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Da-Garn Ep. 5: Dinosaur Graveyard

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Summary

In space, Redlone is shown the specs for a combat trooper designed specifically to destroy the Earth robots. His assistant however notes that they need a certain gemstone to complete it, which they have luckily detected in large quantities on Australia. Redlone orders him to deploy the subterranean Angran robots immediately to mine the gemstone, and also tells him to add a great plume to the new combat trooper to make it more beautiful. Across the globe, the Sabers are searching for more Brave Stones but aren’t getting any readings. Da-Garn tells them that they need to find the remaining four stones at all costs. Seiji has lunch at the Kosakas’ and Hikaru remarks that he only comes to eat when he’s too lazy to cook for himself. They’re interrupted by a live bulletin on TV by Misuzu, who reports that a massive cave-in happened at the construction site for Australia’s new Oceania Coastal Tunnel. They show a recording sent from one of the construction robots in the tunnel and Seiji spots a pair of glowing red eyes. He tries to ask Hikaru if she saw it but the Kosakas are too busy trying to find Australia on a globe. Seiji discusses what he saw with Da-Garn and they decide to set aside the Brave Stone search for now to investigate. Before they can leave however, Tadashin returns from his night patrol and Seiji is forced to spook him and run into an alley to avoid being caught. Seiji runs into Hotaru who says that she wants to speak to him. They go to a park and she says that she senses ancient souls that have been asleep for a long time are crying out to be left alone. Seiji barely understands what she’s talking about and Hotaru replies that she doesn’t know anymore than that. She says that ever since she was little she could sense the feelings of creatures and inanimate objects. Seiji says that he doesn’t believe her and asks why she’s even telling him this, and Hotaru replies that she felt he would understand before running off. With Tadashin at the Kosakas’ getting his injuries treated, Seiji sneaks off with Da-Garn and summons the Earth Fighter to fly them to Australia. The Earth Liner follows them by hovering over the water to the bewilderment of a passing ship’s crew. At Australia, they fly past the GDO’s headquarters and Seiji informs Da-Garn that his father works there. He suggests they stop by to say hello but Da-Garn refuses to accept that order because their identities must remain secret.

On the road, Seiji and Da-Garn pass a truck carrying a drill tank. At the site, a news reporter asks one of the construction crew about the cause of the cave-in but the latter has no idea because nothing about the area’s topography would cause such a thing. Seiji suits up and sneaks past the crowd of people and into the tunnel by himself. He finds several dinosaur skeletons and wonders if they’re the ancient souls Hotaru mentioned. He finds a skeleton standing upright as if watching over the other bodies and the Aurin reacts to it. Before Seiji can notice however three Angrans burst into the tunnel and Redlone orders them to begin looking for the gemstone. Seiji summons Da-Garn into the tunnel and the latter puts him into the viewing compartment before attacking the Angrans. Redlone orders the Angrans to retaliate and Da-Garn is forced to back away because he can’t fight in the narrow tunnel without destroying the dinosaur bones. Seiji summons the Earth Liner and Earth Fighter so Da-Garn can combine but another cave-in blocks the tunnel entrance and prevents the vehicles from entering. The Angrans overwhelm Da-Garn with their heat rays but suddenly the ground under the standing dinosaur skeleton starts glowing. Seiji thinks the dinosaur is coming back to life and notices the Aurin glowing. A beam shoots out from Da-Garn’s chest and causes two Brave Stones to rise up from under the skeleton. The ground collapses under the Angrans and the two stones fly out of the tunnel and merge with the nearby truck and drill tank. The two vehicles quickly burst into the tunnel and transform into robot mode, introducing themselves as Big Lander and Drill Lander. Seiji orders them to evict the Angrans from the tunnel and destroy them. The Landers open a large hole in the tunnel’s roof and toss all the Angrans outside. The Angrans retaliate with their heat rays but the Brave Fighters dodge and Seiji has Da-Garn combine into Da-Garn X. The Landers disable the Angrans’ weapons before Da-Garn X finishes them off with his Da-Garn Blade. Redlone’s assistant laments that without the gemstone their plan to create the ultimate combat trooper failed, and Redlone retorts by slicing him in half with his beam saber. Back in the tunnel, Seiji asks Da-Garn if the standing skeleton was really trying to protect the bones of its comrades. Da-Garn replies that he doesn’t know, but says that they fight for the sake of every creature that ever lived on Earth and not just the ones living on it now. Seiji then orders the Brave Fighters to bury the graveyard under rocks so that the bones will never be disturbed again. The next day, Seiji runs into Hotaru on the way to school with Hikaru. Hotaru tells him with a smile that they said thanks and leaves. Seiji giggles to himself and Hikaru demands to know why he turns into an idiot whenever a girl talks to him before angrily storming off.

Commentary

This episode is a bit of a mixed bag to say the least. Whereas previous episodes relied on a few coincidences to string the plot together, that gimmick is really starting to wear thin here. What’s the point of finding the Brave Stones in a dinosaur graveyard and why couldn’t the Sabers even detect them if they could scan for things from outer space? Usually the introduction of a new Brave robot is the highlight of the episode but somehow the debut of the first two members of the Landers team managed to be pretty forgettable. I did however like the brief bit of sass they gave Seiji, as well the look on ship crew’s faces when they saw a bullet train moving over water. Hotaru opens up a bit to Seiji about her mysterious ability, but somehow that seems more outlandish to him than the fact that a stone told him to command walking talking robots to fight against alien invaders. Maybe he’ll taker her more seriously after this incident. The flyby of the GDO headquarters also gives us a hint that Seiji misses his father a lot more than he lets on.

Overall Rating
3/5

Da-Garn Info

Director(s):
Katsuyoshi Yatabe
Shinji Takamatsu

Writer(s):
Fuyunori Gobu
Yasushi Hirano

Mechanical Designer:
Kunio Okawara

Character Designer:
Masayuki Hiraoka

Musical Composer:
Yasunori Iwasaki

Format:
46 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 02.08.1992 – 01.23.1993

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