Dai-Guard

[areaseven]

Chikyuu Bouei Kigyou Dai-Guard ( 地球防衛企業ダイ・ガード )

XEBEC/TV Tokyo/Victor Entertainment, 1999

ADV Films, 2002-2003

Directed by Seiji Mizushima (Slayers Next, ZAION: I Wish You Were Here).

Rated 12+ for violence and mild language.

Twelve years ago, an alien race known as the Heterodyne invaded Earth. For the task of eliminating the aliens, an experimental giant robot known as Dai-Guard was created. Unfortunately, before Dai-Guard saw any action, the Heterodyne simply disappeared off the face of the Earth.

Fast-forward to the present day. Dai-Guard is used merely as a showpiece for an international security convention when the Heterodyne show up once again. In a last-minute act of heroism, Shinnosuke Akagi and two of his co-workers board Dai-Guard and bring the old relic into action.

It ain't an easy job as the Heterodyne are the least of our heroes' worries. They have to put up with property damage complaints, maintenance budgets, and other various forms of paperwork. After all, a salaryman can also save the world.

Story: A-

Of all the giant robot parodies, here's something different: one that puts up with real-world elements. Unlike other current giant robots like The Big-O, GaoGaiGar or Mazinkaiser, Dai-Guard is extremely primitive to near-Kishin Corps proportions. It has to be assembled and disassembled manually with trucks and cranes. "Rocket Punch" means it rips one forearm off and throws it at the Heterodyne. At least there's an on-board electric fan in the cockpit.

As for the story itself, it has some very good character development and some witty dialogue. Elements hardly seen in most giant robot parodies these days.

Animation: B+

The artwork and animation are well-detailed and the mecha designs are very cool. Character designs by Mitsuru Ishihara (Sakura Wars: The Movie). Robot designs by Ken Otsuka. Vehicle designs by Shinichi Yamaoka (Love Hina). Mecha designs by Takeshi Takamura and Hideyasu Shimamura.

Soundtrack: A-

The orchestral BGM is the result of a collaborative effort between Kohei Tanaka (Gunbuster, Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team) and Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell: The Movie, Mobile Police Patlabor).

The ending theme is a very mellow piece arranged by the legendary Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus). However, the major music highlight is the J-Punk opening theme "Rojiura no Uchuu Shonen (Back Alley Space Boy)" by the Cobratwisters.

Baa Ba-ba-baa Ba-ba-baa Ba-ba Barararararara!

Baa Ba-ba-baa Ba-ba-baa Ba-ba...

Bararararara! Bararararara! Bararararara-ra!

Sub vs. Dub

Dai-Guard features Kentaro Itou (Aogiri in Ceres, Celestial Legend) as Akagi, Akiko Hiramatsu (Miyuki in You're Under Arrest, Yukari-sensei in Azumanga Daioh) as Momoi, Shinichiro Miki (Takumi in Initial D, Allen in Escaflowne) as Aoyama, Masashi Hirose (Ramba Ral in Mobile Suit Gundam) as Osugi, Kenichi Ono (Touma in Dirty Pair Flash) as Shirota, Takaya Hashi as Okouchi, Michiko Neya (Nancy in Read or Die, Melissa in Full Metal Panic!) as Oyama, Marina Ono (Aihara in Angel Links) as Nakahara, Rumi Kasahara (Kanako in Princess Nine) as Irie, Yukari Tamura (Ai in Full Metal Panic!) as Tanigawa, Shoji Izumi as Ishizuka, Makoto Higo as Taguchi, Katsuyuki Konishi (Touya in Ceres, Celestial Legend) as Ijyuin, Mayumi Shintani (Haruko in FLCL, Tsubasa in His & Her Circumstances) as Domeki, Chiharu Suzuka as Kamimura, Kazuhiko Kishino as Busujima, and Masaharu Sato as Nishina.

ADV's English dub is okay, but they screwed up some of the punch lines.

DVD Extras: B+

The first DVD includes production sketches and credit-free opening and closing sequences.

The Bottom Line

Funny as hell with a hilarious opening theme to boot. Go buy or rent Dai-Guard now.

Reference

Seiyuu Database

Anime News Network

Edited October 31, 2004 by areaseven

[treatment]

I just completed Dai-Guard last week and am prolly gonna write my review this weekend.

The english-dubs gets better in the later discs and this is one show that ADV was totally successful in being converting to American-centric humor and situations.

The ending was kinda meh, tho.

--treatment--

[Abombz!!]

The 2 episodes I saw on CN were pretty good.... and the dub was surprisingly standable.

[areaseven]

The english-dubs gets better in the later discs and this is one show that ADV was totally successful in being converting to American-centric humor and situations.

I don't know if I can agree with that, especially on the scene in episode 8 where Ibuki freaks out because she didn't get any sleep and Akagi was pissing her off. Also, as mentioned earlier, ADV screwed up on some of the punch lines. For example, in episode 4, Akagi and Ibuki are having a conversation. During the conversation, Ibuki hands Akagi a canned beverage. Then, all of a sudden...

(Japanese version)

--

Akagi: "Ibuki!"

Ibuki: "What is it?"

(Akagi looks at the beverage.)

Akagi: "Is this a new product?"

--

Here's ADV's version:

--

Akagi: "Ibuki!"

Ibuki: "What is it?"

(Akagi looks at the beverage.)

Akagi: "Did you get this from insurance?"

--

I just finished watching disc 2 and I have to say it gets more hilarious. In episode 9, Dai-Guard has to defeat a balloon-type Heterodyne. And because it falls numerous times while attempting to catch the Heterodyne and is incapable of climbing mountains, Dai-Guard is disassembled and re-assembled at least four times throughout the episode.

[Tiny]

Dai guard is just mad cool, the way they put comedy into it.

[treatment]

The english-dubs gets better in the later discs and this is one show that ADV was totally successful in being converting to American-centric humor and situations.

I don't know if I can agree with that, especially on the scene in episode 8 where Ibuki freaks out because she didn't get any sleep and Akagi was pissing her off. Also, as mentioned earlier, ADV screwed up on some of the punch lines. For example, in episode 4, Akagi and Ibuki are having a conversation. During the conversation, Ibuki hands Akagi a canned beverage. Then, all of a sudden...

(Japanese version)

--

Akagi: "Ibuki!"

Ibuki: "What is it?"

(Akagi looks at the beverage.)

Akagi: "Is this a new product?"

--

Here's ADV's version:

--

Akagi: "Ibuki!"

Ibuki: "What is it?"

(Akagi looks at the beverage.)

Akagi: "Did you get this from insurance?"

--

I just finished watching disc 2 and I have to say it gets more hilarious. In episode 9, Dai-Guard has to defeat a balloon-type Heterodyne. And because it falls numerous times while attempting to catch the Heterodyne and is incapable of climbing mountains, Dai-Guard is disassembled and re-assembled at least four times throughout the episode.

ADV changed and "tweaked" the English-vocals script quite a bit to make it more American-centric humor, instead of Japanese-centric humor. So you wll find the punch-lines from the various jokes in the Japanese-vocals/Japanese-translation script to be missing here and there. It's kinda like the way the english-vocals on Golden Boy (another ADV title) were more hilarious and better to listen to, and had alot more punchlines than the english-subtitles/japanese-translations.

It's something they usually do to the english-vocals in some of their titles. Sometimes it's just good and great (dai-guard, golden-boy, excel, Nukunuku), and sometimes it's a bit crappy in others (Samurai X, FMP, EVA).

I watched the whole (disc 1-6) series in japanese and english dubs. Both have their separate charms, especially in the comedy. I normally watch anime in japanese-vocals, but Dai-Guard is one of those few I prefer to listen to the english-vocals.

your mileage may vary, however.

Edited September 8, 2003 by treatment

[zeta]

I caught the second ep when CN played it, my god it was hilarious! Though it seems to me that the government would turn the other cheek to property damage in the situation!

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I caught a couple of episodes on CN as well, and I had a good time with it. A mix of giant robot shtick and and a mundane environment. And to top it all off, no whiny mech pilots, just a dude who's all too eager to kick some ass. I'm definitely gonna see more of this show.

[motley]

i love daiguard, its just the right mix of super robots, realism, and comedy. i haven't finished the series yet, but i've only got a couple dvds left to go. the first half of the show was very strong, but its gotten a little weak in the latter part, a little too much time creating additional conflict and not enough time with the main characters, though its still enjoyable. i just wish they'd made some toys, i could really go for a daiguard SOC, though its not likely in my lifetime.

[NERV]

great show except there were like 2 or 3 episodes late in the series where the animation went to crap, half the animators mustve called out that week, but it gets back to normal so its all good

[treatment]

great show except there were like 2 or 3 episodes late in the series where the animation went to crap, half the animators mustve called out that week, but it gets back to normal so its all good

Yes, there's one episode late in the series where the animation and art went primitively bizarre. I'm not quite sure if it was intentional since the whole episode was dealing with the grey-area emotional issues of one of the lead characters (won't tell u who. )

or if the animation-house just went on strike or something.

[areaseven]

How bad is that episode animated? Is it like watching an Anime Friend episode of Macross?

[treatment]

How bad is that episode animated? Is it like watching an Anime Friend episode of Macross?

Well, no. Not animefiend-bad.

It's just the same art and animation that you will find in another anime titled Colorful.

edit:

fwiw, it's just one episode and I'm leaning on that they did that episode that way intentionally.

Edited September 13, 2003 by treatment