What is "Fang of the Sun Dougram"?

The Plot and Setting of Fang of the Sun Dougram
150 years prior to the series, the Earth founded their first exosolar colony, called Deloyer, in a binary star system. It is now the year 152 Space Century (SC) and Deloyer has become the source of 40% of the Earth's food supply and minerals, but moreover, it was the crown jewel in the Earth Federation colonial efforts. Generations beyond the original Terran colonists, the native Deloyerans have been raised with their own planetary identity that is not dependent on the Earth or her federation. What set the wheels into motion was a coup by Deloyer separatists and a rebel army was raised to defend the capital city as the Earth Federation council was arrested.
However, the coup was a ploy to pull Deloyer closer to the Federation as the newly independent world of Deloyer fully joined the Earth Federation as a state of the Terran based government. The two main figures in the plot were Colonel Von Stein and Donnan Cashim, leader of the old Federation council. After Deloyer was in the arms of the Earth Federation, Colonel Von Stein was appointed the new planetary governor and Cashim maintains the true power beyond the new puppet state . It is after this that the hunting down of the rebels that supported true independence by the new state of Deloyer began with forces from Deloyer and the Federation working together.
Donnan Cashim’s own Earth-born son, Crinn, a trained mecha pilot sees the truth of the plot and instead joins the Deloyer guerrillas who are fighting against the Earth controlled state government at the helm of the experimental Dougram mecha. The conflict between the different factions on Deloyer leads to fellow countrymen being at each other throats. The Deloyerians in the Federation army either side with the new state government or join the “real” independence movement. For much of the show, the resistance devoted to the true independence of Deloyer from the Earth Federation struggles along with independent guerrilla groups like the Fangs of the Sun battling for a common goal.
Mixed into the mess is the central rebel group that has support of some rogue Deloyerian military units that were part of the Federation army based on Deloyer, but rebelled against the puppet state government as “the liberation army”. One year after the establishment of the new state of Deloyer, the true planetary independence movement called “the people’s liberation government” that seeks for true separation from Earth and the puppet state government. While units on both sides are bleeding, there are talks going to end the fighting. During the battle between state forces and liberation army (Deloyerians vs. Deloyerians), the new Federation commissioner that took over for a Cashim, Lecoque, is weakening both sides to allow the Federation the ability to sweep in and take the planet and its resources under its control.
When Colonel Von Stein attempts to undercut the Federation plan by opening talks between the state government and the liberation forces, he is assassinated by Lecoque. During this mess, the Earth Federation mobilizes a massive armed expedition to Deloyer to push the People Liberation Government out of power and end the insurrection. The only thing that prevents full scale war with the Earth is the assassination of Lecoque. It is there that the end comes for the war and Deloyer is now an independent world. The Deloyer 7 destroy their weapons and attempt to figure out their lives after the war. The Dougram mecha, a symbol of the war of independence is destroyed in the desert by Crinn rather than surrender it to the new government in a hope for peaceful days. Crinn himself leaves his girlfriend on Deloyer and travels back home to Earth to spend six months with his mother and process the events of the last two years. In the deep desert, the old Dougram DX-01 combat armor rusting as a silent monument to the days of armed struggle.
What the Hell is "DOUGRAM" Anyways?
The title of the show, as we learned, is telling us the name of the Deloyer independence armed guerrilla group that we follow around is the "Fangs of the Sun" and the name of their own experimental advanced combat suit: the "Dougram DX-01 Strategic Combat Armor". Even after hours of searching, I cannot locate what the hell the name means in either English or Japanese. There is one single site that has stated that the "names" associated with the mecha is not the actually name of the combat armor, but rather the name of the company that manufactured the mecha. If this is correct, than Dougram DX-01 Strategic Combat Armor is made by some company named Dougram that is likely based on Deloyer. Anyways, this advanced combat mecha was deployed by the independence movement in the year of 152 SC and its designer, Professor David Samalin was later arrested by the Federation and the state government, but the Dougram combat armor was stolen back by Crinn Cashim and used by the "Deloyer 7" or the Fangs of the Sun during the War of Independence from the Earth Federation and the puppet government. While there are many Combat Armor Mecha in service to the Earth Federation and even the Independent Deloyer Public Defense Force, but there is nothing as advanced as the Dougram DX-01. Standing at 9.63 meter and weighing in at 20.12 tons with an operational field time of just 225 minutes with an number of weaponry being available, but Crinn mainly uses the linear arm cannon.
It was hoped by the independence movement that the Dougram combat armor could be mass produced as the frontline combat mecha of the War of Independence from the Earth Federation and the puppet government. All of the mecha in the series was designed by the one of the greats of Mecha design Kunio Okawara and the Dougram mecha was renamed the "Shadowhawk" by FASA's Battletech, but stopped being used after 1994 due to legal issues. In the Robotech Defenders model line, the Dougram DX-01 was renamed "Zoltek" and in the DC Comics, it was the leader of the sentient alien mecha team.
The Historical Context of Fang of the Sun Dougram

Fang of the Sun Dougram in the West (AKA: Why do these Mechs Look So Familiar?!)
When Fang of the Sun Dougram was airing in Japan, it was the apex of the Giant Robot/Mecha craze..however, this early 1980's anime was more unknown itself in the western market that its fellow mecha anime brethren due to it not being imported to the Western market. That does not apply to the mecha of Fang of the Sun Dougram itself. If you were wargaming in the 1980's or building models, than you were oddly aware of Fang of the Sung Dougram. Unknown to many of us at the time, the iconic mecha featured in FASA's Battletech/Mechawarrior, the Revell model kit ROBOTECH Defenders line all pulled from the vast amount of excellent mecha designs featured in Fang of the Sun Dougram. Little did I know when I was playing CityTech, that the Dougram DX-01 combat armor mecha was on the gaming manual cover that I knew as the "Shadowhawk". This is very much akin to a donor organ patient whose vital organs are harvested and placed into other patients. One of the most vital pieces of any mecha anime is the mecha designs themselves, and that was taken by other companies to serve their own products, causing the original source to be lost in translation.

The only fully licensed and official Fang of the Sun Dougram product outside of a few random model kits to be released in the United States that was actually under its own original title was the 1984 hex-based tabletop war simulation games with mecha miniatures and plastic trees that was similar to the original Battletech. These are made by the model/toy company Takara and called an "3D Simulation Game Dougram" and two game boxes were released in the States: "Battle of Stanrey" and "Battle of Kalnock" and these are based on actual battles seen in the series. There are some that believe, based on comparison between the original boxed Battletech game and the The Battle of Stanrey/The Battle of Kalnock, that FASA ripped off some of the hex map and the gameplay mechanics as well. These box wargames are rare in the United States and their gaming manuals were rushed in translation making for an uneven reading experience, but most current reviews speak to the solid gameplay that works along the same lines as classic Battletech. Would love to have these for the FWS archives.
Why Wasn't Fang of the Sun Dougram Imported to the West?

Not helping is the lackluster character design which is lacking despite the strong writing...and then there is animation quality. Simply put, Fang of the Sun Dougram has not aged well compared to other anime series of the same time and the silly parts are out-of-place along with oddball names and title. These would have been issues that any importing American studio would have to overcome in order to sell to networks or video stores. It was has been due before, but there is lower hanging fruit for American studios to import and turn a quicker profit. Despite this, Fang of the Sun Dougram is pretty impressive and it would have been nice to see this presented in a quality American dub and rework.
Why is Fang of the Sun Dougram Considered Military Sci-Fi?
Fang of the Sun Dougram Impact and Legacy
Is This Series Worth Tracking Down and Watching?
While there is no official release to the West, it is possible to watch the entire series and the standalone films all on YouTube via several channels…but, it is worth it? I simply did not have the time to watch the entire series, but I wanted the OVA and the key episodes and after this viewing I can say that it does live up to the positive reviews. I’ve never seen an anime devoted has much time to dissect the realities of the political, military, and social situation during wartime. While rough, too Japanese in some parts for an American audience, uneven characters, uneven battles; it is bold with deep storytelling. I would watch the OVA film first, then see if it peaks your interest enough to invest the many hours to watch the complete series. To watch the OVA click here and to watch the series, click here and finally, to watch the deformed oddball race short film , click here.
Next Time on FWS...
We will *finally* be getting back to the Ships of the Line series with the next blogpost and this time FWS will be exploring and explaining several smaller classes of warships: Cutters, Escorts, Scouts, Corvettes, and patrol boats! We are getting closer and closer to the end of this serial...sadly.
Great article! A fellow Battletech fan has told me to check out Dougram, just to see one of the more obvious inspirations for the MechWarrior franchise if anything else.
ReplyDeleteSome believe that the mecha combat game was also an inspiration
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite anime series of the period. Big influence on BattleTech, who used the Dougram/Shadow Hawk mech for the original ride of Natasha Kerensky's of Wolfs Dragoons.
ReplyDeleteI just discovered your blog doing a search for military hardware for a military scifi series I'm currently writing. Read the article about power armor--which my story includes--and really enjoyed the hell out of it. You've done some serious research on the subject which I really appreciated as it duplicates my own work on the subject.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather was a huge fan of E.E 'Doc' Smith and because of him I read those early uses of powered armor.
Anyway, you've done some seriously amazing work here and as a scifi author myself I really appreciate seeing someone so devoted to the genre of military scifi that they've done such a huge and comprehensive volume of work.
Congratulations on a job well done, and my heartfelt thanks.
Thanks so much! I very much attempt for FWS to be THE resource for MSF writers and I glad that we are living up to our mission statement.
DeleteToys R Us stores on the west coast had a glut of the Takara Dougram toys in the clearance aisles in the mid/early eighties alongside cheap little orguss and dorvack toys repackaged as "converters". The Takara toys in question were amazing, depicting either a "Soltic" mech or the titular Dougram. They were, I think" 1/72 scale, consisting of a diecast metal endoskelton replete with working pistons and mechanical details, onto which plastic armor could be layered to complete the mech. These were packaged more like fine cigars than toy robots; the entire box was sold inside a navy blue leatherette slipcover without any images on it save either the deloyer or government insignia and some elegant text in silver ink. As a kid, I found it very strange that the revel models cost twice as much as the deluxe Takara toys (although it was the models that I wanted... I built the recovery truck from the "robotech" model line and I still have it in storage today).
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing model kit! So wished I could back in time and buy the hell out of these models. I will be buying the "GARTAN" model at some point for the FWS offices.
DeleteI remember having an Orguss toy back in the early '80s. Didnt even know what it was but it 'transformed' into 3 things and the plastic was quality and the engineering was tight. The decals were lackluster but i didnt care. Wasnt until the late 90's via the interwebs that i found out about the toy's origin.
DeleteIts really funny how this stuff works out. As a kid i confused Battletech for Robotech and was confused why they were so different until the local Comic Store Guy(yeah, like the Simpsons) explained it to me and my brother.
I wished someone had explain it to me back in the day...instead I had to wait until the age of the internet.
ReplyDelete