The folks at Discotek Media plumbed the past back in spring 2020 to find a truly nuts kind of show to introduce fans to with the 1972 series Astroganger. With the home video release having come and gone, the show has now found itself a home for streaming for the first time with RetroCrush where it’s available in full here.
The twenty-six-episode series saw a single SDBD release with a single disc that holds the run in its original Japanese language form with English subtitles. It’s priced at $39.95 and was released on June 30th, 2020.
Originally airing in the fall of 1972, it was directed by Masashi Nitta based on the series composition from Tatsuo Tamura. Based on the original work by Tetsuhisa Suzukawa, Eiji Tanaka worked on the character designs while Tama Production and Toei Animation handled the production.
The Japanese cast includes Kazuko Sawada as Kantaro Hoshi, Shōzō Iizuka as Ganger, and Hisashi Katsuta as Doctor Hoshi,
Plot Concept: A scourge is sweeping across the galaxy—a scourge called the Blasters! These devious and handily-numbered alien invaders conquer, devour, and destroy every civilized world they see—and now, their sights are set on Earth! But worry not, good children, because Earth has a top-secret counter measure developed by Dr. Hoshi and the International Science Police Headquarters.
Our secret weapon is the mighty, towering super robot, Astroganger! Crafted from mysterious alien living metal, the robot Ganger has just one weakness—he’s kinda dumb! Enter the best person for the job, Dr. Hoshi’s ten-year-old son Kantaro. By joining their powers together, Ganger and Kantaro fuse the incredible power of a fightin’, flyin’ robot with the uncompromisingly savage, decisive intelligence of a middle schooler: Astroganger!
With their powers combined, they’ll save the world approximately twenty-six times!
