Anime Review: Daimidaler vs. Penguin Empire

Daimidaler vs. Penguin Empire (UK Rating: 18)

Oh boy. This is going to be an interesting one to cover considering today's climate. There really is no delicate way to put some of the things that happen in the show; after all, there aren't many series out there that include sexual assault as a way to power-up giant mechs. There are even fewer shows that feature a pig-tailed blonde giving frantic hand rubs to the "front tail" of penguin men. So. Set in a world where a psychotic group of "Penguins" (which look like men in penguin leotards with huge bulges in their crotch that they call their "front tail" ) attack cities, a group of humans are fighting back from a little hair salon called Prince. The humans use a huge robot, the titular Daimidaler, to fight against the giant robots the penguins create and generally the pair end up destroying huge parts of the city for seemingly no reason.

The Penguin Empire is trying to collect "Hi Ero" - a play on words for hero and ero, Japanese for pervy - energy, although it's never really established why. They concoct various schemes, like throwing pornographic magazines to the populous or covering the city with a huge umbrella in the hopes that the darkness will evoke some sexy time so they can collect the energy. The Prince salon recruits a promising young man who is overflowing with Hi Ero power that can pilot their mech and fight back against the Penguins that seem to be doing little wrong...

That young man is Koichi, a dated Japanese thug, still rocking the '90s school uniform and regularly flipping the skirts of the girls in his school. He's teamed up with a hot young lady named Kiyoko who has a grudge against the Penguin for putting her father in the hospital. They did this by doing a special dance where they repeatedly thrust their "front tails" in his face… The two pilot the giant mech together with Kiyoko serving as the fuel to Koichi's power. Koichi releases more power as he's turned on, so he gropes Koichi to power-up. Yup.

The overall story doesn't really matter as it's a thin excuse for the fan-service really. Koichi heads into the field and repeatedly gropes Kiyoko to give himself enough power to take on the dreaded Penguin forces of characters like "Nelson" and "Jake" or the terrifying "Michael" and "Dennis." Eventually, Kiyoko starts to fall for him and something of a comedy romance blossoms. Meanwhile, on the other side, a young girl called Ritz joins the Penguin Empire and becomes the main antagonist, switching between giving the Penguin "front tail rubs" and piloting their giant mechs. She's a huge perv herself and regularly acts out her fantasies with the penguins. Later on in the show, the Prince team is completely changed for a different couple who don't rely on sexual assault to use their powers and instead are a sickeningly sweet couple who hold hands and kiss. It's all very, very silly.

The quality is impressive, too; this comes from the same studio that put out High School DxD and it has the experience to produce the perfect NSFW goodness that fans will enjoy and does it with aplomb here. The performances of the voice actors are very well done also and in both the English and the Japanese. The English does have issues with the overuse of popular slang, which means it will not age well, but for the time being it results in some surprisingly funny moments. The second disc comes packed with extras, too; there are six short OVAs, along with advertisements, promo videos, text-less opening and closing, trailers, and two episode commentaries.

7/10

Very Good - Bronze Award

While the jokes get very repetitive as the series begins to come to a close, there are still plenty of moments in every episode that manage to evoke laughs from the audience. Rejoice! Daimidaler vs. Penguin Empire is a show that doesn't hide its true nature beneath so-called romance - just absolute stupid, but funny, perversion that revels in its ridiculousness. A must-see for any ero fans out there.