Mazinger Z

About

Mazinger Z is a Mecha manga and anime series created by manga artist Go Nagai. The series' plot follows the titular super robot Mazinger Z and its pilot Koji Kabuto as they battle the evil forces of Doctor Hell. The series was popular enough to spawn a franchise of sequels, reboots, and toy lines, as well as help spark the mecha anime boom of the 1970's, and also help codify and popularize many tropes and aspects of modern mecha anime.

History

The original Mazinger Z manga by Go Nagai was first published in 1972 in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, eventually moving to Kodansha's TV Magazine in 1973. The anime adaptation by Toei Animation aired on Fuji TV from December 3, 1972 to September 1, 1974, lasting for 92 episodes.^[1] In 2013, distribution company Discotek Media released the entire uncut series in the U.S. on two DVD sets.^[1][11]

English Adaptations

There have been three attempts to translate Mazinger Z into English. The first was an English dub commissioned by Toei and produced by M&M Communications Inc., known as the "Hawaii English Dub". The dub was recorded in Honolulu, Hawaii, and unusually for a dub in the 1970's, it was a straight translation that kept the original plots and character names, even including an English version of the original Japanese into and ending credits (seen below, left). This dub only lasted for around 30 episodes due to Toei not commissioning further episodes.^[1][6]

The second attempt was an English dub that aired in the Philippines in the late 70's. This dub was produced by Questor Productions (who previously produced the Voltes V English dub also for the Philippines), and was an attempt to continue the Hawaii English Dub after those episodes aired. The dub would eventually be removed from Philippino television after Mazinger Z and various other anime were banned by order of then president Ferdinand Marcos.^[6]

The third attempt was Tranzor Z, an English dub produced in 1985 by 3B Productions, in response to the popularity of Voltron. Like other English adaptations of this period, the dub changed character names (such as Koji Kabuto to Tommy Davis, Sayaka Yumi to Jessica Wells, and Doctor Hell to Doctor Demon), had certain scenes edited for more violent and suggestive content (such as Aphrodite A's breast missiles), and featured a different intro theme (seen below, right). This dub only lasted for 65 episodes, the minimum requirement for syndication.^[1][6][16] The entire dub can be watched at the Internet Archive.^[18]

Sequels

Both the manga and anime were followed by multiple sequels. In 1974, a direct sequel called Great Mazinger was produced by Toei, lasting for 56 episodes.^[2] Though the series was not fully adapted into English, parts of it were edited into the Tranzor Z English dub to make up for the original footage that was edited for violence.^[6][16] In 1975, Toei produced a second sequel, UFO Robot Grendizer, which lasted for 74 episodes. This series was brought over to U.S. as part of the Force Five anthology series under the name of Force Five: Grandizer.^[3]

Between 2001 and 2002, a spin-off OVA series, Mazinkaiser, was released. The plot follows Koji Kabuto as he discovers Mazinkaiser, a more powerful prototype to Mazinger Z built by his grandfather, and struggles to control it as he fights the forces of Dr. Hell.^[21] The titular mecha was previously introduced in the Super Robot Wars series (as an upgraded form of Mazinger Z through the use of Getter Rays) as a way to give the Mazinger series a powerful unit on par with other series' mecha such as Shin Getter Robo.^[23][24][25] In 2011, a follow-up OVA, Mazinkaiser SKL, was released.^[22]

An anime series called Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact! premiered in 2009 and aired for 26 episodes. The series is a retelling of the original manga and keeps the basic plot of the original series, though it also includes references to other Go Nagai works such as Devilman and Violence Jack.^[4] Discotek Media released the series on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2015.^[12] In 2017, a sequel film Mazinger Z: Infinity was produced and released by Toei, taking place ten years after the events of Great Mazinger.^[5]

Toy Lines

Mazinger Z and its sequels have been made into multiple toy and action figure lines comprising of the titular robots. Popy's Jumbo Machinder line featured multiple Mazinger figures, with Mazinger Z being the first character chosen. Figures were also made of Great Mazinger and Grendizer.^[19] Mattel licensed and released the Jumbo Machinder line in the U.S. and Europe as the Shogun Warriors, including both the Great Mazinger and Grendizer figures, which were renamed "Great Mazinga" and "Grandizer".^[20]

Impact

Mazinger Z and its follow-ups are heavily influential to the Mecha genre, having originated or popularized mecha tropes such as mecha being controlled by a pilot in a cockpit and the Rocket Punch. It is considered to have helped kickstart the mecha anime boom of the 1970's, with many shows such as Gaiking, Combattler V, Voltes V, Zambot 3, and Mobile Suit Gundam following in its wake, most of which used, played with, expanded upon, and deconstructed some of the same tropes featured in Mazinger Z.

The series is often referenced and paid homage to in other works in the Mecha genre such as Megas XLR, Gurren Lagann, Sym-Bionic Titan, and Pacific Rim, as well as smaller references in non-mecha works such as South Park, The Powerpuff Girls, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Regular Show.^[15]

The series was very popular in South Korea, to the point that Korean director Kim Cheong-gi produced Robot Taekwon V, a South Korean animated film featuring a robot that heavily resembles the one in Mazinger Z. The film was popular enough to spawn multiple sequels, though it is infamous in Japan due to being seen as a plagirized version of Mazinger Z.^[17]

Fandom

Mazinger Z has a large following on sites such as Reddit^[8], Tumblr^[10], DeviantArt^[9], and Twitter^[7]. There are two wikis dedicated to the series, both called the Mazinger Wiki.^[13][14] DeviantArt contains over 1,500 images dedicated to the series.

Fan Art

Search Interest

External References