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Genya is the primary villain of the animated OVA Giant Robo: The Night The Earth Stood Still. He is a tall, handsome figure with long hair and wears a white suit. In Giant Robo, Genya seeks to avenge his late father, who had died whilst working amongst some of the world's greatest minds to invent a new source of clean, renewable energy and had been blamed when his team's experiments led to a devastating tragedy.
He was voiced by the late Shinji Ogawa and Tomokazu Seki in the Japanese version, and by Dan Green and Steve Blum in the English dubbed.
Biography[]
Pre-Criminal History[]
Genya was born as Emmanuel von Folger, son of Doctor Franken von Folger. His father was a brilliant scientist who worked with a team of other great minds in the valley of Bashtarlle, outside Belgium, where they sought to create a new energy source. However, in their haste to achieve recognition and glory, Dr. Shizuma and his colleagues went behind Folger's back and initiated their final experiment with their prototype drive system, ignoring Folger's warnings regarding a 2% margin of error. As it turned out, that 2% margin of error had devastating consequences, as the team's experiment caused their power plant to overload. Folger stayed behind to try and stop the drive overload while Shizuma and the rest of the Belgium Team fled. Young Emmanuel and his sister Farmelle were awoken by the power disruption caused by Shizuma's experiment and arrived to witness Folger trying to stop it. Folger failed and the reactor exploded, devastating the entire country and leading to the loss of a third of the world's population. This event would go down in history as The Tragedy of Bashtarlle.
Emmanuel and his father survived the destruction of the Bashtarlle reactor when Emmanuel activated his latent power of teleportation, transporting himself and Franken a safe distance. They believed that the doctor's assistant Go-sama and his daughter Farmelle had perished, but this would later be disproven. For months after the explosion, Franken and Emmanuel lived in exile beneath the ruins of Bashtarlle where they remained undisturbed. Franken grew withered and absent-minded during this time, until the day when his son brought home a complete Shizuma Drive: the very invention that Folger and his colleagues set out to create, now under Dr. Shizuma's patent. Von Folger cried out in despair, taking the Drive and locking himself in the run-down lab, his son waiting outside for days, unsure if his father was still alive in there. When the door finally opened, Emmanuel found his father nearly dead in a crumpled heap. Franken's final words to his son were "Take the sample... you must stop... Shizuma... stop him..." . When Franken died, Emmanuel buried his father beneath Bashtarlle, vowing to make the world atone for crucifying his family's name and labelling his father as a monster. With that, Emmanuel - rechristening himself "Genya - The Beautiful Night" - left Bashtarlle to begin his mission of revenge. Shortly after, Genya found his way into the arms of the super-powerful terrorist organization known as Big Fire. Over the next 10 years, Genya would serve under the Magnificent Ten and use Big Fire's resources to work towards his own goals.
Operation: Earth Stands Still[]
Ten years after the Tragedy of Bashtarlle, Genya had become Big Fire's top operative and was heading their latest operation. Under Genya's direction, Big Fire had built the ultimate weapon: the Eye of Folger, a massive floating black sphere powered by hundreds of Shizuma Drives. Utilizing two of Shizuma's three prototype sample drives, the Eye of Folger would emit an anti-Shizuma dampening field which would cause Shizuma Drives to violently overload and shut down, becoming completely useless. As the world now relied entirely on the Shizuma Drive for its energy needs, the sphere could bring human society grinding to a halt. Genya had hoped to obtain all three Shizuma samples to release a worldwide anti-Shizuma burst and shut down everything in one fell swoop, but would settle for two after seeing their effect on Paris, where the orb was being built in secret. When the orb was activated, it unleashed an energy wave that completely levelled the city, killing thousands of people and leaving the city in ruins with no hope of restoring power. From there, the Eye of Folger would travel the world and unleash its fury upon other major cities across the planet. When it attacked Shanghai, however, it met resistance from the Experts of Justice: a team of super-powered law enforcers assembled by Interpol to combat Big Fire. The Experts had set up a magnetic web net to try and trap the Eye and contain its anti-Shizuma field, but their plan was disrupted by Big Fire agent, Ivan the Terrible. Ivan bombed several of the webbing devices and used his giant robot Uranus to attack the Experts. Ivan's rampage was thwarted by the untimely arrival of Daisaku Kusama and Giant Robo, who had defied orders and come to Shanghai to help battle the orb. Since Giant Robo was nuclear-powered, it wouldn't be affected by the anti-Shizuma field. It fought against Uranus and destroyed it when Ivan brought it too close to the Eye of Folger. Daisaku and Robo then attacked the orb directly, with Robo attempting to punch through the orb's armour plating. This proved to be ineffective and Robo smashed its arm against the orb's surface.
With Giant Robo disabled, Genya dispatched Ko-Enshakku and Alberto the Impact to finish off Daisaku and the Experts. A struggle ensued and Genya intervened when it was discovered that Ginrei - one of the Experts - was carrying an attache case containing the third Shizuma sample. Genya and Alberto cornered Ginrei and Daisaku on a rooftop, but Ginrei used her power of teleportation to escape. At this moment, Genya realised the true identity of this woman: it was his sister Farmelle, believed to have perished in Bashtarlle. As the Experts of Justice tried to make their escape aboard their airship Greta Garbo, Genya brought the Eye of Folger to full power, which would unleash the same blast wave that destroyed Paris. The Greta Garbo would retrieve Giant Robo and escape in time before the orb activated the wave, but Shanghai would be destroyed completely. Genya and Ko-Enshakku boarded the Greta Garbo as it made its escape, and Genya would attack the ship's bridge to retrieve the third sample. Disguised as his father Dr. Franken von Folger, Genya tried to coerce Ginrei into giving him the sample. Daisaku and fellow Expert Tetsugyu tried to intervene but Genya paralyzed them with some kind of magical dart which struck their shadows and left them immobile. As the Garbo was rocked by explosions caused by Ko-enshakku fighting with the ship's crew, Genya's disguise fell and the Experts then realized that Dr. von Folger was not in fact the mastermind behind the orb. Another explosion shook the Garbo and sent it crashing into the Himalayas. As the ship went down, Genya took advantage of the confusion and captured Daisaku.
Family Reunion[]
In episode five of the Giant Robo OVA, Genya had escaped the destruction of the Greta Garbo as it crashed in the Himalayas, taking Daisaku Kusama hostage. With the Eye of Folger out of reach, Genya summoned reinforcements from Big Fire in the form of Gallon, a flying robot that resembled a giant frog's head. Genya took refuge in a cave and used Gallon to send a message to the Experts of Justice, Ginrei and Tetsugyu, who had also survived the crash. He offered them Daisaku in exchange for the third Shizuma sample, threatening to kill the boy if they attempted a rescue. Tetsugyu and Ginrei offered the sample to Genya outside his cave, but attacked as soon as he indicated where Daisaku was. Ginrei, with attache in hand, ran into the cave to retrieve Daisaku. However, Genya was already inside the cave and Tetsugyu was in fact fighting a decoy. The decoy crumbled into snow as Tetsugyu struck and then Ko-enshakku appeared behind him, running him through with its katana. The blow didn't kill Tetsugyu and he got up and broke Ko-enshakku's back. Tetsugyu tried to attack Genya, but Genya took Ginrei's gun and shot him repeatedly. Tetsugyu still wouldn't go down after multiple shots and so Genya summoned Gallon, which crashed through the cave ceiling and buried Tetsugyu. Ginrei attempted to leave with Daisaku and the sample, but Genya urged her to remain by telling her the truth behind the Tragedy of Bashtarlle. He revealed that Franken von Folger was innocent, that Shizuma's desire for personal glory led to the disaster. Genya went on to explain how he and their father survived the explosion and how they remained in exile, right up to von Folger's death and the beginning of Genya's mission of revenge. Ginrei was almost swayed into surrendering the third sample, but Daisaku had regained conciousness at this point and tackled Genya. Ginrei tried to run but Gallon had cut off her escape, until Daisaku summoned Giant Robo which destroyed Gallon by firing several rockets into its mouth. The explosion caused an avalanche and Genya and Ginrei were separated again. Ginrei and Daisaku were rescued by their fellow Interpol agents, and Genya was left without the sample yet again. Another annoyance arose in the form of Lord Alberto of the Magnificent Ten, who had survived Shanghai and had been observing Genya's behaviour. Alberto had learned that Genya was in fact Emmanuel von Folger and that he had used Big Fire to help him fulfill his quest for vengeance. Alberto threatened to throw Genya before the Magnificent Ten, but was grabbed by Ko-enshakku, which had survived having its back broken earlier. Genya then pulled his sister's gun on Alberto and shot him right in his cybernetic eye.
The Seventh Day[]
A week had now passed since the Eye of Folger first arose in Paris. Genya had faced a tribunal before Big Fire's leaders - the Magnificent Ten - but was saved from the chopping block by Big Fire's master strategist, Shokatsu Komei. Komei was the one who had originally taken in Emmanuel after he left Bashtarlle and held some degree of authority over the Magnificent Ten, despite not being an esper like them. With Komei protecting him, Genya retrieved the Eye of Folger and continued his mission. There was only one Shizuma plant remaining on the planet, located at St. Abbe, formerly Bashtarlle. As the orb loomed closer to its final target, it met with unlikely resistance from the head of the Experts of Justice - Chief Chujo the Silent. Chujo seemed ready to challenge the Eye to a round of boxing, standing atop a hill and practising his punches. However, Chujo was a member of the Big Nine, Interpol's answer to the Magnificent Ten. Chujo attacked the Eye of Folger with his powerful Big Bang Punch, however he could not complete his full attack since Ginrei had teleported him away. Nonetheless, the chief had caused the orb significant damage, delaying its assault and giving the Experts of Justice time to mobilise and prepare a defense. The Eye soon got moving again, and despite the best efforts of the Experts, their defenses were useless, save for one: Giant Robo. Daisaku Kusama ordered Robo to annihilate the Eye of Folger, and Robo threw the orb across the valley and proceeded to bash it to pieces. Genya wasn't through yet, and powered up the orb's blast wave. Daisaku managed to get Giant Robo back on its feet, and with help from his fellow experts and even Lord Alberto (who had feigned death and hidden himself by concealing himself as an icy formation on Robo's shoulder), the Eye of Folger was rendered powerless. Giant Robo then unleashed its full firepower on the orb, using up every last rocket and shell it had. The orb was left barely functional and Genya seemed to be defeated, but his sister Ginrei had teleported aboard the Eye prior to its attack against St. Abbe. Ginrei had tapped her teleporting power to its limit by bringing together everyone from Interpol HQ to protect St. Abbe, and as a result her body had begun to fade out of existence, with only her upper body now remaining. She held the third sample in her arms and was prepared to smash it, but in an outburst of mad panic, Genya pulled out a gun and shot his sister in the head. At this point, Genya had completely lost all grip on reality. He took the sample from his sister's dead hands, activated the Eye of Folger's self-destruct system and inserted the third sample into the Eye's control console with the other samples. The Eye unleashed a massive energy wave and Genya cackled in triumph as his father's revenge was completed... However, the samples did not produce the effect that anyone had expected. Instead of wiping out all Shizuma Drives on the planet, it reactivated and enhanced them all. Left standing confused as to why this was happening, Genya then found himself looking upon a projection of his father, Franken von Folger. The recording had been made prior to the doctor's death, and it explained the error that was inherent in Shizuma's drive system. Although the margin of error was small, its result would prove catastrophic if left unchecked. The Shizuma Drives released an undetectable by-product when they were recycled, and this substance was building up in the atmosphere and combining with already-present pollutants. Folger predicted that in a decade's time, this would lead to the depletion of the planet's oxygen supply, ending life on Earth in one swift motion. However, Folger had modified the samples prior to his death, eliminating the Shizuma Drive's imperfection across the globe once the samples were used together. Folger went on to say that he bore no malice toward Dr. Shizuma for the Tragedy of Bashtarlle and told Emmanuel to forgive him and to help Farmelle find happiness. The recording then ended with Folger collapsing into his death knells, pleading to his son "Stop... Shizuma!" Genya then broke down in tears, realising that he had misunderstood his father's intentions and wasted the last ten years pursuing a meaningless vendetta that never even existed. He clutched Ginrei's lifeless body in his arms as he wept until Giant Robo tore into the orb's control room, just in time for Daisaku to witness Ginrei's body phase out of existence. With no way to atone for his crimes, Genya's final act was to use his teleportation power to warp the Eye of Folger into space before it self-destructed.