Yatterman Character Biography: Dokurobei (Yoru no Yatterman / Yatterman Night)
(It goes without saying that this spoils a good deal of Yoru no Yatterman / Yatterman Night, so watch that series first if you're interested, and if you’re curious, go here and check out what Doku-chan did in prior Yatterman media)
For the most part, Dokurobei is mentioned in passing throughout most of Yoru no Yatterman / Yatterman Night. However, his presence is hinted at from the beginning of the first episode and through the ominous looking skull shaped moon (normally a gag from the end credits of prior Time Bokan series, here not so much.)
He shows up in person on the throne of the Yatter Kingdom, "celebrating" the arrival of Leopard and her friends. Confused and unaware of Dokurobei's origins and his nature, they question how he is there and how he is still alive. After Dokurobei explains his past to the group, he states present. He is "Lord Yatterman", the ruler of the Yatter Kingdom and the cause of so much pain and suffering.
Instead of being a skull shaped stone like before, Dokurobei somehow gained an actual, tall humanoid form. His mustache now goes down his face (or it's part of a mask), the glasses have been traded in for a monocle, and he now has grey hair with a patch of black sticking out, although the tuffs remain intact. His personality and mannerisms are the same, although played in a darker light.
Somehow, both the original and 2008 happened, and the Yattermans' meddling in the former led to the latter show apparently being Dokurobei's attempt at revenge towards them (even though they are clearly the only characters who aren't the same in both versions, and was seemingly indifferent to them as well).
Constant failure led to Dokurobei taking matters into his own hands and going all out on Earth itself, wiping out a good deal of it's population, shattering the moon, banishing the Dorombo gang, and defeating the Yatterman. (Whether or not he flat out killed them is never specified)
This wasn't enough for him, and not only did Dokurobei pose as the Yatterman to taint their reputation and enslave and break humanity under his grip, but he also used propaganda to blame the Dorombo gang for everything bad and that the oppressive Yatter Kingdom, the only inhabitable place on Earth that he rules, is the people's only salvation.
Apparently, being split into four pieces and surviving for eons like that doesn't mean Dokurobei's immortal, so to maintain his immortality he has several people work their lives away at a factory to give him power, and plans to exhaust every last human being to death.
To that end, he created robotic shells of the Yatterman and their mechas to serve as his army, and brainwashed and rewired twelve innocent folks into his personal "Yatter-Guardian Gods" to maintain his law and order.
For old time's sake, Dokurobei offers Leopard and her friends positions as Yatter-Generals. But knowing that they wouldn't accept the offer, he quickly refutes and decides to throw them in prison instead.
After they barely manage to escape, the gang plan out one final attack to bring peace to the world. Leopard, Voltkatze, and Elephantus hold off the Yatter-Guardians while Galina and Alouette, taking up the mantle of Yatterman and onboard a newly built Yatter-Wan, proceed to fight Dokurobei, who grows to an immensely colossal size to fight them.
After a long and tense struggle, the new Yatterman are able to strike down Dokurobei, seemingly ending him and his chaos once and for all.
Yatterman Character Biography: Dokurobei (2009 Yatterman Film)
(Warning: This contains spoilers, and this film actually can be bought and watched in the west.)
Dokurobei (localized as "Skullobey" here) appears as the main villain of the film, fulfilling his usual role as the unseen boss of the Dorombo gang. However, his crush on Doronjo has become a creepy obsession, and while still a comedic character, he comes off as far more sinister than any prior depictions.
His appearance differs greatly compared to previous versions. For most of the film, Dokurobei appears as an inhuman entity in smoking black rags wearing a oversized skull with a huge spiral on top. He's also far more active, always planning his next move in tandem with those of the Yatterman and the Dorombo gang.
He makes his proper entrance in the jungles of Narway ambushing Dr. Kaieda, a archaeologist researching the Dokuro Stone. Dokurobei disposes of him by sucking the archaeologist up his arse and takes the Dokuro Stone fragment he found, prompting Kaieda's daughter, Shoko, to seek out the Yatterman for help.
The Yatterman manage to get two of the four fragments before the Dorombo gang and analyze them to discover the truth behind the artifact. Meanwhile, Dokurobei delivers a message to the Dorombo gang (specifically, in Doronjo's bathtub) with the added claim that not only will the Dokuro Stone grant their deepest desires, but a "miracle" will occur once the stone is reassembled.
The Yatterman soon discover that the Dokuro Stone, which Dokurobei exerts some power over, will open a vortex in space and time. Even in fragments it has already caused various objects across the world to vanish, including Omochama. Dokurobei aims to become an actual god of thieves by controlling space and time and stealing the world itself, even at the expense of shattering it, as well as having Doronjo by his side.
With both parties gathering at the Southern Halps to obtain the last fragment, Dokurobei conceals them inside a clockwork skull. After another duel between the Yatterman and the Dorombo gang, Dokurobei reveals himself and begins to slowly put the Dokuro Stone back together.
After tumbling down a flight of stairs while gloating, Dokurobei discards his skull, showing that he has possessed Dr. Kaieda. After revealing the full intent of his plans, the Dorombo gang begin to have second thoughts supporting him.
Shoko pleads with her father to break free, and with Doronjo's help she is able to pull him out of Dokurobei's possession, revealing Dokurobei's true form to resemble an uncanny version of his "human" appearance from the show.
With the Dokuro Stone nearing completion, Dokurobei attempts to drag Doronjo into the vortex with him. After Boyacky and Tonzura's attempt to save her makes things worse, it is Ai-chan who manages to save them all, including Omochama.
With the aid of the Dorombo Gang, Gan-chan and Ai-chan manage to destroy the Dokuro Stone and seal off the vortex, trapping Dokurobei in the void.
While still connected to the Dokuro Stone, this is the only incarnation where the stone itself is not his true form.
Yatterman Character Biography: Dokurobei (90s spinoffs)
Go here for Dokurobei’s beginnings and personality traits
From here on out, whatever shroud of mystery Dokurobei had is discarded and he often shows up “in person”. The actual twist regarding Dokurobei is surprisingly not brought up though, so one could watch or play these spin-offs without completely ruining Yatterman’s ending.
As with the rest of the Yatterman cast, Dokurobei makes an appearance in the Time Bokan: Royal Revival OVAs. He first appears at end of the first episode to congratulate the Dorombo gang for winning the race. He then "rewarded" the trio with a trip to a lava pit in order to train for the next episode.
Dokurobei shows up again in the second episode posing as Togurobei (Toguro is Japanese for coil), sending the Dorombo gang to the Tatsunoko Kingdom to get the Toguro Stone. When all's said and done, he once again punishes the trio since he states it's to be expected by Time Bokan fans. This time he does it by unleashing Matatabinga (Catnip Man in the dub) on them, the character from Dorombo's fake OVA at the beginning of the episode.
Oddly enough, Dokurobei is entirely absent from Heisei Time Bokan, which might explain why the Dorombo gang try a good intentioned "social reform" at first. Even their return to criminal activity in the second story arc isn’t nearly as hectic without a set goal or Dokurobei breathing down their necks.
He makes a brief, voice only cameo at the end of Bokan to Ippatsu: Dorombo, where as usual he punishes the Dorombo gang by firing a missile at them. Due to the low budget this game had, Dokurobei wasn't voiced by his usual VA Junpei Takiguchi.
Dokurobei takes on a more prominent role in it's sequel Bokandesuyo, where on the game's hard difficulty he orders the the Dorombo gang to defeat all the Time Bokan protagonists, with the promise of making the trio the main characters of the next Time Bokan series. He even gifts the Dorombo gang with a vehicle in his likeness (the Dokurobei Car) if they manage to get through the bonus stage.
It's later revealed that Dokurobei's true motive is to take over the Time Bokan series himself and make it "Time Dokurobei", and he promptly casts aside the Dorombo gang. They don't take this lying down, so they stage an assault on his base and fight Dokurobei in a mecha of his own.
Although they managed to win, the trio's humiliated by the Yatterman shortly afterwards, and Dokurobei gets the last laugh by launching a bomb at them from a satellite as "punishment".
In Bokan GoGoGo, Dokurobei commands all the villainous trios from the entire series (barring Kiramekiman) to find and locate a pair of magical tulips. The first group to obtain it will get another chance at the spotlight, hence why it's another race.
In every ending, Dokurobei never gets to obtain the tulips either due to the greediness of the the villainous trios or the heroes arriving to stop them. I'll go into more details surrounding these endings when I write the summaries for these trios as a whole, but here's what happens to Doku-chan in the Dorombo gang's ending:
