However, he is released from jail and is reunited on Earth—unhappily—with his old allies, Hayato Jin and Musashi Tomoe, to fight none other than Dr. Saotome himself, who has seemingly risen from the grave to threaten humanity with his ultimate creation—and most dangerous weapon, the Shin Getter Dragon.

However, their efforts to stop Dr. Saotome (not to mention an overzealous Japanese Defense Force), are in vain, as nuclear weapons are used on Shin Dragon.

The only safeguard against this alien threat is a giant robot that emerges from the wreckage of the nuclear blast—Shin Getter Robo—piloted by an artificially created human named Gō.

With the help of Hayato's Super Robot Army and Gō's co-pilots Kei and Gai, Shin Getter fights to keep humanity's dreams alive.

A crossover manga of the Mazinger and Getter Robo series from the Immortal Super Robot Encyclopedia, released about one month after VHS volume 1.

Although it was released as a companion to the OVA, the setting conformed more to the one found in the Toei Manga Festival movies (e.g. Getter Robo vs Great Mazinger).

Daryl Surat of Otaku USA Magazine calls the animation "spectacular" and argues that even without Imagawa's guidance, the series despite taking a different turn still ended strongly.