| GoShogun | |
| 戦国魔神ゴーショーグン (Sengoku Majin GōShōgun) |
|
|---|---|
| Genre | Mecha |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Kunihiko Yuyama |
| Studio | Ashi Productions, Studio Z5 |
| Network | TV Tokyo |
| Original run | July 3, 1981 – December 28, 1981 |
| Episodes | 26 |
| Anime film | |
| Studio | Ashi Productions |
| Released | 24 April 1982 |
| Anime film | |
| The Time Étranger | |
| Directed by | Kunihiko Yuyama |
| Studio | Ashi Productions |
| Licensed by | Central Park Media |
| Released | 27 April 1985 |
| Runtime | 90 minutes |
GoShogun (戦国魔神ゴーショーグン Sengoku Majin GōShōgun) was a super robot anime series produced in 1981 and aired in 1982 in Japan. It is variously referred to in English as "Demon God of the War-Torn Land GoShogun", "Warring Demon God GoShogun", "Civil War Devil-God GoShogun" and "Macron 1".
Contents |
A meteor strikes the Earth and is found to emanate a powerful new energy called Beamler, which is used to power a battle robot, GoShogun, and a teleporting fortress, Good Thunder. The Docougar Crime Syndicate, led by crime lord Neo Neros, tried to steal the secret technology from Professor Sanada, the inventor of GoShogun. But when cornered by Docougar henchmen, the inventor committed suicide, dying rather than let them acquire the technology. His son Kenta is become Neo Neros next target, but he is saved by the crew aboard Good Thunder, who travels the world fighting Neo Neros' forces with GoShogun.
Eventually the son, Kenta, learns that he is actually an alien. In the end, Neo Neros' three officers side against him with the GoShogun crew. After he is defeated, Kenta takes GoShogun into space, back to his home planet.
In 1985, staff in the USA combined footage from GoShogun and Akū Dai Sakusen Srungle (Great Military Operation in Subspace Srungle or Mission Outer Space Srungle), a similar show produced by Kokusai Eiga-sha, to form Macron 1, which portrays the Srungle characters as being part of another branch of the organization fighting evil in a parallel universe. Taking two (or more) unrelated series and re-editing them to appear to take place in the same continuity was a somewhat common practice of the day for importing anime series to American television, as the number of episodes of a typical anime frequently fell short of the minimum number required for five-days-a-week syndication in the US market (65); besides Macron 1, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Robotech, and Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years were also stitched together in this manner. The combined series was produced and released in the United States by Saban, using the same voice cast as Carl Macek's Robotech adaptation.
The US version involves test pilot David Chance travelling into a parallel universe under the tyrannical control of an organization called GRIP, led by Dark Star. Chance's entrance into the other universe allows GRIP to send their forces to Earth, leaving Dark Star's cyborg henchman Orn to remain in control in the alternate universe. GRIP is opposed by the two teams of "Macron 1," the first led by Dr. Shegall and his team on Earth (from the GoShogun footage), while in the alternate universe Chance organizes a band of rebel warriors, Beta Command, to combat and overthrow Orn (from the Srungle footage). The Beta Command members were given much less screen time than the Earth team.
The western adaptation used heavily the "Miami Vice formula" introduced a year earlier, of incorporating contemporary music as background sound specially during the action scenes. Notable musical adaptations included "Beat It," "Shout," "Safety Dance," and "The Heat is On."
Around the same time frame as the US adaptation, in 1985, Saban translated and aired the series in several European countries as well. This version also used the title Macron 1, but did not incorporate any footage from Srungle and thus removed all references to Beta Command and the parallel-universe angle, making the international Macron 1 effectively a straight adaptation of GoShogun. In Italy it was broadcast under the name Gotriniton-Goshogun, il dio della guerra. In France a video of the first episodes was released under the name Fulgutor.
A surrealistic follow-up movie, known as The Time Étranger or Time Stranger was set forty years after GoShogun TV series. In it, Remy is rendered catatonic in a car crash and her friends gather at her bedside to try to lend her their strength. In a dream, they are all trapped inside of a city where it is ordained that in several days they will die, but they fight back and Remy manages to survive. This movie is the only form of GoShogun that has been seen by many American anime fans, as it is the only part to have been officially released on DVD there.