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 Aired: 1978 - 1980
Show Type: Animated
Country of Origin: JAPAN
Daimos (êL½«¥À¥¤¥â¥¹, Brave Leader (or Fighting King) Daimos) is a televised anime series produced by Nihon Sunrise. Daimos is the third installment of Tadao Nagahama¡¯s Romantic Trilogy, following Ch¨denji Robo Combattler V and Ch¨denji Machine Voltes V. It ran from 1 April 1978 to 27 January 1979 and consisted of 44 episodes. A movie with the pivotal episodes strung together titled Starbirds was released in the US by the same company that released Tranzor Z. The name Daimos is derived from Deimos, one of the two moons of Mars. Apart from Japan, the show also aired in the Philippines and in Italy. In the early 1980s there was a VHS release in France, but only the first seven episodes were available.
After the destruction of their homeworld, the survivors of the planet Barm head towards Earth with the goal of negotiating the purchase of land to emigrate to. Unfortunately, during the negotiations, the Barmian¡¯s leader, Leon, is assassinated by his second in command, Olban, and the delegation from Earth is framed for the murder. In the ensuing chaos, Doctor Isamu Ry¨±zaki of the Earth delegation is shot and killed.
Shortly after the disastrous end of the talks, the Barmians (called ¡°Valerians¡± in Starbirds) begin a campaign of terror against Earth, lead by Leon¡¯s son, Admiral Richter, who deploys a variety of ¡°Mecha Soldiers¡± against the planet¡¯s defenses. The only thing standing between the Earthlings and annihilation is the transforming, karate-using super robot, Daimos and its pilot, Kazuya Ry¨±zaki. But that changes when he meets and falls in love with a mysterious girl named Erika, who turns out to be Richter¡¯s sister. Over the course of their struggles to reunite, Kazuya and Erika each learn that the other¡¯s people are not all evil...and that their own people are not all good.
Akira Kamiya, who voiced Kazuya, is a veteran seiyuu who also voiced such heroes as Ryouma Nagare, the pilot of Getter-1.
Hiroya Ishimaru is better known for voicing the pilot of Mazinger Z, Kouji Kabuto. In most other animes, his characters and those of Akira Kamiya are friends and allies.
The name of one of the Barmians, Gurney Halleck, may have been inspired by the character Gurney Halleck from Frank Herbert¡¯s 1965 novel, Dune.
The album Circus by the Filipino alternative band Eraserheads contains quotes from different people who supported the band, two simple quotes are included ¡°Erika¡± from a person named Richard and ¡°Richard¡± from a person named Erika are seen. The quotes are in reference to the two main protagonists of the show and their multiple scenes in which they are running to each other while saying the lines quoted. (Kazuya¡¯s name is changed to Richard in the dubbed show shown in the Philippines.)
Daimos was banned in the Philippines during the term of then president turned dictator Ferdinand Marcos around the early 1980s. Along with other super-robot-anime shows like Voltes V, it was banned citing reasons of its negative effects on young people.
The only time you can see all three Super Robot Romance Trilogy mechas, featured in one package, namely Combattler V, Voltes V and Daimos, is in the following games: Super Robot Taisen Advance for the Game Boy Advance, and Super Robot Taisen Alpha 2 and Super Robot Taisen Alpha 3 for the PlayStation 2 under the company Banpresto. The last features a special combination attack involving all three, the Ch¨denji Repp¨± Seikenzuki (³¬ë´ÅÁÒïLÕýÈÍ»¤ Super Electromagnetic Gale Piercing Righteous Fist). The opening of the attack features Daimos¡¯ Fire Blizzard, Combattler¡¯s Grand Light Wave and Voltes¡¯ Choudenji Ball. Daimos then finishes it off by transforming into his Battle Truck mode and starts to accelerate on top of the Grand Light Wave to increase his momentum before delivering his devastating move: the Reppu Seikenzuki. Super Robot Taisen Alpha 3 is so far, the only Super Robot Taisen game that features this move which is also dubbed as the ¡°Final Nagahama Special¡± among Super Robot Taisen fans.
The name ¡°Richter¡± is probably inspired by legendary pianist and perfomer of Chopin¡¯s work, Svyatoslav Richter.
Filipino band Parokya ni Edgar make reference to Daimos in their song ¡°Mang Jose.¡±
Daimos was one of the many Super Robots featured in Mattel's line of imported Shogun Warriors toys during the late 1970s and early 1980s. A late addition to the toy series, the Daimos Shogun Warriors toy (a two-foot tall "Jumbo Machinder") was available in the U.S. for only about a year between 1979 and 1980 before the Shogun Warriors toy line folded in the U.S. market.
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