's *better* than they are.Duke himself is an alien, physically superior to humans. Also, he is the reluctant hero type. However, he knows it was his fault the Vegan empire came to Earth and it's his responsibility to fight them. He only hesitates for the briefest of moments before unearthing Grandizer and heading into combat once more. His angst is there but not the alpha and omega of his character. Contrast this to shows like Evangelion, in which the characters' angst was all there was to them.The supporting cast, including Koji Kabuto from "Mazinger Z", come off well with the exception of a midget cowboy apparently put in just to make fun of Americans. Fortunately, he doesn't do much. It's a lot of fun to see how Duke will prove himself superior to Koji from episode to episode. It's as if Go Nagai, creator of both "Grandizer" and "Mazinger Z", didn't really like Koji and wanted to humiliate him at every opportunity.If you can find the "movie" version, pick it up. It's a lot of fun especially if you enjoy "old-school" super robots. The Force Five version is more satisfying, if you can get ahold of it. I am unaware of any subtitled in English versions of the original Japanese unless you can track down a fan sub.

Cult series across France, Belgium, Italy, Quebec, as well as some part of the Arabic world, like Tunisia. The show was a huge hit for children growing in the late 70s or early 80s. Adults may find it somewhat repetitive, unless they have an interest for anime and mangas. It has been designed with a target audience of 5 and 6 y.o. boys in mind.Crappy English tranlastions can account for part of its lack of success in the English-speak world. One UK translation is supposed to be correct, more respectful of the original.A web search should reveal more than a few fan sites. The series ran on French tv (FR2, FR3 and TVA) from 1978 to 1989.A lot more imaginative than what most shows offer today--although its not a family show, just a children show. ;-)))