Metal Armor Dragonar: Gundam without Gundams

Well, I hope every enjoyed their holiday and New Year's as I enjoyed mine. So it's now time to return to reviewing obscure anime, and what better way to return than with something that isn't Gundam?

Metal Armor Dragonar, Kikou Senki/Record of Armored War Dragonar in Japanese, was an attempt by Sunrise in 1987-1988 at ending Gundam and creating something new in its place. Gundam ZZ was, and still is, an entry in the franchise that gets mixed opinions due to its focus on comedy in the first half and sudden change to seriousness in the second half. Sunrise apparently felt that maybe Gundam may have overstayed its welcome at this point and that there needed to be a brand new real-robot mech series to take its place. This is where Dragonar comes in...

It is the year 2087 and the United Lunar Empire Giganos initiated a war with the Earth Federation Military. Giganos has the upper hand, though, since they have control of a mass driver located on the Moon, and the repeated firings of the mass driver have turned portions of the Earth into a barren wasteland. Ken/Kaine Wakaba, Light Newman, and Tapp Oceano are three young men who live on a Federation colony spaceship called the Alucard, wanting nothing to do with the war, but when Giganos launches a surprise attack on the Alucard the three end up stumbling upon the Dragonars, three top-secret Federation Metal Armors that Giganos was looking for. With the three piloting the Dragonars, the Federation just might have a chance to win the war.

Next Senki Ehrgeiz: The First Late-Night Mech Anime?

This anime has since been re-reviewed in a more comprehensive & detailed manner via Retrospect in Retrograde, which you can read at this link.

Today I'm going to talk about Ehrgeiz... No, not that Ehrgeiz!  I really can't talk too much about this show using the name AnimeVillage.com/Bandai Entertainment used. Yes, it is part of the full title, but when said alone most people are going to think about Square's collaboration with Namco that led to the title infamously known as "that fighting game that has Final Fantasy VII characters in it". And to make it all the more confusing, both this anime and that game came out in the very same year!

Next Senki/Record of Next War Ehrgeiz, translated as Ehrgeiz: The Next War in its North American release, is one of the early examples of late-night anime, which got their big start in 1997. The animation budget is low, as were most of them at that time, it's mostly obscure now, as a fair number of them also are, and the story isn't anything amazingly special... But I can't help but really enjoy this title.

In the future the people of Earth start expanding into space by creating the "Next" colonies. Years later Next would rebel, forming the Next Government and starting a war with the Earth Government. This prompted both sides into modifying their MVs/Metal Vehicles, the giant mechs of this title, for battle use. In the meantime, a third force appeared in the form of Terra, who rebelled against Earth and wanted peace to return. Throughout all of this, Next started experimenting and created S.A.C (System of Absolutely Conscience [ah, Engrish]), or "S" for short, an MV-like being that broke free and escaped from Next. All the meanwhile, a small batch of unknown outlaws make their living pilfering weapons & rations from any nearby ships that come by their home of Next 7, a colony which was ravaged during the war.