ew Getter Robo acts like a series that needs no introduction, which is probably true. It's a familiar enough story in which normally only the details would vary, and in this case, there aren't many details. There's an aging scientist who has something to do with a powerful trio of robot ships that combine to form a super robot. This device—Getter Robo—seems to be the only effective weapon against a mysterious group of supernatural invaders, which keep throwing gigantic, highly individualized super-monsters at the scientist's main base of operations. The scientist's son is one of the Getter Robo pilots, but as the series begins, all the other pilots have died in battle, and a new set of reluctant, antagonistic, untrained but naturally skilled super-pilots are needed to merge with the ships and defeat the monsters.
Each of the first three episodes concentrates on one of the new pilots that embattled scientist Dr. Saotome recruits for the Getter program: Wild-man black-belt Ryoma Nagare, crazed killer Hayato Jin and pudgy, vice-ridden Buddhist monk Benkei Musashibou each get unwillingly dumped into a Getter Machine and hauled into battle, and each of them responds with eager violence once they see the enemy. Only the fourth and last episode of the series' initial volume gives them time to actually interact on anything other than a sneer-and-punch level, though they still seem to prefer sneering and punching to any other form of communication.
As to the bad guys, they don't waste any time or breath either. The enemies Getter Robo must fight are onis—man-sized horned demons who seem like mindless, ravening beasts, but who heal themselves with miraculous speed unless their brains are destroyed, and who periodically call upon multistory mega-oni, which lay waste to everything in their path, at least until Getter Robo shows up for some prototypical monster-on-mecha action.
Phenomenally messy combat
Virtually every aspect of Getter Robo's simple plot has come up dozens of times in previous anime series, from Voltron to earlier incarnations of Getter Robo. So this new interpretation of the story individuates itself by shelving the talk and getting straight to the action. There's relatively little explanation for anything: At one point, Ryoma asks Saotome's brusque scientist daughter what the oni really are, and she shrugs, saying "Onis are just onis. We don't know a whole lot more."
Mostly, there's just phenomenally messy combat. The stars all have their own reasons for oni-killing—Ryoma seems to enjoy proving his prowess, Hayato is a giggly psychopath who periodically beats his own henchmen to death, and Benkei is avenging the other members of his monastery, who were bitten by onis and became onis in turn, necessitating their destruction. But while the pilots' reasons and egos clash, their bloodlust makes them shut up and focus whenever enemies appear, which means the series moves rapidly and easily from bloody encounter to bloody encounter.
And the fights certainly are bloody. Following in the footsteps of original story creator Go Nagai, the series uses simple retro designs and goes heavy on the graphic content, from naked breasts to gruesome exploding heads. Saotome's lab seems like the worst place on Earth to work—at least once per episode, oni break in and smash scientists like blood-filled eggs, and the pilots retaliate by beating the onis' heads to mush. Eyes pop out, fists get drenched in blood, brains spatter on walls, and characters vomit inside their space helmets.
Beyond that, there's not much to New Getter Robo. The fluid, stretchy, jumpy animation looks kind of interesting, and there's a sick, rough humor throughout, for instance in the causal way that the giant super-onis eat the little onis that summon them. But this is pretty simple, gross, wish-fulfillment-level stuff, and its appeal starts fading with repetition even before the plot finally begins to kick in.
Speaking of wish fulfillment ... I have to admit to getting a thrill from the way the story skips past the typical "we recruit unwilling pilots and they sulk and protest and we spend 10 episodes convincing them that they need to help save the world" stage. Ryoma makes a token protest when he's shanghaied in, and Hayato and Benkei are both terrified their first time out, but as soon as they see the onis, they're all on board with bloody fists flying. It makes for a pleasant change from the usual angst.
— Tasha
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