Golion and Dairugger XV

[DeadlyMessiah]

So I got the entire series to Golion and Dairugger XV yesterday (won't say how, but it was a 3 year wait), and so far, I got through the first 5 episodes of Golion. To be frank, I like Voltron a lot better. The first episode felt like I was watching it for the first time, thanks to its difference in story, the lack of Galaxy Garrison, and the violence, but I just don't like the soundtrack. It has some nice tunes in there, but the music is very bland and boring, which really brings the show down a few notches. Yeah, you see people's heads flying off or being boiled, but the presentation just isn't as good. Granted, some of the voice acting is a lot better, while Hagar and Allura's Jp counterparts actually sound quite similar, but I hate Lance's Japanese voice. He sounds more like a dumb oaf than an explorer. Hopefully things will get better once Lotor comes in (as that is when Voltron gets really good too), but right now, this is a nice watch just to see what is different, and that is it.

[KShinjo]

I've never seen GoLion (save the OP) and only seen one episode of Dairugger XV in the original Japanese language (from what I could gather at the time, it was the last or second to last episode of the series!).

From what I read and heard from Japanese fans, Dairugger XV (fifteen) gets higher marks than GoLion. It's supposedly a serious sci-fi space war story.

[DeadlyMessiah]

I've never seen GoLion (save the OP) and only seen one episode of Dairugger XV in the original Japanese language (from what I could gather at the time, it was the last or second to last episode of the series!).

From what I read and heard from Japanese fans, Dairugger XV (fifteen) gets higher marks than GoLion. It's supposedly a serious sci-fi space war story.



That is good to hear. I plan on watching Dairugger XV after I finish Golion, and Golion is kind of, well, boring. I don't really remember the vehicle Voltron series much, so Dairugger should be a pleasure to watch, and then to see adapted in Voltron whenver the DVDs finally come out for the vehicle series.

[akcoll99]

I've heard several people say the Japanese Go Lion isn't quite as good as the American Voltron, but I plan on picking it up whenever Media Blasters gets around to releasing it. Having watched Voltron on TV back in the 80's, getting the uncut Japanese version fell under that category of "Things I never thought I'd see." :D

[Talyn]

I've heard several people say the Japanese Go Lion isn't quite as good as the American Voltron, but I plan on picking it up whenever Media Blasters gets around to releasing it. Having watched Voltron on TV back in the 80's, getting the uncut Japanese version fell under that category of "Things I never thought I'd see." :D


Yeah I believe I will be picking up the GoLion original series as well, just to see it in the original form. I still haven't decided on Vehicle Voltron or Dairugger XV when they come out, much like I don't like grabbing GI Joe. I liked it as a kid, but didn't love it...

[Mazinkaizer]

Don't worry about you not liking Golion, couple of my friends also feel the same (although they're not dub fan). Mostly, due to the fact that they watched Voltron years ago before Golion. I guess some would also feel the same for Macross/Robotech for the same reason or another.

For me i enjoyed Voltron when i was a kid and re-enjoyed it more when i watched Golion 2 years ago. IMO it's more like the typical 80s Super robot shows (especially the Ichuro Mizuki Songs). Not that Voltron is bad, but it's more of a blast from the past for me.

I guess we should be glad that MB is releasing both for the fans. Although for me i'll just pick Golion :)

As for Dairugger XV, i didn't watch any of it so i'll surly pick it when MB releases it.

[DeadlyMessiah]

Don't worry about you not liking Golion, couple of my friends also feel the same (although they're not dub fan). Mostly, due to the fact that they watched Voltron years ago before Golion. I guess some would also feel the same for Macross/Robotech for the same reason or another.

For me i enjoyed Voltron when i was a kid and re-enjoyed it more when i watched Golion 2 years ago. IMO it's more like the typical 80s Super robot shows (especially the Ichuro Mizuki Songs). Not that Voltron is bad, but it's more of a blast from the past for me.

I guess we should be glad that MB is releasing both for the fans. Although for me i'll just pick Golion :)

As for Dairugger XV, i didn't watch any of it so i'll surly pick it when MB releases it.



At first, I thought it might be because I grew up on Voltron, but after getting through the first 12 episodes, it isn't. I consider Robotech to be highly inferior when compared to Macross and Mospeada, but Golion just isn't as good as Voltron.

[Vicserr]

Well, I'm going for both as soon as an MB sale at TRSI has them for preorder O.O :virgin:

[DeadlyMessiah]

Well, I just finished Golion, and I must say, I really enjoyed the last 5 episodes, especially 51 and 52. Most of all, I just lvoed watching Sincline kill off every villian himself in frustration. What happened to Hagar/Honerva was just wicked cool, as was Zarkon's/Daibazaru's death. I do have to say, I did like the fact that they talked about Sincline's mother in this as opposed to her not existing in Voltron, for it made his obsession with Allura/Farah make sense. From what it sounded like, Hagar tells him that his mother was banished to Altia, which is why everyone is freaking blonde. :-)

In the long run though, I didn't really care for the series except for certain episodes, but it is one I'll probably pick random episodes at times to watch, and I want to show my girlfriend the first and last two episodes back to back with Voltron (along with ep 38), but of course, that will have to wait until the 3 later episodes are actually out on DVD.

Will I be buying Golion when MB releases it? Quite doubtful. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to starting Dairugger tomorrow.

[DeadlyMessiah]

So I started watching Dairugger XV a little while ago, and just finished episode 6. The series seems like it could go somewhere, but it is really off to a slow start. First off, there are way too many characters to keep track off, and the only way to really know who belongs to what team is by the color of their suits. I do like the idea of having 15 vehicles creating one robot though, as that is pretty cool. Another beef with the series though is that so far, it seems to be on the Gundam effect. What I mean by that is that the heroes are just flying around in space for no appearant reason while the villians must be really bored and have to attack the heroes and follow them around for no reason whatsoever. The villians are boring. They seem to have no personality, no purpose, and their mecha monsters are pretty weak. Due to this, every episode feels like the previous one, which is not good. Hopefully it will pick up around episode 10, as a lot of Toei's series tend to do, because right now, the potential this show has is wasted.

On the positive side, I do find it better than Golion except for the villians aspect. I mean, in Golion, you got to know the villians right away, who they were, what they were up to, why they do what they do. Here, their just there. The soundtrack in this series is also a lot more enjoyable, if still a little bit on the cheesy side. My question is, did this series replace Golion after it finished, or did it air at the same time in Japan?

As for the Voltron aspect, well, right now, I can definitely see why the vehicle series was not as popular as the lion one. Kids probably got confused by all of the characters, which turned them off from it. Hell, I hardly remember the show myself, aside from the Voltron design, so I can't even discuss how I think it compares to VV.

Like I said, I hope this show improves as it goes along. What do you guys think? Lastly, is there a site similar to the Golion one that has images of what was cut from Voltron, along with the names of the characters and what not?

[DeadlyMessiah]

Well, I just finished Dairugger, and all I can think of is, "THAT"S IT!!?" I am pretty poed at the ending as none of the last battles with anyone felt epic like they did in Golion. Not to mention Teresu gets killed by 3 nobodies (does that actually happen in Voltron, or does he get sent to the "Medical Planet?"). The series had some really great potential, and it had some really fantastic episodes (the one with Teresu going home, the Teresu meeting with Asimov ep), but the pay off just felt like a really big let down.

Also, there were a few things that really hurt this series' enjoyability factor. First off, as I mentioned before, there were way too many characters, which made following the story very very difficult. Then about half way through, they seemed to have made only the 3 leaders the main characters while the other 12 members became nothing but background characters, which would have been fine had they actually gave the 3 leaders any development. Instead, they just stood on the bridge, then went out in their vehicles when needed, returned to the bridge, etc.

Another factor going against this show was that the villians barely had any development whatsoever (so why did Teresu decide to turn good all of a sudden??). The emperor seemed more like a figurehead than anything, as he did absolutely nothing. It was that dude with the white goatee that seemed to be doing most of the work. I'm still not clear on what exactly the Galbastian's purpose throughout the series were. Why did they want to destroy humans? Why were some revolting against the emperor? Oh, and let's not forget that it seemed like there was a new commander every 3 episodes.

And finally, the plot of the show hurt it as well. It just seemed like nothing was going on from episodes 5-20, and then again nothing from 26-42. Not to mention the mech battles were very repetitive and redundant.

Overall, I am very disassitified with this series, even moreso than I was with Golion. At least Golion's finale had some great battles with an ending much better than this one. As for it being compared to Voltron, I can understand why it was a failure, as kids would have had a hard time getting into this series and liking one dimensional characters, but I do still plan to get the Vehicle series when it hits DVD. After I watch that, perhaps I'll give this series another try as I will then have more of an idea of what is going on and being able to follow the story much easier.

Right now though, I give Dairugger XV a 2/5 stars.