Tokusou Kihei Dorvack

1999AD. In the depths of space, a colony ship floats directionless. The Idelians, having fled their planet as it succumbed to ecological disasters, are now displaced and without a home. And now, after years of searching, they have finally found somewhere to settle down: a planet called Earth. Under the command of their Supreme Ruler Zelar, the Idelians mount a full scale invasion, taking the Earth Federation and their Powered Armor troops off-guard. All would be lost, were it not for the Special Armored Battalion Dorvack, a rescue unit headed by Col. Takagi that pilot state of the art, transforming Variable Machines. With Dorvackleading the offensive against the Idelians, Earth now has a fighting chance at pushing back the invasion. But war is never that simple, as unexpected alliances form and horrifying mysteries are unearthed that could determine the fate of the world as we know it. Tokusō Kihei Dorvack (Special Armored Battalion Dorvack, or Powered Armor Dorvack if you go by the official subs) is something of an underdog anime. Despite its flaws, it’s something that you still kinda want to see succeed, regardless of its quality. It more or less came and went upon release, struggling to compete against its contemporaries before vanishing into the crowd of other mecha anime of the era. On the outside it’s easy to see why Dorvack failed to catch on. The character designs are simple, the mecha aren’t particularly eyecatching or even that appealing, and the basic plot is something that has been told a million times before. But there’s a bit more going on with Dorvack than meets the eye, as under the hood is a charming, albeit flawed, show that does some interesting things with its concepts. Story wise, Dorvack doesn’t really aim too high. It’s your classic mecha plot. Aliens invade and a team of young heroes piloting one or more state of the art robots answer the call to stop them. You’ve seen it before most likely, but that doesn’t mean you can’t tell a good story with a simple concept. Thankfully, Dorvack mostly succeeds with this, but not without some roadblocks along the way. It takes a while for things to get going, as the first cour moves at a glacial pace and is mostly filled with one-off episodes with bizarre plots (Amazonian women engaging in guerrilla warfare, haywire personal assistant robots, alien flowers that poison people, a lot of strange shit). These often do little to develop the overarching story or characters, and while they can be entertaining, they feel at odds with the more “grounded” approach the story is clearly trying to go for. Dorvack is evidently banking on attracting fans of Gundam and Macross with its utilitarian designs and focus on military-lead conflicts, which makes the dichotomy between the hard sci-fi elements and the strange episode plots feel all the more pronounced. Thankfully after around episode 14, the show becomes far more serialised and begins to tell an overarching and cohesive story across multiple episodes. This change in plot structure also introduces various other unique additions to the show, with fantasy and supernatural elements playing a large role in things going forward. Of note is the inclusion of speculative historical fiction aspects, with Polynesian, Aztec and Greek mythology concepts being woven into the story as it goes on, providing a unique atmosphere that is quite unlike the show’s contemporaries (except Acrobunch, which beat it to the air by about a year and goes even harder on that idea). Unfortunately, these cool concepts don’t particularly coalesce in a satisfying way. The finale (which I suspect is a result of a slashed episode count) is rushed, surreal and frankly incomprehensible, to the point where it basically drops all pretence of being a mecha anime and turns into 2001: A Space Odyssey-cum-Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s a shame the show stumbles at such a critical moment, but at the very least the theming and overall messaging is consistent and coherent, so it’s not a total write-off. Let’s talk characters. Our three leads are Masato Mugen (Tōru Furuya), Louie Oberon (Hiromi Tsuru) and Pierre Bonaparte (Sukekiyo Kameyama). None of them are particularly deep, but they’re fun to watch and they have a good dynamic with one another. Masato’s hot-blooded nature plays off Louie’s straight-forward but playful charm which plays off Pierre’s goofy and friendly nature, and that plays off Masato’s smarminess, etc etc. The three have great chemistry, and the show manages to succeed in making them actually feel like a team who have worked together for ages and know basically everything about each other. When it comes to their backgrounds… well, they don’t really have any. We do learn a little bit about Pierre, but Masato and Louie might as well have spawned straight from the ether as outside of one or two offhand comments, we don’t know anything about them really. But as I said, they’re charming and entertaining enough to keep the show moving, so I can look past the lack of much detail. Elsewhere on the Earth side, there’s Col. Takagi (Kiyoshi Kobayashi), leader of Dorvack and professional Freddie Mercury lookalike, and technicians Bob (Yutaka Shimaka) and Jackie (Asami Mukaidono). Finally, there’s Stanley Hilton (Hirotaka Suzuoki), who joins the team about 3/4 through the show and who Masato takes an instant disliking too. Stanley unfortunately doesn’t get much time to shine, as he simply shows up too late to make much of an impact, which is a shame as his sour relationship with Masato could’ve lead to some interesting stories going forward And what about the Idelian characters? There’s Idel (Shō Hayami), commander of the invading forces and someone who is more than happy to wipe out humanity if it means having a new place to live. By his side is Aroma (Keiko Toda), the kind and considerate daughter of the former commander Amov (Osamu Saka) who Idel usurps early into the series. Aroma and Idel grew up together with the latter being adopted into the family, which provides an enjoyable dynamic between the two characters and is the main source of drama for most of the show. At the top of the Idelian food chain is Supreme Ruler Zelar (Eiji Kanie), a mysterious Darth Vadar wannabe who is actually far more of a complicated character than he lets on. All in all, the cast is mostly likeable and enjoyable to watch, with some strong performances by the voice talent (particularly Shō Hayami’s Idel, easily the standout here). They’re a fun bunch to watch, for lack of a better explanation, and sometimes that’s all you need. If you’re looking for any particularly deep and complicated characters, you’re not really going to find them here, but despite that the show still manages to stick the landing when it comes to the cast. Dorvack’s real strength comes in its animation, some of the most dynamic and visibly striking I’ve seen in a mecha anime of the time. While it never gets quite as good as Macross does on its best days, it’s also far more consistent. The mechs are always drawn well, with plenty of dynamic poses and cool looking shots to get you pumped up. Explosions and laser particles are intricate and detailed, especially in the finale which is a total visual marvel. Stock footage is prevalent in the first half but borderline nonexistent in the second, with hardly any reused footage appearing at all in the final few episodes. Some shots even rival those you’d see in movies at the time when it comes to detail and quality. It’s pretty obvious a lion’s share of the budget went towards the action. That’s fine, after all this is a robot anime so good looking fight scenes are always going to be a positive. The high quality of the action unfortunately does not translate over to the character animation, which ends up looking plain and uninteresting. Character designs are generic and simple, with none of the cast really standing out or having any defining features. Movement is also a little stiff and awkward, especially during hand to hand fight scenes, though these are few and far between. The animation rarely ever goes off model, but everything is so simple looking that you’d probably have to actively try to fuck it up. Not much to add on the music side. It’s solid with some catchy numbers that fit the scenes well. Opener ‘Chikyuu Ni, I LOVE YOU’ is a great little 80s power ballad with a killer guitar riff, and closer ‘Kimi Ni Okuru LULLABY’ ends each episode with a pleasant and gentle slow burner. Mechanical design is unique, to put it lightly. There are three main subsets of mecha in this show. The Variable Machines, which consist of the Calibur, Gazette and Tulcas (plus their mass produced variants). The wide array of Powered Armor suits, and finally the Idelian mecha, which are more like battle pods and flying turrets than anything else. Of the three of these, the Idelian line is the probably the least interesting, resembling neon colored Macross rejects. Eventually, more traditional looking designs are introduced but these too feel copped from Macross’ Zentradi power suits. They end up lacking much of a unique style, even if they’re more visibly appealing than what came before. The Variable Machines are also a mixed bag. The Calibur is cool enough in both its vehicle and mecha form, though the simple design doesn’t feel very fitting for a leading suit. Still, it’s eye catching and the animators whip up some cool shots for it, so whatever. I can’t really say the same for the Combat upgrade that appears half way through the show however, which is overly bulky and cumbersome looking. The Jeep form doesn’t change with the upgrade either so the Transforming Mecha™️ just stops transforming altogether. Shame. The Tulcas is an odd one, going from a tank to… a tank standing upright. On the first glance, it’s easily the least interesting of the three but I’d be lying if I didn’t warm to its simple and utilitarian design. Finally there’s the Gazette, which is frankly hideous in its transformed mode and looks like it could break in half if so much as a light breeze touches it. It seems the staff were aware of its weirdness, as the thing only transforms a handful of times throughout the show, meaning Louie is firmly stuck on helicopter duty most of the time. Like the Tulcas, I was originally apprehensive towards it but seeing it in action did make me warm up to the thing. I can still acknowledge that it’s not exactly visually pleasing however. And then we have the powered armor, the one thing most people remember this show for nowadays. They’re short, stubby and goofy, but they’re a lot of fun. It’s easy to see why the toy line bombed like it did and why the model kit line actually did okay. The Powered Armors manage to both fit the show’s tone and setting, providing fans of harder sci-fi something to sink their teeth into, while also being cute and marketable with their chibi proportions and bright colors. The animators seem fond of them too, with plenty of unique variants popping up through the run, some of which only appear once or twice. The series’ plamo line, done by Gunze-Sangyo, still occasionally gets reprints even today, so despite the anime more or less vanishing into obscurity, the Dorvack name still lives on in some regard. Dorvack is a funny little show that’s quite hard to pin down. On one hand, it has a fun cast and plenty of high quality action scenes to keep viewers entertained, as well as some interesting plot beats and genre experiments to keep things fresh. But on the other, the show seems at odds with what it wants to be, which leads to a very strange final act that feels rushed and almost nonsensical at times. Fans of 80s mecha will likely enjoy this, though the slightly uneven quality of the overall story and bizarre final act might be off putting to some. Despite that, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t charmed by the show, warts and all. An enjoyable watch, but not without some noticeable flaws. Dorvack is owned by Ashi Productions and is currently licensed by Discotek Media.