Dowalski Yotanov is the stocky 32 year old brute of the Ojamaman seeking to be renowned for his strength like the legendary Hercules. Still a slow, short, and stocky man that controls the movements of the mechas, he benefits from a bit more backstory than usual.
His mother Warunya was a famous wrestler who excelled at every measure of strength and wanted her son to follow in her footsteps, so she subjected poor Dowalski to a brutal training regime since birth. He wasn’t able to get far though and was later stuck on Atasha’s under-performing team on the Time Patrol.
Dowalski’s actual activities when not acting as a Ojamaman consists of mostly eating with a bit of sleeping and only a small amount of exercise. He does appear to be the weakest of the muscle archetypes as he’s often crushed by even the simplest of objects. He’s also nearly as girl-obsessed as Sekovitch and infatuated with Atasha, though he doesn’t make any advances on her.
Due to being under his mother’s shadow, Dowalski has a deep feeling of insecurity and feels pressured to prove himself. Two episodes specifically show him pushing himself more than usual and nearly cracking due to not wanting to be a failure in his mother’s eyes.
Not helping matters is that both times he was singled out for punishment at the end. (mopping in the dark by his lonesome while the rest of his team ate the first time, and being smacked down by his own mama the second)
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.
Tonzura Sutakora (alternatively spelt as Tonzra or Tonzler) is the 30 year old brawn of the Dorombo gang. Formally a professional wrestler, Tonzura’s ambition is get back in the ring once more with the supposed fortune the Dokuro Stone is said to bring.
Like Walsa before him Tonzura speaks with a Kansai dialect, adding to his thuggish nature. He also follows Doronjo and Boyacky’s orders without hesitation. That said he does regard them as good friends and even calls the latter “Boyayan”. He’s also fond of eating large quantities of food, although this aspect of his personality is fairly low key in the original show.
Tonzura does relatively little in comparison to Doronjo and Boyacky, although he controls the basic functions of the mechas and is rather helpful with a couple of scams, even headlining some of them. Despite Tonzura’s supposed strength, he usually attacks the Yatterman with weapons and gadgets and usually gets defeated without much hassle. In the few times where he does use his brute strength he’s still on the losing side.
He does get some prominence in Yatterman’s 30th episode “The Island of King Mong, Koron!“. Due to stomach problems during a con, Tonzura coincidentally leaves as Dokurobei appears to inform the Dorombo gang about a possible Dokuro Stone fragment belonging to the giant King Mong.
This leads to Doronjo and Boyacky, ignoring that Tonzura was there with them every single other time, believing that he is Dokurobei and treating him like a king. Tonzura takes advantage of this and bosses his friends around throughout the episode, but after the Dorombo gang lose again Dokurobei exposes him and singles him out for a stoning punishment.
In the years following the disbanding of the Dorombo gang, Tonzura did become a wrestling manager and head of the “WHH” organization. Although he claims to still be a bachelor at this point, in Heisei Time Bokan he contradicts himself by stating he had a fully grown daughter.
Starting with a race against the other Time Bokan villains, Tonzura has reunited several times with Doronjo and Boyacky for several wacky endeavors. The Dorombo gang still don’t catch a break, but Tonzura can’t resist the chance to have fun with the crew again.
Walsa (Walther or Warusa, Birba in Italy, or as the dub called him Mungo) provides the raw strength as part of Marjo’s gang in the original Time Bokan. Taking great pride in his strength the scowling 35 year old brute serves as a bodyguard for Marjo. There’s conflicting information regarding the origin of his name, either being based off the Japanese word for “evil behavior”, “warusa” or the name of the “Walther” firearms.
When the trio are out searching for the Dynamonds Walsa’s usually called upon to deal with someone that threatens the gang, although how well he does varies on his opponent. He’s also afraid of snakes and supernatural entities and he’ll often run away before Marjo and Grocky do.
Ironically, despite being the dumbest member of the gang he’s also the most observant, often quick to notice the Time Bokan crew or small details the other two would overlook. Walsa also serves as the co-pilot for the Gaikottsu, controlling it’s movement while Grocky handles the gadgets and weapons.
He seldom thinks for himself and most of the time he’s on the beck and call of either Marjo or Grocky. He shows the utmost respect for Marjo and appears to be pals with Grocky, although Walsa’s not above ridiculing him at any given moment.
He really didn’t contribute much to the overall plot compared to the rest of the gang, the most I can say is that he continued to follow Marjo to the bitter end of the series and subsequent spin-offs. But he started the series tradition of a minuscule muscular moron that Tonzura and others would later follow.
Dogurin (also known as DokiDoki Dogurin) is a mysterious being that guides and sponsors the Flower Detective Trio in Kaitou Kiramekiman. Appearing as a clay dogu riding a unicycle, he monitors the trio’s efforts to capture the Kiramekiman and prevent them from finding the Gold Eye.
Though this isn’t revealed until later on, Dogurin first appeared to the trio at a snowy outpost on the northern part of the world. He told them that if they went straight to Orgon City and captured the Kiramekikman their fortune would turn around and they would become globally famous heroes. Thus he set them on the path to becoming the Flower Detective Trio and antagonizing the Kiramekiman.
Dogurin is very similar to Yatterman’s Dokurobei in nearly every manner. They have the same deep, menacing voice, a verbal tic (dongu in this case), and a mysterious identity. He has eyes which switch from normal to glowing green, and when flustered he emits steam from his mouth. In spite of being an non-organic object Dogurin is capable of eating and drinking, even getting drunk once!
Dogurin can contact them at any given time at any given area or through the component of the Wonder-Bull usually reserved for gag robots and check on thier progress. If he’s angry with them he’ll drop a bomb on them, though he’ll never punish them for failure. Once he’s done chatting he vanishes into thin air, often by spinning in circles.
(Spoilers for Kaitou Kiramekiman below)
In the penultimate episode, Dogurin is quick to congratulate the Flower Detective Trio for finally capturing the Kiramekiman, and oddly singles out Hieru (the brains of the group) as the one responsible. The celebration is short lived due to the heroes escaping, and Doguin is extra determined Hieru gets them. Why?
His real identity is Dokku Ringo (spelt Doku Ringo onscreen in one instance, the name itself being Japanese for Poison Apple). He is a very childish and cocky master criminal from 500 years into future who stole an item crucial to Dr. Liquid’s well being and hid it in the Gold Eye, risking the world as well. He then sent the item back into the past, instigating the entire motion of events.
Despite being an infamous thief he wanted to be the leader of the International Police Force. To that end he discovered he was the descendant of Hieru (and apparently the other lanky geniuses of the Time Bokan series, though that’s debatable) and had been masquerading as Dogurin to make the Flower Detective Trio great heroes. Dokku Ringu specifically tried to give the Gold Eye to Hieru, but his ancestor effectively buried it within the police station and dragged this out longer than it needed to be.
The buffoonery of the trio only made things worse, and his attempt to help them in the final battle simply results in their two mechas crashing into each other and exploding. With the Flower Detective Trio fired and Dokku Ringo stuck in the past, he opts to have them become a group of notorious thieves on the run from the now future police force Kiramekiman.
2-3 (pronounced as the English “two three”) is a robot that works for the Time Lease and the companion of Gou, Ran, and Harubow. He pilots the Tokkyu-Saurus (and later the Tokkyu-Mammoth) and notifies Ran and Harubow of what they have to do when they get to their destination.
Partially inspired by C-3PO in regards to design, 2-3’s chest has a built in tape-deck that allows him to sing the Tokkyu-Saurus theme (along with any other Time Bokan songs performed by his VA Masayuki Yanamoto) He has a bad tendency to run his mouth off sometimes, and has a hard time keeping his personal feelings or someone’s secrets private because of it.
While 2-3’s role was small to begin with, it actually diminishes somewhat in the second half of the series. Ran and Harubow get more plot importance and get to man the turrets of the Sankan-Oh, all 2-3 gets to do is drive the dinky Relief-Car which hardly factors into any given situation.
He did get one episode in the spotlight, “2-3 is a Spy”. Trying to find a ball lost during a game in the park, 2-3 encounters a robot named Piroko and is immediately smitten by her.
This robot is actually part of a trap made by Kosuinen (a rather obvious one, most of her lines are “My name’s Piroko, I really like you!”) who proceeds to trap 2-3 in a van and render him unconscious.
Clean Aku trio to perform “surgery” on him by opening 2-3’s faceplate and inserting a spy cassette into his head, allowing them to spy on the Time Lease’s every move without anyone being aware of it.
When the Time Lease crew later try to escape an ambush set up by the trio, Kosuinen triggers the “main event” by having the tape rewire 2-3’s programming to drive the Tokkyu-Mammoth off a cliff, attempting to take Ran, Harubow, and himself with it.
Gou / Ippatsuman shows up just in time to stop the mecha, but 2-3 leaps out and tries to kill him. Ippatsuman’s psychic powers enable him to spot the tape and eject it from 2-3, briefly incapacitating the robot. He later returns back to normal after the Clean Aku trio are defeated, albeit oblivious to what had transpired.
2-3 shows up in the first Royal Revival OVA as one of the commentators for the race between the various trios. He’s the only one not (intentionally) affiliated with the villains of his series, and he begrudgingly supported the Clean Aku trio.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Operation Time Bokan 