Sixty Years Since Mighty Atom: 1997

Getting away from “titles I first saw at my university’s anime club” for at least a day’s viewing, I opened a series received from Discotek in time for this personal tour of anime, if after having put myself in the awkward position of “using shady methods to sample series they’ve scheduled to release in the next few months.” In any case, I can think of a reason or two why it took me a few years to pick up on the giant robot series GaoGaiGar. Once I did know about it, the enthusiasm of others for it was clear. I went so far as to start finding “fansubs” of it, but have to admit that after getting those video files one at a time I stopped after watching the fourth episode, supposing “formula” had set in (with the “it gets really good” promises still many episodes off) and every giant robot-versus-monster of the week battle from then on would be held in an uninteresting arena for the sake of “not getting too extreme with collateral damage for parents who might be supervising viewing.” (Years afterwards, anyway, I would be able to watch through a later giant robot series, and its sequel, featuring a “generic battlespace”...)
( Final Fusion approved )