Type: | tv series |
Director: | Toshifumi Kawase |
Music: | Kohei Tanaka |
Studio: | Sunrise |
Network: | TXN (TV Tokyo) |
First: | April 3, 1991 |
Last: | March 25, 1992 |
Episodes: | 51 |
Type: | ova |
Raijin-Oh Final | |
Director: | Toshifumi Kawase |
Music: | Kohei Tanaka |
Studio: | Sunrise |
First: | August 5, 1992 |
Last: | February 24, 1993 |
Episodes: | 4 |
Runtime: | 30 minutes |
is a 51 episode Japanese anime television series, and the first generation Eldran franchise funded by Tomy and produced by Sunrise. It aired in Japan from April 3, 1991 to March 25, 1992 and later be succeeded by the second generation of the Eldran series Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger. The story revolves around a group of elementary school children who are given command of a mecha named Raijin-Oh and their efforts to defend the Earth from the evil Jaaku (evil) Empire. There is also a four-episode OVA sequel in the Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger saga.
Anime Midstream, Inc. announced in December, 2008, that it acquired the license for and planned to release the anime series Matchless Raijin-Oh in the U.S. sometime in 2009 as their first anime release. The company began selling the first volume of the series direct from their website, as well as several other online retailers as of late December 2009. The first volume contained episodes 1–5. The second volume, containing episodes 6–10, was released in September 2010, and translated the title beginning with this volume (and current printings of the first volume are now also marketed under that title). The third volume was released on July 12, 2011, containing episodes 11–15. Each volume contains English and Japanese audio, as well as special features such as music videos, clean openings/closings, voice bloopers, and the third volume contains an audio commentary with several of the English voice actors. Two more volumes were released on June 30, 2012 for volume four and July 1, 2013 for volume five.
The rest of the series was released as a five-disc boxset; the Season 2 Collection, released on September 30, 2014. However, this set is in Japanese with English subtitles only.
Prior to Ganbaruger arriving to Earth, an evil organization which was named the comes to Earth with the intent to conquer and despoil it. From their fortress they launch a missile that will flood the world with, eggs of darkness which hatch into evil monsters called based on things that annoy or frustrate humans.
The "guardian of light" Eldran appears, an Ultraman-like entity who is sworn to protect the universe and Earth in particular then appears. Using the heroic robot Raijin-Oh, Eldran attempts to thwart the Evil Empire by preventing a missile from striking Earth. What happens instead is that the missile detonated against Eldran, throwing Raijin-Oh down to Earth. The robot crashes into Japan's Hinobori city a neighboring town to Aozora and Harukaze, elementary school Hinobori Academy.
Eldran must leave to continue protecting the Earth, so he leaves the duty of defeating the Evil Beasts to a 5th grade classroom full of children, in the school where he crashed. He entrusts the children with Raijin-Oh, granting each child a different role to perform in either operating or supporting Raijin-Oh. Eldran also transforms their school itself, so it can transform into a command center when Raijin-Oh is needed.Jin, Asuka and Kouji are chosen to lead Raijin-oh, but every day they have many amusing experiences in the school. Jin does not want to study, while his friends do and force him to do it by tickling him.
Ken-Oh (literally "Sword King") is a humanoid robot, piloted by Jin, the leader of the trio. It has a sword called the Ken-Oh Blade, which protrudes from the shield on Ken-Oh's back when needed. It forms the torso of the Raijin-Oh.
Hou-Oh (literally "Phoenix King") resembles a phoenix. It is piloted by Asuka, and is the fastest of the trio. Hou-Oh forms the arms and wings of Raijin-Oh.
Juu-Oh's (literally "Beast King") appearance is that of a lion, and is controlled by Kouji. It forms the legs of the Raijin-Oh and the lion head is used as a shield which contains the Raijin Sword. Juu-Oh is the strongest of the trio.
Raijin-Oh (literally thunder god king)is the first Eldran robot before Ganbaruger was the second. If the enemy becomes too powerful for the trio to handle individually, all three robots will combine, and they form into Raijin-Oh, a large humanoid robot with wings. In the early parts of the series, Raijin-Oh will trap its opponent with a beam from the Raijin Shield and finish it off with the Raijin Sword.
After the evil commander Belzeb (short for Beelzebub or Satan) was given a giant crystal robot named Jaaku Satan by Emperor Warza (literally "evil emperor") to assists the Jaaku Beasts in destroying Raijin-Oh, the Raijin-Oh soon realized that it was unable to defeat its enemies alone. At the brink of defeat, the Earth Defense Class managed to uncover one last robot, Bakuryu-Dragon bears the appearance of a dragon but can transform into a humanoid robot, Bakuryu-Oh.
Bakuryu-Dragon's humanoid form.As strong as Raijin-oh, its arsenal includes a cannon and a shield.
The Raijin-Oh and Bakuryu-Oh can further combine to form the ultimate robot, God Raijin-Oh. In the early parts of its appearance, God Raijin-Oh finishes off Jaaku Beasts with a cannon. Soon after the God Raijin-Oh Sword is discovered and is used since then to defeat Super Jaaku Beasts (Jaaku Satan combined with a powered-up Jaaku Beast).
Raijin-Oh was a tremendously popular series at the time of its release, spawning two similar sequels and OVAs. This led to waves of similar TV shows in the early 90s, where a child or children were made into the pilots of giant robots. This was a significant change of pace for the mecha genre, which usually pursued an older demographic and used teenage or adult characters as pilots.
Raijin-Oh success would inspire future shows like Gear Fighter Dendoh, Machine Robo Rescue, Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kidō Kyūkyū Keisatsu, and Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion. The spiritual successors contain many plot elements that directly similar to Raijin-Oh
Raijin-Oh was featured in the New Century Brave Wars game, along with several of the Yuusha series robots, also created by Sunrise at around the same time. The reason for this was likely to have been the similarities between the Yuusha series and the Eldran trilogy, that and both series were animated by Sunrise. The toy company which made the Yuusha series, Takara would later merge with Tomy and thus both companies had access to each other's toy ideas, hence why Raijin-Oh was part of the video game. However the other two Eldran series, Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger and Nekketsu Saikyo Go-Saurer were not included; in fact, a few of the Yuusha series robots were also left out of the game. Raijin-oh, Ganbaruger, and Gosaurer may have been included in the Brave Saga New Asteria game.
Raijin-Oh has appeared in several installments of Banpresto's Super Robot Wars series of games. It has appeared in Super Robot Wars GC and its remake, Super Robot Wars XO, Super Robot Wars NEO, and Super Robot Wars BX. This is in part due to the fact that the Super Robot Wars series largely concerned itself with '70s and '80s series at the time the game series began in the early '90s. As of 2009, Raijin-Oh is nearly 20 years old and therefore old enough to be nostalgic to adult gamers. It is not clear why Raijin-Oh had only appeared in the 3D Super Robot Wars games that appear on Nintendo consoles, as opposed to the more popular 2D games that appear on PlayStation systems and Nintendo handhelds until the release of BX.
Original airdate | Episode number | Title | |
---|---|---|---|
April 3, 1991 | 1 | "Raijin-Oh arrives!" | |
April 10, 1991 | 2 | "We are the Earth Defense Class" | |
April 17, 1991 | 3 | "Test is how big an annoyance!?" | |
April 24, 1991 | 4 | "Protect the field of flowers!" | |
May 1, 1991 | 5 | "Decision! Unrivaled dragon tail" | |
May 8, 1991 | 6 | "Survive the traffic war!" | |
May 15, 1991 | 7 | "Taking care of drunkard" | |
May 22, 1991 | 8 | "Absolute union of friendship!" | |
May 29, 1991 | 9 | "Blowing away moldy feelings" | |
June 5, 1991 | 10 | "The town where gasoline vanished" | |
June 12, 1991 | 11 | "Cookie's nightmare" | |
June 19, 1991 | 12 | "The pool is too hot" | |
June 26, 1991 | 13 | "Get back the baby! | " |
July 3, 1991 | 14 | "Final match! Baseball" | |
July 10, 1991 | 15 | "Fly at Mach 9!" | |
July 17, 1991 | 16 | "Crash course in returning the shot!" | |
July 24, 1991 | 17 | "Teacher is a Jaaku beast!?" | |
July 31, 1991 | 18 | "Presentation! Earth Defense Class' secrets" | |
August 7, 1991 | 19 | "Seaside School is in chaos! | " |
August 14, 1991 | 20 | "Maria has disappeared!" | |
August 21, 1991 | 21 | "The enemy is Raijin-Oh!?" | |
August 28, 1991 | 22 | "Departure! The invincible warrior" | |
September 4, 1991 | 23 | "Come forth! Absolutely Invincible Union | " |
September 11, 1991 | 24 | "Dog/cat panic plan!" | |
September 18, 1991 | 25 | "Getting the scoop! | " |
September 25, 1991 | 26 | "Great African battle!" | |
October 2, 1991 | 27 | "Defeat the earthquake" | |
October 9, 1991 | 28 | "Garuma's competition of fear! | " |
October 16, 1991 | 29 | "Appear! Super Jaaku beast" | |
October 23, 1991 | 30 | "Jaaku beast is a friend?" | |
October 30, 1991 | 31 | "Fierce battle! Channel war" | |
November 6, 1991 | 32 | "Adventure in the haunted house" | |
November 13, 1991 | 33 | "Terror! Dancing Jaaku beast" | |
November 20, 1991 | 34 | "Skiing is too cold" | |
November 27, 1991 | 35 | "Vanished Commander" | |
December 4, 1991 | 36 | "Jaaku beast is an ally of justice!?" | |
December 11, 1991 | 37 | "Graffiti revolt" | |
December 18, 1991 | 38 | "Psychic Jin" | |
December 25, 1991 | 39 | "The celebration is a troubling thing" | |
January 8, 1992 | 40 | "Belzeb's great approach" | |
January 15, 1992 | 41 | "Kidnapping of the absolutely invincible" | |
January 22, 1992 | 42 | "Protect the secret of the school!" | |
January 29, 1992 | 43 | "Super Giant Reiko Appears!" | |
February 5, 1992 | 44 | "Decisive micro-battle!" | |
February 12, 1992 | 45 | "Broadcast! Earth Defense Class facts | " |
February 19, 1992 | 46 | "Taida becomes an Earthling" | |
February 26, 1992 | 47 | "Adult to child chaos!?" | |
March 4, 1992 | 48 | "Transformation! Black Taida" | |
March 11, 1992 | 49 | "Appear! Jaaku Empire" | |
March 18, 1992 | 50 | "Defeat Emperor Warza!" | |
March 25, 1992 | 51 | "Our dream is absolutely invincible!" |
Original airdate | OVA number | Title | |
---|---|---|---|
August 26, 1992 | 1 | "5 Nen 3 Kum 3 Memorial Page! (Room 5 Class 3?)" | |
September 30, 1992 | 2 | "Epic War for First Love!" | |
December 16, 1992 | 3 | "Story of the Nobori Castle Robot of Light Daydream" | |
February 24, 1993 | 4 | "Everyone is the Earth Defense Class" |
The series first appeared on Sunrise Eiyuutan for the Dreamcast. Later on, it was included on Super Robot Wars GC for the GameCube and again in Super Robot Wars XO for the Xbox 360.
Raijin-Oh is again included as an entry in the Super Robot Wars series of video games, beginning with Super Robot Wars NEO for the Wii along with the other 3 Eldran robots.
It also appeared in New Century Brave Wars on the PlayStation 2 in Japan to establish the first official connection between the Eldran and Yuusha series, following the merger of Takara and Tomy.
It would later appear as one of the various Sunrise animated robots as a playable character in the RPG Battle of Sunrise, to celebrate the studio's 30th anniversary, released on the PlayStation 2.
There also exists a Game Boy fighting game published by Tomy in 1991, which has been translated into English through a fan-made patch.
Raijin-Oh, once again, is included in the Super Robot Wars series in Super Robot Wars OE and Super Robot Wars BX. BX is notable to be the first time Raijin-Oh appeared in a 2D Super Robot Wars game.