is a Japanese

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series created by

Go Nagai , better known by the pen name , is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with ''Meakashi Polikichi'', but is best known for creating popular 1970s ...

. It was produced by

Knack Productions , formerly known as or simply until August 2008, is a Japanese anime and film production company. History Knack Productions was founded on September 25, 1967, by a group of former employees of Toei Animation and Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production, ...

and

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certif ...

. The series was originally

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

from to in Japan. Besides Japan, it was also broadcast in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

in 1988 by MBC where it was known as ' or '. It is also known as in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

and in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. The anime is considered a mix of ''

Genma Taisen is a Japanese science fiction manga and novel franchise that began in 1967. It was a collaboration in ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' by science fiction writer Kazumasa Hirai and manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. It was adapted into a 1983 an ...

'', ''

Mazinger is a long-running series of manga and anime featuring giant robots or mecha. Series The series in order: ''God Mazinger'' is related by name only and ''Mazinkaiser'' is an OVA retelling of earlier ''Mazinger'' stories, based partly on des ...

'' and ''

Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with '' Mo ...

''.

Story

The Garadain Empire has exhausted the primary resources of their native planet, so they send different space expeditions to find a new world where to live. One of their main objectives is planet Earth. However, Zeku Alba, an alien scientist, decides to rebel against the imperial rule and flees towards the Earth, where he gathers a group of children gifted with the power of "psychogenesis", an ability that consists of creating solid matter from psychic energy. The most gifted of the squadron is Isamu, a young orphan whose family was killed in the first attack of the Garadain Empire. He is able to generate the powerful robot Govarian, an armor with which he can battle the alien monsters and is able to regenerate thanks to the psychic energy of the pilot. Helped by two other robots created by his teammates, Isamu, aboard the robot Govarian, defends the Earth in the long war against the alien invaders.

Characters

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mechas

Main mechas

*Psycho Armor Govarian :Length: 13 meters :Weight: 47

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s :Pilot: Isamu Napoto * :Length: 11 meters :Weight: 43 tonnes :Pilot: Kurt Buster, Hans Schultz (after the death of Buster) * :Length: 11 meters :Weight: 63 tonnes :Pilot: Karim Atlas

Garadain mechas

*: The basic flying infantry mecha. *: The basic walking infantry mecha. *: Mecha used by Meria *: Mecha used by Meria * * *: The most powerful mecha, controlled by Christo. Kurt Buster dies trying to destroy it. After Buster's attack, it's modified and later it is finally destroyed by Meria in a

suicide attack A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout history ...

Episodes

Source(s)

Production

The head of the main mecha of the series, Govarian, is similar to the head of

Mazinger Z is a Japanese super robot manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later was reissued in Kodansha ''TV Magazi ...

and

Great Mazinger is a Japanese manga comic book and anime television series by manga artist Go Nagai. The story is a sequel and direct continuation of ''Mazinger Z'' series after its initial success. The series was aired on Japanese television in 1974, im ...

. This was done on purpose by Go Nagai and Dynamic Planning in accordance with the demand of production company Knack. In South Korea, it was presented as being part of the Mazinger series along with ''

Groizer X is an anime series aired from 1976 to 1977. There were 36 episodes. It is also referred to as ''Gloyzer X'' and ''Gloizer X''. Story The Gaira aliens, hidden in the Arctic, plan to conquer Earth. Captured and forced to work for the aliens, ...

''. Other than that, ''Psycho Armor Govarian'' has no real relationship to any of the Mazinger series.

Staff

*Airtime: Wednesday, 19:30-20:00 hrs. *Network:

*Production: TV Tokyo,

Knack Knack or The Knack may refer to: Music and entertainment * The Knack, an American pop-rock band famous for their hit "My Sharona" * The Knack (1960s US band), an American garage rock band active in the 1960s * The Knack (UK band), a British freak ...

*Original work:

Dynamic Planning is a licensing company owned by manga artist Go Nagai. It was established in 1974 as a sister company of Dynamic Productions. Dynamic Planning is credited in all of Go Nagai's animated works since 1974 as the "planner" and/or "producer". ...

*Planning: Seiichi Nishino (Knack) *Producer: Hyota Ezu (TV Tokyo), Hirofumi Toida (Knack) *Series organization: Yoshihisa Araki *Series director: Seiji Okuda *Animation director: Gen Fukuda, Yuki Kinoshita *Script: Hideki Sonoda, Katsuhiko Taguchi, Yuji Watanabe, Tomomi Minahaya, Masato Nishio, Tsukasa Takahashi *Original character: Go Nagai *Character design: Gen Fukuda *Mechanic design: Sawaki Tateba *Art director: Morishige Suzuki *Photography director: Yoichi Shimizu *Music: Tatsumi Yano *Theme song performance:

Neverland Neverland is a fictional island featured in the works of J. M. Barrie and those based on them. It is an imaginary faraway place where Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, the Lost Boys, and some other imaginary beings and creatures live. Alth ...

Source(s)

Theme songs

*Opening theme: , lyrics by Tomoaki Taka, composition by Shunji Inoe, arrangement by Neverland & Hiroki Harada (chorus), song by Tomoaki Taka. *Ending theme: , lyrics by Tomoaki Taka, composition by Shunji Inoe, arrangement by Neverland, song by Tomoaki Taka. *Insert song: , lyrics by Tomoaki Taka, composition by Shunji Inoe, arrangement by Tatsumi Yano, song by Tomoaki Taka. This theme is used in the last episode. *Insert song: , lyrics by Tomoaki Taka, composition by Shunji Inoe, arrangement by Tatsumi Yano, song by Tomoaki Taka. "Lonely Journey" and "Lullaby" have been used in several music collections in arranged versions sung by

Hironobu Kageyama is a Japanese singer and composer prominent in the soundtracks for anime, video game and tokusatsu productions. He is sometimes called Kami (Kei) by his fans. Kageyama got his big break at age 16, as lead singer of the rock band Lazy. By the ea ...

Media

Home video

The series was released in VHS format during the 1980s in 6 volumes. In 2006-03-25 a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

-box set containing the whole series was released by the company Japanese company BM3 with the standard number OHK-27. During

Otakon Otakon ( ) is an annual three-day anime convention held during July/August. It stands for Otaku Convention. From 1999 to 2016, it took place at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district; in 2017, it moved t ...

2018 on August 12,

Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles f ...

announced a 1-disc SD on BD release of the entire series for a future release.

Picture books and manga

Besides the main TV series, two series of picture books were released, one by

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of Japanese dictionaries, dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are to ...

and the other by

Asahi Sonorama is the publishing arm of The Asahi Shimbun Company, publishing books, magazines, and manga. It replaced on 1 April 2008 just after it went bankrupt. History Asahi Sonorama was created as a division of Asahi Shimbunsha on September 9, 1959, ...

. Also a short manga serialization, with the art of Tatsuo Yasuda (another pen name of

Tatsuya Yasuda , also known as is a former member of Dynamic Productions. He was born in 1952 in the island of Hokkaido. Tatsuo joined Dynamic in 1975. He is mostly known for being the co-creator of ''Kotetsu Jeeg , also known as ''Kotetsu Jeeg'' or ''K ...

), was published in the

children's manga and refer to manga and anime directed towards children. These series are usually moralistic, often educating children about staying in the right path in life. Each chapter is usually a self-contained story. History ''Kodomo'' manga started ...

magazine ''Yoiko'' published by

from to .

Toys

Some toys and action figures based in the robots of the series were released, including several South Korean

bootleg Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to: * Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially * Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence: ** Moonshine, or illicitly made a ...

versions. The official figures were made by the company Poem.

Soundtracks

Four

vinyl records A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

were released during 1983 by King Records. The first one, an EP called ''Psycho Armor Govarian - Lonely Journey'', contains the opening and ending theme, both of them performed by the Japanese group

. The second EP, called ''Psycho Armor Govarian - It's LOVE'', contains the themes "It's LOVE" and "Yuhi no Omoi". Also performed by Neverland, both themes have lyrics by

Tomoaki Taka Tomoaki is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Tomoaki can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Some examples: *知明, "know, bright" *知朗, "know, clear" *知晃, "know, clear" *知章, "know, chap ...

, composition by

Shunji Inoe Shunji (written: 俊二, 俊治, 俊嗣, 舜二 or 隼士) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese actor *, Japanese actor *, Imperial Japanese Navy admi ...

, arrangement by

Tatsumi Yano Tatsumi is a Japanese name. It may refer to: People Surname *Daiyū Tatsumi (born 1940), Japanese former sumo wrestler * Juri Tatsumi (born 1979), Japanese synchronised swimmer * Naofumi Tatsumi (1845–1907), Japanese general of the Imperial Army ...

and are sung by Tomoaki Taka. The last two are full LP album containing the BGM of the series and the opening and ending themes. The opening and ending songs of the series are included in several CD compilations of anime series.

Appearances in other media

Besides its series related media, Govarian has appeared in other media. The most prominent is its appearance in the clips that were included at the end of the DVDs of ''

Shin Getter Robot tai Neo Getter Robot is an anime OVA series based on the works of Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa. It was released in four episodes on four DVDs ranging from December 2000 to June 2001. ''Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo'' draws heavily from Ken Ishikawa's manga '' ...

''. ''Govarian'' appears alongside ''

'', ''Venus A'', ''

Getter Robot G , known as ''Starvengers'' in the United States, is a super robot anime series by Toei Animation based on ''Hundred Demons Empire'' arc of ''Getter Robo'' manga by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa. This direct sequel to '' Getter Robo'' was br ...

'', ''

Kotetsu Jeeg , also known as ''Kotetsu Jeeg'' or ''Koutetsu Jeeg'', is a Japanese mecha anime series created by manga artists Go Nagai and Tatsuya Yasuda and produced by Toei Doga (now Toei Animation), directed by Masayuki Akehi. It was first broadca ...

'', ''

God Mazinger , also known as , is an anime, manga and novel series created by manga artist Go Nagai. The anime aired on Japanese TV from to in the network Nippon Television with 23 episodes. It is given the international title ''Space Adventure: The De ...

'' and ''

'' to rescue ''

'' and ''

Aphrodite A This is a list of characters from the anime and manga series ''Mazinger Z'', '' Great Mazinger'', '' Grendizer'', and '' Mazinkaiser'', as well as the ''Shin Mazinger'' reboot. It lists the main players of the plots as well as minor characters o ...

'', but are defeated and in turn saved by ''

Shin Getter Robot is a Japanese mecha media franchise created by Ken Ishikawa and Go Nagai. An anime television series produced by Toei Animation was broadcast on Fuji TV from April 4, 1974, to May 8, 1975, with a total of 51 episodes. The manga was seriali ...

'' and ''

Grendizer , known as '' Grandizer'' in the United States, is a Japanese Super Robot anime television series and manga created by manga artist Go Nagai. It is the third entry in the '' Mazinger'' series, however it is non-canon due to '' Mazinger ...

'' just before the arrival of ''

Mazinkaiser is a Japanese anime OVA produced by Brain's Base and Dynamic Productions, based on the Mazinkaiser design that debuted in ''Super Robot Wars'' games and the original ''Mazinger Z'' manga by Go Nagai. The OVA follows Kouji Kabuto, Tetsuya ...

''.

References

External links

*
''Psycho Armor Govarian''
at allcinema
''Psycho Armor Govarian''
{{in lang, it at the Enciclo'Robopedia website 1983 anime television series debuts Discotek Media Go Nagai Knack Productions Mecha anime and manga Shogakukan manga