Beast King GoLion

ひゃくじゅうおう ごらいおん

Aired: 1981 - 1982

A television anime produced by Toei and broadcast on Tokyo 12 Channel (now TV Tokyo), a landmark super robot series in which five lion-shaped mecha combine into one mighty warrior. Credited to the Toei studio collective pen name 'Saburo Yatsude,' the show follows five young members of a space exploration team-Akira Kogane, Hiroshi Shirogane, Yusuke Seido, Takeshi Shakku and Isamu Kurogane-who crash on the planet Altea and are entrusted with reviving the legendary giant robot GoLion to stand against the conquest-mad Galra Emperor. Built around the spectacle of five lion machines uniting in mid-air, the series is also notable for its surprisingly serious tone, willing to depict real sacrifices and casualties of war. Re-edited and re-broadcast in the United States as the first arc of 'Voltron: Defender of the Universe,' GoLion went on to become one of the most internationally influential Japanese robot anime of its era.