Hyper Combat Unit Dangaioh (1987)
Brought together by the mysterious Dr. Tarsan, four powerful psychic warriors Mia Alice, Lamba Nom, Pai Thunder, and Roll Kran can unite four powerful planes to form Dangaioh—the most powerful weapon in the universe.
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Episode 1 - Cross Fight!!
Release Date: 1987-09-28Mia Alice, Roll Kran, Lamba Nom, and Pai Thunder are four teenagers brainwashed and reconditioned as ESPers by Dr. Tarsan, who intends to sell their services to the Bunker Space Pirates. The quartet, however, escapes from Dr. Tarsan's ship, infuriating Bunker leader Captain Galimos. Gil Berg, Dr. Tarsan's cyborg assistant, offers his services to Galimos to capture the teenagers. He heads to Earth to lure the teenagers, as Mia is originally from the planet. Following an encounter with two of Dr. Tarsan's other creations, Pai regains her memories and heads to the Bunker's capital ship, taking an unconscious Roll with her. She reveals herself to Galimos as her daughter Barius, but she quickly renounces her birthright before rejoining her teammates and head to Earth with Dr. Tarsan, who also develops a change of heart. Upon their arrival to Tokyo, the teenagers combine their Dan-Mechanics to form Dangaioh and defeat Gil. They offer to spare his life, but he chooses to go down with his destroyed mecha instead. Despite returning to Earth, Mia chooses to stay with the team, as she has no memories of her past life.
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Episode 2 - Spiral Knuckles in Tears
Release Date: 1988-10-25As the Dangaioh Team continues their training, they encounter a trio of assassins sent by the Bunker to eliminate them. During the fight, Mia and Pai mentally discover that Shazarla, the leader of the assassins, has a personal grudge on Lamba. After the assassins retreat, the team learns that Lamba was a member of the royal family of the planet Lilith, and that Shazarla was her former servant. Thinking that Shazarla was brainwashed by the Bunker, Lamba ventures through the snowy forest alone, but after being captured by the assassins, she discovers that Shazarla blames the Nom family for surrendering to the Bunker before Lilith was plundered of its resources and destroyed. Taking Lamba with them, the assassins attack Dr. Tarsan's ship, but the Dangaioh Team counterattacks and recovers Lamba. Dangaioh is sortied to battle the assassins' mecha Aizam the Third. As the assassins have the upper hand, Lamba apologizes to Shazarla for her family's misgivings, but she chooses to fight for the lives lost in Lilith. When Lamba's power fully recharges Dangaioh, the team traps Aizam the Third in a Psychic Wave before Lamba offers to execute the death blow. Back at the Bunker's capital ship, Gil Berg is revealed to have been resurrected. Note: The episode begins with an 11-minute summary of episode 1.
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Episode 3 - The Demonic Revenge of Gil Berg
Release Date: 1989-07-25The Dangaioh Team travels to Latecia, Roll's home planet to assist the resistance group's war on the Bunker, but Roll is haunted by fragments of his past. Roll reunites with the resistance, who are not thrilled with his return after having disappeared years ago. After the masked mercenary Skeleton convinces the resistance to trust Roll, they plan to storm through the Bunker's base, which uses captured soldiers as lifeblood of a bio-mechanical computer. Meanwhile, Dr. Tarsan reveals to the rest of the team that Roll was previously murdered by members of the resistance; hence his fear of death. Upon arriving at the Bunker base, Roll discovers that he has fallen into a trap set by his former comrades Burst and Flash, along with Skeleton-who reveals himself as Gil Berg. Using Roll as bait, Gil requests for Mia to meet with him alone to spare her teammate's life. As Gil tortures Mia, Roll conquers his fear of death and breaks free to save her before they regroup with the Dangaioh Team. Dangaioh kills Burst and Flash in a mecha battle before destroying Commander Dartilla and the Bunker base, but Gil emerges in the Gil Gear and attacks Dangaioh and severely damages Dr. Tarsan's ship. A critically damaged Dangaioh uses its remaining power to destroy Gil Gear with one final Psychic Wave. Dr. Tarsan fires a warp beam to teleport Dangaioh away before he goes down with his ship. Gil survives the battle and is promoted as one of Captain Galimos' generals. Elsewhere, the four cockpits of Dangaioh with their unconscious pilots are seen drifting in space.