Jūsō Kikō Dancouga Nova

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Jūsō Kikō Dancouga Nova
獣装機攻ダンクーガ ノヴァ
Genre Mecha
TV anime
Director Masami Obari
Studio Ashi Productions
Network Flag of Japan Animax
Original run 15 February 2007 – 3 May 2007
Episodes 12

Jūsō Kikō Dancouga Nova (獣装機攻ダンクーガ ノヴァ?) is a Super Robot anime television series, produced by Ashi Productions (same production company that produced the original series) and is directed by Masami Obari, who was also in charge of mechanical design. The series is supposedly a follow up of its predecessor, Dancougar - Super Beast Machine God (超獣機神ダンクーガ, Chōjū Kishin Dancouga). The series premiered across Japan on the Japanese CS television network Animax on 15 February 2007, spanning a total of 12 episodes.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The series takes place in 2104,[1] where small wars take place all over the globe. A team of four people; Aoi Hidaka, Kurara Tachibana, Sakuya Kamon, Johnny Burnette, are chosen to be the pilots of the mysterious large robot that "protects the weak" and stops these small-scale wars, the Dancouga Nova. Like its predecessor, Dancouga Nova is a combining robot type of Super Robot, which have four separate units with each unit having its own pilot; the Nova Eagle, Nova Rhino, Nova Liger, and Nova Elephant, that form the Super Robot Dancouga Nova. The pilots are gathered by a secret organization that maintains the Dancouga Nova and dispatches its pilots on assigned missions from the organization's base of operations, the Dragon's Hive.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Main characters

  • Aoi Hidaka: Haruna Ikezawa: A pink-haired, undefeated Formula-Zero One racing champion. She is the chief pilot of the Dancouga Nova and the pilot of the Nova Eagle. Aoi also models as a side job. As the pilot of Nova Eagle, she is also the primary pilot of Dancouga Nova. Shortly into the series, she decides to quit racing as she doesn't feel she can balance it with piloting Dancouga, and becomes a model full-time.


  • Kurara Tachibana: Houko Kuwashima: A blue-haired, Top-class Narcotics Investigator. She is the pilot of the Nova Liger. Kurara is experienced using hand-held firearms and is an expert in her profession. As a child, she and her mother were forced to witness her father beaten by thugs. Spurred on by her mother's comments that there was no such thing as justice, Kurara became the top policewoman in the country, and cleaned up the corrupt narcotics division in a year and a half.


  • Sakuya Kamon: Tatsuhisa Suzuki: A brown-haired, homeless man. He is the pilot of the Nova Rhino. Sakuya doesn't seem to care that he is unemployed and homeless. Instead, he enjoys living his life the way it is. Sakuya is the first to (unknowingly) use the original Dancouga's catchphrase "Yatte yaruze!" ("Let's do it!"), which catches on among the team before they even learn its origin. Later, he begins feeling inferior to the rest of the team as Nova Rhino's only function in Dancouga is the pivot foot, and desires a super-strong special attack to make up for it.


  • Johnny Burnette: Yuuki Tai: A blonde salary man. He is the pilot of the Nova Elephant. Johnny was a promising white-collar worker. He enjoys cooking, and reads many men's magazines, giving him a surprisingly wide and varied knowledge base. During their first mission, Seimii give him the nickname "Clark Kent", which he dislikes. Johnny is also the first to realize that the Dancouga teams seem to be selected based on the Japanese blood type theory of personality - each team consists of an A, a B, an O, and an AB.


  • Tanaka: Keiji Fujiwara: The commander of the Dancouga team, Tanaka is shown to know more than he lets on, but seems to genuinely care for the team's well-being. He gives the team their missions and answers their questions to the best of his ability - though all too often, the team is called into battle before he can give proper answers.


  • Ruu Riruri: Saori Goto: A 15-year-old psychiatrist and member of the Dancouga team, she displays a surprising level of maturity for someone her age. However, she becomes easily annoyed if her name is mispronounced. She cares for the team's mental health, and like Tanaka, tries to answer their questions as best she can. Her name and character traits seem to be a play on Ruri Hoshino from Martian Successor Nadesico.


  • Seimii: Sayaka Ohara: The chief engineer in charge of Dancouga Nova, she has a flirty, playful personality and tells the team before each mission to look out for her "baby". Later, it is revealed that she often has brief, unfulfilling relationships, and focuses on Dancouga as it, unlike a man, can't hurt her feelings. When Sakuya asked her for a private conversation shortly afterwards, she seemed surprised and interested - until it turned out that he only wanted to talk shop, annoying her greatly.


  • Mister F.S.: Kazuki Yao: This mysterious, long-haired man is the overall commander of the Dancouga Nova project. Initially, he only communicates with Tanaka, but the Dancouga team meets him at a party in episode 6, in which he reveals that Dancouga is modeled after a legendary Super Robot that protected Earth from an inhuman threat.

[edit] Mechanics

Dancouga Nova

The Dancouga Nova is basically the same as its predecessor, the Dancougar, other than the fact that the mecha get a newer design from the older models. The Dancouga Nova is a combination of four separate machines, which are the Nova Eagle, Nova Rhino, Nova Liger, and the Nova Elephant. In which each of these mecha have three different transformations; Humanoid, Beast, and Tank types.

Dancouga Nova's Weaponry include:

•Dancou-Sword: An atomic-vibration blade •Dancou-Cannon: An array of cannons •Booster Nova Knuckle: A special attack for Sakuya, Dancouga Nova launches its right arm ala Mazinger Z's Rocket Punch

Each of the separate Nova mecha combine to form the Dancouga Nova:

•The Nova Eagle forms the head of the Dancouga Nova.
•The Nova Rhino forms the left foot of the Dancouga Nova.
•The Nova Liger forms the right foot of the Dancouga Nova.
•The Nova Elephant forms the body of the Dancouga Nova.

Dancouga Nova God Beast Mode

Dancouga Nova's true form, the unit is similar to Dancouga Nova except for its gold color. Its powers are so intense that even the pilots of the unit can't control it.

D-Phoenix

The D-Phoenix is a transport airship that transports the Dancouga Nova units to their destination of their missions. Not much is known of this aircraft as of yet.

R-Daigun

A red Mecha similar to the original Dancougar's Black Wing. The unit has both Humanoid, Beast, and Tank types. It belonged to the enemy until it fused with Dancouga Nova to become Dancouga Max God.

Dancouga Max God

Dancouga Nova's Final form after it fuses with R-Daigun. It gains flight capabilities and two powerful cannons on its back. The unit is the tribute to the original Final Dancougar.

[edit] Episodes

No. Episode Title[2] Airdate
1 "Mysterious Dancouga"
"Nazo no Dancouga" (謎のダンクーガ) 		 2007-02-15
2 "Super Beast God Union"
"Chōjū Gasshin" (超獣合神！) 		 2007-02-22
3 "Sword of Guidance"
"Misabiki no Tsurugi" (導きの剣) 		 2007-03-01
4 "Red Dancouga"
"Akai Dancouga" (紅い（あかい）ダンクーガ) 		 2007-03-08
5 "Demon Wall of Grief"
"Nageki no Makabe" (嘆きの魔壁) 		 2007-03-15
6 "Unknown Attack"
"Michi no Shūgeki" (未知の襲撃) 		 2007-03-22
7 "Clash! Dancouga vs Dancouga"
"Gekitotsu! Dancouga tai Dancouga" (激突！！ダンクーガ対ダンクーガ) 		 2007-03-29
8 "Escaping from the Past"
"Kako karano Dasshutsu" (過去からの脱出) 		 2007-04-05
9 "God Beast Awakening"
"Shinjū Kakusei" (神獣覚醒) 		 2007-04-12
10 "Reckless drive of Ardour!"
"Netsujō no Bōsō" (熱情の暴走!) 		 2007-04-19
11 "Destruction? Ryugajima!"
"Funsai? Ryūgajima!" (粉砕?龍牙島!) 		 2007-04-26
FINAL "Flying to the Future"
"Mirai heno Hishō" (未来への飛翔) 		 2007-05-03

[edit] Trivia

  • Starting from Episode 2, a news reporter named Isabelle Cronkite makes a regular appearance. This is a homage to a character of the same name from one of Ashi Productions older series, Sengoku Majin GoShogun.
  • In Episode 6, Klein Sandman from Choujuushin Gravion makes a cameo appearance as one of Dancougar's sponsors.
  • FS, Fog Sweeper's name also are the initials of Fujiwara Shinobu, who was the pliot of the original Dancouga in the first series. This is due to FS's voice actor being the same as Shinobu. (And a nod to the original series when FS says 'Yatte yaru ze'). In addition, the literal meaning of the kanji in Fujiwara Shinobu, "person who breaks apart the mist", is similar to "Fog Sweeper".

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Dancouga pilots' ages and birth dates, which Sakuya and Kurara find in the database. Jūsō Kikō Dancouga Nova, episode 5 (7:37)
  2. ^ Episodes Index of Dancouga Nova.

[edit] External links

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