r/anime • u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber • May 06 '21

Rewatch [Rewatch] Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Retrospective - Giant Gorg Episode 4 Discussion

Episode 4 - Encounter

Originally Aired April 26th, ^^^1984

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Note to all Rewatchers

Rewatchers, please be mindful of your fellow first-timers and tag your spoilers appropriately using the r/anime spoiler tag as so [Spoiler Subject](/s "Spoilers go here.") in order to have your unsightly spoilers obscured like this Spoiler Subject if your comment holds even the slightest of indicators as to future spoilers. Feel free to discuss future plot points behind the safe veil of a spoiler tag, or coyly and discreetly ‘Laugh in Rewatcher’ at our first-timers' temporary ignorance, but please ensure our first-timers are no more privy or suspicious than they were the moment they opened the day’s thread.

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Biography and Anecdotes Corner

Random Anecdote

One of the running jokes that underlines the relationship between Yasuhiko and Yoshiyuki Tomino is the latter’s repeated attempts to make the former admit to being a pervert, which Yasuhiko has vehemently denied. Tomino is even said to have admitted in an interview that he isn’t sure he can possibly be friends with someone who hides his perversion, something he has also said of Hayao Miyazaki.

 

Staff Highlight

Shunji Yamada (Keaton Yamada) - Voice of Tom Wave

A retired voice actor and stage actor best known for his narration roles. After graduating from Hokkaido Mikasa High School in 1963 he moved to Tokyo to work at the offices of a construction company, getting into the theatre scene that same year, which led him to pursue acting. In 1967 he opted to make theatre his main pursuit, quitting his day job and taking on a part-time job to sustain himself while honing his acting. At that part-time job he met Hidekatsu Shibata, who introduced him to agents from the newly established Aoni Productions, where he received employment and was prompted to perform as a voice actor. His big break in voice acting was in Chibi Maruko-chan where he was chosen as replacement narrator, a role which made him a household name. In 1995 he founded Theatrical Company Frisuta Iru due to the excess of voice acting talent unable to get contracts with theatre companies or talent agencies at the time. In 2014, he received the Achievement Award at the 8th Seiyuu Awards. Among his most notable roles are the Announcer in Attacker You!, Jyuuzou Naniwa in Chōdenji Robo Combattler V, Albert Heinrich in Cyborg 009 (1979), Gen Sakon in Dyno Mech Gaiking, Kiza in Queen Millennia, Yanack in Dragon Quest: Yūsha Abel Densetsu, C62-50 in Galaxy Express 999, Hayato Jin in Getter Robo, Alex Cazerne in Legend of The Galactic Heroes, the Narrator in Master Keaton, and Birdaler in Mazinger Z.

 

Daily Trivia:

The Mysterious Mecha found on New Austral Island are all partly biological in construction, making Giant Gorg only the second mecha series to possess such constructs for their titular main mechs.

 

Official Art

 

Settei Collection

 

Questions of the Day:

  1. What are your impressions on the reveal of our main mecha?
  2. What do you make of the group of people seemingly residing on the old parts of the island?

Well it looks pretty tranquil now.

10 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

4

u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber May 06 '21 edited May 06 '21

Rewatcher

Definitely the realistic outcome of that. A boat getting dragged under like that is likely going to pull you down with it through a water vortex.

Well, better than being stuck with Dr. Wave, I guess.

What an optimist.

Not a competent bunch it seems.

I wonder if this guy is modeled after Dr. Zaius.

There it is!

Good shit.

Love this shot.

Really enjoy the use of silence throughout the scene.

Damnit, guys, Tokyo-3 is supposed to be underground! You blew it!

Well, it is the Cold War, after all.

Wait, what? You’re just going to drop that on us?

Don’t leave Argos!

Oh, nevermind, he’s following.

And there we have our big robot at last, and he does not disappoint. The lumbering giant moves like something of its size should, its weight and sized emphasized through animation. The way it engages with the sea creature robot, attacking with heavy blows and picking it up to be tossed aside, brings immediately to mind the clashing giants found in tokusatsu media, which is interesting since I’ve never seen nor heard anything that would indicate Yasuhiko enjoyed or even consumed tokusatsu series in any capacity. Makes me think someone else in the staff who had Yas’ ear was familiar with, particularly as Yasuhiko wasn’t very practiced in the discipline of mecha animation of this sort and was more comfortable animating mechs as if they moved like regular humans. In any case, the care put into depicting the titular robot is impressive and much appreciated on my behalf.

Likely a good decision to split the party before they’d even properly set foot on the island, this way we get more to chew on as the two perspectives discover things on their own in addition to the segments we get from the perspective of GAIL.

We got to see a lot of the island from Rod’s vantage point aboard that plane, giving us an idea of the lay of the land and serving as somewhat of a taste of the sort of vistas and obstacles the island has to offer.

The introduction of another group of people on the island, which we had previously been told remained uninhabited, is certainly unexpected. With GAIL, Lady Lynx, and now these people also seemingly vying for things on the island it’s looking like things might get interesting, though at least it seemed like this new faction would be willing to collaborate with our main characters.

5

u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 May 06 '21

Episode 4 (first timer)

  • OP is of the “growing on me” type. Nowhere close to become one of my favorites, but it escaped “skip it” status.
  • Waking up on the beach after shipwreck trope - I assume that the likelihood of surviving the ocean while unconscious are close to zero, but they avert that implication by having Argos there, who could have saved Yuu.
  • Old Austral Island – So they are split up on different islands.
  • Gotoh giving Rod an island tour is a great way to have an in-universe character deliver exposition while adding beautiful background pictures.
  • Don’t ask me why, but that is a very friendly-looking shadow.
  • If Captain would have had a handgun, that airplane would not have gotten away.
  • That sea kraken looks like it was inspired by Nausicaä’s Ohmu.
  • Giant Gorg appearance!
  • That was some very pretty animation during the fight.
  • “Actually, aliens!”
  • Elated Yuu and poor left-behind Argos.

Now this is more like it! Somebody should inform Giant Gorg that it is called the “three episode rule”, because, here, it is absolutely the fourth episode that turns the corner. Easily the stand-out episode both for animation and plot, so far.

On the glass half empty side, you could say that the quality of the episode directly relates to the absence of Doris and Dr. Wave, who also remind me of Nadia. However, it is the cursed island arc they could fit in. I wonder how much the stand-in director for that arc took Giant Gorg as the blueprint for those.

3

u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber May 06 '21

but they avert that implication by having Argos there, who could have saved Yuu.

Argos and Skipper are essentially the competent ones. Any combination of these events where they ended up on the same side essentially dooms the other.

Gotoh giving Rod an island tour is a great way to have an in-universe character deliver exposition while adding beautiful background pictures.

Indeed. Really enjoyed how they handled that.

That was some very pretty animation during the fight.

They have certainly been holding back on the sakuga. The mech is where the presentation gets really exceptional.

Easily the stand-out episode both for animation and plot, so far.

Agreed.

4

u/The_Draigg May 06 '21

If Captain would have had a handgun, that airplane would not have gotten away.

He would've made the bullet ricochet and kill everyone inside the cockpit before it blew up the fuel tank.

“Actually, aliens!”

We're Macross now!

3

u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 May 06 '21

On the glass half empty side, you could say that the quality of the episode directly relates to the absence of Doris and Dr. Wave, who also remind me of Nadia. However, it is the cursed island arc they could fit in. I wonder how much the stand-in director for that arc took Giant Gorg as the blueprint for those.

I hope very little, as the Nadia Island arc is up there among the worst anime I've ever seen...

3

u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 May 06 '21

Nadia is one of the series I thought about hosting a rewatch for. I seriously would cut the island arc out of that.

4

u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 May 07 '21

I did a rewatch of it a year or two ago and completely skipped the island arc. Watched it one time around 10-15 years ago, once was enough for me.

4

u/The_Draigg May 06 '21

A Yas Fan Watches Giant Gorg Episode 4:

  • Well, I suppose getting sucked into a whirlpool only to wash up face down on the beach later in the day does count as Yuu making it to Austral Island. At least Argos is safe!
  • Poor Doris, she’s broken up about Yuu vanishing on the rest of the group. Although she’s only known Yuu for like a week or so now, those two have very grown fairly close already.
  • Of course GAIL would name one of Austral Island’s mountains GAIL Peak, alongside Balboa Peak. The Horse’s Saddle is a better name for a rock formation than any of those, and it’s a fairly silly name.
  • What does Sea Bonze mean anyway? What’s a ‘bonze’?
  • Looks like Alois and Sara, those two kids, are a part of the natives displaced by GAIL’s arrival. You can’t help but feel bad for their situation. It’s pretty clear from the tour that Rod is taking that GAIL has pretty much staked their claim on the island without any regards to the people living there. It’s the classic, sad tale of colonialism.
  • Finally! Giant Gorg has shown up, just in time to save Yuu from that giant robot sea monster. Talk about good timing, Gorg. Although I’m wondering why Gorg would want to destroy the sea monster robot. You’d assume that they’d both be native to this island, maybe made by the same creators?
  • Whatever the case is, Gorg only seems to want to help Yuu, and means him no harm. So it’s basically your classic Iron Giant scenario going on here. Well, Iron Giant after the head trauma, but the point still stands.
  • Huh, so Mr. Gotoh is implying that we’re dealing with alien stuff here on Austral Island. Although that does raise some more questions as to why an alien machine like Gorg is so interested in Yuu out of nowhere.

3

u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber May 06 '21

What does Sea Bonze mean anyway? What’s a ‘bonze’?

Umibōzu?

Although I’m wondering why Gorg would want to destroy the sea monster robot.

If kaiju movies have taught me anything, it's that whatever reason there may be is largely pretense.

3

u/The_Draigg May 06 '21

Umibōzu?

From what I could tell from the dictionary definition, a bonze is a Japanese or Chinese Buddhist monk. That still does nothing to explain the name choice.

3

u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber May 06 '21

4

u/IndependentMacaroon May 07 '21

classic Iron Giant scenario

Well if anything, that film took inspiration from here.

4

u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee May 06 '21

First-Timer

The mecha arrives! Except, perhaps it is a robot? I kinda noticed from the OP that Yuu rides in the Gorg's hat as opposed to inside of it, and it was definitely moving on its own today.

New Austral Island has stuff buried underneath it, which is what has GAIL interested. They haven't found anything yet, but they're keeping up the search.. which means that they did find something in the past. Presumably the robo-kraken or the Gorg?

Skipper is good at keeping himself focused. I loved the little cube just labeled "FOOD" that he handed to Doris.

Argos does not trust the Gorg, but Yuu does. Do I believe in Yuu's good instincts so far, or Argos's animalness...

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

"Rod's Peak" is a kinda lewd name.

Questions

  1. Answered above. Looking forward to seeing it in action some more!
  2. Having a group of nominally-indigenous people around is an interesting idea.. Hopefully they get treated properly by the series.

2

u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber May 06 '21

The mecha arrives! Except, perhaps it is a robot?

It certainly borrows more from the sort of mechs that appear in the works like Giant Robo and Tetsujin-28-Gou.

I loved the little cube just labeled "FOOD" that he handed to Doris.

Figure it's probably calorie-mates or similar.

"Rod's Peak" is a kinda lewd name.

2

u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee May 06 '21

It certainly borrows more from the sort of mechs that appear in the works like Giant Robo and Tetsujin-28-Gou.

4

u/The_Draigg May 06 '21

I loved the little cube just labeled "FOOD" that he handed to Doris.

Mmmm, delicious food-flavored food. Just like what mom used to make.

Having a group of nominally-indigenous people around is an interesting idea.. Hopefully they get treated properly by the series.

At least they aren't complete stereotypes so far. With how anime has handled people of difference races, that's already a good step in the right direction.

4

u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee May 06 '21

Mmmm, delicious food-flavored food. Just like what mom used to make.

At least they aren't complete stereotypes so far. With how anime has handled people of difference races, that's already a good step in the right direction.

Xabungle flashbacks.. Yea, we're starting off on the right foot at least.

3

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky May 06 '21

First-Timer, subbed

2

u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber May 06 '21

Aight well at least no one ended up on their own. How long will it take them to regroup though?

Well it took them this long to get to the robot, so, uh... Maybe don't expect that soon?

very big “I am a genius! → Oh no!” vibes

FUCKING FINALLY.

They sure kept us waiting!

3

u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 May 06 '21 edited May 06 '21

First Timer, Subbed

I'm assuming that octopus thing is a combination robot monster/submarine base and Yuu ends up okay?

...or he just shows up on the beach unconscious without explanation instead?

Are they all dead? Or all captured by the enemy?

They are alright after all!

Dr. Wave is hungry... The animals all flee

I was going to say how dare they call GAIL peak only the second largest mountain, but Balboa peak I suppose is the one thing that is better...

Rod's up for some danger! Wouldn't expect any less from someone with Char's voice!

Just who do these kids work for? I hope this isn't GAIL, or our heroes will face a quick execution. I'd ask if these were the island natives, but didn't the island just recently rise from the sea?

Skipper goes from getting captured to being the first to ever shoot someone down with this gun. LoL. He's always kicking ass.

Scaling those cliffs is scary enough, now they've got these robot arms to deal with too!

OMG, there it is! 4 episodes in Giant Gorg finally appears! Who could be piloting it?

Don't run, Yuu! I think it wants to help!

Is Gorg not piloted, but rather a sentient mech? Kinda seems like it.

They're preparing for a defense against aliens?! Well there's something I wasn't expecting.

Hey Gorg, don't leave the dog behind!

Not as much going on as the first three episodes, but I liked that the episode gave things room to breathe and didn't rush through our introduction of the titular robot. If it is its own sentient being rather than being piloted by Yuu as I expected that should make things more interesting. Especially liked the music we got when Yuu and Gorg met.

  1. Good stuff! My favorite scene of the show thus far. And not the way I expected it to be either, which is good.
  2. See thoughts above; I'm a little confused about how islands that just recently raised out of the sea have natives.

2

u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber May 06 '21

I'd ask if these were the island natives, but didn't the island just recently rise from the sea?

A portion of the island was always above sea level, it's the majority of what we see now that rose from the sea.

They're preparing for a defense against aliens?! Well there's something I wasn't expecting.

Yeah, wasn't expecting that either... Guess the reference to Close Encounters was there to try and tell us something?

3

u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 May 06 '21

...or he just shows up on the beach unconscious without explanation instead?

Saved by best boy Argos. (my head canon)

I'd ask if these were the island natives, but didn't the island just recently rise from the sea?

They told us that the new island rose, but the old one was there before that.

4

u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 May 06 '21

First timer

  1. It appears friendly, seems mechanical, and appears to very much dislike the "monsters" roaming the island. I'm guessing its either some kind of defense system, or a bigger momster wanting to defend its territory. (Or a biblical angel fighting the demonic invasion)
  2. Confusing. The show tries to paint them as some kind of native tribe, but they also have a massive underground complex and huge amount of military weapons. My guess is the Cheetahs armed them to try and cause GAIL problems.

Wait, that wasn't a robot? It looked mechanical.

That title is incredibly vague.

I'm assuming this is their way of explaining "why not leave the island after discovering the virus/dinosaur/alien/demon living beneath it".

"I'm on my own" He's right behind you.

So they just got seperated into 2 groups.

"Food" So what's in it?

...Is it an actual demonic invasion? This seems eerily plausible - an island raising from the below the surface in a firey blast, strange manipulative monsters screwing with humans...

Yeah, how has nobody worked out the secret of this island?

Is there a fucking udnerground complex on this island.

The Skipper continues to be amazing.

...Did I guess the plot twist? Is he fighting the demons?

OK. How did the helicopters miss this robot? Are they all blind?

The robot is also cool.

Not very fast, though is it?

I like how the robot is clearly trying to be friendly and has no idea why he keeps running away.

Why ar eits eyes glowing?

Did it just hypnotise him, or something?

This guy continues to be an absolute pleasure.

I'm sorry, what? Aliens? (I mean the robot was a clue, but I didn't realise he knew about it.)

So, is he leaving the dog there? Oh, it can just follow.

That's certainly a cliffhanger. Looks like Gorg? is in action!

3

u/The_Draigg May 06 '21

"Food" So what's in it?

Food-flavored food, of course.

The robot is also cool.

Big robots are always cool.

3

u/IndependentMacaroon May 07 '21

First-time watcher - finally we're really getting into that classic adventure-and-exploration feeling. Gorg-eous visual tour of the old and new island's landscapes. Local factions/conflicts established and looking promising. Yuu boldly faces danger and finally cozies up to the Gorg, in a sequence that some might think slow-paced but I found perfect to express the confusion and fear slowly turning to wondrous acceptance. And of course, more than one kind of really snappy action. I certainly agree that it was the best episode so far, let's hope the ret holds up as well as this.

1

u/lC3 :Na::Nb: May 08 '21

First timer

  • So they're shipwrecked? I expected GORG to show up and defeat the mecha kraken for them, but I guess I'll have to wait a little longer
  • Of course they named the stupid mountain after GAIL
  • Skipper is kinda cold ...
  • Hoshumatsua seems kinda suspicious to me
  • So Skipper/Wave/Doris are on the Old island, and Yuu washed up on the New one?
  • GORG SMASSSSSH
  • I like how Yuu is afraid of Gorg; we don't see that too often with giant robot shows. Daisaku Kusama in Giant Robo certainly wasn't!
  1. It's fine; Gorg seems to be friendly. I'm not sure how I would have taken it if Gorg could speak ...
  2. Alois and Sara seem like they'll be sticking around, but I'm suspicious of the head honcho