#ryu knight

[laurarolla]

SRW Y Wishlist Part 2

Some more series I'd love to see in Super Robot Wars Y. Trying to avoid things that have already been in the official english translated games (VXT and 30), but there a few exceptions/tangential series. Onward to the next set:

UFO Grendizer/Grendizer U (TV Series): Here's the Mazinger inclusion we kinda need at this point. Grandizer (which is apparently spelled Grendizer with an E, not really sure about that choice but okay) is the third Mazinger series from the 70's, and has had a strange resurgence in presence in the last couple years, with both the new Grendizer U anime and a current generation video game based on the original 70s series. Really don't get it myself but I'm happy to see it. Grendizer on the surface sounds like possibly the most interesting of the original Mazinger trilogy of series, but has lost a lot of prominence with the appearance of things like Mazinkaiser and Shin Mazinger. I think this is one we need to see again, and clearly someone with some actual influence seems to agree with me on that point.

Hades Project Zeorymer (OVA): A high quality 80's OVA loosely based on a short manga series definitely aimed at adult audiences, Zeorymer also has a strange bit of current day attention being brought to it as an upcoming DLC unit in the recently released Iron Saga VS fighting game. As a beautifully animated dark sci-fi mecha series, Zeorymer always kinda feels unfinished, but the OVA did a good job making that ambiguity part of the appeal. Zeorymer has been one of the legendary powerhouse mechs in other SRW games, primarily SRW J, where the manga based Great Zeorymer first showed up, but it would be nice to see the original again. Heck, I'd be interested in seeing the other Hakkeshu mechs being playable.

Zoids New Century Zero (TV Series): Honestly, any Zoids series would be a fantastic inclusion, as the franchise really doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. Zoids keeps chugging along in the background of toy and model franchises, continuing to have new releases even today, but their anime heyday was in the early 2000s, when New Century Zero and Chaotic Century/Guardian Force were internationally known thanks to Toonami. Also, mecha animals are awesome and I'd love a modular Liger to use as a regular member of my squad. I chose New Century Zero because I don't think it's ever had proper story inclusion in the SRW series.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (TV Series): Available to stream free on Tubi just like Gundam X, but I don't know how much I can recommend this one. AGE is a facinating story about the experiences and motivations of three generations of pilots for the AGE series of Gundams, originally developed by Flit Asuno and later inherited by his son and grandson. For the first three arcs, AGE weaves a story about the dangers of allowing personal trauma to disconnect you from empathy, with each generation growing in terms of personal motivations reflecting how they deal with their own pain and difficulties. It's kinda bad in regards to the treatment of women in the show (who rarely get to be dynamic and interesting characters), but the real failure comes with the fourth arc, where the show completely drops the ball on its message by failing to commit to the character paths they clearly set up throughout the series. But hey, SRW has improved interesting but flawed shows before (Cross Ange and Unicorn being good examples), so maybe there's some magic they can work with AGE, too.

Bang Brave Bang Bravern (TV Series): Super robot anime, modern successor the Brave franchise from the 90s, and plenty of homoeroticism. I kinda don't need to go any further than that.

Lord of Lords Ryu Knight (TV Series): Don't be fooled by the cutesy designs. Taking place in a fantasy world, the series tells the story of a group of pilots who have inherited the Ryu mechs. These machines are the key to facing an oncoming threat from beyond the planet, but in the time since they were last needed, their power has somewhat faded. A cast of RPG style characters in RPG style machines (which each have official classes based on those games) makes for a fun fantasy experience that is just serious enough for its own good.

Rayearth (OVA): I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of this story in comparison to the original version, but that largely has to do with their character assassination of Eagle Vision. Everything else in here is fantastic, from character and mechanical designs to the re-imagined story about the importance of accepting the shifting and transient nature of life and relationships. Seriously, just replace Eagle with Debonair and you have a short version of Rayearth that can stand alongside its more famous sisters. If nothing else, the OVA designs could be a really cool mid-season upgrade for the original trio of machines.

And that's part two. One more part coming tomorrow. ^_^

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Source

[tsudadada]

パッフィー / 覇王大系リューナイト Paffy Pafuricia / Load of Loads Ryu Knight

[hidakka]

katze

[feena-c]

My Christmas present from my big sis, @thebigpalooka

She was very lovely and agreed to draw my animu crush from like 12 years ago with the OC I designed for him.

Anime is Haou Taikei Ryu Knight or Lord of Lords Ryu Knight, dude is Galden.  I only ever knew like one other person who was a fan of this show from like... Finland?  I don’t recall anymore; we emailed for a while so she could practice English and gush over the show.  Hope she’s doing well these days.  I still have a huge soft spot in my heart for this show and this boy.  Those early loves never really leave you. <3

Thank you so much sis for indulging me and making art of my obscure babies.  I love them and it so much! Thank you! 

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Lord of Lords Ryu Knight: Final Thoughts

This was a 1994 Sunrise manga-adaptation series with an interesting fantasy twist to it, as well as some pretty unique super-deformed mechanical designs and for the most part a light-hearted, family-friendly tone. On the whole, I thought it was pretty decent, although its adherence to formula and aversion to real risk in terms of the plot and characters drags it down somewhat, as well as some other flaws. It’s probably a hard sell if you’ve not yet seen some of the more well-known series in this mould that are easier to recommend, but for me it was a pretty interesting and novel diversion, especially seeing as how you don’t see people talk about this series a lot.

The plot is fairly basic, with episodic adventures involving the young knight errant Adeu and his companions trekking across the fantasy world of Earth Tear on their way to the Earth Blade, a titanic sword protruding from the ground. Both Adeu and his friends have been chosen by the Ryus, a magical mecha that chooses its own rider, and together face off against the various perils of the world on their pilgrimage, although that gradually gives way to face-offs against the sinister dark knight Galden, and then to an even more ominous threat in the latter half in a battle for the fate of Earth Tear itself. The plot isn’t bad by any means, but it’s clear that it’s a show made primarily for a younger audience, and as such you quickly learn that the heroes are never really going to be allowed to lose a fight that ultimately matters, and that things mostly go the way you’d expect. I was especially disappointed by the ending, where what at one point appeared to be a surprisingly impactful Tomino-style ending that sees the apparent death of several likable major characters is undercut by a lazy last-minute deus-ex machina that seems to open up plot holes while simultaneously robbing the preceding events of all of their emotional impact. It was like Sunrise were forced to chicken out at the last moment. It’s kind of a shame, because while the plot ultimately conforms to expectation there are other aspects of the show that are pretty unique. The fantasy element is pretty strong here, with each Ryu having designs and abilities inspired by character classes that you’d typically see in an old fantasy JRPG, and some pretty fantastical locales and characters to match. The super-deformed style of the Ryus and other resident mecha is also pretty novel, even if they might be an acquired taste for some. They’re also not always well-served by the animation. They look good in the stock footage summoning sequences that get used most episodes and at certain key moments, but the generic moment-to-moment fighting can be pretty uninspired and lazy-looking, with an overabundance of single-frame animation.

Characters are something of a mixed bag, veering pretty erratically between good and likable and annoying. I thought the Ninja Sarutobi was the overall standout, being more pragmatic and laconic when compared with Adeu’s impetuousness and naivety, while also having a better backstory and character arc than most. Adeu himself on the other hand turned out not to be my favourite main character ever, with a voice acting performance that comes on way too strong and pushes his headstrong character traits from the realm of being endearing to being grating instead. It doesn’t help that he’s got plot armour up the wazoo and gets to hog the spotlight a little too much for my liking, to the point where I might have enjoyed seeing him knocked down a peg a little more often. He’s definitely not the worst I could name (that’s Kira in Gundam Seed Destiny) but he’s definitely not great either. If they’d toned it down just a little he could have been a really likable character.

Overall, while I didn’t think it lived up to what I was expecting, seeing as it was a Sunrise series airing in the same year as G Gundam, it was still a nice little curiosity. I feel like I might have been a little hard on it here but it’s not bad, just very middle-of-the-road - although when it peaks it can be really enjoyable. Interestingly, it proved popular enough for it to spawn a trio of OVA series, collectively dubbed Adeu’s Legend, which I thought might be a sequel but is actually a reboot with a different story and better visuals, albeit working with several of the same characters. I liked the TV series well enough that I’m interested in watching it at some point, just not right at this moment. As for now, I’m moving on to something new as usual.