Brave Raideen (1975)

Description

Midway thought the series, Tadao Nagahama started directing the second half of the show (episode 27-50) tooking over Yoshiuki Tomino. That means, while Tomino had a darker and more politically-complex narrative, Nagahama had a focus on more characters with strong emphasis on they're relationships and such.

After a slumber of 12 millennia, the Demon Empire returns to seize control of the Earth. Reideen, the giant robot-like protector of the lost continent of Mu, senses the evil presence and awakens within its golden pyramid, revealing to young Japanese boy Akira Hibiki that he is the one descendant of the ancient Mu people who must help Reideen save Earth. He was assisted by his friends, token girl Mari Sakurano (daughter of a scientist fighting the Demon Empire) and several members of his high school soccer team.

Main Characters

Photo	Name	Description
	Akira Hibiki	Akira Hibiki is a fiery young man, eager to jump in his super robot Raideen and fight off some otherworldly invaders. Despite this, he is surprisingly coolheaded in casual conversation, though he has a habit of changing the topic to demons and demon hunting. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer with his high school friends and going for a ride on his custom motorcycle, the Sparker.
	Mari Sakurano	She is the daughter of Dr. Daisaburo Higashiyama, the director of the Future Engineering Research Institute, and is so beautiful that she is called the idol of Rinkai Academy. She has a bright and cheerful personality, and is the manager of the school's soccer club. She is a classmate of the soccer club's captain, Akira Hibiki , and although they usually bicker, she is openly fond of him. In the middle, because he wanted to help Akira, he entered the Goflander squad and became Asuka's sub-pilot, boarding Brueger and supporting Ridein.
	Chikara Jinguji	The leader of the Goflanders, a combat team affiliated with the Future Engineering Research Institute, and the pilot of Brueger. His nickname is Mr. His skills as a pilot are top-notch, he has confidence in this, and he has a cold-hearted personality and a rough mouth. Because of this, she was often seen as making fun of Akira Hibiki , who has a reckless personality , but deep down she accepts Akira. She has a very strong love for her family, probably because of her painful memories of losing her brother in a car accident in the past. Right before the final showdown with the Yoma Empire, he drove Brueger loaded with Magnum missiles into the mouth of Baragon, a sorceress dragon with overwhelming power, and performed a special attack and died fiercely. The famous line left at this time was "Hahaha, look closely, the final fight of the man Chikara Jinguji!!" '
	Prince Sharkin	He is the prince of the Yoma Empire and serves as the supreme commander. He has a proud personality like a prince and has a pure side, but he is the owner of a ruthless personality who will do anything for his purpose. He invades Earth under the command of Barao, the great yoma, but is killed by Raiden every time . In the end, he could not bear the failure of his subordinates and once disguised himself as a human named Kingo Sunaba (砂場 金吾) to assassinate Akira himself, and came in as a disguised transfer student to Akira Hibiki's Rinkai Academy .

Episode List

Fun Fact

• The series was born when Banjiro Uemuro, founder of Tohokushinsha FIlm, saw the popularity of Mazinger Z and wanted to do something like it too. Many fans note it by series' plot and aesthetic.
• Although, Raideen have a Brave (Yuusha) name in it's title, it doesn't have anything to do with Sunrise's Yuusha series (GoLion,GaoGaiGar, etc.)
• Rei Asuka was meant to be a really different from what we see now: she was first written as Princess Lemuria's older sister, hence her psychic powers and ability to speak to Raideen. Her young appearance was a result of being in cryo-sleep for so long. This was abandoned and she became an ordinary human with unexplained supernatural abilities
• It was a second collaboration of Yoshiuki Tomino and Tadao Nagahama, the first was Nozomi in the Sun. Both would eventually meet up again when working with Mobile Suit Gundam (1979).