Galaxy Traveler Hizakuriger

Frame from the opening of Galaxy Traveler Hizakuriger.

Galaxy Traveler Hizakuriger (銀河道中ヒザクリガー, Ginga Douchuu Hizakurigaa) is an old anime made using the traditional cel animation technique within the anime RobiHachi. Its precise airing dates are unknown, however it was airing during July 1969.
The anime is an adaptation of the Galaxy Traveler Hizakuriger manga published by Umatani Publishing. It was made by Studio Comet, and directed by Yuma Yarge. Its theme song, Galaxy Traveler Hizakuriger! , was composed by Kousuke Okui with lyrics written by the Studio Comet Literary Club and performed by Akira Kushida.
It tells the story of two friends on a space adventure, Yuma and Rock, who together pilot a mecha robot, titulary Hizakuriger. The exact plot of this anime is not divulged, however it can be deducted that Hizakuriger was used to fight some adversaries in space as the robot is equipped with a javelin, a beam ray, and a shield (the last one mentioned by the Yokkamarchése Hizakuriger Archive club). Saturnians are the only known antagonist of the story, as revealed by the ending notes of its episode 11: "A terrible plot is hatched by the Saturnians! Hizakuriger is faced with its greatest crisis! Next time, 'The Saturnian Gakudojin.' See you then!"
Hizakuriger was considered a cursed anime on Earth, as about every production issue that could have happened, actually happened. There were toys produced of the series, but they were of poor quality, incorrect proportions, and didn’t sell well. The first two episodes originally aired without the opening sequence being completed. It was originally scheduled to have 52 episodes, but then this number was cut down to 26, and eventually to 13. For undisclosed reasons, episode 12 was permanently removed from the reruns of the series.
Hizakuriger was cancelled after only 13 episodes, as during the run of its first cour humans came into contact with aliens, and the anime’s depiction of a space adventure became obsolete when faced with real space exploration. Within these 13 episodes, the anime still had three distinguishable parts, each with a different colour to the production. Eventually, the full anime was lost when the master film was disposed of (buried together with director Yarge). Nowadays, the anime is mostly forgotten on Earth, but highly popular on Yokkamarché.