Dangaioh | KYOTO VIDEO

[@ReiDuran]

DID YOU KNOW Dangaioh was originally the leftovers from a failed project by Obari and Hirano to remake Mazinger Z into an OVA? It was going to be called Dai-Mazinger and was supposed to be more "realistic". Since they weren't able to get the proper licenses to Mazinger from Toei, the whole thing fell through and they used a bunch of designs and plot points from it for Dangaioh.

[@_GeneralMechanics_]

That explains why "Great Dangaioh" had the aesthetic of a Mazinger clone for the lead mecha designs.

[@zak22wolftheultramanzenith35]

Honestly that explains why Roll is the seeming protagonist. He would be Kouji if this was a Mazinger project.

[@yuukisama2001]

I've heard that story from a late friend. Thing was that was the most I had heard. Then again it didn't surprise me. I just excepted it. Isn't how this always goes with these dropped projects. Makes you wonder what it could have been if it had the chance to be "greenlit".

[@Martialartfruituser]

Yeah, I can see it. Roll looks like Koji in design. Some of the girls have Tetsuya's hair, and Lanba seems to have Duke's backstory. All three are references to the mazinger trilogy. I would mention the rocket punch but I think almost every giant robot that is not sentai has that as a weapon.

[@jeanstarwind1263]

This channel is such a great anime museum/recommendation tool!

[@yuukisama2001]

Dangaioh was one of my favorites after coming off 'Iczer-1'. Little I realized that Masami Obari was part of AIC's staff since BGC. And I will admit his style did somewhat change how robot designs were perceived. From the blocky aesthetics of Gundam to Evangelion. I used to think his robots had a very sinister look to them. I could always pick out Obari's work. My friend loved the style when he first experienced 'Dangaioh'. For a show that came out during the last half of the 80's it still holds up as one of finest pieces of work. Old school anime action, old school robot soundtrack, and upgraded robot action. And no one cares that it seemed so incomplete. All the people that traveled that road with me in HS watching 'Dangaioh', leaves me feeling very nostalgic. Certain scenes would raise the hairs on my neck. Especially in episode 2, when Shazarla screams, "Iron Cutters!" It was a good time. I had gotten my copy of Dangaioh from a Japanese rental facility here in NYC. Tokyo Video was the outlet. A small secret operation, that rented run off copies of shows for Japanese customers, but would get in the occasional OVA. I paid $20. Now I don't have it because I accidentally tossed it out while Spring cleaning. I regret that mistake because it also had some credits a late friend who ran the Philadelphia CFO chapter added to use up the free space. But I did manage to find the original soundtrack. It would be in n the 90's a late friend told me that this was supposed to be a Go Nagai show. I was a pretty huge fan of Go Nagai. Which would explain why the infamous old school animated robot enemy attacks. Watching these shows taught me that when you are trying to make an updated robot show you need "speed lines" and technique of animating speed to the point where it's' going to leave an impact. Old robot shows did this and Obari knew that's what you need. But you also need 3 other elements. You need the composer and the vocalists. Just like what they did with Godannar, they brought in TV veteran vocalists Ichiro "Aniki" Mizuki and Mitsuko Horie. Who have become my all time old school favorites. And also veteran composer Michiaki "Chuumei" Watanabe. Who has composed numerous scores for mecha and tokusatusu shows. He did the soundtrack for Iczer-1 and later Dangaioh. His son Toshiyuki Watanabe would later go on to compose for Dangaioh-G and Devilman Lady as well as Mazinger-Z: Infinity. As for Toshihiro/Toshiki Harano. It was Iczer-1 that introduced me to him and from then on I followed everything he was involved in. So when Iczer-1 was done, Dangaioh came afterward. And just that both shows gave me everything I wanted. Good artist I came to love, good shows, good action and good music to back it up. Dangaioh-G, wasn't bad but I really did not know where that series was going to go. Until you get to end, you see that they could've done more. Because remember how Mia was the protagonist but she got sidelined. Well, since Iczer-1 was the first female mech show and we've seen them now pushing female mecha shows finally with a female pilot Mia could finally shine. I remember there was a site, the now defunct "Animaxis.com", a site that sold anime goods, and sometimes did news stories. There was an article there from Toshiki (Toshihiro) Hirano, where he talked about Dangaioh-G. He talked about how excited he was getting the project off the ground. But he was really pushing for people to support it. Garnering support would get the possibility of a season 2. So if they didn't get the numbers then there would be no chance a S2 would happen. As we can see we got 13 episodes and that was where it ended. On a cliffhanger. I hope that one day this sees a BD release. As a person who is in charge of our anime collection here at our art college, we're stuck with an old VHS tape for 1 episode. After watching this review I had forgotten there were 3 episodes. I can only see a release when Dangaioh-G happens. If that happens then Dangaioh can happen as well. I leave that to 'Discotek'.

[@geekykittycait1100]

I still have my old Books Nippon US Renditions card

[@trixiewitchiecoconut]

1:04 Holy crap!! Look at that gory mess in that guys helmet! I swear, I'll always love Macross but its gotta be one of the most toneshifting titles I ever saw, one minute we're watching idols singing and the next someones heads cut off (actually, in the uncensored version of the Do You Remember Love song there litearlly is a decapitation that happens during it, fucking wild)

[@animationcycles7109]

And one more bit of trivia to the beheading. That was one of the animators of the film. ( I can't remember if he put himself in that scene, or if others added him in as a gag. But yeah, it was one of the animators likeness.

[@rolandguiscard]

You make me wish that I was older, nerdier, and had bought more VHS.

[@FURognar]

Books Nippan! I bought both Dangaio and Gunbuster from their booth at Comicon back in (1990 or 91....trying to remember. They had just debuted them) and there was no looking back. I was absolutely hooked. Dangaio is my favorite anime to this day. Its in my opinion, litterally perfect. (Translation snafus notwithstanding)

[@NelsonStJames]

Of all the original American anime distributors, I probably miss U.S. Renditions the most. It was their VHS tapes I first purchased, and that really turned me from a casual anime watcher to a true fanboy. Between U.S. Renditions and AnimEigo, it was a great time to be an anime fan in the early 90's albeit a very expensive one.

[@hitachicordoba]

As an LA otaku in the 90's, I would rent untranslated VHS tapes from Japanese video rental shops in Little Tokyo, Sawtelle and Gardena. Also art books and Hobby Japan mags from Asahiya (RIP) and Kinokuniya (still open in LT)

[@yuukisama2001]

I used to be intouch with the folks at the Asahiya in California. They were responsible for getting me my books and game and anime soundtracks. When our Asahia closed down here in NYC, I knew the CA one was not far behind. We still have Kinokuniya. They moved from Rockafeller Center to Bryant Park behind the giant NYPL and across the street. So they went from 47-50 Rockafeller to 42st. We had a Books Nippan here, as well a Tokyo Video. But those days are long gone. Long gone are the 80's era fandom hangouts.

[@Germania9]

Toshihiro Hirano is such an underrated character designer, especially when he designs women.

[@micahiwaasa9304]

Don't forget Kakinouchi! She's often the force behind the character designs. Talk about an anime power couple!

[@AoiHeartStranger]

Only when he designs women imo.

[@drixg555]

Can't believe he's the director of the Baki and Baki Hanma, Son of Ogre series on Netflix.

[@Cro-EYE]

saw this in my subscription feed and instantly bellowed CROSS FIGHT CROSS FIGHT (CROSS FIGHT!!!) at the top of my lungs

[@steveroberts2793]

Excellent job! You ought to reach out to the remaining USRenditons and LAHero people. I bet they'd love to talk about localization in the early days of anime fandom.

[@CantankerousDave]

Hah, they didn’t keep the original, legendary translation from the VHS release. It’s weird at 13:50, though. The subtitle timing is correct, but the actual contents of each title are shifted by one. I see that a lot in modern subtitles.

[@anerysium]

Man. I remember my friend introduced me to Dangaioh. Most of the animes I knew were all from TV til he starts introducing me to OVAs and stuff never aired local television. Anyway those mecha designs were amazing as well as the animation; it was mind blowing for me. It was a shame it never got a continuation - though Great Dangaioh could've been that but it suffers a lot of fillers and stuff. I hope I get to see a review of that series soon.

[@garaschneider4808]

19:55 Episode 3 is upscaled from a TAPE. The FILM is what's lost.

[@radfishy]

One of my favorites. Mess of a story but amazing music, mechs, and animations.

[@kevinkeene474]

This needs a Bluray release from Discotek media ASAP

[@icky_sticky_mars]

great vid! good timing aswell with the recent harmony gold robotech licensing news

[@Slychosis.]

Kyoto Video never misses

[@Rexodiak]

another top notch video and another anime I'll be checking out thanks to you. Good stuff!

[@AlexLopez-qz4tz]

Love the use of the 13 Sentinels track fits so well to this

[@81hewp]

I used to go to Video Japan in Gardena CA to rent all the anime I could get my hands on, Dangaio , Appleseed and Gunbuster

[@_GeneralMechanics_]

This was one of those mecha anime I discovered at the video store, and they only had the first volume. It wasn't until a decade or so later I discovered the next episodes, but I couldn't get over the ending.

[@user-rc3cm1zv4j]

I'm pretty sure that the bunker pirates designs were inspired by the Mycenae Empire from great mazinger . With the whole head located in the stomach of a beast

[@Flugmorph]

well what the f**k three times in a row now (mystery of mamo, wanna be's and this) it happened that i watched these and shortly afterwards you made a video on them. we must be linked or smth.

[@Cinemactik]

Still have my VHS copies I got at Suncoast📼📼📼

[@ta0paipai]

"Like watching One Piece," first thing I thought of when you mentioned recaps taking 1/3 of the episode time!

[@alexrain1188]

My favorite mech anime. Just straight up classic awesome. And having the bad guys win is ballsy.

[@SicMetalMaggot4life]

Yesss more delicious ARTMIC is always welcome boiiii

[@zak22wolftheultramanzenith35]

I wish you had talked about the dub a bit and it’s classic Manga video saltiness and bizarre insults. Unless saying that you are a sugar frosted doughnut… with cream is a normal thing.

[@AckzaTV]

i thought the whole video was gonna be just an awesome music video, wasnt expecting a documentary about robotech

[@gabrielsyme4550]

I love how Obari appears on screen

[@SSJKamui]

There is a Dreamcast game called bangaioh

[@TBoneTony]

Dangaioh reminds me allot of Godannar from the mid 2000s. Would not be surprised if that was the secret return project that paid homage to this series.

[@MBX-86]

Great material! Would be nice to hear your thoughts on the forgotten Macross...Macross II, esp since the Harmony Gold announcement this month.

[@snakehandler87]

This channel 💙🥲the nostalgia feels...

[@LowellLucasJr.]

Brand new to the channel and loving the history and research of some of my altime favorite titles! Thank you for this amazing content! I look forward to more!!!

[@animationcycles7109]

I liked Dangioah.. remind remind me of another "Ledius" (Makyou GaidenLeDeus) it was a short, fun, 45 minute one off. But some really good scenes, and designs. ( if you haven't heard of it, probably worth your while to check it out)

[@lorddalek]

US Renditions which would later become Manga Entertainment.

[@stevieg3761]

These designs feel a lot like Guy Awakening of the devil. I mean Pai looks like a female version of Guy and his transformed state resembles the robot. Given they were out around the same time I doubt that's an accident, and Guy probably owes a lot. I think Obari was on both.

[@Margatroid]

Oddly, Guy has no character design credit listed on ANN. I wouldn't be surprised if Toshihiro Hirano did it uncredited, for some reason.

[@stevieg3761]

@@Margatroid I think so too. I really like the art on both of these

[@conner6926]

One of the most aesthetic 80's anime.

[@gregoriojaro8963]

PART 1 & 2 OF "HYPER COMBAT UNIT DANGAIOH" OVA TRILOGY WAS GREAT BECAUSE THEY USED THE SPACE SHERIFF SHAIDER'S LASER BLADE BGM FOR DANGAIOH'S WEAPON CALLED "PSYCHIC SWORD", BUT PART 3 ENDING IS SUCH A LETDOWN ESPECIALLY THE ANIMÉ SEQUEL SERIES CALLED "THE GREAT DANGAIOH [AKA HYPER COMBAT UNIT G-DANGAIOH]" REALLY DISAPPOINTS ME. 🚀🎬📺👎😔

[@trixiewitchiecoconut]

This is one of my favorite anime of all time, thanks for reviewing it. Do you take requests for ova reviews on Patreon?

[@retroanimemike]

Honestly, I found Dangaioh to be a forgettable title, but the animation really shined for most of it. The pirate ship was really something. But I guess I just don't care as much for mecha battles. Oh and the sequel was BAAAD. But certainly worth ones time - funny how people might opsess over a modern shonen series that goes on forever but don't have the time to watch some short vintage OVAs. And I thought the ending was bold in subverting expectations and somewhat nihilistic - but they just couldn't finish it? Nice! XD

[@keirgomcginlay2044]

Commenting at 17:17 but I feel this turned. KB: Having Mia be the protagonist is really interesting. KB: Mia does nothing.

[@ArninoStorm]

Dangaioh was in two Super Robot Wars games: Impact and K.

[@micahiwaasa9304]

I loves me some Hirano / Kakinouchi works.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Kevin Seymour would later to go create a studio that made high quality dubs.

[@DavidMartin-lj8yj]

I had a copy of a copy of that DYRL. As bad as the copy quality was it was my go to watch after school instead of watching whatever cartoons were playing on tv back then

[@kichiemonm]

Please review “Galaxy Express 999 The Movie”

[@vincentbblack]

WHOA! The PQ of the anime in this segment is stellar. Is that available for sale, or did you polish & upgrade the video yourself?

[@epoytoy]

Whoa is that Gavan dynamic theme in the background?

[@BishopSuperior]

What the name of the song that plays the intro?!!?!?!! Please tell me ?!?!?

[@kelvinlee639]

Don’t worry

[@cvatvbizarreadventure]

Make me love you

[@saintsheepy6682]

Great Dangaioh is not very good from what I've heard, sadly, and the only closest thing we'll get to a sequel with Dangiaoh was, believe it or not, a crossover with Iczer-1, which sadly was only released to drama CDs (but a fan translation can be found on KZbin).

[@icky_sticky_mars]

1:57 H

[@baxterbunny4403]

80s anime

[@cvatvbizarreadventure]

What's wrong with the subtitles why is it like all the way to the back

[@KaiserBeamz]

Check the description

[@chameleonhrt]

And here I thought it was some weird hard coded subtitles that were off-center as a feature.

[@cvatvbizarreadventure]

@@KaiserBeamz okay rat man

[@jakewerderly5959]

@@cvatvbizarreadventure He's a possum actually.

[@darinherrick9224]

Just discovered a Blu Ray rip of the entire OVA is on archive.org