Retrospect in Retrograde: Haja Taisei Dangaioh

While The Land of Obscusion got its start on December 1, 2010, it actually wouldn't be until December 5 that the first actual review would get written & posted. As for why I chose Haja Taisei/Evil Crushing Great Star Dangaioh, I just felt that it would be appropriate that my first review for the blog should be for one of the earliest anime to be officially released in its original Japanese, with an English-subtitled translation. While I now know that the actual first ever anime release of this type was AnimEigo's VHS release of Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 in 1989, U.S. Renditions' release of "Dangaio" in 1990, alongside Gunbuster, remains one of the earliest official, uncut, subtitled anime releases in North America, so at least I was still pretty close; it may not be "The Forgotten 'Start-of-it-All'", but it's at least semi-forgotten today. So, after giving Next Senki Ehrgeiz the RiR treatment this spring & expanding on Momotaro's Sea Eagle with the Momotaro: Sacred Sailors review this summer, let's finally revisit the subject of the review that started it all here on The Land of Obscusion... And on the exact same day, only a literal decade later.

There's no eyecatch, so here's the end of the OP.

Toshihiro Hirano, also known by his pseudonym Toshiki Hirano (he seriously switches between them whenever he feels like it), got his start in the anime industry back in 1979 as a simple animator at Tatsunoko for Gatchaman Fighter, before moving on to titles like Urusei Yatsura, Dr. Slump Arale-chan, & Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. In 1985, though, he got his big break by doing the female character designs for Ninja Senshi Tobikage, being a major part of Megazone 23 (character designs, storyboard, & animation direction), & creating the Fight! Iczer-1 OVA, his directorial debut. He'd follow all of that up with doing the character designs for 1986's Cosmos Pink Shock, before returning to directing with two OVAs in 1987: Haja Taisei Dangaioh & Daimaju Gekito: Hagane no Oni. Both of them actually came from the dissolution of a planned OVA remake of Mazinger Z titled "Dai Mazinger", and from what I can tell Dangaioh seemingly maintained the super robot aesthetic, while Hagane no Oni maintained the darker aesthetic. Three episodes would come out from 1987 to 1989, before essentially disappearing into the void. Following U.S. Renditions' original VHS release from 1990 (Ep 1) & 1992 (Eps 2 & 3), Manga Entertainment would get the rights to the OVA after Renditions' demise, releasing a dubbed VHS titled Dangaioh: Hyper Combat Unit in 1996, followed by a DVD release in 2003. I purposefully ignored Manga's dub in the original review, and this time we will cover it, but enough backstory...

CROSS FIGHT!!!!! DAN-GAI-OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Three young women & one young man all awaken in the middle of an unknown space satellite, where they're suddenly attacked by robots. They remember nothing but their names & quick realize they all have some sort of special power, as well as telepathy. Roll Kran, the only male, can turn himself into an energy battering ram by running. Lamba Nom can fire thin energy beams from her fingertips. Pai Thunder is super strong, not quite matching her slimmer body shape. Finally, Mia Alice isn't fully sure of her power, but when stressed it can cause massive destruction around her. The four meet up & eventually find out that this was all a test by Dr. Tarsan, the scientist who created them as ESPers so that he can sell them off to Captain Galimos, leader of the Bunker Space Pirates. The four deny this fate put upon them & escape, especially once Mia starts to remember some of her own past as a human of Earth, making them all realize that Dr. Tarsan lied to them about him "creating" them. This is just the start of the battles these four will have with the Bunker, and to fight back they have the four Dan Mechanic jets that Tarsan had created for them, which can combine into the giant robot Dangaioh.

Let me just put it out right away & say that Haja Taisei Dangaioh is NOT an anime you watch for its plot. That being said, let's go over each of the three episodes, because they actually do differ from each other in style, somewhat. Episode 1, Cross Fight!! (though this is never actually mentioned in the episode itself), is the longest one of them all at ~45 minutes. It introduces the main cast, including Gil Berg, an assistant to Dr. Tarsan who's been willing to let the good doctor do anything to him to turn him into a cyborg, all in an effort to join the Bunker. Once the Dangaioh Team (as they'd later be called) escape, Gil takes advantage of the situation to join the Bunker, while Yoldo & Dira (two other assistants of Tarsan) are dispatched to recover our heroes. Combined with both Mia & Pai remembering their pasts, with the latter being the daughter of Galimos himself, & Gil attacking the Earth in order to lure Mia to him, this is easily the most multi-faceted episode of them all, also making it the most enjoyable. It definitely focuses more on being "cool" more than actually bothering to fill in little details, but it definitely is a lot of fun to watch.

Episode 2, Spiral Knuckle in Tears, is probably the most interesting one of all from a production standpoint, because it gives a good indication that Dangaioh wasn't originally meant to be anything more than a one-off. First, this second OVA took just over a year to come out, yet the total run time for it is only ~28 minutes, half the length of the original. Second, it actually starts with a 10-minute recap of the first episode, likely both to remind viewers of what happened a year prior (& to catch up newcomers), as well as to artificially raise the total run time for release; even then it's still shorter!). Third, this is the only episode of Dangaioh that actually includes a preview for the next episode! It's possible that Dangaioh was originally only intended to be a single-episode OVA, salvaging work originally conceived for "Dai Mazinger", but it wound up selling better than expected, likely catching everyone involved off-guard & resulting in them scrambling to create a continuation. This time around Lamba gets the focus, as her memories regarding her royal heritage return right as the Dangaioh Team is attacked by a trio of Bunker mercenaries lead by Shazarla, Lamba's former handmaid. Though the shortest episode, it arguably has the strongest emotional weight, as Lamba's unwillingness to actually fight her old friend is done well, and it starts to push the entire series' generally somber tone. Mia willingly decides to leave her home planet to fight alongside her new friends, Pai is left for dead by her father for not simply becoming a mindless weapon for him to use, Lamba is forced to fight against literally the only surviving piece of her past and, as we'll see in the next episode, Roll's backstory isn't any happier.

Finally, we have Episode 3, The Demonic Revenge of Gil Berg (also never actually stated in-episode), which came out in mid-1989, a much shorter wait. Here we focus on Roll, who remembers off-screen that he was the former leader of the resistance force on the planet Latecia, left for dead by his friends Burst & Flash (who join the Bunker). The Dangaioh Team head there, only for Roll to get caught in a trap laid by Gil Berg, who was recovered by the Bunker & revived into even more of a cyborg than before, due to his sheer hatred for the Dangaioh Team, especially Mia. While this final episode clocks in at ~38 minutes, I honestly think it has less emotional weight to it than the previous episode, as Burst & Flash don't have any reason for being evil (Shazarla had a reasonable logic to her actions), Roll remembering who he is isn't shown at all (the characters say that it "just recently happened", but that's all), and it's obviously all just window dressing for the eventual final battle between Dangaioh & Gil's giant robot, Gilgear. That being said, this episode really doubles down on the somber tone, as the entire series ends on a very strong down note. The Bunker are still at large & Gil Berg is even promoted, while our heroes are left not just at their weakest, but also essentially lost in space on an individual basis.

Now, to be fair, OVAs of the 80s did often wind up not having proper finales, either because of poor sales or due to being nothing more than promotion for something else, but what makes Dangaioh's ending all the more annoying is that this OVA DID get a sequel, 2001's Haja Kyosei/Evil Crushing Giant Star Great Dangaioh. Unfortunately, even with 13 episodes to work with, Great Dangaioh barely had anything to do with the original, and what little it did was not well done. Seriously, it's only a sequel in that the battle in Tokyo from Episode 1 let humanity find out about Dangaioh & the Bunker, which lead to them using the remains to create their own Dangaioh, and (somehow) Mia Alice wound up returning to Earth in a comatose state, which she's literally in for pretty much the entire show. Not just that, but the TV series ends with the reveal of the ACTUAL Great Dangaioh, piloted by a character you've never seen before, which launches into space to take on the Bunker. Yes, Great Dangaioh not only was terrible as a sequel to the original OVA, but Hirano had the gall to tease a THIRD PART OF THE STORY(!!!), which has never come to pass in the nearly 20 years since that show, & will likely never happen. On its own, Haja Taisei Dangaioh's somber ending is admittedly memorable, if a minor example of what I once called "Getting Hirano-ed", but when you consider the fact that it actually got a "sequel", even if it can barely be called that, it's honestly kind of maddening; Great Dangaioh's ending, however, is absolute pure "Getting Hirano-ed".

All that being now said I can at least give props to the cast, who are well executed, if definitely simplistic in concepts. Mia is definitely the simplest of the Dangaioh Team, being more or less an absolute pacifist that prefers to not fight at all, though she accepts that fighting winds up being the only course of action; again, her main problem is how undeveloped she is, from her backstory to her psychic powers. Pai is probably my favorite of the four, a no-nonsense brawler of a young woman who starts off kind of cold to her fellow ESPers, especially Mia, but grows somewhat into a more caring person, though she's still the first to action. Lamba is similar to Mia in that she'd rather not fight, & instead would prefer to talk things out, but at the same time has no qualms pointing a finger at anyone who attacks her or her friends, ready to fire an energy beam; of the four, she arguably has the most overall development, due to Episode 2. Finally, there's Roll, a mostly shy young man who means well but comes off a bit naïve, but when everyone combine their Dan Mechanics together to form Dangaioh, Roll not only becomes a confident & hot-blooded man, but also the main pilot. I have my guess on why this happens later on, but it's no doubt a curious direction to go, since Mia's the one who's often portrayed as the "leader", and she's the one who hot-bloodedly screams the combination phrase "Cross Fight! Dan-Gai-Ooooooooh!". As for the villains, the only one of note is easily Gil Berg, a crazed psychopath who quickly shows how insanely obsessed he is with joining the Bunker, even ripping out his left eye (which wasn't augmented) to show how serious he is to Galimos; he's willing to toss aside his entire humanity. Sure, his specific anger towards Mia (& Dr. Tarsan) is rather focused, as he could have easily had hatred for the entire Team, but it matches his laser-focused obsession-based psychosis; as simple as he is, Gil is instantly memorable.

However, Dangaioh is definitely a story that doesn't require you to think about it too much, because doing so will reveal some notable plot holes. For example, Mia literally has no real backstory other than "a girl from Earth", how Tarsan even came across her is a complete mystery (Lamba's "acquisition" is explained, while Pai & Roll's can at least be surmised with what is given to the viewer), & her psychic power is never actually explained. When stressed she can become the epicenter of an energy explosion, but she also is shown to be able to fly into the sky a couple of times, so she's just special, I guess. Also, while it is nice to see Tarsan become an ally to his "children", there really isn't much of an actual transition from his Bunker-allied origin to being their friend. Seriously, he goes from seeming evil scientist to being forced to help the Team to being a loving mentor, all in just the first episode. Sure, he's likely also wanted by the Bunker now for failing to deliver what he had promised with the Dangaioh Team, and he definitely fears Galimos enough to side with the heroes, but it's just never even given all that much of an explanation, so you just really have to take Tarsan switching sides on faith. Really, Dangaioh is more about being a "cool" mech anime from the late 80s, and as long as you go in with that mindset I think you'll have a good time with it.

That "cool" factor is definitely because of the people behind Dangaioh, because it has just an outstanding staff. Beyond Toshihiro Hirano acting as director/writer/storyboarder/character designer, there's also Noboru "Sho" Aikawa, in one of his earlier jobs, helping out with the writing, which would likely help explain the somber tone that permeates throughout. We also have Koichi Ohata, who helped out with storyboards & mechanical designs. Easily the most involved name, after Hirano himself, is Masami Obari, who helped storyboard Episode 1, assisted with the mechanical designs, acted as co-animation director for the entire series, and even contributed key animation for all three episodes. Also helping out with the stellar mechanical designs are Shoji Kawamori (who also contributed key animation for Episode 1) & Yasushi Ishizu (so, yes, that FOUR mechanical designers for three episodes!), monster designs by the late Junichi Watanabe, and animation by (later) renown people like Atsuko Ishida, Narumi Kakinouchi, the late Kunihiro Abe, Shin Matsuo, & even some in-betweening done by a young Keiji Gotoh; without a doubt, a lot of talent were a part of this AIC & ARTMIC-animated OVA series. There's also rumor that Hideaki Anno also did some animation, but his name isn't listed in any of the episodes at all; he did draw Dangaioh itself for the cover of an event Gainax was a part of, but that's all. Fans of other AIC & Artmic productions, like Bubblegum Crisis & Megazone 23, will also hear some familiar sound effects, as sound director Yasunori Honda was also a part of the staff.

Speaking of audio, we have the music by Michiaki Watanabe (Mazinger Z, Fight! Iczer-One), with additional compositions for Episode 3 done by Kaoru Mizutani, a pen name for Takayuki Yamaishi (best known for composing the OP theme to Ninku). While Watanabe did compose some original tracks for Dangaioh, he also re-purposed songs he had originally composed for older shows like Great Mazinger & even the Metal Hero series of tokusatsu; similarly, some of Dangaioh's original tracks would later reappear in new forms in Godannar. The most notable of all is the song "Psychic Zan, Soshite", which is a remix of "Laser Blade" from Space Sheriff Gavan. Regardless, Watanabe's soundtrack is just outstanding, with a strong feeling of bombast befitting a super robot piloted by ESPers that has attacks like "Spiral Knuckle" & "Psychic Slash", while also maintaining a fun, old-school feel to it.

As for the OP & ED themes, we actually have two each. Episodes 1 & 2 feature OP "Cross Fight!" by Ichiro Mizuki & Mitsuko Horie & ED "Kokoro no Honesty" by Mitsuko Horie, while Episode 3 features a pair of songs by Hidemi Nakai, OP "Cheap Thrills" & ED "Who's Gonna Win?". In terms of the Mizuki & Horie songs, "Cross Fight!" is simply an all-time classic piece of anisong, composed by a master in Watanabe & performed by the "Aniki" & "Queen" of the category themselves, while "Kokoro no Honesty" is a strong ballad that's a perfect counterpart to the high-energy OP. As for Nakai's songs, I personally feel that they are not given any sort of credit, instead tossed aside because of the names behind the first pair; also, both are set to nothing but credit scrolls, so they have to rely on nothing but themselves. Sure, "Cheap Trills" has absolutely no real lyrical connection to Dangaioh, but it does deliver a different feel for the last episode, and it's just a fun hard rock song in its own right. As for "Who's Gonna Win?", it's a slow ballad sung completely in English by Nakai (who does a decent job with the language), but I do feel that it absolutely matches the general mood of the OVA, and especially the ending, talking about "dreamers" who only want to "see what's on the other side", and Nakai comforting the listener with "you don't have to worry" & "baby, don't you cry", almost as if it's in relation to the unsure feeling the ending gives off.

For the Japanese cast, it's arguably about as filled with notable names as the staff. Leading everyone is Mayumi Sho (the original voice of Chi-Chi in Dragon Ball) as Mia Alice, who may be one of the lesser known voices here, but she does a great job with the character; while Roll pilots Dangaioh, Mia commands its formation, and Sho screams it out perfectly. Speaking of piloting Dangaioh, we have Roll Kran voiced by the venerable Akira Kamiya, and I want to believe that Roll was made the pilot solely because Kamiya got cast. To no surprise, Kamiya's hot-blooded screams when Roll is piloting are iconic, but he also does a great job with Roll's generally humble & polite mannerisms. Pai Thunder is performed by Naoko Matsui (Sonoko Suzuki in Detective Conan, Roux Louka in Gundam ZZ), and she likewise is pitch perfect for the tough but caring strongwoman of the group. Rounding out the Dangaioh Team is Maya Okamoto (Emma Sheen in Z Gundam, Ane in Gintama) as Lamba Nom, who plays the pure-hearted innocent member well. Easily the best performance of all, though, comes from the iconic Shigeru Chiba as Gil Berg, delivering all of the madness, anger, & psychosis of the character with an instantly memorable performance. The only other recurring actors of note would be Takeshi Aono & Kenichi Ogata as Dr. Tarsan & Galimos, respectively, and both also deliver fine performances. As for everyone else that appears in just one episode, we have the likes of Kazuhiko Inoue (Burst), Ryo Horikawa (Flash), Masako Katsuki (Shazarla), Yusaku Yara & Michitaka Kobayashi (Oscar & Domton, Shazarla's cohorts), and Ichiro Mizuki & Mitsuko Horie even make glorified cameos as Yoldo & Dira; while Horie is a noted actor, this is one of only a handful of roles Mizuki has ever performed.

And now we finally make it to Manga Entertainment's dub, which I've personally always avoided for one simple reason: It's not complete. However, this is not because it's unfinished, but rather because Manga decided to skip the first episode! In short, the dub edits together the latter two episodes, complete with the 10-minute recap that starts Episode 2, into a single ~100-minute "movie". It doesn't even really handle the transition from one episode to the other all that well, instead simply cutting from the reveal of Gil that ends Episode 2 into the end of "Cheap Thrills", and not very smoothly, either. Still, beyond those cuts, this dub is otherwise uncut in terms of the footage actually used, so let's just move on to the dub work itself. Directed by Michael Bakewell (Mad Bull 34, Angel Cop), this Manga UK-produced dub is definitely a bizarre one, mainly in how it actively alters the plot in bizarre ways. For example, Galimos (here pronounced "Garimoth") is in fact NOT Galimos, and literally tells the Dangaioh Team that he trusts in their ability to defeat Galimos... WHAT?! Also, the recap footage now has Dira tells the Team to head back to Tarsan for help, instead of hinting that she knows where Lamba's from, as if trying to fill in a really minor plot hole. Episode 3 also now has Flash & Burst put Roll into cryogenic suspension instead of being left for dead... Even though the shot of Burst stabbing Roll to death is kept; must have been one of those newfound freezing daggers I've been hearing about. As for the cast, they're honestly decent on the whole, though you do get the occasional bit of flat or awkward delivery, & even the rare slip into someone's original British accent. Also, since this is a Manga UK dub, there is some usage of foul language, though it is admittedly lighter than the company was usually notorious for at the time, with the majority of the S & F-bombs appearing in Episode 3; Pai also calls Mia a "bleeding heart liberal" at one point, which just comes from out of nowhere. I had avoided this dub mainly because of its bizarre "Let's just skip the first episode, because they recap it anyway" execution, but it's honestly not as bad as I thought it would be; there are even some fun little one-liners to be found, mainly from Gil Berg.

While the thematic concept for choosing Haja Taisei Dangaioh, i.e. being "The Forgotten 'Start-of-it-All'", was factually off by a couple of prior releases, I still think that it was a great pick to act as the first ever review for The Land of Obscusion, and watching it again a decade(+) later only reinforces that feeling. Yes, it's plotting isn't anything trailblazing, its characters are rather simple, and its ending is kind of depressing (made downright maddening in light of the absolute failure of a sequel it received a decade+ later), but this is one of those cases where it kind of doesn't really matter. Simply put, Dangaioh is just plain cool, featuring strong archetypes for its heroes & villains, memorable character & mech designs, outstanding music, an extremely talented cast (in Japanese, at least), & so much talent working on the animation that it can't look anything less than awesome in motion. It's not hard to see why this was one of the titles that U.S. Renditions decided to make its debut with, even if that first VHS' translation is shockingly rough ("ESPers" are not "cyborgs"), with the first run notoriously mistranslating "Psychic Wave" as "Side-Kick Wave", though that was fixed for later runs; why they didn't simply redo everything at that point is a mystery. As for what Manga Entertainment did with Dangaioh, while the concept behind truncating it into a "movie" was definitely dumb, the dub itself is honestly better than I had expected, even with its weird eccentricities regarding some plot changes.

Really, though, I am honestly still shocked that Haja Taisei Dangaioh has yet to be license rescued. It even received a beautiful HD remaster & Blu-Ray release in Japan back in 2016 (though Episode 3's film master is apparently lost, so that received a 1080i upscale), so there's all the more reason why one of the earliest anime ever released in North America in its original uncut, Japanese form should one day be given a new release over here. In fact, you can even sync the Manga UK dub to the HD remastered-footage, since beyond some OP/ED cuts the main content of the two episodes used is otherwise unedited; of course, only Discotek Media would be willing to actually do that for an official release.

That being said... We all still got Hirano-ed, in the end.

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