Dinosaur Great War Izenborg

was a Japanese television program produced by Tsuburaya Productions that aired from 1977 to 1978 on Tokyo 12 Channel. It is unique in that it combined Tsuburaya's trademark suitmation tokusatsu techniques with Japanese animation. The show ran for 39 episodes.
In 1982, a film compiling various episodes of the series dubbed in English titled Attack of the Super Monsters was released in the United States.
==Plot==
Dinosaurs reappearing on Earth, stronger and more intelligent than before, led by Dinosaur Satan Gottes, an evil humanoid from the Black Nebula, and this time they are back to rule earth once more and wipe out humankind. They are alive and even thriving, in an underground empire they built. 
In 1986, Ururu, the leader of dinosaurs, declares war against humanity. In an attempt to reclaim the Earth's surface, some of the dinosaurs evolve into deadly monsters and start wreaking havoc on the human population centers around the globe. The story revolves around the D Force (D戦隊 D Sentai), and its two members, a brother and sister team of Ai Tachibana (立花 愛) and Zen Tachibana (立花 善), the Special Ops force, whose mission is to combat evolved dinosaurs and protecting the humanity at all cost. 
However, early in the series, the siblings suffered a near-fatal injury from the massive explosion during the test of a prototype super-tank, "the predecessor to Izenborg." Their father died in the explosion. They survived, barely clinging to life. To keep them alive they needed to receive cybernetic body parts and other implants so they could function normally within the society and to synchronize with their combat vehicle and form the system known as Izenborg (Ai + Zen + Cyborg) (called Gemini in the US movie) and fight the Dinosaurs. 
Before the Izenborg process, each sibling has only a robotic half, intertwined with the human one (Zen, robot right half - Ai, robot left half). During the Izenborg process, Zen inherits both the human "halves" and becomes the pilot known as Izenman, Ai inherits both the robotic "halves" and becomes the Mother Computer of the ship, the tank Izen-I converts into the powerful ship Izenborg-Go. 
During episode 20, Ai and Zen were able to combine into a "second step fusion", the giant humanoid Izenbo. Zen becomes Izenbo, while Ai - inside a modified version of the Izenborg-Go - is embedded into the head and provides the main body with energy and additional computing faculty.
==Izenborg-Go Profile==
*Height: 33 m
*Width: 17 m
*Weight: 154 t
*Activity Time: 3 minutes and 30 seconds
==Appearances==
===Heroes===
*Izenbo
===Kaiju===
*Gottes
*Zobina
*Ururu
*Ururu's first wave of soldiers
**Dorango
**Dorigorus
**Giras Brothers
**King Zaura
**Long Neck
**Neronga
**Scoradon
**Lanosaurus (Episode 5 only)
*Gorgo
*Red dogs
*Terrano
*Giant bats
*Stella
*Red rats
*Tyrako
*Arrow
*Terara
*Aroro
*Monora
*Alulu
*Sutego
*Mororo
*Torara
*Torako
*Ranho
*Parasa
*Tylosaurus
*Ororo
*Unko
*Iguno
*Murara
*Gororo
*Kerala
*Ptera
*Tarbo
*Sugora
*Garara
*Dynah
*Baton
*Gallon
*Topura
*Gira
*ZaZa
*Demos
*Dororo
*Gagara
*Giant Gorilla
*Zobi
*Terekira
*Dodora
*Black Maria
*Dinosaur Taro
*Yotandon
*Bororo
*Monster Pteranodon
*Saberan
*Bodaros
*Ulusuredon
*Black Gamma
*Saigora
*Shadow
*Golda
*Shizalas
*Magmadon
*Kirasaurus
==Cast==
*: 
*: 
*: 
*: 
*, : 
*: 
*: 
*: 
*: , 
==Music==
:;Opening Theme
*
**Lyrics: Akira Takagi
**Composition and Arrangement: Toshiaki Tsushima
**Artist: Sunny Singers, Nishirokugo Boys and Girls' Choir
:;Ending Theme
*
**Lyrics: Akira Takagi
**Composition and Arrangement: Toshiaki Tsushima
**Artist: Nishirokugo Boys and Girls' Choir
==Home Media==
The series was released on DVD by Toei Video from June 21 to August 9, 2013,https://m-78.jp/news/n-1894 followed by the rest of the Tsuburaya Dinosaur Trilogy. The seventh and eighth volumes come with special features.https://m-78.jp/news/n-2053
Dinosaur Great War Izenbor 1.jpg|Volume 1 (episodes 1-5)
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 2.jpg|Volume 2 (episodes 6-10)
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 3.jpg|Volume 3 (episodes 11-15)
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 4.jpg|Volume 4 (episodes 16-20)
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 5.jpg|Volume 5 (episodes 21-25)
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 6.jpg|Volume 6 (episodes 26-30)
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 7.jpg|Volume 7 (episodes 31-35)
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 8.jpg|Volume 8 (episodes 36-39)
==Spin-offs==
*: A Japanese-Arabic documentary about the series,https://www.arabnews.jp/en/arts-culture/article_76373/ which concludes with a minisode segment depicting the characters in the high-quality style of more modern shows. It aired in the Middle East on December 15, 2017 and released on YouTube on December 30 with Japanese and Arabic subtitles.https://m-78.jp/news/post-4707https://tsuburaya-prod.com/news/118https://m-78.jp/news/post-4707 
*: A comic for the series created by Matt Frank and Hiroshi Kanatani was released in Japan on December 23, 2021.https://m-78.jp/news/post-6159https://phase6.jp/【blog：アイゼンボーグ開発日誌】/ It was first announced on December 26, 2020 and was published by Phase 6.https://www.arabnews.jp/en/arts-culture/article_34687/ The first chapter was added to TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION on February 1, 2022.https://twitter.com/m78_imagination/status/1488437134872973312
==Gallery==
===Images===
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg logo.webp
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg poster.png
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 001.png
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 002.png
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 003.png
Dinosaur Great War Izenborg 006.png
===Videos===
見て驚け！！「恐竜大戦争アイゼンボーグ」DVD CM
==Trivia==
*Dinosaur Great War Izenborg was created after Dinosaur Expedition Born Free, which similarly combined animation with stop-motion and puppets. The next series, Dinosaur Squadron Koseidon, had a human-sized hero and did fairly well.
*The show involves dinosaurs reappearing on Earth, more intelligent than before.
*Ururu, the tyrannosaurus villain of the first 19 episodes, was a reused suit from from The Last Dinosaur. Many of the dinosaur suits would go on to star in Koseidon.
*The Stegosaurus suit that was used for Gallon, Stella, Sugora, and Sutego would also be used for a Stegosaurus in Koseidon.
*The first wave of Ururu's soldiers are all monsters from latter Tsuburaya kaiju series, notably from Fireman and Ultraman.
*In the universe where Izenborg is set, the Ultraman Series are popular TV shows.
*While the series had good popularity in Japan, it was a big hit in the Middle East, hence why Return of Izenborg was produced. It was also popular in Italy, where it was titled I-Zenborg. The series was re-aired on the Italian channel Man-Ga in 2012, and the Yamato Italian DVD set got huge sales.
==External Links==
*Dinosaur Great War Izenborg at Tsuburaya Productions' official website
*Kyōryū Daisensō Aizenbōgu at the Internet Movie Database
*Attack of the Super Monsters at the Internet Movie Database
*Kyoryu Daisenso Aizenborg (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
*Tsuburaya Dinosaur Trilogy at Japanese Wikipedia
==References==
Category:Series
Category:Non-Ultraman Series
Category:Dinosaur Great War Izenborg
Category:Anime