Space Runaway Ideon

Space Runaway Ideon
BluRay Boxart of the movie adaptation of the series: A Contact and Be Invoked
伝説巨神イデオン (Densetsu Kyojin Ideon)
Genre	Drama, Mecha, Space opera, Tragedy
Anime television series
Directed by	Yoshiyuki Tomino
Produced by	Hiroshi Ishikawa (TV Tokyo) Tadashi Matsushima (Tokyu Agency) Toru Hasegawa (Sunrise)
Written by	Arata Koga Hiroyasu Yamaura Kenichi Matsuzaki Sukehiro Tomita Yuuji Watanabe
Music by	Koichi Sugiyama
Studio	Sunrise
Original network	TV Tokyo
Original run	May 8, 1980 – January 30, 1981
Episodes	39
Anime film
The Ideon: A Contact
Directed by	Yoshiyuki Tomino
Studio	Sunrise
Released	July 10, 1982
Runtime	85 minutes
Anime film
The Ideon: Be Invoked
Directed by	Yoshiyuki Tomino
Music by	Koichi Sugiyama
Studio	Sunrise
Released	July 10, 1982
Runtime	100 minutes

Space Runaway Ideon (伝説巨神イデオン, Densetsu Kyojin Ideon^?, lit. Legendary Giant Ideon, also The Ideon) is a 1980 anime television series produced by Sunrise, created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, produced immediately following his most famous work, Mobile Suit Gundam. It first premiered on TV Tokyo from 1980 to 1981, followed by two feature films in 1982, and was later broadcast in Japan by the satellite TV network Animax from September 2006.

Its mechanical designs were created by Yuichi Higuchi at Studio Submarine. The television series credited only the design studio, while Higuchi received full credit for the subsequent films. The characters were designed by Tomonori Kogawa. The series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize for the second half of 1980.

Space Runaway Ideon begins in 2300, far enough in the future that mankind has begun colonizing other planets. On the planet Solo in the Andromeda Galaxy, a group of archaeologists had come across the mysterious remains of the Ideon—three large armored trucks with the ability to transform into a godlike mecha. They also come across a large spaceship, known as the Solo Ship. For six months, they had diligently restored the machines but failed to get the giant tanks to move. Suddenly, a humanoid alien civilization known as the Buff Clan comes across Solo.

Karala, the daughter of the Buff Clan's military commander flies down to the planet against orders with her assistant Mayaya to investigate (her commanding officer, Gije, is reluctant with her, due to her standing and the fact that he once was a soldier under her father). She is pursued closely by comrades sent by Gije, but they lose sight of her. Assuming the "aliens" (Earthling colonists) have attacked Karala, the Buff Clan begins to attack. Cosmo Yuki, the afro-wearing protagonist of the series, and his friends Kasha Imhof and Deck Afta climb aboard the three tanks, which activate on their own, and, when they initially form the Ideon, fend off the first assault, repelling Gije's men.