Mazinkaiser #1: Turbo Smashing Sensation! ADV 120 minutes English/Japanese English Subtitles 08/26/2003

Considering what this show is, I waited a hell of a long time in watching it. You people may not know this, but I think my good room mate Bare is intimately familiar with it, I almost never watch new anime. Because of the hole I dug for myself three years ago, the anime I watch now is almost exclusively stuff I "reviewed" three years ago, stuff that makes me so mad I want to smash things up, Bill Bixby style. There's a scar of shame that runs far and wide across this website is gonna be erased some day, maybe even someday soon, but for now I'll just have to cry myself to sleep about how Bare has probably finished watching Votoms while I just finished watching the fourth disc... in 2001. So, right now, if I watch something new once a month it's a pretty big surprise, but, Mazinkaiser was definitely something just plain screaming for attention. I tried to explain to Bare once how Go Nagai was one of the most influential people in anime back in the day, but I don't think he got it... or particularly cared to get it, he was probably busy watching X-Men Evolution at the time, but it's all good. Cutey Honey -type stuff aside, this is the man who gave us Getter Robo, and Mazinger Z and now Mazinkaiser. I tell you, if Go Nagai was a lady, I'd marry the dude.

Mazinkaiser is no exception to the man's greatness though frankly, I wasn't too sure about "The man" having a hand in it. Sure the traditional Nagai character designs were there (ridiculous fat guy, rascally youth with swept back hair, girl with hairband... check!) and totally awesome theme song (sounding a little similar to Bon Jovi's Shot Through the Heart, if I might be so bold) sung by a man great with inspirational music, we've got it. But there was something missing, and I'll give you three guesses. If you're familiar with Go Nagai's work then you'll get it in one. It's this and this and this. Now listen, I don't condone the man's obsession with female anatomy, but it really wouldn't be Go Nagai material without it. And normally this would be a total deal breaker for me, but look at what we've got on the other side of the spectrum! Giant robot pilots screaming out the names of attacks, robot-specific victory songs while the action is going on and, you know what? I miss things like that! I want to hear youthful and rugged pilots alike screaming "ROCKET PUNCH!" while destroying scores of the enemy in a single volley, I want to see the fat guy mess up and still save the day and most especially, I want evil professors/overlords bent on taking over the world for no other reason than because that's what they DO. So if I have to deal with a few bouncing tits and bared bosoms along the way to get that, fine, I'll take my lumps.

 

I miss being able to voice my hate for the cruel dictator and I miss shaking my fist at the screen every time he hatches another evil plot, I miss evil robots with ridiculous designs and even more ridiculous names (Croco-diver 01, I'm looking in your direction). I miss ridiculous robot anime with super hyped special moves and giant machines that sweatdrop and flail there arms around frantically. I'm sorry, but there's a dearth of that in the anime market right now and, I'm sorry, G Gundam just wasn't cutting it. The release of this show was a beautiful breath of fresh air to me. You know what I'm tired of? Shoujo magical girl dramas, and those 'grey morals' kind of shows where the bad guys all had reasons for what they did and in the end it turns out they weren't bad after all. Fuck that! Bad guys, like I said, are just plain bad and they hire weird man-women to do their dirty work and shock them when they fail (conveniently, every episode. Sweet). Now listen, when I say man-woman I mean this guy's left half is man, and right half is a woman. Only Go Nagai could think of something so ridiculous and it's stood the test of time. Thirty some years later, and I bet there's fifty year old Japanese men shaking their wizened fists at their televisions while cursing Baron Ashura to the depths of hell. God bless you Japan, thanks for getting it right for once.

And thanks a lot for finally releasing something I like again ADV, but I don't think it was through any conscious purpose of your own... it just so happens that a show with a gross amount of fan-service actually has other merits for once, and they appeal to me like a sultry lesbian siren might. The happenings of me liking a show with such a gross amount of nudity in it (it's not that much, a few seconds here and there, but I don't really like any nudity) is so rare that it happens about as much as me playing a boring RPG like Final Fantasy. It's sort of ironic that they would happen within days of each other but hey, I don't make the rules. I don't think I can adequately convey to you how good Mazinkaiser is, though I think the outrageously cool box art should tell you pretty much everything. Motorcycles and pointy sideburns and treating American women with the giant stereotype that they're slutty trash. Damn, there's some things you just don't find in anime today. With stuff like Kikaider and Cyborg 009 around, and now this, there's gotta be some sort of resurgence of the old school happening, right? Don't prove me wrong Japan, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.