Seven CLV discs. BELL-1133 through BELL-1139. Thirteen episodes of チェンジ!! 真ゲッターロボ 世界最後の日 (Change!! True Getter Robo: The Last Day of the World), released one volume at a time between 1998 and 1999 on Bandai Visual's EMOTION label. Volume 1 launched at ¥1,500; every subsequent disc cost ¥3,000. Each volume ships with a double-sided liner note insert: merchandise listings and a Getter Chance Card postcard on one face, a hand-drawn スタッフ奮戦記 (staff battle diary) on the other.
The OVA took Getter Robo — one of anime's foundational super robot franchises, created by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa in 1974 — and rebuilt it as apocalyptic body horror. The Getter Ray, the energy source that powered the original series' combining mecha, consumes everything in its path: cities, pilots, the protagonists themselves. Thirteen episodes, an entirely recast voice lineup, a villain who is a corrupted version of the original series' hero, and an ending where the cost of the final evolution is the solar system. Bandai Visual chose this as its EMOTION 15th anniversary commemorative work, and the label marks every disc with that designation.
The liner notes across all seven volumes run a participatory popularity vote via the Getter Chance Card postcards. Buyers submitted their character and mecha rankings by mail; interim results were published in mid-series inserts; the final tally appeared in the last disc alongside post-recording cast comments. The DVD box set compiles the thirteen episodes. The LaserDisc release preserves the seven-month conversation that happened around them.
The First Volume
BELL-1133 launched at ¥1,500 — half the price of every subsequent volume. The back cover establishes the template that repeats across all seven discs: episode synopsis in the left column, staff credits beneath, chapter and track listings at the bottom, the EMOTION 15th 記念作品 banner across the top. Cover illustration credited to Kenji Hayama, character design to Tatsuro Yamada, jacket design to Daisuke Unno. The credits rotate across volumes but the layout never changes.
Volume 1 back cover. BELL-1133, CLV, NTSC. The EMOTION 15th 記念作品 banner is visible at the top left corner of every volume in the series.
Volume 2. Hayato Jin with sunglasses, Getter-2 looming behind. BELL-1134, ¥3,000.
Volume 2 back. Episodes 2–3: '脅威!! 神か悪魔か 真ドラゴン!' (Threat!! God or Devil, True Dragon!) and '日本壊滅!! さらばゲッター!' (Japan Destroyed!! Farewell, Getter!). '遂に出現! 超兵器 真ドラゴン!!' (Finally Appears! Super Weapon: True Dragon!!) fills the headline. BELL-1134.
Volume 3. Go Ichimonji in a white jacket, Getter-2 rising behind him on a red sky. BELL-1135.
Volume 3 back. Episodes 4–5: '激震!! 荒れ狂う大地!' (Tremor!! The Raging Earth!) and '出撃!! 新たなる戦士たち!' (Sortie!! The New Warriors!). '真ドラゴンの破壊から13年——!!' (13 years since True Dragon's destruction——!!). BELL-1135.
Volume 4. Ryoma Nagare screaming into the frame, True Getter's wings spreading behind him. BELL-1136.
Volume 4 back. Episodes 6–7: '悪夢!! 暴かれた真実!' (Nightmare!! The Exposed Truth!) and '決戦!! スーパーロボット軍団!' (Decisive Battle!! Super Robot Army!). The promotional copy grows more frantic across the series.
Volume 5. Benkei Kurama eating a rice ball at sunset, Getter-3 behind him. The only volume that pauses for breath. BELL-1137.
Volume 5 back. Episodes 8–9: '死闘!! 血に染まる氷原!' (Death Match!! The Blood-Stained Ice Field!) and '謀略!! 摩天楼の決闘!' (Plot!! Duel at the Skyscraper!). '自らの意志で活動を始めた真ドラゴン!!' (True Dragon has begun acting of its own will!!). BELL-1137.
Volume 6. Ryoma flanked by villains, the palette darkening as the series approaches its end. BELL-1138.
Volume 6 back. Episodes 10–11: '降臨!! 南海を断つ邪神!' (Descent!! The Evil God That Severs the Southern Sea!) and '襲来!! 甦る亡者たち!' (Invasion!! The Resurrected Dead!). BELL-1138.
Volume 7. The three pilots in white flight suits against cosmic horror — Shin Dragon's silhouette filling the sky. The final cover. BELL-1139.
Volume 7 back. The final episodes: '戦慄!! 砕け散る魂!' (Shudder!! The Shattered Soul!) and '閃光!! 進化の果て!' (Flash!! At the End of Evolution!). BELL-1139, ¥3,000. The last disc in the series.
The Back Covers
The layout never changes. But the promotional copy does. Volume 2 announces '遂に出現! 超兵器 真ドラゴン!!' (Finally Appears! Super Weapon: True Dragon!!); Volume 4 announces '出撃せよ！新ゲッターチーム!!' (Sortie! New Getter Team!!); Volume 6 reads '遂に覚醒した破壊神・真ドラゴン!!' (The destruction god True Dragon has finally awakened!!). By Volume 7: '地球が、太陽系が消滅!?' (The Earth — the solar system — annihilated!?). The format holds steady while the content spirals toward the end of the world. Every back cover cross-references chapter stops and audio tracks in the same small type at the bottom, treating the apocalypse with the same structural precision as the first episode.
The Getter Chance Cards
Each volume includes a double-sided liner insert. One face lists the full 真ゲッターロボ merchandise ecosystem: Visual Book (¥1,800), Bandai model kits across four scales, two soundtrack CDs, and the LD収納BOX (catalog GR-001, ¥800) — a separate purchase for housing the growing set. Beneath the merchandise, a perforated postcard: the Getter Chance Card. Buyers tore it off, filled in their character and mecha rankings, and mailed it to Bandai Visual's production division at SEF Building 3F, Matsugaya 1-3-5, Taito-ku, Tokyo. The address appears on every volume. The vote ran across all seven discs.
Volume 1 liner insert. Merchandise listings for the Visual Book, model kits, and soundtrack CDs. The perforated Getter Chance Card postcard is at the bottom left — tear off, rank your favorites, mail to Bandai Visual.
Volume 3 liner insert. Merchandise listings expand to include the second soundtrack CD and Racing Card set. The Vol. 1 survey results appear in the right column: fan responses printed verbatim. The Getter Chance Card remains at the bottom. BELL-1135.
Volume 4 liner insert. The interim popularity vote results are published: Ryoma Nagare leads the character ranking with roughly 70% of the vote; True Getter-1 leads the mecha poll. Interim results through Episode 3. The vote is still open.
Volume 5 liner insert. The merchandise section now lists the LD収納BOX and Getter ROBOx boxes 1 through 3. The Getter Chance Card postcard at the bottom: a caricature of Benkei with a rice ball — the illustrator breaking format on the volume that breaks the series' tone. BELL-1137.
Volume 1 スタッフ奮戦記 (staff battle diary). Hand-drawn manga panels by the production crew — character sketches, scheduling jokes, and the first entry in a seven-volume production journal.
The Staff Diaries
The reverse side of each liner insert carries the スタッフ奮戦記 — literally 'staff battle diary.' These are hand-drawn manga-style production journals by different crew members, sketched on the page like internal circulation documents: caricatures of colleagues, jokes about overtime, countdown notices for the next volume's release date. They are not polished and they are not trying to be. The format follows the production from its first episode to its last, and the tone shifts from enthusiasm to exhaustion to something approaching relief across the seven entries.
Volume 3 diary. '男のアニメをかっこーす' (Making a cool anime for men) — the crew's stated mandate, written large. The diary introduces individual staff members by caricature. Volume 4 release date: January 25. Character design staff and the Bandai Visual producer both appear.
Volume 4 diary. A hand-drawn '危険 GETTER RAY' radiation warning sign — the Getter Ray joke taped to the office door. Release schedule for Volume 6 noted in the margins.
Volume 5 diary. '大登場' (Grand Entrance) — staff photos appear for the first time alongside the sketches. Three crew members photographed at their desks. Volume 6 release date: March 25.
Volume 6 diary. 'がんばれ！ゲッター' (Hang in there, Getter!) — the penultimate entry. Character sketches of Ryoma drawn mid-battle. The release schedule announces Volume 7 (the final volume) for April 25.
Volume 2 diary. Early production energy — staff introducing themselves in comic panel form, establishing the diary's voice before the series had found its audience.
Volume 7 diary — the final entry. 'おわった、おわった!!' (It's over, it's over!!) at the top. 'しゅく！(祝) 最終巻' (Congratulations! Final volume). A sketch of Ryoma before and after the Getter Ray — and in bold marker: '進化なし!!' (No evolution!!). The OVA's central theme, inverted as a punchline.
The Final Record
Volume 7's liner notes close both the vote and the conversation. The character popularity ranking is published in full — Ryoma Nagare in first place, Black Getter leading the mecha poll. Beneath the results, post-recording comments from the principal cast: Hideo Ishikawa as Ryoma, Naoko Takano as Go, Noriko Hidaka as Kei. Each actor writes a brief reflection on voicing a series about the end of the world. At the bottom of the page, an advertisement for the PlayStation game ゲッターロボ大決戦!, scheduled for summer 1999. The production had already moved on. The diaries stayed here.
Volume 7 liner insert — the final page. Character and mecha popularity vote results in full, post-recording cast comments with hand-drawn character portraits, and the PlayStation game ゲッターロボ大決戦! announcement at the top left.
The DVD box set released afterward compiled all thirteen episodes onto fewer discs at a lower combined price. It included the animation. It did not include the seven Staff 奮戦記 diaries, the Getter Chance Card postcards, the interim voting results, or the cast comments from Volume 7. It did not include the experience of receiving Volume 1 at a reduced price without knowing how the story would end, then submitting your character rankings by mail while the production team was still drawing the final episodes.
Serialized OVA releases on LaserDisc were not unusual in 1998. What was unusual was the degree to which Bandai Visual used the liner note inserts to make the audience a participant in the production's timeline. The inserts documented the seven months the production took to finish, one Staff 奮戦記 diary at a time.
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