Dai-Guard

Publisher
ADV
Director
Seiji Mizushima
Production
Sotsu Agency, TV Tokyo, XEBEC
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
1999

Dai-Guard volume 1: Hostile Takeover

By John Huxley
28th Apr 04

Dai-Guard. Everyone loves big robots. I mean, even if you don't care for them much you can at least see the advantage of having your very own giant mech, can't you? Unfortunately Dai-Guard (and every other mech show, for that matter) only ever use their robots for do-good saving the world routines. Where's the fun in that? I'd use it to stamp on all the dogs that poo in my local park.

Still, at least Dai-Guard has attempted to put a realistic spin on the admittedly unrealistic mech genre. The premise of Dai-Guard runs something like this:

The Earth is under attack by giant monsters of unknown origin and conventional weapons can do nothing to stop them. Desperate for a way to combat these troublesome invaders dubbed Heterodynes, the corporations of the world commission a design for a super-robot to tackle the problem directly. Thus Dai-Guard was born...too late for it to be of any use - the Heterodynes had mysteriously vanished before the new robot was ever put to good use.

Twelve years later and Dai-Guard is little more than a tourist attraction, maintained and promoted by Public Relations division 2. In-between filing reports and organising budgets, the over-worked and under-paid staff are expected to dress in silly costumes for publicity purposes and learn to pilot the robot! The only thing that could rescue these poor souls from the tedium of day-to-day life is the unexpected return of the Heterodynes...

Which is exactly what happens, of course. Not long in to the first episode we're introduced to the ugly monsters, who come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. The one and only Dai-Guard, looking something like a Mazinger-Z reject, arrives on the scene to save the day after a little operational trouble. You see, unlike so many other mech shows, not everything in the world of Dai-Guard works perfectly; joints rust, parts malfunction and the whole thing costs an awfully large sum of money to maintain. The powers that be are understandably peeved when these ginormous bill lands at their feet; but the Dai-Guard pilots couldn't care less - they're only interested in saving the world.

For a bunch of goody-two-shoes, the Dai-Guard crew are an amiable lot. The central trio, Shunsuke Akagi, Ibuki Momoi and Keiichiro Aoyama are the most well worked characters, with Shunsuke Akagi being the focus of the series. He's an overactive, goofball character who just about errs on the right side of annoying. Perhaps his annoyingness is downplayed by the presence of Keiichiro Aoyama and Ibuki Momoi, two more sedate characters that complete the Dai-Guard pilot line-up (it takes three to make Dai-Guard move, though their jobs aren't clearly defined just yet).

All the characters in Dai-Guard, even the most villainous, aren't afraid to crack a joke or two, or at least be on the receiving end. Comedy may not be the show's prime objective, but then again it's hard to ascertain exactly what is. Comedy? Action? Drama? Dai-Guard is all these things and more, a show that tries so hard to give us everything and in actuality winds up giving us very little of any worth. The humour is for the most part deadpan, over reliant on repetitive and quite simply unfunny jokes. The lack of slapstick is commendable, even if a football in the groin would have been funnier.

Dai-Guard's action is for want of a better word old-school, in keeping with the retro design of the robot (which I have to admit looks pretty cool). The fights really has none of the style or pace we've come to expect from mech series since Evangelion showed everyone how it should be done.

It's not all bad - the show is rescued by a solid story and effective (if cheesy) drama and a likeable cast of characters. If you're looking for an old-school mech series, Dai-Guard might be right up your street, but can I recommend Martian Successor Nadesico instead? It may not adhere to the mech series cliches so closely, yet it does everything Dai-Guard does and much, much better at that.

This is far from terrible, but I can think of several mech series I'd rather watch.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English and Japanese audio, English subtitles, clean open/close, production sketches, ADV previews

Notes: After admiring the attractive packaging and watching all five episodes, it's time to browse through the extras. You've got a clean/open close, 39 production sketches and some ADV previews to choose from. The clean/open close is a great option simply because both the theme tunes are so darn catchy. The production sketches are particularly 'sketchy' even for production sketches (stop me if I'm making no sense) but no less welcome, especially this generous amount. You also get a single sheet leaflet with colour artwork on the front and chapter selections on the back with some additional character sketches. Not the most expansive package around, but nice all the same.

-- John Huxley 28th Apr 04

Dai-Guard Images