Knights of the Multiverse Season 1

Aim for the Top: Gunbuster

Chodenji Robo Combattler V

Chodenji Robo Voltes V

Astro Boy (1980 series & 2003 series)

Kikaider 01: The Animation

Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3

Tosho Daimos

Kotetsu Jeeg

Brave Raideen

The first season of The Knights of the Multiverse serves essentially to expand the Crystal Knights' ranks, and in a big way. The season is made up of 45 episodes, and is structured somewhat like a Tokusatsu enemy-of-the-week, with the cast dealing all kinds of super-powered androids, Super Robots and mechanical monsters. At the same time, there is a running through-line of several "enemy" characters coming to understand that there's more to their existence than fighting and doing what their evil creators - no matter how much they may care for them - command. This season also introduced many important themes and characters, such as the team's first oppositional force, L.O.S.R., and adds a MASSIVE amount of new characters to the roster.

## Cast

### Heroes

* The Crystal Knights
	+ as Usagi Tsukino
	+ as Kamille Bidan
	+ as Fa Yuiry
	+ as Catra
	+ as Pink Diamond
	+ as Sunset Shimmer
	+ as Nyoka
	+ as Emily
	+ as Ruri Saotome

* New Additions
	+ as Ayako
	+ as Roscarl
	+ MU Androids
		- as Mohm
		- as Sammie
		- as Kim
	+ as Atros
	+ as Cosmo
	+ as Tobikage
	+ as Agnes
	+ as Honey Jr.
	+ as Lorelai Heinrich
	+ as Meryl
	+ as Lime
	+ as Drum
	+ as Ana & Yuna
	+ as Sphinx
	+ as Asuka Langley Soryu
	+ as Cynthia
	+ Baldios

* Other Allies
	+ as Koji Kabuto
	+ as Sayaka Yumi
	+ as Tetsuya Tsurugi
	+ as Jun Tsurugi-Hono
	+ as Ryoma Nagare
	+ as Hayato Jin
	+ as Michiru Saotome
	+ as Banjo Haran
	+ as Kazuya Ryuzaki
	+ as Hiroshi Shiba
	+ as Mitsuko
	+ as Akira Hibiki

### Villains

* L.O.S.R.
	+ Scientsts
		- as Aloyse von Roddenstein
		- as Rodrigo
		- as Dr. Astro
		- as Dr. B
		- as Dr. Diminutive
		- as Dr. Doctor
		- as Dr. Empra
		- as Dr. Franken
		- as Dr. Igor
		- as Dr. Long John
		- as Dr. Neos
	+ Androids
		- as Sigma
		- as Blade
		- as Orgun
	+ Robots
		- Blocker Corps
		- Balatack
		- Godam
		- as Dai-Apolon
		- as Trider G7
		- as Daioja
		- as Red Baron
		- as Godannar
		- as Orgun
		- as Blade
		- Gigantis

## Episodes

All incomplete episode titles and synopses will be marked as TBA, aka To Be Announced.

## Notes

This season has a total episode count of 45, as a way to have the story and threat level of the villains flow/rise sort of like a three-act structure: the first fifteen episodes are meant to introduce the main antagonistic force (obviously), along with the most important new characters/villains - as well as at least one episode after their introduction to further help establish their connections to the cast, "concluding" with the reintroduction to the Zeta Gundam. The first fifteen are also set up so as to introduce both the central "rival" characters & most of the characters that will join the team. The next/middle fifteen is meant to be a sort of middle ground, where it becomes a more basic monster/super weapon-of-the-week plotline with a couple more characters added to both sides, but with huge efforts in worldbuilding, as well as the team getting more serious about taking L.O.S.R. down by going after their various bases; this also acts as a chance to put the cast in some "unconventional" locations. Finally, the last fifteen are when things get the most intense, with the team taking on enemy bases head-on and the Renegades start making weapons specifically to kill the Knights, combined with dangerous & strait-laced plans and even major character deaths, with Sigma's introduction only making things worse (for a time, at least).

This season is easily the one with the most characters introduced into the main cast. In fact, most of the first half of the season is dedicated to introducing these new characters, but this stops around the halfway point of the season after Akira and Raideen are introduced, with the only really big introductions being Sigma and her cronies, though that's excused since they're supposed to be endgame villains.

This season is the one takes the most influence from Tokusatsu shows and Mecha anime from the Showa/Early Heisei era of Japan (or in Layman's terms, the 1970s, 80s and 90s), with the main plotline centering around the Crystal Knights fighting against an evil underground organzation that seeks to conquer the world through the use of various "uniquely"-shaped mechanical terrors. It especially takes inspiration from Kamen Rider and Super Sentai shows of the era, with more intense/dark themes, fierce action scenes (with an effort to focus on choreography as much as the superpowers), and themes of characters choosing to do good instead the evil they were intended for. So while this season does still have some fun with its enemies and the fight scenes, it does still try to take itself seriously. At the same time though, with a majority of the cast resembling cute little girls (Usagi's core group especially), it creates an effect similar to most Astro Boy stories or even the Pretty Cure series or Powerpuff Girls with cute-looking characters having to deal with very "heavy" social issues and dangerous situations, including beating the snot out of deadly, "scary" foes.

* Two "old-school" anime & Toku shows in particular are a large influence on this season story-wise:
	+ Choujinki Metalder, along with the usual "woes" of a robotic hero, has an influence on the villain's side by not only having just as much recurring rival characters as there are "once-a-day" antagonists, but also by humanizing a good number of them - both one-off characters and recurring ones - influenced by characters like Rhapsody, Bigwayne, Ben K, and of course the signature rival-turned-ally Top Gunder.
	+ The 1980 reboot of Astro Boy also influences how the show presents the theme of "robots with hearts", along with the subject of exploitation and discrimination of/against them by humans. It also sported the idea to include several one-off characters not associated with either the Knights and L.O.S.R. to discuss more subjects about humanoid robots and such (some of which actually do come from that show itself, though have a twist on their portrayals here).
		- A major inspiration from this show is actually how the season handles Usagi and Atros's arc. About seven to eight episodes (in the first two quarters of the season, at least) center around their battles & dynamic changing from fierce rivals to "good" friends, based off of the several episodes being dedicated to showing Astro and Atlas's battles and escalation of their dynamic. However, so as to not make their arc too overwhelming & take away too much focus from the rest of the cast, most of their battles run parallel to or in service of other plot lines & episode plots. Although unlike the original where the main throughline was Atlas trying to convince Astro to join him in his ploy for world conquest before devolving into vengence, the girls' rivalry here is playcated off of Atros's sense of pride & honor, plus how she was literaly born just to kill the Sailor Trainee. But even still, the season goes about a unique way of displaying how their rivalry develops: Atros wins their first encounter, the second they end in a draw and their third has Usagi coming on top. Their following fights always end up in a draw either via their own power or because of outside circumstances, and their last few fights start to get more interesting as Usagi and the rest of the Knights try to convince her that there's more to life than just wanting to fight (similar both to how Atros' arc in her home series went and what happened Astro and Atlas' last "face-off").

Admittedly, three of the original Crystal Knights - Sunset, Catra & Pink - don't get very much character development/focus in this season, with the focus instead centering more on Usagi & the Droid characters introduced and the bonds between them all. Usagi's fellow founding members serve mostly to give her some advice about how to deal with her new teammates' issues. And don't worry; they'll get a lot more chances to shine in the following seasons. This also goes for the Mecha pilots, who get much more focus in Season 2 as well; aside from Asuka, who has a mini-arc this season involving her rivalry-turned-friendship with Kotoko and building a new sense of confidence after the events of her original series.

A way to help distinguish between the Droids on both sides of the conflict for this season (at least before Atros and her posse switch sides) is by their character designs, with the ones on the Knights' side originating from anime from the 60's, 70's & early 80's with their more rounded, simplistic & "cutesy" designs, and (most of) the ones coming from the Renegades coming from late 80's, 90's & 00's-10's anime with their more sharp, more detailed & dynamic designs.

The Mecha shows featured this season are from the Super Robot genre, best exemplified by how many of super robots are used by the Renegades, from fairly-well known ones to more obscure ones.

As another homage to the Mecha genre, the season has special appearances by several of the most prominent Mecha and/or their pilots from the "Super Robot Boom" era of the 1970s, inspired mainly by how shows like Ultraman Mebius and Kamen Rider Skyrider handled the special appearances of the Ultra Brothers and the Seven Legendary Riders respectively.

Despite being mostly Super Robot focused, three Gundam shows are represented in this season: F91, Crossbone and Victory. And even then, its only a couple of mobile suits and mobile armors, and it's mostly just because they look so silly, they fit almost perfectly into a Super Robot setting.

Despite the events of the Mini-Series coming first in the story's timeline, this season is meant to be "produced" beforehand, mainly due to it involving less dimension hopping, the story taking place on one world instead of skipping around to various ones, and generally having a less complex plotline to follow, making it easier for people to get into the series. Plus, said simpler plotline might be a bit of a letdown after people have read the previous chapter (though this could also work to build interest for the mini-series to see how the founding members of the team got to where they are at the start of the season).