GoShogun

GoShogun (戦国魔神ゴーショーグン) was a super robot anime series produced in 1981 and aired in 1982 in Japan. It is variously referred to in English as "Demon God of the War-Torn Land GoShogun", "Warring Demon God GoShogun", "Civil War Devil-God GoShogun" and "Macron 1".

Original story
A meteor strikes the Earth and is found to emanate a powerful new energy called Beamler, which is used to power a battle robot, GoShogun, and a teleporting fortress, Good Thunder. The Docougar Crime Syndicate, led by crime lord Neo Neros, tried to steal the secret technology from Professor Sanada, the inventor of GoShogun. But when cornered by Docougar henchmen, the inventor committed suicide, dying rather than let them acquire the technology. His son Kenta is become Neo Neros next target, but he is saved by the crew aboard Good Thunder, who travels the world fighting Neo Neros' forces with GoShogun.

Eventually the son, Kenta, learns that he is actually an alien. In the end, Neo Neros' three officers side against him with the GoShogun crew. After he is defeated, Kenta takes GoShogun into space, back to his home planet.

North American adaptation
In 1985, staff in the USA combined footage from GoShogun and Akū Dai Sakusen Srungle (Great Military Operation in Subspace Srungle)/(Mission Outer Space 'Srungle), a similar show produced by Kokusai Eiga-sha, to form "Macron-1", which portrays the Srungle characters as being part of another branch of the organization fighting evil in a parallel universe. This combined series was produced and released in the United States by Saban.

The US version involves test pilot David Chance travelling into a parallel universe under the tyrannical control of an organization called GRIP, led by Dark Star. Chance's entrance into the other universe allows GRIP to send their forces to Earth, leaving Dark Star's cyborg henchman Orn to remain in control in the alternate universe. GRIP is opposed by the two teams of Macron-1, the first led by Dr. Shegall and his team on Earth (from the GoShogun footage), while in the alternate universe Chance organizes a band of rebel warriors, Beta Command, to combat and overthrow Orn (from the Srungle footage). The Beta Command members were given much less screen time than the Earth team.

The western adaptation used heavily the "Miami Vice formula" introduced a year earlier, of incorporating contemporary music as background sound specially during the action scenes. Notable musical adaptations of the songs Beat It and The Heat Is On (Glenn Frey song) were heard in the first episodes.

The dubbed US version was voiced by the same cast as Carl Macek's Harmony Gold adaptation of Macross, Genesis Climber Mospeada, and others into Robotech.

European adaptation
Around the same time frame, in 1985, Saban translated and aired the series in several European countries, using the title Macron-1, but leaving the footage largely in its original form. In Italy it was broadcasted under the name Gotriniton-Goshogun, il dio della guerra. In France a video of the first episodes was released under the name Fulgutor.

Good Thunder Team

 * Father: Good Thunder's main computer. Programmed from the mind of GoShogun's creator, Professor Sanada. Renamed Hugo in Macron-1.


 * Captain Sabarath: The advisor of the GoShogun crew, has a bald head and smokes cigars. Probably named after a resemblance to Telly Savalas. Renamed Dr. James Shegall in Macron-1.


 * Shingo Hojo: A gunman who pilots a jet, King Arrow, that docks in GoShogun's chest. Renamed Jason Templar in Macron-1.


 * Killy Gagly: Pilots a second jet, Jack Knight, which docks inside GoShogun's right leg. Renamed Scott Cutter in Macron-1.


 * Remy Shimada: Female pilot of Queen Rose, which docks inside GoShogun's left leg. Renamed Kathy Jamison in Macron-1. The character of Remy is intended to be a grown up version of Minky Momo, they both have the same voice actor Koyama Mami, they do have the same mindset, speech-patterns and emotions.


 * Kenta Sanada: The son of the creator of GoShogun. He is actually an alien who can talk to machines, and studies to become Shingo's copilot. Renamed Nathan Bridger in Macron-1.


 * OVA: Kenta's robotic tutor. Renamed ND-2 in Macron-1.


 * TriThree: A fairly small robot formed by the combination of Queen Rose, King Arrow and Jack Knight, which is piloted by Remy.


 * GoShogun: Referred to as MacStar in Macron-1, this is the main robot this cartoon is all about. He has a gigantic axe, an equally gigantic energy sword and something like a bazooka as parts of his weaponry. His eyes can fire energy beams, and he's capable of launching energy missiles from his backpack. This 5 beams weapon is called GoFlasher, and changed over the time in the series giving it a semi-divine aura.

Docooga Crime Syndicate

 * NeoNeros: The evil leader, renamed Dark Star in Macron-1


 * Leonardo Medici Bundle: One of the three underlings of NeoNeros. Appears to be a dandy prince, usually holding a rose or a glass of red wine in his hands. His first & second names are based on Leonardo da Vinci & Lorenzo de Medici. Renamed Prince Eharn in Macron-1.


 * Yatta-la Kernagul: A synthetic human with blue skin, and second henchman of Dark Star. One of his driving ambitions is to open a chain of fried chicken restaurants called "Kernagul's Fried Chicken" and a hamburger chain called "KerDonald's". He's shown to have achieved this dream in The Time Etranger. Renamed Lord Jeraldan in Macron-1.


 * Suegni Cuttnal: third and last of the three hechman of NeoNeros. He is portrayed as an older looking pirate, usually wearing a crow (whose mood often mirrors his own) on his right shoulder. He is addicted to tranquilizers, and even sells his own brand of them, called "Cuttnalizers." Renamed Captain Blade in Macron-1.


 * Mother: Docooga's super computer


 * Kerna: Kernagul's personal robot, mainly function as his personal boxing practice, when he's lost temper. Although server as a comic relief, he also plays a major role towards the end of the show.

Sequel
A surrealistic follow-up movie, known as The Time Étranger or Time Stranger was set forty years after GoShogun TV series. In it, Remy is rendered catatonic in a car crash and her friends gather at her bedside to try to lend her their strength. In a dream, they are all trapped inside of a city where it is ordained that in several days they will die, but they fight back and Remy manages to survive. This movie is the only form of GoShogun that has been seen by many American anime fans, as it is the only part to have been officially released on DVD there.

Trivia

 * GoShogun is one of the first robot anime to parody other robot series and poke fun at the genre conceits. Two of the more obvious examples are Kernagul, whose greatest ambition is to own a chain of fast food restaurants, and an enemy robot modeled after the RX-78-2 Gundam, which, when granted sentience by GoShogun, declares that it does not want to fight any more and destroys itself.
 * The GoShogun team and mecha make several appearances in the Super Robot Wars series.
 * In Super Robot Wars, Leonardo Medici Bundle's ship has "The Blue Danube" as its default background music. This song is being played by enormous speakers, and is the only situation in which Elzam V. Branstein (a.k.a. Rätsel Feinschmecker)'s theme "Trombe!" has been overridden.
 * In Minky Momo, another anime produced by Ashi Production and directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, the heroine has a mecha that resemble Goshogun and also has similar theme song.