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Gear Fighter Dendoh | |
GEAR戦士電童 (Gear Faitā Dendoh) | |
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Genre | Mecha, Action, Drama |
Created by | Hajime Yatate |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Mitsuo Fukuda |
Produced by | Kazunori Takagi (Yomiko Advertising) Naotake Furusato (Sunrise) Naotake Goshima (TV Tokyo) |
Written by | Chiaki Morosawa |
Music by | Toshihiko Sahashi |
Studio | Sunrise |
Original network | TV Tokyo |
Original run | October 4, 2000 – June 27, 2001 |
Episodes | 38 |
Gear Fighter Dendoh (GEAR戦士電童, Gia Faitā Dendō) is a Japanese robot anime television series produced by TV Tokyo, Yomiko Advertising and Sunrise. It was directed by Mitsuo Fukuda, with Chiaki Morosawa handling series scripts, Hirokazu Hisayuki designing the characters and monsters, Satoshi Shigeta serving as mechanical animation director and Toshihiko Sahashi composing the music. The series ran for 38 episodes, from October 4, 2000 to June 27, 2001, on the TV Tokyo network and its affiliates.
The series features many of the production staff and main cast members that worked on the Future GPX Cyber Formula series that concluded in 2000, including Fukuda, Hisayuki, Morosawa, and Shigeta, and many of them went on to participate in the later Mobile Suit Gundam SEED series as well. The production period of the anime was a transitional period in which the production environment for animated works was shifting from the traditional cel coloring and film compositing to coloring and editing on computers, and the percentage of computer production increased in the latter half of the series. Although 3D computer graphics with cel shading were used, they were limited to a small portion of stock shots due to the limited processing power of computers at the time, lack of technical expertise, and budgetary constraints.
One day, a shiny object crashed from outer space and burst into flames, from where six colored lights flew away. On the opposite shore, a girl with blue hair staggered along the beach. She had run out of strength and collapsed, but there were two mobile terminals beside her, and a figure came to her aid.
17 years later, the giant fortress "Spiral Castle" of Galfa, a mechanical life form that plans to exterminate the human race, flies to the moon one day. From the fortress, the "mecha-beasts," robots under its command, begin their march toward the earth. Hokuto Kusanagi, a boy who has moved to Hoshimi Town, meets Ginga Izumo, a boy practicing kenpō in the schoolyard of his elementary school. Soon after that, a number of mecha-beasts, which have taken up interceptor satellites, fly in and begin attacking the town. Worried about their families, they hurry home, but on the way they find a lost little girl crying and try to save her. Just as a mecha-beast sets its sights on them and attacks, a giant blue robot breaks through the floor and appears, welcoming the startled pair into its chest cockpit. It is the "Gear Fighter Dendoh," the hope of mankind.
Seventeen years before the events of the series, Emperor Galfa was a biological manager program from planet Alktos that sought to destroy human life due to how they can and have easily destroyed nature. In an effort to save the environment from human intervention, he created a vast empire of machines to exterminate human life and named the empire after himself. In the final episode Galfa reveals his true form as a six headed mechanical dragon, possibly a reference to The Beast From The Sea or Orochi. After conquering the planet he created a large moon-sized satellite resembling the Death Star that emits an energy barrier that shields the entire planet and not only houses all of his forces, but also is armed with a gravitational cannon that can destroy planets.
# | Title | Directed by | Written by | Storyboarded by | Original air date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "The First Day - Dendoh Launches -" Transliteration: "Hajimari no hi ― Dendō shutsugeki ―" (Japanese: 始まりの日―電童出撃―) | Masakazu Obara | Sukehiro Tomita | Masakazu Obara | 4 October 2000 |
2 | "It Appears! Unicorn Drill" Transliteration: "Shutsugen! Yunikōndoriru" (Japanese: 出現!ユニコーンドリル) | Tetsuya Watanabe | Sukehiro Tomita | Masamitsu Hidaka | 11 October 2000 |
3 | "Knight Ogre Attacks!" Transliteration: "Naito Ōga raishū!" (Japanese: 騎士凰牙 来襲!) | Masahiro Hosoda | Masaharu Amiya | Keisaku Asuka | 18 October 2000 |
4 | "The Trembling Spiral Castle" Transliteration: "Senritsu no rasen-jō" (Japanese: 戦慄の螺旋城) | Yasuhiro Minami | Hiroyuki Yoshino | Yasuhiro Minami | 25 October 2000 |
5 | "Explosion! Viper Whip" Transliteration: "Sakuretsu! Baipā Wippu" (Japanese: 炸裂!バイパーウィップ) | Masakazu Obara | Yasuko Kobayashi | Masakazu Obara | 1 November 2000 |
6 | "Leo Circle's Courage" Transliteration: "Reo Sākuru no yūki" (Japanese: レオサークルの勇気) | Masahiro Hosoda | Yasuko Kobayashi | Susumu Yamaguchi | 8 November 2000 |
7 | "Assault! Bull Horn" Transliteration: "Totsugeki! Buruhōn" (Japanese: 突撃!ブルホーン) | Tetsuya Watanabe | Masaharu Amiya | Tetsuya Watanabe | 15 November 2000 |
8 | "A New Companion" Transliteration: "Atarashī nakama" (Japanese: 新しい仲間) | Yasuhiro Minami | Hiroyuki Yoshino | Yasuhiro Minami | 22 November 2000 |
9 | "The Missing Data Weapons" Transliteration: "Kieta Dēta Wepon" (Japanese: 消えたデータウェポン) | Shigeki Takagi | Masaharu Amiya | Eiji Yamanaka | 29 November 2000 |
10 | "Zero Seconds Before Dendoh's Destruction" Transliteration: "Dendō hakai 0-byō mae" (Japanese: 電童破壊0秒前) | Manabu Ono | Hiroyuki Yoshino | Masamitsu Hidaka | 6 December 2000 |
11 | "Decisive Match! Dendoh vs. Ogre" Transliteration: "Kessen! Dendō tai Ōga" (Japanese: 決戦!電童対凰牙) | Masakazu Obara | Yasuko Kobayashi | Susumu Yamaguchi | 13 December 2000 |
12 | "Omen of Crisis" Transliteration: "Kiki no yokan" (Japanese: 危機の予感) | Masahiro Hosoda | Chiaki Morosawa | Masahiro Hosoda | 20 December 2000 |
13 | "Ginga's Father Comes Home" Transliteration: "Ginga no chichi, kaeru" (Japanese: 銀河の父、帰る) | Shigeki Takagi | Chiaki Morosawa | Masamitsu Hidaka | 27 December 2000 |
14 | "No Power!" Transliteration: "Denki ga nai!" (Japanese: 電気がない!) | Yasuhiro Minami | Hiroyuki Yoshino | Yasuhiro Minami | 10 January 2001 |
15 | "Ghost Story! The Data Weapons in School" Transliteration: "Kaidan! Gakkō no Dēta Wepon" (Japanese: 怪談!学校のデータウェポン) | Manabu Ono | Shōji Tonoike | Yū Kō | 17 January 2001 |
16 | "The Demon from the Moon" Transliteration: "Tsuki no akuma" (Japanese: 月の悪魔) | Naoki Hishikawa | Yasuko Kobayashi | Naoki Hishikawa | 24 January 2001 |
17 | "Lagou's Teeth" Transliteration: "Ragō no kiba" (Japanese: ラゴウの牙) | Shigeki Awai | Shōji Tonoike | Gorō Taniguchi | 31 January 2001 |
18 | "8000 Meter Deep Battle" Transliteration: "Shindo 8000 M no tatakai" (Japanese: 深度8000Mの戦い) | Yasuhiro Minami | Hiroyuki Yoshino | Mitsuo Fukuda Yasuhiro Minami | 7 February 2001 |
19 | "Resurrected Life" Transliteration: "Yomigaeru inochi" (Japanese: よみがえる命) | Masakazu Obara | Hiroyuki Yoshino | Masakazu Obara | 14 February 2001 |
20 | "Burn Up, Ginga!" Transliteration: "Moero! Ginga!!" (Japanese: 燃えろ!銀河!!) | Shigeki Takagi | Masaharu Amiya | Yū Kō | 21 February 2001 |
21 | "Revived Black Knight!" Transliteration: "Kuro kishi fukkatsu!" (Japanese: 黒騎士復活!) | Naoki Hishikawa | Yasuko Kobayashi | Naoki Hishikawa | 28 February 2001 |
22 | "Mother's Secret" Transliteration: "Haha no himitsu" (Japanese: 母の秘密) | Manabu Ono | Shōji Tonoike | Manabu Ono | 7 March 2001 |
23 | "Locked Memories" Transliteration: "Tozasareta kioku" (Japanese: 閉ざされた記憶) | Yasuhiro Minami | Chiaki Morosawa | Mitsuo Fukuda Shigeki Takagi Yasuhiro Minami | 14 March 2001 |
24 | "Long Night" Transliteration: "Nagai yoru" (Japanese: 長い夜) | Hiroshi Kawashima | Shōji Tonoike | Shigeki Takagi Masakazu Obara | 21 March 2001 |
25 | "In Midst of Flames" Transliteration: "Honō no naka de" (Japanese: 炎の中で) | Masakazu Obara | Masaharu Amiya | Susumu Yamaguchi | 28 March 2001 |
26 | "The Day Spiral Castle Falls" Transliteration: "Rasen-jō no ochiru hi" (Japanese: 螺旋城の落ちる日) | Shigeki Takagi | Hiroyuki Yoshino | Masamitsu Hidaka | 4 April 2001 |
27 | "Stealthy Shadow" Transliteration: "Shinobi yoru kage" (Japanese: 忍びよる影) | Naoki Hishikawa Masahiro Takada | Yasuko Kobayashi | Hiroshi Kawashima | 11 April 2001 |
28 | "Subaru's Challenge" Transliteration: "Subaru no chōsen" (Japanese: スバルの挑戦) | Manabu Ono | Masaharu Amiya | Manabu Ono Mitsuo Fukuda | 18 April 2001 |
29 | "Hokuto in Danger!" Transliteration: "Hokuto no kiki!" (Japanese: 北斗の危機!) | Yasuhiro Minami | Shōji Tonoike | Naoki Hishikawa Yasuhiro Minami | 25 April 2001 |
30 | "The Greatest Rival!" Transliteration: "Saidai no teki!" (Japanese: 最大の敵!) | Shigeki Takagi | Hiroyuki Yoshino | Mitsuo Fukuda Masamitsu Hidaka | 2 May 2001 |
31 | "Hokuto's Cries, Ginga's Tears" Transliteration: "Hokuto no sakebi, ginga no namida" (Japanese: 北斗の叫び、銀河の涙) | Masakazu Obara | Hiroyuki Yoshino | Masakazu Obara Susumu Yamaguchi | 9 May 2001 |
32 | "Fly, Subaru!" Transliteration: "Tobe! Subaru!" (Japanese: 飛べ!スバル!) | Naoki Hishikawa Masahiro Takada | Tomoya Asano | Naoki Hishikawa | 16 May 2001 |
33 | "GEAR's Destruction!" Transliteration: "GEAR kaimetsu!" (Japanese: GEAR壊滅!) | Manabu Ono | Shōji Tonoike | Manabu Ono Mitsuo Fukuda | 23 May 2001 |
34 | "Zero Attack!" Transliteration: "Zero atakku!!" (Japanese: ゼロ・アタック!!) | Yasuhiro Minami | Noboru Kimura | Manabu Ono Shigeki Takagi | 30 May 2001 |
35 | "Takeoff to Space!" Transliteration: "Hasshin! Sora e" (Japanese: 発進!宇宙へ) | Shigeki Takagi | Tomoya Asano | Yasuhiro Minami Naoki Hishikawa Mitsuo Fukuda | 6 June 2001 |
36 | "Sea of Storms" Transliteration: "Arashi no umi" (Japanese: 嵐の海) | Masakazu Obara | Noboru Kimura | Masakazu Obara Mitsuo Fukuda Yasuhiro Minami | 13 June 2001 |
37 | "The Truth About Arktos" Transliteration: "Arukutosu no shinjitsu" (Japanese: アルクトスの真実) | Naoki Hishikawa Masahiro Takada | Hiroyuki Yoshino | Naoki Hishikawa Susumu Yamaguchi | 20 June 2001 |
38 | "The Legend of the Stars - And the Day of Beginnings -" Transliteration: "Hoshi no densetsu ― Soshite, hajimari no hi ―" (Japanese: 星の伝説―そして、始まりの日―) | Mitsuo Fukuda Manabu Ono | Chiaki Morosawa | Yasuhiro Minami Manabu Ono Mitsuo Fukuda | 27 June 2001 |
Gear Fighter Dendoh has spawned one platform title for the PlayStation. It was released in 2001.
Dendoh was also featured in the Super Robot Wars series of Japanese simulation games. It has appeared in 2002's Super Robot Wars R for the Game Boy Advance and Super Robot Wars MX for the PlayStation 2 and its PSP version.
In episode 24 of the series Dendoh is forced to fight without the aid of data weapons, forcing it to use an arsenal of weapons that are homages to various early mecha anime. This incarnation has been dubbed as Full Armor Dendoh.