Video Warrior Laserion

Video Warrior Laserion (ビデオ戦士レザリオン) was an anime series aired in 1984 to 1985 in Japan and Hong Kong. There were 45 episodes aired at 30 minutes each. It was the first Japanese anime series to feature the idea of virtual reality. It is also referred to as "Rezarion", "Laserion"", "Video Senshi Laserion". It was broadcast in Spanish as "El Super Lasser".

Original story
The story is centered on young middle school student Takashi Katori and his classmate/best friend/love interest, Olivia Lawrence. Takashi, who began as a mere online game fan, developed a small virtual world with his friend David from New York, in which they played their robot combat game. They would play by sending data to each other using satellite technology. One day while they were playing, a scientific experiment using the same satellite was being conducted involving teleporting an American plane from New York to Japan. In a freak accident caused by an explosion during a rebellion by people of the moon who attacked Earth, the plane that was converted into digital information was sent to the virtual world while Takashi's robot information was rematerialized into a real robot.

Takashi was arrested, but later the Earth Government discovered that Dr. Godheim, an evil, broken-hearted genius scientist from the Moon (now a sort of abandoned colony with restricted access) was behind the revolt. The government forces Takashi to pilot the virtual robot Laserion and protect the Earth alongside robot pilots Sarah and Charles and their G1 and G2 robots. In the end, the whereabouts of Takashi's love, Olivia, becomes a matter of concern.

Concept
Takashi sits down behind a computer which has a program written in advanced BASIC. He then merges with virtual reality to become a pilot, controlling a hexagon-shaped chrome plane. The plane is the Laserion robot's head detached. In the virtual reality, the plane combines with the robot body to form the video warrior Laserion, which carries a bazooka beam, energy laser sword, laser gun and missiles.

Staff

 * Original creator: Saburo Yatsude
 * Character Design: Hideyuki Motohashi
 * Mechanical design: Akira Hio, Koichi Ohata
 * Theme Song Writer: Chuumei Watanabe
 * Theme Song Performance Opening: Takayuki Miyauchi
 * Theme Song Performance Ending: Kumiko Kaori

Characters
! Japanese Name ! English Name ! Voices by |- | Takashi Katori (香取敬) || Takashi Katori || Tōru Furuya |- | Olivia Lawrence (オリビア・ローレンス) || Olivia Lawrence || Keiko Han |- | Sahara (サハラ) || Sarah || Eiko Hisamura |- | Sylvester (シルベスタ) || General Sylvester || Keiichi Noda |- | Blueheim (ブルーハイム) || Prof. Blueheim || Masaya Taki |- | Godheid (ゴッドハイド) || Dr. Godheid || Eiji Kanie |- | Kensuke Katori (香取研介) || Kensuke Katori || Eiji Kanie |- | Inspire (インスパイア) || Inspire || Isao Mori |- | Monroe (モンロー) || Monroe || Yoko Kawanami |- | Charles Danner (チャールズ・ダナー) || Charles || Norio Wakamoto |- | Debit (デビット) || David|| Yoku Shioya |- | Eric Sid (エリック・シッド) || Eric Sid || Michitaka Kobayashi |-

Reaction
The show was the first Japanese anime show or series to feature a plot taking place in virtual reality as a setting. Future anime like Serial Experiments Lain expanded on the idea, though it can be said that Tron explored the idea in western media first; Laserion's premise also contained elements from WarGames, another American film. Super Robots were entering something of a dip in popularity at the time of Laserion's release, and despite its innovative nature the series was something of a flop. Additionally, whereas previous Toei mecha series had been aired on TV Tokyo, Laserion was aired on TBS, which threw off the loyal audience that had been built in the previous network.

This was perhaps not helped by the nature of the figures released to promote the series. Designed by Bandai and released under the Chogokin label, both the DX and ST versions of Laserion lacked extensive features compared to many other toys of the period. The fun factor was considered limited, and the show carried the popularity of the toy.

Trivia

 * The Laserion robot is 35 meters tall and weighs 200 metric tons.
 * The two different Laserion toys were widely released in America as part of Bandai's Godaikin line.