Maken Liner 0011 Henshin Seyo!

Maken Liner 0011 Henshin Seyo! (Wonderdog Liner 0011 Transform!) is a 1972 Toei sci-fi anime movie. It seems like a descendant of 1970's Kaitei 3-man Mile (30,000 Miles Under the Sea): same director, very similar character designs, bare-bones sci-fi plot. Maken Liner is even shorter, though, and rather clumsier in its execution.

Earth is being invaded by insect-descended aliens from Planet Devil. They plan to destroy the Earth and plunder its resources, or maybe the other way round. (All this is told by voice-over exposition.) Only Professor Hayashi recognizes that an invasion is in progress. However, his warnings are ignored, except by his loyal young son Tsutomu. When the evil aliens kill Tsutomu's dog Queen and her pups Ace, Jack, and Joker, Hayashi resurrects them as transforming cyberdogs. The dogs can transform and unite to form key parts of space attack ship Liner. 

However, Hayashi is killed, and Tsutomu must fight the invading Devilians on his own. The villains plan to use the Moon as a gigantic bomb to destroy the Earth (yet more voice-over). Will Tsutomu succeed in thwarting the aliens' evil designs? Well, we're all still here, so I guess the answer is clear.

As you might suspect, I don't think Maken Liner is one of Toei's stronger offerings. The clumsy exposition, the lack of character development, and the rushed plot and resolution, make the movie seem like a by-the-numbers alien invasion movie. The dogs are cute, but in cyborg form, they conveniently possess exactly the skills needed to defeat the particular villain or villains they face. Tsutomu shows no lasting grief over his father's demise. The songs are pedestrian. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

The voice actors include:

• Satomi Kiyoko (Tsutomu) played the title role in Rainbow Sentai Robin and Rune in Jungle Taitei Susume Leo.
• Kitahama Hiroku (Queen) played Ichimatsu and Todomatsu in the original Osomatsu-kun, Oman in Itoshi no Betty Monogatari, Baron Ashura in Mazinger Z, Panther Zora in the original Cutie Honey, and Rafflesia in Space Pirate Captain Harlock.
• Nozawa Masako (Ace) is a legend. She played the title roles in The Adventures of Gamba, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry no Bouken, Billy Inu nan demo Shoukai, and Hey! Bumboo. She was Enma-kun in the original Dororon Enma-kun, Son Goku in the original Dragonball, Taira no Tokuko in Genji Pt 1, and Kitarou in the 1968 and 1971 versions of GeGeGe no Kitarou, as well as Hakaba Kitarou. Even though her first role was in 1965, she was active in the early 21st century, appearing as Obaba in Ping Pong the Animation, Madame Curie in Marie & Gali, and of course, Medama Oyaji in the most recent version of GeGeGe no Kitarou. She played the title roles in Manxmouse and The Green Cat, Isamu in Kaitei 3-Man Mile, Lek in Cool Cool Bye, the wolf in Kiku-chan to Ookami, and Costar in 15 Shounen Hyouruuki, all Orphan releases. She won a lifetime achievement award in 1997.
• Matsushima Minori (Jack) had a storied career, starting with early Tezuka Osamu series. She played Dororo in the 1969 version of Dororo to Hyakkimaru, Jim in Animal Treasure Island, the title roles in Akane-chan, Candy Candy, and Lucy of the Southern Rainbow, Shun's mother in Dallos, Misako in Junkers Come Here: Memories of You, and Peach (Pinoko) in Fumoon. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Soga Machiko (Joker) played the title role in Obake no Q-taro and 007 in the Cyborg 009 franchise.
• Yamanouchi Masato (Professor Hayashi) appeared in Casshan, Future Boy Conan, Racoon Rascal, and Shounen Santa no Daibouken. He played the prophet Samuel in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, an Orphan release.
• Kobayashi Osamu (narrator) played the title role in Ogon Bat. He played the villain Hugo Stronburg in Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, an Orphan release. He had featured roles in Be Forever Yamato, Crusher Joe: the Movie, Zillion, Roots Search, Future War Year 198X, and many other shows.

The director, Tamiya Takeshi, moved into planning and production after 1975.

Maken Liner was one of Iri's BlueFixer releases. He wanted to release it again in order to correct some errors in the original script. ninjacloud retimed the release. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. The raw is a 1080p webrip from Ioroid.

The English title is one of the key changes. Iri originally rendered "maken" as "Hellhound", because "ma" can mean devil or demon. But it can also mean "magic," so "maken" is now "Wonderdog." This is a better fit. The pups are not hell-hounds; they're the good guys.

So here's a revised, full HD version of Maken Liner 0011 Henshin Seyo! It's both a critter-feature and a creature-feature, so it kills two aliens with one stone. You can get this new version from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net