Mazinger-Z
By Jeffrey Couto

An Influential Beginnning

Mazinger-Z is the reason I became interested in Japanese animation at a very young age. After seeing the first couple of episodes I was hooked, there wasn't anything else that could match the drama of Koji and Mazinger's battles against Dr.Hell's robot army in my mind. I eagerly looked forward to every new episode that aired and thanks to it I became interested in other similar programs like Ufo Robot Grandizer and Getta Robo G. However no matter how many different programs I watched over the years, Mazinger-Z has always stood out for me and has been the program by which I measure all others, even today.

The Story

During an archeological expedition on the Aegean Sea, two world renowned scientists, Dr.Hell and Dr.Kabuto, discovered the secret weapons of the Mikenese Empire, giant robots, which the empire used to protect their many treasures and drive invaders away from their island.

Whereas everyone else thought that these findings were of great positive value to humanity Dr.Hell saw them as a tool that he could use to take over the world. Immediately he ordered the Mikenese robots to attack the rest of the expeditionary group so that no one else knew of his plans. However, Dr.Kabuto managed to escape and go back to Japan, where he began working on the only weapon that would be able to stand up to Dr.Hell's plans for conquest, Mazinger-Z.

Dr.Kabuto's robot, Mazinger-Z was the result of two of the Doctor's secret projects, a new metal alloy known as super alloy Z (composed of a new element discovered on the stratum of Mt.Fuji known as Japanium) and a new energy source (Photo-Atomic energy). However before he could tell anyone about Mazinger-Z Dr.Hell's minions, lead by Baron Ashler, caught up to Kabuto and were quick to bomb his home/laboratory. Thankfully Dr.Kabuto's grandchildren, Koji and Shiro arrived at his demolished home before he passed away and was the dying man was able to tell them about Mazinger-Z and Dr.Hell's nefarious plans.

Angered by his grandfather's death Koji set out to learn how to use Mazinger-Z and even though at first he didn't know how to control the machine he eventually mastered the robot's controls and with the help of the Photo-Atomic Research Institute began his long battle against Dr.Hell's robot army.

A Revolutionary TV Program

Even though Mazinger-Z was not the first Japanese animated program to feature a giant robot fighting against the forces of evil it was in many ways a revolutionary show nonetheless. Without Mazinger-Z Japan might have never seen the animated super robot revolution that eventually lead to the creation of other modern cultural icons such as Grandizer, Voltes V, Gundam and Evangelion.

Before Mazinger-Z, animated robots were represented as slow, clunky and removed from their operators. A great example of this is the original Tetsujin 28 TV series (now available on DVD!) in which the giant robot was controlled by a young boy via remote control. Mazinger-Z introduced us to a giant robot that not only was agile and equipped with several innovative weapons (again, unlike its earlier predecessors, who lacked weapon systems), but also had a symbolic relationship to its operator, Koji Kabuto.

Koji piloted Mazinger-Z from the Pilder Hovercraft, which resided on Mazinger's head, thus making our hero the robot's brain symbolically and functionally. When the robot was attacked by various weapons its pilot also felt the effect of the attack (be it electricity, fire, ice, etc), no longer was the robot a separate entity from the pilot, in the battlefield they became one.

Mazinger-Z also bought a new element to these programs that would go on to delight and frustrate many fans alike for decades to come. The famous weapon calling shout! When Mazinger-Z was ready to shoot its rocket punches Koji didn't just press the button, he made it a point to shout its name very loudly, "ROCKET PUNCH!" This is something that was originally done to give the kids watching at home the chance to participate in what was going on by giving them a chance to shout along with Koji. This element of the show would go on to become a staple of many animated shows in Japan and it’s a proud tradition that still lives on in Sentai programs and new robot shows like Gaogaigar.

How Good it it?

This series has somewhat of a rough start due to problems with the animation company (this is the reason why sometimes Mazinger's colors are different from episode to episode early on), but as it progresses it overcomes many of its early problems and goes on to become the revolutionary program that we now know it as.

Each episode features our heroes as they deal with Dr.Hell's latest creations and their struggle to defeat his robot army. Usually each show can be broken up into 4 main parts:

A) Evil robot makes appearance.
B) Mazinger-Z confronts the evil robot, but is defeated.
C) The heroes figure a way to defeat the new threat's signature weapon.
D) Mazinger confronts the evil robot once more, this time defeating it.

Is this to say that Mazinger-Z is a predictable program? Well, maybe a little, but that does not take anything away from what is a very fun program.

Mazinger-Z features many interesting twists and story developments that really make you care about what is happening in the story, like the first season's overarching story of whether Mazinger-Z could fly (he does at the end of the season when he gets the Jet Scramder) to meet the challenge of Dr.Hell's new flying robots. Whether it was the robots or the characters there is always something interesting going on which makes us care about what may happen next.

My Opinion

Mazinger-Z should be required viewing for all animation fans, especially those who like modern robot anime like Gaogaigar 3, but have never seen the classic super robots. Even though Mazinger-Z is an older program it's still very good by today's standards (especially the third season) and will not fail to impress fans of modern animation with its great stories, robot designs and unforgettable characters.

Jeffrey Couto