Mazinkaiser (TV)

I remember when I first saw this show and thought it would be a long series.  Turns out it was an OVA, but a very good one to boot. What could be more awesome than seeing Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger together? A new bigger and powerful Mazin to fight the good fight!!

Mazinkaiser tells the story of the final conflict between Kabuto Kouji and the forces of the evil Dr. Hell and Baron Ashura. It all begins when Dr. Hell sends Ashura to attack Japan with an army of Mechanical Beasts only to be met by Mazinger Z(piloted by Kouji), Great Mazinger(piloted by Tetsuya) and Aphrodite A(piloted by Sayaka) as well as Boss. Things look like all will be well until Mazinger Z is beaten and heavily damaged as well as Great, who is caught off guard when trying to aid Z. Aphrodite A and Boss also get a heavy beating. Finally Ashura orders one of the Mechanical Beasts to forcefully take out the Hover Pilder off  Z and the last we see of Kouji is when he is thrown to the unknown in the Pilder while Ashura takes Z away.

Back at the Photon Lab, repairs are being made to Great and the others while a search is launched to find Kouji. Meanwhile, Dr. Hell finally completes modifications to Mazinger Z and sends Ashura to destroy the Photon Lab. The attack begins with Tetsuya taking a still damaged Great out to battle only to be overpowered by the Mechanical Beasts and the Ashura Piloted Mazinger Z. After leaving Great more damaged than it was before, all seems lost when Ashura is about to use the Breast Burn of Z when he is interrupted by a powerful blast that destroys the Mechanical Beasts. Everyone is in shock when the silhouette of the apparent savior appears as Dr. Yumi (Sayaka’s father) identifies it to be Mazinkaiser. Ashura wastes no time to counterattack Mazinkaiser but only to find out that Zs weapons are useless against it. Afterwards, Kaiser literally beats Z to pieces and Ashura has no choice but to retreat. The battle is over and everything seems ok until Kaiser throws the destroyed Z into the Photon Lab and proceeds to use his Turbo Smasher Punch in the process.

The first episode ends as Great Mazinger tries its best to stop Kaiser but to no avail until Sayaka and company arrive and yell out to the pilot of Kaiser who is none other than Kouji who is unconscious inside it. Throughout the rest of the 7 episode OVA we see how the forces of evil try to defeat Kouji who is mastering Kaisers power and the ensuing battles that happen in the process.  Mazinkaiser does not disappoint since it maintains the feel the original Mazinger series had with the action, comedy and suspense. The animations are very well made for the entirety of this short series. Overall, if you are a fan of Mazinger or like anime that features Giant Robots, then give Mazinkaiser a try!

Shin Mazinger (TV)

Chances are you thought this would be a remake of an old series kind of like what happened with Dragon Ball Z Kai. However, once you began to see the first episodes you realized how wrong you were.

The original Mazinger series from the 70s consisted of episodic stories in which Mazinger would be fighting a giant monster robot sent by Dr. Hell, who was bent on ruling the world, and save the day. Not much of a storyline for modern day standards but it worked back in the day, based on what my father told me since he saw the show and was the one who introduced me to the Mecha genre when I was a child. This was the series that made popular such genre and pushed forward all the Giant Mecha series we know today like Gundam, Big-O, Robotech, Dai-Guard, the Brave series, among other popular series.

The plot of Shin Mazinger is nothing like the old series.  Shin Mazinger took the concept and characters of what the original Mazinger was, and created something new and different. Shin Mazinger is not episodic like its predecessor was, but instead delivers new ideas while keeping homage to the original series. The creators of Shin Mazinger made sure to flesh out the past of the old show to have as much impact as possible. Using the ancient Greek mythology setting that the 70s Mazinger had (if you are curious to know look it up on online), they created a complex back-story of science and betrayal around it. For instance, the iconic villain, Baron Ashura was given a unique back-story and origin during the series which in my opinion was well developed and worthy for this character. But I will not enter into further details since I do not wish to spoil the series for everyone.

The direction the series takes is what makes it epic.  Sure it delivers over the top action but for once in the history of the series they get it right and manage to mix it with the serious parts of the story. Each episode delivers on the action consistently, while taking care of the plot at the same time. The creators were really clever to throw in huge plot twists while in the middle of the action in order to spice things up a notch, with very cool results.

While Shin Mazinger delivers all kinds of epic action it also tends to pull some WTF moments but once you get past those and look at the Big Picture, it all makes sense. Besides, when have we not seen a series in which there has to be secret back-up plans that no one, except some random character, knew there was such plan to begin with? I think I have a valid point here.

Overall, if you are a fan of Giant Robots or are nostalgic about Mazinger, then you should give Shin Mazinger a try. It’s a series that delivers epic action, an awesome story with a number of cool plot twists in between all of it. With an ending that leaves viewers wanting more, Shin Mazinger will definitely continue to be one of my favorite series of Giant Robots.

~ShadowMagnus