Transformation of the hero into Steel Jeeg Steel Jeeg (鋼鉄ジーグ in kanji, translated as Kotetsu Jeeg in romaji) is an anime series created by manga artists Go Nagai and Tatsuya Yasuda, and produced by Toei Animation. It was first broadcasted on Japanese TV in 1975. The series lasted for 46 episodes. Steel Jeeg also ran as a manga in several children's publications.
The story tells about Hiroshi Shima, a bike racer who is mortally wounded on a racing accident, but restored to life by his father, Professor Shima, a talented scientist/archeologist, who is incidentially investigating the relics of the ancient Jamatai Kingdom. The professor discovers a tiny bronze bell with sorcerous powers, and shortly afterwards he is murdered by the hunchmen of Queen Himika, the ruler of the Jamatai, who wants to seize the ancient bell and its power.
Hiroshi learns about his father's death, and his legacy: after the accident, Hiroshi was turned by his father into a cyborg, able to transform into the head of a giant robot, the Steel Jeeg, created by Prof. Shima with the purpose of stopping the Jamatai invasion of modern Japan. The minions of Queen Himika have huge haniwa robots, called clay phantoms buried thousands of years under Japan's soil, and only Jeeg can destroy them and save the world. After episode 29, the Jamatai invaders were replaced by the Ryoma Empire.
To complete its body, Steel Jeeg needs parts released by the jet Big Shooter, piloted by Prof. Shima's lovely assistant, Miwa Satsuki.
The series made use of historical facts, as Yamatai was an actual state in Japan in the 3rd century A.D., ruled by a queen called Himiko. During that time, barrel-shaped terracota cylinders topped by sculptures, were used as markers the borders of burial grounds, and were called haniwa, or "circles of clay".
On a side note, Steel Jeeg was later broadcasted on some European countries, and in the 80's in Latin America, where it was part of a giant robot show fashioned in the style of Force Five, called El Festival de los Robots, where it was called "El Vengador" (Spanish for "The Avenger"), in a three anime-show bill that included Gaiking (called "El Gladiador"), and Starzinger (known as "El Galatico").
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