Thanks to Magil for providing and seeding the first batch of Gaiking Legend of Daiku Maryu
Everyone's heard the story before. Boy goes to another world to fight bad guys in a giant robot, why watch this? Well, to me the super robot genre is about faithfully following the formula, while keeping it entertaining and fresh. No one will say Gaiking had a groundbreaking story, but it was fun to watch, and that was the whole point of the journey.
There certainly is a main story (young Tsuwabuki Daiya is a quirky kid who suddenly becomes pilot of the mecha combining flame giant Gaiking. He goes to the other world, Darius, to search for his dad, while helping a band of rebels fight the treacherous Darius Emperor) but I think what most people will remember about this show is the funny little things that made it amusing.
The show never takes itself seriously, and there are plenty of gag episodes to prove it. I mean, the ship is a giant dragon with a huge skull head. Running the ship's engine room is Shizuka, basically a maid whose eyes you never actually see. One of the pilot's is Puria Richardson (who the protagonist refers to as Richard-san) and she has these three bumblers as followers.
So watch the show for the story, but the main brunt of the show is the character interactions, and top it off with a giant mecha that fires its fists, shoots hooks from its shoulders, and has a giant flame breathing skull for a body for the icing on the cake.
Misc Notes:
Daiya is voiced by One Piece Luffy's voice actress
Psychic Lover of DekaRanger and Transformers Micron fame sings two of the theme songs
Check it out, it's a fun show
http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/gaiking/index.html
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/gaiking/
Forum topic on GaikingLabels: Anime, Gaiking Legend of Daiku Maryu