Outside of the focus on mecha action and war, Dunbine also does a solid job with its world building and character focus. The world of Byston Well adopts a number of medieval and fantasy elements to its world as outside of its "aura" power, other fantasy-based creatures like pixies and dragons exist within its world. The series also takes time to develop and flesh out a number of its major characters to offer a glimpse within their lives and how they are affected by Drake's machinations to control all of Byston Well for its residents or those who get transported to the realm from Earth. In addition, the series offers some surprising twists with its storytelling that lead the conflict between the resistance movement and Drake's faction to intensify, including some splintering of factions within Drake's own ranks.
This said, Dunbine does have its faults. A good part of the show's second half does drag a bit at points where episodes are focused on battles between the factions, but offering little to flesh out characters or advance the plot in any capacity. Some enemy characters shown to be legitimate threats to Show and his comrades don't get much fleshing out and are limited in their characterization, reducing the impact their demises carry. Also, the visuals to the series haven't really aged with its rough character design work and subpar animation, though its mecha designs are rather unique among mecha anime with their bug-like features.
Faults aside, Aura Battle Dunbine is still a solid entry in the mecha with its solid mix of fantasy and mecha action story elements while influenced under Yoshiyuki Tomino's direction for its storytelling direction. If 80s mecha anime grab your interest, Dunbine is a solid recommendation I would suggest checking out in spite of some of its issues.
