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Our justice takes the shape of a giant robot! Its name is Zambot 3!
Zambot 3, or more fully, Invincible Super Man Zambot 3, is a 1977 anime series by long-standing mecha anime studio Sunrise (their first fully in-house production) and Yoshiyuki Tomino, co-produced by Nagoya TV and aired on the TV Asahi network. Despite consisting of pretty standard Super Robot fare, Zambot 3 stands out for two things. Firstly, it had something of a Downer Ending. Secondly, it featured child abuse on an unprecedented level for a childrens show. (Which is likely one reason why it didn't get much international distribution, with its only broadcast in the West being in Italy.) The general story is that Earth is being invaded by aliens called Gaizok which came to earth chasing after the survivors of another planet, who came to live and hide on earth. However, they left behind two weapons - King Beal and Zambot 3. Cue Monster of the Week.
It occasionally gets featured in the Super Robot Wars, where usually they have a high chance to appear together with its spiritual successor Daitarn 3 (in fact it can't seem to exist without Daitarn in SRW), thus they could do combination attacks together. This, however, is mostly offset with the lessening of its brutal nature and child abuse. Super Robot Wars Z rectifies this sorta, by showing how their abuse takes their toll. But it still avoids the Kill'Em All ending (just Kill a Few).
- Ace Pilot: The ace pilot Kappei literally pilots a robot called Zambo Ace.
- AI Is a Crapshoot: The Big Bad is a alien super computer.
- Alien Among Us: The Jin Family.
- Alien Invasion
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: Actually averted for the Italian dub, which used the original Japanese theme songs - unusual for an Italian dub of its vintage (1981).
- Anyone Can Die
- The Battlestar: King Beal, Bandok
- Big Friendly Dog: Chiyonishiki
- Bloodless Carnage: Whenever a human bomb explodes, the human completely vanishes.
- Break the Cutie
- The Butcher: The Dragon is Killer the Butcher.
- Calling Your Attacks
- Chekhov's Volcano
- Child Soldiers
- Combining Mecha
- Cool Ship
- Death Is Dramatic: At least, it becomes so - in the first few episodes, civilian casualties seem to be completely shrugged off.
- Destructive Saviour: This series PERSONIFIES this trope. Yoshiyuki Kill'Em All Tomino went to extreme lengths to show why it is not a good idea getting two Humongous Mecha fighting in a populated area. Although the children piloting Zambot try to stop the Mecha Burst, they make just so much damage (which does nothing to convince the Earth folk who hates them they are ON its side).
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Kozuki. And also Kappei, even if in much more expensive way.
- Expository Theme Tune: "Three mechas unite as one. Our justice in the shape of a giant robot. It's name is Zambot 3!"
- Falling Into the Cockpit: In Kappei's case, literally.
- Finishing Move: MOON ATTAAACK!
- Forgotten Phlebotinum: The Gaizok create a material that can deflect absolutely any attack. One Mecha Boost is coated in this, then it is never reused.
- Actually, the associated trope is averted. Butcher does bring back the most successfull of the Mecha Boosts for one episode and that one is included.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Yes, Kappei was voiced by the woman (Nobuyo Oyama) who would go on to perform the role of Doraemon for more than a quarter-century. Keiko also shares a voice with Lyre in Jungle Emperor and Flone in Swiss Family Robinson, Kozuki is Ataru Moroboshi, and Uchuuta is Speed Racer and Seiji Hayami.
- Home Base: The Zambase, which was an Airborne Aircraft Carrier AND a Cool Starship.
- Humongous Mecha
- Infant Immortality: Averted. And HOW!
- Jerkass: Kappei is a total asshole at first, deliberately refusing to have his machine combine with the others, nearly killing someone by pretending to punch them while in the machine, and pretty much mucking things up more than they need to.
- Kaiju: The Mecha Boosts are technically robots, but they generally look more like organic monsters you might find in a Godzilla film.
- Kid Hero
- Kill'Em All: By the man himself
- Large and In Charge: Butcher
- Let's Get Dangerous
- Limited Animation: No animation supervisor, and many episodes were animated by just one or two people.
- Made of Explodium
- Miniature Senior Citizens
- Monster of the Week
- Names to Know in Anime: Tomino and many of his staff, notably character designer Yoshikazu "Yas" Yasuhiko, would make Mobile Suit Gundam just a year after Zambot 3 ended.
- Off-Model: Constantly.
- Omniscient Morality License: So it's okay for Uchuta and Kappei to mock Keiko and imply she hasn't been weened off her mother's breast milk and then laugh when she rips her birthday present kimono in the process of trying to grab them. It was all just to piss her off so she'd storm off and go visit her mother. Sure. That makes up for being, you know asses for no real reason.
- "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase: "Well, how are they going to fight through this?"
- The Peeping Tom: Kappei tries to peep on Aki while she changes clothes in episode 18, and gets hit in the head with his own helmet for his trouble. It's a funny moment in what is soon to be one of the series' most heartwrenching episodes.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Butcher's not only a completely unforgivable asshole, but spends most of his on screen time acting like a moron. Makes it all the more terrifying when he turns killing people into a game.
- Robeast: Mecha Boosts
- Scarf of Asskicking: A technicolor one made by Aki in one episode. Zambot wears this at the very end of the episode, possibly making this the Trope Maker for mecha.
- Sleep Learning: Which is only the start of the child cruelty.
- Some Kind of Force Field: Around the Bandok.
- Spiritual Successor: Daitarn 3
- Super Robot
- Super Robot Wars: Super Robot Wars 4, Super Robot Wars Compact 2, Super Robot Wars Advance, Super Robot Wars Reversal, Super Robot Wars Z/2, and Super Robot Wars 64
- Theme Music Power-Up
- Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe
- The Tokyo Fireball
- Transforming Mecha
- Unbuilt Trope: Could be considered a Deconstruction of Super Robot anime...decades before Neon Genesis Evangelion and Bokurano came out.
- Villains Out Shopping: Killer the Butcher, in spite of being a pretty depraved guy, is often shown doing stupid stuff like trying on jewelry or taking a bath.
- Why Am I Ticking?: Halfway through the series, this becomes the weapon of choice of the Gaizok.