S6E3 - TOMINO-THON! Invincible Steel Man DAITARN 3 (1978) History & Review episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 30, 2026 · 2H 44M

S6E3 - TOMINO-THON! Invincible Steel Man DAITARN 3 (1978) History & Review

from Japanimation Station Season 6 - TOMINO-THON! · host Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman

“Exhilaration, humor, and pathos” – these are the three pillars Tomino Yoshiyuki outlined in a pre-production memo for the series that became 1978’s Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3. And the 40-episode show that followed very much fulfilled those goals, as this blend of super robot and Kamen Rider-style super hero action – also taking copious influence from the worlds of Star Wars and James Bond – is a fun and, in the end, surprisingly impactful series. It’s also the show where Tomino drilled down and learned how to perfect an episodic TV formula, telling a different and distinct story every week. While it gets off to a slow start, Daitarn 3 gets better and better as it goes on, building to a finale that proves to be one of Tomino’s finest directorial efforts, and which signals the full artistic flourishing of the man who would create Gundam.  Enjoy, and come back next week as we arrive at the dawn of the new anime era: 1979’s legendary Mobile Suit Gundam!  Time Chart: Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:37 Intro and History: 0:01:37 – 1:27:25 Eyecatch Break: 1:27:25 – 1:28:10  Daitarn 3 Review: 1:28:10 – 2:41:53 End Theme: 2:41:53 – 2:44:02  Subscribe to our YouTube channels!  Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation   Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.com Follow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/ Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK “Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

We review 1978’s Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3, the series in which Tomino Yoshiyuki learned how to perfect an episodic TV formula!

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S6E3 - TOMINO-THON! Invincible Steel Man DAITARN 3 (1978) History & Review

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This episode is 2 hours and 44 minutes long.

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This episode was published on March 30, 2026.

What is this episode about?

“Exhilaration, humor, and pathos” – these are the three pillars Tomino Yoshiyuki outlined in a pre-production memo for the series that became 1978’s Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3. And the 40-episode show that followed very much fulfilled those...

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