Haniwa Genjin Zenmetsu Da

Didja hear the news? The 1975 Takara-sponsored Go Nagai classic Steel Jeeg is getting a remake! It's supposed to be a direct sequel to the original series, set fifty years later. (I can only pray the original protagonist makes an appearance, still clad in his trademark leisure suit and gold chains, at age 70.) The Haniwa Genjin are back, Jeeg's head is now formed by a motorcycle (rather than the main character himself, as in the original), and he'll get some new weapons, including "space parts" and "sea parts." Mmm... parts. There's also unconfirmed rumors of cross-overs with Ga-Keen and the other "Magnemo" robots. Dare we hope for a remix of that savagely manly Isao Sasaki theme song? Probably not, but a freak can dream.

One caveat: Nagai isn't handling the mechanical design this time around. Word on the street is that it's being overseen by Toshiyuki Horii, whose last project was the 2005 series "Gunparade Orchestra." The show itself is being directed by Jun Kawagoe, who also helmed "Shin Getta Robo."

"Kotetsu Gami Jeeg" ("Steel God Jeeg") debuts on April 5th on Japan's WowWow channel... At 11:30pm, which should give you a sense of who the audience is: hikikomori shut-ins. And me.

Comments

[Davecat]

'Kotetsu Jeeg' had one of the best opening themes for a robot anime ever.

'BUILD UP! BAN BAN BAN BAN / BUILD UP! BAN BAN BAN BAN / BARA BARA BA BA BAN BA BA BAN BA BA BA BA BAN BAN BAAAN'

Best described as relentless. :-)

[Ike]

Hrm, so many remakes and sequels, but they don't even look like their former selves sadly. Take Dancougar for example, the new "remake" has characters that curtail to the current audience, which is not what old fans are probably going to like. My brother was disappointed since the original is one of his favorites. And then you got the Evangelion remakes too...I hear the art is changed to fit the current trends too. God only knows how Jeeg will look like ^^:

[Matt]

I hear ya. At least Dancougar Nova was designed by the same guy as the original (former Bandai toy designer Katsushi Murakami.) The (admittedly thumbnail-sized) images I've seen of Steel God Jeeg look like the love-child of Evangelion and the original character.

[Matt]

Speak of the devil. Here's a PR pic:

http://eg.nttpub.co.jp/news/20070126_20.html

The page says they're aiming to create "the ultimate robot animation intended for an adult audience, with a nuanced moralistic story and extravangant action scenes."

[Ike]

Actually he looks more like a distant cousin of Shin Getta Robo (which Go Nagai is constantly milking out of these days out of his super robot works).

[Daryl Surat]

I actually have really high hopes for this one. Jun Kawagoe not only worked on the recent Getter Robo remakes in varying degrees, but also the recent Cyborg 009 TV series. All of those were, in my opinion, pretty darn good as well as faithful to the source material. I'm inclined to think this won't be like say, the Gaiking remake.

Though to be honest, I'm perfectly fine with Jeeg getting a bit of a redesign. Come on, everyone always joked about how Jeeg wasn't wearing pants, and his color scheme was awfully garish too. That picture at the top of this post looks a lot like the original to me, so the redesigns being mentioned are probably more along the lines of the Cyborg 009 ones than say, Tetsujin 28 FX. Of course, being faithful to those original designs virtually guarantees that nobody will fansub the show in English or license it for US release.

[Matt]

The pic at the top of the post IS the original -- check the link in my comment above to see what the new deal looks like: Same colors, wackier proportions.

[Steve Harrison]

I dunno...too much Evangelion going on in that image painting, ya know?

I'm not catching any sponser names in that note, I figured this was part of TakaraTomy's 'revival of licenses' plan mentioned in 2005 (or was that back in '04?).

[Tim]

Awesome. Reading AltJapan is even more awesome while watching Ultra Seven, which I am now doing. Tokyo MX TV, Tuesday nights.

[Davecat]

Found a preview of sorts on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3gewCqMFMw

I was wondering how they were going to pull off the 'cycle transforms into Jeeg's head' thing. Rather ace! And Big Shooter looks cool, too! Can't wait to see how this turns out...

[Matt]

Great stuff! Animators are at their best when forced to work with insane concepts like Jeeg. And here's to hoping Takara releases an old-school diecast toy of the sucker next.

[Eddie]

This cool cartoon will be release in the US also? If so, When?