Thread 23451367

Where to start with Mazinger?

Is it really that hard to pick up a cartoon and just watch it?

>>23451391
I'm watching Cutie Honey and art and animation wise it's garbage so watching another Toei series from the same time is not that enticing to me. Wondering if Mazinger is better or if I should watch one of the newer series

>>23451367 (OP)
It literally doesn't matter, it's not like there's any continuity aside from, like, Infinity I guess

>>23451416
Of course you are a checklist filling zoomer.

>>23451416
The animation does start very rough but it actually improves if you can get through the first half of the show.

If you try the manga, just keep in mind the ending is actually at the start of Great Mazinger vol1. Also, you basically skip any of the chapters starting from Boss Borot's debut in the Z manga and skip to Great if you don't plan to go on reading Great Mazinger and want to stop with Z's ending.

>>23451439
Where does he even imply he's watching it to fill a checklist?

>>23451456
When he made this thread

Shin Mazinger is really the only anime of Mazinger's I can say is any good at all, unfortunately.

>>23452558
Shin Mazinger isn't good. It deliberately refuses to animate mechas and finds every excuse it can to devolve into a clip show.

With Devilman.

Ignore all other replies. Start with rhe 2009 version. That one is just a reboot/renake of the og show.

>>23451367 (OP)
I'll tell you how I got into Mazinger and maybe it will help. There's not really much to 'get' since every adaption is different in some way, but you always see the same events cropping up and the same characters maybe with a slightly different world background or order of events.

OG Anime adaptions I found rough, something you can watch every once in a while but don't try to binge it. The original manga's for Z and Great are not too long compared to something like Getter and once you've read both of them then you are all set for watching or reading whatever else you want so I would start with those.

Animation-wise the easiest entry is Shin Mazinger Z: The Impact
Be warned treat the first episode like the start of Baccano. It is normal to not know wtf is going on since its showing scenes outside chronological order, just a lot of frontloaded action and should be rewatched after the end.
The early episodes also suffer from repeated scenes and flashbacks but it gets better as it goes along.

After that the other notable stuff would be
>Mazinkaiser
OVA taking place after Great, but acts like most events of Z never happened so most episodes are just Z-era plots that are somehow only now happening. What the hell were Dr. Hell and co. even doing in this continuities versions of Z and Great then?
Overall wasn't a fan of it. The titular mech is great, Boss gets a good moment, there's a fanservice episode but not really much else to write home about

>Shin Mazinger Zero
>Shin Mazinger Zero vs. Great General of Darkness
These two manga series go crazy and end with a love letter to the whole Super Robot genre, really worth going through. Its got an almost Getter Armageddon start with classic Nagai gore and not knowing whats going on. Also incredibly horny at times.

>Mazinger Infinity
A solid meh movie. Lots of long colourful CGI fights and a future look at Koji but something about the whole thing just didn't click

Shin is great, but so is the original series. Two kind of different shows, but I was surprised how well the OG held up. Compare it to something like Getter Robo from the same era and there's no competition.

>>23451367 (OP)
The continuity is pretty loose. You really just need to know the base concept. Personally I would start with either the manga or Mazinkaiser. The 70s TV show is also good but very dated. Shin Mazinger is not a good starting series IMO because it's a heavy Imagawa remix of Mazinger.

>>23451729
kek OP BTFO

>>23455395
>but not really much else to write home about
Isn't this show the source of that "Kouji Kabuto Dies In Lava" meme?

>>23455962
Not a meme that I heard about, but yeah there is literally an episode called that
He doesn't die in lava, he just gets chucked into a volcano in kaiser and just kind of chills there unconscious until the the scrander fishes him out

>>23456253
I've watched Z, Great, Grendizer, all their specials, and Shin Mazinger. Haven't watched anything Getter, though, I'm waiting to read the manga first as soon as I can find someplace that has Getter Robo uploaded and stop being scared of 100-page chapters.
Should I watch Mazinkaiser yet?

>>23451367 (OP)
Episode 1

>>23451416
Garbage taste

Manga, TV, Mazinkaiser. That's all that matters.

>>23456399
Also Grendizer U.

OP start with the Toei show if you think you can handle it, or Gosaku Ota's manga. Mazinkaiser's the best way for you to have some existing opinion of Mazinger in the shortest span of time, with Shin being the next one that would give you a stronger impression. I genuinely don't think you'd get anything out of Infinity presently.
>>23456399
Sounds like a good time to watch Mazinkaiser yeah. Did Getter get taken down from mangadex? You're in for quite a treat with the Getter saga, just be prepared that you'll end up with a cliffhanger, so I hope you're alright with imagining that The Battle Goes On.
>>23455395
This is a pretty good summary for the most part, even though I disagree with some evaluations. I don't know if Kaiser necessarily takes place after Great though.
I think I started watching Shin and then watched Mazinkaiser as I was doing so. Then read what was available at the time for Z and Great, probably watched Infinity around this point, read Zero and the sequel, watched Z and Great, rewatched Infinity and found it rewarding, and reread Zero.
>Shin is a complete retelling but assumes/hopes you know what happens in Great, otherwise you'll be disappointed
>Mazinkaiser gives you a 7ep Mazinger experience (the movie may or may not be in the same continuity but it's not as good imo)
>Zero rewards you a lot if you know about the Mazinger stories and Go Nagai's other works
>Infinity is harmless but rewards you with a lot of easter eggs if you watched the show
>SKL is a short action OVA that takes place during some unique story

>>23456929
https://mangadex.org/title/f35a8c30-3f9c-4105-818d-63673ff2c1b6/getter-robo
Not yet at least. Storytimed the original and G earlier this year. Trying to plan on storytiming Getter Robo Go later this month.

I watched Mazinger-Z, enjoyed it, then Great Mazinger, didn't like it, then I watched Infinity, it was okay.

Overall gratifying, but fuck Tetsuya.

>>23457159
What did Tetsuya do to you?

>>23457163
Became a massive fuck up at the end of Great Mazinger and ruined everything for everyone.

>>23456929
No I think Mangadex is for losers and normies who never experienced Fakku going full paywall.
I found a better site, thankfully. I ghostposted the link in this very thread.

>>23456965
I missed those on account of having it somewhat fresh in my mind, but I think I still bumped it a few times. Go is when it starts to go balls to the wall insane, so I'll reread OG and G and follow along when you do.
>>23457168
It wasn't handled very well but I don't blame Tetsuya for it. It's completely understandable why with his complex he would sperg out like that, and he also bounced back from it pretty quickly anyway. We saw enough to know that he and Koji (and Shiro) would still be a family moving forward together, I moreso blame the show for not giving us better closure and passing the sibling dynamic to Duke Fleed in Grendizer, as much as I like Grendizer.
>tfw the only closure for that afaik is in SRW30 where Tetsuya doesn't feel he deserves his family whereas Koji is only happy for him and his wife
>>23457180
Mangadex sucks ass now, even if it didn't before, yeah.
>posting on the same thread as Ghostfire V9
You were always one of my favourites!

>>23457189
Who's Ghostfire V9?

>>23457200
A rather memorable kikaiju, with a burning head and two ball-and-chains for hands. Iirc it often shows up as part of a multi-pronged attack with Toros D7 and others.

>>23458446
No, I thought you were referring to a tripfag who took that name from the Mazinger Z mechabeast.

>>23458725
What a specific and relatively obscure thing to name yourself after

>>23459898
Yeah we have people that like and watch mecha anime here sometimes.

>>23459999
Watching mecha anime with anons sounds fun, Great Nega-Satan

>>23456461
Great fra/m/ing.

>>23457189
I skipped Grendizer because everything I read made it feel strangely divorced from Mazinger-Z and Great Mazinger.

I know there are a couple reboots, but I don't know which are worth viewing if you enjoyed the original series.

>>23468029
Grendizer U's not a good anime, there's a translated French comic that's a sequel to the show if you liked the show and cast. Grendizer's the strongest out of the three shows so I'm a bit surprised

>>23468473
I meant reboots of Mazinger, but good to know anyway.

>>23469052
Oh. Mazinkaiser is a harmless and fun experience that's well worth the watch, Shin is a very fun remake with no sequel ever ever, but probably manageable if you know Great exists. Manga-wise Zero is really great, don't get tricked into thinking it's a gloomy edgefest

Toeizinger is a perfect place to start and is still probably the best show in the franchise, not sure why you would want to skip over it unless you are what that one anon said and you are simply a zoomer trying to fill in a checklist of mecha.

>>23469095
Zero needs the three Toei series + Great General of Darkness movie for context, right?

>>23469110
92 episodic episodes will eventually put me on dropping it midway.

>>23469230
If somehow sitting on your ass watching 92 episodes of a tv show is too much effort, then just fuck off from this site and go back to /v/ or whatever shithole you crawled in from.

>>23469230
It does have a bunch of multi-part episodes and continuity, especially in the 2nd half of the show. It's not as continuity light as some later 70s shows like Combattler. That said, it's still very long with tons of motw episodes. But if you make it to the 2nd half it's smooth sailing.

>>23469230
There's a old noteworthy watch guide that tracks the show's touchstones. I still recommend watching the whole show, but this at least helps inform how far you are from progress. I've done some rewriting, though:

>Episode 1-3 (Introduction to main cast and status quo)
>Episode 4-6 (First use of Breast Fire, Aphrodite A altered for combat)
>Episodes 18-19 (Underwater Mazinger upgrade, first flying Mechabeast)
>Episode 22 (Ashura's underwater base Salude in combat)
>Episode 29 (First mention of "Mazin Power")
>Episodes 32-35 (Jet Scrander and lab destruction arc.)
>Mazinger Z vs. Devilman (optional, not in continuity but pretty good)
>Episode 37 (Dr.Hell uses the stolen Scrander plans)
>Episode 38 (Minerva X)
>Episode 39-40 (Count Brocken debuts, destruction of Salude, new henchmen and flying fortress Ghoul)
>Episode 43 (Ashura gets new underwater fortress Bood)
>Episode 48 (Boss Borot debuts)
>Episode 54 (Reinforced Rocket Punch - only used once)
>Episode 56-60 (Dr.Hell gets Super Alloy Z and starts making Mechabeasts with it. Mazinger upgraded with Iron Cutter and Drill Missiles. Aphrodite A gets unlimited missiles)
>Episode 61 (Lorelei)
>Episode 64 (Misato debuts)
>Episode 67 ("A strange girl and a bunch of religious references...")
>Episodes 68-72 (Archduke Gorgon, Frozen Beam, Jet Pilder and Daisharin Rocket Punch debut)
>Episodes 74-76 (Aphrodite A is destroyed, Diana A debuts)
>Episodes 78-80 (Ashura's death, Morimori's death, battle on Bardos Island)
>Episodes 83, 85-87 (Viscount Pygman - deeply uncomfortable)
>Episode 88 (Kouji's first battle on Hell's Island)
>Episode 90 (Kouji's mother)
>Episodes 91-92 (final battle against Dr.Hell and Great Mazinger's debut)
>Mazinger Z vs Ankoku Daishogun (alternate version of episode 92)
So the first 30 or so episodes are going to be status quo stasis, but after that things start mixing up every few episodes to spice things up.
Yes, I have autism.

>>23451367 (OP)
crabsticks

>>23469189
You'll be fine if you just know the general context of
>grandson here's Mazinger, God or Devil
>Dr Hell and his friends
>Z gets curbstomped by the Mycenae
>Great exists to fight the Mycenae
>they'll both eventually do well against the Mycenae
>who the supporting cast are
>Grendizer exists
>Z was the first (afaik) piloted mecha
And a lot of other Go Nagai stuff are thrown at you at some point but they're just easter egg friends.
>>23469441
I'd put the other eps of Z floundering against flight and picrel in as well, as well as the Scrander blueprint stuff if they're not included already. A lot of that build-up really makes the Scrander's debut rewarding. Think I was already hooked by the first dozen episodes or less, Z actually floundering against that one pink bunny kikaiju instead of just powering through really won me over.
>Boss Borot
Despite him being a coward, he frequently does his best to protect the other guys even without a robot, I remember him being scared shitless but still shielding the others with his body, warming up to him makes Borot's debut rewarding and warranted as well.
>was told he kidnaps the scientists and forces them to make a robot
>really they're sort of just puzzled by the request at the end, Sayaka encourages them to build it and they do so willingly
>want to knock Koji down a peg but really they JUST want to be of some help
I don't remember which episode, but Borot's first kill would be notable as well. Likewise Aphrodite had a depressing send-off after being with her for 70+ episodes, but I could go on forever about this show.

The box.

>>23470115
I'd'vs liked to note those episodes too (especially the rocket boost episode, it's either that or the Jet Scrander debut that has Mazinger Z doing the peel-out), but I couldn't remember which episodes they were in.
Other stuff I can't nail down: First aquatic Mechabeast, Aphrodite A's first kill, Southern Cross Knives (though I think that overlaps with one of these), Bakarasu, whichever episodes have Mazinger Z emit shock pulses or use Photon Beam as a finisher.

>>23470129
>"those are some nice ABS joints you got there - it'd be a shame if something happens to them on the shelf over time..."

>>23470346
>I couldn't remember which episodes they were in.
Time for the daily rewatch, then!
>first aquatic
I think it was the bunny one but I could be wrong, couldn't tell you Aphrodite or Venu's first kill or Borot's first assist. The not-always-reliable wiki says the Scrander's overhaul was from eps 71-73 with the Southern Cross Knives built in. I don't recall the shock pulses just from the name alone, I think he used photon beam a few times earlier on even though that wasn't his main thing.
>Bakarasu
>
Anyway apparently the Southern Cross Knives were used in episode 73. Getting into Toeizinger a bit after seeing what SRW30 was doing with it, I did realize that a lot if not all of the spotlight kikaiju Z fights are all from important fights that Z had in the show.
>Genocider plane's from the Scrander's debut
>fatass purple ogre was from the iron cutter debut
>windmill/flying thing for drill missiles
>keep forgetting what the wheel and the three-headed turtle were from
Even had a Satan Claus cameo, which I guess would deserve a mention as well, of "Dr Hell achieves something/gets chogokin". I've read posts that said this led to nothing, but I do recall the subsequent fights being rather close and weightier. Not sure if it was intended or if I just supplied the explanation in my head, but I wouldn't be surprised if the show had this in mind. Inversely, I recall some duo or trio of flying kikaiju that Dr Hell was supposed to improve on but never explicitly did
>>23470129
>>23470363
I have the Grendizer U one coming, what am I in for?

>>23470375
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2LUBRVRWKw&t=85s
All I got is Bandai Spirits' official video on the Grendizer U figure around the 17 minute mark.

>>23470375
>Even had a Satan Claus cameo, which I guess would deserve a mention as well, of "Dr Hell achieves something/gets chogokin". I've read posts that said this led to nothing, but I do recall the subsequent fights being rather close and weightier. Not sure if it was intended or if I just supplied the explanation in my head, but I wouldn't be surprised if the show had this in mind.

The first Kikkaiju right after he steals the Chogokin explicitly has Super Alloy Z armor. Afterwards, every Kikkaiju for a few weaks is super armored aside from some specific weak post Kouji manages to find, but they aren't outright said to be from Super Alloy Z. Then you get the drill missiles/Iron Cutter debut destroying missiles which are outright said to be made from Super Alloy Z too, and this is the end of that. After this the Kikkaiju seemingly go back to "normal".

>>23470375
Oddly rushed first episode just to see the pacing slowing down afterwards. It gets slow enough it devotes an entire episode to remaking an OG Grendizer episode... then it rushes to the ending, leaving a some loose plot threads (some stuff from only near the ending, but there's also a subplot they set up from the start that ends up with no clear answer) setting up a season 2 that's never happening at this point.

>>23476099
Thought he was asking about the Riobot product.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tHuuxoLgXU
Emperor G.

I heard Mazinkaiser, or at the very least the GGoD movie, got an official English release recently. Has it been uploaded anywhere? Most subs for it suck, specially for the movie which was total crabstick; some lines were straight up missing.

>>23470115
Grendizer was & always will be the best part.

>>23455395
I had the same thoughts when watching Mazinkaiser, but after a while I think I realized it's just a retelling of Mazinger completely where Tetsuya and Great are there from the start.
>>23455437
Toei Robo is more fun than Toeizinger imo

>>23490020
>Toei Robo is more fun than Toeizinger imo
When does that start? 7 episodes into Getter Robo and it's mostly been a cheaper Mazinger.

Stop bumping the thread. Let it die.

I will only allow the thread to continue if somebody can find that pic of the comparison shot between Mazinger Z vs Rhine X1 and Gundam Alex vs Bernie's Zaku in Gundam 0080.

>>23471227
Look at him go.

>>23451416
You're a moron.

>>23451367 (OP)
With Mazinkaiser SKL of course