The series features characters and plotlines from the manga artist's entire canon of work, effectively creating an all-new story.

The series follows the master of the titular Robo, Daisaku Kusama, and the Experts of Justice, an international police organization locked in battle with the BF Group, a secret society hell-bent on world domination.

The series takes place in a retro-futuristic setting, where the Shizuma Drive ends the depletion of petroleum resources and the need for nuclear power.

Ten years prior to the events of the series a team of scientists, led by Professor Shizuma, created the revolutionary system.

The story explores a society completely brought down, within the span of one week, because of dependency on a single energy source and a state of prosperity tainted by compromise and deceit.

The Group's forces consist of mechanical monsters, foot soldiers and Experts (エキスパート, Ekisupāto), individuals with superhuman powers.

Its members swear allegiance to Big Fire (ビッグ・ファイア, Biggu Faia), the Group's founder and leader, with faltering loyalty punishable by death.

The International Police Organization (国際警察機構, Kokusai Keisatsu Kikō) is the BF Group's counterpart in the Giant Robo universe.

[6] Instead, with Yokoyama's permission, he populated the series with characters from the artist's entire canon of work, including Akakage, Babel II and Godmars.

A third OVA, GinRei with Blue Eyes (青い瞳の銀鈴, Aoi hitomi no Gin Rei), was released after Volume 5 of Giant Robo.

[6] The score of Giant Robo was composed, arranged and conducted by Masamichi Amano and performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.

For series director Yasuhiro Imagawa, the world where the story unfolds must be convincing, for it is the setting and themes what determine the character and mecha designs.

[18] While titles like Bubblegum Crisis 2040, Dirty Pair Flash and Tekkaman Blade gave modern spins to old classics, the creators of Giant Robo decided to go with a "retro" look.

Sporting big stovepipe arms and exposed rivets,[17] the hulking giant is more like a weapon of mass destruction than a "robot superhero".

[6] Vehicles like the Shizuma-powered Beetle or the Experts' airship fortress in the design of a zeppelin appear as if they had been conceived at the turn of the 20th century,[21] giving the world of Giant Robo a timeless feel.

[2] Giant Robo is credited with generating interest in re-imagining other artists' works,[14] including Osamu Tezuka and Go Nagai, and creating a "retro" style that has been used in productions like Sakura Wars.

[22] The works of Go Nagai (Mazinger, Getter Robo) created the genre and the debut of Yoshiyuki Tomino's Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979 solidified it.

Most of the "Experts" featured in The Day the Earth Stood Still come from Yokoyama's manga adaptations of Outlaws of the Marsh and Romance of the Three Kingdoms,[24] both wuxia novels and half of the "Four Classics" of Chinese literature.

Given their origin, the heroes and villains of Giant Robo are superhuman combatants who share many elements with the errant knights of wuxia like strength, magic powers and the ability to fly.

[16] In wuxia adventures, the characters are given nicknames that allude to their mastery of weapons, their physical appearance or their demeanor (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

Imagawa, inspired by Yokayama's adaptation of Outlaws of the Marsh,[26] followed this convention and gave Giant Robo's characters similar descriptive names like "Shockwave Alberto", "Silent Chūjō" and "Kenji The Immortal."

In jiang hu, secret societies plot against the status quo (House of Flying Daggers) and powerful clans do war with each other.

[2] Woven into the story are values commonly associated with martial arts films like honor,[25] loyalty and individual justice, best exemplified in the rivalry between Alberto and Taisō.

Giant Robo is the story of how Daisaku grows up and works to respect his father's last will and testament of protecting the world from the BF Group.

[15] The characters of Daisaku and Genya lost their fathers at a young age and have been entrusted with a legacy that turns them into adversaries during The Day the Earth Stood Still.

The series may also be seen as "sort of an analogy or an allegory about nuclear technology", especially in the context of Japan's complex relationship to both its destructive and constructive aspects.

The Giant Robo Giga Premium Collection (ASBY-1600) features digitally remastered video and audio, interviews with the creators and a companion book.

Set in The Day the Earth Stood Still continuity, the player leads Daisaku Kusama and Giant Robo on a quest to defeat the BF Group.

"[21] Mike Crandol of Anime News Network says Imagawa "takes the best of the old and mixes it with the best of the new to create the definitive giant robot story.

"[16] John Huxley of Anime Boredom concludes the series is "the super robot show as it was in your mind's eye, a perfect combination of the old without the disappointment of reality.