The idea of serializing a manga alongside a newly-debuting anime has been around since at least the 70s, and has especially been a regular sight for mech anime, with Mazinger Z possibly being the first for that genre. However, the concept of making a tie-in for some upcoming production is one that requires plenty of planning ahead of time, so what happens when things don't quite work out for the "main attraction"? A good example of that would be the 1994 TV anime Shinken Legend Tight Road, which was produced by Toei in order to promote a fighting game developed by Gust (yes, that Gust) & published by Zamuse... Only for Zamuse to go out of business by the time the anime started airing, resulting in it being a tie-in to a video game that never got released (if even developed). Another example would be the initial shonen manga version of The Vision of Escaflowne by Aki Katsu that ran in Monthly Shonen Ace from 1994 to 1997, & was one of the series that appeared in the debut issue of the magazine, even though the anime it was meant to be a tie-in to wouldn't air until 1996. This is because Escaflowne went through a bit of production hell, completely changing from a Yasuhiro Imagawa-directed action series into the Kazuki Akane-directed drama it became beloved for, but a deal with Kadokawa Shoten had likely already been inked early on, so Katsu was left no choice but to make a manga based on the original action-focused concept, less than two years before the anime finally debuted; a shojo tie-in manga would debut alongside the anime, but would be forgotten with time. For a non-Japanese example, there's SpyHunter: Nowhere to Run, a 2006 video game based on a Hollywood movie starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson that never went into production.
So, to start the return of Mecha Month, let's look at another example of what one can call a "Vestigial Work", i.e. a weird remain that shouldn't really exist.
Running from April to December of 1985, Ashi Production's Choju Kishin/Super Beast Machine God Dancouga was a unique entry in the giant robot boom of the 80s. It behaved like it was a real robot anime by telling the story of how humanity fought its hardest against the seemingly insurmountable odds of the alien Zorbados Empire, especially since one of their own betrayed humanity & joined the enemy as a talented commander. However, the giant robots showcased (& especially the titular mech they eventually combined into) were undoubtedly super robot in nature. It even took 1/3 of the show's length for Dancouga itself to first appear, treating its formative animal-themed mechs as (semi-)realistic weapons of war. Unfortunately, poor ratings resulted in it getting cancelled early, ending unfinished after Episode 38, but strong merchandise sales resulted in it getting not just a proper finale OVA (Requiem for Victims) in 1986, but also two sequel OVAs in 1987 (God Bless Dancouga) & 1989-1990 (Blazing Epilogue); it also received a collection of official AMVs (Jyusenki-tai Songs). After that, Dancouga lay dormant until 1995, when Banpresto decided to include the anime in Super Robot Wars 4 for the Super Famicom. To build off of this, Ashi Pro then decided to reintroduce three of its mech anime properties to new audiences, starting with 1996's VS Knight Lamune & 40 Fire, a next generation sequel to a series Ashi Pro had success with in the early 90s.
Second in line was Dancouga, & pre-production work started on Choju Kishin Dancouga Burn. Unfortunately, the producer spearheading this mech anime initiative at Ashi Pro then left the studio, and after realizing that Dancouga's inclusion in SRW4 was only because the staff at Banpresto were big fans of the show, and not because it was especially popular, Ashi Pro decided to just can the entire initiative right then & there; the third was apparently going to be GoShogun, though Lamune would receive one last OVA in 1997. However, very similar to the Escaflowne manga, enough work had been put forward with Dancouga Burn that a deal with Kadokawa Shoten was finalized, so from 1997 to 1998 a two-volume manga adaptation by Yuichi Hasegawa (Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam, Maps) ran in the short-lived (as in "it literally existed the same years the manga did") spin-off magazine Monthly Shonen Ace Dash; in fact, all of this backstory comes from the 2005 research book The Otaku Gene: Yuichi Hasegawa - The World of SF Manga. So let's see how this vestigial manga born from a (seeming) misunderstanding of popularity (or lack thereof) fared in the end.
In the early 21st Century (you know... now?!) the Earth is attacked by the Fore, a collective of 26 alien species, and while the Federation Army put up a valiant fight, the planet was conquered & divvied up between the Fore's species, with mankind becoming nothing more than wild animals to them. Ten years later, however, mankind is finally ready to fight back, having learned how to utilize Fore technology like the Graviton System to their own advantage. The end result is a quartet of young soldiers representing an organization named Zoo who are called the Cyber Beast Force "Burn" & pilot four animal-themed giant robots called Cyber Beasts: Shouji Kazama, pilot of Eagle Fighter; Yuri Enjouji, pilot of Land Liger; Shizuka Fukamori, pilot of Land Cougar; & Futaba Fujino, pilot of Big Moth. When things get really tough, though, the four can combine their robots together to create Dancouga Burn, a giant robot that has the body of a machine, the moves of a beast, the shape of a human, & the heart of a god. The CBF's objective is to locate "The Pillar", the sacred home base of the Fore on Earth, & destroy it in order to save all of humanity.
When rebooting anything, there's definitely a proper mix of reusing what was in the original & introducing new elements to look out for, because if you rely too much on what worked originally then the reboot might not feel unique enough, while relying too much on what's new will make one wonder why something was even chosen for rebooting to start with. In that regard, Dancouga Burn features a good mix of the two, utilizing familiar elements of the original 80s anime, but still allowing it to feel like its own creation. The post-apocalyptic world here is a more extreme take on what the original series had, as that was about fighting an initially hopeless war against alien invaders. Likewise, the Cyber Beasts themselves, while using the exact same animals as before, are now given AIs copied from the literal animals themselves, allowing them to behave on their own when needed, whereas the original Cyber Beasts were literal machines that required pilots to do anything. Also, the male/female ratio for the CBF has been changed from 75/25 to 25/75, though as we'll see, the Burn characters aren't just expies of their 80s equivalents. Still, we do obviously have some direct carryover when it comes to terminology, right down to Zoo being lead by a Prof. Hazuki, and Shouji shouting "Yatte Yaruze/Let's Do It!!" at the start of almost every battle, similar to Shinobu Fujiwara from the 80s. However, Burn doesn't have any real direct counterpart to original series' CBF leader General Ross Igor or his son Alan, who fit the "rogue third-party who becomes a valued ally" spot in the original series.
As for the characters, this is where Dancouga Burn differs the most & in turn allows it to be judged on its own merit, as limited as it is due to the short length of the manga. Shouji is the leader of the crew, a young man who harbors nothing but pure hatred & anger at the Fore for being responsible for the death of his parents & brother when they first attacked. This results in him coming off as very insensitive & serious-minded, especially compared to how jovial the girls all behave when not in combat, and he even admits that he's afraid of being around them, though he doesn't tell them that it's because he fears that their more hopeful mindsets will seep into him, "replacing" the anger that drives him. Yuri is a heavy arms expert who worked with an arms caravan before joining Zoo, and she's easily the quickest to react emotionally to situations, easily being annoyed by Shizuka for her seeming teasing & by Shouji for his often gruff attitude. However, this also makes her quick to action when in life or death scenarios, making her more than capable of getting out of tough situations. Shizuka is the daughter of one of the men who helped create the Cyber Beasts, as well as an talented sniper, though her main personality quirk is her lack of a mental filter, as she has no problem saying what's on her mind, and she seems to have a lack of real interpersonal communication, as what winds up annoying Yuri is often just Shizuka trying to have a conversation with her, at least in Shizuka's mind. Finally, we have Futaba, a 12-year old who was put into the CBF simply because Big Moth chose her as its "master", as the other Cyber Beasts had done with the others. However, she's really just a rather innocent child, not a fighter, though she tries her hardest to be a help to everyone else. She also had known Shouji previously, back when he was nicer, & feels that he suddenly changed the moment is was chosen by Eagle Fighter to fight back against the Fore.
As for the Fore themselves, we don't really get much in terms of recurring generals or the like, as it's revealed in Chapter 3 that the individual species that form this collective have essentially stuck to their own claimed territories & don't really interact much with each other. However, that same chapter does also introduce Shapiro Niezheaven, who like his 80s counterpart Shapiro Keats is a human who has willingly joined with the aliens, feeling that they are the next proper evolution of life. However, Burn's Shapiro is seemingly more than just human as he looks to have gained supernatural powers, like phasing through Dancouga's body to enter the shared cockpit, and his blood can put any who drink it under his command, as shown with the two young girls that are first seen accompanying him; much like his spiritual predecessor, though, this Shapiro is likewise very androgynous. He also immediately has a rather "strong" affixation with Shouji, which results in a backstory that you can easily guess from his first appearance, even though it's not revealed until the penultimate chapter. There is a leading commander of the entire Fore, Valhallian, but it doesn't appear until the final chapter, where it reveals the entire point of Earth being attacked, though Valhallian itself does have a similar "I am God" complex that Muge Zorbados had in the original series. Finally, in terms of what we see from Zoo (which is very little), Prof. Hazuki doesn't get a lot to work with, but overall has a very caring nature for his CBF team, similar to that of the original character from the 80s.
In terms of the overall storytelling, this is where the manga's origin as a tie-in meant only to act as promotion for the anime that never got made rear's its head the most, as all but the last three chapters are episodic stories, though they tell an overall narrative, namely the search for "The Pillar". Chapter 1, "Avenger", is an in media res introduction, showing Shouji & Yuri infiltrate a Fore base by having Shouji pretend to be a human traitor & offer Yuri as a experimentation slave, before Shizuka & Futaba start an attack from the outside. Chapter 2, "Trap", sees Futaba acquire information about an old military base, but Shouji refuses to accept the info, since it could be a trap. Futaba then sets off on her own to prove him wrong, only for it to actually be a trap, and the others have to rescue her. Chapter 3, "The Man Who Laughs", has the CBF traversing by freighter, only to be attacked by an underwater foe, one under the control of a debuting Shapiro Niezheaven. Chapters 4 & 5 are linked together slightly by way having the CBF split up in an effort to trick the Fore that there are actually two Dancougas running about. The former, "Two in the Desert", has Yuri & Shizuka discover a local in the middle of the barren desert, only for him & Yuri to be captured at an oasis, with Shizuka managing to escape & needing to rescue the two; this ends Volume 1.
The latter of this pair of chapters, "Cyber Beast vs. Cyber Beast", sees Shouji & Futaba needing to take refuge at the home of an old man & his daughter, as there's a blizzard going on outside, and the two are being hunted by a pack of prototype Cyber Beasts based on wolves that ran off years ago, only to now be under the control of Shapiro. Chapter 6, "The Wrecked Town", puts the reunited CBF in a seeming utopia of a human-populated town that's nestled between two Fore-controlled areas, only for Shapiro to arrive & threaten the town with a Megalo-Pressure, a giant spiked disc that literally ground all of Earth's major cities to pulp a decade prior, including the one Shouji lost his family in; in order for the CBF to survive & destroy the Megalo-Pressure, they may have to sacrifice everyone in the town. Chapter 7, "Warped Space", continues off of the previous chapter by having the CBF recovered by Prof. Hazuki & Zoo, but the gang holds everyone up & forces them to go to "The Pillar" right now, as they had come across a map leading to its location; that's the reason why the town was attacked. Upon reaching "The Pillar", everyone's teleported to the Moon by Valhallian, which then leads into "Those Waiting at the End of the Road", in which the CBF fight against Shapiro in a final battle to determine who is "qualified" to meet Valhallian in person, an alien which deems itself to be "God" of the cosmos.
Because of this compressed style of storytelling, likely due to the deal with Kadokawa stating that it would only run for eight chapters, you can only get snippets of what the larger plot & themes of Dancouga Burn would have been like, had the anime actually been produced. Still, there is definitely some potential to be found here, especially in the last three chapters. Again, the CBF team shown here is allowed to be their own characters, as simple as they are, while Shapiro's whole reason for existing is notably different from his namesake, though considering how backloaded his story is he really comes off more like an equivalent to someone like Generals Death Gaia or Helmut from the 80s for the most part; I'd imagine the anime would have shown more of the various species comprising the Fore, too. Still, those last three chapters definitely show that Burn anime, if the manga is anything like what was planned, likely would have been willing to go harsh & rough if need be, and the final confrontation with Valhallian does explain things in a way that makes the Fore's seeming unwillingness to simply work together feel somewhat logical. After all, to some villains life is but a game, so wouldn't that also include something like the very concept of evolution? However, one thing I am disappointed with is Dancouga Burn itself, which I feel is never really given proper time to shine, at least in comparison to its precursor.
While I actually really like the design done by Hiroyuki Taiga (Buddy Complex, Symphogear G, GX, & XV), and the idea of it expelling tons of heat & explosive energy when combining is clever (& is actually called back to in the final chapter, which I thought was cool), it pretty much is never seen doing much more in fights than punching, kicking, & firing the occasional blaster shot. The big, major weapon it only uses once in the final fight with Shapiro is simply the Dancou Cannon, and even that's kind of underwhelming, as it's just a normal-looking blaster rifle that flips out of the chest, and even has its own grip & trigger that has to be pulled by the robot itself to fire; sure, the original's Dancou Cannon was even simpler, but at least there it made conceptual sense. There's no Dancou Sword to swing around (though Eagle Fighter gets turned into a sword equivalent once, which is funny), no real equivalent to the massive Daigun, or even any sort of over-the-top ultimate attack, like the Dankukougaken seen in God Bless Dancouga. The most we get is the Burn's mouth opening up & it going into a sort of "rage mode", but even that is handled in an underwhelming fashion. I want to really like the Dancouga Burn, but it winds up being such a basic combiner robot, in the end; even the Cyber Beasts themselves have more personality to them, due to their AIs.
As for the artwork, Dancouga Burn is a great example of why Yuichi Hasegawa is often brought in to make manga about giant robots, because he's damn talented at drawing them, and the pilots who use them. All of the robots are well drawn & look effective enough, with some nice detail when appropriate in certain panels. Meanwhile, Hasaegawa's human characters all have a certain amount of youth to them, regardless of how old or young they're supposed to be. While Futaba naturally is drawn to look appropriately young, even Prof. Hazuki honestly doesn't look all that old in the long run, no matter how bushy his beard is. That being said, I will admit that Hasegawa does push fanservice more than you'd expect, though it's not like this series is simply filled with it. Still, Shizuka's jacket more often than not exposes some cleavage, Yuri's general outfit is barely an outfit at all (& her introduction has her top being torn off almost instantly), and Hasegawa oddly pushes it a bit much with Futaba here & there, not helped by her naiveté when it comes to relationships, & Yuri sometimes thinking that Shouji might actually be "doing things" with her. For example, in Chapter 5 Futaba has a massive fever & is starts to get cold, so Shouji has her strip down, & then takes off his own clothes, so as to warm her up. It's no doubt well-intentioned, and Shouji has the old man's daughter trade with him after a bit, but Hasegawa does show Futaba undressing beyond a single image, and even includes a couple of panels later on where Shouji looks at Futaba with a smile on his face, before immediately looking awkward about the whole situation. I'm not going to make any judgments here, but sometimes "Show, Don't Tell" doesn't have to be followed that closely; simply inferring something can be enough, at points. And don't think that I'm against fanservice, because I'm certainly not, but I do feel that it has to have a point in its usage, and that applies to maybe only one or two moments in this manga. Beyond those squabbles, though, I think the artwork for Dancouga Burn looks great, on the whole. I'm sure the anime would have looked totally different, but as it is this is now how this specific reboot definitively looks.
I will admit that I am judging Choju Kishin Dancouga Burn with a bit of leniency here, and it's for two reasons. First, & most importantly, this is a manga that, quite honestly, shouldn't exist in any way, because it's very presence is completely vestigial. This only came to be because the anime had gotten far enough into pre-production that a manga deal was likely already signed, sealed, & delivered, and it was too late to back out of it; money got spent, so might as well let it do its thing. Second, this is nothing more than a tie-in manga, so it was never meant to act as a standalone product that has more depth to it; this was only meant to give you a taste as to what the anime was like, so as to entice you to watch it on TV. In that regard, I feel that I can recommend Dancouga Burn, as while there isn't a lot of meat on the bone, due to its status as a tie-in manga that was likely never intended to run beyond these two volumes, it's still an interesting look at a "what if" scenario. Its existence as a vestigial manga results in readers effectively being to able look behind the curtain & take a look at something that we otherwise should not have known about, since the anime never happened. Hasegawa would actually later utilize this mech & its pilots in his 2000-2002 doujin manga Yuichi Hasegawa Alone: Super Robot Wars Daigaiden, in which Hasegawa's own works would cross over. As for Dancouga, it'd take another decade until it finally got rebooted in the form of 2007's Jusou Kikou Dancouga Nova, which was directed by Masami Obari (who got his start on the original series) & was Ashi Pro's last lead anime production for about seven years; Nova would also eventually crossover with its 80s predecessor in 2011's Super Robot Wars Z 2.
As for this original reboot attempt, though, I just think that Dancouga Burn is "neat", because it has no real reason to exist, yet it does, and that alone makes it worth checking out. Think of it as a doorway into a parallel universe, one in which the anime actually did get made. While they are a rare breed, that's kind of the fun of "Vestigial Works": They let us see something that we normally shouldn't be able to.
Manga © Ashi Pro・Yuichi Hasegawa/Kadokawa Shoten 1998-1999
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