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| I simply prefer Voltes V as the great successor to Combattler V. |
[---Part 2 of 3 in the Robot Romance Series Specials---]
The second part of Tadao Nagahama's Robot Romance Trilogy series first aired on TV Asahi on June 4th, 1977, and ended with the final episode on March 25th, 1978, with a grand total of 40 episodes. Like Combattler V (read my previous post), Sunrise does the animation and Toei produced it, and it was animated by Sunrise on Toei's behalf.
Voltes V's story follows. An huge armada of homed humanoid aliens commonly known as Boazanians (aliens with horns) invade the planet Earth and launch their giant beast fighters all over the world, resulting in defeating most of the world's armed forces, including the United States Military. Their first defeat in humiliation is none other than Voltes V, and thus the fighting robot brings the invaders to focus their attacks on Japan. The robot was designed by Prof. Kentaro Go (Dr. Ned Armstrong in English), his wife Mitsuyo (Mary Ann), and Prof. Hamaguchi (Dr. Richard Smith), their trusted colleague. The robot then, built by large scale construction effort backed by UNEDF (United Nations Earth Defense Force) and Gen. Oka (Commander Robinson). The robot composed of five machines (called Volt Machines), and each themselves are formidable weapons. Each of the machines are piloted by Kentaro and Mitsuyo's three sons: Ken'ichi (Steve), Daijiro (Big Bert), and Hiyoshi (Little John). Along with the three are Ippei (Mark), an orphan cowboy and Gen. Oka's daughter Megumi (Jamie).
Camp Big Falcon is Voltes V's homebase, it is a fortress situated on a bird-shaped island along with the coast of Japan. The enemies are the Boazanians, consisting of Katherine Rii (Zandra), Jangal Rui (Draco), Zuhl and Prince Heinel (Prince Zardoz). It focuses on the struggle against the Boazanian invaders, and the brothers had to search for their long-lost father. Four major characters die as the series progresses. Zhul and Prof. Hamaguchi are replaced by Belgan and Prof. Sakunji (Doctor Hook) respectively. Meanwhile later in the series, the brothers learn of their unique heritage of being half Boazanian. Wow, talk about a twist!
There are many voice actors are starred in this show that includes Kazuyuki Sogabe, Miyuki Ueda, Noriko Ohara, Tessho Genda, the late Kenji Utsumi, Seizo Kato, Yu Mizushima, Shozo Iizuka, Tamio Oki and many more. Hero TV has an all-star cast in the redubbed version (named Voltes V: Evolution) including Dennis Trillo, Blair Arellano, Igiboy Flores, Christian Jerome, Sandara Park, Jett Pangan, Nikki Valdez, Michael de Mesa, Joseph Bitangcol and Ricci Chan.
The popularity of Voltes V in the Philippines is spreading like wildfire during the '70s. Since the 5th of May in 1978, the series was aired on GMA-7 as the first anime to date in history, and it is shown every Friday at 6 in the evening, and it lasted until 1979. Of course this anime was dubbed in English with a Filipino voice. However years later in 1986, it was moved to MBS-4 (later called People's Television Network many years). Shortly before the series was going to end, Ferdinand Marcos, then president, issued a directive banning of the series 'because of excessive violence', and it partially included the encouragement of people to rebel due to its message. It also stated that cartoons such as this will affect the education of children. Many of the robot-based anime were taken off the air in the '80s due to some concerns that is about animated violence (how could you do this?!), and of course the series has since been re-aired several times.
3B Productions released the American dub version of the series as 'Voltus V' in 1983. The series however was a condensed version of the first three episodes, and it used the character names of the Philippine English version and had the theme song replaced with a instrumental.
It is now time to volt in with the legendary Voltes V! All together now, Let's! Volt! In!
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