Ganbareiwa!! Robocon

[Toku Prime]

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So here's a bit of a strange one. Back on April Fools Day, Toei announced that they were going to make a new movie based upon 'Robocon.' They even had a quote from the producer of Zi-O, Shinichiro Shirakura, saying "Kamen Rider Zero-One, which depicts the world of working robots, was a stepping stone in reviving Robocon!”

Now if truth be told, it seemed like an obvious gag. If nothing else, the original Robocon series was called "Ganbare!! Robocon" and now in the Reiwa era they were going to make a movie called "Ganbareiwa!! Robocon". The pun-based name just made it seem sillier.

And yet... it seems that perhaps it isn't a joke. The twitter trademark bot that gives us all the usual toku show names has popped up with an application (see here) by Toei for "Ganbareiwa!! Robocon" in a variety of categories, most of them related to merch. So it does indeed look as if Toei are planning on doing something with the title again.

To save you some Googling, Robocon was a comedy toku created by Shotoro Ishinomori back in 1974 about a funny little robot that could turn into a car. The original series ran for a mighty 118 episodes, longer than either the original Kamen Rider or Goranger! A reboot called "Moero!! Robocon" aired in 1999, between the final Metal Hero series and Kamen Rider Kuuga. The later series also had a straight-to-video VS movie where the new Robocon met the original.

The original announcement said that they were going to release a movie on July 31st, which seems rather unlikely with everything going on in the world right now. But who knows, maybe it's time for this little robot to get a third outing?

 

[Toku Prime]

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A little bit of news has been released about the people involved in the film now. It was been written by Yoshio Urasawa, who was the head writer of Carranger. Veteran Kamen Rider producer Shinichiro Shirakura and (equally veteran) director Hidenori Ishida are working on the film too. According to producer Shirakura, the film will take place in the "100 era" which seems to be some sort of play on 'Reiwa'.

The young lady pictured above is Kino Tsuchiya, who plays the heroine "Robin". Robocon will be voiced by veteran voice actor Chiwa Saito.

Two other voice roles have been announced: Masashi Ebara will play a teacher at the robot school called "Gants sensei". There is also a "mysterious character" with the bizarre name Shiru-Nashi Tantanmen (which apparently means "spicy Dandan noodles with no soup") who is being voiced by toku regular voice actor (most famously Ryutaros and currently Machine Fire in Kiramager) Kenichi Suzumura.

Even though the annual Sentai/Rider double bill has been pushed back, it seems this film is not going to be affected as it is still headed for a release date of July 31st as part of a double feature along with a movie version of the anime "Jintai no Survival!"

 

[Toku Prime]

Skip to 36 seconds (the embed breaks if I link directly to that time)
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First teaser trailer, above. Going to be honest, Robocon has a really annoying voice.

Also announced, Yu Takahashi, who played Yuri in Kamen Rider Kiva, will be appearing in the film as Yoko Ito. Yoko's husband, a Chinese cuisine chef named Kazuo, is played by Kazumasa Koura. In addition, the character of 'Tornado Baba' is played by Michiko Shimizu.