Daigunder

Daigunder (爆闘宣言ダイガンダー) is an anime series about humans using robots in tournaments. Created by Aeon and Takara and animated by Animation Studio Brains Base, the series aired in TV Tokyo from April 2002 to December 2002. It has an estimated 39 Episodes.

Plot
Set in the future where talking robots are common, there is a tournament where robot teams pit off against each other in. The Battle Robots look like humans and transforming animals.

A boy named Akira Akebono plans to win the Titan Belt with his robots Blion, Eaglearrow, Drimorg, Bonerex, Despector, Trihorn, Ryugu and also Daigu who form the mighty Daigunder. The Daigunder unit was a creation of Akira's grandfather, Professor Hajime Akebono. Managed by a girl named Haruka Hoshi (later spelled "Haruka" in the closed captioning of the dub), Team Akira enters many tournaments for Akira to reach his goal. However, there are many occasions when a Battle Robot named Ginsan is out to destroy Daigunder. Ginsan does this under the orders of the evil and mysterious Professor Maelstrom and he is later joined by digamal & logmal. Akira and his friends soon find a new ally in DragonBurst, and new comrades in his assistants, DragonFlame & DragonFreezer.

Team Akira
Akira and his robots' base of operations is Dailand and they get around in the Daishuttle,their plane.

Akira Akebono (曙アキラ)
The main character and the Commander of Team Akira, Akira is the grandson of famed Battle Robot creator Hajime Akebono. His dreams of winning the Titan Belt lead him to compete for the Battle Robot Tournament. He challenges other teams with his group of robots. His most powerful and trusted ones is Ryugu and Daigu. The first robot of Team Akira was Blion(also Hajime's first creation),who Akira played with even as a child.

Haruka Hoshi (ハルカ)
Haruka Hoshi, a young girl is the manager of a Team Akira. After Team Akira defeats Team John and gains a Battle Robot License, she becomes Akira's manager and helps to tune up his robots.

Hajime Akebono (ハジメ博士)
Hajime Akebono is Akira's grandfather and a famous Battle Robot Creator who created the robots that Akira uses, including DragoBurst along with Professor Maelstrom but DragonFlame, DragonFreezer and DragoBurst have gone berserk and gone against them years ago. Hajime later made the Dino Unit (made up of Bonerex, Despector and Trihorn) and then the Animal Unit (made up of Blion, Eaglearrow and Drimorg) and eventually the Cluster System, which is made up of Ryugu and Daigu, who combine to form Daigunder. He likes to travel to different places. It is to be noted that Blion was Hajime's first powerful battle robot.

Team Akira's Battle Robots
Team Akira's Battle Robots consist of the Daigunder Unit (Ryugu, Daigu, DragonFlame and DragonFreezer), the Animal Unit (Blion, Eaglearrow and Drimorg), and the Dino Unit (Bonerex, Despector and Trihorn). When damaged, sabuto gives them upgrades whenever they need it.

Explosive War King Daigunder (爆闘王ダイガンダー)
A creation of Professor Hajime, Daigunder is the Metamorphic Fusion of Ryugu and Daigu. Nicknamed the "King of the Battle Robots", he was equipped with special system called the Cluster System. Daigunder can attack his enemies with his Dragon Cannon (his finisher) and Dragon Sword. Despector can on his left arm he can perform the Echo Blast. When Both DragonFlame and DragonFreeze weapon use with Daigunder, it can use its most powerful attack, the Dragon Buster. He can also combine with DragoBurst.
 * Burning Dragon Knight Reyuge (燃える竜騎士リューグ): Reyuge is Akira's constant companion and as stuborn as he is. At first he refuses to obey Akira, until he sees Akira protect him. His attacks are Knight Slash and Knight Quake. Ryugu is a small knight robot.
 * White Unsinkable Ship Gunder (白き不沈艦ガンダー): Daigu never fights unless fused with either Gunder, Bulion or Bonerex. He can speak, but most often all he says is "Gunder!". He is a dragon robot.
 * Magma-Born Hot-blooded warrior DragonFlame (マグマが生んだ熱血剣士ドラゴフレイム): Part of the Daigunder Unit. One of two robots built by Professors Hajime and Maelstrom when they were partners, after finding out about Big Bang's true motives, ran off with their leader DragoBurst on a space station in outer space. Later on in the series,they joined Team Akira. DragonFlame's animal is a Fire Dragon, and attacks with Magma dinamic. DragonFlame can Armor Fuse and become a sword by saying Saber Change for either DragoBuster or Daigunder. Like Daigu, DragonFlame mostly says one word "Flame!". DragonFlame can also combine with DragonFreezeer to become a kind of two-headed dragon for Daigunder to ride on for flight.
 * Blizzard-Born Cold-blooded Sage DragonFreezer (吹雪が生んだ冷血賢者ドラゴフリーザ): Part of the Daigunder Unit. One of two robots built by Professors Hajime and Maelstrom when they were partners, after finding out about Big Bang's true motives, ran off with their leader DragoBuster on a space station in outer space. Later on in the series, they joined Team Akira. DragonFreezer's animal is an Ice Dragon and attacks with Blizzard Strike. DragonFreezer can Armor Fuse by saying Shield Change and become a shield for either DragoBuster or Daigunder. Like Daigu and DragonFlame, DragonFreezer mostly says one word "Freeze!". DragonFreezer can also combine with DragonFlame to become some kind of two-headed dragon for Daigunder to ride on for flight.

Blue Lightning Blion (蒼き稲妻ブライオン)
The Leader of Team Akira's Animal Unit and attacks with his "Thunder Claw" and "Lightning Claw" attacks. His animal form is a lion. He can Metamorphic Fuse with Daigu to become Grappling King Daigulion (格闘王ダイガライオン) who attacks with his "Thunder Fang Battle Claw". With Eaglearrow and Drimog on his arms he can perform the Daigullion Ray. Bulion could also Armor Fuse with DragonBurst to become Black Lightning Burstlion (黒き稲妻バーストライオン).

Jurassic Soldier Bonerex (ジュラシックソルジャーボーンレックス)
Bonerex is the leader of the Dino Unit who attacked the mayor's town when the mayor was placing an amusement park in the Dino Units area. He and the Dino Unit later joined Akira and attacks with his Tyranno Slash attack. His animal form is a tyrannosaurus rex. He can Metamorphic Fuse with Daigu to become the Swordplay King Daigarex (剣闘王ダイガレックス), with attacks such as the Air-Slicing Beast Sword and Daigurex Fire, which he performs with Despector and Trihorn on his arms. Bonerex can also Armor Fuse with DragoBurst to form Jurassic Darness Burstrex (ジュラシックダークバーストレックス).

Four Body Force Shockwave Megarex (衝撃の4体駆動メガベックス)
The Power Fusion of Eaglearrow, Drimorg, Despector and Trihorn. This combination is seldom used, as it sometimes takes a lot of power out of them. Eaglearrow forms the chest armor. Drimorg forms the lower torso and legs. Despector forms the back and wings. Trihorn forms the head, upper torso, arms and feet. Megarex is powerful enough to withstand Ginzan's Power Blast attack.
 * Resurrection of William Tell Eagle Arrow (甦るウィリアム・テルイーグルアロー): Member of the Animal Unit. He is one of the fliers of Team Akira since his animal form is an eagle. Constantly argues with Drimog. Attacks with Fire Arrow.
 * Wild Child Under the Edge Drimorg (縁の下の暴れん坊ドリモーグ): Member of the Animal Unit. In case you're wondering why he is such a great digger, that's because his animal form is a mole. Constantly argues with Eaglearrow. Attacks with Crash Burn.
 * Aristocratic God of Death Despector (死神貴族デスペクター): Member of the Dino Unit that joins Team Akira. His animal form is a pteranodon. Attacks with Spector Slash.
 * Super-Strong Gate Keeper Trihorn (怪力門番トライホーン): Member of the Dino Unit that joins with Akira. He can be a bit dumb at times. His animal form is a triceratops. Attacks with Horn Strike.

Commissioner Spinklestarber (コミッショナー)
Commissioner Spinklestarber is the commissioner of the Battle Robots Tournament who observes all tournaments. A running gag is that Akira cannot seem to get his name right.

Mysterious Unallied Gunman Ginzan (敵か味方か謎のガンマンギンザン)
A Battle Robot who worked for the mysterious Professor Maelstrom who attacked Daigunder on different occasions, nicknaming himself the "Ultimate Battle Robot". Although an enemy to Team Akira initially, he did team up with Akira and the Daigunder Unit for an Armor Fusion on some occasions, with an attack called Dragon Revolver The "dragon revolver" is one of the most powerful attacks,best remembered for almost destroying Dragonflame and Dragonfreeze in space.Yet another notable dragonrevolver attack was on Sacred Steel Tortoise,as it was successful in piercing its powerful shield. After learning about honor from Daigunder, he has begun to switch sides and eventually betrayed Professor Maelstrom when he learned his true intentions and how he felt that robots were merely tools. After fighting against Daigunder with Akira as his commander as part of a test, Ginzan decides to go away for a while and perhaps someday join Team Akira, as he now considers Akira his new commander. His animal form is a winged Unicorn,his attacks include "Spin Revolver " and his best attack is Ultimate Revolver which forms the face of a Unicorn during its attack. After Maelstrom changed his ways, Ginzan returned to him along with Tigamaru and Rougamaru.

Dark Beast of Legend DragoBurst (伝説の暗黒獣ドラゴバースト)
A robot built by Professors Hajime and Deikun when they were partners, after finding out about Maelstrom's true motives he ran off and now he lives with his two companions on a space station in outer space. His ultimate goal is to get Daigunder on his team,destroy humanity and thereby establish a Robot Utopia. He can Armor Fuse with Daigunder to form Legendary Battle Warrior Dragon Daigunder (伝説の爆闘神ドラゴンダイガンダー) with DragoFlame as a sword and DragoFreezer as a shield and attacks with his Burst Cannon and Dragon Nova. After some talking-to from Akira and Daigunder, DragoBurst realized the truth about humans and helped Team Akira destroy Maelstrom's giant turtle robot using the power of the Cluster System. His animal form is a Black Dragon and attacks with Buster Black Hole. He is also capable of hypnotizing robots with his "Dragon Wave".

Professor Maelstrom a.k.a Big Bang a.k.a Deikun (プロフェッサー・ビッグバン)
The primary antagonist of the series, Professor Maelstrom was once Professor Hajime's partner when he was originally known as Professor Deikun. Together they built DragoBurst, but when DragoBurst found out that Professor Deikun planned to use him to take over the world he fired at him, thus destroying the laboratory and left. Many years later he has returned complete with a metal eye due to the accident. He built Ginzan, Tigamaru and Rogamaru to defeat Daigunder for unknown purposes. After Dragon Daigunder destroyed his ultimate Battle Robot, he changed his ways.His most powerful robotic invention was the "Sacred Steel Tortoise" as he thought it was the destined end of Daigunder and Dragonburst.

Maneuvering 2-Sword Style Double Fang (機動二刀流ダブルファング)
Armor fusion of Tigamaru & Rogamaru.
 * Maneuvering Great Thief Tigamaru (機動大盗賊タイガマル): One of two robots who join up with Ginzan to destroy Daigunder. He, along with Rogamaru, often uses trickery and deceit in their schemes to defeat Daigunder. He can combine with Rogamaru to form one robot with either of them at the top. Tigamaru's animal form is a tiger. Tigamaru's attack is the Tiga Whirldwind Slicer.
 * Maneuvering Ninja Arts Rogamaru (機動忍法帳ロウガマル): One of two robots who join up with Ginzan to destroy Daigunder. He, along with Tigamaru, often uses trickery and deceit in their schemes to defeat Daigunder. He can combine with Tigamaru to form one robot with either of them at the top. Rogamaru's animal form is a wolf. Rogamaru's attack is the Roga Moon Slicer.

Episodes

 * 1) The Dream Begins
 * 2) Step One
 * 3) Training Battle
 * 4) Hybrid Match
 * 5) Enter Ginzan
 * 6) Robot Round Up
 * 7) Bots Will Be Bots
 * 8) This is No I in Team
 * 9) Been There, Done That
 * 10) Friend or Foe
 * 11) Battling with Style
 * 12) Loose As A Caboose
 * 13) The Mystery of Team X
 * 14) The Enemy Within
 * 15) The Many Robots Spoil the Broth
 * 16) A Royal Pain
 * 17) Brits, Bots, and Betty
 * 18) A New Friend
 * 19) Two Bots or Not Two Bots
 * 20) Goon With the Wind
 * 21) Fight or Get off the Bot
 * 22) A Battle Down Memory Lane
 * 23) Fire and Ice
 * 24) A Stand in the Sand
 * 25) Maelstrom's Madness
 * 26) My Thumb
 * 27) The Battle for Ryugu
 * 28) Maybe the Grass Ain't Greener
 * 29) Dazed and Kamfused
 * 30) Teamwork
 * 31) A Lesson Earned is a Lesson Learned
 * 32) Doctor Bridget Explains it All
 * 33) Desperate Trap for Daigunder
 * 34) Maelstrom vs. Dragon Burst
 * 35) History of the Title Grosser
 * 36) Charge! Fight for the Hard Foughted

Japanese Cast

 * Fujiko Takimoto as Akira
 * Juri Ihata as Haruka
 * Yuki Kaida as Ryugu
 * Kiyoyuki Yanada as Daigu/Daigunder
 * Isshin Chiba as Eagle Arrow & Trihorn
 * Kazuhiro Nakata as Boss
 * Keiichi Sonobe as Announcer
 * Kouichi Toochika as Despector
 * Masaya Onosaka as Drimog
 * Nobutoshi Canna as Taigamaru
 * Nobuyuki Hiyama as Rougamaru
 * Norio Wakamoto as Dragonburst
 * Ryotaro Okiayu as Bone Rex/Daigurex
 * Susumu Chiba as Ginzan
 * Tetsu Inada as Bullion/Daigullion
 * Tomohisa Asou as Dr. Hajime

English Cast

 * Steven Blum - Professor Hajime Akebono
 * Joey D'Auria - Commissioner Spinklestarber
 * Richard Epcar - Eaglearrow
 * Barbara Goodson - Akira Akebono
 * Steve Kramer - Drimog
 * Lex Lang - Despector
 * David Lodge - Tri-Horn
 * Brad MacDonald - Rogamaru/Wolf Fang
 * Dave Mallow - Track Announcer
 * Michael McConnohie - Tigamaru/Tiger Fang
 * Lara Jill Miller - Haruka
 * Bob Papenbrook - Bullion/Daigullion
 * Paul Schrier - Bone Rex/Daigurex
 * Joshua Seth - Ryugu
 * Michael Sorich - Daigu/Daigunder
 * Tom Wyner - Ginzan
 * Philece Sampler - Dr. Bridget

English Crew

 * Scott Page-Pagter - Voice Director

Theme Songs

 * "Bakuto Sengen! Daigunder" by Masaaki Endoh (OP)
 * "We Are the Heroes" by Hiroshi Kitadani (ED)