Ask John: Is There More Giant Robo?

Question:
I’m a fan of the Giant Robo: The Night the World Stood Still series of videos. The end of the series hints at further episodes and from pictures I’ve seen around the internet there seems to be another series, but I can find very little info on even the first series, let alone a possible second. Is this a dead end anime or is there life in this old series yet?

Answer:
Relative to what’s available in America, there is and isn’t more Giant Robo anime. The seven episodes of Giant Robo: The Animation available in America represents all of the Giant Robo animation that was ever produced. Contrary to popular belief, there are no other Giant Robo episodes that have yet to come to America, and the hint of further episodes suggested at the end of OAV 7 is not a genuine trailer for forthcoming episodes but rather a tease intended to add a final bit of dramatic tension to the Giant Robo story. It took the Japanese production staff an amazing 6 years to release the 7 Giant Robo episodes, and the seventh episode was released in Japan in 1998. In the 4 years since Giant Robo ended, there have been no plans announced to revive the series.

Between 1994 and 1995, GinRei received her own 3 episode OAV series. The first OAV, “Barefoot GinRei,” is little more than a fanboy GinRei montage thinly veiled as a Giant Robo side story. The ostensible story revolves around an evil Big Fire plot to kidnap GinRei and replace her with an evil doppelganger. However, two-thirds of the 30 minute long OAV is made up of music-video style stock footage of GinRei culled from the Giant Robo OAVs. The second, and best of the GinRei OAVs, known as “Final Fight,” is a hilarious parody of Giant Robo involving Daisaku feeling useless and dejected, defecting to join the evil “Blue Flower” and piloting the Giant Robo in a battle against the secret GinRei Robo. The final 30 minute OAV, “GinRei’s Blue Eyes,” is the only serious, original GinRei episode and is a espionage story involving GinRei and Tetsugyu in a remote desert country.

The GinRei OAVs have never been released in America, and at the present time I’m not aware of any plans for an English language release in the future.