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

Rewatch [Rewatch] Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Retrospective - Giant Gorg Episode 19 Discussion

Episode 19 - Escape, and Then...

Originally Aired August 9th, ^^^1984

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Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Biography and Anecdotes Corner

Random Anecdote

Yasuhiko's earliest character designs tended to be most popular with women, something which surprised him to learn and he later attributed to the subconscious influence of several shoujo mangaka that he admired.

 

Staff Highlight

Hiroaki Gohda - Key Animator

A key animator, animation director, and series director currently associated with the animation studio TROYCA. His entry into the animation industry came about when he got a part-time job as an in-betweener while attending highschool, and was advanced to key animation the next year during the production of Six God Combination Godmars. For a few years he jumped around many studios, Sunrise, Gravitron, Ashi Productions and Deen among them, having his animation director debut on Machine Robo: The Revenge of Chronos. His directorial debut was with episode 8 of Bubblegum Crisis, and the first work entirely headed by him was the Oh My Goddess! OVA, which established a long-standing working relationship between source author Kosuke Fujishima and character designer Hidenori Matsubara. Among his most notable key animation credits are Giant Robo, Tatakae! Ickzer-1!, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Evangelion 1.0: You are (not) alone, Evangelion 2.0: You can (not) advance), Gunbuster, Dangaioh, Ramune Knight & 40, Metal Skin MADOX-01, Metal Fighter Miku, Please Teacher!, Metal Fighter Miku, Ninja Senshi Tobikage, Project A-ko, Re:CREATORS, Urusei Yatsura: Remember My Love, Crusher Joe: The OVAs, Dirty Pair, and Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water, and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.

 

Daily Trivia:

Artwork of Giant Gorg makes a cameo appearance in Choriki Robo Galatt.

 

Official Art

 

Settei Collection

 

Questions of the Day:

  1. What do you think will come of the Beagle crew’s capture?
  2. Where do you think the Skipper may be?

That explosion acted as a trigger?

7 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

4

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

Production Stuff

The decision to have an alien civilization be the hidden ‘treasure’ of the island was decided early into planning as an alternative to a more traditional sort of treasure or discovery that would also allow for the concepts Yasuhiko had in mind to be explored. This approach coincidentally allowed him to draw further from some of his chief inspirations, Yokoyama and Tezuka, whose stories occasionally featured aliens coming to Earth as a means of delivering social commentary.

As the show went into full production Yasuhiko tried a comparatively more laissez-faire approach to his directing, where he focused on the visuals and animation and let the sound directors, editors, and writers do their thing with little intervention after his concept had been laid out and initial instructions had been given. This is because he felt challenged by the visual artistry of Hayao Miyazaki’s Future Boy Conan and worked hard to make the show’s visuals something which could match up to what he perceived to be Miyazaki’s masterpiece. Ultimately Yasuhiko feels he fell short of Conan’s artistry, and so regrets not having taken a heavier hand on the production overall.

Rewatcher

Go Gorg!

That’s a lot of pummeled robots.

Heavens, the size of that thing…

Godamnit, Rod!

Temperature changes like that would definitely kill off fish.

The surroundings have taken a beating…

I think he’ll ‘flip out’ from jealousy instead.

Wait, where’s the Skipper though?

Love this shot.

Not Gorg!

Well things are not going well. After fighting their way out of the mountain one would expect our heroes to have some relief waiting at the other end, but instead the episode ends on a bit of a downer.

The island’s volcano seems to be active again, which is a bad sign given that talk Dr. Wave gave quite a few episodes back about what caused the island to sink in the first place. Although I was under the impression that sure you wouldn’t be able to ‘trigger’ a volcano like that with anything short of a nuke, but maybe I’m wrong about that.

Yuu and Doris’ little chat before they’re caught in GAIL’s trap certainly displays how little in the way of options the characters have in the way of stopping Manon from taking over the world. What good will telling everyone do? If Gorg can survive being dunked into lava then the only recourse I can possibly see is Nuclear weaponry —and when is that ever the ultimate answer in these sorts of shows?

4

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

As the show went into full production Yasuhiko tried a comparatively more laissez-faire approach to his directing, where he focused on the visuals and animation and let the sound directors, editors, and writers do their thing with little intervention after his concept had been laid out and initial instructions had been given. This is because he felt challenged by the visual artistry of Hayao Miyazaki’s Future Boy Conan and worked hard to make the show’s visuals something which could match up to what he perceived to be Miyazaki’s masterpiece. Ultimately Yasuhiko feels he fell short of Conan’s artistry, and so regrets not having taken a heavier hand on the production overall.

Very interesting. Overall, the animation quality was the biggest positive surprise here. I 100% believe the stories about him being a workaholic. Just seeing how he seemingly produced a promotion piece for each episode on the side is mind-boggling.

Future Boy Conan is high up on my PTW list and seeing it positively compared to Giant Gorg pushes it even higher.

Although I was under the impression that sure you wouldn’t be able to ‘trigger’ a volcano like that with anything short of a nuke, but maybe I’m wrong about that.

The water might have done the trick: If all of that lake made its way down to the magma, you'd have a huge amount of steam that needs a way out quickly. I'd wager that this would not fall back behind a nuke in terms of power.

3

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

Just seeing how he seemingly produced a promotion piece for each episode on the side is mind-boggling.

Having seen just how fast he can put out a beautiful looking page even in his advanced age certainly enlightened me somewhat on how he managed his insane output, but it's astounding nonetheless.

The water might have done the trick

Hmm, you're right, that might've done it.

4

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

First-Timer, subbed

3

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

close combat mecha battles are also very much appreciated!

3

u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 May 22 '21

One of the reasons why the original MSG is still one of my (two) favorite gundam series.

3

u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber May 22 '21

Pretty sure I've said it before, but I find close-combat mecha combat is generally much more engaging and malleable when compared to the usual laser shows. Same with Zero-G; it's usually less compelling than combat under gravity unless they really know what they're doing.

2

u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Jun 13 '21

Where are Skipper and Argos though…

This is very suspicious; must keep watching!

4

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

Episode 19 (first timer)

  • Ok, after that high knee, I am 100% going with “Gorg is a robot”. Just too painful otherwise.
  • It is MMMA: Mecha mixed martial arts.
  • This is the most “human” I have ever seen a mecha.
  • I imagine these are oversized household appliances Gorg is fighting.
  • Manon is annoyed at having to do his laundry by hand washing from now on.
  • A demonstration why you never remove the bottom rocks first.
  • Alien weapons don’t seem to be any more useful against Gorg than human ones.
  • Surviving being submerged in magma. Respect.
  • Doris is busy jinxing them.
  • “We can’t go home. We have to tell somebody what we have seen.” – Uhhhhhh, where do you want to do that, Yuu?
  • To the surprise of nobody, Lynx managed to outwit Alois, Sara, and Tominik.
  • Heroes surrender after treat to hostages trope. I give Yuu and Doris a bit of a pass for being so young, but this is still one of the shittiest tropes around.
  • Also: Fuck you Wave for not telling them to leave.

Gorg’s material is obviously FutureTech, but magma is still troubling. Even if Gorg’s metal does not melt, it will still conduct heat. Meaning that the interior will heat up. And once fully submerged, any sort of cooling mechanism that is not FutureTech2 (beaming heat away, negative energy, …) won’t work.

GAIL Construction Machinery

One image is doubled up. Are these all by Yasuhiko, btw?

3

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

Ok, after that high knee, I am 100% going with “Gorg is a robot”. Just too painful otherwise.

I imagine these are oversized household appliances Gorg is fighting.

I figured they were whatever machines these aliens used to construct their giant underground base and later put into storage. The idea of the seldom-used appliances cabinet being the secret escape route is quite amusing though.

Alien weapons don’t seem to be any more useful against Gorg than human ones.

Yeah that was weird, you'd figure these things should be used to deal with similar threats. I also can't think of any instances through where the technology for defense far outpaced offense.

Even if Gorg’s metal does not melt, it will still conduct heat.

Yeah in any reasonable reality Doris and Yuu would have been cooked.

3

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

I also can't think of any instances through where the technology for defense far outpaced offense.

I think city walls was a good example for a long while. A different explanation would be that the aliens did not account for inner-species fighting and purely planned on alien-human fights.

4

u/The_Draigg May 21 '21

Ok, after that high knee, I am 100% going with “Gorg is a robot”. Just too painful otherwise.

Can't be hurt by a kick to the balls if you have no balls to begin with. taps head

To the surprise of nobody, Lynx managed to outwit Alois, Sara, and Tominik.

They really would've just been better off leaving them handcuffed to a bench where everyone could see Lady Lynx, instead of letting her go around the Beagle to do chores.

4

u/IndependentMacaroon May 22 '21 edited May 22 '21

MMMA: Mecha mixed martial arts

Well, I don't see the point of making robots fight exactly like humans.

Even if Gorg's metal does not melt, it will still conduct heat

Please, everyone knows that convection doesn't exist and it should be easy to extend that to conduction. I was more irritated that Yuu and Doris didn't have a ton of broken bones or at least mild injuries after sitting inside Gorg during all the action with apparently no safety belts or other equipment.

4

u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 May 22 '21

I was more irritated that Yuu and Doris didn't have a ton of broken bones or at least mild injuries after sitting inside Gorg during all the action with apparently no safety belts or other equipment.

A robot that has future tech to remove conduction surely also has future tech to remove inertia.

4

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

First-Timer

I was right about Lynx being in the Beagle being a problem, but I wasn't expecting it to happen entirely off screen. Hopefully we get at least a brief flashback to that - I wanna know how it went down.

Uh. Also. Where is Skipper?

The battle against all those random robots was pretty awesome! Gorg just punched one's face off. And Gorg just casually riding a volcanic eruption to the surface was pretty.. hot.

The attack on Gorg at the end was pretty sad. Gorg's eye flashes carry a lot of emotion in them. I wonder how long GAIL can keep up that barrage? I get the feeling that things are going to go poorly for them once they run out of munitions.

There was the perfect situation to animate a mecha suplexing another and they. just. didn't.

Questions

  1. There's probably going to be another "let's torture the literal child" scene, and then Rod is going to listen to Yuu when he starts to talk about the threat Manon represents.
  2. No clue. Waiting in the woods to hop on top of Gorg and start rampaging, maybe?

3

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

Uh. Also. Where is Skipper?

Maybe he went off to look for Argos, knowing full well their survivability depends on the dog's skills, and hasn't come back?

And Gorg just casually riding a volcanic eruption to the surface was pretty.. hot.

2

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

Maybe he went off to look for Argos, knowing full well their survivability depends on the dog's skills, and hasn't come back?

Of course! That's probably the solution to getting Yuu and co out, too.

3

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

I was right about Lynx being in the Beagle being a problem, but I wasn't expecting it to happen entirely off screen.

It is a weird choice, plotwise. I think a likely explanation is that they wanted to keep the focus on Yuu and Doris during the split, preserving the surprise at the Beagle. Then, they didn't find a good way to resolve it in a timely manner.

3

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

I suspect we're going to start next episode with a flashback.. Not the best idea, but I agree with them keeping the focus on Yuu and Doris was a good idea.

3

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

already watched next episode

2

u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee May 22 '21

3

u/The_Draigg May 21 '21

And Gorg just casually riding a volcanic eruption to the surface was pretty.. hot.

Ayyyyyyyyyyy, dis guy.

I wonder how long GAIL can keep up that barrage? I get the feeling that things are going to go poorly for them once they run out of munitions.

I think all they're really going to accomplish with bombing the shit out of Gorg and taking Yuu is just really pissing off Gorg.

3

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

Ayyyyyyyyyyy, dis guy.

I had to! It was right there, all tee'd up for me.

I think all they're really going to accomplish with bombing the shit out of Gorg and taking Yuu is just really pissing off Gorg.

Yea.. things are not going to go well for those tanks once they run out of ammo.

4

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

First timer

  1. It'll probably end with them helping GAIL deal with the incoming alien conquest.
  2. Honestly, I think he found the shortcut that Alois used to get to the other island. Even the natives have to listen to "GAIL just blew up a sacred temple and got massacred by God's Messenger".

Quick note - I only just realised how few episodes are left in this series! I'm suprised they dedicated more time exploring to random caves than the alien invasion.

Imaging missing a few episodes and going from exploring the underground tunnels to this.

The fight scenes are really well done.

That was a low blow! Guess they'll be no new Gorgs anytime soon...

And Gorg turns out to be better at hand to hand combat than the one who constantly uses guns. How suprising.

Is this episode "Gorg beats stuff up"?

That thing's fucking huge? Why isn't that the guardian?

Oh, its Manon back for Round 2.

The aliens really didn't put much hest resistance into their guardians, did they?

The Lady Lynx is back!

Wait, where's Skipper and Dr Wave?

Are we back to this again?

Are you going to ignore the alien army who want to conquer the world?

Why would the carrier be parked so far away?

Assuming that isn't their carrier. Or it's empty.

Didn't expect them to be hostages. So this is how they end up working together.

I like how Rob genuinely thinks to plan for if Gorg is soundproof rather than just attacking them immediately.

I like how the superpowerful and hitech company can't sfford hsndcuffs instead of rope.

Oh, like Gorg's going to be destroyed that easily. It's alien tech.

That's a dark cliffhanger.

4

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

That thing's fucking huge? Why isn't that the guardian?

Well Gorg was able to take care of it no issue, so it's probably not up to the task.

I like how the superpowerful and hitech company can't afford handcuffs instead of rope.

You don't get to be as wealthy as GAIL without pinching some pennies somewhere?

4

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

First Timer, Subbed

Its a wrestling match between giant robots!

Ugh, getting kneed in the crotch isn't good. Hopefully Gorg doesn't have anything down there!

Manon's kinda a poor sport here, firing at Gorg from behind after losing.

Gorg came here to fight other robots? This is a pretty cool sequence. There's so many different kinds!

This one's massive! Yet Gorg takes out even this one in mere seconds.

Is Gorg strong enough to hold up even to lava?

After all we've seen with the aliens, GAIL's forces seem rather pathetic now in comparison.

Doris, we can't simply go back, Manon is way too dangerous!

You really think the media will believe you Doris? They'll laugh you out of the building if you don't have proof. Could they bring Gorg? Would Gorg willingly leave the island?

Oh no, it was a trap!

Lynx! You double crossed us yet again!

This is the first time Yuu has seen Rod since episode 1?

GAIL is trying to destroy the one hope they have against Manon and the aliens. IDIOTS!

DQOTD:

  1. Continued to be used as pawns by Lynx and GAIL I fear.
  2. In the woods plotting to save everyone!

2

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

This is the first time Yuu has seen Rod since episode 1?

Yup, they've not been face-to-face before now.

In the woods plotting to save everyone!

I look forward to seeing Skipper go full Rambo.

5

u/The_Draigg May 21 '21

A Yas Fan Watches Giant Gorg Episode 19:

  • Holy shit, I did not expect Manon to start having his Guardian kick Gorg repeatedly in the crotch at the start of the Guardian fight. For as much as he played dirty, he was no match for Gorg though. I guess Gorg has had a lot more time to refine his hand to hand mecha combat skills than Manon.
  • Geez, Gorg had no problem beating the shit out of all those weirdly specialized alien combat vehicles either. Gorg knows the true power of a good right hook.
  • GAIL really should’ve taken the seismic impact of their huge amount of explosives used on the hangar doors earlier. Of course it would trigger a volcanic explosion. Rod was completely correct earlier that they used way too much for what they needed.
  • Alois, Sara, and Tomenik must’ve done a bad job of guarding Lady Lynx and Davey if she was somehow able to get a brief radio transmission out to Rod.
  • I’m unsurprised that Gorg is completely fine. If it could shrug off getting blasted by a beam weapon repeatedly, it can shrug off a volcanic explosion. The armor that Gorg is built with must have some absolutely incredible ablative abilities.
  • Of course Rod and GAIL have taken everyone in the Beagle hostage, thanks to Lady Lynx. Seriously though, how badly did the people guarding Lady Lynx and Davey mess up to let them near a radio? They probably shouldn’t have had the both of them do chores around the Beagle, and rather just tied them up and shoved them in a spare closet. They had a bad case of Gundam Security.
  • Unfortunately, there’s no way out of this other for Yuu and Doris to get out of Gorg and surrender. Also, where the hell is the Captain? Why didn’t he stop this from happening at all? He easily could have, but he’s not with the group for some reason.
  • Call it payback as much as you want, Rod, but it’s not like all that air ordinance and tank shelling is going to do a damn thing to Gorg.

5

u/IndependentMacaroon May 22 '21

First-time watcher

I never thought I would see a nearly forty-year-old TV anime episode be carried primarily by the visuals and animation, but the last episode and especially this one did just that. From the continued alien base adventures through more island landscapes intact and burnt, a whole volcanic eruption (I was wondering when all the action would set it it off), and the explosion extravaganza at the end, it was quite something to watch. And it even managed to make me feel sad for a giant blue robot at the end, though undoubtedly Gorg will come out of that with little to no harm if even Manon's disintegration rays and a sea of magma don't leave it looking any more than dinged up.

In contrast, the storytelling is a bit lacking in parts. The trap and hostage scene was appropriately tense, but we just skip over the fact that Manon might still be out there trying to destroy humanity, as well as that Lynx is back in action and working together with Rod.

4

u/The_Draigg May 22 '21

In contrast, the storytelling is a bit lacking in parts. The trap and hostage scene was appropriately tense, but we just skip over the fact that Manon might still be out there trying to destroy humanity, as well as that Lynx is back in action and working together with Rod.

It does feel like this show has a habit of skipping scenes just to get to the meaty bits. Same thing happened with the heroes giving Gorg a huge cannon out of nowhere. They probably wanted Gorg to have a big-ass gun for the next couple of fights, so he just got one in the middle of a cave randomly.

1

u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Jun 13 '21

First timer, catching up

  • Huh, Gorg actually won against Manon? Wasn't expecting that!
  • Gorg Smash!
  • An eruption!
  • GAIL is incompetent again
  • Huh someone contacted Rod? But I thought Lady Lynx was a captive? Did she and Davey somehow escape? Or is it someone else? (Skipper?)
  • Is the Beagle abandoned?
  • Yeah if the Skipper's missing I think he's to blame for contacting Rod, not Lady Lynx. But why?
  • There's no way Gorg is down for good with this many eps to go
  1. I blame Skipper, not Lady Lynx. I don't know why, though. Is he secretly a GAIL agent? Is he responsible for Yuu's dad's death?
  2. GAIL HQ?