Kotetsu Jeego/Steel Jeeg/Jeeg Robot/El Vengador

Steel Jeeg!

Kotetsu Jeego, AKA, Kotetsu Jeeg, Steel jeeg, Jeeg Robot & El Vengador, was a super robot anime and manga series created by manga artists Go Nagai and Tatsuya Yasuda. The anime TV series was produced by Toei Doga. It was first broadcast on Japanese TV from 1975 to 1976. The series lasted for 46 episodes and it also ran as a manga in several children's publications. The show was broadcasted in some countries in Europe and Latin America in the late 70's & early 80's. Nevertheless, like many popular 70s super robot shows, Steel Jeeg has never been released in the US.

A sequel series called Kotetsushin Jeeg (which appears to take place 50 years after the original show) aired on the satellite network WOWOW, beginning April 5, 2007

Hiroshi's transformation.

Queen himika/Medusa.

So, what's Steel Jeeg about?

The story focuses in Hiroshi Shiba, a 25 years old car racer who is mortally wounded on a laboratory accident, but restored to life by his father, Professor Shiba, a talented scientist/archeologist, who is incidentally investigating the relics of the ancient Yamatai Kingdom. The professor discovers a tiny bronze bell with sorcerous powers, and shortly afterwards he is murdered by the henchmen of Queen Himika, the ruler of the Yamatai (sometimes translated as Jamatai) Kingdom, who wants to seize the ancient bell and its power.

Hiroshi learns about his father's death, and his legacy: after the accident, Professor Shiba used both his scientific & archeological knowledge to save Hiroshi's life by combining the magic of the bronze bell, with state of the art technology. In order to protect Hiroshi's life from future attacks from Queen Himika, he turned his body into a secret weapon: a cyborg capable of transforming into the head of a giant robot that would connect with the remaining pieces to become the Steel Jeeg. 

Professor Shiba believed that by hiding the magical bronze bell inside the barely indestructible body of his son, Queen Himika would not stand a chance against engaging in battle with the Steel Jeeg and boy was he right. 

Original promo art.

The minions of Queen Himika had huge haniwa phantoms buried thousands of years under Japan's soil, and only the Steel Jeeg could destroy them and save the world. Therefore, Hiroshi spent his days living a double life: On the one hand as a racer who takes care of his mother and sister and on the other hand as a hero who fights to save the world. However, Hiroshi is not alone in this battle, as he is constantly aided by Miwa Uzuki, an expert pilot who supplies not only back up when needs be, but also a sidekick capable of providing the Steel Jeeg with an assortment of extra weapons designed to fight under adverse conditions. 

Considering the Animé was created in 1975, in a world without the more serious driven Sci-Fi Star Wars delivered two years later, Today watching Steel Jeeg would be a matter of laughs instead of a matter of astonishment. The show had plenty of plot holes, as well as campy science & even campier gadgets.

it's time to kick some ass.

Hiroshi/Phebo/Febo.

Steel Jeeg was later broadcasted in Italy, and was quite successful. In the 80's the series was shown in Latin America, where it was part of a giant robot show fashioned in the style of Force Five, called "El Festival de los Robots" which translates to "Festival of Robots". Steel Jeeg was called "El Vengador" (The Avenger) along with three other anime shows.

To make Steel Jeeg appealing to the western audiences the background music was changed to a more western disco funky sound. While the story remained unchanged, the name of the main characters was changed as follows:

Hiroshi Shiba: Phebo/Febo.

Professor Shiba: Doctor Shiba.

Miwa Uzuki: Mirna.

Queen Himika: Medusa. 

Also, the opening/ending songs were replaced for completely new compositions for Italy & Latin America. For the Latin American version, once again Memo Aguirre was hired to sing all of the openings and endings from "El Festival de los Robots" plus a new song that would serve as opening for the robot show that featured Steel Jeeg and other Animé.

In Latin America only the first 26 episodes were dubbed into Spanish and broadcasted. To date there have been no official releases for the remaining episodes. In addition, it is unclear if the 46 episodes were ever broadcasted in the rest of Europe. Despite this, Steel Jeeg has a strong fanbase and remains as one of the most popular robot animé from the 70's.

Go Hiroshi go!

Steel Jeeg blueprints.

To take advantage of the good reception the Animé had among its fortunate audiences out of Japan, Takara made Jeeg and Panzeroid toys as part of their Magnemo line, making use of a system of magnetic sockets and steel ball joints for unprecedented articulation and interchangeability.

In the United States, the Jeeg and Panzeroid toys were remolded in different colors and new heads were sculpted for Mego's Micronauts "Magno" figures; Baron Karza and Force Commander.

In Italy, the toy company Gig Co, who had the European rights to the Micronauts at the time, made three more figures using the Jeeg toy as a basis; King Atlas, Green Baron, and Emperor. These toys (with the exception of Emperor, who was released in very limited numbers by a company called Lion Rock Toys) were never released in America because Mego went bankrupt before the toys could be unveiled to the US market, while Gig kept the Micronauts license going for a few years afterward in Europe.

Miwa ready to go the extra mile.

That Ass!

Overall, Steel Jeeg may be a rare hard to find gem from the beginning of the Animé internationalization. Like many of the animation series from the late 70's, this animé is more important for the nostalgia it brings rather than for having a unique complex storyline. The story is quite simplistic & the science in which its based is terribly campy. Perhaps someone who wasn't born by the time this Animé was broadcasted, would consider Steel Jeeg as pure rubbish. However, if you haven't watched it, give it a try and you won't be dissapointed unless you are someone who thinks Pokémon is real Animé but in that case you wouldn't be visiting my blog anyways.  

 Here's the original japanese opening:

Here's the italian opening:

And last but not least, here's the Latin American opening: