Moero!! Robocon (燃えろ!!ロボコン) is a 1999 tokusatsu series directed by Taro Sakamoto and written by Satoru Nishizono. It is a reboot of Ganbare!! Robocon by Shotaro Ishinomori, though he had died before its creation. Toei had initially rejected his requests to revive the series but a number of factors (such as wanting to honor his wishes and believing in the show's potential among newer audiences) caused them to re-evaluate their decision.
Taking place right before the 2000s, the story focuses on Robocon, a cute little helper robot who attends robot school. Though he is prone to causing trouble, his teacher, Mr. Gantz, is there to guide him. Robocon's goal is to collect enough heart marks from the grading system and turn his status from a G-Class robot upside down to an A-Class robot.
Robocon is assigned to the Kurihara family, and helps them in their day to day lives. While his ditzyness gets in the way, he always means well, and helps his fellow students along the way.
Tropes
- Actionized Adaptation: Owing to an advancement in special affects, this series is fond of using CGI effects for battle, while the prior one uses choreographed fight scenes.
- Adaptation Deviation: In the original series, Robocon became part of a human family by chance. In this one, he was assigned to a human family by a lottery.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: There is an Arabic one
created by Spacetoon. - Animal Mecha: A few robots in this incarnation are based on animals such as frogs and chameleons,
- Bilingual Bonus: Just like the original series, characters frequently use the words "robo" and "robot" despite being Japanese.
- Celebrity Cameo: A lot of alumni of toku popular in The '70s or 80s appear, such as Mizushima Kaori, Oba Kumiko, Masaki Souji, Tsuchiya Daisuke, Nomi Tatsuya and Kishi Yuji. Interestingly, a lot of them worked for either Metal Heroes or Super Sentai that are also owned by Toei, making this an example of Company Cross-References.
- Excited Title! Two-Part Episode Name!: Episode 22 has the amusing title of "Secret! Flaming Salisbury Steak" (秘伝! 炎のハンバーグ) while episode 27 has '"Special News! Dangerous Scoop" (特報! 危険なスクープ).
- Public Domain Soundtrack: Silent Night by Franz Gruber and the instrumental of Jingle Bells by James Pierpoint are used at one point (and Robocon's voice actress sings over the latter).
- Running Gag:
- Robocon annihilating everything in his path at the sight of a cockroach.
- Every time Robomog creates something, it inexplicably ends up tasting like curry.
- Setting Update: The original show takes place circa The '70s. This one takes place close to the Turn of the Millennium.
- Toku: It prominently features characters in robotic bodies or empowered armor fighting with extensive use of special effects and puppetry to give the illusion of their powers.
