Volume three of Dandoh brings this golf based anime show to a close, and not a moment too soon.  The only sports anime show that I've seen that is really poor, Dandoh just fails on several levels with irritating characters, unreal situations, and sports play that breaks the laws of physics.  Not only that but when all is said and done, there are some important plot lines that are never wrapped up.  It's too bad that more couldn't have been done with this series, it certainly had potential.

Series background:

Tadamichi Aoba, or Dandoh as his friends all call him, loves to play baseball.  One afternoon after breaking the principle's bonsai plant, the administrator extolls the virtues of golf to the young kid.  Dandoh isn't that interested in the game until he learns that golf pros can make millions of dollars.  At that moment he decides to become the best golfer in Japan.  He wants the money so that he can locate his mother, who he's never seen.

Along with his two best friends Yuka and Kohei, Dandoh starts practicing even though his father is violently opposed to the boy playing golf.  By a fortunate accident, Dandoh and company bump into Shinjo.  He's was a very gifted golf player who had to quit the game after a car accident, and agrees to coach the trio.  Soon after starting lessons though, Dandoh and his friends are teased by a bully.  In Dandoh's anger, he agrees to enroll in the Kumamoto Junior Championships in order to prove that he has a talented coach.  There's only two weeks until the tournament though, so they trio practices as much as they can.

Dandoh and his friends all place highly in the tournament, and that means that they qualify for the Championship Junior Tournament.  After that match has been played, Shinjo suggests that Dandoh act as caddy for a professional golfer who has fallen on hard times, Akano.

This volume:
 
As the disc opens, Dandoh is caddying for Akano, and is responsible for his high placement in the tournament.  After the first day Akano was in dead last place, but the following day he starts listening to his boy-genius caddy and miraculously ends up in third place.  Now Akano has to play a round against two very strong players, including the best player in the world, Hesh.

After the grueling finals, Dandoh gets to play golf once again, and this time it's a grudge match.  Kazama, who has been defeated by the golf prodigy twice, wants to prove once and for all who the better player is.  With a new powerful swing that can make the ball do amazing things, Kazama thinks that this is finally his chance to best the young upstart.

This set was, if anything, even more irritating than the previous volumes.  They continued to have stupid plays and unreal setups, and they've even grown more numerous.  This show has player, playing in a tournament mind you, taking shots while standing in trees or in water hazards.  There are several laughably bad moments too.  In one case, a player launches the ball with a superhuman amount of force and hits the flag.  His ball then spins around and around the pole, spiraling up it and flying up into the air.  It then drops straight down into the hole.  Apparently the laws of physics don't apply in this show.

In another case Akano, after admitting that he owes much to young Dandoh, stabs him in the back by being Kazama's caddy during their match at the end of the series.  Not only does he carry the clubs, he also does his best to make Kazama victorious.  How's that for friendship??

The worst part about this show is that they totally dropped the overriding plots and didn't resolve them. *spoiler* Dandoh's mother does notice him playing on TV, travels to where he is a few days later, and then never talks to him.  What?!  That's the whole reason Dandoh starting playing golf was so he could see his mother!  The plot with his father not wanting him to play golf was never resolved either.  Those were one of the few things that made the show slightly interesting and to have them never be resolved takes away what little appeal this show had. *end spoilers*

Oh yeah, be sure to watch the end of the "next episode" bits.  At the very end of each episode they have a golf ball with a character's face on it and a voice over.  Some of these are so bizarre that they are humorous.
 

Audio:

Viewers have the choice of watching this show in the original Japanese or an English dub, both in stereo.  I alternated between tracks as I watched the show and both sounded good, though I preferred the original soundtrack.  In this last collection, there were some horrid English voice actors for the some of the secondary characters.  Listening to the German and British accents for some of the other players was as bad as hearing fingernails dragged across a chalkboard.  Avoid the English track this time around.  Both tracks were free from distortion and other audio defects.  There are also optional English subtitles, or sign only subs.

Video:

The full frame video also looked good.  The lines were tight and the colors were solid.  The image was a little jerky when it came to pans across static images, but not distractingly so.  Digital defects are very minimal with even aliasing being very minor.  Overall a good looking show.

Extras:

There are no extras on this disc.

Final Thoughts:

Well, after watching all 26 episodes of Dandoh, I can't really think of anything good to say about this series.  It's not as mind-bogglingly bad as Saint Seiya, but it's close.  The characters are dumb, the plots are simplistic and, worst of all, the laws of physics are bent and broken whenever it's convenient.  At first I could enjoy the show for it's innocent charm, but that wore off way before the series ended.  Even die hard golf fans will be disappointed in this anime.  Skip it.