Go Nagai, in addition to being a prolific cutting-edge manga artist, has created many of the most memorable giant robot properties the world has seen. Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, and Grendizer are just a few of them. But some Go Nagai creations are just sort of there, unloved and forgotten.

Govarian is such a robot.

The three most notable things about Govarian’s appearance is that he carries a gun, has a Mazinger bootleg-looking head, and is kind of boxy for a Go Nagai mechanical design. These things all make sense because Govarian was originally created in 1983, a time when the mecha landscape in Japan was shifting from the light and fun era of Mazinger Z to make room for properties harder-edged and space related, in no small part due to the Star Wars and Gundam franchises.

Perhaps Govarian doesn’t deserved to be loved, I don’t know for sure. What clips I’ve watched from the show don’t particularly stand out, and there’s something about the entire project that screams “cynical cash grab to keep up with a changing market.” But that’s unfair of me, because I know next to nothing about Govarian. The only evidence I have is the fact that he’s so forgotten.

So while you’ll probably never see a new Govarian Japanimation or manga, maybe he’ll make another cameo, like he did in this Dynamic Super Robots Grand Battle animation test from 2000:

On a bit of a side note, I hope the above animation makes its way to the eventual English language release of Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo. That’s how it was released in Japan originally.