Dancouga - Super Beast Machine God | |
First BluRay box set cover
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超獣機神ダンクーガ (Chōjū Kishin Dankūga) |
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Genre | Mecha |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Seiji Okuda |
Produced by |
Yoshirō Kataoka Hiroshi Kato Masaru Umehara |
Written by | Keisuke Fujikawa |
Music by | Osamu Totsuka Takeshi Ike |
Studio | Ashi Productions |
Licensed by | |
Original network | TBS |
Original run | 5 April 1985 – 27 December 1985 |
Episodes | 38 |
Original video animation | |
Requiem for Victims | |
Directed by | Seiji Okuda |
Written by | Hideki Sonoda |
Music by | Osamu Totsuka |
Studio | Ashi Productions |
Released | April 21, 1986 |
Runtime | 90 minutes |
Original video animation | |
Jūsenkitai Songs | |
Studio | Ashi Productions |
Released | 1986 |
Original video animation | |
God Bless Dancouga | |
Directed by | Seiji Okuda |
Written by | Hideki Sonoda |
Music by | Osamu Totsuka |
Studio | Ashi Productions |
Released | 15 April 1987 |
Runtime | 80 minutes |
Original video animation | |
Blazing Epilogue | |
Directed by | Tatsuji Yamazaki |
Written by | Kenji Terada |
Music by | Takeshi Ike |
Studio | Ashi Productions |
Released | December 1989 – May 1990 |
Episodes | 4 |
Dancouga - Super Beast Machine God (超獣機神ダンクーガ Chōjū Kishin Dankūga?) is a Super Robot anime television series. The English-language name chosen by its Japanese producers is God Bless The Machine Dancougar; its US VHS release uses the literal translated title. The show, from Ashi Productions, ran for 38 episodes from 5 April 1985 to 27 December 1985. The TV anime was licensed by Central Park Media under their Software Sculptors label in 1995, and was released on subtitled VHS.
After the series ended, four original video animations were released. A sequel series, Jūsō Kikō Dancouga Nova (directed by Dancouga staff member and design supervisor Masami Ōbari), aired in Japan in 2007.
Four soldiers (Shinobu Fujiwara, Sara Yuki, Masato Shikibu and Ryo Shiba) pilot the mecha Dancouga and fight to liberate portions of Earth from alien invaders known as the Muge Zorbados Empire. Dancouga is an example of the combining type of Super Robot. Unlike the traditional "component machines struggle against the monster of the week before combining and easily dispatching the monster" format, Dancouga does not combine until midway through the series and the Cyber Beast Machines were capable of effectively fighting their enemies. The main components of the Cyber Beast mecha were able to follow the emulation of evolution. The mecha began as four vehicles which could transform into animals (an eagle, cougar, tiger and mammoth, respectively) and humanoid robots before combining to form Dancouga.
Many of the Dancouga story elements revolve around religion (primarily Christianity, although the series also borrows from Taoist philosophy) and music. The theme of gods is present in most episodes.