Dangaizer 3: Volume 1 [DVD]

Features

• Type: DVD
• Studio: Right Stuf
• Language(s): english, japanese
• Actor(s): Masami Obari, Kazuo Ogura, Yasuhiro Oshima

This inane mecha OAV boasts a back story so convoluted, it has to be explained onscreen in print. An ancient civilization that drew power from feng shui created the enormous robots the Devil Dragons; the greatest of them, Dangaizer, required three pilots. Ten thousand years later, that civilization is trying to make a comeback. Teenage game champion Hina is the descendant (reincarnation?) of one of that pilot trio: she joins Cindy and Fou in the predictable battle against the operators of the Devil Dragons. Dangaizer involves too many characters and too little character development. For all its complexities, the plot exists only to provide a setting for the mecha fights, which aren't particularly well staged, and the jiggle shots--most of the characters are pneumatic women who run around in a few plastic curlicues. Releasing four 30-minute episodes on two discs is decidedly chintzy. (Rated 16 and older: violence, nudity, profanity, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon