The Classic Giant Robot Encyclopedia

Fun Facts

Curiosidades verificadas sobre el anime mecha clásico — desde los estudios de animación hasta los robots que cambiaron la cultura pop.

Origins Records Production Characters Weapons 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

— Featured Fact —

1963
Origins · 1960s Tetsujin 28-go was controlled by remote — no pilot inside

Unlike most mecha that followed, Tetsujin 28-go had no cockpit and no onboard pilot. The giant robot was operated entirely via a handheld remote control by young Shotaro Kaneda — making it the first "drone mecha" in anime history.

— All Facts —

Getter Robo invented the combining robot in 1974

Created by Ken Ishikawa and Go Nagai, Getter Robo (1974) was the first anime to introduce the concept of separate vehicles combining into a giant robot. Three pilots — each controlling a different aircraft — had to work in perfect coordination to form one of three robot configurations. Every combining robot in anime history, from Voltron to Gurren Lagann, owes its existence to this series.

Mazinger Z was the first giant robot piloted from inside a cockpit

Before Mazinger Z debuted in December 1972, every giant robot in anime was either sentient or controlled remotely. Go Nagai’s innovation of placing a human pilot inside the machine — Koji Kabuto entering through a docking hovercraft called the Hover Pilder — permanently changed the genre and inspired every mecha series that followed, from Gundam to Evangelion.

Tetsujin 28-go was controlled by remote — no pilot inside

Unlike most mecha that followed, Tetsujin 28-go had no cockpit and no onboard pilot. The giant robot was operated entirely via a handheld remote control by young Shotaro Kaneda — making it the first “drone mecha” in anime history.