Seisenshi Dunbine

Shou Zama is an ordinary 18-year-old from Tokyo who finds himself summoned to the medieval fantasy world of Byston Well. Upon arrival, he is put into service under the ambitious lord Drake Luft, who seeks to greatly expand his power. Those like Shou who come from "Upper Earth" possess strong aura power and are ordered to pilot "Aura Battlers," insectoid mecha designed by a man named Shot Weapon, who also came from Upper Earth.

However, Shou's alliances quickly change when he meets Marvel Frozen, a young woman who has decided to rebel against Drake's political agenda. As he realizes the lord's true intentions, the boy chooses to join the fight against Drake and team up with Neal Given, who leads the resistance movement. The resistance isn't alone—Riml, daughter of their enemy and Neal's secret love, aids their efforts, hoping to escape from her father's clutches. As Shou finds himself fighting alongside his new comrades, they put their lives on the line to prevent the villainous Drake from taking over Byston Well before it's too late.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Zama, Show Main

Nakahara, Shigeru Japanese

Frozen, Marvel Main

Doi, Mika Japanese

Fau, Cham Main

Kawamura, Maria Japanese

Guinness, Todd Supporting

Osaka, Hidemi Japanese

Weapon, Shot Supporting

Tanaka, Masahiko Japanese

Given, Neal Supporting

Ataka, Makoto Japanese

Bunnings, Bern Supporting

Hayami, Show Japanese

Rou, Nigu Supporting

Totani, Kouji Japanese

Rou, Torou Supporting

Tatsuta, Naoki Japanese

On, Godo Supporting

Sasaoka, Shigezou Japanese

Tomino, Yoshiyuki Director, Script, Storyboard, Theme Song Lyrics, Original Creator

Imagawa, Yasuhiro Episode Director, Storyboard

Iuchi, Shuji Episode Director, Storyboard

Kikuchi, Kazuhito Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Dec 5, 2025

HERMIT_PAIMON

Recommended

"Insect Mecha"
Dunbine is one of legendary tomino work with a fantasy and medieval element . This show is quite different from other tomino work . Here mecha isn't just a fusion of advance space machinery . They mixed biology and robotics engineering to deliver some cool insect mecha designs , many other anime took inspiration from here e.g sword & magic .

The most important thing i liked about dunbine is background score , it's perfectly blended in fantasy theme . Many people don't like idea of meshing sci fi with fantasy so, i can't say many people gonna enjoy this or not but ... in my opinion is pretty enjoyable . Another thing i liked people that got summoned aren't just japanese , they included people from many different countries .

If you ask me what i didn't like then i say dunbine don't explore or show fantasy theme very much , it's just limited to some tinkerbells and castles . This is just a minor problem not gonna affect your watching time. Even in the widely diverse mecha genre, aura battler Dunbine stands wildly apart from the rest and is completely unique. Mandatory viewing for anyone who likes big robots.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 21, 2020

punishedsneed

Recommended

Aura Battler Dunbine, besides some stunted death scenes (I forgot one of the characters had died and was waiting for them to show up during my binge) is solid. The ending does come at you fast, and while it definitely delivers, Tomino has done some better endings (Controversial, but I liked how Victory's ending played out.)

The concept, worldbuilding, characters and so on should be experienced blind by the viewer. Take my word on it and hop into Dunbine. It's an older, episodic anime but it's worth 'battling' through.

This is probably the most unique fantasy mecha out there. I am actually glad Tomino wasn't allowed to ... adapt this without mecha. Only because of how it plays into the story. Dunbine could work without mecha, but it would have needed another plot device to play with industrialized warfare arriving in a fantastical medieval-esque landscape. This dynamic seems to be born from the forced mecha (by the network) and while I normally hate networks forcing things onto creators, Dunbine would be boring without it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Nov 6, 2025

Mulahey

Mixed Feelings

The easiest summary is that its certainly a Tomino show.

Its not all bad. There are nice designs, some fun ideas and the way the "transported to another world" element of the plot develops is superior to most uses in the medium. Aura power is very similar to New type abilities and is sometimes interesting in how it develops. Theres overall a fun story somewhere inside.

However, exposition is done quite poorly. The politics is quite important but also very thin. Characters are flat, rarely communicate and develop little. The animation is also pedestrian even for the time. The Char clone honestly has such a thin ... motivation and isn't interesting at all.

The biggest issue, however, is pacing. Episode after episode of fights that develop or change nothing. Characters escape and get recaptured constantly. It really wastes the viewers time with immense padding and doesn't have charming enough characters or well animated enough fights to overlook the lack of any meaning to what happened in the 20 minutes you just sat through. Then the actual climaxes we do get happen in a rush!

If this show was 20 episodes, it might be fairly good. Unfortunately, at 49 is quite mediocre.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Aura Battler Dunbine Episode 49 Discussion ZetaZaku - Feb 26, 2016	6 replies	by Catalano »» Nov 28, 12:54 PM
	Poll: Seisenshi Dunbine Episode 34 Discussion Gridley - Jun 22, 2017	2 replies	by Catalano »» Aug 15, 1:00 PM
	Poll: Seisenshi Dunbine Episode 19 Discussion JaceyFox - Sep 25, 2022	3 replies	by TheSelleri »» Jul 28, 10:32 PM
	Poll: Seisenshi Dunbine Episode 18 Discussion JaceyFox - Sep 25, 2022	2 replies	by TheSelleri »» Jul 20, 8:25 AM
	Poll: Seisenshi Dunbine Episode 41 Discussion Rei_III - Aug 9, 2018	3 replies	by shadovv_gb »» Apr 16, 3:15 PM