Cho Kosoku Galvion - 1984 TV
Cho Kosoku Galvion is a 22 episode TV series from 1984. It involves criminals using robots to save innocent people's lives in exchange for years being cut from their long prison sentences. It's a unique premise for a show and nothing has ever been done like it since. Sadly the show only aired once in 1984 as it did not garner the immsense popularity it deserved. Instead the show was cut short from it's original run while episode 23 was still in production. Later episodes were cancelled and similiar to SPT Layzner, the show ended on a cliffhanger with a small narration summarising what could have happened to our protagonists. The show was produced by a little known company called Kousai Eigasha, this would be their last production due to financial reasons, possibly bankrupty, bringing them to an arupt closure. Similiar to Transformers, Galvion was also supposed to be a toy driven franchise for the toy company Takatoku, however they also went bankrupt and no official toys were released under them. Model kits were released, however years later by other third party companies, which to this day can still be bought on auction sites.
Galvion is unique in many ways because it's one of the only shows to revolve around high tech formula speed cars that transform quickly into battle mecha. The show is set in the 23rd century therefore involves a lot of glorious high tech scenery and gadgetry. Episode 1 sees a blonde woman called Midoriyama Rei who just happens to be one of the few billionaires living in this futuristic city. She wants to create a secret organisation called Circus to combat an evil, mysterious organisation called Shadow. However she cannot find any qualified pilots for her machines and therefore cuts a deal with two convincts called Mu and Maya who accept in return they get their prison sentences cut for each successful mission.
Galvion is about as rare as it's gets in the anime world. It's never been released on any format in Japan that includes VHS, Laserdisc or DVD making it one of the hardest, most obscure shows to find even on the internet. Due to the birth of youtube in 2006 and the gratitude of an obsessed fan, it's status as slowly been rising as more and more fans have been exposed to the very catchy opening called Lonely Chaser which has one of the best, if not the best, animated intros of all times. The official soundtrack got released on cd in June 2009, however there were complaints of poor sound quality due to master issues. They basically ripped the old LP soundtracks. Some fans believe the OST was released to measure the potential market for DVD sales, however nothing has been hinted at since.
Galvion has not been subtitled by any group as of 2011, mainly because of obscurity and lack of raws. However I am slowly aquiring all the raws to this TV series and will be posting them on this site. Episode 4 currently has the highest video quality. If anyone wishes to translate them for ACR then please contact me at area88@hotmail.co.uk
Episode 1 Raw - Download Here
Episode 2 Raw - Download Here
Episode 3 Raw - Download Here
Episode 4 Raw - Download Here
Overall Grade/Rating: A-
Commercial Availability: None
