Dancouga – Super Beast Machine God

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Dancouga – Super Beast Machine God is a classic 1985 Japanese mecha anime from Ashi Productions. It follows four pilots who control four vehicles that can transform into animals and humanoid robots. When the pilots combine these machines, they form the giant robot Dancouga to battle the alien Muge Zorbados Empire and defend Earth.

At first, the four machines fight on their own, but they don’t combine until roughly halfway through the series. The four vehicles are an eagle, a cougar, a tiger, and a mammoth. In open mode, Dancouga gains a powerful shield. The Aggressive System automatically activates when a pilot gets very angry.

The show threads religious and philosophical ideas into its story, drawing on Christianity and Taoist concepts, with a recurring sense of gods.

Dancouga marked the debut of Masami Ōbari, who would become a well-known mecha designer. The TV series aired 38 episodes on TBS from April 5 to December 27, 1985. In the United States, it was released on subtitled VHS by Central Park Media in 1995 and later picked up by Discotek Media. After the TV run, four original video animations were released between 1986 and 1990. A sequel, Dancouga Nova – Super God Beast Armor, aired in 2007.