Another 80s Mecha series that i managed to give a watch and this one proved to be a miss. A Ninja Robot in space seems to be a cool premise but Tobikage unfortunately failed to deliver. Mecha series in 80s tend to serve as glorified commercial advertisement to sell Toys and Tobikage is one of them. This inevitably limits the things the series could do and the materials that Tobikage need to work with are not the best either. The story of the series is your typical protagonist fighting with robots for the underdog faction against mighty evil empire featuring some love triangle along the way. The story formula is quite stale like the majority of its peers and only briefly get slightly better around late 20s episode when Obari decided to contribute something and then goes flat again. Tobikage ends with ambiguous note as the series was cut short due to budget issues and the last two episodes were just mere recap. Tobikage could have used 2 or 3 OVA Episodes to tie loose ends but i suppose budget was the issue once again.
Tobikage featured Ninja Robot Tobikage as the main robot but it serve as enigmatic ally most of the time, only fully controlled by the main protagonist near the end of the series. Then there are three supporting Robots that takes the helm early in the series which transform into supposedly more powerful Lion, Dragon and Bird form when fused with Tobikage. The combination use of the Beast form are unbalanced with Dragon mech is the most underused one which really shows out the flaw in the series writing. Tobikage could have used a final form because it is supposed to have one.
Overall Tobikage is another wasted potential with too many flaws being a victim of the business practice of its time. Obviously there are things that can be salvaged from the series but if you can't stomach 80s animation in general, chances that you won't like this one either. While the series is a flop, i won't mind getting Tobikage's mecha toys at very least though there are none at the moment.
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