Mechander Robo

Mechander Robo
合身戦隊メカンダーロボ (Gasshin Sentai Mekandaa Robo)
Genre	Mecha
Anime
Directed by	Yoshitaka Nitta
Studio	Wake Productions, Telescreen, TV Tokyo
Released	March 3, 1977 – December 29, 1977

Mechander Robot (合身戦隊メカンダーロボ, Gasshin Sentai Mekandaa Robo) was an anime series aired in 1977 in Japan. There were 35 episodes aired at 25 minutes each. It is also known as "Gasshin Sentai Mechander Robo", "Mekander", "Mechander", "Gasshin Sentai Mechander Robo", "Combiner Battle Team Mekander Robot", "Combining Squadron Mechander Robo", "Mekander Robot" and "Mekanda".

The show was dubbed to English for broadcast in the Philippines in the late-1970s.

Original story

The Doron Empire, hailing from the Ganymede system came to Earth in order to conquer it. General Doron already overthrew the queen Medusa of Ganymede in the Magellan star cluster. Earth's defenses were no match; in a matter of days, 95% of the Earth fell under Doron's occupation. Doctor Shikishima, a brilliant scientist, places his last hopes for Earth in a robot (Mechander Robo) that he has created. The mother of Jimi would be reborn into a cyborg who is now the leader of the opposing forces and her memory could not recall the past.

Production note

The production company was plagued with bankruptcy issues, so the main sponsors forced the studios to reuse footage from old episodes to patch newer episodes without redrawing new animation. The final episode was merely a complete recap of the series.

Concept

Mechander Robo following combination

Three command jets - Mechander-1, Mechander-2 and Mechander-3 - combine to form one larger jet known as Mechander Max, which would then would dock at the back of Mechander Robo. Some of the trademark weapons include spiked shields, missile pod forearms, chest flame throwers and missiles shaped like sharks. Halfway through the series, Mechander Robo is severely damaged, but is rebuilt as four component ships combining to form the robot before docking with Mechnder Max.

Despite the show targeting young audiences at the time, and that the opposing forces were robots, the attack techniques and damages in battle are quite violent by today's standards.

Staff

• Additional Director
  Takashi Anno
  Yasuo Hasegawa
  Masayuki Hayashi
• Producer
  Sumio Takahashi
• Screenwriter
  Jaruhiko Kaido
• Designer
  Nobuhiro Okasako
  Tsuneo Ninomiya
• Mechanical Designer
  Kunio Okawara
• Animator
  Satoshi Touzan
  Tsuneo Ninomiya
  Masayuki Hayashi
  Satoshi Tozan
  Takeshi Honda
• Music
  Michiaki Watanabe
• Opening theme
  "Tri-Attack! Mechander Robo" by Ichiro Mizuki and the Columbia Cradle Club

Characters

Name	Vehicle	Voices by
Narrator		Kouji Nakata
Jimmy Orion	Mechander-1	Akira Kamiya
Kojiro Hachijima (Marcus Vance)	Mechander-2	Kazuyuki Sogabe
Ryosuke Shikishima (David Humbolt)	Toraika B-3	Akio Nojima
Mika Shikishima (Jenny Humbolt)		Keiko Yokozawa
General Ozmel (Gen. Goznel)		Masane Tsukayama
Professor Shikishima (Prof. Humbolt)		Masaya Taki
Medusa		Natsuko Fuji

Video game appearance

Mechander Robo debuted in the Super Robot Wars series as part of Super Robot Wars Compact 3 for the Wonderswan Color. True to the anime, if Mechander is deployed and a certain amount of turns pass, the devastating Omega Missile will appear and attempt to destroy the robot (as well as the other robots on the player's force).

Toys

During the series' release, a toy of Mechander Robo was released by Bullmark.

In 2009, CM's Corporation released an 18 cm. action figure of Mechander Robo as part of the Mecha Action Series line. The figure features a Mechander Max jet that docks in the back, as well as cargo bays on the feet to store either the Triger-3 ship, the New Triger or two Jaws shark missiles. The forearm shields can combine into the Mechander UFO weapon. Other accessories include the Mechander Fencer sword, additional hands and an Omega Missile. A second edition in a metallic finish was also released.