, known as Ninja Robots outside Japan, is a Japanese anime television series, produced by Pierrot, which aired from 6 October 1985 to 13 July 1986 on the Nippon Television network. It was also broadcast to parts of Asia and Australia on Cartoon Network, but never aired in the United States.
Plot
It is the 23rd century and the earthlings 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 Romina, 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 in order 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 Romina upon their first meeting and is willing to do anything to protect her. He continues being attracted to both Jenny and Romina 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). 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.