Dai Guard - Vol. 1 [2002] [DVD]

The series is about your average group of workers. One is a slacker, one is a womanizer and one is a woman who holds them all together. They work for this company that claims to be the Earth defense forces. 12 years ago, they helped push back alien invaders. They had a massive weapon to use against them, but they never really got a chance to use it. What better time then now to have an alien show up and have three office workers pilot it?

The plot is mostly a humorous one, but that doesn't mean there isn't any character development. There is a lot of delelopment between the three pilots in these five episodes alone to keep you watching. And, yes, for all you mecha fans, there is plenty of action and combat in each episode to keep you hooked as well. Especially since Dai-Guard gets a new arm each episode to use against an alien. Plus, for all you nitpickers, this series is actually pretty realistic in terms of economy, paper work and destruction.

The animation is some of the best to come out of Xebec yet. All the colors are bright and vibrant. Even the night missions look stunning. There is also some interesting camera tricks as well. The extras on the disc are pretty light, but nice to have. You get textless opening and closings as well as a load of production sketches.

Overall, Dai-Guard should appeal to atleast a good handful of anime fans. If your into stuff like Patlabor and Getter Robo, check this one out. Even Evangelion fans might get a kick out of this one.

Dai-Guard is built on a series of silly twists to the giant robot genre. The terribly inept military disposed of Dai-Guard, their anti-alien robot, when the aliens suddenly vanished. It ended up in the hands of a private security firm, who uses it as a PR tool. Dai-Guard is piloted by three office workers from the PR department. When the aliens return, the big question is, who is causing more damage, the aliens or Dai-Guard when it tries to fight them?

Dai-Guard is not a slapstick parody, however. Once the improbable stage is set, Dai-Guard has a pleasant mix of drama and light comedy, with plenty of character development. Dai-Guard succeeds here: the heroes are likable, the supporting cast is large and well-developed, and the stories maintain your interest even though it seems like it's silly. Once it hooks you, and it will if you give it a chance, it doesn't matter how silly the underlying premise is. You'll be enjoying it too much to care.

As far as the anime itself goes, it looks great, has catchy music, and the voice acting is quite good. I highly recommend this series.