Mazinga Z

This is one of the best giant robot anime (cartoon) of all time. The animation is somewhat dated, but the originality of the characters (specially baron Ashura and viscount pigman) remain quite striking and not easily forgotten. The mechanical beasts are also amazing, not two being alike. As with many other anime, mazinger z (known as tranzor z in the US )suffered from censorship all over the world and is hard to know if the version released in the US is uncut.

I was quite a fan of the series as a child and after that it has always remained in my mind as one of those memorable cartoons that made a difference in the early 80s compared to previous animated series (Heidi, Barbapapa, Il Etait une Fois l'Homme..., most of which I love). I find that other similar Japanese cartoons of this kind released later can't match Mazinger Z, as they started to boringly repeat the same pattern.

That very thing, the novelty, may be one of the best features of Mazinger Z. Another good point is its inventiveness, with so many extravagant monsters, strange devices and bizarre characters; actually, we were eager to see each new installment to find out what kind of new fiend or evil machine was awaiting us!

Granted I had seen some "Speed Racer", but I never really watched it and I had also seen other shows some featuring these characters dressed as birds who flew a ship called the Phoenix and another revolving around a space ship that looked like a giant ocean vessel and it flew backwards at times for some reason and was really dark and hard to understand for someone who was maybe five. This one though I watched nearly every episode and the amazing thing to me at the time was that this show had some resolution to it. It actually ended, the bad guys done in unlike nearly every American cartoon where nothing really concludes such as the last episode of the generation one Transformers that ended with Galvatron and this new bad guy vowing to get the Autobots, Dungeons and Dragons with the kids never making it home, with GI Joe with Cobra still out there ready to try again and so on and so forth. This one did end and did feature a rather cool robot that got new weapons as the show progressed, it was a bit bland to begin with as it could not fly and had only a few really cool weapons. As it went on he got a cool shooting fist like the one Android 16 used against Cell in Dragonball Z, then that weapon evolved to include razors that shot out. Then the big robot even got wings so he could fly and even more weapons were incorporated into the wings. He would also get a couple of allies in a female robot and a rather funny one called Bobo in America. The villains not only consisted of Dr. Hell, but a really weird person that was half man half woman and a dude with a flying head. Interesting show and it was kind of nice seeing a conclusion.

This is really a great series,unfortunately 23 yrs later the episodes are hard to get, but using the power of the internet,I practically got all the episodes. This anime while outdated is incredibly ahead of it's time with special effects and violence being used to show the war between Mazinger and Dr. Hell. Yes thats right I watched one episodes where an airplane basically gets blown up by the terrorist organization by Dr. Hell (remotely had me thinking of September 11).

However, after watching this series it no doubt inspired Giant Robo series like Voltron and Mobile Suit Gundam, especially with the similar plotlines.

Even better to my surprise I was able to get that rare Mazinger Z that follows the series.

Two Thumbs way up.

Mazinger Z is the best mecha (big robot) serie. Based on Go Nagai´s famous manga maybe thirty years have been too much for stories and animation, but the concept is intouchable (you can see "Mazinkaiser" if you can watch the S. XXI version of Mazinger, Great Mazinger, Koji, Sayaka, Baron Ashura (Baron Ashler in Spain), Doctor Hell and all the classic robot monsters (Grengus C-3, Baras k-9, Genocider f-9...), but if you want have a remembrance of a glorious past, you have to forgive and forget some details like women role in the serie (Aphrodite-A and Sayaka actions are always futile) and old animation system. On the other hand, you will have lots of

fun, amazing adventures and epic drama... ah! and Boss Borot.