Tōshō Daimos

Tōshō Daimos (闘将ダイモス Tōshō Daimosu, “Fighting General Daimos”) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise. Daimos is the third installment of the Robot Romance Trilogy, following Chōdenji Robo Combattler V and Chōdenji Machine Voltes V. It ran from 1 April 1978 to 27 January 1979 and consisted of 44 episodes. A movie with the pivotal episodes strung together titled Starbirds was released in the US by the same company that released Tranzor Z. The name Daimos is derived from Deimos, one of the two moons of Mars. Outside Japan, the show also aired in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Italy. In the early 1980s there was a VHS release in France, but only the first seven episodes were available. In the 1990s, the entire series was shown in Poland (although with Polish voiceover, the Italian dubbing could be heard in background) and also in Spain. Tadao Nagahama, who directed the series, is often miscredited as the “creator” of the trilogy. It was actually created under the collective pseudonym Saburo Yatsude, best known to American fans as the creator of Voltron (Golion in its original Japanese). The pseudonym refers to the staff of Toei Company, Ltd. (the main company, not the animation division). The series was animated by Sunrise on Toei’s behalf. The first appearance of Daimos in the United States was in the late 1970s as a part of Mattel’s Shogun Warriors line of imported Super Robot toys.

After the destruction of their home world, the survivors of the planet Baam ("Brahmin" in the Philippine dub, and "Valerians" in the US dub Starbirds) head towards Earth with the goal of negotiating the purchase of land for emigration. Unfortunately, during the negotiations, the Baam-seijin (literally, 'Baam Star People') leader, Leon, is assassinated by his second in command, Georiya, and the delegation from Earth is framed for the murder. In the ensuing chaos, Doctor Isamu Ryūzaki of the Earth delegation is shot and killed.

Shortly after the disastrous end of the talks, the Baam-seijin begin a campaign of terror against Earth, led by Leon’s son, Admiral Richter, who deploys a variety of “Mecha Soldiers” against the planet’s defenses. The only thing standing between the Earthlings and annihilation is the transforming, karate-using super robot, Daimos and its pilot, Kazuya Ryūzaki (Richard Hartford in the Filipino English dubbed version). But that changes when he meets and falls in love with a mysterious girl named Erika, who turns out to be Richter’s sister. Over the course of their struggles to reunite, Kazuya and Erika each learn that the other’s people are not all evil... and that their own people are not all good.