Customer Reviews

Armored Fleet Dairugger Collection 2 (3pc)

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The first collection of "Armored Fleet Dairugger XV" was excellent in and of itself. It has a great storyline which makes you keep coming back for more. With the second collection, it just keeps getting better.

After a string of devestating attacks by the Galveston Empire, Captain Asimov and Captain Ise decide to go on the offensive and storm forward to the Galveston home planet and destroy the tyrranical dictatorship the people of Galveston live under. However, the Galveston military machine will not give up without a fight. They are determined to sacrifice their lives (and many do) to stop Galaxy Garrison.

Galveston Commander Teles is removed from his post as commander of the front line base by the Galveston Supreme Council for his unwillingness to support all out war and a string of unsuccessful attacks which have left a number of Galveston soldiers and commanders (including Teles' friend Captain Drake) dead. Teles reluctantly returns home where he learns the situation on his home planet has gotten worse. It's only a matter of time before the planet destroys itself.

The episodes are very well done and are thrilling from start to finish. The story line is far more coherent and plausible than it is in Vehicle Voltron (A consequence of heavy editing.).

I am still a big fan of "Voltron" but "Dairugger" certainly gives it a run for its money.

Catch this series by all means. You won't be disappointed.

Dairugger XV Volume 2 is a three-disc DVD set that contains eighteen episodes of the series; this series is the original source material for what ended up becoming Vehicle Voltron in the United States. All three discs of the set include six episodes. However, the third disc also includes trailers for Fight! Iczer-One, Giant Robo, and Queens Blade.

My biggest disappointment with this DVD set is the audio levels. The volume level on all three discs is rather soft, so you have to turn the volume up quite a bit in order to hear the audio.

What I enjoyed best about this set was being able to see what happened in the original series. In Vehicle Voltron, shots of violence and death were edited out. In these episodes, a number of Galveston commanders are killed while fighting with Dairugger. In Vehicle Voltron, instead of being killed, it is said in dialogue that they managed to make to their escape pods. However, these characters are never seen again in the series. Also, any shots that show human pilots in any of the fighter planes were removed in Vehicle Voltron; this is due to the fact that in Vehicle Voltron, these fighter planes are "robot fighters," so death can be covered up when the fighter planes are shot down.

When compared to the corresponding episodes of Vehicle Voltron, the Dairugger XV episodes are a lot stronger and make much more sense. You can tell in Dairugger XV that there is an overarcing story to the series, and it's easy to follow what is going on. In Vehicle Voltron, however, the overarcing story is lost, because the English dub tried to treat the series as an episodic show instead of having one big storyline. However, by dubbing the show this way, it introduced a lot of inconsistencies to Vehicle Voltron.

While Voltron would be acceptable for kids to watch, I can't say the same thing about Dairugger XV. Between the violence and the politics, it really isn't being aimed at a young audience. This set is definitely being targeted at and marketed to the adults who had watched Voltron when they were children over twenty years ago. However, older teenagers might also get some enjoyment out of this set.

Even with the audio level issues, I would still recommend this set to a Voltron fan who is interested to see what this series was like before it became Vehicle Voltron. However, if you do purchase this set, be sure to watch it when younger children aren't around or after they've gone to bed.

I wrote this review after watching a copy of this DVD set that my husband and I purchased.

I loved Collection 1 of Dairugger XV, and I am enjoying these episodes even more! It's great to see all the scenes and plot intricacies that were lost when World Events Productions remixed this as "Voltron: Defender of the Universe." The original Japanese series is more powerful and mature than the kid-oriented American show, and more enjoyable. Finally I can watch the character development and various story arcs in their full depth.

So, when is Collection 3 coming out?