Dai-Guard: Difference between revisions

When a new Heterodyne suddenly appears, the protagonists -- young and brash Shunsuke Akagi, rational and hard-working Ibuki Momoi, and aloof and cynical Keiichiro Aoyama -- activate the dormant robot and defend the populace. They become instant heroes, but there is the small matter of dealing with the [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|Board of Directors]], who are [[Bothering By the Book|real sticklers for the paperwork]] involved in using and maintaining an 80-foot-tall robot. Then they have to figure out [[Hero Insurance|who's going to pay for all this collateral damage.]] Then they have to get some weapons that are ''not'' [[Awesome but Impractical]]. Then they have to smooth things out with the military, who want the robot back now that it's actually useful. Then they have to figure out where on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]] they're supposed to stand. And when they finally get things relatively ironed out, [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Political?|things get political.]] How ''do'' you classify a [[Kaiju]] attack? Invasion? Disaster relief? Weapons that can beat giant monsters could ''kick'' '''serious''' '''''ass''''' on the modern battlefield - how does the [[Eagle Land|world's last empire]] handle a rival having them? What is the purpose of such a military in peacetime, anyway?

* [[A House Divided]]: Surprisingly, the Heterodyne are a serious threat for only the first nine episodes... out of ''twenty-six.'' At the end of episode nine, the behavior and weaknesses of the Heterodyne have been figured out, and one gets [[One -Hit Kill|one-shotted]] for the first time in a repeatable fashion... only for Shirota to stab the team in the back and assist in the military's attempt to hijack the operation. It takes four more episodes to iron out the mess, after which they pull off a perfect Heterodyne elimination with ''zero collateral damage...'' only for the [[Pointy -Haired Boss|company executives to screw things up in an even more spectacular manner.]] Four episodes after that, just as they get that ironed out, things go ''international;'' [[Eagle Land]] purposefully interferes with a Heterodyne attack in the hopes of capturing one for study, then spins the resulting near-attack on their spy plane into an attempt to shut down the entire operation. While a Heterodyne is wandering around that can ''freeze entire cities solid.'' This arc only lasts two episodes, as it barely dodges a [[Space Whale Aesop]] about Japanese militarization. Safe to say, the Dai-Guard team spends at least as much time arguing with egotistical authority figures as they do fighting monsters.

* [[Dude, Where's My Respect?]]: When not saving Japan from giant, extra-dimensional monsters, the heroes are buried in endless paperwork.

* [[Real Robot]]: One of the most credible [[Real Robot]] series out there, [[Square -Cube Law]] aside.

* [[Square -Cube Law]]: Ultimately abused but recognized in early episodes where simply walking around too much could threaten to shake Dai Guard to pieces and punching Heterodynes only broke his own arms.

* [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]]: Aoyama.

* [[DaddysDaddy's Girl]]: We see in one episode that Ibuki used to be one until [[Dead Little Sister|her father died in the first Heterodyne attack.]] When she realizes her biological father only studied the Heterodyne [[For Science!]], she has a [[Heroic BSOD]] in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izAdFAkz_MI very next battle]. When she realizes her stepfather's heroism is real, she's one all over again.

* [[Hey, Wait!]]: "Your lens cap is on."

** It doesn't help that the "simulator jockeys," in the same episode where Akagi wants to leave the sleeping Hetrodyne alone (which turns out to be a very '''good''' idea, since if it's destroyed {{spoiler|there would be a larger-than-Kyoto crater under Kyoto}}) they decide to {{spoiler|wake it up so they can fight it}}. If they ''were'' heroes, we've have had a fun big-time case of [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]].

* [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right]]: In the series finally {{spoiler|Shirou Shirota disobeys orders to stop a [[Nuclear Weapons Taboo|Over Explosion Bomb]] from being dropped on Tokyo to stop the [[Monster of the Week]] from covering the world. His plan works, but the bomb might not have.}}

* [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]] (the line, not the trope): Akagi whips this one out when it looks like Dai-Guard will plummet three miles to Earth and certain death. Ibuki and Aoyama protest that they would very much like that.

* [[You're Insane!]]: An affectionate hero-to-hero use.