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 2: To Serve and Defend but not to Spend
By John Huxley
28th Apr 04  Dai-Guard returns to heroically demolish 21st Century Security's dwindling budget, all in the name of peace and justice, of course! The high-priced monstrosity of a robot and its crack (well, it rhymes with crack) team of operatives are back to their old tricks in this, the second volume of Dai-Guard. Not a lot has changed since we last left - the Heterodynes are still threatening the population of Japan and it's still down to a small group of office workers who double as the pilots of the giant robot Dai-Guard to defeat the invaders. All this impressive machinery comes at a price, however, and the suits don't much like it when the bill lands at their feet; but who are they to stand in the way of peace and justice? The first episode gives a little background info on the Dai-Guard's only female pilot, Ibuki, as she remembers her late father who worked on the original Heterodyne research over twelve years ago. His untimely death at the hands of the first Heterodyne gives Ibuki a special reason to fight as part of the Dai-Guard unit. She's a driven woman with a kind heart and a wild temper, often directed at the excitable Akagi. Of all the central characters of Dai-Guard she is the most likeable, being neither too annoying (Akagi) nor too sedate (Aoyama) and also the most believable. Also during the first episode of the disc, Akagi beings to build an unexpected relationship with a character I thought may have developed in to the bad guy of the piece - Shirota. He's a tactical expert sent from the Army to oversee Dai-Guard's operations, a sombre character who for a long time was at loggerheads with the Dia-Guard pilots over their reckless inability to follow simple orders. Shirota's newfound repour with his opposite number has softened his attitude, making him a more likeable personality in the process. Of course, more likeable doesn't automatically equal more enjoyable - this turnaround sees us lose the most prominently hissable bad guy of Dai-Guard we've yet encountered. In actuality I think the character change is a good one, breathing new life in to a scenario that was becoming dangerously stale. Besides, human bad guys aren't really a necessity in the mech genre and I certainly don't think Dai-Guard is any worse without the old Shirota. The remaining three episodes are par for the course with very few important revelations (we do learn the secret of destroying the Heterodynes and the Dai-Guard gets a lovely new weapon to play with) and plenty of the usual sluggish robot fights, office drama and dry, repetitive humour. I'd hoped that a little more time would give Dai-Guard the chance to find its true calling; is it a comedy, a drama or an action series? Attempting all three and failing at each, Dai-Guard is only showing slight signs of improvement. Perhaps a new character or a change of pace would freshen things up for this flagging series?
R2 DVD Notes
Features: English and Japanese audio, English subtitles, clean open/close, production sketches, ADV previews
Notes: Much the same as the last volume, this time around with thirty production sketches in place of thirty nine (still a healthy number by anyone's standard). The picture and sound quality are excellent, with crisp, bright colours and well defined lines and no discernable audio defects (although it must be noted that my sound 'system' isn't the best around). This kind of quality has become expected of ADV who really do a great job with newer series like Dai-Guard.
-- John Huxley 28th Apr 04
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