It runs the Mito Komon formula through a super robot, and once you see the pattern you can't unsee it. Prince Edward Mito lands on a planet as plain old "Bocchan," lets the local strongman push him around, and eats the humiliation until the exact moment the mask comes off and Daioja drops out of the sky. Baron Kalkus and Duke Skead are Suke and Kaku with titles, Shinobu is the ninja who does the actual reconnaissance while the nobles play tourist, and every episode ends with somebody powerful on their knees. Fifty episodes of that structure sounds like a grind, and it isn't, because the pleasure was never the surprise, it was the timing of the reveal. This is 1981 Kokusai Eiga-sha working a genre nobody was watching closely, which is exactly why the people who found it won't shut up about it. Jidaigeki bones, mecha skin, zero apologies.

Prince Edward Mito, heir to the Edon Star, sets out on a secret tour of the galaxy, hiding his royal identity under the name Bocchan. Traveling with him are two loyal retainers, Baron Kalkus and Duke Skead, who take the aliases Suke and Kaku, along with the ninja girl Shinobu. The empire he inspects spans about fifty planets and is troubled by crooked feudal lords, dishonest space merchants and other villains. When the oppressed need help, the prince turns to Daioja, a combining super robot that serves as the royal family's weapon. The story is a mecha science fiction retelling of the Mito Mitsukuni legend, running for fifty episodes in 1981.