Steel Jeeg

Infobox animanga/Header
name = Steel Jeeg


caption =
ja_name = 鋼鉄ジーグ
ja_name_trans = Kōtetsu Jīgu
genre = MechaInfobox animanga/Anime
title =
director = Masayuki Akihi
studio = Toei Animation
network = TV Asahi
first = 5 October 1975
last = 29 August 1976
episodes = 46

nihongo|"Steel Jeeg"|鋼鉄ジーグ|Kōtetsu Jīgu is a Super Robot anime series created by manga artists Go Nagai and Tatsuya Yasuda, and produced by Toei Animation. It was first broadcast on Japanese TV in 1975. The series lasted for 46 episodes. Steel Jeeg also ran as a manga in several children's publications.

A sequel series called "Kotetsushin Jeeg" (which appears to take place 50 years after the original show) aired on the satellite network WOWOW, beginning April 5, 2007. cite web | author=Anime!Anime! Staff | year=2007 | title=鋼鉄ジーグ　30年ぶりに復活！4月からWOWOWで（1/26） | url=http://animeanime.jp/news/archives/2007/01/304wowow126.html | work= [http://animeanime.jp/ Anime!Anime!] | accessdate=January 26 | accessyear=2007]

tory

The story tells about Hiroshi Shiba, a car racer who is mortally wounded on a laboratory accident, but restored to life by his father, Professor Shiba, a talented scientist/archeologist, who is incidentally investigating the relics of the ancient Yamatai Kingdom. The professor discovers a tiny bronze bell with sorcerous powers, and shortly afterwards he is murdered by the henchmen of Queen Himika, the ruler of the Yamatai, who wants to seize the ancient bell and its power.

Hiroshi learns about his father's death, and his legacy: after the accident, Hiroshi was turned by his father into a cyborg, the bronze bell hidden in his own chest, able to transform into the head of a giant robot, the Steel Jeeg, created by Prof. Shiba with the purpose of stopping the Yamatai invasion of modern Japan. The minions of Queen Himika have huge haniwa robots, called "clay phantoms" buried thousands of years under Japan's soil, and only Jeeg can destroy them and save the world. Therefore, Hiroshi must roughly try to live his double life as his career as a racer who takes care of his mother and sister and a hero who fight to save the world. After episode 29, the Yamatai invaders were replaced by the Ryoma Empire.

Concept

Steel Jeeg is formed by combining the parts released by the jet Big Shooter, piloted by Prof. Shiba's lovely assistant, Miwa "Micchi" Uzuki.

Production notes

"Steel Jeeg" was later broadcast on some European countries, and was quite successful, especially in Italy, where it still has a huge fanbase. In the 80's the series was shown in Latin America, where it was part of a giant robot show fashioned in the style of Force Five, called "El Festival de los Robots" which translates to "Festival of Robots". Steel Jeeg was called "El Vengador" (The Avenger) along with four other anime shows including "Gaiking", "Starzinger" and "Magne Robo Gakeen". The names were translated in Spanish to "El Gladiador", "El Galáctico", and "Supermagnetrón" respectively. Like many popular 70s super robot shows, "Steel Jeeg" has never been released in the US.

taff

Series director: Masayuki Akihi

Episode Director: Kazuja Miyazaki, Masamune Ochiai, Masayuki Akihi, Yoshio Nitta, Yugo Serikawa

Music: Michiaki Watanabe

Original creator: Tatsuya Yasuda, Go Nagai

Character Design: Kazuo Nakamura

Theme music

Opening theme: nihongo|"Song of Kotetsu Jeeg"|鋼鉄ジーグのうた|Kotetsu Jīgu no Uta, by Ichirou Mizuki with Columbia Yurikago-kai and Koorogi '73

Ending theme: nihongo|"Theme of Hiroshi"|ひろしのテーマ|Hiroshi no Tēma, by Ichirou Mizuki with Koorogi '73

Video games

Jeeg makes an appearance in 2nd Super Robot Wars Alpha and 3rd Super Robot Wars Alpha for the Playstation 2.

Merchandise

Takara's Jeeg and Panzeroid toys were the basis for Mego's "Micronauts" "Magno" line in America and Europe.

Trivia

* The series made use of historical facts, as Yamatai was an actual state in Japan in the 3rd century A.D., ruled by a queen called Himiko. During that time, barrel-shaped terracotta cylinders topped by sculptures, were used as markers the borders of burial grounds, and were called haniwa, or "circles of clay".
* Some fans believe the name Jeeg is a corruption of Sieg (German for Victory), as the two words are rendered almost identically in katakana. However there is little evidence to suggest that it is anything other than a nonsense word coined by Nagai.
* Unlike most merchandising of Go Nagai's mecha series, Takara actually produced Jeeg toys, whereas most mecha from other Nagai series were done by Popy.
*Takara's Magnemo Jeeg toy was retooled and brought to America by Mego under their Micronauts line as Baron Karza and Force Commander.

References

External links

* [http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/lineup/tv/kotetsuz/ Steel Jeeg's website at Toei Animation] (in Japanese)
* [http://nexus23.org/warfare/content/view/424/2/ A potential realistic interpretation of Dr.Shiba's Steel Jeeg]
* [http://www.droni.it/lordmurder/html/jeeg.htm Steel Jeeg ] The Best unofficial site! (Italian)