Bandai "Soul of Chogokin" GX-41S Brave Raideen Fade-In Set
After a slumber of 12 millennia, the Demon Empire awakens to seize control of the Earth. Raideen, the giant robot-like protector of the lost continent of Mu, senses the evil presence and awakens within its golden pyramid. A young Japanese boy, Akira Hibiki, is alerted about the Demon Empire by a mysterious voice and rushes to the pyramid. It is soon revealed that Akira is a descendant of the ancient people of Mu who must help Raideen save the Earth.
In typical anime style, Akira is aided by Mari Sakurano, the token girl who happens to be the daughter of a prominent scientist, and his friends from the soccer club.
Remakes
Reideen the Superior In the 1990s, a thirty-eight episode remake aired as "Reideen the Superior" (超者ライディーン; Chōja Raidīn). This series was directed by Toshifumi Kawase. Five seemingly ordinary teenagers are actually superheroes called "Raideens" and their mission is to fight their enemy the so-called "Super Devils."
REIDEEN Main article: Reideen On January 2007, a twenty-six episode series, simply titled "REIDEEN," began transmission. In this remake, Saiga Junki, a high school student with a gift in mathematics, learns that his archaeologist father, who disappeared years earlier, has died. When going to claim his remains at a pyramid dubbed "Japan's Pyramid," a meteor falls from the sky containing an evil lifeform that seeks total destruction. Just as Saiga is put in danger by this lifeform, the bracelet that his father left him reacts to the pyramid, and the titular robot is activated. It is now up to Saiga and Raideen to defend the Earth against the mysterious invaders.
Production Notes The Brave Raideen series is renowned in Japan as the first to include a giant machine of mysterious and mystical origins. Raideen is in fact portrayed as a sentient being. Also, the inclusion of the Mu myth would be imitated in other anime, such as Super Atragon, and more recently in RahXephon. It was also the first anime mecha work of anime director and writer Yoshiyuki Tomino, better known as the creator of Gundam. The latter half was directed by Tadao Nagahama, and may be seen as a predecessor to his famous Romantic Trilogy, consisting of Combattler V, Voltes V and Daimos. This series was the second collaboration between writer/director Yoshiyuki Tomino and artist Yasuhiko Yoshikazu. The first work to feature both men was Wandering Sun (Sasurai no Taiyō) (1971). The two would later team up again for both Mobile Suit Gundam and Gundam F-91. This name "Raideen" came from a sumo wrestler "Raiden". According to RahXephon director Yutaka Izubuchi, the similarity of designs and powers of the title robots and the basic plots of RahXephon and Raideen are intentional.
