Fang of the Sun Dougram

たいようのきばだぐらむ

Aired: 1981 - 1983

A television anime produced by Nippon Sunrise and broadcast on TV Tokyo affiliates, with the legendary Ryosuke Takahashi as creator and chief director. A weighty 75-episode 'real robot' political SF set on Earth's exploited colony planet Deloyer, where Crinn Cashim - son of a powerful Earth Federation councilor - breaks with his father to lead the guerrilla insurgent unit known as the Fang of the Sun in a war of independence, piloting the iconic combat armored unit Dougram. Across three full broadcast quarters the series unflinchingly traces the internal divisions of the Deloyer rebellion, the moral ambiguities of Crinn's relationship with his father Donan, and the lives of supporting characters like Rocky, Nanasi, Billy and Professor Samalin - rather than indulging in the heroics of older robot anime. Tied closely to the rise of military-style plastic-model kits, Dougram firmly established the post-Gundam 'real robot' tradition that would later give birth to Armored Trooper VOTOMS and Metal Armor Dragonar. The opening 'Saraba Yasashiki Hibi yo' by Mamoru Asada perfectly captures its melancholy, mature spirit.