Zenderman Character Biography: Donjuro

Donjuro Naniwaya provides the strength and manpower of the Akudaman trio following Walsa and Tonzura. After their relatively low-key performances, Donjuro is the first muscle to get a significant show of character. An alter-ego, Donno Juroshi, co-spectates the matches between the Zenderman and Akudaman during the second half of the series.

As with Walsa and Tonzura, Donjuro is a simple-minded brute that’s supposed to be very tough, and he’s only slightly better in that respect. Distinct to Donjuro is his habit of performing kabuki gestures, which reflects his desire to become a famous kabuki actor once more. He harbors deep feelings for his boss Muujo, although for more personal reasons than Toboke.

The 32nd episode of Zenderman sheds some light on Donjuro’s past. Early in his life, Donjuro had a career as a wrestler and then attempted to become a Kabuki actor, only for it to end in failure. During this period he was found by Muujo, and has been part of the Akudaman for four years since (three of those years possibly spent as the Gaikottsu and Dorombo gangs, but that’s a can of worms for another post)

In the same episode Donjuro finds himself abandoned in favor of the warrior monk Benkei to take on a group of mobsters speculated to have the Elixir of Life. However the mobsters, in addition to the Zenderman and Yoshitsune, send the Akudaman running and it’s up to Donjuro to save them.

However his bad luck continues as not only do the Akudaman lose again, he’s singled out by the Judgement Machine and subjected to a “debut performance” of falling from a huge height. That said, he was only punished ten times throughout the series, the least of any Akudaman member.

Time Bokan Mechas: Zender-Lion

Zender-Lion is the primary mecha of the Zenderman used to travel accross the Time Tunnel and often fight against the Akudaman trio. Compared to the Yatter-Mechas in the previous show, he’s a bit more prominent and err… sings a lot, for lack of a better word.

Zender-Lion almost always talks in a singsongish tone similar to an enka singer and takes great pride in his vocal talents. So much in fact, while going through the Time Tunnel he likes to perform karaoke and sing along to his self-titled theme song. Many times he has had guests (either fans or family of the staff) sing along to his theme song, one instance had Tetsu and Sakura sing the original Time Bokan theme.

Zender-Lion can use his mane to unleash a powerful Lion Beam that can quickly heat up anything in it’s path, and he’s capable of breathing fire or shooting ripples of energy out of his mouth. Of course he also weaponizes his singing as well, since it’s loud enough to destroy solid objects entirely.

Regardless the Akudaman trio are always able to overwhelm him, especially by turning his own singing against him. As a result, a support Zender-Mecha is dispatched to save his sorry hide and Tetsu has to use a “Whip of Love” to snap him back to his senses.

Right afterwards, Zender-Lion deploys a “system mecha”, bit and bobs of pieces remotely controlled and assembled by Amattan that form together into an object that destroys the Sharekobe Mecha. These range from pipes to bamboo to Legos and even Space Invaders!

From episode 36 onwards Zender-Lion was put on the sidelines in favor of Zender-Gorilla and his support crew. He still escorted everybody through the Time Tunnel, and he got a new but not as catchy theme song which was quickly dropped towards the end in favor of his original theme.

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?