GoShogun

"Time Stranger" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Toki no Tabibito -Time Stranger- or Time Stranger Kyoko.
GoShogun

Cover of the 2011 DVD Box set of Emotion the Best: Sengoku Majin GoShogun
戦国魔神ゴーショーグン
(Sengoku Majin GōShōgun)
Genre Mecha
Anime television series
Directed by Kunihiko Yuyama
Written by Takeshi Shudo
Studio Ashi Productions, Studio Z5
Network TV Tokyo
Original run July 3, 1981 – December 28, 1981
Episodes 26
Anime film
Studio Ashi Productions
Released 24 April 1982
Anime film
The Time Étranger
Directed by Kunihiko Yuyama
Written by Takeshi Shudo
Studio Ashi Productions
Licensed by
Released 27 April 1985
Runtime 90 minutes

GoShogun (戦国魔神ゴーショーグン Sengoku Majin GōShōgun) is a super robot anime series produced and aired in 1981 in Japan, with a movie special released in 1982 and a film sequel, GoShogun: The Time Étranger or Time Stranger, in 1985.[1][2][3] Its title has been variously translated into English as "Demon God of the War-Torn Land GoShogun", "Warring Demon God GoShogun", and "Civil War Devil-God GoShogun," but in the US and parts of Europe it is primarily known as Macron 1, the title of its North American adaptation.

The GoShogun series and its film sequel, The Time Étranger, were both written by Takeshi Shudo and directed by Kunihiko Yuyama. The series is noted for its witty dialogue and lighthearted parody of its own genre conventions.[4][5][6] The Time Étranger shifts away from the original genre, leaving the robot aside entirely to focus on the strong and complex heroine. It has been praised for its serious tone, psychological intensity, and handling of mature themes.[7][8][9]

Original story

The story is set in the early 21st century, in which a covert evil organization, Dokuga, led by lord NeoNeros, holds near total political, economic, and military control of the world. Dokuga agents try to forcibly recruit a brilliant physicist, Professor Sanada, who sets off a suicide bomb rather than let Dokuga acquire his secret research. His son Kenta becomes Dokuga's next target, but is saved by his father’s colleague and taken on board a teleporting fortress, Good Thunder. Teleportation is enabled by a mysterious form of energy, called Beamler, which was discovered by Sanada. The same energy also powers a giant battle robot, GoShogun, which is operated by three pilots. The crew of Good Thunder travels the world, repeatedly fighting off NeoNeros's forces with GoShogun and often hampering Dokuga's influence on the local level, whether by destroying their bases and businesses, assisting popular rebellions, or by averting environmental disasters. On at least one occasion GoShogun pilots must team up with Dokuga's three chief officers against a common enemy to prevent the destruction of them all. This sets the stage for an eleventh-hour reversal, in which the three Dokuga generals side definitively against NeoNeros with the GoShogun team.

Over the course of the series it is revealed that Beamler energy originates from a meteorite fragment found on the site of the Tunguska impact. It was sent to Earth by a supernatural power and was activated when humans attained the technological capacity for space exploration, in order to test whether humans are worthy of engaging with civilizations from other planets. Beamler's development is closely connected to Kenta, who in the end becomes the incarnate form of the energy and the representative of the earth's collective soul, including not only living things, but also newly sentient robots and machines. NeoNeros turns out to be a negative, evil form of the same energy. After defeating him, Kenta takes GoShogun into space.

Adaptations

North America

In 1985, Saban Entertainment combined footage from GoShogun and Akū Dai Sakusen Srungle (Great Military Operation in Subspace Srungle or Mission Outer Space Srungle), a similar show produced by Kokusai Eiga-sha, to form Macron 1. Taking two (or more) unrelated series and re-editing them to appear as one storyline was common practice in adapting anime series to American television, as the number of episodes in a typical anime frequently fell short of the minimum number required for five-days-a-week syndication in the US market (65). Aside from Macron 1, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Robotech, and Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years were also stitched together in this manner. The combined series Macron 1 was produced and released in the United States, using the same voice cast as Carl Macek's Robotech adaptation.

In the US version, test pilot David Chance is accidentally transported into a parallel universe controlled by a tyrannical organization called GRIP, led by Dark Star. This allows GRIP to send their forces to Earth, leaving Dark Star's cyborg henchman Orn as deputy in the alternate universe. Fighting against GRIP are two teams comprising "Macron 1": the first (from the GoShogun footage) battles against Dark Star's legions on Earth; Beta Command (from the Srungle footage) is working to overthrow Orn. The main focus is on the Macron team on Earth, with Beta Command appearing sporadically.

The Macron 1 adaptation made use of the so-called "Miami Vice formula" introduced a year earlier by the eponymous primetime series, incorporating contemporary pop music into the action scenes. Notable musical adaptations included "Beat It," "Shout," "Safety Dance," and "The Heat is On."

Europe

Around the same time as the US adaptation, in 1985, Saban released another version of the series in several European countries, also under the title Macron 1. This version, however, did not incorporate any footage from Srungle or the parallel-universe angle, making the international Macron 1 a more straightforward adaptation of GoShogun, though still heavily edited. In Italy the series was broadcast as Gotriniton-Goshogun, il dio della guerra, and was a direct translation of the Japanese original, without recutting. In France the first few episodes of GoShogun were released under the title Fulgutor.

Characters

Good Thunder Team

Dokuga Crime Syndicate

Movie Special

The GoShogun Movie, released in 1982, is a combination of episodes 20 and 17 (in that order) from the original series. It includes a summary of key events, snippets from the daily lives and background stories of the characters, and advertisements for fictional products. The closing credits show images of the main characters as children. The last of these, young Remy, would later make an appearance in The Time Étranger.[10]

The Time Étranger

A surrealistic follow-up film, known as The Time Étranger or Time Stranger (1985), is set forty years after the events of the GoShogun TV series. The team has long since disbanded, and most of them have lost touch, but when Remy is rendered comatose in a car crash, her old friends and former enemies gather at her bedside to try to lend her their strength. Meanwhile, in Remy's dream, she and her five friends are in the prime of their lives, and are trapped in a mysterious desert city inhabited by hostile fanatics, who worship a god of fate. All six team members receive anonymous letters that ordain for each of them a brutal death within several days, with Remy set to die first. As they fight back against the forces of fate, Remy is haunted by increasingly disturbing visions of her foretold demise, as well as by flashbacks to her lonely and troubled childhood, designed to drive her to despair. It is notable that the feature-length sequel of a "giant robot" series barely makes any reference to the giant robot, except for a brief shot of a GoShogun-shaped charm on the rearview mirror of Remy's car and a museum devoted to the former exploits of the GoShogun crew. All the fighting in the dream sequence is done with cold weapons and common firearms, such as Remy's trusty revolver.

Video games

See also

References

  1. ↑ "戦国魔神ゴーショーグン(1981)". allcinema.net (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "戦国魔神ゴーショーグン(1982)". allcinema.net (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "戦国魔神ゴーショーグン　Goshogun IN 時の異邦人（エトランゼ）(1985)". allcinema.net (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Michael Toole (2013-01-13). "Etranger in an Etrange Land". Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  5. ↑ Michael Toole (2013-11-03). "Reed All About It". Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Benjamin Ettinger (2009-01-06). "Dorvack & Dancougar". Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  7. ↑ Justin Sevakis (2007-01-18). "Buried Treasure: Time Stranger". Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  8. ↑ Toole, "Etranger in an Etrange Land."
  9. ↑ Brian Cirulnick (2003). "GoShogun: The Time Etranger (Time Stranger): Anime DVD Review". Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  10. ↑ Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised & Expanded Edition: A Guide to Japanese Animation since 1917 (Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 2006): 245-6.
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