UCHUU TAITEI GOD SIGMA

DESCRIPTION

CAST

REVIEWS

• 

  Kuropiko

  70/100
  Don't laugh at the name of the show please.

  This is gonna be a bit different from my usual reviews (back when I wrote them), mainly just no images or videos, I really just want to talk about this anime.

  Space Emperor God Sigma (what a name) is fascinating? Certainly intriguing, definitely endearing, charming occasionally, very absurd definitely, and just all around an anime that makes me feel weird. It's a very toyetic mecha anime drawing heavily on Toei's prior Getter Robo and Getter Robo G TV anime with the three man combining robots, obvious archetypes in shounen heart-o protagonist, sort of crass and too cool intelligent guy as a pseudo rival (not really), and the big meathead as the third guy. It's the real basic setup, with its scientist leading them, the big evil empire, the combining robot of course, the obligatory child character and female love interest(s), the works. It's basic, it's the most basic basic can be.

  Watching it, I was honestly thinking that this had to be some kind of scrapped Getter Robo sequel series following G, like how Getter Robo Go was made as a new toyetic mecha anime down the road in the 90s. I don't think it is, but that's just how basic it is, and you may be wondering 'why even write a review about such a basic and uninteresting anime that nobody talks about, and the few who do just say "Robot Romance is better"'?

  Well, that's because this anime is, frankly insane. Sure it starts basic, but as it goes on it starts to have slivers of more rooted, interesting concepts. There's a Zambot-esque realization of consequences from these big battles in the 20s, and as it progresses beyond the halfway point, there's a distinct shift. New antagonists appear and there's a significant shift that occurs towards the final fifth of the series wherein good and evil become muddled, in particular there is an exchange of roles in the very antagonistic Terral becoming a symbol of pure good, while the friendly scientist Kazami is driven further and further into a corner in his rage at how he no longer has control.

  This isn't a well structured shift, Terral is certainly a consistently sympathetic character, but Kazami's shift is stark and shocking in a way not entirely meant to be coherent. One episode he's yucking it up with the guys, the next he is torturing aliens to death in his secret torture chamber that nobody knew about, and then he stews for the rest of the series. He lets his anger fester and it blows up in a particularly amazing final act for him.

  But I can't go "This series is good because I find this one character shift fascinating", the whole package really shocked me. It's fun, first of all, it's just a fun toyetic mecha anime, but when those interesting shifts occur at the midpoint, it drew me in more and made me genuinely invested. It was like the work shifted (in mecha terms) from a Mazinger to an Ideon, and I was all there for it. Now, it's not as tight as Ideon and not as good looking as Mazinger, it's not as thematically coherent as VOTOMS or Gundam, but it is fun, it is interesting. Its principle antagonists are truly despicable, its starting antagonists are a joy to watch, and it has one of the best final kills I've seen in a mecha anime, when Toshiya lands the killing blow in the final episode, I feel that.

  It's stuff like that that make me like this anime, and I'm not saying a whole lot here. I'm just letting my feelings ride high for a moment.

  For an actual textual analysis of the work, I would say that it embodies this theme of a switching of sides, of how good can turn into evil and evil into good. Terral and Kazami are one such example, but the main plot is soon revealed to be not about how Earth is being invaded and attacked, but how the planet the aliens came from was attacked by Earth- in the future. That the very energy being used to protect and save the Earth now, would, in the future, be used for terrible colonization, genocides, and war, where Earth is a supreme victor due to 'Trinity Energy', the very thing that powers Emperor God Sigma and makes it so formidable (despite basically being construction equipment). It gives the surprisingly mature idea of how good and evil are purely relative, that Toshiya is a very evil man to some.

  In an earlier episode, he is confronted with the fact that on Earth, the Sigma team's battles cause mass destruction and tragedy, and that he is viewed as a murderer. That he is not perceived as a hero by everyone, even on Earth. His relationship with Terral evolves such that he views this not as a simple "My home is being destroyed" narrative, but as one where his home is being hurt because others are being hurt, and that he needs to go to the source to help.

  This focus on Toshiya comes at a cost though, and I would say that the other two pilots are severely underdeveloped, in particular Julie (in Getter Robo terms, he is the Hayato), who has significant character developments, but I can only really tie one of them to a real event that happened. About 40 episodes into the anime.

  Saying all of that though, yeah I quite like it. I think it's fun. I haven't seen Robot Romance, but I will watch it, I'm sure it's way better, this didn't get translated for decades for a reason I'm sure.

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