Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Yes, Toei did the Fleet of Doom animation! What was either surprising (or not) was that Golion and Dairugger XV are both separate shows. The Earth was destroyed in Year 1999 in  Golion's setting. Dairugger XV has the Earth in the Year 2200 A.D. When adaptations happen -- there's a trope called Related in the Adaptation. My only guess is that American adaptations put several unrelated shows together for the adaptation -- due to cultural difference. Power Rangers put several unrelated shows or self-contained shows in their own expanding universe. I won't devote myself to writing Dairugger XV episode reviews. The show has TOO MANY characters to write about. What was Toei thinking in putting 15 characters in one Anime? It's probably no wonder why children didn't like it! Pidge's story is that he's from Planet Balto. However, that planet that blew up in Golion was actually EARTH! Yes, Lion Voltron episode 20 used footage from where the Earth blew up! None of that...

I watched Lion Voltron and Vehicle Voltron . I didn't like Vehicle Voltron -- I only watched it as a form of escapism. It's obvious that both Hyajakuu Golion and Dairugger XV have DIFFERENT plots and weren't meant to be connected. However, World Events Productions (WEP) decided to do that mish-mashing with the two shows and we have two Voltron entries. Dairugger XV came a year after Golion premiered. It was a different environment. That means the Galaxy Garrison was only from Dairugger XV . The year was 2200 A.D. and the plot is related to the endless sea of the Galaxy. I actually like some shows that weren't a hit during their time. Take Kamen Rider BLACK RX which had low ratings. B-Fighter Kabuto may be better than the Beetleborgs duology BUT it's still messy. I enjoyed both shows but they didn't do well during their time. Dairugger XV is another show that was too ambitious for its own good. What was interesting was that Dairugger XV was five years after Chode...

Most Super Robot Anime shows are self-contained -- unless specified. It's known that Mazinger Z had a Trilogy. However, the Nagao Tagahama's Romance Robot Trilogy, w hich are Combattler V , Voltes V , and Daimos ,   are most likely self-contained, series-wise. The American production shows tend to get the Japanese license then combine several unrelated shows into one localized remake.  Vehicle Voltron's first episode came out on October 19, 1984. Dairugger XV came out in 1982. The two shows were completely unrelated. The idea was done by World Events Productions (WEP) before Harmony Gold did the same thing in making Robotech (which I'm super oblivious to) and Saban Entertainment with Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers .  Dairugger XV became the last of the Super  Robot Anime series by Toei. What do you expect when Super Sentai started making Megazords sell better? However, I blame Dairugger XV's overly serious and mature tone as to why it didn't click with childr...

Lion Voltron was known to have extended to 20 more episodes -- followed by that awful 3D cartoon Voltron: The Third Dimension . Back then, a lot of stuff were kept trimmed away from Lion Voltron . I decided to lump up the last five episodes for this reason -- similar to how Voltes V created a movie based on the last five episodes. Yes, there are some spoilers and I'll hit on the RANDOM REVELATION that showed up as well. Who could remember the toned-down dialogue of Lion Voltron ? The arc maintains that Saint (Garrett in Lion Voltron ) was a saboteur. Here, it's revealed that Raible's son is not in "some other dimension". Instead, some tribal chief reveal that both of them DIED during the Galra attack. Hysteria wasn't hit by some stun gun. Instead, Hysteria really DIED when Saint shot him. Saint was created by Honerva as an evil clone of the real son, the late Roland. The scene almost looks like what if Okane from Daimos died defending Professor Ryuuzaki. Hyste...

  Episode 41 The mysterious figure is Ryo Shirogane -- Takashi's brother. Takashi is shocked to learn that his brother has died. They were probably separated at some point when Takashi escaped with the others. Takashi's died at the hands of Honerva. Ryo recalls the vision he had from Takashi -- which helped confirm Shirogane's death to him. A deleted scene is the Golion team visiting Takashi's grave. That scene was deleted for obvious reasons. Ryo's footage was used for Sven. However, Takashi and Ryo are two different persons from the source material. Interestingly, Power Rangers Zeo turned one person into two separate persons -- that was Kaiser Buldont into Gasket and Sprocket. A strange way to deal with source material adaptations huh?  Amue's escape gets Sincline ticked off. It's amazing to know how the firing squad failed to kill Amue. Amue has a pretty strong PLOT ARMOR on her. Amue helps some slaves escape but it FAILS. Sincline uses the new Mecha Beas...

Here's another set of episodes for Golion . The Lion Voltron episodes obviously cut off anything that's too brutal. Now, it's time for the next set of episodes.  Episode 26 As the defeats at the hands of Golion -- they decide to start using some subtler tactics again. Honerva creates an invisibility cloak. Sincline chooses a four-armed Beast Fighter called Bullbar to do the job. An invisible Beast Fighter would definitely do the job. Sincline still daydreams of capturing Fala for his sick pleasure. Once again, one must wonder where Amue is in Castle Galra? Is Amue simply getting too boring? Or is Sincline wearing condoms if ever he's actually raping her? Such details are best left out!  Fala, Hiroshi, and Hysteria are out getting fruits. However, the invisible four-armed Beast Fighter starts causing trouble. There's some scenes of people getting crushed by rocks -- something not shown in Lion Voltron for obvious reasons. Having an enemy one can't see can be a di...

Golion goes in a more bizarre direction. This time, we get a couple of episodes. Some of them connect to a previous plot. Others just didn't. That's a common problem with writing superhero show episodes. Golion would be no different. There are bound to be errors with different writers involved.  Episode 21 The Lion Voltron episode was tamed in the dialogue. However, this is where Golion adds some sexually suggestive dialogue. Sincline has his collection of women. Now, Amue is used as a substitute until he gets Fala.  Amue is called Sincline's plaything -- hinting that he molested her. However, there's still some censorship that prohibits rape. Amue was still fully dressed when she was returned. It might be that Sincline touched her privates but never bothered to do it with her.  Amue escapes with some women that Sincline kept for his pleasure. Alor wants to rescue Amue. This is where Amue's capture becomes a running gag. Amue's simply kept alive by Plot Armor. Y...

After giving Prince Sincline's introduction -- here are a bunch of rewatches. Warning: Some of these episodes can be grim. Yes, stuff that's not appropriate for TV-Y7-FV -- stuff that made localizing Hyajakuu Golion a necessity. Anyway, here are some of the episodes coming up! Episode 16 After Sincline's introductory arc -- it's time for him to get into a regular episode. The story of the two kingdoms is told. Two lovers from ages past tried to build a bridge. The love goddess Roman (this might be the same Goddess that split Golion) heard their pleas and built a bridge. Years later, it was destroyed during Galra's invasion of Altea. The bridge is rebuilt but spoilers -- it's destroyed again! This episode reveals Sincline's womanizer nature. Tsuyoshi gets to act as the youth from Helena. Fala acts as the youth from Altea. It's interesting to see Daibazaal try to teach Sincline about the basics. Daibazaal's probably only 50 years old by Galran Years. H...

For the past few episodes -- it seems the Galrans were mostly For the Evulz. However, episodes 14-16 give us an idea of what may be the Golion's greatest threat. Prince Sincline (Lotor) is introduced in episode 14 as the "Crown Prince of Hell". The Galran Royalty is pretty much For the Evulz. I wonder where the citizens of Planet Galra are?! Voltes V showed us the Boazanian citizenry. Daimos showed us the Baam-Seijin citizenry. Dairugger XV showed us the Galveston citizenry. I wonder why we don't see much of Galra except for the royalty? However, I'll just pretend that some non-human prisoners are critics of Emperor Daibazaal's tyrannical rule.  While watching Lion Voltron -- I simply can't help but make Lotor my favorite villain. Lotor had more depth than King Zarkon. I even hoped that Lotor would one day succeed in overthrowing Zarkon. I even imagined myself as Lotor. Lotor was actually more dangerous than any of the people on Planet Doom. In Golion -- S...

As Buntis Faib Legacy ends this week - I feel like the time to discuss another plot from the Anime. Voltes V has Boazanian which is 14,000 light years away from Earth. That means trying to reach Boazan by standard means will not be possible. The Boazanians had high technology which allowed them to travel from Boazan to Earth at a very fast speed. An earlier episode had Duke Zaki arriving. Later, General Bergan arrived like it was nothing. General Gururu arrived like it was nothing. The Boazanians mastered the warp drive technology to reach Earth in a much shorter amount of time. The finale of Voltes V had the Solar Bird merging with Camp Big Falcon to form the Solar Falcon. The Voltes team went to Boazan in a much shorter amount of time. After all, the inventor of the Voltes V robot, the Camp Big Falcon, and the Solar Bird was none other than a Boazanian named Lagour. Basically, Voltes V was only able to defeat the Beast Knights (or called Beast Fighters in the dub) sent against it bec...

If there was any evil character I had a great fondness for while watching Lion Voltron - it was Prince Lotor. It's only normal that Sincline's my favorite villain Golion - the source material. Sincline's practically almost the Scott Evil while Emperor Daibazaal was the Dr. Evil of the show. Like Scott Evil, he tends to come up with more practical plans while his father (and also Honerva) tend to come up with the typical screwed-up plans. The fact he tried to divide and conquer the Golion team, the fact he held a good amount of the central capital of Altea hostage, and other similar plans. Though, there were times his sadism gets the best of him making him more or less a Stupid Evil and For the Evulz type of villain like Honerva and Daibazaal.  With the story of Sincline comes a tragedy. He doesn't know who his mother is and Daibazaal keeps refusing to tell him about it. I could only assume that his unnamed mother (who was given a counterpart known as Queen Lora and refe...

I did notice there seem to be a lot of things copied over by Toei themselves. The late Tadao Nagahama's Robot Romance Trilogy went to a full-blown romance. Yes, it's a Romeo and Juliet though spoilers, Kazuya and Erika did make it through. I guess Kazuya was just too exhausted and the way he collapsed, didn't look like he died. I re-watched and the ending says that as long as both lived - both races came together. Now, it's time to examine another Super Robot villain we love to hate - Generalismo Olban. Olban was the main villain of Daimos . He's pretty much an Expy to Zu Zambojil of Voltes V and may have inspired Emperor Corsair in Dairugger XV.  Unlike Zambojil, we saw Olban giving Richter orders to conquer the Earth. As a villain, Richter only wants to save his people but Olban has other plans. Richter got into the fight because his father, the late Generalissimo Leon, was poisoned at a lunar base. There are some obvious clues early on to which would get rather o...