Gravion

Gravion
Genre	Adventure, Comedy, Mecha
Anime
Directed by	Masami Obari
Studio	Gonzo
Released	7 October 2002 – 16 December 2002
Anime
Gravion Zwei
Directed by	Masami Obari
Studio	Gonzo
Released	8 January 2004 – 25 March 2004

Gravion (超重神グラヴィオン, Chōjūshin Guravion, lit. Super Heavy God Gravion) is an anime television series produced by Gonzo Animation and released in the U.S. by ADV Films. It aired in Japan from October 7 2002 to December 16 2002 and ran for 13 episodes. It was followed by a second season in 2004 called Gravion Zwei. Both were created and directed by Masami Obari.

Plot

The series consists of two different plot lines. The first plotline revolved around the search by the first focused character, Eiji Shigure, for his older sister Ayaka. It is then that he is tricked into piloting the G-Attacker in the very first mission against the series' enemies—called Zeravire by Klein Sandman, the mysterious benefactor to the team. Eiji reluctantly becomes part of the team, but claims that he is still searching for his sister.

Cast

Luna Gusuku

Voiced by Haruna Ikezawa (Japanese)/Luci Christian (English)

• Luna is a very energetic 14 year old girl who often gets angry with Eiji. She tries to get Leele to be more open up to other people. She is close with Touga, it seems she has romantic interests in him. She's one of the pilots of the G-Driller and later in Gravion Zwei, the Geo Javelin.

Leele

Voiced by Houko Kuwashima (Japanese)/Allison Shipp (English)

• Leele is a shy girl who lived isolated within the castle. Apparently her parents died in a fire, as seen in one of her flashbacks and was raised by Sandman as a child and secluded herself from others. She pilots the G-Shadow and the Geo Caliber (?).

Toga Tenkuji

Voiced by Jun Fukuyama (Japanese)/Greg Ayres (English)

• Toga is a very kind and happy person who almost always smiles, annoying Eiji. He actually has a very mysterious and dark past. He pilots the Gran Kaiser, God Gravion, Sol Gravion and Ultimate Gravion respectively.

Eiji Shigure

Voiced by Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese)/Chris Patton (English)

• Eiji is a boy who used to be raised by his sister Ayaka, who he is searching for. He has a short temper and is either annoyed by Touga or Luna. He pilots the G-Attacker and the Geo Mirage (?).

Eina

Voiced by Mai Nakahara (Japanese)/Jessica Boone (English)

• Eina is one of the maids working at the castle. She treats everyone well and behaves motherly. She's the other pilot of the G-Driller and the Geo Javelin.

Mizuki Tachibana

Voiced by Yu Asakawa (Japanese)/Kira Vincent-Davis (English)

• Mizuki is a busty and voluptuous woman who seems to have a mysterious past. She is the only female adult on the team. She's the pilot of the G-Striker and the Geo Stinger (?).

It is revealed that Mizuki was in love with Ayaki.

Raven

Voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese)/Vic Mignogna (English)

• Raven is a masked man who works for Sandman. He is completely loyal to him and under his orders is why he always wears a mask and never shares any personal information about himself with others. In Gravion Zwei, it is revealed he is actually Ayaka, Eiji's sister. The mask holds the memory of Raven, a former colleage of Sandman on his homeworld, and is passed down to various holders to assist Sandman. The previous Raven was Luna's father.

Klein Sandman

Voiced by Sho Hayami (Japanese)/Jason Douglas (English)

• Sandman is the Castle Lord and leader of the Earth Force Squad. His knowledge of science and technology are extremely advanced. Like Raven, he is somewhat of a mystery. He pilots the Gran Sigma and the God Sigma Gravion in Gravion Zwei.

Faye Xin Lu

Voiced by Saeko Chiba (Japanese)/Stephanie Nadolny (English)

• Faye first appears in the second season, Gravion Zwei. She is the captain of her own squadron who works for EFA. She is very serious compared to the other characters and committed to her work. According to episode 9, she was friends with Touga in her past.

Mecha

God Gravion

The main mech of the series God Gravion is made up of five units:

Gran Kaiser: The core unit of God Gravion. Piloted by Toga, He moves the unit in a martial arts way while piloting the giant robot. Although at one time, Eiji was trapped in the Gran Kaiser and got to pilot it against a Zeravire attack against the castle they all call home.

G-Shadow: A special jet shaped like a stealth bomber. It unloads bombs from high above and is invisible until it is required to reveal itself. A shy young girl named Leele is the pilot of it.

G-Attacker: A jet counterpart of the G-Striker. Eiji is the pilot of the unit after Ayaka disappears.

G-Striker: The mecha counterpart to the G-Attacker. Piloted by Mizuki Tachibana. it is armed like the G-Attacker, while Mizuki's past is largely unknown except for that she's a talented hacker.

G-Driller: The last of the Grand Divas and what makes it odd is that it is not piloted by one person, but two. When her father died on the Saturn Base in the first episode, Luna Gusuku volunteers to be part of the team. She is the character who is rather feisty around Eiji. On the other hand is Eina, the second pilot of the G-Driller—is quite the scaredycat when it comes to the war. She just wants to stay home and tend to the house.

Combination:

Sandman: "Soldiers of the Gran Knighthood: Combine!"(English) "Fellows of the Gran Knights" "Combine!"(Japanese)

Toga: "Ergo Form!" (Japanese) "Combination: Elgo!"(English)

The combination of the Gran Kaiser with the Gran Divas starts with a gravity field surrounding them, generated by the Gran Kaiser, the only mecha that has to make a separation is the G-Driller, as Luna and Ena split from a shared cockpit into separate ones and it splits apart to form the arms of the combined form (This is why two pilots are required for the G-Driller). Once the arms of the Gran Kaiser are integrated into the body, the now-separated G-Driller bonds to the arm sockets. The G-Striker and G-Attacker then become feet and attach themselves to the legs—and finally, the G-Shadow transforms to become the Chest Armor for the combined form. This combined form gave the team more weapons than possible individually...

The G-Striker and G-Attacker could now fire barrage-style attacks with missiles and vulcan-style laser cannons while the individual arms could fire a buster-styled attack as well as individually be fired as a rocket-propelled punch or drill attack. The combined form can also use energy from all the ships to fire a hyperbeam attack... and the G-Shadow gave them two special weapon attacks—the Graviton Sword and Gravity Crescent (an energized boomerang-style attack).

Attacks

Gravity Vulcan

• Fires Vulcan guns from the left leg of God Gravion

Graviton Missile

• Fires a barrage of missiles from the right leg of God Gravion

Graviton Laser

• Fires lasers from the left leg

Graviton Buster

• Fires the G-Driller's cannons from its arms

Graviton Viper

• An energy whip attack of God Gravion

Gravity Rifle

• A rifle stored in the left leg

Graviton Pressure Punch

• One of the G-Driller arms are charged with large amounts of pressure, then released, kind of like a bottle rocket

Double Graviton Pressure Punch

• When Gravion uses both G-Driller Arms for a pressure punch attack

Graviton Crash

• A jumping right knee attack

Graviton Arc

• A powerful gravity beam fired from the forehead

Graviton Sword

• The chest jewel from G-Shadow detaches and a special sword handle is made as God Gravion grabs it. Toga yelled "Blaze Up" and the blade of the sword materializes using Gravitonic Energy. God Gravion then slashes the enemy using the command "Ergo End", destroying it in one strike

Gravity Crescent

• A boomerang-like attack of God Gravion

Graviton Tornado Punch

• One of the G-driller arms revert to drill mode, and fired as a missile type weapon, the drill is spinning at high speeds

Pile Tornado Punch

• Same as Graviton Tornado Punch, except with the other arm boosting the first. The attack is followed with Graviton Arc

Graviton Breaker

• An experimental sword stronger than the Graviton Sword

Choujuu Ken

• Appeared in the last episode. It is a very powerful sword kept hidden on the moon. Its attack is like a much more powerful version of the Graviton Sword known as the White Steel Fang. The Choujuu Ken is normally used by Sol Gravion in Gravion Zwei

Sol Gravion

A machine composing of Gran Kaiser and the newer Gran Divas: Geo Javelin (a flying G-Driller), Geo Stinger (jet), Geo Calibre (jet) and Geo Mirage (jet, replacement for G-Shadow). It appeared in Gravion Zwei and it's piloted by the Gran Knights. The fusion for the unit is executed by Eiji inside the Geo Mirage saying "Elgo Form" following by Touga executing the Flame Emperor Combination (Ennō Gasshin).

However, Gran Sigma can also fuse with the newer Gran Divas to form Sol Σ Gravion or also called "Great Gravion".

Weapons

Sol Graviton Nova

• Same as God Gravion's Graviton Arc but the back cannons generates more energy as it fires this attack to the enemy

Choujuu Ken

• Sol Gravion's most powerful Weapon. It was unleashed and used just like the Gravition Sword.

God Σ Gravion

Klein Sandman's personal unit. It is composed of the Gran Sigma and the Proto Gran Divas. Its design and weapons were different from the original God Gravion. Its final attack is the Graviton Break.

Ultimate Gravion

The final true form of Gravion after the fusion of Sol Gravion and God Σ Gravion. It appeared in the final episode of Gravion Zwei after Klein Sandman told the Gran Knights to do the Ultimate Combination (Saishu Gasshin) and destroyed the Zeravire once and for all. Its attacks are mostly unknown and only one of its attacks is seen, the Super Heavyweight Flame Emperor Slash (超重炎皇斬, Chōjū En'ō Zan).

Gran Troopers

Appeared in Gravion Zwei. Also Called G-Troopers, these are special units modeled after the Gran Kaiser and the Gran Divas. There units were assigned to the special troop of the EFA named G-Soldiers. 5 of these units produced, specializing in different combat situations. Faye Xin Lu uses the first G-Trooper in the series.

Gravion Zwei

In 2004, Gravion was followed by a sequel: Gravion Zwei (超重神グラヴィオンZwei, Chōjūshin Guravion Tsuvai, "Zwei" is German for "two"). This second series aired from January 8 to March 25, 2004 in Japan, and in the twelve additional episodes answers were given to questions generated from the first series as new action was generated.

Summary

After Gravion was able to use its ultimate attack, the Zeravire threat seemed to have temporary stopped. However when it rises back up all of a sudden, the Earth Gult and its trump card, the super robot Gravion, is needed to defend this world again. All this while, the EFA is planning to create their own weapons to counter the Zeravire, the Grand Trooper. Now as they attempt to fend off the Zeravire, the people of the Earth Gult and EFA must protect their future as well as confront their pasts, and unveil the mysteries of the Zeravire.

Songs

First Season

• Opening: "Nageki no Rosario" by JAM Project
• Ending: "WISH" by YURIA

Second Season

• Opening: "Kurenai no Kiba" by JAM Project
• Ending: "La♪La♪Bye" by Honey Bee

Releases and Merchendise

The series has three volumes, both on DVD and VHS. Studio Half Eye released a special Ultimate Gravion Toy for the Saishou Henkei line for promoting the series in Japan. Yamato is then planning to release a GNU-DOU God Gravion and a GNU Grankasiser figures in December.

Trivia

• In one episode, Kamen Rider Ouja's suit makes a cameo as a suit of armor.
• Hazuki Tachibana, a television personality / reporter in Obari's hentai OVA Angel Blade Punish!, bears a striking resemblance to Mizuki.
• Masami Obari, the director and creator of the series also did some mechanical designs on Dancouga Nova for the anime Juusou Kikou Dancouga Nova and redesigned Compatible Kaiser, G Thundergate and G Compatible Kaiser for Super Robot Wars Original Generations and Super Robot Wars Original Generation Gaiden.
• Klein Sandman made an appearance in episode 6 of Juusou Kikou Dancouga Nova.
• This is the third anime in which the protagonist does not become the main pilot of the robot. The first was 1977's Chojin Sentai Balatack. Interestingly in both shows, the main protagonists (Eiji and Balatack's Yuji Kato) have dark hair and red costumes and the main robot pilots (Touga and Mack) have blue hair and costumes. The second was Dangaioh, where the main character was Miya Alice but the main robot pilot was Roll Kulan.
• Both Gravion and Gravion Zwei were included in the latest Super Robot Wars Game, Super Robot Wars Z for the Playstation 2.

External links

• Gravion ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Gravion Zwei ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Official Japanese Gravion Website
• ADV Films Official Gravion Website