The appeal and reputation of "Koutetsushin Jeeg": Reevaluating the good old robot anime

Steel God Jeeg: Nagai Go's new challenge and its appeal

"Steel Jeeg," which aired on WOWOW in 2007, is a robot anime based on the original work by Go Nagai, and its unique world view and story development have captivated many fans. This work is positioned as a sequel to "Steel Jeeg," which aired in 1975, and depicts a new battle set in a world 50 years later. Below, we will introduce detailed information about this work and its appeal.

■Overview of the work

Steel God Jeeg is a 13-episode anime series that aired on WOWOW from April 5 to July 12, 2007. It was written by Nagai Go, directed by Kawagoe Jun, and assistant director Kawamura Tomoyuki. Animation was handled by Actus, and production was handled by Build Base (Pony Canyon, Dynamic Planning, Kyoraku Sangyo Co., Ltd., Bandai, Actus, Lantis, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, WOWOW). The series aired for 27 minutes every Thursday from 23:30 to 24:00.

■ Story

Once upon a time, humanity was engaged in a fierce battle with the Great Jammer Kingdom. The battle was between the Haniwa Genjin led by Queen Himika, who possesses ferocious magical powers, and the Build Base and Steel Jeeg led by Dr. Senjiro Shiba. In the final battle, Jeeg succeeded in containing Himika, but two powerful energies generated a mysterious zone, which engulfed almost the entire Kyushu region.

50 years later, a Haniwa phantom appears in Shimonoseki, the closest place to Kyushu, and the revival of the Jamming Kingdom begins. A new Build Base was created in anticipation of this revival, and the Steel God Jeeg once again fights the Jamming Kingdom. The story depicts the struggles of new pilot Kenji Kusanagi and his companions to reclaim the forgotten land.

■Explanation

"Steel Jeeg" was aired as a TV anime in 1975, and was produced by Dynamic Planning, based on the original story by Go Nagai and Tatsuya Yasuda. At the time, Go Nagai had created hits such as "Devilman," "Mazinger Z," and "Cutie Honey," and he teamed up with Tatsuya Yasuda, who had new ideas, to create a robot hero. In particular, the new gimmick of magnets was well received by children.

"Koutetsushin Jeeg" was launched as a sequel, adding new ideas from Go Nagai. Many new characters were introduced and a new story unfolded, appealing to not only fans of the original but also a new audience.

■Cast

The main cast is as follows:

• Kenji Kusanagi: Daisuke Ono
• Tsubaki Tamaki: Kana Ueda
• Beauty mirror: Chiba Susumu
• Miwa Tamaki: Mako Hyodo
• Shiba Senjiro: Ueda Yoji
• Captain Yagyu: Junko Noda
• Saotome Corps Member: Mori Natsuki
• Officer Shindo: Akemi Okamura
• Sora Shiba: Junichi Suwabe
• Himika: Akiko Kimura
• Ikima: Yuichi Ishigami
• Mimashi: Daisuke Matsuoka
• Amaso: Nobuyuki Kobushi

■ Main staff

The main staff are as follows:

• Original author: Go Nagai
• Director: Jun Kawagoe
• Assistant Director: Tomoyuki Kawamura
• Series Composition: Tadashi Hayakawa
• Character design: Akira Kikuchi
• Mechanical design: Toshiyuki Horii
• Haniwa phantom design: Hiroshi Ogawa
• Art director: Nobuhito Sakamoto
• Color design: Sachiko Harada
• Director of photography: Yasuhiko Abe
• Edited by Jun Taguma
• CGI Director: Kenji Kobayashi
• Sound Director: Miwa Iwanami
• Music: Yoshihisa Hirano
• Sound Production: Jinnan Studio
• Music producer: Shunji Inoue
• Music Production: Lantis
• Producers: Takashi Watanabe, Kazuomi Nagai, Satoshi Okazaki, Yoshinaga Minami, Satsuki Mizuno, Kiyoko Matsumura, Osamu Hosokawa, Hiroyuki Kitaura
• Animation producer: Shumpei Maruyama
• Animation production: Actas
• Produced by Build Base (Pony Canyon, Dynamic Planning, Kyoraku Sangyo Co., Ltd., Bandai, Actus, Lantis, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, WOWOW)

■ Main Characters

The main characters are as follows:

Build Base

• Kenji Kusanagi: 17 years old. He is a childhood friend of Tsubaki, and is not only an active HMB (Hyper Motorbike) rider, but also a super high school student who is skilled in many martial arts such as judo, kendo, karate, and aikido. However, due to his lack of mental discipline, his classmates call him "stupid and perverted." He currently lives alone.
• Tsubaki Tamaki: 17 years old. She is the granddaughter of Miwa Tamaki and a shrine maiden at Mafutsusu Shrine. She is the navigator and shooting manipulator for the Big Shooter.
• Mikaku Kyo: 17 years old. Rich, intelligent, handsome and a bit cool. In contrast to Kenji, he is popular with the opposite sex at school. He is a member of the HMB team and competes with Kenji for the ace position. He is also a pilot of the Big Shooter together with Tsubaki.
• Miwa Tamaki: Formerly Miwa Uzuki. In the past, she was a Big Shooter pilot supporting Sora Shiba in battles. She lived with Tsubaki at Azabu Tsumago Shrine, but after the revival of the Jamming Kingdom, she was appointed as the director of Build Base.
• Senjiro Shiba: Father of the first Jeeg and Sora Shiba. An authority on archaeology and applied metallurgy, he unearthed a mysterious bronze bell while researching ancient metals and conducting archaeological surveys from the perspective of mineral research. After that, he foresaw the revival of the Jamai Kingdom and founded Build Base.
• Captain Yagyu: Captain of the Build Angels. He is the descendant of Jubei Yagyu, and contrary to appearances, he is the most skilled in martial arts among the Build Angels.
• Officer Saotome: The most powerful woman in Build Base, even Kenji cannot match her in terms of strength alone. Her personality is just as powerful as her appearance.
• Officer Shindou: With her narrow eyes that give off an intimidating vibe, she is known as a cool woman within the Build Base. However, her passion during battle lives up to her name as a Build Angel.
• Shiba Sora: Son of Shiba Senjiro. The first Steel Jeeg who fought against the Jamming Kingdom 50 years ago. He had been missing for 50 years, but...

The Great Jamming Kingdom

• Himika: Queen of the Great Jamming Kingdom, who once terrorized Japan. She disappeared along with Kyushu in the final battle with Steel Jeeg, but has been resurrected 50 years later.
• Ikima: One of the three executives of the Great Jammer Kingdom. He mainly plays the role of advisor, planning strategies, etc.
• Mimashi: One of the three executives of the Great Jammer Kingdom. A typical strong-arm type who tries to subjugate everything with force. His words and actions are also vicious.
• Amaso: One of the three executives of the Great Jamming Kingdom. Despite his childlike innocence, he is the most cruel and ruthless of the three.

Defense Forces/SDF

• Naojiro: A staff officer of the Defense Forces, which was formed after the Self-Defense Forces were dissolved.
• Goemon: A member of the Self-Defense Forces belonging to the Abashiri Air Group. It is a unit that no longer exists, but to them it is the present.

■ Main robot items

The main robots and items are as follows:

• Build Base: Founded by Senjiro Shiba, an authority on archaeology and applied metallurgy, in order to crush the advance of the Jamai Kingdom. 50 years have passed since that deadly battle, and the main mission now is to observe and study the zone that covers the entire Kyushu region.
• Steel Jeeg: A new Jeeg developed by Build Base. As it uses the Raikouma as its core unit, it can be piloted by anyone, not just a cyborg, but Kenji is the only one currently chosen to pilot it.
• Steel Jeeg (first generation): 50 years ago, the first generation Jeeg fought a fierce battle with Himiga. Shiba Chuu transformed into a cyborg and transformed into Jeeg's head. He had gone missing when Himiga was sealed away, but...
• Raikouma: It has a much higher power than HMB and has a built-in computer that can calculate the success rate of choosing a running course and avoiding obstacles. It can transform into the head unit of Steel Jeeg.
• Big Shooter: A support aircraft for Steel Jeeg. Its main mission is to transport each Jeeg part and launch spare and replacement parts. It is piloted by two people, Mikaku Kagami and Tamaki Tsubaki.
• Jeeg Bazooka: A giant bazooka that can be used by converting it into a Jeeg. It has eight rounds.
• Giga Shooter: A railway gun developed 50 years ago to shoot Jeeg parts from other than the Big Shooter. It is equipped with three parts: Sky, Drill, and Marine.
• Marine Parts: Jeeg parts specialized for underwater combat.
• Build Angel: A fighter jet belonging to the Build Base. It has a unique piloting position and can fire a particle beam (circle blaster) from the center of a ring installed on its back.
• Jamming Kingdom: A mysterious kingdom that used mysterious powers to rule over ancient Japan, centered around Queen Miga. About 50 years ago, after thousands of years, Miga was resurrected and tried to take control of Japan again, but her ambitions were defeated by Steel Zeke. However...
• Haniwa Phantom: A giant weapon of the Great Jammer Kingdom created by Himiwa's magic.
• Magura: A phantom god created from the countless cylindrical clay figures buried in the mountains. He was defeated by Jeeg once, but was revived by Ikkiba, who received the spirit of Himiga.
• Mezura: A horse-shaped Haniwa phantom. It has power comparable to Jeeg. When it transforms into a humanoid/bipedal form, it can spit magma bullets.
• Kajira: A fish-type Haniwa phantom god. He is skilled in underwater combat.
• Bakura: Has the special ability to emit flashes of light from his mouth and put enemies into a sleep/dream state.
• Yomi Soldier: A low-ranking soldier from the Great Jammer Kingdom who was resurrected from the underworld.

■Subtitle

The subtitles for each episode are as follows:

• Episode 1: Build Up! Steel Jeeg!!
• Episode 2: The Resurrection of the Princess Misfortune! The Resurrection of the Great Jamming Kingdom
• Episode 3: Taming the Shrew! Explosion! Hell Slap
• Episode 4: A desperate underwater battle! The railway gun is ready!
• Episode 5: Absorbed in the action? The fearsome traps of the Great Kingdom of Jeopardy
• Episode 6: The mysterious Daikoku-sama also builds up!
• Episode 7: Invasion! To Takachiho Peak! I saw it in the misty land!
• Episode 8: Aim for the Jeeg with the power of love! Conversion complete at an altitude of 10,000 meters!
• Episode 9: A ruthless strategy! Plan to annihilate the Build Base!
• Episode 10: Tsubaki is imprisoned! The evil queen's ritual of disaster!
• Episode 11: Gaze upon the moon!! With an indomitable determination to eradicate evil!
• Episode 12: The Final Battle! The Great Bronze Bell Stands!
• Episode 13: Become a Steel God!!

■ Related works

A related work is "Steel Jeeg." The original "Steel Jeeg" was broadcast in 1975, and was produced by Dynamic Planning, based on the original story by Go Nagai and Tatsuya Yasuda.

■ Theme songs and music

The theme songs and insert songs are as follows:

Opening Theme

• STORMBRINGER
• Lyricist: Hironobu Kageyama
• Composer: Hironobu Kageyama
• Arrangement: Kenichi Sudo, Yoshichika Kuriyama
• Sung by: JAM Project (Ichiro Mizuki, Hironobu Kageyama, Rika Matsumoto, Masaaki Endo, Hiroshi Kitadani, Masami Okui, Yoshiki Fukuyama, Ricardo Cruz)

Ending Theme

• HEAVEN
• Lyricist: Kisho Taniyama
• Composer: Masaaki Iizuka
• Arrangement: Masaaki Iizuka
• Sung by: GRANRODEO

Insert song

• Dead or Alive
• Lyricist: Hironobu Kageyama
• Composer: Hironobu Kageyama
• Arrangement: Kenichi Sudo, Yoshichika Kuriyama
• Sung by: JAM Project (Hironobu Kageyama, Rika Matsumoto, Masaaki Endo, Hiroshi Kitadani, Masami Okui, Yoshiki Fukuyama)

■ Evaluation and appeal

"Steel Jeeg" is an appealing work with Go Nagai's unique worldview, new characters, and story. In particular, as it is set in a world 50 years in the future, fans of the original "Steel Jeeg" can enjoy both nostalgia and newness at the same time. In addition, the storyline has been praised for drawing viewers in, with the growth of new characters such as Kusanagi Kenji, and the battle against the Great Jammer Kingdom.

In addition, new mechanics and items such as the Big Shooter and Jeeg Bazooka are also part of the appeal. These items make the battle scenes more dynamic and provide visual enjoyment. The theme songs and insert songs by JAM Project and GRANRODEO also enhance the appeal of the work.

■Recommendation

"Koutetsujin Jeeg" is a work that is especially recommended for fans of Go Nagai and those who like robot anime. In addition, new stories and characters have been created so that even those who are not familiar with the original "Koutetsu Jeeg" can enjoy it, making it a work that appeals to a wide range of audiences. In particular, it is a work that cannot be missed by those who are interested in battle scenes and mechanical designs.

In addition, this is a work that fans of JAM Project and GRANRODEO cannot miss. The theme song and insert songs liven up the atmosphere of the work, and you can enjoy the synergistic effect of music and anime. Please watch this work and feel the charm of Go Nagai's new challenge.