Super Heavy God Gravion

 The next lunchtime anime, this series, called Choujuushin Gravion in japanese, is up my alley: mecha's!

Bit pity though I could only find a dubbed stream, but that seems to be the case nowadays for the older series, this one hailing all the way back to 2002.

In 2041, the Zeravire appear in our solar system, destroying any military installation they come across.  But a man called Klein Sandman has been preparing a force to oppose this threat, spearheaded by the giant robot Gravion.  When Eiji however secretly enters Sandman base in search of his sister, he meets a young guy called Toga.  Now, together with five more companions, they must take control of the Gravion to face the alien menace.

 

Their first encounter goes badly as they aren`t used to working as a team, Eiji especially.  Sandman tells him it was him, and not his sister, who wrote the letter but he doesn`t believe it and stays just to find out the truth.  He learns his sister was involved in the project, but went missing during a training excersice.  And who pilots the mysterious sixth vehicle when Gravion combines, as not even the operators at command know who the pilot is.  When she does reveal herself, the team learns she has severe trauma and they work together to get her on her feet again and integrate into the group.

 

 

After various attacks, the Earth forces decide to take a stand, but the summit is interrupted by the Zeravire.  Showing how weak the international forces are actually are, Gravion has to take to the rescue.  But it is all part of coordinated attacks, as they also assault the castle base itself.  This forces Eiji to pilot the central module instead, to save the people in the castle.  To do this, he unleashes such a power the robot is serious injury to Eiji, causing heavy damage to the base as well.

Eiji gets seduced by Mizuki, who reveals that she was friends with his older sister, and that the castle towers hold secrets.  They learn about the mysterious power of gravity, and that his sister fled when activating a system console, as they recreate the event.  As a result, he meets his sister in a strange vision during this.

Later on, a Phantom Device, which is an AI pilot, is installed in the Gravion, as Sandman seems to be willing to bring the ultimate sacrifice to defeat the Zeravire when Eiji and one of the operators, Cecile, find themselves in the crosshair, barely escaping with their lives.  This makes Eiji decide he doesn`t want to continue as one of the pilots, but during the next attack he and Leila come to the aid of the team, as the Phantom System seems to be shortcoming in replacing two pilots at the same time.

Okay, so older doesn`t mean bad, and this is a fun series (with some serious fanservice) that basically takes every cliche of mecha anime, and tosses it in your face in a fun way.  Combining into a big robot by multiple vehicles?  Check!  Only effective weapon around?  Check!  Pilot crew that needs to learn to work together?  Double check!!

Good classic fun indeed!