UFO Robo Grendizer, known alternately by the namesGrandizer,Goldorak andGoldrake, was the final series of theMazinger trilogy, and one of the most well-received.
Grendizer is about a young prince of the Royal Family of Fleed, whose planet is turned into a radioactive wasteland by the invading army of the Vegan Alliance. The Vegans had invaded to steal the planet for themselves, as their own had slowly fell into ruin as well. After this tragedy, the young prince, Duke Fleed, managed to hijack the Vegan Alliance's prize UFO Robo - the Grendizer. Fleeing, he crash lands on Earth, two years ahead of the pursuing Vegan Army. There he is taken in by a kindly scientist named Dr. Umon. When the Vegans (*snicker*) attack, Duke takes the Grendizer into battle, along with Kouji Kabuto, the pilot ofMazinger Z.
When it was shown in the US, it wasMacekred intoGrandizer as part of theForce Five syndication block. Two episodes ofGrandizer were released on VHS in America; it is otherwise hard to get in the US.
Adrenaline Makeover: As Hikaru decides to toughen up, her wardrobe changes from flowing dresses to miniskirts and boots.
Aerial Canyon Chase: Used in the last episode, when General Gandal (Minos) tries to ram his ship into Grendizer in a suicide attack. Duke Freed manages to make him crash into a cliff, since the Spazer (Grendizer's UFO) was still controllable, while Gandal's flagship was a flaming mess.
Alien Invasion: Maybe the earliest example in Super Robot Anime.
Aliens Are Bastards: This trope is played with. At the start Kouji believes he can try to communicate with the aliens and befriend them, but Daisuke tries to warn him they are NOT his friends and are NOT peaceful or reasonable. However, Daisuke himself was an alien and a decent person. And although most of the Vegans at the beginning are portrayed like bastards -and theMooks areExclusively Evil-, along the series more aliens -including Vegans- are introduced who are decent people at best or at worst areWell Intentioned Extremists who believe thatUtopia Justifies the Means.
Alternate Continuity: As things currently stand, Grendizer is the most powerful robot in theMazinger universe... but so is theMazinkaiser. This means that the two are mutually exclusive and aside from a single piece ofpromotional material, they havenever appeared together in a fictional work, be it animation or aSuper Robot Wars game. Go Nagai often jokes that he doesn't want to establish one as more powerful than the other and avoids having Grendizer and Mazinkaiser appear side by side for that reason. There have been rumors that he intends to clear this up at some point, but so far the two remain exclusive.
InUFO Robo Grendizer, Mazinger-Z, Great Mazinger and Grendizer combined all of their attacks in one manga scene to destroy a VeganStarship. And in one of the movies, Grendizer and Great Mazinger combined theirChest Blaster attacks to destroy a Saucer Beast.
TheSuper Robot Wars games have exploited this. When several of theGo Nagai mechas show up in the same game, they are given combination attacks. It is usually called Final Dynamic Special, and it is always impressive:[1].
Exclusively Evil: At the beginning it looks the trope is being played straight, but finaly it is averted. Several of the Vegans are decent people and many of them are given redeeming qualities.
Amnesia Danger: At the first episode of the Gosaku Ota manga, Duke does not remember anything about his past since Dr. Umon had wiped his memory's out so he could live peacefully without remembering anything about his destroyed home and slaughtered family. He got his memories back shortly after the Vegans attacked.
And This Is For: It happens at least once in the manga penned byGo Nagai. After the Vegans kill one of his oldest friends, Dukerips to pieces a Saucer Beast as he yells: "And this is for my friend!"
Animal Mecha: Several Saucer Beasts resembled animals, mainly reptiles.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Danbei Makiba (Hikaru's father) was obsessed with meeting aliens. He did not expect those aliens were hostile conquerors bent on taking over Earth. He didn't expect either that one of his employees was an alien, and his daughter would have fallen for him.
Berserk Button: Out of all pilots in the trilogy, Duke had the biggestBerserk Button. Nothing got his blood boiling like mentioning the Fleedian genocyde and the deaths of his family. And when a Vegan commander or soldier taunted him with it... let's tell it did not end up well for him.
And in the manga penned byGo Nagai, Kouji and Tetsuya. And in another chapter, Brunhild, an old friend of Duke. Nonetheless, he was aware enough to warn Duke against come closerand beg to kill him.
Combining Mecha: The Mecha Expansion Pack Augment type. It combines with a space ship to form aStarship. And then you have its differentJet Pack to allow it move on space, underwater or underground.
Companion Cube: It seldom happened, but you still have in one of the manga versions, when Duke was fleeing from the Vegans he pleaded Grendizer carrying him far away. Nonetheless, Grendizer wasthe embomient of the Fleedian god of War, so he could have a point.
Face Ship: When Grendizer combines with his flying device, its face shows up on the frontside.
Darkest Hour: In the finale of the first season, Duke was defeated and forced into hiding with Grendizer, Kouji was shot down, Hikaru was dying, the base was taken by Blackie and Professor Umon was tortured.
Dating Catwoman:Duke and Rubina. Although there was not much dating after the annihilation of Fleed.
Destructive Saviour: When Grendizer and the Vegans nuke it out, the battlefield gets wasted. Duke tries to lead them away the cities, though, to prevent this.
Detachment Combat: All vehicles allowed Grendizer flying -or maneouvering more easily in sea or underground- were detachable and could attack separately.
The Determinator: Even though Duke is calmer and more focused than his predecessors and he actually was forced to run away once, he is not a quitter either. He has gone through battles where he was clearly losing but finally he pulled through due to effort, brains and guts and a downright refusal to lie down and die.
Dirty Coward: Emperor Vega tend to lose his coolness, get frightened and run away when someone is aiming a gun to his head.
Earth Is the Center of the Universe: Kind of subverted. The Vegans had conquered many other planets before striking Earth. It is true Duke Fleed landed on Earth -from all places!- when he ran away from the Vegan troops, and the Vegans show a special interest for Earth, but that is because there are not so many habitable worlds (Fridge Brilliance which is utterly true!). Earth, Fleed and Vega had a similar atmosphere and enviroment, so Earth was the kind of planet they were searching for.
Enemy Mine: Subverted. In one of the manga versions,Great MazingerBig Bad, Emperor of Darkness, offered Kouji Kabuto an alliance to fight the Vegans together. It was subverted because Kouji refused the offer and King Vegakilled the Emperor to impede that alliance and get ridden of a possible enemy and competitor.
Everyone Can See It: Duke averted this trope with Hikaruand with Rubina. However, Kouji was absolutely oblivious to the feelings of Maria. Of course, he was the only one (much to Duke's amusement).
Evil Versus Evil: In theGosaku Ota chapters, King Vegakilled Emperor of Darkness,Big Bad of the former series (Great Mazinger). Pretty fun, King Vega not only did it because he was a potential competitor -since he also wanted toTake Over the World-, but also becauseEmperor of Darkness was wanting to ally with the heroes to overthrow him.
Executive Meddling: Go Nagai originally wanted Sayaka to be the 4th spazer pilot but was opposed by director and co-plotter of the series, Shingo Araki, who wanted and indeed did introduce his own character to the series, Maria.
Expository Theme Tune: "Come on, Come on, Duke Fleed! Fly, fly Grendizer! Across the land, the ocean and the blue sky! Joined for the peace, Keeping ourselves steady to protect everybody."
Falling Into the Cockpit: Duke -and Hikaru- play it straight after a fashion (in the case of Duke, it depends on what version we are talking. In theGosaku Ota episodes, Grendizer activated on its own to lead Duke far away from Fleed and save his life). Maria, on the other hand, was trained to pilot theDrill Spacer.
On the other hand, Kouji avoided the trope twice: Kouji tried to pilot Grendizer once during an emergency and he was unable. He stated the controls were too complicated to him. And in another ocassion he got to pilot Great Mazinger, and he was worried he would have forgotten how handling it. Fortunately, Great Mazinger controls were pretty similar to Mazinger's and he got several years worth of experience for that time.
Fantastic Nuke: The Vegatron bombs. Capable to obliterate whole cities, and left the land polluted with radioactivity afterwards.
Final Battle: It varies depending on if we are discussing theGo Nagai manga, the anime series or theGosaku Ota manga. In the anime version,after his daughter got murdered, King Vega decided he had got it: he had wasted military resources trying take over Earth as planet Vega imploded and everyting he had managed was using up their resources, running out ofRobeasts, and losing his commanders, his best soldiers and his daughter. So he ordered his troops to destroy theirSpace Base to hammer in them the idea of they now had no choice but conquering Earth or die, and he launched a full attack with the remnants of his army. Meanwhile, Duke took off in Grendizer and Kouji, Hikaru and Maria on a newStarship. Both sides fought in the space, between Earth and Moon. The Vegan army was finally destroyed in the final confrontation, and Duke killed King Vega.Go Nagai manga version had no a definite ending, butGosaku Ota version did it, and the final was very different from the anime series. Let's tellIt Got Worse. Like inThe End of the World as We Know It worse.
First Church of Mecha: Grendizer was the robotic embodiment of the Fleedian God of War.
Giant Equals Invincible: Sort of. VeganRobeasts could not be damaged by conventional weaponry, but neither did tinier Vegan combat ships. So it can be argued alien technology rather than sheer size was the cause of its invincibility.
Heel Face Turn:The female side of Gandal, a Vegan with two personalities and faces decided turning on the Emperor after realizing they would never defeat Grendizer.
Heel Face Revolving Door: But thenthe male side took control back and shothimself/herself on the grounds of high treason.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The Vegans managed to make huge technological breakthroughs by exploiting ores of the material radioactive known as Vegatron. However, it led to his planet becoming unstable, forcing them to find new worlds to colonize. The vegatron bombs they rained upon Fleed scorched the Fleedian army to ashes, but they also turned the planet they intended to colonize on a radioactive wasteland. And finally, Vegatron radiation destroyed their homeworld and rendered their MoonSpace Base -their last safe haven- inhabitable.
Home Base: The Space Science Laboratory was the base of the heroes. The VegansHome Base was aSpace Base located on the Moon.
If It Swims, It Flies: One of itsMid-Season Upgrade -Marine Spacer- was designed to combining with Grendizer and allow it swim and dive. However it also could fly.
Ill Boy: One of the rare cases where this character is thelead.
Interspecies Romance: The Mazinger trilogy has several examples from romances between humans and humanoid aliens: Duke and Hikaru, andKouji and Maria. And the you haveDuke and Rubina. Both of them are aliens but they are from different species -and born in different planets-.
It's Personal: In theGo Nagai manga, Commander Barendosdropped Duke's little siblings from a height from three kilometers. In front of Duke. Duke is usually calmed when he is not piloting, but the only sight or mention of Barendos is enough to press Duke'sBerserk Button.
Jet Pack: Grendizer had THREE of them (not counting its spaceship): Double Spacer -to fly inside and outside of atmosphere-, Marine Spacer -to fly and dive underwater- and Drill Spacer -to fly and burrow underground-.
The Kid with the Remote Control: Maria Fleed, in the Mazinger Angels manga (aCharlie's Angels spoof with Sayaka, Jun, Hikaru and Maria as the lead characters). She controlled Minerva X using a special helmet channeled her brainwaves.
Kiss of Life: Kouji finds afainted Maria Grace in her spaceship. But before he gave her kiss of life, she wake up, slap him, and call him a commoner.
Latex Space Suit: The pilot suits for both the male and female characters.
Love Dodecahedron: Hikaru is in love with Duke. Duke may reciprocate her feelings. Rubina is in love with him. Duke certainly reciprocates her feelings. And Minister Zuril was in love with Rubina. It is even more complicated if you think about Kouji and Maria and add Sayaka to the mix.
Luke, I Am Your Father: It was inverted and played straight.Maria toldDuke she was daughter ofthe King and Queen of Fleed, not knowing he wastheir son, and therefore, her brother. The moment they played this trope straight with each other was definitely aCrowning Moment of Heartwarming.
Luminescent Blush: In one manga chapter, Hikaru bluntly told Duke she was interested in him. And Duke's face turned fully red!
Made of Indestructium: Grendizer was made with Gren, an incredibly tough metal. Nevertheless, it could not be found on Earth, so when Grendizer got damaged, he was repaired with Alloy Z.
The Man Behind the Man: In the original manga, Blackie is the first Vegan commander in showing up, and he seems being behind the invasion. However, in the next chapterBig Bad King Vega andDragon-in-Chief Gandal (commander of the armies tasked with the invasion) are introduced.
Marth Debuted in Smash Bros: In various countries, Grendizer got aired before its predecessorMazinger Z. So for many, Koji Kabuto was Duke's friend before beingThe Hero of his own series.
An even bigger problem, however, lies in the fact Koji's name was changed in a lot of foreign versions (for example, in France and Italy whereGrendizer wasabsurdly huge, Koji was called "Alcor"after the star inGrendizer) and then got his normal, unmodified name back in other Mazinger works that aired afterGrendizer was huge. These being the pre-Internet days, people didn't pick up on the fact that it was supposed to be the same character and so audiences assumed thatMazinger was simply a very blatant, cheap knockoff of Grendizer.
Mid-Season Upgrade: Grendizer got upgraded throughout the series with several attachable, flying vehicles allowed it maneouvering more easily in space, in sea or underground: Double Spacer -piloted by Kouji-, Marine Spacer -piloted by Hikaru- and Drill Spacer -piloted by Maria-.
Mind Control Eyes: Not permanent when victims are brainwashed but sometimes can briefly have them.
Missing Mom: Duke andMaria's fathers got murdered before the sereis began. Hikaru and her brother's mother passed away, and they raised by their father exclusively.
Mission Control: Duke and his partners were assisted by the Prof. Umon and theBridge Bunnies of the Space Science Laboratory, that provide plenty information and suggested strategies when they battled.
Eucatastrophe: One of the best examples happened in the two-part finale of the first season. Grendizer had been beaten by twoRobeasts and forced to hiding, Kouji's TFO had been badly damaged,Blackie had taken control of the Science Space Center and tortured Dr. Umon. When Duke returned,he managed beat both mechas, saving his friends and destroying Blackie's command ship.
No Ending: The manga ends with a duel between Duke and one of the Vegans generals. Kouji got a minor moment of action, but Rubina and Maria had not been even mentioned, Hikaru was still in her pre-Action Girl days, Spazers hadn't been introduced, and there wasn't even a single instance of theAntigravity Storm attack.
Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Vegatron bombs. It is explicitly stated they are radioactive, they are able to easily obliterate whole cities, the explosion forms a mushroom cloud, and they leave the land polluted with radioactivity. But no, they are not nukes. They arevegatron bombs.
Obviously Evil: The decent or with more redeeming traits aliens are human-looking. The aliens who are more monstruous are pretty much bastards.
Pair the Spares:It's revealed in an episode that Koji loves Hikaru. But she loves Duke.So he decides to forget her.In the very next episode, Maria Grace arrives, and is soon attracted by Koji.
Papa Wolf: Danbei Makiba. He is fiercely protective of his daughter, constantly menacing with shooting the brains off of whoever ever thinks about damaging her or hurting in some way, shape or form. And God helps you if he entrusts Hikaru to you, and she doesn't remain perfectly safe and sound.
Pietà Plagiarism: It happened near from the end, whenRubina got murdered and Duke held her as she died.
Precision-Guided Boomerang: Grendizer, moon-shaped shoulder blades. Not only they could be thrown but also they could be linked to form theDoubleHarken.
Power Fist: Several triangular blades are attached to the wrists of theHumongous Mecha, and bent towards the elbow. When Duke shoots aRocket Punch, the blades turn forward and shred their target.
Hand Blast: Grendizer's backhands shot energy beams.
Sadistic Choice: It happened fairly often, especially in the manga penned byGo Nagai. In one chapter Duke gets attacked by one of his oldest friends, whom he believed dead but was being mind-controlled by the Vegans. His friend could not control his body but he still could warn Duke stay away from him... and beg kill him.
Shiny-Looking Spaceships: Both Grendizer and the Vegan starships are shiny-looking, bright and very polished -although they may get dirty in battle, though-.
Star-Crossed Lovers:Duke and Hikaru. Hikaru's father refused accepting their relationship (on grounds of Duke being male. Danbei was anOverprotective Dad was perfectly willing to kill any male came near from his daughter), but that was not the real obstacle (or an obstacle for that matter). The real obstacle was Duke wanted to return his planet to rebuild it if he managed surviving the war, whereas Hikaru did not want to leave Earth. Not matter what their feelings are, a separation is inevitable. Also,Duke and Rubina. Rubina is King Vega's daughter. They got engaged before the Fleed's invasion, but King Vega -who never agreed the engagement in first place-, refuses seeing his daughter getting married with Duke. Of course,it ended up in tears.
Stealth in Space: King Vega's tactic during his army's offensive final depended on being stealth. Of course,it did not work.
Super Robot Wars: Out of the trilogy this series has appeared the least but nevertheless has appeared a few times.
Rumor has it that Grendizer appears the least due toGo Nagai not wantingMazinkaiser (which was created for the games and appears in many installments) or Grendizer to be shown as superior to one another in any way. Thus, the only times Grendizer ever shows up is when Mazinkaiser is omitted, which isn't very often.
Or rather, it's because Mazinkaiser has showed up rather frequently in most of the recent games. It did pop up inSuper Robot Wars Z, though.
The SRW staff has said that there isn't an specific reason keeping the two series from appearing together. They simply just haven't decided to use them together yet.
Supervillain Lair: The lair of the Vegan invaders was aSpace Base set in the Moon.When the Emperor began his final offensive against Earth, he ordered blowing it up to show his troops they had only two choices left: conquering Earth or die.
Take Over the World: Planet Vega had become unstable due to the overexploitation of ores of vegatron, a highly radioactive material. King Vega needed to find another world to settle his people on, and so he began conquering other worlds. That expansionist campaign finally led them to Earth.
Taking the Bullet: During an aerial duel between Grendizer and anotherStarship in the episode 72,Rubina flies her own ship between Grendizer and an energy beam to save Duke. Shedies shortly after. HerHeroic Sacrifice is done more tragic because Duke had accused her from betraying him shortly before. The whole episode was aTear Jerker.
Telescoping Robot: Grendizer had one scythe stored into each shoulder could be joined to shape a double-edged shaft. The blades also worked like aPrecision-Guided Boomerang. And that is not counting all weapons hid into its flying device.
This Is Unforgivable!: Uttered by Duke when he remembered an unpleasant memory from the invasion and destruction of Fleed or when the Vegans had got him REAL pissed off. In the second instance you really did NOT want being the focus of his anger.
Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Subversion enforced. To start with, the Headquarters of the good guys is not in Tokyo but in the vicinity of Mount Fuji. Therefore, the enemy feels aren't compelled to exclusively target and attack Tokyo. Not only are a lot of Japanese cities destroyed but also the Vegan army attacked many countries, not only Japan.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Hikaru and Maria subvert the trope. Hikaru usually wears pants and male clothes and is a very femenineYamato Nadeshiko. Maria, on the other hand, constantly and consistently wears dresses and skirts, and is a tomboy and aBiker BabeTsundere. Not matter what, they are good friends.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Several characters. The more prominent of them was Rubina. She was a good person sincerely loved Duke, and wanted reuniting with him to end up the war and rebuilding his planet together. Unfortunately, when she managed meeting Duke to talk with him,one of the Vegan generals took that chance to ambush Duke, and she died shilelding her fiancee from a shot.
Two-Faced: Lord/Lady Gandal is aBaronAshuraExpy with two personalities, a male one and a female one. During the first season, his body was male, but when the female side wanted taking control, his face split in two halves, revealing a tiny female human inside the head. Afterwards, his face changed every time he switched personalities. Due to their different personalities he combined beingThe Dragon with beingThe Starscream.
Ungrateful Bastard: In all series of theMazinger trilogy, humans barely need a little push to side with or become puppets of the people who want to enslave them or annihilate them and turn on the people who are protecting them with their lives.
Unobtainium: Grendizer is built with an alien metal called Gren. Since it can not be found on Earth, when Grendizer gets damaged, Alloy Z is used to repair it.
Vegatron is a highly radioactive material only can be mined from planet Vega. The Vegans used it to create powerful weapons, but its overexploitation led to the planet becoming highly unstable.
Use Your Head: Duke uses this tactic sometimes, although he has a good excuse: usually he is trying to ram the enemy rather head-butt it, but hisHumongous Mecha head is on the front of hisStarship whenboth mechas combine, so that it is the first thing hits the enemy.
War Is Hell: The message is core to the series and it is delivered in a pretty heavy-handed way. The Vegans tried to take over Fleed to settle on it but their own weapons turned the planet into an inhabitable, radioactive chunk of rock. The only thing their expansionist war achieved was the destruction of several planets and their own annihilation. The war scenes were depicted in a very harsh fashion. And several characters argued nothing could be gained from that conflict:
Hikaru: “Why friends must fight each other? It’s all the same. It doesn’t matter who wins… There’s no way peace can result from this fight!” Rubina: "If this war continues, not only all Vegans but also Earth will be destroyed."
You Killed My Father: The parents and whole family of Dukeand Maria got murdered by the Vegans. It is one of the resons becausethey want defeating them.