Aura Battler Dunbine
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Wikipedia-Article "Aura Battler Dunbine"
| Seisenshi Danbain | |
| 聖戦士ダンバイン (Aura Battler Dunbin) |
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| Genre | fantasy, science fiction |
| TV anime Aura Battler Dunbin | |
| Directed by | Yoshiyuki Tomino |
| Studio | Sunrise |
| Network | Bandai |
| Original run | 5 February 1983 – 21 January 1984 |
| No. of episodes | 49 |
Aura Battler Dunbine (聖戦士ダンバイン Seisenshi Danbain) is an anime television series, created by Sunrise, aired on Japan TV from 1983 to 1984, ran for 49 episodes, and 12 volumes of videos were released on VHS and DVD. Created by Hajime Yatate (a pseudonym for the Sunrise team) and Yoshiyuki Tomino, director of such anime series like Gundam and Heavy Metal L-Gaim, it was quite successful in Japan, due to its combination of complex characters, radical mecha designs, and plot twists.
Dunbine was one of the first anime series to combine fantasy with modern science fiction. The series is set in the medieval-like world of Byston Well, resembling a countryside in medieval Europe with kingdoms ruled by monarchs in castles, armies of unicorn-riding calvary armed with swords and crossbows, and little winged creatures called Ferario, or fairies, flying about offering help or hidrance depending on their mood.
The main draw to the series were the insect-like Aura Battlers, used by the population of Byston Well to fight their wars. These fighting suits are powered by a powerful energy called "aura" or "life energy", which is transmitted to the suit by the pilot.
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Plot
The series followed a main character named Sho Zama, as he suddenly finds himself in the world of Byston Well after a motocross accident. Byston Well is located in another dimension located between the sea and the land, and is populated with dragons, castles, knights, and powerful robots known as Aura Battlers. Once Sho is discovered to possess a very powerful "aura", he is drafted into the Byston Well conflict as the pilot of the lavender-colored Dunbine.
As in other Tomino creations, Dunbine's cast is populated by Nordic-looking military types in elaborated costumes in one side, a young Japanese hero caught in the middle, and beautiful female warriors on both sides. There are romances that cut across battle lines, and the non-stop battles between elaborated fighting craft on land and on the air. Most of the cast pilot Aura Battles, although there are lots of standard airships, smaller fighters, and large warships as well.
Related Notes
Yoshiyuki Tomino directed the series, which is based on an earlier novel, "The Wings of Lin" (which didn't feature the Aura Battler mechas at all, they were added to the series at the insistence of the sponsors, Clover and Bandai). The series spawned several model and toys lines, as well as related OVAs and spin-offs.
One spin-off of the series, a 3-episode OVA called Aura Battler Dunbine: Tale of Neo Byston Well was released in 1988. The series' action takes place 700 years after the events of the original.
The character of Cham (or sometimes spelt Chum), is virtually identical to the character of Lillith from Heavy Metal L-Gaim. They share an identical appearance and race, as well as the same voice actress. This is often joked about although the true reason has never really been officially said. Some speculate that Tomino had a soft spot for Cham, and felt like putting a near identical character in another series. A real rarity for Tomino, who often goes to great lengths to make sure characters cannot be reused.
This is yet another of Tomino's series' where we see his "Kill 'em all" style appeared once more. All of the main cast is pretty much killed in the final battle. All except one, Sho's fairy companion Cham. It is hinted however, that despite all the death, all the characters may have just returned to Byston Well. The final battle took place on Earth, when the majority of the main cast became stranded there earlier in the series.
Cham herself, lonesomely heads back to Byston Well leaving the series with a bittersweet conclusion. Although sad, the ending does leave more interpretation for a happier ending than that of Space Runaway Ideon , the previous series Tomino worked on which has become legendary for having the bloodiest and most deadly ending of any anime to date. (costing the lives of not only the main cast, but the entire universe!)
Super Robot Wars
The Dunbine characters, mecha, and storyline elements make appearances in quite a few games in the Super Robot Wars series by Banpresto; Most notably the "first" series, which ended. Banpresto has gone on to make spinoff series' taking place in different universes such as the Alpha series and the Impact/MX series. However, Dunbine has made few appearances in these latter titles. Many strongly desire to see them return in some form. The Aura Battler mecha were all undisputedly the most dodge crazy units in the game with decent attack. However, after some action some of the Aura Battlers were able to channel the pilots' Aura energy to unleash very powerful attacks.