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Written: Monday. February 10, 2020.
It's a series about five kids who are tasked to pilot the most advanced level of technology man has ever created, Combattler V. They use it to fight against an army of large robotic beasts sent out by the Kyanbellian Army, a race of aliens from a distant planet wanting to take over the Earth.
Combattler V is a Super Electromagnetic Robot made by the most intelligent scientist in all of Tokyo, Professor Nanbara, and consists of five essential body parts, called Battle Machines. Each of the vehicles are piloted by one of the Five Kids tasked by Professor Nanbara.
The Battle Jet, which is the head of the robot, is piloted by Hyoma Aoi, a very stubborn kid who's good with motorbikes.
The Battle Crasher, which serves as the arms of the robot, is piloted by Juzo Naniwa, an olympic marksman who rivals Hyoma throughout most of the series.
The Battle Tank, which is the main torso of Combattler V, is piloted by the very friendly Daisaku Ishikawa, a big kid who likes to paint a lot.
The Battle Marine, the largest part among the five Battle Machines, is piloted by Professor Nanbara's granddaughter, Chizuru Nanbara. She serves as the love interest for Hyoma Aoi throughout the whole series.
Last but not least is the Battle Craft, which forms the feet of the Super Electromagnetic Robot, and is piloted by Kosuke Kita, a small kid with a very big brain.
This show is very similar in tone with another anime series, called Voltes V. That being said, Combattler V was a show that actually aired before the Voltes V anime. Both shows were part of this Robot-Romance Trilogy made by Toei Animation back in the 1970's. Combattler V was the first, Voltes V came second, and Daimos came third.
The Combattler V Series has a total of 54 episodes. It is split into two seasons. The first season consisted on the Combattler Team facing off a Kyanbellian Scientist named Oreana, as she leads her well trusted General Garuda to spearhead the attacks against all of Tokyo and the Nanbara Connection, the home base of Combattler V.
Garuda is a General of the Kyanbell Empire. He is accompanied by several androids. Narua is the one tasked on activating a special race of Kyanbellian robots, called the Slave Monsters. Each episode consists of one or two of these Slave Monsters, and Combattler V is tasked to find a way to defeat each monster to save the city of Tokyo, as well as the rest of the world from coming attacks.
Girua, another one of Garuda's subordinates, serves as Garuda's strategic advisor. But he and Narua rarely get to do anything in the series other than to be yelled at by Garuda all the time because the Slave Monsters keep on getting destroyed by Combattler V.
Then there's Miia, a Kyanbellian android who is in love with Garuda, but Garuda never notices this until the very end of the first season.
By the time the second season comes, we are introduced to another batch of Kyanbellians.
Empress Janealor, the new leader of the Kyanbellians, tasks two of her well trusted Generals on the continuing fight against Combattler V, by using a new breed of Kyanbellian Monsters, called the Magma Beasts. Similar to Slave Monsters, the Magma Beasts are--well...there's not much difference really.
The only significant difference would be that the Magma Beasts are controlled by General Dungele, one of Empress Janealor's trusted warriors. Whereas, the Slave Monsters of season 1 weren't really piloted by anyone at all. Or they were, but it was never really clear, since they didn't really focus on that part back in season 1 and rarely explained how these Slave Monsters worked in the first place.
General Dungele is accompanied by Warchimedes, his older brother, on building the Magma Beasts for him to pilot and use against Combattler V.
So those are the basic things you really need to know when watching this series. Now for my criticisms:
I like and hate it, both at the same time. There are a lot of things to enjoy about this series, and there are also a lot of things to be disappointed about in this series. Especially when you get to the last episode. You'll end up thinking to yourself, "Wait, what? That's it?"
Things I like about it are as follows:
- Combattler V. The main theme song alone is something I would never get tired of listening to. I could watch Combattler V combine and disassemble everyday--and I have, for the past month or so.
- The Slave Monsters. There was something about them that was just so interesting to watch. I wanted to know what these robotic beasts had against Combattler V. I was always curious to see what these five kids would do in order to win against them. And some Slave Monsters weren't even that bad.
- There was this one Slave Monster who was essentially a brain-washed alien trapped inside of Kyanbellian tech armor, and chose to sacrifice himself in order to save the Earth.
- There was this Dinosaur who turned out to be the mother of this dino-child that the Combattler Team accidentally kills off, and ends up sacrificing herself for her dead child.
- The Other Kyanbellians. All throughout the first season, we get to see these other Kyanbellians who happen to not be a part of the Kyanbell Empire, and are actually escaping to Earth because they wanna live in peace with the humans and enjoy the beauty of our planet.
- Kerot, the robotic frog. This is a robotic machine piloted by two kids named Kinta and Chie. They arrive in the second season. I thought that they were going to annoy me the whole way through, but somewhere within the second half of season 2, they almost forget about Kerot helping out Combattler V face off the Magma Beasts. And when I finished watching the series, Kerot was just missing. I just wish that Kerot had more screen time, honestly. Love that yellow frog.
- The Season 1 Villains. Garuda had the best character arc out of all of the Kyanbellians--out of all the characters in the series, if I'm going to be honest. The Combattler Team do their usual thing of kicking Slave Monster butt, and I guess that's fine. But Garuda's arc was way better. He began as this General who's only goal in life is to invade the planet and destroy Combattler V. As time passed by, he discovered a few things along the way. Like that one episode, where he fights Hyoma Aoi honorably to see who's the better warrior between the two of them. Or the time when Miia sacrifices herself for Garuda, and Garuda finds out that he's not really a Kyanbellian, but an android built by Oreana countless of times because he was faulty and needed to be revised each time he failed on defeating Combattler V.
Things I hate about it are as follows:
- The Season 2 Villains. None of the Villains in Season 2 were really that special. Empress Janealor was just another Oreana, but with an actual body and could turn into a snake lady, I guess? Warchimedes didn't do much rather than make the Magma Beasts and bicker with his brother all the time. General Dungele gave somewhat of a Mr. Krabs vibe to me. He could've been a good villain, cause there were episodes by the end that suggested that he still had a conscience and wanted to play it fair when fighting against Combattler V. Empress Janealor and Warchimedes always bullied him. They thought he was worthless because he can't manage to defeat Combattler V. But what have they done, really? Dungele was out there busting his ass off every episode, and Janealor and Warchimedes just watched him do so. Season 2 could've improved on their character arcs, but never really even jumped ahead to do so. By the time they consider in doing so, it was already too late.
- The Magma Beasts. These monsters weren't really any better than the Slave Monsters. They didn't add anything unique to the table. Dungele pilots these Magma Beasts, so maybe that has something to do with it. No real danger was ever shown by these Magma Beasts. They were really just expendable monsters. No one was redeemable. Unlike back in Season 1, I could at least remember one or two monsters that had a good backstory.
- Lack of Suspense. When you finish season 1, you're left with this nagging curiosity of what the next villains and monsters are gonna be like against Combattler V. But then they let you down by doing nothing but playing it safe all the time. I wish there was a moment where one of the five kids gets kidnapped by the Kyanbellians, and is brainwashed. We don't get to see them for a few episodes. They get replaced by a different character, and all of a sudden they show up again, and they're actually a new villain that the Combattler Team has to face, and eventually have to get them to remember that they were friends. Could've made the series ten times better to watch. The feeling of conflict and danger is what would keep an anime like this exciting to watch. I guess they didn't know that yet at the time.
- Repetitiveness. The whole season sort of felt formulaic once you finish season 1. From then on, I was just waiting for something new to happen each episode, and it never came. A guest character comes along in the beginning of an episode, and they die immediately at the end cause the show apparently can't afford keeping these many characters in the series. So when another one of these new characters comes along, you could simply just wait for them to die or sacrifice themselves. A bit dark, but that's the show for you.
- Lack of Growth. The Combattler Team never really developed that much within the whole series. Hyoma and Juzo's rivalry never really got better. Daisaku and Kosuke didn't really add anything to the series. And the season 2 villains were just really unimpressive. Have I not said that enough?
Overall, I would say that this show could've been ten times better, if they didn't play it so safe. I mean, they showed a bunch of killing in this anime series. It was very dark at times. There was a point in the series where I questioned the validity of this being a kids show. So why didn't they risk it when it came to the story-development?
But in terms of storytelling, it could've gone in many better ways. They could've added a sixth member, which they kinda did, but that character also dies in the very episode he was introduced in.
They could've gave Combattler V a different look by season 2, like how Power Rangers sometimes get new megazord parts midway through the series that they could switch out of every once in a while.
They could've done the whole brainwash thing that I talked about earlier. This series had 54 episodes, and they managed not to think of doing that for the story. Juzo could've been a great villain for the Combattler Team. Or maybe even Hyoma.
Chizuru would've been a great villain. They'd do a whole arc where Hyoma has to make Chizuru remember the good times she had when she was still a pilot of Combattler V. He could've said an inside joke or quote that the two of them said to each other back when she wasn't brainwashed. She would hear it and then partially remember parts of her past. Where have I seen that before?
Joking aside, Combattler V as a whole is a mixed bag. You'll love some parts, even be invested in some characters, but those characters and expectations will let you down in the second half of the series. They should have never killed off Garuda at the end of season 1. He was a good enough villain, and could've been redeemed.
Overall, I think I'm about done with this series. I'd watch it again for research purposes, cause even though it's repetitive, there were hidden gems that you could grab and explore, that you could turn into potential stories of your own if you're a writer or whatever.
Now that I think of it, you could learn more from the mistakes of this show. They weren't really mistakes, just missed opportunities for a good story. So try and watch this series, if you're interested, and find those little opportunities.
Turn them into a good story, and share them to me. Share it to the world.
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