DARK (ダーク, Dāku) is a terrorist organization lead by Professor Gill in his goal for world domination. Its army is mainly composed of robots created various scientists and henchmen, with the original robots being creations of Dr. Komyoji himself.
Biography[]
The organization had such a reputation of being evil that it was called "the death merchant" (死の商人, Shi no shōnin) by some, due to selling robots of destructive capabilities to countries that were currently at war with other countries. Their reasoning is that if they sell one country a powerful robot, the opposing country will have no choice but to buy one as well, thus allowing DARK to make loads of money. By then using the money they saved up, DARK will be able to create a powerful android (later revealed to be Giant Devil) that will act as the ultimate weapon, allowing them to control the world. In Professor Gill's strive for world domination, he sought to create an army of robots and superweapons to oppose the world's governments and armies, capturing scientists to do so. DARK's operations range from taking control of lands and producing secret projects. Most who attempted to find out about DARK were either killed or captured.
It was shown in some episodes that DARK had some serious money issues, prompting them to steal valuable items and outright money itself at times. This seemingly no longer became a problem in the latter half of the episode, when Blue Stag Beetle stole 500 billion from banks, according to Gill's words. Whether that was the reason or not, most powerful DARK Robots often did not group up together, with mostly about one DARK Robot appearing in each episode through the first half of the series, often claiming themselves to be the strongest in DARK's arsenal.
Members[]
- Professor Gill (Founder and Leader)
- Saburo (Combatant)
- Numerous Scientists and some Henchmen
Destructoids[]
- Main article: List of Destructoids
Powerful mechanical soldiers that were initially created by Dr. Komyoji for benevolent purposes, until being upgraded for destructive purposes by Gill and his followers. They are (mostly) all loyal to only Gill himself, while having no attachments towards others. It was shown that the original thirteen were creations of Dr. Komyoji, with the rest (aside from Orange Snail) being productions of DARK's scientists. Most of the Destructoids can seemingly grow stronger if they hear Gill's flute, in contrast to Jiro's suffering from it.
Each Destructoid has their own unique personalities, with most of them being very violent and quick to show their emotions. Some of them can be rather odd at times, whether that being intentional or not a mystery.
It is interesting to note that some Destructoids do not look similar to the creatures they were based upon, to the point of sometimes being completely different looking in comparison. It was also explained in the manga the reason why Destructoids that were created by Dr. Komyoji looked like animals, was to "leave the appearance of animals that were becoming extinct", with Dr. Komyoji's love for nature and his late son being a primary reason as well.
Android Men[]
Foot soldiers that use a naginata to attack, they are considerably weaker compared to the Destructoids, to the point of being destroyed in one punch by Jiro in his human form. This is also to the extent where a fully grown man can defeat them as well, as Hanpei later showed. They initially screamed "DARK" in their appearances, but later switched to "Gill" for some unexplained reason.
Since they can easily be created with little to no trouble by DARK, they are often disposed of if they fail as well as used as in experiments that leave them destroyed. Their are about five variations to Android Men, with the standard type wearing black tights and sneakers.
Notes[]
- Although they stated that they required money to create weapons and conquer the world, it is questionable why considering how even one of their initial DARK Robots had about 10 million horsepower, which they later upgraded with seemingly little to no trouble.
- This can somewhat be explained by Jiro's presence however, as all the DARK Robots were later indeed destroyed by him and other sources, which led to DARK's destruction.
- Unlike other evil organizations who keep themselves a secret if possible, DARK was revealed to the public in about seven episodes, to the extent where politicians and even kids knew about them. This did not limit their actions however, with at least one person dying in most episodes.
- This is slightly different in some other Kikaider media, with DARK being a giant corporation in the novel, as well as a project that seemingly created robots to help solve world problems. This does not mean they are honest in comparison, as each version of DARK was also evil as well.
