Godannar

Godannar
Genre	Mecha, Comedy
Anime
Directed by	Yasuchika Nagaoka
Studio	AIC A.S.T.A. Oriental Light and Magic
Released	October 1 2003 – June 29 2004
Video game
Genre	Playstation 2

Godannar (神魂合体ゴーダンナー!!, Shinkon Gattai Gōdan'nā!!, literally God Soul Combination Godannar!!) is an anime series created and directed by Yasuchika Nagaoka. It has elements of comedy, ecchi and mecha.

Background

In 2042, alien threats known as the Mimetic beasts (擬態獣, gitaijū) laid waste to Japan. During a final battle against the Mimetic beasts, Goh Saruwatari defeats the alien "boss" and saves his future wife, Anna Aoi, with his robot called Godannar.

Now, on their wedding ceremony, the Mimetic beasts emerge after five years of tranquility. Goh and Godannar are called to action, forcing Goh to leave Anna at the altar.

As Goh struggles in his battle against the Mimetic beast, Anna stumbles upon a sealed robot known as Neo Okusaer. She is able to activate and pilot the Neo Okusaer to save her "husband" by merging it with Godannar to activate the Godannar's Twin Drive.

During the course of the series, it is discovered that humanity is threatened by a virus which is spread by the Mimetic beasts. All of humanity is infected, but the virus affects the Godannar pilots most severely, since they come into close contact with the Mimetic beasts on a regular basis. The virus has the effect of transforming human males into Mimetic beasts; females are somehow immune, unless they naturally generate large amounts of male hormones. The virus is stimulated by human hormones, especially those released in great quantities during combat.

During the second season, the pilots of Dannar Base struggle to balance the need to fight the Mimetic beasts with the danger of further infection. Eventually, it is discovered that Milla, who was trapped inside a Mimetic beast for five years, is the source of the vaccine humanity needs.

The series is famous for its fanservice: upskirt shots, bouncing breasts, and the scantily clad female pilots.

There was also a dōjinshi made by staff which was sold to fund the production of the second series.

Characters

• Goh Saruwatari (猿渡 ゴオ Saruwatari Gō), 29. Hero of the story and pilot of Godannar. Prior to the start of the series, he rescues Anna in a battle with the Mimetic beasts. 5 years later Goh and Anna are to be married just as the Mimetic beasts begin to move once again. He is infected by exposure from repeated battles with the Mimetic Beast. His body is covered in a cocoon, waiting to emerge as a Mimetic Beast. He place in suspended animation for seven years until he is given a cure, Mira's blood, which stops his body human body from going through the transformation.

Voiced by: Takayuki Kondo (Japanese); Brett Weaver (English)

• Anna Aoi/Anna Saruwatari (葵 杏奈 Aoi An'na/猿渡 杏奈 Saruwatari An'na), 17. A high school student and skilled robot pilot, she was to be married to Goh before the re-emergence of the Mimetic beasts interrupted their ceremony. Becomes the pilot of Neo Okusaer, and later Go Okusaer.

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Japanese); Hilary Haag (English)

• Shizuru Fujimura (藤村 静流 Fujimura Shizuru) Busty pilot of Core Gunner and a remarkable sharp shooter, who is also in love with Goh, yet is unable to confess these feelings. Much later develops a close friendship with Goh's younger brother, Shinobu, but not in a romantic nature. Killed by Mimetic Beasts at the end of Season 1, though soon resurrected by Mira. Becomes the General Manager of Danner Base while Kiriko Aoi and Commander Kagemaru search for a cure for the infection caused by the Mimetic Beast.

Voiced by: Yumi Kakazu (Japanese); Tiffany Grant (English)

• Kiriko Aoi (葵 霧子 Aoi Kiriko) - Anna's extremely busty mother and Goh's boss. Together with her husband, Tatsuya, she was responsible for the development of the Dannar project.

Voiced by: Takako Honda (Japanese); Laura Chapman (English)

• Tatsuya Aoi-Anna's father and husband to Kiriko Aoi. He left his family when Anna was a small child. He disguised himself as several different people to watch over Anna and the rest of Dannar Base throughout several episodes. He and Kiriko were the founders of the Dannar project. He appeared during the final episodes to aide Danner Base the Super Mimetic Beast. He leaves again, feeling that the members of Dannar Base no longer need his assistance.

• Kagemaru (影丸) The dashing Commander of Danner Base. Seems to have secret feelings for Kiriko Aoi, but the feelings are not reciprocated. She teases him at times during the end of the series. They travel together, Kagemaru as a personal guard, searching for a cure to the Infection caused by the Mimmetic Beast.

Voiced by: Taro Yamaguchi (Japanese); Mike Vance (English)

• Milla Ackerman/Mira Ackerman - original pilot of Neo Okusaer. She was Goh's old combat partner and lover, until the battle 5 years previous in which she was thought to have been killed. She still loves him. She believes that she is the only one that truly understands Goh. Her blood is the cure to infection caused by the Mimetic Beast.

Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese); Monica Rial (English)

• Lou Roux/Lou Lowe - a young orphan girl taken in by Goh and Anna. Once an operator for the orbital space station that monitors the Earth for the presence of Mimetic beasts, she is the lone survivor when the space station is destroyed and her father killed by Mimetic beasts that somehow managed to stow away on one of their shuttles. She becomes obsessed with becoming a robot pilot to avenge her father's death. At the end of the series, she pilots Celleblader to fight the Mimetic Beasts. She sometimes wanders off to fight the Mimetic Beasts, but returns to Dannar Base just to live there. She promised Ken to look after Goh and Anna to see they can save humanity.

Voiced by: Kaori Shimizu (Japanese); Kira Vincent-Davis (English)

• Shinobu Saruwatari (猿渡 忍 Saruwatari Shinobu) - Goh's younger brother who lives with Goh and Anna. Shinobu kids his older brother about his age and goes to school with Anna. Though he was once infatuated with Anna, he later refers to himself as her "big brother". He may have later developed close feelings for Shizuru, much to Kouji's chagrin but it is not definite.

Voiced by: Junko Minagawa (Japanese); Greg Ayres (English)

• Konami Sasagure (笹暮 小波 Sasagure Konami) - One of the 2 operators of the main ship's console.

Voiced by: Akeno Watanabe (Japanese); Mariela Ortiz (English)

• Momoko "Momochi" Momozono (桃園 桃子 Momozono Momoko) - One of the 2 operators of the main ship's console.

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (Japanese); Brittney Karbowski (English)

• Tetsuya Kouji (光司 鉄也 Kōji Tetsuya) - Easily excitable partner of Shizuru and pilot of G-Gunner. He spends most of the series recovering from injuries sustained in the battle from the first episode. He has feelings for Shizuru and is a little wary of Shinobu who seems to be getting a little too close to her. He is named after the pilots of Mazinger Z and the Great Mazinger, Kouji Kabuto and Tetsuya Tsurugi.

Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama (Japanese); Christopher Ayres (English)

• Shadow - Pilot of the American giant robot Genesister and partner of Luna whom she secretly loves. Strong, beautiful, athletic, but a bit masculine. The only female to be severely affected by the virus.

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese); Christine Auten (English)

• Luna - Pilot of the American giant robot Genesister and partner of Shadow whom she also loves secretly. Small, petite and cute, but surprisingly strong.

Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (Japanese); Sasha Paysinger (English)

• Moukaku - Pilot of the Chinese giant robot Goddiner. Loud and brash, he surprisingly has a soft side. He's in love with Shukuyu. He asked her to marry him. Later becomes the second case of a full infection by the insania virus, like Max, forcing the team to kill him.

Voiced by: Juurouta Kosugi (Japanese); George Manley (English)

• Shukuyu - Pilot of the Chinese giant robot Goddiner and partner of Moukaku. Younger than Moukaku, she reins him in. She tries to help Moukaku gain control over the virus. Moukaku ejects her, and God Sonic out of Goddiner before the team destroys him.

Voiced by: Wakana Yamazaki (Japanese); Kelly Manison (English)

• Ekaterina - Fantastically well-endowed pilot of the Russian giant robot Volspina. Beautiful and magnificently busty, her relationship with her partner Kukrachyov is much like a dominatrix except she doesn't want to cause him harm.

Voiced by: Miho Yamada (Japanese); Marcy Rae (English)

• Kukrachyov - Pilot of the Russian giant robot Volspina. Tall, thin and quiet, he obeys every command of his partner Ekaterina without question.

Voiced by: Shinji Kawada (Japanese); Illich Guardiola (English)

• Knight Valentine - Pilot of the British giant robot Dragliner. Handsome and conceited, he's always chasing girls but loves his stepsister to which he has no blood relation.

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese); Chris Patton (English)

• Ellis Valentine - Pilot of the British giant robot Dragliner. Knight and Ellis refer to each other as brother and sister, though they are not related. She is constantly frustrated by Knight's skirt-chasing.

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese); Shannon Emmerick (English)

• Ken (剣) A rogue Robot pilot who makes it his life mission to defeat the Mimetic beasts after the loss of his wife. Often referred to by the world at large as a "Menage Zero", a code name for a rogue robot acting without authority. He later takes Lou in when she begs Ken to teach her to be a pilot. He gets infected by the virus that almost every male pilot gets. He ejected Lou from the Celleblader out of the Gainer before Ken dies in his last battle. He attacks the Super Mimetic Beast to reveal its weakness to Godannar to finish it off.

Voiced by: Toru Ohkawa (Japanese); John Gremillion (English)

Robots

Japan - Dannar Base

• Godannar (Its name is a combination of the pilot's name and a play on だんな (da-n-na), meaning husband in Japanese.) (Pilot: Goh)
• Neo Okusaer (Pilot: Anna / Milla)
• Go Okusaer (Pilot: Anna)

(The names of Godannar's partner units play off the Japanese root おくさ (o-ku-sa), which means wife.)

• Godannar Twin Drive (Godannar and Neo Okusaer/Go Okusaer merged)
• Godannar Triple Drive (Godannar, Go Okusaer and Celleblader merged)
• Core Gunner (Pilot: Shizuru)
• G Gunner: A humanoid robot which also serves as an armored carrier/shell for Core Gunner. (Pilot: Kouji)
• Club Mariner (once piloted by Max)
• Jet Boy: Unmanned AI Jets that can attach to robots, allowing high-speed flight. Can transform into humanoid form if required.
• Cosmo Diver (child): Originally from the orbital space station Cosmo Base, it is capable of transforming into shuttle form, also serves as an attachment to the parent Cosmo Diver on its back. Capable of operating in space or underwater. (Pilot: Lou)
• G Zero Gunner: Upgraded version of G Gunner. (Pilot: Kouji)
• Operatiger (Pilots: Konami and Momoko)
• Lab Defender (Pilot: Kagemaru)
• Neo Diver (Pilot: Shinobu)

England - Union Base

• Dragliner (Pilots: Ellis and Knight)
• Drag Fighter: A humanoid robot hidden in the Dragliner's fuselage. (Pilot: Ellis)
• Beast Mode: Once Drag Fighter separates, the winged portion of Dragliner can change into this dragon-like robot. (Pilot: Knight)

Russia - Vega Base

• Volspinner (Pilot: Ekaterina)
• Slave Wing (Pilot: Kuklachov)
• Volspina (Volspinner and Slave Wing merged)

North America - Silicone Base

• Geneshadow (Pilot: Shadow)
• Lunasister (Pilot: Luna)
• Genesister (Geneshadow and Lunasister merged)

China - Dino Base

• God Horn (Pilot: Moukaku)
• God Sonic (Pilot: Shukuyu)
• Goddiner (God Horn and God Sonic merged)
• Fat Boy: AI mobile ground artillery units.

Outer Space - Cosmos Base

• Cosmo Diver (parent): At the start of the series, was one of the two robots capable of fighting in space. (once piloted by Low)
• Cosmo Diver (child) (see Japan - Dannar Base above) (Pilot: Lou)

"Menage Zero" (Rogue Fighters)

• Gainar. A robot wearing a cloak, uses a katana-like blade as its primary weapon. (Pilot: Ken)
• Celleblader: Female styled robot once piloted by Ken's wife, its back-attachment separates to form the sword of Blade Gainer. The blade form of Celleblader was used when it merged with Godanner to destroy the Super Mimetic Beast near the end of the series. (Pilot: Rosa / Lou)
• Blade Gainer (Gainer and Celleblader merged)
• Jet Crow: Gainar's AI support unit, joins to Celleblader's back when Gainer and Celleblader merge.

Boy Series

• Jet Boy (see Japan - Dannar Base above)
• Fat Boy (see China - Dino Base above)
• Thunder Boy: AI fighter jets - slightly similar to Jet Boys but armed.

Godannar's Attacks

The Godannar by itself, is shown to be rather unimpressive in the series, as it carries no external weaponry, and doesn't do anything spectacular. However, once Godannar merges with Neo Okusaer (and later, Go Okusaer) to form Godannar Twin Drive, its power is dramatically increased. Godannar's blue armor plating turns red, giant revolver chambers in the machine's forearms and lower legs are revealed, and a long plume of red flame (Blue when merging with Go Okusaer) bursts from the back of Godannar's head, resembling a long scarf. In this combined form, Godannar has access to an impressive array of attacks, all of which are loudly announced by Godannar's pilot, Go Saruwatari.

• Spiral Fire

Godannar raises into the air and spins rapidly, creating a tornado of flame around its body. Primarily a defensive move.

• Counter Knuckle

Godannar fires a short range energy burst from its fist via punching motion. Primarily used to counter enemy ranged attacks (hence the name of the move) allowing Godannar to engage its target at close range, where it can make use of its truly powerful attack options.

• Heart Breaker

The first part of Godannar's finishing combination. Godannar executes a powerful straight punch, burying its fist into the target's body. The co-pilot (who was piloting one of the 2 Okusaer units before merging with Dannar) then pulls the trigger on a gun-shaped control device. This fires one of the shells in Godannar's revolver chambers, causing a massive energy burst. The exact effect is not stated in the series, but it seems to cause a the organic components of a Mimetic beasts to harden into a stone-like substance, immobilizing the target and making it more prone to being shattered by Soul Breaker, the inevitable follow up to Heart Breaker. While Anna only pulls the trigger once, Milla (the original pilot of Neo Okusaer) pulls the trigger multiple times, amplifying the effect of the attack, to the point of being able to destroy a Mimetic Beast without the need for Soul Breaker.

• Soul Breaker

After stunning an enemy with Heart Breaker, Godannar leaps high into the air, and comes down with a powerful diving kick that shatters the target's body. When merged with Go Okusaer, this move becomes Fire Soul Breaker. When using Fire Soul Breaker, Godannar is wreathed in blue flame.

• Soul Spin Crusher

An alternative finisher to the Soul Breaker, used when Milla is piloting the Neo Okusaer. Godannar uses a diving, spinning kick with both feet, wreathed in flames. In one battle, this attack was used on a midair opponent, and was modified into a flipping axe kick.

Episodes

Shinkon Gattai Godannar!!

1. Wedding Bells on the Battlefield (戦場のウェディングベル, Senjou no Uedeingu Beru)
2. Burning Virgin Road (炎のバージンロード, Honō no Bājin Rodo)
3. Battle Royal Honeymoon (バトルロイヤル・ハネムーン, Batoru Roiyaru Hanemūn)
4. Shizuru, Once Again (静流、再び, Shizuru , Futatabi)
5. The Girl From the Sky (空から来た少女, Sora Kara Rai ta Shōjo)
6. The End of the Dream (夢の終わり, Yume no Owari)
7. Death by Reminiscing (追憶ニ死ス, Tsuioku ni Shi su)
8. The Graceful Shooting Star (華麗なる撃墜王, Karei Naru Gekitsui Ou)
9. The Castaway Survival (流されてサバイバル, Ryū Sarete Sabaibaru)
10. Lu Takes Off (ルウ出撃, Rū Shutsugeki)
11. A Flawless Departure (汚れなき旅立ち, Yogorenaki Tabidachi)
12. Those Who Have Departed (去り逝く者たち, Sari Yuku Mono Tachi)
13. Last First-Kiss (ラスト・ファーストキス, Rasuto Fāsuto-Kisu)

Shinkon Gattai Godannar!! SECOND SEASON

1. The Reviving Soul (蘇る魂, Yomigaeru Tamashii)
2. The New Confession (新たなる告白, Arata Naru Kokuhaku)
3. Its Name Is Go Okusaer! (そのなはごーおくさー！, So no Naha Gō Okusā!)
4. Tonko, My Love (TONKO MY LOVE)
5. Ice Cold Smile (氷の微笑, Hi no Bishou)
6. Genesister Out of Control! (ジェネシスター暴走！, Jenesisutā Bousou!)
7. Sorrowful Song of the Plum Blossoms (桃花哀歌, Touka Aika)
8. Godannar Ground Order! (ゴーダンナー出動禁止命令！, Gōdannā Shutsudo Kinshi Meirei!)
9. Crash! Danner vs. Gainar (激突！ダンナーVSガイナー, Gekitou! Dannā VS Gainā)
10. Dannar Base S.O.S. (ダンナーベースＳＯＳ, Dannā Besu SOS)
11. After the Mortal Combat (死闘の果てに, Shitou no Hate ni)
12. The Eternal Couple (永遠のふたり, Eien no Futari)
13. The Inevitable Tomorrow (来るべき明日, Kitarubeki Ashita)

(26 in all)

External links

• Godannar ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• ADV Films' Official Godannar Website
• Japanese Godannar Official Website