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Dagwon Ep. 9: Buggy Panic

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Summary

The giant Gallabird flies over the city and is chased by Kai, Shin and Yoku. The Gallabird suddenly turns direction and attacks them head-on, causing their vehicles to crash into the forest. Dag-Fire attack with Fire Blaster, but the Gallabird dodges and escapes. Later, Maria carries a box for Gaku up to the science lab and wonders what it is. In the science lab, En draws a poor picture of the Gallabird and wonders what it wants. Maria enters the lab an brings in the box. She faints when she sees its contents: an ugly green caterpillar. Gaku says he found it in the park, and Yoku is excited to study it. Maria thinks they should throw it away, but Yoku thinks it’s an important scientific breakthrough. He asks if anyone wants to help study it with him, but no one volunteers. En thinks they should take it to the pet shop because someone probably likes weird things. Kai and Shin walk home, and Shin wonders if Yoku is going to spend his youth studying strange creatures. He decides to run off when he sees two girls he can hit on. Unbeknownst to anyone, eggs grow throughout the city and begin to hatch the caterpillars. The next morning, Yoku returns to the lab and finds that the caterpillar is gone and half the room has been destroyed. Outside the school, a crowd of students gather where half of a statue has been eaten. Yoku examines the statue and wonders how the caterpillar could eat it, and why it would need to. Several half-dressed girls run through the tennis court, shouting that a monster is inside the locker room. Kai, Shin and Yoku then run into the locker room to investigate. Yoku finds a large caterpillar skin, and Shin is preoccupied with a bra. The roof begins to crumble and everyone runs out of the locker room before it collapses. The caterpillar has grown to giant size, and Kai and Shin prepare to put on their armor. Yoku objects and says it must be studied for science. The caterpillar suddenly attacks, but Shadow Ryu slices it apart with his Shadow Kunai. En and Maria run up to them, and Maria explains that hundreds of the caterpillars are loose in the city. In another part of the city, the Gallabird watches the destruction from a tower and takes flight.

Throughout the city, the Dagwon team members attack the caterpillars. Even though they kill many of the creatures, they’re cornered in the downtown area. Several flying saucers appear and begin to beam the caterpillars up. A bus filled with schoolchildren crashes because one of the caterpillars is on the roof. Yoku jumps onto the caterpillar to kill it, but he gets beamed up to the flying saucer. Shin fires missiles at the flying saucer, but it shoots electricity back at him. Kai tells En and Ryu to clean up the city while he and Shin chase after the flying saucers. Kai and Shin close in on the flying saucers over the ocean, but the Gallabird attacks Kai’s vehicle. Shin prepares to fire at the Gallabird, but it slams Kai’s vehicle into his, causing them to crash in the ocean. The flying saucers land inside a dormant volcano, and Yoku investigates the area. He finds more flying saucers filled with eggs and wonders what they could be for. The Gallabird lands inside the volcano, and Yoku hides behind a rock. The Gallabird begins to eat the caterpillars and grow, and Yoku realizes that they’re its food, not a natural phenomenon. He then uses his Crystal Boomerang to destroy all the eggs, but the Gallabird grabs him. Dag-Armor and Dag-Turbo attack from above, and the Gallabird flies out of the volcano with Yoku in tow. They both attack the Gallabird and realize that only Dag-Wing can match its speed. Dag-Turbo uses Break Wheel to cut Yoku free, and Yoku transforms into Dag-Wing. He then attacks the Gallabird in the air and cuts off one its wings. The Gallabird crashes inside the volcano, and the three combine into Liner Dagwon. Liner Dagwon freezes the Gallabird with Liner Blizzard and uses Liner Tackle to smash it to pieces. Afterwards, Yoku apologizes for making everyone worry about him. He wonders how big the caterpillars would have eventually grown, and Shin tell him he hasn’t learned anything. En calls Kai and tells them to hurry back to the city because there are still many caterpillars to clear out.

Commentary

This episode has a different pattern and begins with the team already attacking the villainous alien monster. The Gallabird gets the jump on them, and they’re sidetracked by the strange caterpillars and flying saucers. This episode places its focus on Yoku, and it’s nice to see him and the others get the glory of defeating the monster while En gets stuck with clean up duty.

Overall Rating
3.5/5

Dagwon Info

Director:
Tomomi Mochizuki

Writer(s):
Kenichi Araki
Go Sakamoto
Hiroaki Kitajima
Mutsumi Nakano
Toshifumi Kawase
Yasunori Yamada
Yooshiyuki Suga

Mechanical Designer:
Kunio Okawara

Character Designer:
Akira Oguro

Musical Composer:
Edison

Format:
48 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 02.03.1996 – 01.25.1997

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