Ganbare!! Robocon

Summary

Ganbare!! Robocon (がんばれ!!ロボコン, Ganbare!! Robokon, Do Your Best!! Robocon) is a Japanese tokusatsu comedy family robot television series created by Shotaro Ishinomori and produced by Toei. It ran from October 4, 1974, to March 25, 1977, on NET TV.[1]

Ganbare!! Robocon
GenreTokusatsu
Comedy
Created byShotaro Ishinomori
Developed byShozo Uehara
Directed byAtsuo Okunaka
ComposerShunsuke Kikuchi
Country of originJapan
No. of episodes118
Production
Production companiesToei Company
Ishimori Productions
Original release
NetworkNET TV
ReleaseOctober 4, 1974 (1974-10-04) –
March 25, 1977 (1977-03-25)
Moero!! Robocon
GenreTokusatsu
Comedy
Created byShotaro Ishinomori
Developed bySatoru Nishizono
Directed byTaro Sakamoto
ComposerTakanori Arisawa
Country of originJapan
No. of episodes51
Production
Running time24-25 minutes (per episode)
Production companiesToei Company
Ishimori Productions
Original release
NetworkTV Asahi
ReleaseJanuary 31, 1999 (1999-01-31) –
January 23, 2000 (2000-01-23)
This train on the Senseki Line, commissioned in honor of Shotaro Ishinomori, features Robocon prominently.

Moero!! Robocon (燃えろ!!ロボコン, Moero!! Robokon, Burn!! Robocon) ran from January 31, 1999 (a week after the finale of Tetsuwan Tantei Robotack) to January 23, 2000 (a week before the premiere of Kamen Rider Kuuga).[2] This series joined Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive.

Moero!! Robocon vs. Ganbare!! Robocon (燃えろ!!ロボコンVSがんばれ!!ロボコン, Moero!! Robokon tai Ganbare!! Robokon) December 10, 1999, Toei released the direct to video movie where the Robocon of the 90s meets the original Robocon from the 70s.

A new film Ganbareiwa!! Robocon: Oo-la-la! Lovable Soupless Tantanmen!! Chapter (がんばれいわ!!ロボコン ウララ〜!恋する汁なしタンタンメン!!の巻, Ganbareiwa!! Robokon: Urara~! Koi Suru Shiru-Nashi Tantanmen!! no Maki) was released theatrically on July 31, 2020. It is paired with the anime films Jintai no Survival and Sprin' Pan Mae e Susumō!.[3][4]

Plot edit

Robocon is a G-class robot from the first generation of robot school. He came to the human world for practical training with his friends from robotics school. As a result of the lottery, Robocon will be staying at the Kurihara family in Otara City. Each day's actions are graded by Mr. Robot Gantz-Sensei, the homeroom teacher at the robot school, and those who score 100 points receive a heart mark. If you collect 10 heart marks, you can graduate from robot school as an A-class robot. The story depicts a robot contestant who strives to become an A-class robot with his "robo guts" even though he gets into various troubles every time.

Characters edit

Robots edit

 
Robocon and Gantsu Sensei, with the 2nd class robots in Moero!! Robocon

Note: The characters listed are from both the original series and the 1999 series, Moero!! Robocon.

  • Robocon: A robot who lives amongst humans and aids them as part of his studies at Robot Academy. However, Robocon is a screw-up and is afraid of cockroaches. He can transform into the Robocon Car.
  • Gantsu Sensei: The robot teacher of Robot Academy who built all his student robots, who he accesses via the Scoring Connecter to check their "study" of the week.
  • Robina: A ballerina robot and Robocon's love interest. Her mission is to attend ballet class. In the 1999 reboot, she is a cupid robot, and her mission is to mediate between men and women with "Love Love Arrow" and "Tokimeki Harp". Unlike the other robots, her appearance is almost the same as a human being. She and Gantsu are the only other robot characters from the original series who appear in the reboot.
  • Robopu: A robot with a teapot for a head.
  • Roboinu: A dog-like robot who wears a bucket on his head.
  • Robopecha: A medic robot with a medical needle in place of his right hand.
  • Robogari: A teacher robot with a lightbulb-shaped head. He always gets a perfect score, which annoys Robocon.
  • Roboton: A construction robot with a hammer for a face.
  • Robodoro: A frog robot.
  • Robosho: A firefighter robot.
  • Robopar: A robot who often falls apart when distressed.
  • Robokui: A chef robot shaped like an egg.
  • Robocar: A car robot that resembles a giant shoe.
  • Robochan: A baby robot.
  • Robomero: A girl robot.
  • Robodeki: A genius robot.
  • Robopeke: A kind robot.
  • Robopin: A fortune teller robot.
  • Roboriki: A gorilla-like muscular robot
  • Robochoi:
  • Robomecha:

Characters edit

Robots (1999 series) edit

  • Robobin: A snail-like delivery robot who is normal of leisure until he transforms into bike-mode, becoming fast yet impulsive. He always makes sure his deliveries get there on time and takes his job very seriously. Unfortunately, Robocon seems to always be there to mess things up for him somehow getting him a low score in the end.
  • Robo-P: A policewoman robot who likes to whistle. She has a huge crush on Robocon and is usually distracted from her duties because of it.
  • Robogeta: Though a weather forecasting robot, his forecast rarely proves right. What he does is throw his slipper into the air and judges the weather from the position it lands in. He always scores low because of this. He later makes friends with Roboboss as the bullies to Robocon.
  • Robokero: A frog-karaoke robot. He always tries to improve the mood with singing and believes that songs are a good way of cheering people up. He scores decently, but what he does usually isn't sufficient enough to earn a perfect score.
  • Robomogu: An egg-shaped chef robot who works in a restaurant and serves people delicious food. He's friendly and sociable, but takes his cooking very seriously. His appearance is based on Robokui from the original series.
  • Robodigi: Robodigi is a robot with a large monitor like head with two number digits as eyes (his neutral eyes is the number eight and the line in the middle moves to show sadness/anger) He always speaks politely and is a know it all. He works in a laboratory helping solve complex problems.
  • Roboboss: He works at a construction site and is physically the most powerful robot in his class. Rash and impulsive, he is always looking for ways to get a perfect score. And once that gets too hard he tries to find ways to ruin everyone else's.

Cast edit

  • Shintaro Oyama (大山 新太郎, Ōyama Shintarō): Shigehisa Ōno (大野 しげひさ, Ōno Shigehisa)
  • Hatsue Oyama (大山 初江, Ōyama Hatsue): Midori Katō (加藤 みどり, Katō Midori)
  • Hajime Oyama (大山 はじめ, Ōyama Hajime): Yoshikazu Yamada (山田 芳一, Yamada Yoshikazu)
  • Midori Oyama (大山 みどり, Ōyama Midori): Mayumi Sakuma (佐久間 真由美, Sakuma Mayumi)
  • Makoto Oyama (大山 まこと, Ōyama Makoto): Nobuyoshi Fukuda (福田 信義, Fukuda Nobuyoshi)
  • Robin (ロビン, Robin): Kaho Shimada (島田 歌穂, Shimada Kaho)
  • Yukari Yamamoto (山本 ゆかり, Yamamoto Yukari): Yukari Yamamoto (山本 由香利, Yamamoto Yukari)
  • Officer Machida (町田巡査, Machida Junsa): Tōru Yuri (由利 徹, Yuri Tōru)
  • Taro Ogawa (小川 太郎, Ogawa Tarō): Masahiro Sumiyoshi (住吉 正博, Sumiyoshi Masahiro)
  • Yoshiko Ogawa (小川 よし子, Ogawa Yoshiko): Miyuki Ueda (上田 みゆき, Ueda Miyuki)
  • Mayumi Ogawa (小川 まゆみ, Ogawa Mayumi): Yukiko Ebina (蝦名 由紀子, Ebina Yukiko)
  • Susumu Ogawa (小川 すすむ, Ogawa Susumu): Makoto Iida (飯田 誠, Iida Makoto)
  • Mitsuko Kurihara (栗原 光子, Kurihara Mitsuko): Mie (未唯, )
  • Momoko Kurihara (栗原 モモコ, Kurihara Momoko): Saori Nara (奈良 沙緒理, Nara Saori)
  • Osamu Kurihara (栗原 オサム, Kurihara Osamu): Keisuke Mishima (三嶋 啓介, Mishima Keisuke)
  • Jun Kurihara (栗原 ジュン, Kurihara Jun): Jōtarō Koike (小池 城太朗, Koike Jōtarō)
  • Gotaro Kurihara (栗原 豪太郎, Kurihara Gōtarō): Ikkei Watanabe (渡辺 いっけい, Watanabe Ikkei)
  • Robina (ロビーナ, Robīna): Natsuki Katō (加藤 夏希, Katō Natsuki)

Voice Cast edit

  • Robocon (ロボコン, Robokon): Keiko Yamamoto (山本 圭子, Yamamoto Keiko)
  • Robocon (ロボコン, Robokon): Kazue Ikura (伊倉 一恵, Ikura Kazue)
  • Gantz-sensei (ガンツ先生, Gantsu-Sensei): Keiichi Noda (野田 圭一, Noda Keiichi)
  • Robogari (ロボガリ, Robogari): Sachiko Chijimatsu (千々松 幸子, Chijimatsu Sachiko)
  • Robopar (ロボパー, Robopā): Kōji Yada (矢田 耕司, Yada Kouji)
  • Robo Mecha (ロボメカ, Robomeka): Kōji Yada (矢田 耕司, Yada Kouji)
  • Robowal/Robopu/
  • Robopin (ロボピン, Robopin): Ichirō Nagai
  • Robodoro/Roboton: Kenichi Ogata
  • Roboton (ロボトン, Roboton): Shunji Yamada
  • Robosho/Robokiwi/Robochoi: Sanji Hase
  • Roboton/Robogaki/Robogera: Osamu Katō
  • Robopecha/Robopyon: Kazuko Sawada
  • Robowal/Robocar: Yonehiko Kitagawa
  • Robodeki: Akira Kamiya
  • Robomero: Junko Hori
  • Roboinu: Kaneta Kimotsuki/Shun Yashiro
  • Roboriki: Hiroshi Masuoka
  • Robopeka: Isamu Tanonaka
  • Robo-chan (ロボチャン, Robo-chan): Kazuko Sugiyama (杉山 佳寿子, Sugiyama Kazuko)
  • Robobin (ロボビン, Robobin): Tomokazu Seki (関 智一, Seki Tomokazu)
  • Robo-P (ロボピー, Robopī): Keiko Han (潘 恵子, Han Keiko)
  • Robogeta (ロボゲタ, Robogeta): Kaneta Kimotsuki (肝付 兼太, Kimotsuki Kaneta)
  • Robokero (ロボケロ, Robokero): Daisuke Sakaguchi (阪口 大助, Sakaguchi Daisuke)
  • Robomogu (ロボモグ, Robomogu): Kōji Yusa (遊佐 浩二, Yusa Kōji)
  • Roboboss (ロボボス, Robobosu): Kazuki Yao (矢尾 一樹, Yao Kazuki)
  • Roboid (ロボイド, Roboido): Hideyuki Hori (堀 秀行, Hori Hideyuki)
  • Robogasha (ロボガシャ, Robogasha): Yutaka Asukai (飛鳥井 豊, Asukai Yutaka)
  • Robopachi (ロボパチ, Robopachi): Kappei Yamaguchi (山口 勝平, Yamaguchi Kappei)
  • Robopuru (ロボプル, Robopuru): Izumi Ōgami (大神 いずみ, Ōgami izumi)

Episodes edit

  1. A Big Hit!! Robo-Guts Fully Unleashed (大当り!! ロボ根性全開, Ōatari!! Robo konjō zenkai)
  2. The First Usage (はじめてのおつかい, Hajimetenōtsukai)
  3. Big Crisis!! I'm Being Dismantled (大ピンチ!! オイラ解体, Dai pinchi!! Oira kaitai)
  4. Perfect! The Devil that Repairs Anything (絶好調! 何でも修理魔, Zekkōchō! Nani demo shūri ma)

Theme Songs edit

All songs were sung by Ichirou Mizuki and composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi.

  • OP 1: Ganbare Robocon, written by Shotaro Ishinomori
  • OP 2: Oira Robocon Robotto dai! (おいらロボコンロボットだい!) by Shotaro Ishinomori
  • ED 1: Robocon, Best in the Robot World (ロボコン・ロボット世界一, Robokon Robotto Sekaiichi) written by Saburō Yatsude
  • ED 2: Robocon Gattsurakon (ロボコンガッツラコン) by Saburō Yatsude
  • Summer ED: Robocon Ondo (ロボコン音頭) by Saburō Yatsude
  • Winter ED: Run! Robocon Athletic Meet (走れ!!ロボコン運動会, Hashire! Robokon Undōkai) by Shotaro Ishinomori

References edit

  1. ^ がんばれ!!ロボコン(1974~1977). allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  2. ^ 燃えろ!!ロボコン(1999~2000). allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  3. ^ "Ganbareiwa!! Robocon Robot Comedy Film Reveals Cast".
  4. ^ "'Sprin' Pan Let's go forward!' Anime Short Screens Alongside Jintai no Survival!/Robocon Double Bill".