OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *New Getter Robo

Go Nagai's second big hit in the field of giant robots after Mazinger Z was Getter Robo that introduces two major ingredients into the mecha genre, one was the concept of an entire team of pilots, but also the first combiner unit. Before Voltron or Transformers started stacking metal mashups, Getter Robo was the groundbreaker for it all. A few years after they finished up two separate OVA series concluding the original arc from the 1970s, New Getter Robo was its own 13-episode OVA as a remake. The anime was its own solid series set aside from the prior Getter Robo incarnations which don't require the prior series' history.

Oni are showing up and attacking a special lab housing the space radiation called "Getter Rays" which can do anything from folding space and time, pulling in demons and other monsters from different dimensions, and powers the lab's guardian Getter Robo which is piloted by a trio that can reconverge their vehicles into three battle modes. A disgraced martial artist, a former terrorist, and a reformed monk get pulled into a mad scientist's fanatical mission to halt the repeated monster attacks. Exactly what the Getter Rays are and what they actually do are a serious mystery as it keeps sending people into alternate timelines, gun-toting samurai, and steampunk airships makes for an interesting narrative, but ultimately makes the watcher confused as to what the actual point of it was other than nostalgia for the source material.

New Getter Robo did receive a television release but was first and foremost an OVA as it has large buckets of blood being sprayed all over the battlefield. The anime has the same over the top attitude that would later influence titles like Gurren Lagaan, but when making that frame of mind into the sole focus of an entire series doesn't help much if there is no definitive resolution or even a consistent plot. You can watch this whole series now on DVD or Blu-Ray, as well as streaming, even if you still enjoy the ride if you don't expect it to go anywhere.