Great Dangaioh


Hyper Combat Giant Great Dangaioh is a 2001 Japanese mecha anime series produced by AIC as the sequel to the 1987 OVA Hyper Combat Unit Dangaioh. It is directed by Toshiki Hirano and written by Sumio Uetake, while Hirano's wife, Narumi Kakinouchi, was the animation director for episodes 1 and 3. It aired in TV Asahi in Japan from 5 April 2001 to 5 July 2001.

Plot

Somewhere in Japan, a bright light suddenly blasted from the ground. The light in a blink destroyed everything within a hundred-mile radius. People argued that falling space debris caused it, but others felt that the unusual movement of terrestrial magnetism caused the light. The truth, however, remained hidden and blurred from people's memories. A little girl named Miya is the only one that knows what the light is.
Ten years later, an army of giant robots suddenly appear and devastates the Earth. They call themselves "EX Tartaro," whom pilot four major robots - the Four Kyokuohand. Their mission is to "purify the world". Three battle robots, the Dangaioh, defeated the enemy with ease. Sensing the strength of their enemy, the Ex Tartao united to form one giant robot. The three members of the Dangaioh team united into Dangaioh to reveal their true powers and eventually destroyed the invading force. The plot was devised by madman Dr. Katou, who was once the co-planner of the Dangaioh. The Dangai Project began preparations for a battle from a threat from the outer space pirate "Bunker". Dr. Katou and Yonamine had a big dispute, leading to Dr. Katou's betrayal. Now, in a secret underground organization, Dr. Yonamine and the Dangaioh are prepared to face off against Dr. Katou and his robotic troops.

Characters

Main characters

; Kuya Amagi
; Manami Mishio
; Hitomi Chidou

Supporting characters

; Gunji Yonamine
;Miya Shikitani
; Chiho Kazamaki
; Ryuko Shima
; Kyoko Tamahara
; Kasumi Yamagata
; Kozue Mori
; Kaori Tsukishiro
; Romrin
; Mia Alice
; '''Kyoji Reisen'''

Villains

;Danjou Katou
;'''Exception'''

Mechanics

Dangaioh was created by Gunji Yonamine and Dr. Miya Shikitani. It is formed by 3 separate robots codenamed Dangai-numbers; the Dangaioh B, Dangaioh F, and Dangaioh X.

Terrorist Mecha

  • Tartarus Knight: Appear in episode 1. Powers include a machine gun for the right hand, swimming, and a pair of blaster cannons on the torso.
  • Cerberus: Appears in episode 1. Powers include swimming and head lasers from the mouths of the side heads.
  • Harpy: Appears in episode 1. Its only known power is super sonic flight.
  • Charon: Appears in episode 1. Powers include swimming and remote lasers disguised as energy balls.
  • Pluto: Appears in episode 1. Powers include swimming and a large club.
  • Kokyutosu: Appears in episode 1. Powers include flight and dozens of laser turrets. It serves as Dr. Katou's flying fortress.
  • Teyupon: Appears in episode 2. Powers include swimming, summoning the six robo birds, head lightning bolts, and eye lasers.
  • *Robo Bird: Appear in episode 2. Powers include super sonic flight, talons, and mouth sonic waves.
  • Abbas: Appears in episode 3. Powers include flight and carrying Timur in its mouth.
  • Archimedes: Appears in episode 3. Powers include swimming, a sickle for the right arm, and a flamethrower for the left arm.
  • Timur: Appears in episode 3. Powers include an acidic nano-machine based body and reforming.
  • Build Ranger: Appears in episode 4. Powers include dividing into a pair of steam rollers, a pair of shovel claws, and a bulldozer, four EMP field emitting probes, foot treads, a drill on each shoulder, and an abdomen tazer.
  • Space Catapult Drone: Appear in episode 5. Their only known power is a machine gun for the left hand.
  • Night Stoke: Appears in episode 5. Powers include morphing into a shuttle, super sonic flight, satellite hacking, and a solar powered beam from the head.
  • Shizaku G: Appears in episode 6. Powers include a submarine mode, swimming, scythe arms, twelve torpedo launchers from the back, and an ultrasonic emitter from the mouth.
  • Daidalos XV: Appears in episode 7. Powers include a cruise ship mode, an energy resistant anchor in the right wrist, and dozens of missiles in the head.
  • Dai-Ankokuten: Appears in episode 9. Powers include sensor disrupting fog from the hair, explosive shurikens, high jumping, a katana, and merging with Hikio.
  • *Hikio: Appears in episode 9. Powers include burrowing, twin mouth missile launchers, and wrecking ball arms.
  • Elk: Appears in episode 10. Powers include flight, a tomahawk, and a crossbow with explosive arrows on the left arm, and self destructing.
  • *Elk Flying Carrier Plane: Appears in episode 10. Powers include flight and double barreled turrets on its top.

Episodes

The series was originally intended to be 26 episodes long, but was cancelled halfway due to poor reviews and low ratings. This prompted creator Toshiki Hirano to state at an anime event that "Any series called Dangaioh seems destined to not be completed", as the original Dangaioh OVA series was also left unfinished. Though this series did seem to try and resolve the cliffhanger of the OVA by including at least one character from it in this series.

Theme music

Opening Theme – "Fighting Chance"
  • Singer: Go Takahashi
  • Lyrics: Yuko Ebine
  • Music: Akira Tsuji
  • Producer: Takahiro Ando
Ending Theme – "Kimi no tame ni Ai wo"
  • Singer: Kasumi Yamagata
  • Lyrics: Yuko Ebine
  • Music: Akira Tsuji
  • Producer: Akira Tsuji