#270: Machine Robo - Revenge of Cronos (1986-97)

 

Studio: Ashi Productions

Director: Hiroshi Yoshida (Revenge of Cronos)

Takao Kato, Nobuyoshi Habara and Kiyoshi Murayama (Leina: Wolf Sword Legend)

Kiyoshi Murayama (Lightning Trap - Leina & Laika)

Screenplay: Hideki Sonoda

Cast: Kazuhiko Inoue as Rom Stol, Yuko Mizutani as Leina Stol, Hiroko Takahashi as Diondra, Junichi Kagaya as Kirai Stol, Kōichi Hashimoto as Rod Drill, Minoru Inaba as Grujios, Shigezou Sasaoka as Gades, Shinya Ohtaki as Blue Jet, Sho Hayami as Narration, Toshiharu Sakurai as Triple Jim, Yousuke Akimoto as Gardi

Viewed in Japanese with English Subtitles

 

According Neil Nadelman, a translator who worked for the defunct anime distributor Central Park Media, Machine Robo may have been licensed by mistake¹. It is hearsay, but an amusing anecdote to sell a series when I heard of this through a podcast Anime World Order. This alongside the premise of this eighties anime was enough, when he talked of this in 2007, to win me over to wanting to see this series, a goal which took a good decade to even get to. Back in the day, when Central Park Media were still a distributor in the United States, they had only gotten up to three DVD volumes with five episodes on each, in a weird time when we thought separating anime series on multiple separate releases was a good idea, before it was clearly given up on. With the company going bankrupt in 2009 and the releases in the early 2000s, this was not a case of the series being caught up in the collapse of its distributor either.

People may have encountered this series in some form back in the eighties through GoBots, a toy line which was imported over to the West during the boom of the original eighties Transformer franchise, which got an animated series and a film, and used designs from Machine Robo. Machine Robo itself was originally a toy line which crossed over into animation, with Revenge of Chronos the first Japanese series for the original country of these toys' origin. This series proved something of an idiosyncratic creation with hindsight, as Ashi Productions' series may also be known if you had never seen it for the characters appearing in Super Robot Wars. Tactical strategy games which act like officially sanctioned crossover fan fiction, these games even if only starting to be licensed officially in the West have been translated and made available to mecha fans, the genre in its centre, allowing one to see the menagerie in this series cross paths with characters even from mainstream crossover franchises. Case in point, Super Robot Wars MX (2004), for the Playstation 2, allowed these characters to run amok in one of the bleakest stories in anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997), which just raises questions of how they cross. One can imagine, if you have seen that film, the last stand by the character Asuka by herself against a group of manufactured biomechs, one of its more traumatising scenes of the franchise, is suddenly interrupted by Rom Stol, the male lead of Machine Robot, this goofy eighties show, making an elaborate speech about good conquering evil and telling the villains they do not deserve to hear his name.

Over forty seven episodes long, this is set on the titular planet of robots, Cronos, invaded by an evil force called Gyandlar. Led by Gades, they are marauding in search for the Hyribead, an ancient tool allowing one to live forever, even if it means killing the father of Rom Stol. After this, set up in the first couple of episodes, Rom takes the family heirloom of the Wolf Sword, and goes with his sister Leina and comrades out to find the Hyribead. It is a show, just to get this out of the way, where Vikung-fu exists, combining Vikings with kung fu to make the most powerful martial arts possible for Rom and his friends to take on the forces of Gyandla. Gyandlar, when not having a ranking system for minions who fail and get knocked down three ranks, have their scumbags but a surprising amount of members who disagree with the lack of honour they show, one such figure a male samurai-like figure Garudi, who will gain greater importance as more of his secret past comes out. This is, openly, a very absurd show. Production wise, there is some great designs for this robotic cast, but you also have a production which is clearly having to produce episodes each week for over a year. The repetition of villainous grunt designs that eventually happens has to be addressed in the final episodes after a while, and the size discrepancies between the cast in particular stick out. Rom, when he uses Vikung-fu's ultimate abilities, gains two levels of robotic armour, the last turning him into a giant with a lack of a practical size guide for characters in general between hulking behemoths and normal humanoid sized ones. There are also things no one cared about the logic for, such as one of Rom's comrades Triple Jim, a Transformers-like robot humanoid who, able to transform into a car, is the friend of Leina's who is only slightly bigger than her, but when he turns into a car is able to be used by her as an actual vehicle with comfortable leg room. The logic of Cronos as a world does raise questions anyway, but that needs a large part of the review to elaborate and the set up of actually watching the show needs to be addressed first.

For starters, Machine Robo itself is very episodic, which is not necessarily something you may have not experienced if, like me, you tended to avoid the huge franchised through your youth getting into anime, the ones which lasted forever, or even the fifty plus episode series. This not that far past when Fist of the North Star's animated television adaptation was started in 1984, important in mind to how much the original manga for that franchise really codified tropes, and how this originates from a toy line which would have benefitted from adding new toys for the audience, as more characters are added over time in the show. Depicting the whole story in forty four episodes, the last three were compilations of the series before the next series was started on air, one just letting the narrator describe the characters in detail, and the last two retelling the whole series in digested form. It is telling that you can boil down the pre-Emerald City narrative of this series, a good twenty plus episodes, down to the initial episode setting up the premise, Rom Stol and his allies going through episodic stories which you would have likely seen in anime before and decades after throughout this length of programming. It is incredibly silly, gleefully so as I wished when wanting to see this series. It does completely repeat the same beats over the episodes without fail, in which Rom will suddenly catch villains off guard, making an elaborate speech and then saying they do not deserve to know his name, a trademark the show eventually starts to make jokes about, and then beat the enemies eventually for that episode. Blue Dragon, his first armour upgrade, is useless and needs to give way to the Vikung-fu set, which gets the job done. His allies include the jet plane humanoid samurai named Blue Jet, who is mostly red, Triple Jim, who has a crush on Leina but is the noble putz in their relationship, and Rod Drill, the goofball. Leina sadly suffers through a casual streak of sexism here as, since she is a girl, there are numerous jokes about her being a girl wanting to enter the battles and being constantly kidnapped/under peril, with her jealously about the many women who are attracted to her brother raising questions about their relationship. Thankfully, she does get good moments to counter this, and these characters do become the real reason to enjoy Machine Robo, alongside its goofiness. Attempting to binge this in large amounts is detrimental to really enjoying it, whilst having taking a few months to even finish this, I was able to soak the world and story in that I became fond of over the time committed.

Machine Robo is helped, unintentionally and intentionally, by being an odd duck in its world, which feels like was being fleshed out mid-production. A place of "Romtro" apples and the "Master Laster", cat people predating the Beast Wars: Transformers franchise in the West, who are never seen again, and a character named "Trim Sponsor", even an episode about a multicolour desert where the blue sand has giant sand mantra rays, it goes through a lot of changes as the production goes. Despite Gyandlar coming from outer space, Cronos is initially suggested to be closer to period Japan, even with tropes of Japanese chambara tales of noble samurai even in the villains' side, with rural communities and that begin agriculture despite it being once said these robots use battery sources for sustenance. There are also the robots closer to their toy line and Transformers, and those who are very humanoid like Rom and Leina Strol, Leina effectively just a female character in a blue helmet and appropriate costume, her design in appearance and long brown hair not even hiding that she is supposedly robotic. This is before you get into how there are no humans in this world, with these the main species in this world, and these robots going on with discussion of the afterlife, due to how many characters will be killed in episodes, and do return as spirits. As this story goes on, more overt science fiction tropes and fire arms are introduced, such as an episode about a city which became decadent and lazy due to the power it produces from a volcano, and it tries to make sense of the two very different types of character designs only to become more compelling for the strange juxtapositions of its plot and lore details it throws in like multiple kitchen sinks.

It really comes obvious that, because these are meant to be robots, you could have gotten away with some gruesome content the television adaptation of Fist of the North Star had to work over, that you can have robots cut in half, crushed or Rom briefly, never doing this again, pull off a Fist of the North Star technique of causing a steel arm explode with one touch. This may seem tasteless, but it becomes almost a sick joke that, more in the pre-Emerald City episodes, you have characters introduced in that episode only for them to die and the leads to morn them over their improvised graves way too many times to not seem perverse. That one of these characters is a woman who is revealed to be a decoy bomb made into a woman just raises more questions, in a world where these are sentient robotic figures who just exist and non-metallic alikes as well. The female cast in general also however show that, wanting to have their cake and eat it, the production design the character to be as human and feminine in design as possible, hyper-feminized in some cases as well. You do get a cool female villainess in Diondra - imposing in her distinct character design as a sadistic giantess in golden armour, with Hiroko Takahashi's booming voice helping greatly - but there are many others who, still stylish in their designs, still emphasis this. A character in Episode thirteen, a martial artist named Ruri, despite her ball joint design is drawn as a shapely figure in lycra, peculiar with hindsight as her tribe in her flashbacks seemingly are born in lycra shaped to their bodies throughout life as a layer of skin, which is one of the more idiosyncratic examples of this. It is less of a complaint but one of the many contradictions and quirks to this show in general, and if there are any criticisms of it, it is entirely the issue of casual sexism you do need to put up with throughout the series if thankfully not straying into anything actually offensive. It becomes more a curiosity as, eventually, I did find myself trying to imagine an alternative world version of this where they did have a Transformer-like member of the cast who was not male and how that would change the perception of this.

The pre-Emerald City stories arguably have the more absurd moments, or I became fond of these lovable oafs on their journey that I started actually engaging with the story as it was fleshing out. I cannot deny that, when I first learnt of this series, it was through an episode of Anime World Order with the aforementioned Neil Nadelman about "lame anime". A long running anime podcast, that episode was recorded in 2007¹ back at a time when the few DVDs released for the series barely scratched the surface of the whole series, with the podcast lasting for so long that they existed when Discotek Media in the USA released this whole series in 2022 on standard definition on Blu-Ray; back then, the enticing nature of their review was as much the ridiculousness of the premise. It was sold on things that could be seen if you owned those original DVDs, which got over fifteen episodes, such as Vikung-fu, where nothing is remotely about Viking long ships or involving runes, or the rock men, part of an interesting idea this show never leans on that these are not robots truthfully, but humanoids that, unless you are the very humanoid ones like Rom and Leina who cannot transform, have bodies made between a variety of materials. That latter detail shows how this series could have expanded into something really idiosyncratic than it already is as, by the time of the final battle between forces of good and evil, you have characters made of metal, rock like the rock people who can turn into boulders to crush enemies, the fossil tribes who can even combine into a giant dinosaur, and the abruptly introduced "Gem People", three figures who, in an attempt to try to wrap up the plot later on, are the  guardians are sacred items which make up  and actually explain what the Hyribead may be.

The clear sense the logic was improvised on this show helps it in the end, and I admire this is in the context where I had a bias to wanting to see Machine Robo, and went out of my way to get the series when Discotek Media releases are a nightmare to acquire outside the USA. Despite this bias, I was able to accept the absurdities and got on the wavelength. It is not a show to attempt to binge all nineteen hours plus of in a marathon, an ill advised choice simply because, repeating the same plot structures over many episodes, this shows was meant to be seen in snippets like its original broadcast run. Instead it becomes, with its male narrator Sho Hayami being appropriately bombastic, a bolt of energy just to go through a couple of episodes at a time and witness what transpires this time, such as the episode presenting a Transformers' Death Race, which is neat.

The world grows as this goes, even if some details are ignored and never talked of, making this a surreal and fascinating world, from the horrifying Iron Eaters, a giant plant-like entity that digests robots, to electromagnetic jelly fish floating in the air. You do have to accept that the first opening theme tune, the awesome Machine Robo Hono'o by Martin, is replaced by one which is cool, but both not as great and also frankly egotistical in the translated lyrics for heroes to sing. There is also screen flashes, something which the Discotek release warns of, this issue of strobe effects which would stop being acceptable in Japanese animation after the "Polygon" incident of December 1997; whilst the incident has been exaggerated in the West, there was an episode of the first 1997 Pokémon series we never got in the West, Dennō Senshi Porygon, which caused photosensitive epileptic seizures in people and children, and led to TV Tokyo and other broadcasters establishing a series of guidelines for animated programs² which would have prevented the likes of Machine Robo having such strobe effects as readers should be warned of.

Emerald City changes the pace when introduced as, whilst staying episodic, this last half sets the cast in one central location, at first defending it from Gyandlar trying to storm the heavily fortified location, to the final act where their big bad eventually have to step in and the final conflict begins. There does become too many characters, likely reflecting this having links to a toy line where you needed to sell the product through the show, but you start to be introduced to characters named Pro Truck Racer, who remind one for all the deaths in the show these are still characters from a series of toys for children, including a group called the Land Commanders who combining into one giant robot. By this point, where the production is even having jokes suddenly start to appear in a show that was mostly straight faced, there becomes a sense of the show just being an excuse to do whatever the staff wanted as they had to resolve what the conclusion is. This means the Gem People are abruptly introduced, but also the sense that, when Pro Truck Racer decides levelling a whole skyscraper to make a bridge is acceptable logic, that the staff where just creating content they thought would be fun. By this point, it is with the sense that they hoped the viewers who were watching really did not care and enjoyed such a sight for its absurdity, which I can attest to as one viewer. That the show manages to have a proper conclusion, tied up and feeling like a real ending, is a credit, even if it leads to a very esoteric one to continue the franchise.

Machine Robo would continue with Machine Robo: Battle Hackers (1987), which would come soon after the last episodes for this show ended. Lasting thirty one episodes, prominently the leads of Rom and Leina Strol would not join their friends in that tale, and notably, whilst tragically only passing in her early fifties, Leina is a very early role for an actress named Yuko Mizutani who, until her death in 2016, was prolific over numerous eras of anime as a result. It comes obvious that, for the four straight to video OVAs that allowed fans to follow these characters, Leina was deliberately made central to all of them even if not the dynamic lead in these episodes as a fan favourite character, at the same time as, being made between 1988-90, Mizutani was going on to a long and prolific career onwards. I will also mention another OVA that was just an extra, a music video compilation, one of two, worth seeing for new material, a comedic breaking of the forth wall with the cast out of character as actors; seeing the cast goof off, or the villain of Grujios, a slug character in a robot body who eventually ends up as a ghost able to possess the bodies, go gooey-eyed over a pet kitten is legitimately funny in context to seeing the show, and a credit that Discotek included it from the best surviving version for their release.

To explain the OVAs, I will have to spoil the ending of Machine Robo from here on, that the finale has the main characters transported to an alternative dimension after they have resolved the conflict on Cronos, the side characters returning for Battle Hackers but Leina and Rom Stol not returning to that series. The four OVAs, three connected together as Leina: Wolf Sword Legend, and a forth, really do feel like curious loose strands to loftier ideas which never came to fruition, attempts to extend the lifespan of these characters and especially for Leina Stol. Certainly they feel like projects to let staff gain experience, the first OVA explicitly name checking itself as the first directorial project for Takao Kato, future director of Keijo (2016), the one fan service heavy show that sounds so ridiculous it might turn a 180 degree and win people over.

This first episode begins with Leina literally recreating The Terminator (1984), with Arnold Schwarzenegger appearing naked in a metropolis in a new time zone, only here on top of a skyscraper with the Wolf Sword. She is now Leina Haruka, and here I wished this bizarre turn the series went into had managed to gain traction as this is the most compelling of the four we got. She becomes a new transfer student at a school, and gets into the kind of premise I find compelling, unnatural figures dealing with supernatural/ horror adjacent tales of entities targeting human beings, with Leina here immediately told when introduced to her class she will save the world by the student everyone else thinks is weird. It is a sudden switch to high school mystery, as girls are going missing, captured in an Alice in Wonderland time scape to live permanently ageless, and where I did not expect Machine Robo to get existential, in its villain talking about aging and the sense of time being lost in youth. This is one of those fascinating ephemera of the OVA world that let this tangent from an existing source happen, and barring the lack of science fiction pieces, this story of a time eater would even be something I would expect from an episode of Boogiepop Phantom (2000). It also means Leina gets compensated for being kidnapped all the time by getting to rock the Wolf Sword and fight supernatural villains, and the end credits is a cute piece showing it all as a film Leina is an actor in.

Sadly this was not the direction they went with this episodes, as episode two properly reintroduces the male cast properly who transported over, all defeated in the opening on an alien plant by the big bad. Definitely, tragically, episode one was a complete one-off as this is sci-fi fantasy now. Leina still decapitates a dragon in the first few minutes, so she got more than the series, but this properly introduces the male cast, Rom's story again here, and with the decision to turn the more mechanical leads into humans. It is strange, for an example, to see a Bishonen Jet, a character now with a human head on the robot body with shades, which is a bit funny and matches the rest of the cast in Rod Drill and Triple Jet. It was also an excuse to have cast from the series back in new roles, audibly heard as you got used to them over this long TV series as I did. Truthfully, however, these are not as interesting even if still watchable. It would be a spoiler in any other context, a huge one, to admit the third OVA kills off Rom himself, and even undercuts the incestuous undercurrent by revealing Leina was adopted, but honestly, as an abrupt twenty to thirty minute piece, it feels like non-canonical content for what would have been a huge surprise to witness, with all forty episodes, in Machine Robo. In the series, it could have possibly been a big enough surprise it might have caused people to talk of that series with a new layer to it. More so as, for what is an abrupt curveball which loses power just for the slightness of the piece, it lets Leina be the hero, which would have been something that could have made Revenge of Cronos a more iconic series even if one with all its goofy moments.

The forth, its own individual piece, is not at all connected to its source and has wandered off in its own direction to the point it is weird even calling it part of this franchise at all. Called Lightning Trap - Leina & Laika, it is set in the then-modern day, and is about a military weapon named Bible, with a terrorist group named Blue Mary after it. By this point Leina is just a side character, just an ordinary schoolgirl with only one connection to the source, one bizarre touch, when she talks about dreams of her being a warrior fighting monsters. It is Die Hard on a luxury plane, with Bible a biomechanical robot kept in the luggage compartment with innocent bystanders, and emphasis placed as much on a new character named Laika Strange, a special agent figure clearly there to try to put over a new page in the franchise. It never came to be, and this proves a weird end to this version of Machine Robo. The next time, and the last, for this animated franchise came in 2003 with Machine Robo Rescue, a Sunrise production following a world where, with age no longer preventing kids from piloting robots, a group of them have trained to rescue people over fifty plus episode. It is also, helmed by all people, directed by Mamoru Kanbe, the director I know more for his horror work like Elfen Lied, which when this ended in the start of 2004 was the series of his that started in 2004 too, a few months on from, and is absolutely not suitable for kids.

As mentioned, the OVAs notwithstanding as curiosities thankfully preserved, I am biased towards this series, due to the time wanting to see it. As much due to the time to just watch this entire series as someone mostly used to anime where, even when episodic, sticks to twenty four episodes at their longest and reach the plot trajectory quickly. As an older anime viewer nowadays, I was never binging the fifty plus episode big hitters, or anything like One Piece which kept going for a decade, with the concern for the time consumption involved. Eventually the silliness of this particular show won me over, and I can label all the strange quirks and mistakes in this review all with a positive viewpoint as I enjoyed even those, as much because I came to the series wanting to see those too and enjoy them. The legacy of this series really shows in the inclusion in the Super Robot Wars franchise, where giant robot show fans made that series and give respect even to a production like this, something I can myself say in that my love for this, as much for the unintentional, was sincere and well rewarded with the context of knowing what I was wanting to watch after all this time.

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1) Anime World Order Show # 63a – Totally Lame Anime With Neil Nadelman, podcast episode for Anime World Order, released December 6th 2007.

2) Animated Program Image Effect Production Guidelines, published by TV Tokyo on their website.