"Shin Mazinger Shōgeki! Z-Hen" News & Talkback

So confusing. "Finale" was certainly easy to look at, but I had very little idea what was going on besides what was immediately obvious. And this "Zeus" guy. Is he new or was he part of the whole Mazinger story back in the old days too?

Anyway, hopefully next time starts to introduce things properly. We at least know that the action part definitely doesn't disappoint.
 
I know, I was amazed at the character designs

Hey, they did it with Cyborg 009, they can do it with Mazinger, and any other old school styled remake
 
An interesting note about the series: the creators actually do not want comparisons being made to the original Mazinger Z in any way. It seems they want to make sure this is independent, for better or worse...I'm thinking better, since there isn't much point in just doing the exact same thing except with newer animation.

I'm guessing it'll still have that appeal for fans of classics, though. Also, the series is going to begin in April! The title is updated to reflect these facts.
 
Rebuild of DRAGONBALL (aka DRAGONBALL Kai) and the new Mazinger premiering a day apart from each other, all right this is two days of epic!!

And I'm guessing the producers are aiming for making this more like the original manga, I guess that's why they want to avoid mentioning the original series
 
It was weird with Mazinger Z already having his jetpack, but having played SRW K recently, he also starts out with a jetpack there. There was no Mazinkaiser either, so it looks like the game was promoting this version.
 
I can't speak out of experience, I've only read details about that elsewhere, but the way it was described, it seemed Kouji was actually saying he didn't regret anything and would act the same way all over again. This scene apparently takes place during the fight at the beginning of the episode.

My guess is as good as anyone else's, but who knows what's really going on.



It most likely was deliberately confusing as a kind of puzzle which will only make sense near the end of the series, lucky guesses aside.

According to Wikipedia, apparently Zeus is new and appeared in 1998's Z Mazinger manga, which is a retelling and not the original story. Since Shin Mazinger is taking lots of elements from the different Mazinger and Go Nagai stories, corabining them in a new way, it's hard to tell what his real role will be here.



Good to know I'm not the only one who's noticed that coincidence...while playing an awful lot of SRW K behind the scenes.

I imagine they did want to promote the classic version of Mazinger. Still, the actual Shin Mazinger version already has some differences (Big Bang Punch?) and should end up in one of these games in a couple of years or so too.
 
Good first episode(last weeks's was a big preview) love the bgm for Dr Hell, will post more once I grt over the fangasm of seeing my childhood hero once again
 
Watching bits and pieces of the second episode now.

The voices for Dr. Hell, Baron Ashura, Shiro, and Sayaka are all good. Most of them are dead-ringers for the original seiyuu. Still can't get use to Kouji. Boss and Prof. Kabuto have HORRIBLE voices. Both sound too forced, and don't fit at all.

Nice to see they kept the breakfest scene from the manga. Though I don't remeber Kouji wearing an apron. Seems kind of out of character.

...naked Prof. Kabuto in the hot springs was both wrong and disturbing.

Go Nagai references! We have Abashiri Ikka, and Harenchi Gakuen in this one.

WHAT?! Boss kicking Kouji's ass?! This is a weird change, but I like it. I also like how every Go Nagai delinquent is in Boss' gang now.
 
Yay! Boss and his gang are there. And that Detective guy from the manga too. No idea who that woman and older man are.

Kouji's got some serious thunder thighs in that picture.
 
More character & mecha desings revealed amongst them Boss Borot and.......Goizer X!?

http://mazinsaurus.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/mas-disenos/
 
The voice acting is just fine by me, but then again I'm not in a position to make any comparisons. The same thing goes for most of the references. That's interesting but I'd never have identified them.

Episode two takes things in a much more traditional direction, with a proper introduction to the cast, although we do get a bit of resolution to the events of the first episode which nevertheless leaves a few questions up in the air for the time being.

So far it's shaping up alright though. The time is mostly spent on necessary exposition but there's some humor and action as well. We also get to see a couple of merabers of Kouji's family, which was interesting enough (especially his grandpa), and even Kouji has something of a temper. Yes, Boss is too much of a prick, but I guess that suits the character.

The final moments were pretty good at building up excitement (thanks to the storyboarding and a rather nice soundtrack) and next episode can't come fast enough.
 
So, what do people make of this so far? I've been keeping tabs on it. Here's some thoughts on how it's been going.

1. It's still cheesy. Silly me, of course it would be. You've got that narrator and some really silly stuff, like Prof. Kabuto using the rocket punch to get to Kouji (evidently, old men can jump very well). I also can't help noticing that this one samurai guy slices Baron Ashura right down the middle, but there's no visible wound beyond that. Heh.

2. It's really gone back to basics. Kouji isn't a competant pilot right now, the machine beasts are really played up as something overpowering and terrifying, and the show is taking its time by debuting things and now getting into the origins of Dr. Hell. I think it demanRAB some patience, although I appreciate that this is a full reboot of Mazinger.

3. Speaking of which, I think the pacing is a bit questionable. The first episode was such a weird way to start it, right now I basically just consider episode 2 the "first" and try to forget its existence. I was also surprised to see the first battle stretched out across several episodes. Considering that we still have many villains to introduce, let alone defeat, I'm hoping that it will pick up a bit.

4. I don't have the knowledge of the original to compare it to, but this really does feel like a work of Imagawa's. Right now, in fact, I'd compare it to Tetsujin 28 so far. That was a darker take on a classic robot story, and this feels the same. So far, after all, we have Dr. Hell's forces showing up in a vain attempt to recruit Dr. Kabuto, and the ensuing attack demolishes most of the city in spite of what the robots do. A lot of this is due to Kouji's inexperience and hesitation, and it felt right to see that after having him realize the destruction he had just caused by fighting back at first. It's a harsh dose of realism in a series that is otherwise distinctly following the super robot genre, and it really plays up this big idea of Mazinger Z being this immensely powerful weapon that could be a so-called "God" or a "Devil" depending on how it's used. This is played up by Kouji going berserk at one point. He hasn't quite stepped up to attain hero status yet, really. It will hopefully be fun to see him get there.

So, it's not perfect, but it does seem as though Imagawa and company have the right idea.
 
I know the first episode was in medias res and I had no idea what was going on, but that was a WHOOOOLE lot of awesome. I actually got a headache because of all the cool mechs/people that showed up every second.
 
One of those looked like Ankoku Daishogun...

Corabine that with the sudden appearance of Goizer X (and Boss rightfully returning) and this will be epic.
 
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