UFO Robo Grendizer/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


This is a page about the characters appearing in the Manga turned Anime UFO Robo Grendizer. Just as a warning, this page probably contains spoilers.

The Space Science Laboratory

Daisuke Umon/Duke Fleed

Daisuke Umon/Duke Fleed

(Voice) Actor(s): Kei Tomiyama

Duke: "Emperor Vega! I won't hand Earth over to you! This will not be a repeat of planet Fleed! My father... My mother... And my comrades who were murdered because of the Emperor... Grendizer will avenge you!" (Go Nagai UFO Robo Grendizer manga)
Duke: "Why? Why? What did Fleed ever do? Why do you assault Fleed, which has never waged a war?" (Go Nagai UFO Robo Grendizer manga)

Duke Fleed (デューク・フリード, Dyūku Furīdo) is UFO Robo Grendizer main character. Details about his back-story vary depending not only on the version (manga or anime) but also between the original series and the Maceckred adaptation, but this is the gist:

Duke was the Crown Prince of planet Fleed, a peaceful, idyllic world. His peaceful, comfortable life ended when invading forces of King Vega attacked its planet. Fleed lost the war, the royal family was murdered, and the planet was bombarded with radioactive bombs and turned into a toxic wasteland. Duke managed to seize Grendizer and fled the planet. Grendizer's navigational computer searched a planet with an atmosphere similar to Fleed's, and Grendizer crashed on Earth, near from the Space Science Laboratory. Doctor Umon found Duke, took him in like his son and gave him a new name: Daisuke Umon (宇門大介, Umon Daisuke).

Duke began to work in the ranch his adoptive father owned, under the orders of Danbei Makiba. A while later he had adapted to his life on Earth and his old psychological scars were beginning to knit, when reports of alien saucers scouting Earth started arriving to the Laboratory, and Kouji Kabuto arrived Makiba Ranch...

Duke has several traits on common with the other two male heroes of the Mazinger trilogy, but right like Tetsuya was a different character than Kouji, Duke is his own character. He is older than them; therefore he is more mature and nicer. Duke is very hot-blooded when he is riding his mecha or fighting, but the remainder time he is calm and even quiet… unless something sets him off. Then he unleashes his Large Ham tendencies (usually reminding him of the Vegan invasion and Fleedian genocide effectively accomplishes this).

Despite his calm and controlled outwardly appearance, he feels troubled about many things. He is hurt and psychologically scarred about his family’s murder, the destruction of Fleed and the slaughter of its inhabitants. He feels immensely guilty for running away from his homeworld, in spite of he knows he could not do anything. He feels torn because he is a pacifist hates fighting and killing, still he must fight the Vegans why he would be unable to bear to run away again and he does not want Earth suffers the same destiny than Fleed. And later in series he felt quite conflicted after learning his fiancée, Rubina, is alive.

He is Official Couple with Hikaru Makiba, Danbei’s daughter. They actually get along well, avoiding a Belligerent Sexual Tension scenario. However, they are sort of Star-Crossed Lovers, since Duke feels his duty is return to Fleed and help to rebuild it, whereas Hikaru likes living on Earth. That, and Duke is engaged, although he did not knew her fiancé was still alive.

Duke is kind of a mainstay in Super Robot Wars games, even though he –and Grendizer- has showed up fewer times than other characters of the trilogy. They have also featured in some Crossovers: CB Chara Go Nagai World, Super Robo Retsuden, Go Nagai Heroes e-manga…

Tropes:

  • Alien Invasion: He suffers through TWO of them. The first time, Duke fled from the enemy (Heh. Fled). The second time he kicked all of their butts.
  • And this is for:

Duke (while Grendizer ripped the saucers off a Saucer Beast: “This is for my friend!”
Duke: “But Gandal! It was your mistake coming here! For my parents… And for all citizens of Fleed... I will kill you!”

Duke: “Is that a Saucer Beast?”

  • Combat Pragmatist
  • Combination Attack: Double Lightning Buster, Triple Mazinger Blade and Final Dynamic Special
  • Conveniently an Orphan: His parents died during the war.
  • Cool Bike
  • Cool Helmet
  • The Determinator: Slightly subverted because he ran away with Grendizer instead of staying and fighting, realizing the war was lost. Later, though…
  • Dub Name Change: In Spain he was named Daniel. In continental Europe and Quebec, he was named Actarus.
  • Expy: From one character of the same name of the Uchuu Enban Daisenso feature.
  • Falling Into the Cockpit: This trope’s treatment depends on the version. In all versions he manages to sneak into the cockpit and run away. In the original manga he even managed to fight two Vegan Beasts were chasing him. In the anime series, he just ran away, and Grendizer’s computer guided him to Earth. In the Gosaku Ota manga, it was hinted Grendizer was sentient, and it acted on its own to save Duke. Since Grendizer was built by Fleedians and it was the embodiment of their god of war, it is not an implausible scenario Duke got some previous knowledge of how handling it.
  • Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Duke fell into this sometimes, but he was not so bad of an offender like Kouji or especially Tetsuya.
  • Gratuitous English: Melt Shower! Spin Saucer! Grendizer Break Up!
  • Good Is Not Dumb: He is actually pretty smart. Kouji tried to pilot Grendizer in one episode, and he told the controls were too complicated for him.
  • The Hero
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Even though he likes Hikaru, he was engaged with Rubina, King Vega's daughter.
  • Heroic BSOD: He suffered one after seeing his entire homeworld burning. He is still recovering from it. And he also suffered another after being told the Saucer Beasts were powered with the minds of friends and relatives of his.
  • Hidden Depths: When you meet him he comes across like an enigmatic, -even creepy-, soft-spoken, quiet boy. However he is a war survivor and refugee is trying to getting over his trauma and beginning a new life in a new place. He also likes working in the ranch, riding horses, playing guitar and go camping because he enjoys remembering how his planet was before the war.
  • Hot-Blooded: He uses to be calm and quiet -even more melancholic- when he is out of Grendizer, but when he gets on his Humongous Mecha... yes, he is hot-blooded like you would not believe.

Narrator (Go Nagai Manga): “The rage from having his close friend Brunhild murdered burned throughout Duke, igniting his will to fight!”

  • Hotblooded Sideburns
  • Idiot Hero: Averted. Out of all male leads of the Mazinger Trilogy, he was the most mature and the less prone to put his foot in his mouth or let his temper taking over his brains.
  • Ill Boy: A rare example where it is the male main character. Duke suffers from Vegatron-radiation poisoning is killing him slowly.
  • In a Single Bound: He is superhumanly agile. After watching leaping several meters upwards, Kouji figured out he was not human.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Averted. Unlike Kouji or Tetsuya, he is mostly nice.
  • Large Ham: Definitely.

Duke: Damn it! You use who you can... And kill them when you are done! I won't forgive you! Vegans! I'll avenge my friend with Grendizer!

  • Love Triangle: Duke, Hikaru and Rubina in he anime series.
  • Manly Tears: Often. One of the most memorable times was when he wept straight after of killing Emperor Vega, muttering the nightmare was at last over.
  • My Death Is Only the Beginning: A rare, heroic example. In the Go Nagai episodes, a Saucer Beast cornered him and Blackie demanded he revealed Grendizer’s hiding. He refused talking and assured his friends would go on the fight:

Duke: Hahaha... Just kill me! Just like my closed friend, Brunhild... If I die, my friends on Earth follow after me... And defeat you with Grendizer!

  • No Indoor Voice: When he is piloting. Everywhere else he can be pretty silent –and even soft-spoken and taciturn-… unless you get him angry or mad.
  • Official Couple: With Hikaru.
  • Parental Abandonment: He is an orphan.
  • Reason Before Honor: He understands when a battle is lost and the value of fleeing to fight another day.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When he gets real, REAL angry, he decimates armies.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: He fights back the Vegan invasion, and later he returns to his planet to rebuild it.
  • Riches to Rags: Before the Vegan invasion, he was Crown Prince of a whole planet. When Kouji met him, he was a farm boy.
  • Secret Identity: He tried it, but he was not very good at it. Kouji immediately suspected he was the pilot of that mysterious robot showed up all of sudden. And it did not spend a lot of time before Makiba family figured it out.
  • Seventies Hair
  • Sibling Team: With Maria.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: Seeing My Death Is Only the Beginning quote above.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Two instances:
    • Hikaru and him: Her father does not approve of his relationship (on the grounds of he disapproves of any older-than-child male ever breaths near from her daughter), but that is not the bigger obstacle. Even if they win the war, they will not be together, because Duke wants to return to his planet to rebuild it. However, Hikaru does not want leaving Earth.
    • Rubina and him. Duke and her father’s empire are waging war against each other. Her father sooner would get her daughter married to one of his commanders than engaged with Duke. Duke thinks he is not the same person Rubina knew and loved, and he does not know if he can forget what the Vegans made to his homeworld.
  • Third Person Person: Sometimes he falls into this when he is REAL fired up as fighting.
  • This Is Unforgivable!:

Duke: "Barados, You alone... You alone... I cannot forgive!"

Duke: “Damn you! For my father!”

Hikaru Makiba

Hikaru Makiba

(Voice) Actor(s):

Hikaru: “Why friends must fight each other? It’s all the same. It doesn’t matter who wins… There’s no way peace can result from this fight!” (Go Nagai UFO Robo Grendizer manga)
Hikaru: “After all… they were born in Fleed… and they will wish return…”

(UFO Robo Grendizer anime)

Hikaru Makiba was the eldest daughter of Danbei Makiba, the farmer helped Dr. Umon to run his ranch. She was joyful, enthusiastic, and a bit of a Yamato Nadeshiko. She occasionally helped his father to run the ranch and loved riding horse.

One day, Dr. Umon introduced his son, Daisuke, to her family and asked her father left him to stay and work in the ranch. Daisuke was a person quiet and reserved, even enigmatic, but he a good worker and a cute, nice boy also loved horses. And Hikaru could not help to feel attracted to him.

A while later, an alien fleet attacked Earth. For some reason, many of their raids and attacks on Japan seemed focusing on the vicinity of the Umon Ranch and the Space Science Laboratory. Shortly after Hikaru found out Daisuke in reality was an alien prince was fighting the invaders back. At the beginning of the series she played several times the damsel-in-distress role until she got sick of it, and she trained to become a pilot and help to Duke. She piloted the Marine Spacer, a device combined with Grendizer to let it fight underwater.

Hikaru was cheerful and outgoing, and she proved a Yamato Nadeshiko has no troubles knowing and saying her own mind. She bluntly stated Duke she was interested in him. When later he told he had reserves about her becoming a pilot, she replied she would fight alongside him, whether he wanted or not.

She liked riding horses, spending time with Duke –much to her father’s chagrin-, listening while he played guitar or listening when he vented about whatever was bothering him. On the other hand often she got annoyed with the antics of his overprotective, ufo-obsessed father (that was obsessed with meeting aliens) and her pesky, little brother (that loved poking his nose where it did not belong and making remarks nobody had asked for).

She favoured to wear light clothes (skirts, blouses, and she constantly donned a cowboy hat) at the beginning, but after turning into an Action Girl she started wearing pants frequently.

Tropes:

Kouji Kabuto

Kouji Kabuto

Kouji: I always thought people doesn't think with their head. They think with their heart. (Shin Mazinger Zero manga)
Kouji: Grandpa's murder... All the people who have been hurt... Japan's peace trampled... All because of Dr. Hell... This time, for sure... This time, I'll destroy Dr. Hell for good! (Go Nagai Great Mazinger manga)

Koji Kabuto (Kabuto Kôji), also written as Kouji Kabuto, is a fictional character featured in the works of manga artist Go Nagai. He is the main character of the Super Robot series Mazinger Z and pilots the title robot. He reappears in the sequel Great Mazinger and helps battle the Mikene Empire. He also features in Grendizer as Duke Fleed's friend and Sidekick/TheLancer.

Kouji was a Ordinary High School Student who lived with his little brother Shiro and his grandfather Juzo after their parents’ death. All of it changed when he was sixteen and his grandfather was murdered by Dr. Hell. Dr. Kabuto revealed Mazinger Z to him and requested him to save the world from Dr. Hell. Kouji vowed he would avenge his grandfather’s death and fulfil his last wish.

After the end of Mazinger-Z, Sayaka and he travelled to USA to learn about UFO technology. They returned at the end of Great Mazinger to help to defeat the Mykene Empire. After managing to design and build the first ufo build on Earth, and hearing about plenty reports of ufo sightings, Kouji returned to Japan to join the Space Science Laboratory. He dreamt with being the first human being to make a First Contact, and help to establish a peaceful relationship between Earth and other planets.

Back on Japan, he met Dr. Umon, his son and Makiba family. Dr. Umon and Daisuke tried to hint the aliens *might* not be friendly, but he did not listen. After being rescued by Grendizer and learn about Daisuke's true identity and past, he vowed to support him.

Kouji was an atypical main character back then: although he was a mostly good person, he might be rude, insensitive and even somewhat of a jerkass when he was angry, sexist and the poster boy for Idiot Hero given his tendencies to be loudmouthed, talking without thinking, acting BEFORE and INSTEAD of thinking and being very hotheaded and stubborn. However he was also compassionate, caring, friendly, self-sacrificing, cared greatly for his friends and fought for them –even though he constantly teased Sayaka and Boss- and he was utterly hot-blooded.

His character evolved and developed somewhat along the series. His blatant sexism and his impulsive tendencies mellowed down a bit (it is telltale in ‘’Great Mazinger’’ he was the one recommended using planning and strategy for fighting the Mykene when Tetsuya wanted nothing else than blowing them up to pieces). He also grew up and matured, and his main motivation to fight Dr. Hell became protecting people instead of petty revenge. Although he refused giving up, he was more willing to follow orders and retreat to re-evaluate the situation and fight back than his successor, Tetsuya. However, in the Mazinger Z vs Great General of Darkness movie he refused giving up and backing down, even though he knew he could not win.

He is voiced by veteran seiyuu Hiroya Ishimaru and has appeared in many other series. He is considered one of the stalwarts of the Japanese-exclusive strategy games the Super Robot Wars and appears in nearly every incarnation. In Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z Hen, his voice is played by Kenji Akabane.

  • Accidental Pervert: In the Mazinger vs Great General of Darkness movie, Kouji went in the bathroom right when Sayaka was taking a shower. After getting a Armor-Piercing Slap he apologized and swore it was an accident (although he was half-smirking as he told so).
  • Badass
  • Badass Biker
  • Badass and Child Duo: His little brother usually hangs around him. Needless to say, threaten Shiro and the pain you will feel will depend on whether Kouji is or is not riding his Humongous Mecha in the time.
  • Battle Couple: the male half, with Sayaka as the female.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: After hearing reports about ufo sightings, he wishes making the First Contact with the aliens. Needless to say, It went very poorly.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: with Sayaka.
  • Big Eater: Kouji is occasionally shown to be one. Hell, in the Mazinkaizer movie, he eats about ten times as much as the rest of the table combined (yes, those dishes are all his) before insisting that he's still hungry.
  • Big No: Kouji screams one when his grandfather dies.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: By the Vegans in the UFO Robo Grendizer Go Nagai manga, the UFO Robot Grendizer tai Great Mazinger movie and Super Robot Wars MX in Chapter 10.
    • And by Viscount Pygman in the series.
  • Butt Monkey: He suffered of this in Grendizer quite often.
  • Calling Your Attacks In Gratuitous English: Koji's most famous trait (and indeed, his legacy) is his habit of yelling out weapon names before using them. His most famous battle cries, "Rocket Punch!" (that sent one or both of Mazinger's forearms flying at a foe), "Breast Fire!" (which activated the red heat sinks on Mazinger's chest, melting most enemies to slag) and "Majin Go!" are well-known in Japan, even by people who have never watched Mazinger before. This has since become the trademark of Super Robot pilots everywhere.
    • The only ones that averted this were the Photon Beam, spoken in Japanese as "Koushiryoku Beam", Great Wheel Rocket Punch (Daisharin Rocket Punch), and the Freeze Ray.
  • Chef of Iron: In original Manga. He is shown on screen to be the one that cooks for his household breakfast. It is also implied that his cooking is pretty good no matter how ridiculous it is (his croquette is huge (Sayaka said it’s a Mazinger class croquette referring to its size) and can shoot Rust Tornado (Unleash wind when cut) and Rocket Punch (launch a part of it when its cut, directly to Shiro's mouth), and of course he kicks ass in battle.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Like you wouldn't believe. In his first appearance, in which he just received Mazinger, his fight is filled by abusing the fact that Mazinger really IS invincible (at least for that point). During his second appearance, he is not above tricking his opponent to think that he gives up the fight only to kick ass. And he does this several time during the course of the series.
  • Delinquents
  • Demoted to Extra: In ‘’Anime/Mazinger’’ he was The Hero. In ‘’Great Mazinger’’ he was The Lancer for a short while. In ‘’UFO Robo Grendizer’’ he was the sidekick before becoming The Lancer again.
  • Distaff Counterpart: In the Mazinger Angels Z manga (a sequel to Mazinger Angels, a Charlie's Angels parody starring the female main characters of the Mazinger trilogy, with countless ShoutOuts to other Go Nagai works), Kouji's role was given to Kikunosuke Abashiri, a character of Abashiri Ikka, an early manga from Go Nagai.
  • Dub Name Change
    • In Tranzor Z, Koji was named Tommy Davis, which was somewhat confusing as he was unrelated to the counterparts of Sayaka Yumi and her father, whose last names were also Davis. He was voiced by Gregg Berger in the dub.
    • When Grendizer was shown in the United States as part of Force Five, Koji's name was Lance Hyatt.
    • Italian translators never identified Kabuto as the same character in Grendizer and in the Mazinger series. In the Italian version of Grendizer (broadcast for first in Italy), Koji was called Alcor; in Mazinger Z, Ryo Kabuto; in Great Mazinger, Koji Kabuto. As a result, many in Italy thought that the heroes of Japanese cartoons all looked alike. In the Italian version of Mazinkaiser, he was called Koji Kabuto again.
    • The same confusion took place in France: he was called Alcor in the French version of Grendizer (from which the Italian one was taken), and Koji in the French version of Mazinger Z (which was broadcast much later in France).
    • The same kind of confusion took place in Arabic speaking nations: While he was still called Koji in the Arabic version of Grendizer, he was called Maher in the Arabic version of Mazinger Z that was translated after Grendizer's success in the Middle East.
    • And in Spain he was called Carlos Caribe in the Grendizer dub, despite of he was not renamed in the Mazinger Z dub.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In CB Chara Go Nagai World, Koji blowing up the Mazinger
  • Hot-Blooded: poster boy for this.
  • Hotblooded Sideburns: Their sideburns are unmistakable.
  • Idiot Hero: ... and for this, too.
    • Genius Ditz: Unlike many similar hot-heads, Koji is actually exceptionally bright when he allows himself to think things through. This is demonstrated both in the Mazinger Z series, when at least twice he had to completely disable mechanical beasts with hostages inside (one of them being Sayaka's disabled cousin, Yuri); and in the Grendizer series, where he builds his flying saucer all by himself and later develops the Cyclone Beam. He is also an excellent shot (demonstrated in the Mazinkaiser VS Ankoku Dai Shogun movie when he shoots Archduke Gorgon in both his tiger head and human head with one shot).
    • It should be noted, that Koji is sent to America in Great Mazinger to study, so he can become a scientist since Kenzo, Koji's father mentions that he has the scientist blood of Kabuto inside him. So, it’s pretty much hereditary.
  • Indy Ploy: He is able to think strategically and plotting strategies beforehand. However, given his rash, hot-headed nature, he is VERY prone to impulsively rush/leap/dive headfirst into a dangerous situation and figuring out along the way how he will walk out of it alive. These two pages of the "Mazinger Z: Relic of Terror" one-shot are a godd example:

Kouji: There's no choice but for me to go and take it back!
Sayaka: But you don't even know what the enemy is...!
Kouji: I'll find out along the way!

  • Ironic Echo: In the Gosaku Ota episodes, when he meets Duke, the later spends a good while glaring at his flying saucer. Kouji wonders: “Why is he looking at my saucer like if it killed his parents or something?”
  • The Lancer: To Tetsuya Tsurugi in Great Mazinger and Daisuke Umon in UFO Robo Grendizer.
  • Large Ham
    • Ham-to-Ham Combat: In the Dynamic Heroes e-manga, Kouji fought the Great Marshall of Hell while riding Mazinger. It is noteworthy as it was, maybe, the first time in the history of the franchise Kouji and Dr. Hell faced each other as both were riding giant robots. Too bad it was a Curb Stomp Battle.
  • Manly Tears: He has three VERY memorable tears moments. One is in the beginning, when his grandfather dies in his arms. The other two are in the "Mazinkaiser vs. the General of Darkness", with Dr. Morimori's Heroic Sacrifice, and when he finally defeats ALL the Mikene Empire and tearfully screams "My dead friends... I AVENGED YOU ALL!"
  • Meaningful Name: Kabuto means "Helmet", and Kouji pilots his machine by attaching the Jet Pilder to its head.
    • Also, the word “Mazinger” is formed by kanji mean “god”, “devil” and “pilot”, meaning Mazinger may be a god saves the world or a devil destroys it depending on its pilot.
    • According to Hindu Mythology, Ashura were beings with a dual nature.
  • Missing Mom: Tsubasa Nishikori
    • In episode 90, Dr. Hell fabricated a cyborg looked exactly like her and sent it to the Institute in order to wreak havoc while he made preparations for the final battle. Naturally, that stratagem caused much grief, especially to Shiro.
  • No Indoor Voice: Indoor Voice? What is that “Indoor Voice” stuff you speak of?
  • Put on a Bus: He and Sayaka went to America after the end of the series, and they were not seen again until the end of Great Mazinger.
  • The Rival: With Boss usually –and Tetsuya in Great Mazinger-, but in many Super Robot Wars games with Neon Genesis Evangelion's Asuka. The two of them always but heads.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal

Scirocco: By averting that Colony Drop, you wasted a good chance of getting rid of all those fools whose souls are bound by gravity.

Kouji: Oh, don't give us that crap! We won't let you even touch the Earth we live in!

Char Aznable: But, if things continue this way, people's hatred will consume the very Earth itself. That's why I'm cutting through to the source of the problem.

Kouji: Don't feed me that crap!! I've been listening to this from the start and all you've done is giving a bunch of complicated justifications!!

  • Sidekick: To Duke Fleed/Daisuke Umon in Grendizer. Later graduated to The Lancer
  • Triang Relations: Type 3 with Sayaka and Maria, with Kouji being the Chaste Hero in the middle.)
  • Troubled but Cute
  • Why Don't You Marry It?: Kouji Kabuto has this thrown at him by his little brother after spending just a little too much time gushing over a new support unit for the Mazinger. Kouji's reply is along the lines of a not entirely sarcastic "maybe I will," much to the annoyance of Sayaka.
  • You Killed My Grandfather: Straight after his grandfather’s death, Kouji swore he would get his murderers and he would take revenge.

Maria Grace Fleed

Maria Grace Fleed

(Voice) Actor(s): Rihoko Yoshida

Maria: "Act like a man, Kouji. Do not try to lie! I challenged you to a race, did not I? Then race seriously! I know you could have been faster if you would have wanted. I bet you know you can not win me not matter what, so you are pretending to go soft on me. You disappoint me, Kouji." (UFO Robo Grendizer anime)

During the Fleed-Vega war, an old servant of the royal family, escaped from the destruction carrying with him Princess Maria. Seeking a planet with an atmosphere and an environment similar to Fleed's, he reached Earth. Since Maria suffered from amnesia and he believed they were the only survivors from Fleed, he raised her like if she was her granddaughter, intending she lived like an ordinary girl. However, during one battle between Grendizer and a Saucer Beast he got badly wounded. Before dying he revealed to Maria the truth, and believing Grendizer was being controlled by Vegans, he requested her to retrieve it. Maria vowed on his grave to fulfil his last wish.

Maria infiltrated in the Laboratory and tried to assassinate Duke, thinking he was a Vegan had robbed Grendizer. Fortunately Duke was able to recognize her. After solving the misunderstanding, Maria joined them, piloting the Drill Spacer.

Maria was a hot-headed, short-tempered, tomboyish Tsundere always talked her mind. Very soon she developed a sisterly friendship with Hikaru, and a love-hatred relationship with Kouji. In continuities where Sayaka and she meet, their relationship is pretty heated, since each one acknowledges the other girl like her rival.

Tropes:

Maria: "My name is Maria Grace Fleed. I swear upon your grave I will retrieve Grendizer from that Vegan demon."

Dr. Genzo Umon

Genzo Umon

(Voice) Actor(s):

Doctor Umon was an astronomer and director of the Space Science Laboratory, located near Mount Fuji. One day an alien Starship crashed near the Laboratory, and he found an injured, young boy lying near. After hearing his story, he adopted him, forging a new identity for him, and he hid Grendizer underneath the Laboratory, hoping it was never necessary using it.

Genzo was co-owner of the Umon Ranch, where his adoptive son started living and working. However he just stops by the ranch occasionally, leaving Danbei run the place. He is good friends with Danbei and his family, even though he admits the shorter man may be somewhat eccentric. Both men are passionate about Astronomy, but in a different fashion.

He keeps a father-son relationship with Duke, but it is somewhat cold: they are more respectful with each other than affectionate, and Duke spends most of his time in the ranch, whereas his father is married to his job. Genzo treats him like his son, but he looks thinking Duke is a full-fledged adult and not really needs him, so he only intervenes if he feels it is warranted or Duke is the one goes to him. Duke treats him like his father, but it seems clear he feels his biological parents are his real parents. And Genzo seems being aware of this.

Doctor Umon supported Duke and his friends when they fought, but generally his support consisted of debriefing them, feeding them with useful data and warning them about possible strategies of the enemy. He was not so good of a strategist like Professor Yumi and he did not use to suggest or order a specific tactic. Another important role of his was compensating for Grendizer's weaknesses before the enemy found them and exploited them, and building several vehicles combined with Grendizer.

Tropes:

  • Badass Bookworm
  • Badass Moustache
  • Man in White
  • Married to the Job
  • Mission Control
  • Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Sort of. Technically he is an astronomer, but he also is knowledgeable about robotics, and about building, maintaining and repairing vehicles adapted to work at different environments. It may be justified, since Duke surely helped him to understand how Grendizer worked, and he lived in a universe where robotics was a very advanced discipline. It is entirely possible he often consulted with the Photon Science Research Laboratory.
  • Parental Substitute: To Daisuke.
  • Parents as People: A mild example. He is not a bad person and he is nice, but his relationship with Duke is maybe less close than it should.
  • The Professor
  • Stay in the Kitchen: In the Gosaku Ota manga, when Kouji flew to make First Contact with the Vegans, Dr. Umon, Daisuke and Hikaru were watching it through a screen in the Laboratory. When the saucers tried to shoot Kouji down, Daisuke started yelling in pain. Hikaru offered to carry him to a bed, but Dr. Umon screamed: “You stay out of this, woman!”. In his defence, he was –understandably, given the circumstances- nervous and stressed, and he did not want she found out Daisuke’s secret, so maybe he would not say that in a normal situation, but still…
  • Team Dad

Hayashi, Yamada and Aoi

Hayashi, Yamada and Aoi

They were three workers of the Laboratory, and Dr. Umon’s research team. Usually they helped collecting and analyzing data.

Tropes:

Planet Vega

King Vega

King Vega

(Voice) Actor(s):

King Vega: "I am King Vega, ruler of cosmos, and I order you submitting to me!" (UFO Robo Grendizer anime)

King Vega was the ruthless ruler of planet Vega. When his world became unstable due to the exploiting of the radioactive material named Vegatron, he began an expansionist campaign of conquest to find a new place to live.

His first targets were the neighbour worlds to Vega. One of them was Fleed. He approached King Fleed with apparently benevolent intentions, and the King did not suspect anything, and he even got his son Duke engaged with Rubina, King Vega's daughter. But as soon as they felt confident, he turned against them, attacking Fleed with a huge fleet of war ships and gigantic robots, decimating their armies and bombarding their cities with Vegatron bombs. The Royal Family was murdered and soon they took over the planet.

However, their own Vegatron bombs turned the idyllic planet they intended colonize on a radioactive wasteland, and they were unable to fulfil another of his targets: seize Grendizer, an Humongous Mecha was the embodiment of the Fleedian god of war. Duke, Fleed Crown Prince ran away with Grendizer before they got their hands on it.

A while later his army struck Earth. During its first raid they learnt Duke had found shelter in that planet along Grendizer. For a long while, King Vega remained on his planet, leaving the war against Grendizer to his commanders. However, in the last part of the series, Vega homeworld finally died, and he moved with his army to Skul Moon Base -the Vegan Space Base on the dark side of the Moon- and personally oversaw the war against Grendizer. However, after Gandal's death, he led the final offensive against Earth.

Tropes:

  • A Father to His Men: Even though he is quite ruthless, in occasions he has shown he cares sincerely for some of his subordinates.
  • Ambition Is Evil
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Sort of averted. He does not make a lot, and he does not show to be a better warrior than his generals.
  • Badass Boast
  • Batman Gambit: Part of his strategy involved shielding his mothership and descending Earth with it. Naturally, it depended on the enemy being too busy fighting his squads of mini-ufos to notice this.
  • Beard of Evil
  • Big Bad
  • Dirty Coward
  • Enemy Civil War: In the Gosaku Ota continuity, he murdered the Emperor of Darkness. That was the only time in continuity than ‘’Great Mazinger’’ Big Bad died on panel.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: It may seem unbelievable he has standards, but he does. When Zuril suggested using his daughter like bait to lay a trap for Duke Fleed he got scandalized and told he would not brook that.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His daughter Rubina.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: After his daughter’s demise he grieves, and states he would taken over the universe and would have handed it over to her. He clearly does not understand that is not what she wanted.
  • Galactic Conqueror: He started to conquer other planets to find another world to Vegans settle on. Before striking Earth he had already invaded and conquered many planets, and he used to say his army was the most powerful one in the universe.
  • Large Ham:

King Vega: "Our homeworld exists no more. We have destroyed our Moon Base. We have no place to retreat to anymore. Look below you: That is Earth, the only place we can go towards now. We must defeat or die!"

  • Killed Off for Real: In the last chapter.
  • Obviously Evil
  • Orcus on His Throne: He stood aside as his commanders directed the war for most of the series. It was not until most of his officers had gotten killed and his daughter died he got fed up and decided leading the last offensive personally.
  • Overprotective Dad: As disturbing as the thought is.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Vegans are a ‘’very’’ proud race, and his society is devoted to and based on warfare.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: When you get down to it, his expansionist war not only was motivated by his personal ambition and dreams of universal domination, but also it was driven by Vega’s homeworld imminent demise and his need of finding another haven for his people.
  • You Have Failed Me...: Curiously, it was averted. Even though he punished his subordinates' failures, he did not execute them.


Gandal/Lady Gandal

Gandal/Lady Gandal

(Voice) Actor(s):

Lady Gandal: “Grendizer is invincible. We can not win.”
Gandal: “Fortunately we still have our mini-ufos. Let's throw an all-out assault with all our ships!”
Lady Gandal: “Do you seriously think a full assault will work?”
Gandal: “We MUST defeat! Otherwise, if we do not destroy Grendizer, there will never be a new Vega Kingdom! It will die forever!”

(UFO Robo Grendizer anime)

General Gandal was a strange being, with two different personalities (one male and one female) and two bodies. The biggest body was muscular, blue-skinned, and was inhabited by the male personality. The tiniest body was located inside the angular head of the largest body, and it resembled a diminutive, red-headed witch, dressed with red robes and carrying a wooden cane. The female personality dwelt in it. Later in the series, the female body was destroyed, and both personalities began sharing the only body left.

Gandal was in charge of the invasion of Earth, but for the first season he left the majority of the work to his subordinate, Blaki. After several defeats, his King forced him to share his position and chores with Zuril.

Gandal is a brutal, scheming military man, extremely proud and loyal to King Vega, that favours brute force right like his subordinate Blaki, but is little imaginative. On the other hand, Lady Gandal is more ruthless and more cunning than him. She is also more pragmatic, valuing her self-interest -or self-survival- over her loyalty to the King or the Vegan cause. Both personalities often argue.

Tropes:

  • A Glass of Chianti: Every so often He enjoys a glass of... whatever liquor Vegans drink.
  • Body Horror: His face opens outwards and he has another body into his head.
  • Dragon In Charge: During the first season.
  • Dub Name Change: Minos in Europe and Quebec.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: He was dying due to a self-inflicted wound, so he decided dying as fighting Grendizer for last time.
  • Eye Beams: One of his powers. Used for first time in episode 2.
  • Honor Before Reason: Gandal subscribes to this trope. His loyalty to Vega is utter and final, and he will fight for his King and his country even if it exists no longer or victory is unattainable.
    • Reason Before Honor: On the other hand, Lady Gandal is way more pragmatic, and she is mainly devoted to her self-preservation.
  • Redemption Equals Death: He seemed thinking so.
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Made to himself/herself. Lady Gandal came to the realization the war was lost and she decided to kill the King to strike a bargain with the enemy. Gandal disagreed with it, and shot himself/herself on the side of the head she was controlling. Then, since he was dying due to the bullet shot, decided he would die fighting his enemy in order to redeem himself.
  • Talking to Himself: Both of his/her personalities argue sometimes.
  • Taking You with Me: His last resort to destroy to Grendizer was trying to crash his ship against the giant robot.
  • Two-Faced: After the first season, his face morphed into Lady Gandal’s every time she wanted to talk. If she was only talking her mind instead of taking over, only one side of the face changed.

Blaki

Blaki

(Voice) Actor(s):

Colonel –or Commander- Blaki (ブラッキー隊長, Burakkī Taichō) was Gandal's second-in-command and the main responsible of the attacks on Earth in the first season. He was sinister and deceiving, still he favoured the use of brute force rather strategy and cunning. His more used tactic was simply throwing one Saucer beast after another at Duke Fleed. Due to his constant failures he was chastised by Gandal, and sometimes other commanders showed up to try to succeed where he had failed. It was in those situations where he proved he could be cunning and manipulative, ensuring they failed or perished in the attempt.

Gradually he grew so obsessed with destroying Duke Fleed and Grendizer that after one his best plans finally went up in ashes, he made a desperate kamikaze attack against Grendizer, and died.

Apparently, despite his twisted personality and military failures, it seems he was a highly-regarded officer. When planet Vega was destroyed, the King stated it was the biggest loss since Blaki's death.

Tropes:

Minister Zuril

Minister Zuril

(Voice) Actor(s):

After many defeats and Blaki's death, King Vega sent Zuril to the Skull Moon Base to collaborate with Gandal. He was a cunning, smart scientist favoured elaborate plans over the use of force brute. His position was equal to Gandal's and both were forced to share power. Zuril and Gandal often disagreed on tactics although they did not hesitate on uniting and working together when some Vegan officer threatened with taking over their position.

Zuril was in love with Rubina, King's daughter, who in turn was in love with her fiancé Duke Fleed. Therefore, Zuril hated him and saw him like his rival. Zuril also had a son that died to save his life. His son's death left Zuril devastated, and he became colder and more fatalistic.

Tropes:

Commander Barados

Commander Barados

(Voice) Actor(s):

Barados: "There is no future for a planet without women or children!" (Go Nagai UFO Robo Grendizer manga)

Barados showed up in the Nagai's manga and in the Grendizer versus Great Mazinger movie. In the later he was merely a one-note character: another Vegan commander upstart who pompously proclaimed he would defeat Duke Fleed and seize or destroy Grendizer but ultimately failed. In the Go Nagai manga he got a back-story where it was revealed not only he was a Complete Monster but also he was the main responsible of the downfall of planet Fleed.

He showed up when Vega and Fleed were at the peak of the war. Instead of fighting armies he deliberately targeted civilians, murdering women and children or kidnapping them to exterminate the Fleedian population. He accidentally captured King Fleed's two little children (that would imply Maria died in that continuity and never arrived Earth, if we are to assume the little girl was her) in a raid and he got a "brilliant" idea.

Shortly after a fleet of Vegan ufos hovered over the planet's capital. Each hostage he had captured hanged under the ufos, precariously tied to the saucer by a rope prevented him or her from a three-kilometre-high fall. After making sure the King saw his children dangling from one ship, he demanded in exchange for each life they should hand over ten weapons. The King reluctantly agreed, the transaction was done, and Barados released the women and children... by dropping them to the ground.

A while later he travelled to Earth to join the war against Grendizer. He made a noisy arrival, smashing whole sectors of the Skull Moon Base, mocking Gandal and Blacki and gloating if he succeeded he would replace them and they would be done away with. Though, his dirty and treacherous tricks and schemes did not avail him another time, and he was defeated in a very final way.

Tropes:

  • Backstory: In the Go Nagai episodes.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: The kind he delivered to others... and his own. Duke cut it in half with his Double Harken... You know, his twenty-meter-long, double-edged scythe.
  • Exact Words: He told he would let the hostages go. He never said they would survive their release.

Duke: “Now keep your promise and release the children!”
Barados: “I do not break my promises. I shall return the children.”

Rubina

Rubina

(Voice) Actor(s):

Rubina: "I left the planet because you lied to me, and that lie has changed my life completely."
Rubina: "If this war continues, not only all Vegans but Earth will be destroyed. The only way to stop it is joining us in marriage. And I would be the happiest woman on the whole universe."

(UFO Robo Grendizer anime)

Rubina was the daughter of the King Vega. When King Vega approached to King Fleed, pretending to want to sign bilateral agreements between both countries, King Fleed got the idea of getting their children engaged –presumably to solidify the alliance-. The Vegan monarch reluctantly agreed, thinking he would have no need to worry about it in the future, and even he allowed his daughter lived for a while in planet Fleed.

Several years later, Fleed was a polluted husk of a planet. King Vega told his daughter –that had fallen in love with Duke during her stay in Fleed- Duke had died, and tasked her with administering another colony-planet.

A while later Rubina learnt Duke was alive and the pollution poisoning planet Fleed was waning. Happily she left the world she was stuck on –and was on the verge of a revolt anyways- and travelled to Earth to meet with Duke. She hoped talking her father into leaving Earth alone and settling on planet Fleed, and convincing Duke to forgive the Vegans and marrying her to rebuild Fleed together, and thus stopping the war.

Needless to say, it did not work. And it ended in tears.

Tropes:


Umon Ranch

Danbei Makiba

Danbei Makiba

(Voice) Actor(s):

Danbei: "I'm not wasting time. I'm the president of the Friends of the Aliens Association after all! Trying to spot a ufo is serious bussiness!"

Danbei: "I'll hang you with my bare hands if you get close to my daughter! Hang you, I say!" (Gosaku Ota UFO Robo Grendizer manga)

Danbei is co-owner of the Umon Ranch, but in practice, it is more like Dr. umon owns the ranch as Danbei runs it. However, he let his hired hands -Bunta and Daisuke- make most of the work as he spends most of time searching ufos. He is an irritating and ornery curmudgeon constantly bullies his workers and is obsessed with finding alien extraterrestrial life. He is president of the Friends of the Aliens Association -we yet have to meet a second member-, he spends unhealthy amounts of time on top of a water tower, scrutinizing the sky with a telescope, and he claims he knows alien idiom.

Not only he often does not seem quite sane, but also he may be pretty delusional. For the longest time he insisted all those ufos flying over Japan wanted to be friends with Earth people, but that damned Humongous Mecha was always chasing them away or goading them into battling. Even when they raided his ranch, he insisted on they were peaceful and if they attacked it was because they had been provoked first.

He has two children, Hikaru and Goro. Unlike many father figures found in Go Nagai mangas -who are abusive or at the best, neglectful-, he is overprotective to an annoying point. Especially with his daughter. He blatantly menaces with killing whoever comes near from her or does not take care well of her. And if he catches her whiling away with a boy –usually Duke- he assumes they are making something unseemly (and they are guilty until proved otherwise with him), and begins shouting… and shooting.

All of it came to a head at the end of the first season, when his daughter got injured and the Vegans invaded the Laboratory. His delusions were effectively shattered right then. He stopped being so obsessed with finding alien life, but he still was irritatingly overprotective.

He also loves dressing like a cowboy and pretending he lives in the American Far West. All in the ranch have to dress like cowboys, but they do not seem minding, though.

Tropes:

  • Americans Are Cowboys: He seems to ascribe to this theory.
  • All Men Are Perverts: As far as he is concerned, “Not matter what, all men are wolves”.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: He yearned for meeting aliens. The ones he met were unfriendly. And the friendly one got along well with his daughter.
  • Berserk Button: His children. Especially his daughter.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: His antics when he was obsessively trying to find and communicate with aliens or when he believed Daisuke was getting too close to Hikaru were so weird he did not seem quite sane.
  • Composite Character: He is a blend of a character from Uchuu Enban Daisenso and Dambei Hayami from Cutey Honey (who in turn was an Expy from a character from Abashiri Ikka).
  • Dub Name Change: To Benito in the Spanish dub.
  • Expy: From Dambei Hayami.
  • Guns Akimbo: It can be a subversion, though, since his aim is worse when he is shooting two guns than when he is only using his shotgun.
  • Heel Face Turn: Sort of. He never was evil, but he convinced himself of the Vegans were friendly and whoever piloted Grendizer was the bad guy who was preventing humans from meeting people from other planets. He made considerable exercises of mental gymnastics to keep himself deluded from the truth until he was unable to deny the facts. Remarkably, he finally woke up when his daughter was in danger.
  • Papa Wolf: Do not even think of treating his kids -especially Hikaru- badly, rudely or improperly. His shotgun is always loaded -and he will remind you of that fact if he entrusts her to you-. Hikaru does not find his overprotection amusing at all, but given how parents of giant robot pilots use to be, maybe she should be more patient.

Goro Makiba

Goro Makiba

(Voice) Actor(s):

Goro: “Hey! Sis, is it alright for you to be losing to an amateur?”

(Go Nagai UFO Robo Grendizer manga)

Goro is Hikaru’s little brother, and Danbei’s younger son. He is enthusiastic, meddlesome and likes riding horses and annoying his sister, making statements nobody asked for. Hikaru finds him annoyingly nosy. However he still looks more mature than his father. He mostly was a Comic Relief character, but in some dire situations he could be quite brave and helpful.

Tropes:

Banta

Banta

(Voice) Actor(s):

In the original manga, he was another ranch’s owner trespassed in the Makiba ranch every night to feed his horses with fresh pasture, and due to it he found himself in the wrong place in the wrong time (right when an assassin sent by Gandal broke into the property). In the anime series and later versions he was another farmer worked into the Makiba ranch and was bullied by Danbei. His role was mostly Comic Relief.

Tropes:

Other Characters

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