is a Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series created by

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

. 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 is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

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. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

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. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. 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 ...

'', ''

Mazinger is a long-running series of manga and anime featuring giant robots or mecha created by Go Nagai in 1972. It introduced the concept of mecha as robots which are ridden by humans and controlled like vehicles to Japanese science fiction (previous ...

'' and ''

Gundam is a Japanese military science 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 ...

''.

Premise

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.

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 written and illustrated by Go Nagai. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from October 1972 to August 1973 and Kodansha's ' from October 1973 to September 1974. ''Mazing ...

and

Great Mazinger is a Japanese anime television series and manga comic book created by Go Nagai and Dynamic Productions. The story is a sequel and direct continuation of '' Mazinger Z'' series after its initial success. The series was aired on Japa ...

. 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:

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Knack *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". S ...

*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. ...

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 musician, singer and composer. He is best known for his work on anime, video game and ''tokusatsu'' soundtracks. Kageyama first rose to prominence as a teenager in the 1970s as lead singer of the rock band Lazy. Following their br ...

Media

Home video

The series was released in

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

format during the 1980s in 6 volumes by RCA Columbia Pictures Home Video Japan. 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 ki ...

-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. From 1999 to 2016, it took place at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district; in 2017, it moved to the Walter E. Washing ...

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. History Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retr ...

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 comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

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), 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 Manga aimed at children st ...

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 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 a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...

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, composition by Shunji Inoe, 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 * Kazuhiro Tatsumi (born 1946), Japanese archaeologist * Naofumi Tatsu ...

and are sung by Tomoaki Taka. The last two are full

LP album The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specificati ...

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

'', ''Venus A'', '' Getter Robot G'', '' Kotetsu Jeeg'', ''

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 Dei ...

'' 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 or o ...

'', but are defeated and in turn saved by '' Shin Getter Robot'' and ''

Grendizer , also known as '' Grandizer'', ''Ufo Robot Grendizer Raids'', ''Goldrake'' and ''Goldorak'', is a Japanese manga and animated television series created by Go Nagai. The series is the third entry in the '' Mazinger'' series, later rel ...

'' 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 Go Nagai Knack Productions Mecha anime and manga Shogakukan manga