Yatterman 1977 Character Biography: Dokuobei (Part 1)

Since he appears several times throughout the Time Bokan series with different goals each time, I’ll be covering his bio bit by bit, starting with the original 1977 Yatterman.

The self proclaimed god of thieves, Dokurobei (alternatively spelled as Dokurobey or Dokurobee) is the enigmatic man who leads the Dorombo gang on a hunt for fragments of the Dokuro Stone (or Skull Stone if you prefer). Claiming the stone to be a family heirloom that contained a map to a huge gold deposit, he promises to share half the fortune with the trio if they can find the fragments for him.

Dokurobei possesses a deep and intimidating voice and for the majority of the show his true appearance is shrouded in mystery. He is very self-centered and egotistical, and is prone to getting angry at any sign of trouble or disobedience from the Dorombo trio. He also has a crush on Doronjo, something she’ll occasionally try to exploit to get him to reveal to his face to no avail. The Dorombo gang, Boyacky especially, have a habit of calling him “Doku-chan” or some variation much to his annoyance.

He tends to add “Beh” at the end of most of his sentences, much like how his name is simply the Japanese word for skull, “dokuro” with “bei” added at the end. He also tends to shout “Akapontan” at the Dorombo trio, a combination of the Japanese words “anpontan” and “sukatan” which equates to “idiot”, “nitwit”, and the like.

Dokurobei delivers his messages to the Dorombo gang in the form of robots or devices disguised at food, animals, or such, usually in relation with whatever scam the gang was pulling. He informs them about where a Dokuro Stone fragment is possibly located and supposed facts about the area and the fragment is there. This information tends to be faulty at best, which he later acknowledges but unfortunately cannot do much about.

After he’s done explaining, whatever he used to relay his message explodes. At first these were harmless, but it wasn’t long before they blew up the Dorombo gang. Later on in the series the trio would try to avoid getting caught in the explosions with varying degrees of success.

Every time the Dorombo gang failed, Dokurobei would give them a punishment “worse than their mama”. His excuses were them not finding a Dokuro Stone fragment or losing to the Yatterman, despite his misinformation being partially to blame. Even when they actually got a fragment, he still punishes them anyways seemingly out of habit. He signaled the punishments with a music cue, usually the opening notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5

Dokurobei can be seen as a parody of Gatchaman’s Sosai X (Leader X). Both are unseen forces that have others do their bidding, and it’s through their advice that their subordinates act on and wind up taking the blame for when they lose.

(Spoilers for a 30+ anime ahead)

Eventually the Dorombo gang encountered Dokurobei with the completed Dokuro Stone in an abandoned castle. He looks like a short, portly man with glasses and a long handlebar mustache, balding with tuffs of hair on the sides and a little skull on his forehead. He also wears a purple shirt and skirt, dark purple gloves, boots, and cape, and either tan coloured pants or no pants on at all.

However even his “human” form was yet another robot decoy, and his true appearance was none other than the Dokuro Stone itself.

“Dokurobei” was an alien from the Dokuro planet, renamed Planet XYZ in subsequent media, who had visited the Earth when it nothing more that a ball of magma. The extreme heat split his body into four pieces, and he has spent eons trying to put himself back together.

When nobody would aid him, he made up the story of the Dokuro Stone to sucker somebody into retrieving pieces of his body, and that turned out to be the Dorombo gang. Back in one piece, Dokurobei went back to his planet and left the trio with nothing but broken promises, causing them to disband shortly afterwards.

This too parodies Sosai X. Both were aliens that were stranded on Earth that turned out to have different goals in mind and left when they were seemingly completed, although Sosai X’s were far more cruel and malicious in nature. (ie. blowing up Earth.)

Although Dokurobei’s intentions were innocent enough, his way of going about it and his treatment of others was harsh, and every subsequent appearance made him more villainous than before.

Time Bokan Character Biography: Parrosuke

Parrosuke (or Perasuke, simply Cotorrin in South America, Squawky in Time Fighters) is a talkative green parrot in the original Time Bokan whose actions unwittingly kick off the plot of the series. He doubles as the announcer for the title of each episode and the preview of the next one as well.

He comes from an jungle dating back to an mysterious time period, where he was often at the mercy of his wife Otake-san, a vain parrot who effectively criticized him at every given moment.

One day he and his were fighting as usual when the Time Mechabuton appeared and Dr. Kieta popped out of it to explore. While the doctor was examining a pile of Dynamonds, Parrosuke decided to enter the time machine to hide from his wife, unwittingly activating it and sending him forward in time while leaving Dr. Kieta behind.

Parrosuke arrived at the doctor’s laboratory in the present where his assistants, Tanpei, Junko, Chorobo, and Grocky were quick to question him. While most of them are curious as to what happened to Dr. Kieta, Grocky, actually a member of Marjo’s nefarious gang, is more interested in the Dynamond the parrot is wearing and swipes it from him.

With Parrosuke being the only lead to Dr. Kieta and the Dynamonds, both the Time Bokan crew and Marjo’s gang follow his questionable information to find the time period he came from to find the doctor and the gems.

He’s initially a selfish, cowardly parrot, wanting nothing more than to lay about and avoid going back to his wife and could care less about others. Parrosuke’s other defining trait is his huge appetite, his favorite food being cream puffs. He constantly ends his lengthy sentences with “pecha” which is taken from the Japanese word “pecha kucha”, or “chitchat”.

He and Chorobo have a strong dislike of each other, not helped by having Chorobo supervise him, and despite treating him better he’d get on the nerves of Tanpei and Junko, especially if he purposely tricked them.

Parrosuke would often send the Time Bokan crew on wild goose chases throughout time, either out of foggy memory, wanting to go sightseeing, or just straight out wanting to abandon them. His unreliability would land the Time Bokan crew in rather nasty situations and he’d sometimes switch sides if tempted, joining Marjo’s gang despite knowing better.

However, by the time Dr. Kieta is rescued and returned to the present Parrosuke does wish to reunite with his wife and considerably improves his behavior afterwards. Although he genuinely can’t remember where he came from, he alerts the Time Bokan crew on Marjo’s activities and even helps out whenever possible.

It isn’t until the final episode where Parrosuke finally reunites with Otake-san in his time period, which turned out to be the present at a park. Towards the end it’s shown that they’re arguing once more, although the experience truly has changed their lives for the better and that they sincerely loved one another.

Parrosuke also appears in Arashi’s animated “Believe” video alongside band member Ohno Satoshi, mainly to tie him to the original Time Bokan’s Tanpei since he didn’t have a signature weapon. Here he squawks like a normal parrot as opposed to a talking one, and alerts Ohno to the drones deployed by the Dorombo gang.

Gyakuten! Ippatsuman Character Biography: Mun-Mun

Mun-Mun is the president of the Northern Ostendel branch of the Skull Lease and head of the Clean Aku trio. A 26 year old Chinese woman with high ambitions and low self-esteem, she is probably the most refined of the Time Bokan villainessses.

She is the only member of the branch that actually cares about the company, and it’s poor performance has earned her the scrutiny of the presidents of the other branches, especially from Tamashiro Kakure. Her true agenda is to work her way up to the top so she can usurp her boss Con Cordo, take over the Skull Lease, and conquer the world.

Due to the constant pressure, Mun-Mun’s very quick to gloat if things go according to plan and just as quick to blow a gasket if things go awry. And while not as physically abusive on her lackeys and more patient when it comes to doing any sort of activity, she’s very verbal if they go against her wishes.

Mun-Mun spends most of her worktime in her office musing to herself, and she sometimes partakes in oddball activities in there as well, usually as some form of motivational exercise or stress relief. When the trio are out to wreck the plans of the Time Lease crew, she’s usually collaborating with Kosuinen on how to stop them.

Speaking of which, Mun-Mun is often butting heads with Kosuinen, both in regards to work ethic and how to deal with Ippatsuman. She does get along with Kyokanchin pretty well, even though he’ll sometimes side with Kosuinen and she’s also the only one that barely puts up with Min-Min. Aside from the Clean Aku trio, she holds Tamashiro and the Time Lease crew in disdain and cares little for anyone else apart from “Mr. X”….

One day the Clean Aku trio are rushing to get to work when Mun-Mun falls onto the path of a subway train, luckily saved in the nick of time by a mysterious man. Immediately falling in love with him, Mun-Mun expresses a desire to see her “Mr. X” again, whom she identifies as Sokkyu Gou by the 25th episode. During the second half of the series, a string of espionage attempts against the Time Lease furthers her interest in him.

This story arc comes to a conclusion in episode 44, The End of Mun-Mun’s Love. On the behalf of her boss Con Cordo, Mun-Mun invites Gou and the orphans from the orphanage he grew up at to a Snow White themed Christmas party, taking sheer delight at recreating the moment where the prince kisses her to wake her from a spell. Unbeknownst to everyone, even her, it was a trap set up by Tamashiro and Agent 000 to expose Gou as Ippatsuman, killing him if he doesn’t confess.

Furious at being manipulated, she and the rest of the Clean Aku trio attempt to stop them to no avail, fleeing when Ippatsuman seemingly arrives. (who is actually Gou’s colleague Haruka standing in for him) Feeling that any good faith between her and Gou is lost, she hesitantly chooses to give up pursuing him. Later on, she makes one last attempt for Gou when it appears he and Haruka are getting married with no luck, but becomes optimistic when it’s discovered that it was a cover.

Any chance of her making it big are dashed when the entire Skull Lease falls into bankruptcy because of her branch’s ineptitude, with her final payment being an advert for online dating. After the ensuring chaos that shortly followed, she leaves Ostendel City in the hopes of turning her life around for the better, with Kosuinen and Kyokanchin unknowingly on the same train as her.

Yatterman 1977 Character Biography: Doronjo

Doronjo, real name Hiroko Sasagawa, is the beautiful masked leader of the Dorombo gang. A bumbling thief at the age of 24 (or so she claims), she and her equally inept henchmen Boyacky and Tonzura seek out the Dokuro Stone for the mysterious Dokurobei with the promise of a huge amount of wealth.

Doronjo’s “name” is based on the Japanese word “doronko”, meaning “muddy” or “dirty”, something that’s brought up often by various characters. Her reason for starting the Dorombo gang and seeking the Dokuro Stone was to become the richest and most admired woman in the world, although it’s been hinted that what she really wants is to simply settle down and raise a family.

Although she retains previous villain Marjo’s traits of being vain, selfish, and impatient, Doronjo is significantly nicer to her subordinates Boyacky and Tonzura, even though their antics can get on nerves. She’s quick to praise them for achieveing something, and just as quick to scold them (mostly Boyacky) if they blunder. Despite her recklessness, she’s fairly intelligent and quite a smooth talker, which is best seen when she’s pulling a con or trying to get Dokurobei to reveal himself.

Doronjo plans out most of the scams and activities when searching for a Dokuro Stone fragment. During the earlier episodes her face can clearly be seen when in a disguise, although later on she wore a mask When it comes to battling the Yatterman, she has Boyacky and Tonzura do the fighting for her most of the time and at most uses the mecha they were travelling in to pick them up when they lose. Occasionally, the destruction of the Dorombo gang’s mecha will result in her clothes being shredded to revealing levels, although this can happen to all three members.

Her favorite food is french fries and she has a strong dislike of rats, although there is an good reason for the latter. When she was a little girl she came accross a rat that bit down hard on her nose. Because of that trumatic event, she’s absolutely horrified whenever a Yatterman mecha deploys mini-mechas resembling rats or mice.

Towards the end of the series, she begins to have second thoughts about her career as a thief. She develops feelings for Yatterman-1 (Gan-chan) which are obviously unrequited, and at one point imagines the conflict going on to the point where they’re all elderly. When the Dokuro Stone and the truth behind it are revealed and leave the Dorombo gang shocked and with nothing to show for it, Doronjo tearfully disbandons the gang and they go their seperate ways.

Afterwards, Doronjo got married and became the mother of five children, and according to Heisei Time Bokan she also opened up a bar named “Buchikku Dorombo”, decorated with Time Bokan memoribillia. However, she missed the fun she had with the Dorombo gang, and be it the starring role in a OVA, a chance to defeat all the various Time Bokan heroes, or an attempt at a social reform, Doronjo would bring the gang back together for more hijinks during the 90s.

Being the only playable villain in the game, Doronjo is a fighter in both versions Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, with Boyacky and Tonzura assisting her with some of her moves. Notably, this is a rare instance of her directly fighting an opponent rather than relying entirely on her goons. This is prominent after winning a fight where she’s clearly exhausted from having to physically attack someone.

Time Bokan Character Biography: Marjo

Marjo (also spelt as Majo or Majyo, Lady Margot in Italy, Ratavari in South America, Lucinda Skullduggery in the Time Fighters dub) is the head of a gang composing of herself, Grocky, and Walsa, and she is the main antagonist of the original Time Bokan series. Her name is play on the Japanese word for witch, “majo”, and it also reflects her personality.

A 30 year old woman living in an luxurious mansion, Marjo is obsessed with obtaining Dynamonds for wealth and power, absolutely nothing else will suffice. She planted Grocky with Dr. Kieta and his crew with the intent of using the Time Mechabuton to find the elusive gems. Marjo is not satisfied with the one Grocky obtains from Parrosuke, the parrot that took off in the time machine during Dr. Kieta’s test run of it, so she and her goons attempt to hijack the Time Mechabuton and Parrosuke away from Tanpei, Junko, and Chorobo to no avail.

Shortly afterwards, Marjo and her minions travel around their own time machine, the Gaikottsu, to find the Dynamonds before the Time Bokan crew and possibly eliminate them as well. When traveling around in the Gaikottsu she tends to lounge around in the sofa-like backseat, though she’s usually standing in-between Grocky and Walsa during a battle with one of the Time Bokan mechas.

Although she is quite attractive, her beauty masks a cruel, spoiled, self-absorbed witch. (I know, I know.) Marjo cares for nobody but herself, and relies on theft, deceit, and if given the chance, even murder on her quest for the Dynamonds. She’s also extremely impatient and will get hasty in tense situations, more often than not condemning her gang to failure.

Although she’ll congratulate Grocky and Walsa on a job well done, she thinks lowly of her henchmen and becomes very aggressive towards them when they screw up or things aren’t going her way, even when they try to be supportive of her. She also greatly despises the group that pilot the Time Bokan mechas, especially Tanpei since he tends to directly interfere with her plans.

Marjo can be very manipulative, and she uses her charms to either deceive people and turn them against the Time Bokan crew or gain the favor of a villain or a higher up in a era. These tactics tend to be short lived, as her “allies” either don’t have Dynamonds or were shown the truth by the Time Bokan crew.

In the final episode, Marjo is overjoyed when she finally finds the Dynamonds (all this time in a park in the present) and attempts to take off with as many as possible, much to the protest of Tanpei and crew. But when the Dynamonds begin to turn to stone, she suffers a breakdown and begins to throw an epic tantrum. Absolutely furious, Marjo challenges Tanpei to one final showdown between the Time Dotabattan and the Gaikottsu.

Although the battle is in favor of Marjo’s gang, they lose anyways purely out of dumb luck. Driven insane by these turn of events, she’s last seen prancing around in a childlike state of glee over the “Dynamonds” in the night sky. (Though if one takes Royal Revival, Bokan GoGoGo!, or Kaitou Kiramekiman as followups, she becomes relatively sane again.)

Yattodetaman Character Biography: Daigoron

Daigoron (known as Abatar Robot in Italy) is a sumo wrestling robot introduced in Yattodetaman that serves as the bodyguard of Princess Karen. He’s a departure from past robot companions in that he’s a big, intimidating figure that doesn’t serve as a direct sidekick to the heroes. He is based off the real life former sumo wrestler Jesse Kuhaulua, known by his stage name Takamiyama Daigoro.

As suggested, Daigoron is absolutely dedicated to practicing sumo wrestling and protecting Princess Karen no matter what, and very little opinion on anything else. Episode 17 shows him partaking in a training montage set to disco music, where he practices with the hapless Wataru.

However his talents are inefficient in actual combat and he’s often easily defeated by Milenjo’s gang, especially when pitted against Alan Sukando. In fact, Koyomi, Karen, and even Wataru when he’s not Yattodetaman put up more of a fight than he does.

(Spoilers for Yattodetman below)

The last few episodes reveal that he’s actually an agent of the Dalla Hermit, who was sent to monitor the progress of Princess Karen to see if she was worthy of becoming ruler of the Nandara Kingdom, alongside Count Donfanfan who was sent to monitor Milenjo’s gang. After Yattodetaman saves the Nandara Kingdom’s residents from doom in the final episode, he abruptly vanishes with no explanation.

Yatterman 2008 Character Biography: The Dokuro Ring Hunters

(Spoilers for the 2008 remake of Yatterman are in this post. Ignore it if you don’t want anything spoiled for you!)

The Dokuro Ring Hunters (shortened to Dokuhan in Japanese and the DRH for the sake of this post) are a faction introduced midway into the 2008 Yatterman series. Led by a mysterious boss, as the name suggests they are a group seeking out the Dokuro Rings.

Unlike the Yatterman and the Dorombo gang, almost every encounter with the DRH has a different member, every one different in personality. Each member has a distinct trick or tactic to a shake up a confrontation. Whenever the DRH introduce themselves, they perform a mandatory goofy pose, which most of the members abhor doing.

Thane and Louis de Medachi are a pair of narcissistic brothers, and they’re also a bit overemotional. Thane wields a rapier while Louis uses a whip, and they supposedly have a “Melon Melon Bishonen Beam” that makes them irresistible to girls, although Ai-chan was less than impressed with them.

They show up in Venice where they abduct Ai-chan amidst being chased by the Dorombo gang over a shield suspected to have a Dokuro Ring. While Gan-chan pursues them, Thane attempts to woo Ai-Chan to no avail. After the three groups gather in one spot, the Medachi brothers manage to obtain the shield, but Gan-chan lets them keep it so he can rescue Ai-chan.

Unfortunately for the Medachi brothers, the shield was swiped by the Dorombo gang later on, although it turned out not to be a Dokuro Ring.

Chiruchiru Michiru Michitarinu is a scientist wearing little beyond a labcoat, bikini and short shorts. Unlike the other members, she’s interested in the Dokuro Rings for her own research, and believes to have knowledge of the Yatterman and the Dorombo gang down to a T.

She appeared in Hawaii to seemingly guide the Yatterman to the Dokuro Ring’s location and eliminate them along the way, although due to dumb luck from the oblivious Gan-chan every attempt fails. When both they and the Dorombo gang reach the stone where the ring is buried under, she reveals her affiliation and plans to both parties.

When Michiru sees how dedicated and determined Gan-chan and Ai-chan are, particularly when the former attempts to lift the rock himself, she develops respect for them and breaks the stone in two with a light kick to let them have the ring without a fight. Though of course the Dorombo gang puts up one, and she was hoping that the ring would fall into her hands afterwards. (it was a fake so it doesn’t matter.) She appeared to show some fascination with Gan-chan afterwards, although nothing comes out of that.

Muscle Gatten is a construction worker from America (if his trenchcoat and usage of English is anything to go by). He loves showing off, especially in regards to his muscles, much to the annoyance of everyone (including his own boss)

Popping up in Akusekijima, Gatten competed against Gan-chan and Tonzura to locate the Dokuro Ring, taking the form of a mirror. Although he beats them to the suspected locations each time, none of the objects he finds are mirrors of any sort.

When a solar eclipse reveals the location of the mirror, Muscle Gatten dons a mechanical excavator themed suit to dig down and grab the mirror. In it he’s very strong and durable, and Yatter-Mogura or the Dorombo’s Bull-Dozer mecha are no match for him in this state. Luckily the Yatterman are able to turn the tide when Yatter-Mogura deploys mini-mechas that combine into a lake maiden.

In a parody of the Woodcutter fable, the “maiden” asks if he dropped a gold axe, a silver axe, or the mirror. He answers honestly and gets the mirror and axes, but he notices too late that the axes are sticks of dynamite and he’s blown sky high without the mirror.

Despite that, Gatten takes it from Doronjo after her gang is defeated and since the mirror actually is one of the Dokuro Rings, he’s the only member that actually manages to obtains one of them. His boss won’t have any of his gloating however and kicks him onto the Dorombo gang’s tandem bike, just in time for their punishment via whirlpool.

Barbara is an eccentric, elderly fortune teller who wears a mechanical backpack with a propeller built in to let her fly around. With an incantation and the wave of her finger, she’s able to send anyone who gazes into a trance, including mechas (except Yatter-Jinbei)

The most formidable of the DRH, Barbara formed an alliance with the Dorombo gang at the Strait of Doban to obtain a Dokuro Ring suspected to be part of a wedding veil. To achieve this goal, Barbara hypnotized Ai-chan to try and have her marry Dokubon, the bratty grandson of the Dorombo gang’s boss Dokurobei, and incapacitated Yatter-Jinbei (and by extension all the Yatter-Mechas within him).

With the aid of Yatter-Dragon and Neeton, Dokubon’s jealous robotic pig, Gan-chan was able to get into the chapel and snap Ai-chan out of the trance and bring her back to her senses.

Barbara had planned on double crossing the trio, and attempted to hijack the Dorombo gang’s wedding cake mecha to fight Yatter-Dragon, although the gang themselves manually regain control. She was defeated alongside the Dorombo gang, and likewise was punished by Dokurobei with them when the veil was discovered not to be a Dokuro Ring.

The boss of the DRH attempted to gather all the members to track down the last Dokuro Ring, but only Thane de Medachi was available since the rest of the members had actual jobs to do. I already mentioned what Gatten and Barbara’s careers are, while Michiru is a secretary, and Louis de Medachi works at McDonalds (where the meeting was being held).

However, they had prepared a special surprise beforehand that would greatly help out Thane and the DRH boss.

The ghost of Le-Onarabu Dabenki is a parody of Leonardo Da Vinci, and he happens to look and sound like Boyacky. His name is one big juvenile pun, with the words “onara” (japanese for fart) and “benki” (japanese for toilet) mixed in.

As such, he was summoned by Barbara to assist the DRH in designing a Mona Lisa-esque mecha to deal with the Yatterman, with help from Gatten in building it. Due to Michiru’s research and Dabenki’s design, it singlehandedly defeated all the Yatter-Mechas, even destroying Yatter-Dragon. It took a rather chaotic battle against Yatter-King to finally destroy it, although that happens long after the following events.

The resulting flattery and praise from the DRH boss and Thane allows Dabenki to ascend to heaven. It’s basically a joke regarding a pun on Odate Buta’s saying, becoming “Rei mo odaterya ten ni mo noboru” or “When flattered, even spirits can ascend to heaven.”

It turns out Dokubon was the boss of the DRH, and the reason for it’s existence was essentially another means for Dokubon to get the rings without relying on the Dorombo gang. And with the gang having nine of the Dokuro Rings and Dokubon having the remaining one, he terminated the DRH and sent Thane de Medachi flying.

Itadakiman Character Biography: Ryuko / Time Bokan Mechas: Den-Den Mecha

Ryuko is a dragon girl summoned by Yan-Yan’s Sea Dragon Whistle (which resembles Tatsunoko Pro.’s mascot) who doubles as the fourth or fifth member of the Dirt Cheap Trio and as their mecha.

Going with Itadakiman’s “Journey to the West” motif, she is based off Yulong, a shapeshifting sea dragon that serves as Xuanzang’s horse after the former devoured the latter’s previous horse.

Living at the bottom of Otamaga Pond, she is often summoned by Yan-Yan’s Sea Dragon Whistle to either transport the Dirt Cheap Trio across the world or assist with dealing with Itadakiman. To do this, she transforms into a snail like mecha known as the Den-Den Mecha (mistakenly called the Ryuko Mecha in the Royal Revival OVAs).

In this state the Dirt Cheap Trio can ride inside her as she teleports across the world, and with the press of a button can allow the trio to transform a yokai into a giant remote controlled mecha with a mind controlling antenna. She also has a component for several objects including the Divinity Trio gag robots.

Because this is Ryuko transformed into a mecha, there are organic segments such as ribs protruding from the controls and her breasts manifesting as buttons which she does not like being pressed. Any beating taken by the Den-Den Mecha also applies to Ryuko as well, with her being just as bruised up as the Dirt Cheap Trio sometimes.

Occasionally she’ll tag along with the trio on their search for the Divine Puzzle pieces out of sheer curiosity. Though she always assists them, Ryuko doesn’t mind throwing a bit of snark at them or teasing them. She gets along with Kusaku quite well partially because of their mockery of the trio

Beginning with episode 13 Ryuko appears, decked out in baseball attire, on a bullpen cart carrying a small Relief Mecha which she enlarges with her magical breath, and it becomes the main method of the Dirt Cheap Trio’s counterattack for the remainder of the series. One exception was when the trio were slowly turning into trees and immobile, in which case Ryuko launched a giant needle to turn the yoaki into a mecha much like prior instances.

The mechas are still themed after the yoaki creature that Itadakiman has beaten by that point in the episode, and the puzzle piece it had is taken by the mecha to power it. Ryuko keeps watch on the mecha’s generator while the trio control it from the cockpit (which resembles the Den-Den Mecha’s own cockpit).

The spunky dragon girl gets a bit of focus in the sixteenth episode, Ryuko is a Woman Too. In her home beneath Otamanga Pond, she expresses her loneliness to Kusaku while he casually eats her dango treats. While the Dirt Cheap trio explore Italy for the next puzzle piece, she becomes smitten with a gondolier named Wanita . She then tries to get Yan-Yan to relinquish her Sea Dragon Whistle to be with him, but Yan-Yan is also in love with the gondolier and the two star to butt heads.

Unfortunately for both of them Wanita is actually an alligator yoaki enhanced by a Divine Puzzle piece (wani = alligator), which they find out the hard way when they break his guitar during a feud. After all’s said and done and the Dirt Cheap trio is bested again, Yan-Yan and Ryuko are left heartbroken and lonely once more.

(warning: spoilers for Itadakiman below!)

As it turns out, Ryuko does not have any ulterior motives whatsoever and she just kinda disappears after the Dirt Cheap trio are defeated for the last time.

Oddly enough, though the Den-Den Mecha appears in later Time Bokan spinoffs, it never shows any sentience or any indication that it’s Ryuko herself.

Gyakuten! Ippatsuman Character Biography: Min-Min

Min-Min is the fourth “member” of the Clean Aku trio, being the ditzy granddaughter of Con Cordo and by proxy a higher up in the entire Skull Lease organization. Early on she was briefly mentioned and glimpsed during meetings, before properly being introduced in the 16th episode as the titular “Uninvited Pretty Employee”.

Min-Min waltzes into the Northern Ostendel branch building and casually messes around with the Clean Aku trio, seeking employment at their business. They are just about ready to toss her out until their boss reveals it’s her granddaughter. From that point onward, the trio have to put up with her and bring her along on their missions less they risk losing out on a bonus in their paychecks.

Min-Min is in her own little world most of the time, either oblivious or indifferent to just about everything and everyone, including whether or not she’s wearing clothing. Most of her duration with the Clean Aku trio is spent observing things in a rather childlike fashion, although she actually can come up with a good plan occasionally. She’s quick to fawn over Ippatsuman whenever he arrives despite being the enemy, enjoys exercising, and is shown to be a very reckless driver

The Clean Aku trio have something of a love hate relationship with Min-Min. She views Mun-Mun as a sister, Kyokanchin has a small crush on her, and Kosuinen will sometimes hit on her (albeit in a low-key fashion compared to other women). However, she would ignorantly undermine and insult the trio with or without realizing it, and her relation with Con Cordo could easily get them in hot water at any given moment. Possibly because of this, Min-Min’s often excluded from the trio’s more personal conversations and endeavors.

(The following paragraphs contain spoilers for the end of Gyakuten! Ippatsuman, read at your own risk)

Towards the end of the series, Min-Min begins to act more competent and manipulative, with her comedic traits nearly vanishing altogether. She works alongside the intelligent Tamashiro more often, goes undercover in the Time Lease to discover Ippatsuman’s secret, attempts to cover up any activity at a atoll where a UFO was supposedly sighted, and cultivates with leaving the Clean Aku trio to die in a self-destructing mecha. (of course they live)

Eventually, it’s revealed that Min-Min and Con Cordo were one and the same, and both were aliases for an otherworldly being. This contradicts earlier episodes which show them together at the same time, albiet with Con Cordo mostly appearing on a monitor, interpret that how you will. She shows this to Tamashiro before sending him drifting through time and space, and to the rest of the main cast in the last episode after gathering them into one last trap.

Zenderman Character Biography: Nyaravolta

Nyaravolta is a talking cat and pet of the Akudaman trio, starting the tradition of having a fourth member that didn’t adhere to a set characteristic like the other three. Oddly enough, his name appears to be based off that of actor John Travolta.

He made himself known to the gang in the basement of their mansion, where he provided them with the funds (specifically koban coins) to build mecha bodies for their Sharekobe Mecha to travel through time. Muujo immediately takes a liking to him and adopts Nyaravolta as her pet, much to her lackeys’ envy and annoyance. From there on out he assists the Akudaman gang in their scheme to find the Elixir of Life, mostly by spying on Dr. Monja for clues to the elixir’s location in time.

Nyaravolta is shown to have an obnoxious and sadistic personality. He takes sheer delight in clawing people’s faces and laughing at the misfortune of others, and more often than not is the one who controls the devices that punishes whichever Akudaman member is considered at fault for failing. While he travels with them in their Sharekobe Mecha, he hardly follows them outside of it, preferring to nap until a mecha battle ensures.

He’s always on good terms with Muujo, constantly clawing or tricking people, mostly Toboke, on her behalf, and he even goes out of his way to obscure her body when she winds up naked. However, he still takes pleasure in watching her and the rest of the trio get tortured at the end of each episode. Nyaravolta himself was exempt for these punishments until the 50th episode, where Toboke tossed him into a cannon with Muujo.

(spoilers ahead, view at your own risk)

In truth, Nyaravolta found the lake containing the elixir long ago and had actually lived for thousands of years due to a sample he obtained. However, the elixir’s effect wasn’t infinite, and by the end of the series he was in need of more. He used the Akudaman trio to locate the lake for him, and had no intention of letting them have any of the elixir.

Having found it in the penultimate episode, he stored some of the elixir in a bamboo container and later blew a hole in the trio’s supply so they wouldn’t have any. When they discoverd his treachery, he attempted to run off in the Sharekobe Mecha, only for the Zenderman and the Zender-Gorilla to stop him.

After he was defeated, the Akudaman trio then took his container away from him and drank the elixir. Shortly afterwards his immortality wore off, and he instantly withered up and died. Notably, this is one of the few moments in the entire Time Bokan series where a character is actually killed off.

Despite clearly dying, he makes cameos in Bokandesuyo’s intro and Bokan Go Go Go’s story for the Akudaman gang. Maybe they got another cat that happened to look like him?