Absolutely the worst movie.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It may have escaped other reviewers but ALL the characters of this show are take from other series.Giant Robo OF COURSE is JAIANTO ROBO, but also BIG FIRE himself is BABIL JUNIOR (residing in the ruins of the Babel Tower with his three guardians...the panther, Rokuros and Poseidon) and even Lord Alberto's psychic daughter...she's Sally the Witch from 'Maho Tsukai Sally' (a 'bewitched'-influenced jap cartoon show of the late 60s). Several of the Magnificen 10 were villains in a early animated show about an antediluvian teen awakening in the present and reactivating a giant mecha from the seabed (I just can't place the name of that series but I have seen it in my youth).All the references and homages of course work just for the Japanese and for the few (lucky?) countries which were flooded by the barrage of ALL the early Japanese cartoon series (I live in Italy and during the late 70s-early 80s we imported almost ALL of the anime which existed to that day...as a result the regular 30-ish male Italian has a passing knowledge of anime to rival that of a non-Japanese 'otaku'...limited to that peculiar period).Well that's it, search the web and find all of the in-jokes and special appearances that literally FILL the animated series.Last hint...director naka-joe's original character appeared of course in a boxing series but you have to take 25-30 years off his current appearance to find out 'where does he come from'.

WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS The Short Version-Giant Robo is one of the Greatest Anime Works ever.The Long Version-Giant Robo is a 90's Anime with a 70's Heart. Everything apart from the Story is Retro in some way, the Shizuma Drize-the Ultimate Enegy Source could be from the old Pulp Sci-Fi Magazines of the 40's. The Characters themselves are the set in the Good/Evil Archtypes of Star Wars and Japanese Shows such as 'Gigantor' (who also created the original Giant Robo Comic back in the 70's, which is more Gigantor.) Archtypes such as Young Boy with Special Responsibilities, Father Figure, Genius Scientist, Big Tough Guy who has little respect for the Young Boy etc, we've seen them all before.The Titlelar Robot-Giant Robo is a good example of Retro Designs, unlike the Giant Streamlined, sleek Piloted Robots of Go Nagi's oeuvre, with their Rocket Punches, and the gritty realism and more scientificly probable Robots from the 'Gundam' Series. GR looks like it was built in a factory with it's rivited together steel and muscular power, even better is that the Young Boy Daisaku controls Robo with his watch (again shades of Gigantor!)But with all these elements making GIANT ROBO seem like a cut 'n' paste effort, let me tell you-IT ISN'T! The Animation is mind blowing and an obviously hard working creative team, (The Final Episode no 7 took several years to complete and it shows.) The Story improves with each episode and makes us care for the Charecters, we like/hate them, feel sad when the Heroes die (which happens several times)all this makes for a defining animation point of the 90's. A True ClassicLOOK JUST WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Witness now the dawning of our tomorrow. Shining brighter than the daybreak of light is the brilliance of the Shizuma Drive. Our only reliable future of energy, which includes dependability in every home and the Earth's only answer to the waste of atomic and oil energy.But beware, for our shining future has also cast a dark shadow of revenge - BIG FIRE, an underworld organization, who's only goal is absolute world domination!Do not panic, for we are protected by the international police organization formed by the Experts of Justice, keeping our world safe from the evils of Big Fire. Amongst their ranks is the bravery of one boy who commands the mightiest robot of all - a young boy called Daisaku Kusama. ..The set up and intro may sound cheesy, but it's far from it. I am shocked - nay, stunned that it took me this long to get around to watching this series. Everyone should immediately drop whatever they are doing at this moment and watch Giant Robo. It's that cool.The more observant of the crowd might notice that GR looks a LOT like a series called Johnny Socko and his Flying Robot. Or one might dismiss it out of hand as just another "Giant Mecha fighting" series. Giant Robo is neither. It is very loosely based on that Johhny Socko - but very, very loosely, and it is SO much more than just Big Robots beating the hell out of each other.The plot revolves around the last sample of the prototype Shizuma drive, Big Fire's efforts to obtain the sample, and the Experts of Justice's attempts to keep it out of their hands. Along the way, villains turn out to be not quite what they appear to be, good guys die, the golden egg that is the Shizuma drive isnt quite the blessing that everyone expected - basically the plot undergoes so many twists and turns, that the view ends up is nowhere near where they started. It's like Babylon 5, but animated - and better.The animation is a cool retro look, like the animated Batman series. The music is a grand symphonic score, worthy of John Williams, the story - I cant get enough of it. It's a bit confusing when characters get introduced in waves - you cant tell 'em apart sometimes without a score card. But stick it out - this series is WELL worth the trouble.It's a nearly all ages film - no sex or nudity, plenty of violence - but it's all cartoon-ish, and way over the top (like a Jackie Chan movie). Some swearing, but not excessively so.

I fell in love with this series from the very first opening frames. After having seen countless animes with interchangeable characters, plots and visual styles, Giant Robo was an unexpected masterpiece. At first glance it looks retro, but nothing can be further from the truth. If anything, Giant Robo is ahead of its time (or perhaps one of the only ones on time). Highly stylized (to say the least), Giant Robo eeks every scrap of possibility out of its animated format. There is no attempt to recreate reality here. Characters have incredibly long, thin legs (and--in one case--nose), run faster than cars and have super powers way cooler than anything else I've ever seen. The soundtrack is outstanding in an original sort of way (opera!) and the pacing keeps viewers on the edge of their seats.My biggest gripe with the anime is with the characters. While I found many of them to be interesting and likable a few of the main characters were a bit too typical for my tastes The protagonist boy, female lead and the master villain all seemed to be characters I had seen before. However, nearly all of the secondary characters make up for this single flaw.What Giant Robo does have is great style and enough audacity to try something new. In each of the seven episodes there are numerous breaks from anime convention that set this anime apart from most others. Unfortunately, to go into details would spoil just about everything. Plot twists abound and Giant Robo does feature one of the most powerful endings I have ever seen.I could go on and on about this anime, but that would be pointless. If I haven't convinced you by now to see it, I'm not going to. And if you've already seen it, you'd just agree with me.Personally, it ranks as my second favorite anime (following the flawless Mononoke Hime).