Choujuu Kishin Dancougar

First, this is a super robot show. So don't expect realism. I will say that it starts off slow and the first 17 episodes were not great, but after that the action and stakes heighten. It was a fun ride, it's just too bad that it didn't start from the beginning. The aliens are on the generic side as far as their motives. But it's fun to see them squabble among themselves. There are OVA's that continue the storyline. The series ends in a cliffhanger. I had a blast. The action was great. Animation looked great most of the time. Music was good. The backstabbing, ... sacrifice, sad moments, and fights made it fun. It just isn't very good at the beginning. I will definitely check out the OVA's. I recommend this to any fan of the Super Robot genre. Does it do anything different from the other shows to stand out, no probably not. But it's fun and gets intense in the 2nd half.

Dancouga is mostly hyped up by its OVAs, merchandise, and appearances in the SRW series. So, my expectations for the series were raised pretty high. However, once I jumped into the show I had a slog to complete it. I found the series to drag mostly in the 17 episode build up to our titular mecha. Another detouring factor was the show often won't fully embrace its Super Robot elements. Also, the main characters are had to latch onto, with Ryo and the Black Knight being the standouts. At times the series is often similar to Chojin Sentai Jetman, as the CBF Pilots are often ... found at odds with each other. Yet, the CBF rarely shows growth towards becoming a functioning team, to the extent it feels repetitive.

Whereas, the villains have cool designs, but are lacking in character. Shapiro is the most prominent of the villains since he is traitor to the Earth. For the most part the show tries playing around with the idea that Shapiro simply went mad for power. Unfortunately, most of the early flashbacks of him with Sara depict him as a sociopath with a god complex. Then later flashbacks make him have more sympathy for Sara and society. Also, the finale works hard to make Shapiro out to be a tragic character who fell from grace.

While I do aggressively dislike the show, it is mostly thanks to being highly disappointed. I do think people should see this series if they are interested in Dancouga though. However, be cautious that it may not live up to expectations. Heck, if people have tried to sit through the series and cannot then jump ahead to the OVAs. Starting with the first OVA is good because it is mostly a recap, but also features 30-minutes of new footage completing the main series. So, if people do decide to latch onto Dancouga via the OVAs or SRWs, please at least watch episode 23 "Revenge for Murder!" It is the most amazing SUPER ROBOT nonsense ever! It is Terminator meets Mad Max meets Mecha!

There are anime that age like wine.
This one aged like milk left inside a cockpit during battle.

The basic idea sounds cool on paper.
Four pilots.
Animal-themed mechs.
They combine into one giant robot.
Fight alien invaders.
Boom. Classic 80s super robot recipe.
But here’s the problem: nothing connects properly.
... The story feels like it was written by four different people who never met each other. One episode is military drama. Next episode is random emotional breakdown. Then suddenly we’re watching a training montage that goes nowhere.

Villains are nothing more than random NPCs who appearing anywhere like bots sending their mecha robots to destroy our main characters and this continues in the entire show..

Characters - we have four characters
They are meant to be intense soldiers with emotional trauma. But they are moody teenagers forced into group work.

Shinobu
Sara
Ryo
Masato
None of these characters are intresting and memorable
Shinobu — an angry young man who was screaming throughout the entire show. Out of all, this character had potential, but he was nothing more than a kid who gets angry over everything. They never explored his character properly.

Sara — she is a female character, and one of the shittiest characters and shittiest things about this show. Her only role in the entire show was to keep repeating the same mistake every time. She's supposed to be a heartbroken, annoying bitch who keeps chasing her lover, not sure if he's alive or not, and creating problems for others.

Other two characters doesn't matter..

Animation - it's 1980s show to keep in mind the animation is quite good


The “Beast Mode” Problem
The whole selling point is the animal transformation system.
Lion tank. Eagle jet. Tiger tank. Elephant tank.
Sounds awesome, right?
Except they barely use the animal gimmick in creative ways. It’s mostly just:
Transform.
Roar.
Laser.
Repeat.
It’s like buying a deluxe gaming PC and only using it to open Notepad.

Super Bestial Machine God Dancougar wants to be gritty military sci-fi.
It wants to be emotional character drama.
It wants to be classic super robot hype.
Instead, it becomes a confused mechanical sandwich stuffed with unfinished ideas.

You can watch the first episode or directly jump to the last episode — both are the same thing. From the mecha fights to the character drama, from the first episode to the last episode's story, nothing feels serious about this show. It's just the same repeating story, same cringe character drama that's all.