Dai Guard is another Evangelion-inspired series: throughout the series, a bunch of strange huge monsters starts wreaking havoc, and it’s up to some private corporation to get rid of it. An Evangelion (or whatever series was the first one to come with such a concept) rip-off however, this isn’t: you can see it more as a combination between satire and homage of the Giant Robot genre of the seventies. And it works pretty nicely.

This series tries to set itself apart through its large focus on the inner politics of influential corporations. The titular Dai Guard is owned by a huge company, and therefore restricted by all sorts of rules and regulations, which led to the priceless situation in which its launch was delayed because one of the business officials who was supposed to give his approval happened to be golfing on a business trip. There’s also a large focus on the company’s struggles with the military, who hold very different ideas from the overmoralistic lead characters of this series.

But even though they’re very moralistic at times, the lead cast of this show is a really lovable bunch of people. At first, they may seem a bit strange and clichéd, but they’re the type of people that’ll grow on you. There isn’t really one person who stands out in particular: every single member of the division that this series focuses on has his or her moments of greatness.

Overall, this is just a fun series for those who are looking for action that’s a bit more than simply handing out punches or throwing beams until the other party goes down. Strategies are a large part of the battles in this series, not to mention that the army also likes get in the lead characters’ way. It’s not without its flaws, though. In fact, it’s got a pretty big one, aside from how the premise gets formulaic after a while.

The big problem with this series is that the people from the army really are portrayed like a bunch of incompetent idiots. I can understand their own situation, but every time they get the chance to show themselves, they either behave like complete morons or the enemy robots do things that would have screwed the lead characters over completely as well if they had to deal with it. While the scriptwriters do provide them with enough chances to show themselves, they also subsequently write any battle in favour of the lead characters, even when the odds are completely against them.

The ending also feels forced as well. The creators created a monster there that may have been a bit too strong, so obviously the operation to get rid of it introduces quite a few plot-holes. So while this show has a lot do dislike, it’s also got a lot to like, and it especially captured the working environment of the lead characters quite nicely. It’s not going to make any top 10 lists, but it does what it intends to do: entertain. It’s a great series as long as you don’t think too much behind it. ^^;

Short Synopsis: Michiko screws up while trying to get some passports and Hatchin meets a bunch of weirdos.
Episode Rating: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
Awesome to see that both installments of Michiko e Hatchin hit the mark exactly this week. This episode combines the dark parts of the Michiko-stories with the adorable parts of the Hatchin-story-lines. So what does that mean? A bunch of cross-dressers, of course!

Hatchin, while lost and searching for Michiko (who got herself into trouble yet again (nice restaurant, by the way: every table had a live canary on it) meets a guy who is willing to offer her a place to stay. He turns out to have a very kind daughter, and at first there seems nothing wrong with them… until it becomes clear that the guy is a stage cross-dresser performer, and his “daughter” is actually an ill-mannered boy. It was just adorable to see how much this boy looked up to his father: he behaved like an angel in front of him, and when he was alone with Hatchin he just kept bragging about how good and awesome his father was (which in a way was true: at the end of the episode he managed to get Michiko out of a tight spot while placing his life on the line for her).

I also like the subtlety in which some of the more negative sides of Brazil were highlighted, with the mother who simply used her baby as a beggar in order to get some money. I like how it got its point across without being overly preachy or moralistic about it.

We also see the guy with the weird hairdo back in this episode, and he’s shaping up to be not just a threat to Michiko, but Satoshi as well, making friends with the guys who caused Michiko problems in this episode. Since the creators didn’t use them at all in this episode, my guess would be that they’re going to play a major part in this episode. And in that aspect, I think that this series beats Samurai Champloo. while the action is less stylized, in SC the major antagonists really came from out of nowhere at the last possible moment, while here they appear every once in a while too do something.

Also, Michiko has a very strange sense of Rock Paper Scissors… And was it me, or was this episode obsessed with food? Seriously, the most detailed shots came from the various dishes that passed the screen…

Short Synopsis: Michiko and Hatchin run into the woman who appeared with Hiroshi in the paper (Elis Michaela).
Episode Rating: 8,5/10 (Awesome)
This post is going to be short, since I’m hungry for that next episode, but I do want to say: Michiko Rocks! It’s always fun when her character clashes with that of another one. While this is usually Hatchin, this episode showed that the formula also works with others. The bitchfight between her and Elis was downright awesome (not to mention that kiss. ^^;).

And man, that Hiroshi is one bastard, who seems to be systematically on the run for either Michiko or Hatchin. He probably also faked his own death because of that, though it makes you wonder why he became stupid enough to be featured in a newspaper article. Did he do that because he fell in love with Elis?

Short Synopsis: Genji has done it now: he’s gotten the princess pregnant.
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Now THIS is Noitamina! This show has really been consistently excellent so far, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get worse any time soon. The only part that’s still left for it to screw up is the ending, which has a lot of potential to end up rushed or unfinished. But until then, I’m really going to enjoy the rest of this series.

And so, it had to happen some time: Genji has gotten someone pregnant. To be precise, he has given birth to the future king, it seems. Because Lady Fujitsubo refused to make public that the two of them had sex, she decided to pretend that the baby came from Mikado, the king, even if Genji was the real father.

I still can’t quite get inside Genji’s head, though. On one hand, the guy seems so genuine, he seems to care so much about the women he sleeps with, and yet at the same time he seemed so upset when he learned that Fujitsubo had a baby from someone other than himself.

Short Synopsis: Making use of the bad organization of the enemy, Fan lets himself get caught, in order to escape again.
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Here’s an interesting one: for February, this show is going to be on and off: in two weeks it’s having yet another hiatus, though in March, it’s going to have double episodes for four consecutive weeks! That’s really got to be the point where this series needs to deliver. It’s been building up so much, so it’d better have a damn good finale! And with a bit of luck Lydia will also actually start DOING something.

It’s a shame that this series is always going to remain in the shadows of Legend of Galactic Heroes. I bet that if the connections with that epic were gone, this series would have been generally better received so far. It’s still a very unique anime to me (I refuse to believe that LoGH was awesome in the same way that this series is).

Fan… the guy remains strange. At first sight he has no big reason whatsoever to go after any other Tytanian than Alsas. There is no “my people are oppressed so I’m just going to bust Tytania to free them”, and neither is he a great moral knight that’s so typical of most of his counterparts in other anime. Now that I think about it, he doesn’t have any huge ideals and this makes this series step away from the moralistic themes that may be a bit too present in anime. For him, it’s just a simple game: he doesn’t care whether he dies or not, he just wants to see how far he can go. It’s rare to find a main character in anime like him. And I think that that’s why I came to like this show so much: aside from perhaps Miranda, every single character here is flawed, and unlike your average perfect character. And in a way, I’d much rather see how far Fan can go with his gamble than the umpth teenager who’s fighting for the power of love.

This episode also showed some surprise background for Miranda, including yet another surprising death. This show really likes to kill of characters at the time you’d least expect it, doesn’t it? ^^; It’s a shame, because the guy was pretty smart, even though this episode showed that he lacks the experience in practical combat. He could have grown into a pretty formidable foe. Though I guess that Miranda realized this as well, so she killed him before he got the chance to prove a threat.