| Alt Name: | Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot |
| Genre: | Tokusatsu, Fantasy, Kaiju, Superhero, Super Robot, Kyodai Hero |
| Creator: | Mitsuteru Yokoyama |
| Based On: | Giant Robo by Mitsuteru Yokoyama |
| Developer: | Masaru Igami |
| Director: | Minoru Yamada |
| Country: | Japan |
| Language: | Japanese |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
| List Episodes: | Giant Robo (TV series)#Episode titles |
| Executive Producer: | Mitsuteru Yokoyama |
| Location: | Tokyo, Japan |
| Runtime: | 24 minutes |
| Company: | Toei Company |
| Channel: | Japan TV Asahi |
, also known as Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot in the United States,[1] is a manga and tokusatsu series created by Mitsuteru Yokoyama. It is similar to Yokoyama's Tetsujin 28-go (known as Gigantor in the U.S.), but Giant Robo has more elements of fantasy. The original 26-episode tokusatsu TV series, produced by Toei Company, aired on NET (later renamed TV Asahi) from October 11, 1967 to April 1, 1968.
Earth is invaded by an interstellar terrorist group, Big Fire (the Gargoyle Gang in the American version), led by Emperor Guillotine. Guillotine spends most of his time in a multicolored space ship hidden at the bottom of Earth's ocean, from which he issues his orders. The group has been capturing scientists to create an army of monsters to help them conquer Earth. A boy named Daisaku Kusama (Johnny Sokko in the American version) and a young Unicorn peacekeeping agent named Jūrō Minami (Jerry Mano in the American version) are shipwrecked on an island after their ship is attacked by the sea monster Dakolar and subsequently captured by Big Fire. They flee onto an elevator leading to a complex where a Pharaoh-like giant robot is being built by captive scientist Lucius Guardian, who gives Daisaku and Jūrō its control device. Guardian helps them escape before he is shot to death; before he dies, he triggers an atomic bomb which destroys the base. The radiation activates the robot, which now obeys only Daisaku. The boy is invited by Jūrō and his chief, Azuma, to join Unicorn and fight Big Fire with Giant Robo.
In the American version of the series, the Gargoyle Gang is an ambitious, but incompetent, terrorist group with a high mortality rate. They wear a combination of Soviet and Wehrmacht military uniforms, Central American guerrilla clothing and Italian designer sunglasses. The members of the gang all have explosive devices implanted in their bodies that are to be detonated instantly if they are captured.
In each episode, the Gargoyle Gang sends a monster to attack its enemies (the Japanese version's names are listed first, followed by the American version's names):
Guillotine is a blue-skinned alien who has tentacles extending from the bottom of his head. He wears a long robe, carries a staff with a white orb at one end and can grow to a great height, which he does only in the final episode of the series.
Guillotine leaves day-to-day matters in the hands of various commanders (again, the Japanese version's names are listed first, followed by the American version's names):
Giant Robo has a number of weapons, including finger missiles, a back missile, a bazooka cannon, radion eye beams, a flying-V missile, a flamethrower and electric wires.
The English-dubbed American version of the series directed by Reuben Guberman, was produced by American International Television. It was first broadcast in the United States in 1969 by AIP-TV and was in syndication through the early 1980s. It also aired during the early 1970s through the 1990s in Australia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, India, and various Southeast Asian and Latin American countries.
In 1970, stock footage from episodes 1, 2, 10, 17 and 26 were edited together and released by AIP-TV as a 100-minute made-for-TV film called Voyage Into Space.[1]
A hastily edited seven-minute highlight reel of Voyage Into Space was created for the Super 8 home movie market during the early 1970s by Ken Films.
Toei Video released 22 episodes of the series on Betamax and VHS for the Japanese market in 1981 and 1982 and later released the entire series on LaserDisc in Japan during the 1990s. It is also available on DVD in Japan.
In 1996, the Johnny Sokko version of the series was re-released through distribution by Orion Home Video and Streamline Pictures containing eight episodes in production order on four volumes (two episodes on each videocassette). Plans for further volumes were cancelled due to the parent company Orion Pictures being purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1997.
On March 26, 2013, Shout! Factory released the 26-episode, four-disc box set Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[3]
In February 2021, a remastered version of Voyage Into Space was released on Blu-ray by RoninFlix and Scorpion Releasing.[4]
Although the series was violent by 1960s American standards for children's programming, in Japan it was no more violent than other tokusatsu TV series airing at the time. Gunfights are a staple of each episode and the show's two child leads (Johnny Sokko and Mari Hanson) were frequently seen shooting with the other Unicorn agents. In one episode, Johnny and Mari are captured and tied to trees by Gargoyle and are within seconds of being executed by a firing squad when they are rescued by Unicorn agents. Nearly every Japanese anime exported to the United States during that period was edited for violence, but in Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, only a minimum of violence was removed. (At least one US TV station, WXON in Detroit, ran disclaimers before each show saying, "Remember, kids, Johnny Sokko is make-believe and the actors are just pretending.") In addition to dubbing American voice actors for the American version, many of the show's sound effects were remixed or re-recorded.
The following episode titles were transcribed from the on-screen title cards of the American version. They are in their original Japanese and American broadcast order, verified by previews for the next episode at the end of each one:
is an animated TV series written by Chiaki Konaka (Serial Experiments Lain, The Big O) and directed by Masahiko Murata (, Mazinkaiser). At the dawn of the 21st century, Earth is overrun by giant robots. Daisaku Kusama encounters the titular Robo in a ruin in Okinawa. Beckoned by forces he cannot understand, Daisaku is made to bond, body and spirit, with the ancient weapon and defend his homeland from the incoming evil.