Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh
Encyclopedia
is a 51 episode Japan
ese anime
television series, and the first series produced for the Eldran
franchise funded by Takara Tomy
and produced by Sunrise
. It aired in Japan from April 3, 1991 to March 25, 1992. The story revolves around a group of elementary school children who are given command of a mecha
named Raijin-Oh and their efforts to defend the Earth from the evil Jaaku (evil) Empire.
There is also a four episode OVA
sequel.
Anime Midstream, Inc. announced in December, 2008, that it acquired the license for and planned to release the anime series Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh in the U.S. sometime in 2009 as their first anime release. The company began selling the first volume of the series direct from their website, as well as several other online retailers as of late December, 2009. The first volume contained episodes 1-5. The second volume, containing episodes 6-10, was released in September 2010, however the series was renamed "Matchless Raijin-Oh" beginning with this volume (and current printings of the first volume are now also marketed under the new title). The third volume was released on July 12, 2011, containing episodes 11-15. Each volume contains English and Japanese audio, as well as special features such as music videos, clean openings/closings, voice bloopers, and the third volume contains an audio commentary with several of the English voice actors.
The "guardian of light" Eldran appears, an Ultraman
-like entity who is sworn to protect the universe and Earth in particular. Using the heroic robot Raijin-Oh, Eldran attempts to thwart the Evil Empire by preventing the missile from striking Earth. What happens instead is that the missile detonated against Eldran, throwing Raijin-Oh down to Earth. The robot crashes into a Japanese elementary school.
Eldran must leave to continue protecting the Earth, so he leaves the duty of defeating the Evil Beasts to a classroom full of children in the school where he crashed. He entrusts the children with Raijin-Oh, granting each child a different role to perform in either operating or supporting Raijin-Oh. Eldran also transforms their school itself, so it can transform into a command center when Raijin-Oh is needed.
Jin, Asuka and Koujii are chosen to lead Raijin-oh, but every day they live lots of amusing experiences in the school. Jin does not want to study, while his friends do and force him to do it by tickling him.
Ken-Oh (literally "Sword King") is a humanoid robot, piloted by Jin, the leader of the trio. It has a sword called the Ken-Oh Blade, which protrudes from the shield on Ken-Oh's back when needed. It forms the torso of the Raijin-Oh.
Hou-Oh (literally "Phoenix King") resembles a phoenix. It is piloted by Asuka, and is the fastest of the trio. Hou-Oh forms the arms and wings of Raijin-Oh.
Juu-Oh's (literally "Beast King") appearance is that of a lion,and is controlled by Kouji.It forms the legs of the Raijin-Oh and the lion head is used as a shield which contains the Raijin Sword. Juu-Oh is the strongest of the trio.
If the enemy becomes too powerful for the trio to handle individually,all three robots will combine,and they form the Raijin-Oh,a large humanoid robot with wings. In the early parts of the series,the Raijin-Oh will trap its opponent with a beam from the Raijin Shield and finish it off with the Raijin Sword.
After the evil commander Belzeb (short for Beelzebub or Satan) was given a giant crystal robot named Jaaku Satan by Emperor Warza (literally "evil emperor") to assists the Jaaku Beasts in destroying Raijin-Oh, the Raijin-Oh soon realized that it was unable to defeat its enemies alone. At the brink of defeat, the Earth Defense Class managed to uncover one last robot, Bakuryu-Dragon bears the appearance of a dragon but can transform into a humanoid robot, Bakuryu-Oh.
As strong as Raijin-oh, its arsenal includes a cannon and a shield.
The Raijin-Oh and Bakuryu-Oh can further combine to form the ultimate robot, the God Raijin-Oh. In the early parts of its appearance, the God Raijin-Oh finishes off Jaaku Beasts with a cannon. Soon after the God Raijin-Oh Sword is discovered and is used since then to defeat Super Jaaku Beasts (Jaaku Satan combined with a powered-up Jaaku Beast).
To modern fans, Raijin-Oh is probably most notable for being the subject of the deconstruction
manga
series Bokurano
. Bokurano contains many plot elements that directly parody Raijin-Oh's premise, characters, and especially its tone. Otherwise Raijin-Oh had little worldwide impact, despite some success in Southeast Asian countries like China
and Taiwan
.
Raijin-Oh was featured in the New Century Brave Wars game, along with several of the Yuusha series robots, also created by Sunrise at around the same time. The reason for this was likely to have been the similarities between the Yuusha series and the Eldran trilogy, that and both series were animated by Sunrise. The toy company which made the Yuusha series, Takara
would later merge with Tomy and thus both companies had access to each other's toy ideas, hence why Raijin-Oh was part of the video game. However the other two Eldran series, Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger
and Nekketsu Saikyo Go-Saurer
were not included; in fact a few of the Yuusha series robots were also left out of the game.
Raijin-Oh has only recently begun to appear in Banpresto
's Super Robot Taisen series of games. It has appeared in Super Robot Taisen GC, Super Robot Taisen XO, and Super Robot Taisen Neo. This is in part due to the fact that the Super Robot Taisen series largely concerned itself with 70's and 80's series at the time the game series began in the early 90's. As of 2009, Raijin-Oh is nearly 20 years old and therefore old enough to be nostalgic to adult gamers. It is not clear why Raijin-Oh has only appeared in the 3D Super Robot Taisen games that appear on Nintendo
consoles, as opposed to the more popular 2D games that appear on PlayStation
systems and Nintendo handhelds.
for the Nintendo GameCube
and again in Super Robot Wars XO for the Xbox 360
.
Raijin-Oh is again included as an entry in the latest Super Robot Wars
series of video games called Super Robot Wars NEO
for the Wii
along with the other 3 Eldran Mecha series.
It also appeared in New Century Brave Wars on the PlayStation 2
in Japan to establish the first official connection between the Eldran and Yuusha series, following the merger of Takara and Tomy.
It would later appear as one of the various Sunrise animated robots as a playable character in the RPG Battle of Sunrise, to celebrate the studio's 30th anniversary, released on the PlayStation 2.
There also exists a Game Boy
fighting game, which has been translated into English through a fan-made patch.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
television series, and the first series produced for the Eldran
Eldran series
The is a toy and animation franchise begun by toy company Tomy in Japan. Tomy struck a cooperative deal with the animation studio Sunrise to develop the new franchise to sell their toys.-Series overview:...
franchise funded by Takara Tomy
Takara Tomy
is a Japanese toy, children's merchandise and entertainment company created from the March 2006 merger of two companies: Tomy and long-time rival, Takara...
and produced by Sunrise
Sunrise (company)
is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise. It is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings. Its former name was Nippon Sunrise, and prior to that, Sunrise Studios...
. It aired in Japan from April 3, 1991 to March 25, 1992. The story revolves around a group of elementary school children who are given command of a mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
named Raijin-Oh and their efforts to defend the Earth from the evil Jaaku (evil) Empire.
There is also a four episode OVA
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
sequel.
Anime Midstream, Inc. announced in December, 2008, that it acquired the license for and planned to release the anime series Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh in the U.S. sometime in 2009 as their first anime release. The company began selling the first volume of the series direct from their website, as well as several other online retailers as of late December, 2009. The first volume contained episodes 1-5. The second volume, containing episodes 6-10, was released in September 2010, however the series was renamed "Matchless Raijin-Oh" beginning with this volume (and current printings of the first volume are now also marketed under the new title). The third volume was released on July 12, 2011, containing episodes 11-15. Each volume contains English and Japanese audio, as well as special features such as music videos, clean openings/closings, voice bloopers, and the third volume contains an audio commentary with several of the English voice actors.
The plot
The Jaaku Empire (literally "Evil Empire") comes to Earth with intent to conquer and despoil it. From their fortress they launch a missile that will flood the world with Akudamas, eggs of darkness which hatch into monsters called Evil Beasts based on things that annoy or frustrate humans.The "guardian of light" Eldran appears, an Ultraman
Ultraman
is Japanese television series that first aired in 1966. Ultraman, the first and best-known of the "Ultra-Crusaders," made his debut in the tokusatsu SF/kaiju/superhero TV series, , a follow-up to the television series Ultra Q...
-like entity who is sworn to protect the universe and Earth in particular. Using the heroic robot Raijin-Oh, Eldran attempts to thwart the Evil Empire by preventing the missile from striking Earth. What happens instead is that the missile detonated against Eldran, throwing Raijin-Oh down to Earth. The robot crashes into a Japanese elementary school.
Eldran must leave to continue protecting the Earth, so he leaves the duty of defeating the Evil Beasts to a classroom full of children in the school where he crashed. He entrusts the children with Raijin-Oh, granting each child a different role to perform in either operating or supporting Raijin-Oh. Eldran also transforms their school itself, so it can transform into a command center when Raijin-Oh is needed.
Jin, Asuka and Koujii are chosen to lead Raijin-oh, but every day they live lots of amusing experiences in the school. Jin does not want to study, while his friends do and force him to do it by tickling him.
Ken-Oh(剣王)
- Specs
- Height: 15.4 meters
- Weight: 10.0 tons
- Top Speed: 420 kilometers per hour
- Horsepower: 5, 500 hp
Ken-Oh (literally "Sword King") is a humanoid robot, piloted by Jin, the leader of the trio. It has a sword called the Ken-Oh Blade, which protrudes from the shield on Ken-Oh's back when needed. It forms the torso of the Raijin-Oh.
Hou-Oh(鳳王)
- Specs
- Length: 35.7 meters
- Weight: 15.5 tons
- Ground Movement Speed: 80 kilometers per hour
- Top Flying Speed: Mach 9
Hou-Oh (literally "Phoenix King") resembles a phoenix. It is piloted by Asuka, and is the fastest of the trio. Hou-Oh forms the arms and wings of Raijin-Oh.
Juu-Oh(獣王)
- Specs
- Length: 30.5 meters
- Weight: 28.5 tons
- Top Speed: 640 kilometers per hour
- Horsepower: 99000 hp
Juu-Oh's (literally "Beast King") appearance is that of a lion,and is controlled by Kouji.It forms the legs of the Raijin-Oh and the lion head is used as a shield which contains the Raijin Sword. Juu-Oh is the strongest of the trio.
Raijin-Oh(ライジンオー)
- Specs
- Height: 25 meters
- Weight: 54 tons
- Ground Movement Speed: 880 kilometers per hour
- Top Flying Speed: Mach 10
- Horsepower: 200000 hp
If the enemy becomes too powerful for the trio to handle individually,all three robots will combine,and they form the Raijin-Oh,a large humanoid robot with wings. In the early parts of the series,the Raijin-Oh will trap its opponent with a beam from the Raijin Shield and finish it off with the Raijin Sword.
Bakuryu-Dragon(バクリュウドラゴン)
- Specs
- Length: 58 meters
- Weight: 70 tons
- Ground Movement Speed: 130 kilometers per hour
- Top Flying Speed: Mach 20
After the evil commander Belzeb (short for Beelzebub or Satan) was given a giant crystal robot named Jaaku Satan by Emperor Warza (literally "evil emperor") to assists the Jaaku Beasts in destroying Raijin-Oh, the Raijin-Oh soon realized that it was unable to defeat its enemies alone. At the brink of defeat, the Earth Defense Class managed to uncover one last robot, Bakuryu-Dragon bears the appearance of a dragon but can transform into a humanoid robot, Bakuryu-Oh.
Bakuryu-Oh(バクリュウオー)
Bakuryu-Dragon's humanoid form.As strong as Raijin-oh, its arsenal includes a cannon and a shield.
God Raijin-Oh(ゴッドライジンオー)
- Specs
- Height: 41 meters
- Weight: 116 tons
- Ground Movement Speed: 1,200 kilometers per hour
- Top Flying Speed: Mach 22
- Horsepower: 830000 hp
The Raijin-Oh and Bakuryu-Oh can further combine to form the ultimate robot, the God Raijin-Oh. In the early parts of its appearance, the God Raijin-Oh finishes off Jaaku Beasts with a cannon. Soon after the God Raijin-Oh Sword is discovered and is used since then to defeat Super Jaaku Beasts (Jaaku Satan combined with a powered-up Jaaku Beast).
Cultural Impact
Raijin-Oh was a tremendously popular series at the time of its release, spawning two similar sequels and OVAs. This led to waves of similar TV shows in the early 90s, where a child or children were made into the pilots of giant robots. This was a significant change of pace for the mecha genre, which usually pursued an older demographic and used teenage or adult characters as pilots.To modern fans, Raijin-Oh is probably most notable for being the subject of the deconstruction
Deconstruction
Deconstruction is a term introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his 1967 book Of Grammatology. Although he carefully avoided defining the term directly, he sought to apply Martin Heidegger's concept of Destruktion or Abbau, to textual reading...
manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series Bokurano
Bokurano
is a Japanese science fiction manga by Mohiro Kitoh that was serialized in the monthly manga magazine Ikki from 2003 to 2009; 11 tankōbon have been published by Shogakukan...
. Bokurano contains many plot elements that directly parody Raijin-Oh's premise, characters, and especially its tone. Otherwise Raijin-Oh had little worldwide impact, despite some success in Southeast Asian countries like China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
Raijin-Oh was featured in the New Century Brave Wars game, along with several of the Yuusha series robots, also created by Sunrise at around the same time. The reason for this was likely to have been the similarities between the Yuusha series and the Eldran trilogy, that and both series were animated by Sunrise. The toy company which made the Yuusha series, Takara
Takara
Takara Co., Ltd. was a Japanese toy company founded in 1955, that merged with another prominent Japanese toy company, Tomy Co., Ltd., on March 1, 2006 to form Takara Tomy, also known in English as TOMY Company Ltd....
would later merge with Tomy and thus both companies had access to each other's toy ideas, hence why Raijin-Oh was part of the video game. However the other two Eldran series, Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger
Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger
is a 47 episode animated shōnen mecha television series, and the second series produced for the Eldran franchise funded by Takara Tomy and produced by Sunrise...
and Nekketsu Saikyo Go-Saurer
Nekketsu Saikyo Go-Saurer
, is a 51 episode animated television series, and third series in the Eldran franchise funded by Takara Tomy and produced by Sunrise. It aired in Japan from March 3, 1993 to February 23, 1994...
were not included; in fact a few of the Yuusha series robots were also left out of the game.
Raijin-Oh has only recently begun to appear in Banpresto
Banpresto
is a Japanese toy company, best known in America for game development, headquartered in the Shinagawa Seaside West Building in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It was founded April 1977 as Hoei Sangyo, Co. Ltd. The company was renamed Coreland in 1982, and during the 1980s it worked mainly as a subcontractor for...
's Super Robot Taisen series of games. It has appeared in Super Robot Taisen GC, Super Robot Taisen XO, and Super Robot Taisen Neo. This is in part due to the fact that the Super Robot Taisen series largely concerned itself with 70's and 80's series at the time the game series began in the early 90's. As of 2009, Raijin-Oh is nearly 20 years old and therefore old enough to be nostalgic to adult gamers. It is not clear why Raijin-Oh has only appeared in the 3D Super Robot Taisen games that appear on Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
consoles, as opposed to the more popular 2D games that appear on PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
systems and Nintendo handhelds.
Episode list
| Original Airdate | Episode number | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 04/03/1991 | 1 | Raijin-Oh arrives! |
| 04/10/1991 | 2 | We are the Earth Defense Class |
| 04/17/1991 | 3 | Test is how big an annoyance!? |
| 04/24/1991 | 4 | Protect the field of flowers! |
| 05/01/1991 | 5 | Decision! Unrivaled dragon tail |
| 05/08/1991 | 6 | Survive the traffic war! |
| 05/15/1991 | 7 | Taking care of drunkard |
| 05/22/1991 | 8 | Absolute union of friendship! |
| 05/29/1991 | 9 | Blowing away moldy feelings |
| 06/05/1991 | 10 | The town where gasoline vanished |
| 06/12/1991 | 11 | Cookie's nightmare |
| 06/19/1991 | 12 | The pool is too hot |
| 06/26/1991 | 13 | Get back the baby!! |
| 07/03/1991 | 14 | Final match! Baseball |
| 07/10/1991 | 15 | Fly at Mach 9! |
| 07/17/1991 | 16 | Crash course in returning the shot! |
| 07/24/1991 | 17 | Teacher is a Jaaku beast!? |
| 07/31/1991 | 18 | Presentation! Earth Defense Class' secrets |
| 08/07/1991 | 19 | Seaside School is in chaos!! |
| 08/14/1991 | 20 | Maria has disappeared! |
| 08/21/1991 | 21 | The enemy is Raijin-Oh!? |
| 08/28/1991 | 22 | Departure! The invincible warrior |
| 09/04/1991 | 23 | Come forth! Absolutely Invincible Union!! |
| 09/11/1991 | 24 | Dog/cat panic plan! |
| 09/18/1991 | 25 | Getting the scoop!! |
| 09/25/1991 | 26 | Great African battle! |
| 10/02/1991 | 27 | Defeat the earthquake |
| 10/09/1991 | 28 | Garuma's competition of fear!! |
| 10/16/1991 | 29 | Appear! Super Jaaku beast |
| 10/23/1991 | 30 | Jaaku beast is a friend? |
| 10/30/1991 | 31 | Fierce battle! Channel war |
| 11/06/1991 | 32 | Adventure in the haunted house |
| 11/13/1991 | 33 | Terror! Dancing Jaaku beast |
| 11/20/1991 | 34 | Skiing is too cold |
| 11/27/1991 | 35 | Vanished Commander |
| 12/04/1991 | 36 | Jaaku beast is an ally of justice!? |
| 12/11/1991 | 37 | Graffiti revolt |
| 12/18/1992 | 38 | Psychic Jin |
| 12/25/1992 | 39 | The celebration is a troubling thing |
| 01/08/1992 | 40 | Belzeb's great approach |
| 01/15/1992 | 41 | Kidnapping of the absolutely invincible |
| 01/22/1992 | 42 | Protect the secret of the school! |
| 01/29/1992 | 43 | Appearance of the gigantic cat! |
| 02/05/1992 | 44 | Decisive micro-battle! |
| 02/12/1992 | 45 | Broadcast! Earth Defense Class facts!! |
| 02/19/1992 | 46 | Taida becomes an Earthling |
| 02/26/1992 | 47 | Adult to child chaos!? |
| 03/04/1992 | 48 | Transformation! Black Taida |
| 03/11/1992 | 49 | Appear! Jaaku Empire |
| 03/18/1992 | 50 | Defeat Emperor Warza! |
| 03/25/1992 | 51 | Our dream is absolutely invincible! |
OVA List
| Original Airdate | OVA number | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 08/26/1992 | 1 | 5 Nen 3 Kum 3 Memorial Page! (Room 5 Class 3?) |
| 09/30/1992 | 2 | Epic War for First Love! |
| 12/16/1992 | 3 | Story of the Nobori Castle Robot of Light Daydream |
| 02/24/1993 | 3 | Everyone is the Earth Defense Class |
Game Appearances
The series first appeared on Sunrise Eiyuutan for the Dreamcast. Later on, it was included on Super Robot Wars GCSuper Robot Wars GC
is the first and only Nintendo GameCube Super Robot Wars title. The basic premise of the game is that the plot, settings, characters, and other mechanics consist of essentially mixing and combining the like of Gundam, Mazinger, Getter Robo, Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh, and many other mecha-based anime...
for the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
and again in Super Robot Wars XO for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
.
Raijin-Oh is again included as an entry in the latest Super Robot Wars
Super Robot Wars
is a series of tactical role-playing video games produced by Banpresto, which is now a Japanese division of Namco Bandai. The main feature of the franchise is having a story that crosses over several popular mecha anime, manga and video games, allowing characters and mecha from different titles to...
series of video games called Super Robot Wars NEO
Super Robot Wars NEO
is a Super Robot Wars video game that was released on the Nintendo Wii console on 29 October 2009. Neo was developed by Banpresto and published in Japan by Namco Bandai Games.-Summary:NEO is the first Super Robot Wars title to appear on the Nintendo Wii...
for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
along with the other 3 Eldran Mecha series.
It also appeared in New Century Brave Wars on the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
in Japan to establish the first official connection between the Eldran and Yuusha series, following the merger of Takara and Tomy.
It would later appear as one of the various Sunrise animated robots as a playable character in the RPG Battle of Sunrise, to celebrate the studio's 30th anniversary, released on the PlayStation 2.
There also exists a Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
fighting game, which has been translated into English through a fan-made patch.
External links and references
- http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/works/index.html
- http://starfox.net/hangar/eldoran/RaijinOh.html