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?

Time Bokan Character Biography: Tanpei

Tanpei (called Cosmo in South America and Jett in Time Fighters) is the main hero of the original Time Bokan. A hot-blooded boy at the age of 13 always sporting a blue jumpsuit and helmet, he travels alongside Junko and Chorobo in the Time Bokan to find Dr. Kieta and the elusive Dynamonds before Marjo and her gang can.

While little is shown of Tanpei’s life other than being Dr. Kieta’s assistant, he is a skilled mechanic and is good at making technology, since he built Chorobo and often repairs the Time Bokan after a battle. He’s also shown to be a fairly adept fighter, being able to take on a handful of thugs with relative ease with his own strength or through one of the Time Bokan mechas.

Tanpei can be a bit brash and cocky, often showing off and getting riled up over remarks made about him. He also gets easily flustered in the company of pretty girls, much to Junko’s chagrin, and is quite panicky over small things.

Because of that Tanpei will sometimes run into trouble because of his attitude, but he has a good heart, a strong sense of justice, and tries to ensure that everything works out alright in the end.

In a way he can be considered a good counterpart to Marjo, in that both are reckless and determined to achieve their goals no matter what. But while Marjo is self serving and her antics often lead to her defeat, Tanpei will help others out and is able to get himself out of some tight jams at the last second.

Ohno Satoshi, a member of the Japanese boyband group Arashi, dons Tanpei’s costume when fighting against the Dorombo gang’s robots in the animated music video for the group’s song “Believe”. Unlike the rest of Arashi, who gain weapons matching their respective counterparts, Satoshi’s is purely cosmetic and relies on directly fighting with punches and kicks, much like the real Tanpei did.

Though not as flashy as the subsequent Time Bokan heroes, Tanpei’s courage and determination was something that would be carried on through them.