(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.