Ninja Robots, known in Japan as , is a Japanese anime television series, produced by Pierrot, which aired from 6 October 1985 to 13 July 1986 on Nippon Television. It was also broadcast in English language in Australia and Anglophone Asia on Cartoon Network, but never aired in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Plot It is the 23rd century and Earth have colonized Mars and the Moon. Much like the legendary convicts in Australia during the 18th and 19th century, the settlers of Mars consist mostly of convicts from Earth. The Martian colony is run by a dictatorial Commander Hazzard Pascha, who tests every settler on whether they should serve in the military or become a laborer.
Joe Maya is a 16-year-old who lives on Mars and dreams of returning to Earth. He has two friends: Mike Coil and Jenny Ai. When escaping from the Martian military police, Joe and Mike stumble upon a crashed spaceship, the Xenos 5, being attacked by huge robots. In his attempt to escape chasing robots, Joe gets into the spaceship where he encounters three human-looking aliens: the beautiful Princess Rowena, her willowy attendant Jade, and a young General Icelander. A robot locates them and the three aliens hide, leaving Joe to fend for himself. Joe tries hiding in a pile of glowing metal, which turns out to be a ninja robot named Black Lion. The battle leads outside the ship where a mysterious ninja robot Cybertron suddenly appears when the Black Lion struggles. It wipes out several enemy robots before merging with Joe's robot, transforming into a mechanical lion that destroys the remaining attackers.
After the attack, Joe, Mike, and Jenny are forcibly taken to the alien spaceship. It transpires that the aliens are from the planet Ladorio (also romanized as "Radorio") in a distant galaxy (Andromeda, also "Black Star Galaxy" in the English version), and are at war with the Zaboom army who captured their planet. They came to the Milky Way seeking ninjas who could operate their three ninja robots. Joe, Mike, and Jenny agree to help them for a variety of reasons. Along the way, as they fend off the constant attacks by the Zaboom army and their allies, they make new friends and enemies, while Cybertron looms mysteriously in the background.
Characters
Humans , Joe is a 16-year-old boy who lives with his father (a construction worker) on Mars at the beginning of the series. He lost his mother when he was young, but often reminisces about the beauty of Earth. He is rebellious (especially against authority), quick-tempered, insensitive, and impulsive, the opposite of his father, who is calm and thoughtful. His nonattendance at the compulsory military exam leads to him and Mike being chased by the military police into the area where the spaceship crash lands. At first, Joe attempts to leave his friends to go after Hazzard, but they support him when Hazzard imprisons his father and Jenny's parents. He is the first to discover and operate one of the three ninja robots: the Black Lion. He is usually the first to spring towards defending Xenos 5 during the numerous attacks. Cybertron appears when he is in a dire situation and either aids him or merges with the Black Lion. He eventually pilots Cybertron. He is often singled out by Icelander (piloting Mantis or Zerokage) for duels. His motivation for helping Xenos 5 changes as the series progresses: rebel against Hazzard, rescue the parents, inform Earth of Hazzard's evil plans, find the ninjas, and free Ladorio from the Zaboom army. His tactics are very daring, such as infiltrating C-Terahertz as a prisoner. Joe's childhood friend is Ronin and their friendship stands several tests. He and Mike are close, referring to each other as brothers. He enjoys teasing Jenny and treats her like one of the guys, but becomes jealous when he wrongly suspects Mike of fancying her. He is struck by the beauty of Princess Rowena upon their first meeting and is willing to do anything to protect her. He continues being attracted to both Jenny and Rowena and admits this to Jenny in the final episode (the English version strongly hints that he reciprocates Jenny's love and confesses his love to her in episode 41).The Japanese version has no resolution for the love triangle among Joe, Jenny, and the Princess. His infatuation with the princess, as well as his rude and rash behavior, puts him at odds with Icelander . This results in an animosity that persists until the very end – when Joe encourages him to fight against dying and they join hands to power Xenos 5. , Jenny is a 16-year-old girl (turns 17 during the series) who is friends with Joe and Mike. She is a no-nonsense girl-next-door, determined, stubborn, but also caring about her family who faces Hazzard's machinations. She is the second of the group to operate a ninja robot; she pilots the Phoenix Thunderhawk. She is almost as daring as Joe in combat and comes to his rescue several times. A local boy, Kenji, has a crush on her, but she does not reciprocate, and gets irritated whenever Joe teases her about him. She is passionately in love with Joe and is very jealous and possessive, becoming upset and hurt by Joe's continued insensitivity to her feelings and occasional flirting with Princess Rowena. She reacts violently whenever she observes signs of Princess Rowena's increasing love for Joe. The two girls reach a truce when Rowena admits loving Joe, but requests her for a united front until Ladorio is freed. Although Jenny does not like going to Ladorio (fearing she may lose Joe to Rowena), she changes her mind when Joe confesses his love for her. Jenny is also close to Mike, giving him advice on courting Jade. , Mike is a 15-year-old boy who treats Joe like an older brother, although he is the opposite in personality, being sensitive, perceptive, and reserved. He is protective of Joe, leaping to his defense when Icelander or Gameran criticizes or are skeptical of Joe. He completes the initial trio who pilot the Ninja Robots; he pilots Burst Dragon. He eventually falls in love with Jade and gets contrasting love advice from both Joe and Jenny. He is critical of Joe's treatment of Jenny, sometimes even physically fighting. , Damian is the 18-year-old son of the Martian north pole's guerrilla leader. He initially mistrusts Joe and the Ladorians, but later joins them when Hazzard attacks both Xenos 5 and the North Pole. After Joe pilots Cybertron, Damian works hard and succeeds in piloting the Black Lion. His microchip on the ninjas provides them with information on the mechanism of Cybertron strengthening the ninja robots. He falls in love with a female ninja (led by Charme and sent to trap Xenos 5), but she sacrifices her life to enable them escape. , Ronin is a childhood friend of Joe, Mike, and Jenny, and is a Major General in Earth. He was very close to Joe when he lived in Mars with his father. He trusts his childhood friends despite the convincing lies told by Hazzard and unwaveringly tries to help them and Xenos 5 by using his father's power and connections, often at great risks to himself. He is arrested when Hazzard frames him and is forced to attack Xenos 5 and Joe. He is daring and provides fuel for Xenos 5, an act for which he is dismissed. He is reinstated when the Earth Federation decides to support Xenos 5. He discovers Xenos 5's previous visit to Japan in A.D. 1790. , Kegare is the father of Ronin. He is the North American representative to the Earth Federation and was the previous commander of the Martian colony. He, along with his son, tries to lobby support for Xenos 5. When the Earth Federation allies with Hazzard (and the Zaboom army), he withdraws North America's membership of the Earth Federation and offers assistance to Xenos 5. He is later forced to rejoin the Earth Federation and become hostile to Xenos 5. , Hazzard is the 40-year-old dictatorial commander of Mars who persecutes the polar guerrillas and imposes his will on the inhabitants. He is power-hungry, opportunistic, devious, a liar, and a master manipulator. He waits for an opportunity to take revenge on earth for transferring him to Mars. The crash-landing of Xenos 5 makes him realizes that he could use the technology to conquer earth. All of his future actions are motivated by this purpose. He kidnaps Princess Rowena for coercing her into giving him the technology. Upon her refusal, he allies with Grathan, the first deal being to receive the enemy robots in exchange for Rowena. The fine-print of his alliance with the Zaboom army varies during the course of the series, but through this he increases his arsenal of enemy robots and hopes to conquer the solar system using these and the ninja robots.
He fears King Annex, is angry at Grathan for his occasional disregard, and deeply hates Icelander for mainly three reasons (beating him in the race to succeed Grathan, his arrogant behavior, and for seeing through his machinations). In the finale, he rescues Joe and Icelander (and their robots- Cybertron and Zerokage) after the destruction of the Zaboom fortress and plans to use them to conquer the universe. He places bombs on both robots to ensure their destruction if they disobey. When Joe and Icelander escape to duel outside Xenos 5, Hazzard triggers the bombs upon realizing that they are fueled by hatred towards each other and would only be counterproductive to his plans. He tries to kill everyone on Xenos 5, but is destroyed by the Phoenix in Houraiou mode. , Dog Tack is Hazzard's henchman and trusted aide. He is eventually killed in episode 41.
Ladorio This is a list of the notable characters from the planet Ladorio.
, Rowena is the young daughter and heiress of King Ladorio VII of Ladorio. When the Zaboom army invades Ladorio, her parents entrust her with the task of finding the ninjas from the Earth who could pilot the three ninja robots and defeat the invaders. She strongly believes that Joe and his friends are the ninjas despite their denials. Unlike others on Xenos 5, she readily accepts Joe and his friends, considers their advice, and is distressed by fights and arguments between Joe and Icelander or Gameran. Although she puts on a brave and composed front, she mourns over the destruction of her home planet, her father's assassination, and her mother's imprisonment. This also makes her sensitive to the lives of humans, often vetoing plans by Icelander and/or Gameran that involves such collateral destruction and loss. She has a strong sense of ethics and is both diplomatic and decisive. She is courageous, attacking Icelander (in Mantis or Zerokage) when he overpowered Joe (in the Black Lion or Cybertron) and throwing herself under the two robots to prevent them from fighting. Although she is perturbed by Grathan and Annex, she refuses to waver from her mission of finding the ninjas and redeeming her home planet, even if she is the last one standing. This single-minded focus leads her to rebuff Icelander's attempt at courting her (giving him a lecture on their priorities) and postpones acting on her growing love for Joe. She is also rational, explaining to Jenny that she would compete for Joe only if her feelings are unchanged after accomplishing her mission. In the finale, she seems to give up on winning Joe when she sees him with Jenny. Her attitude towards Joe results in Icelander concluding he cannot win her heart, thus defecting to C-Terahertz and flaming his hatred of Joe. This action devastates her and, regardless of his reasons (which Gameran was commanded to divulge), she considers him a betrayer and enemy. Yet, she is forgiving and does not prevent several of her frightened crew from defecting (in fact, she forgives Gameran's attempts at defecting; presumably Icelander is forgiven in the finale). ,