[Kiwami]

As usual my obsession with robot toys has unearthed yet another Japanese mecha show from the 80's that I never knew existed up until now.

I watched "Panzer World Galient" from 1984 over the last few weeks. It's produced by Sunrise, and some parallels to Gundam cannot be overlooked, but it is its own thing most of the time.

To get the obvious out of the way, no, there aren't any tanks in this show. Most people associate the word "Panzer" with the image of a cannon on treads, but the German word "Panzer" can also refer to "armor" or "shell" and in this case it's definitely meant to be "armor".

So unlike Gundam, this show takes place in the middle-ages on the planet Arst, and it's not a fantasy setting, just medieval stuff, knights and kingdoms but no wizards or elves and such. But there are giant machines of unknown origin referred to as "Panzers" which are piloted by humans. A warlord named Mardoul has brought these machines to the battlefield and used them to quickly overthrow all of Arst and has taken complete control of the planet. The show begins with one of the last free kingdoms being overthrown; only the newborn prince of the royal family is taken to safety by a loyal knight.

After a short time jump, the show follows the adventures of the teenage prince Joldy, now called "Jojo" as he and his caretaker, the knight who rescued him, search for a legendary Panzer known as "Galient" that is said to hold the power to defeat Mardoul.

All of this sounds very standard, but what fascinates me about this show is that it doesn't go into the direction one might expect. After Galient is found, it doesn't magically win the war, instead it is barely enough to protect the "White Valley" where it was found and where the last free people of Arst take shelter. This is of course very Gundam-esque, right down to the name, as these episodes very much resemble the ones where Gundam protects White Base.

But this is only the very beginning of what unfolds within the story, and it would be a crime to spoil it. What sounds basic quickly escalades as the scope of conflict expands beyond what anyone could expect going into this show.

Needless to say, I very much enjoyed it. It's short and sweet, 24 episodes (or 2 OVA's), has some interesting characters, some cool mecha design and action, but most importantly, a great story and a surprisingly complex and unique villain. Mardoul’s motivations are... complicated. Again, I won’t spoil it, but his dreams, what makes him tick, are very much not what one would expect. And my favorite character I can't talk about at all, because her story and character is, you guessed it, too fascinating to spoil.

Now, after all this teasing, where can you watch this show? Officially, I think nowhere. As I understand it, this show was never released outside of Japan and thus has not accumulated a huge following. You can't even find a good summary of the plot anywhere, but that’s not an issue: Japan received a Blu-Ray release in 2017 (I think) and as a result the show is now fully fansubbed in English, available on many "unofficial" streaming sites in glorious 1080p, I even found it uploaded in its entirety on the "You”s of "Tube"s.

I can only recommend giving it a try, I really feel like I found a lost gem of mecha anime history. Right from the beginning it sucks you in, and even though it feels a bit Gundam-y at first, it quickly expands beyond being a copycat.

If I haven't made you curious yet, just watch the beautiful OP and consider diving into the "Galient World":