The King of Braves GaoGaiGar

The King of Braves GaoGaiGar (勇者王ガオガイガー) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise's internal "Studio 7" division alongside Tokyu Agency. It is the eighth installment in the Brave series franchise. Yoshitomo Yonetani is its director, with Yoshitake Suzuki handling series scripts, Takahiro Kimura as character designer, Kunio Okawara designing mechanical elements, Tomoaki Okada as art director, and Kohei Tanaka as music producer. The series aired on Nagoya TV and TV Asahi affiliate stations from February 1, 1997, to January 31, 1998.

Plot
On a winter night, a mysterious mechanical lion appeared before a married couple, carrying a mysterious baby with it, and left as they took the baby in. About seven years later, high school astronaut Guy Shishioh is aboard the space shuttle Spirits when it collides with an unknown object bound to Earth. Despite being mortally wounded, the lion rescues him and he returns to Earth, holding a mysterious green jewel that Leo Shishioh uses to revive him as a cyborg.

Two years later, in 2005, the mysterious baby, now under the care of the Amami family and named Mamoru, lives a normal life until a mysterious group called Zonders begins invading Earth. In response, the Earth Defense Brigade Gutsy Geoid Guard, also known as the GGG, organizes to fight against them. During an attack by the Zonders, Mamoru encounters Guy, who is now a member of the GGG. Equipped with the green jewel, which is known as the G-Stone, he becomes the pilot of the lion robot, which is called Galeon, fusing with it alongside three assist vehicles the GGG created to become the giant robot GaoGaiGar. After a battle against one of the Zonders, the GGG discovers that Mamoru can purify people who became Zonders and seeks to uncover his origins and how he is connected to the appearance of the Zonders.

Development
The King of Braves GaoGaiGar was produced by Sunrise, with Takara promoting the toys for the series. Billed as the final installment of the Brave series, director Yoshitomo Yonetani originally named the series as "The King of Braves Gaggatti", with other proposed names including "GargaiGaa" and ""GO Gieger" until the finalized name was accepted. The series' overall theme was based on the folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, reflecting on the mysterious origins of Mamoru Amami, the series' kid protagonist, with the message of "If you have the courage, you can call in any miracle", woven into the series' narrative.

To differentiate the series from other Brave series, Real Robot terms and concepts alongside Super Robot concepts were woven into the narrative, being more ambitious in execution. The narrative was made similar to a hot-blooded manga, centering on the battle between a powerful extraterrestrial life form and a giant robot that brings together the best of human science, while also incorporating detailed depictions of mechanical elements throughout the series. The creation of such realistically oriented mecha designs also influenced the development of toys, resulting in a gap between how the mechas were depicted in the series and the toys that were commercialized. As a result, elements regarded as "standard" in the Brave series, such as swords and guns as weapons and power-ups in the form of "Super Combinations", were not present in the series. To balance this out, in both the series and the toys, the gimmicks and individuality of each mecha were fleshed out more.

Anime
The King of Braves GaoGaiGar aired on Nagoya TV from February 1, 1997, to January 31, 1998, consisting of 49 episodes. Masaaki Endoh performed the series' opening theme "Yuusha Oh Tanjou!" (勇者王誕生!) while Satoko Shimonari performed the series' ending theme "Itsuka Hoshi no Umi De" (いつか星の海で). Media Blasters once licensed the series on April 19, 2006, for North American territories in DVD format, with only 25 out of the 49 episodes dubbed in English. However, due to multiple issues followed with poor sales, the series was dropped. The show was available as part of a digital subscription package from Daisuki until the service was terminated in 2017. Muse Communication later licensed the series alongside its sequel, with Muse Asia's YouTube Channel streaming the series in Southeast Asian territories on February 1, 2022. Discotek Media later rescued the license from Media Blasters and announced to release the series, alongside the OVA sequel, on Blu-ray in Winter 2023.

The show's popularity later resulted in the production of an eight–part sequel OVA,The King of Braves GaoGaiGar Final, which was released from January 21, 2000, to March 21, 2003, and the spinoff TV series Betterman, which aired on TV Tokyo from April 1, 1999, to September 30, 1999.

Video games
The series received a video game spinoff titled The King of Braves GaoGaiGar: Blockaded Numbers (勇者王ガオガイガー BLOCKADED NUMBERS) which was published by Takara and released for the PlayStation on April 8, 1999. The series also appeared in Takara's other video game series: 2000's Brave Saga 2 for the PlayStation, 2001's Brave Saga New Astaria for the Game Boy Color and 2005's New Century Brave Wars for the PlayStation 2. The series also made appearances in the Sunrise Eiyuutan series. GaoGaiGar has later appeared in the long running Super Robot Wars franchise, beginning with the 2nd Super Robot Wars Alpha.

Novel
A novel spinoff titled Queen of Leo : The King of Braves Gaogaigar 2005 (獅子の女王 ―リオン・レーヌ― 勇者王ガオガイガー2005) was published by Media Factory on December 1, 2003, written by Yuichiro Takeda and illustrated by Takahiro Kimura and Seiichi Nakatani. The novel takes place after the events of the series and before the events of FINAL, focusing on Renais Kaldiff Shishioh, her origins and her fight against the criminal organization named BioNet.