Choujuu Kishin Dancougar

Dancouga is mostly hyped up by its OVAs, merchandise, and appearances in the SRW series. So, my expectations for the series were raised pretty high. However, once I jumped into the show I had a slog to complete it. I found the series to drag mostly in the 17 episode build up to our titular mecha. Another detouring factor was the show often won't fully embrace its Super Robot elements. Also, the main characters are had to latch onto, with Ryo and the Black Knight being the standouts. At times the series is often similar to Chojin Sentai Jetman, as the CBF Pilots are often ... found at odds with each other. Yet, the CBF rarely shows growth towards becoming a functioning team, to the extent it feels repetitive.

Whereas, the villains have cool designs, but are lacking in character. Shapiro is the most prominent of the villains since he is traitor to the Earth. For the most part the show tries playing around with the idea that Shapiro simply went mad for power. Unfortunately, most of the early flashbacks of him with Sara depict him as a sociopath with a god complex. Then later flashbacks make him have more sympathy for Sara and society. Also, the finale works hard to make Shapiro out to be a tragic character who fell from grace.

While I do aggressively dislike the show, it is mostly thanks to being highly disappointed. I do think people should see this series if they are interested in Dancouga though. However, be cautious that it may not live up to expectations. Heck, if people have tried to sit through the series and cannot then jump ahead to the OVAs. Starting with the first OVA is good because it is mostly a recap, but also features 30-minutes of new footage completing the main series. So, if people do decide to latch onto Dancouga via the OVAs or SRWs, please at least watch episode 23 "Revenge for Murder!" It is the most amazing SUPER ROBOT nonsense ever! It is Terminator meets Mad Max meets Mecha!