#Dai-Mazinger

[funkle420]

ppl who can draw mecha are so cool wtf

[adamcasey]

Mazinger Z, Day 12

[inkyminx]

Just a thing I did for fun during Halloween last year ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

And a little extra cause the urge to draw these two dingalings was strong ~

[aspiring-holistic-otaku]

Season 2 Ramble#6 - Just Jump In! ver.2

This month’s episode is about Shueisha publishing company's JUMP magazine line. you can use the link above or check the link in my bio to listen on other platforms 🍻

first some bare bones Jump basics:

What is JUMP? - JUMP is a magazine line with hella content for hella demographics and for the record they're not all comics, shueisha is actually a pretty diverse publishing company

Today though, we'll only be looking at two of their products. the Weekly Shonen Jump(WSJ) magazine, in print since 1968 with a main target audience of young boys, shonen literally being japanese for young boy, as well as their SHONEN JUMP+ app, which first launched in 2014 and has a main target audience of older adolescent lads.. The original + app is in Japanese as far as I understand but they released a follow up in 2019 simply called MANGA+.. also even though they have "main" target audiences they both have works that try to appeal to wider demographics + things sometimes move between lines or even appear on both at the same time.

This month I purposefully read manga from different time periods which gave rise to one mini section and three main sections which i’ll describe as I get to them

NOW JUMPING RIGHT IN!

New Manga Read This Month

mini section

Was this axed? Why was this axed?:

top 1

Magu chan: god of destruction(Kei Kamiki, 2020, 78 chapters)

this story follows the main heroine ruru after she finds and accidently unseals the now weakened god of destruction mag MENUek. not the best art or really the deepest characters but it's a gag manga. actually didn't think I'd enjoy this at all but it's pretty funny, got a lot of genuine hearty laughs pretty much every chapter... (pretty decent run at 78 chapters but after I finished I couldn't believe it got axed, definitely would've liked more but ironically it probably got axed because of folks like me...)

honourable mentions:

hell warden higuma, ginka & gluna, neolation

Ok so "main" sections now, starting with

Way Way Back (1960s - 1980s):

top 1

Mazinger Z (Gou Nagai,1972, 33 chapters)[Devilman Crybaby]

The story here is our mc, KOUji KAbuto, has a genius grandad who built the most powerful robot ever, Mazinger Z, but he dies in a sudden devastating earthquake before he can teach him how to use it. The only thing he's able to tell him before he passes is that with the robot comes power and with that power comes a choice, to be a god that saves humanity or a devil that destroys the earth.

Right off the bat the art wasn’t anything great or even particularly good but with really old stuff, especially things aimed at children, I think simpler art styles are to be expected. I did really like the robot designs tho, nothing too slick or fancy but they had an old quaint vibe like awww look at what grandpa drew…

The characters weren’t much either, as I said stupid simple story, giant robots doing cool giant robot stuff, so most of what would be the story of most characters was already in their designs like you see the main character and know they're the main character because he has that cool spiky cyborg 009 hairstyle etc.

not much more to say, kinda funny, surprisingly bloody given my perception of the time period and what I thought their perception of media was, especially media intended for kids.. but yh,, the whole manga can be summed up with giant robots have always been pretty cool… grain of salt though for those who plan to check it out, yes I thought it an enjoyable read but it was really only my top 1 because I could pretty much only find two things to read from this time period as the older manga are almost impossible to find on the internet.

honourable mention:

Dr.Slump (Akira Toriyama , 1980, 236 chapters)

Wasn't That Just The Other Day? (1990s - 2010s):

top 1

Bakuman(Oh! Great, 2008, 176 chapters)

Actually not my first time trying this, started back in hs but stopped for reasons I can't recall, I only remember thinking it was excellent which makes it all the more confusing but in any case I started over from the jump and I'm really glad I did.

This is a manga about making manga. I'm telling you man these Japanese dudes will make a manga about anything. trust.. Anyways the story here follows two main characters Mashiro and Takagi, and starts with them about to enter highschool. Takagi is the smartest in school since day one, expected to excel in life, and Mashiro has nothing. no goals or ambitions. he's just trying to come to terms with the mundane normalcy of life and society's expectations of what that should looks like. one day Mashiro leaves a book at school and Takagi, who unbeknownst to anyone is an aspiring writer, finds it full of amazing art and begs him to team up and make manga… Will they make it? and what exactly does it take to make it anyways? what even is "it"? (find out next time on read the manga and see!!)

Two things initially pulled me all those years ago, one, was a morbid curiosity, like I just couldn't fathom a manga about making manga being good in an entertaining way. like yh it's probably mad educational and it was, but as much as you can learn from any media the main reason I'm reading manga is to be entertained. two, oh! great did death note and again I just couldn't fathom the jump from mystery thriller about police vs death gods to this but man did they pull it off in style

First thing first the art was phenomenal as those familiar with oh! great works would expect. and I have to be clear, when I say oh! great does great art I mean Takeshi Obata does great art. oh! great is a duo between him and Tsugumi Ooba who did an equally good job on the story. like he basically showed us how the proverbial sausage is made without making us disinterested in the sausage. It actually instilled such a deeper appreciation for the process that I feel like all manga I read after this will be that much more enriching. especially shonen as the different creators in story debate and create what they think the genre should look like.

Great cast of characters, funny, serious, rivals, people you hated, people you loved, great sub plots that had them all interacting in a nice dynamic way, like it didn't feel like the two mcs were the cause and effect of everything. Great pacing as well as we get to see their journey from just trying something in highschool to getting their foot in the door in later years and so on. didn't feel rushed or dragged, it was nice to see a lot of the little ups and downs of life instead of just a cycle between highlights and rock bottoms.

I have to give fair warning and say it's pretty text heavy. even for something that's not kick and punch cause most of the time they're plotting out some manga or something but Obata really does a great job here making good use of panels and even speech bubble placement so it never really feels crowded unless it's meant to illustrate something like an argument or so. it also helped that despite his usual pretty realistic art style, he allowed characters to be toony when needed to lighten the mood or heighten some expression in just the right way

Honestly it's still so crazy that they pulled it off and pulled it off so well. I think ultimately it was the humanity of it that really tied everything together,, like yh they're manga artist but they're human first, and it's their human experiences that in the end feed into the art.

Talked a lot on this one.. that's why it was top 1 ig.. as usual I don't think I can speak enough to why exactly it's so great but yh… definitely highly recommend even if only out of morbid curiosity like you're thinking,, no way a manga about making manga is good. it is.

honourable mentions:

level e (Yoshihiro Togashi, 1995, 16 chapters),

Cowa!(Akira Toriyama, 1997, 14 chapters)

Hoshin Engi (...lol not that honourable ig)

...also just want to squeeze in that I actually tried bobobobo and wow… my brain may never recover…

What's Up Today? (2010s - present)

top 1

Astra Lost in Space (Kenta Shinohara on story & art, 2016, 53 chapters)

9 kids are brought to a nearby planet for a routine unsupervised camping trip as part of their highschool graduation. The future is wild. As plot convenience would have it, something goes wrong and they end up stranded in space. A rough enough situation on its own, but to make matters worse, the group finds signs that what happened was no accident and that the perpetrator is still among them..

Honestly a simple setup and premise, literally Lost but in space… not that I've actually watched lost but yh. anyways for as simple as the plot is the entire story wrapped up in 53 chapters anyways and they honestly squeezed every drop out of it that they could. What really stood out to me was how balanced it all felt.

As in the premise of being intentionally stranded is by no means unique but I feel like a lot of the media I've consumed around that tend to lean into one aspect more than others, like it becomes mostly about the mystery trying to find "whodunnit", or the focus becomes the sense of adventure, exploring the unknown and all that oor,, how it goes more commonly, in my experience at least, is a portrayal of the harshness of survival in the physical or mental sense.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that btw, the premise of being lost is used in many genres and it's up to the author to decide how much they want to lean into any genre. for example drifting net cafe, suicide island and dragon head are some lost horror type beats I've read, enjoyed and would definitely recommend.

In any case as I was saying about Astra lost in space, cause that's what I should be talking about here… is I loved how balanced it all was. Yes they're stranded and have to survive but it's not so overbearing that we can't take in the adventure of the unknown and yes we're seeing all these cool sights and different hypothetical evolutionary paths in space but also let's all be aware that one of us is probably plotting a murder yk? what tied this all up were the characters themselves like they felt really natural, yh a lot was going on but they're still just kids and they were sent out for a camping trip in the first place so come hell or high water they were gonna have some amount of fun or die trying. not that everyone was always on the same page and they didn't have disagreements and drama and so on but their individual quirks and character traits converged and diverged masterfully for a beautiful dynamic between the cast amongst themselves, and between the cast and their environment.

great cast and direction as I said, pretty standard art, nothing too crazy but it did what it needed to do, I also liked the little 4 panel bonus comics they did every now and then as well, all in all a pretty great read with some pretty neat twists I won't even allude to for fear of spoilers, especially for how short it was but yh, astra lost in space top 1 new read this month…

honourable mentions:

Akane Banashi(Yuuki SUEnaga doing the story & Takamasa Moue on art, 2022, ongoing 71 chapters)

'Tis time for "torture" princess ( Robinson haruhara on story and hirakei on art, 2019, ongoing 196 chapters)

Sakamoto Days(Yuuto Suzuki , 2020, ongoing 128 chapters),

ok now we're heading into

Manga Read Before This Month

(here I'll give less detail cause I would have mentioned a few of these repeatedly before + I want more of the shine on newer stuff tbh)

mini section

Was this axed? Why was this axed?:

top 1

Psyren(Toshiaki lwashiro, 2007, 151 chapters)

people are going missing and a secret society called psyren seems to be responsible. won't go farther than that but will say it's held up as one of the best shonen works I've ever read since the first time I read it in like 9 or 10th grade. still in disbelief that it was canceled cause you can barely tell when you read it. it's only after I finished it and was looking into some things I realised.

honourable mentions:

ayashimon, phantom seer, black torch

main sections

way way back (1960s - 80s):

top 1

Dragon Ball(Akira Toriyama, 520 chapters,1984)

don't think I need to say much here but I mention the sandwich of technique in the episode.

honourable mentions:

JJBA part1-3, Saint Seiya, city hunter

wasn't that just the other day (1990s - 2010s)

top 1

Rookies(Morita Masanori, 1998, 233 chapters)

delinquent baseball, real heartwarming story, great art cast and pacing, masanori really takes the cake when it comes to the delinquent aesthetic but yh… was my #2 in s1 ramble 12 & #3 in s1 ramble 1

honourable mentions:

eyeshield 21, slam dunk, Yu yu hakusho

what's up today? (2010s - present)

chainsaw man (tatsuki fujimoto, 2018, 137 ongoing)

look at the title lol

honourable mentions

fire punch, Tokyo ghoul series, My hero academia

other folks to check out on twitter:

https://twitter.com/KushiKuritikaru?t=2Tn-79ub0XyUqWM3XgEFWA&s=09

https://twitter.com/manga_crash?t=FzKQrpvb_rFwxHIe13Sqbw&s=09

then as usual I do a little part 2 where I ramble a bit 😅

thanks for reading so far, hope there's something that caught your fancy 🍻🍻🍻

[steelajeeg]

One Day One Shot 2023 - Part 1

Over on Instagram, One Day One Shot is something we do every year while we're away on vacation.

We share a single picture of something new once a day, every day. It helps keep the page active when we're out of town, and (usually) drives engagement. This year is a little bit of exception - but I blame that on the new algorithm.

Over here, we're going to split up this year's shots into a few separate posts. Check back in for Part 2 and a Final Recap soon!

Figures in Order:

Golden Freeza

- from Dragon Ball Super Shodo

- by Bandai Shokugan

Jet Jaguar

- from Godzilla Singular Point

- by Bandai

S.A.F.S. Prototype Bryophytes

- from THE MONSTERS × Kow

Yokoyama Ma.k. Series

- by Pop Mart x Kow Yokoyama

Trap-Jaw (Mini Comic)

- from Masters of the

  Universe Origins

- by Mattel

Great Mazinger and

Mazinger Z (Chase Vers)

- from Unbox X Go Nagai

- by Unbox Industries

[Check the TokuToy Impact Instagram for more]

[no1ryomafan]

Have enough mecha on my plate to watch and can’t keep up with weekly shit so I plan to watch grendizer u when it finishes airing which would be relatively soon now that I think about but there’s like one thing about it that’s not entirely related that’s been on my mind, that being the art style.

Now it’s not a bad art style by any means especially when it’s the Eva artist doing it-and yes have your opinions about that show, but his art style is undeniably good and it got better post Eva with this show proving that-and I think they translated the characters nicely, like Duke very different very twinked LOL but he could look way less then himself but you can still tell it’s Duke. (And Sayaka with purple hair weirdly works)

But this and infinity just shows mazinger likely going to have a more modern art style and possibly if we’re lucky enough to get non mazinger stuff, all dynapro mecha adaptions to come after are likely gonna be in a modern art style and I’m just thinking to myself: if we somehow get another getter anime we have to live with the fact the last show to have getter’s original art style was arc and I don’t hate arc but MAN I hate how instead of them trying to refine the art style by actually giving them budget their just likely gonna change what made getter getter.

[coredrill]

i can’t fucking believe tetsujin ended Like That

[thewapolls]

The WILD ARMS Hero Tourney:

FIRST DIVISION - Match 6 of 8

[cypress-punk]

Recommend me something with giant robots that really encapsulates the giant robots media experience. Not necessarily something good; the best representative sample. I trust your judgement.

This is kind of hard to answer, as the giant robot experience is kind split down the middle into two broad categories.

The first flavor is military Scifi, this is usually given the moniker "Real Robot" because it leans more toward hard scifi and the idea of the mech as an actual machine with mechanical and logistical concerns. For my money the best taste of this type of story is original Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979. It's kind of the originator of the entire Real Robot conceit.

Gundam, and another work by it's director, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Space Runaway Ideon, were both major Influences of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is not really a typical "real robot" show (in fact it's often more like Ultraman than mecha), but Eva is extremely influential on the genre and there's a whole generation of shows that are either responding to it or ripping it off.

The second flavor is what's generally called "Super Robot". Super Robot stories are classically Saturday Morning cartoons, complete with bright colors and flashy super hero style brawls and big special attacks whose names get screamed out before they're executed. The OG Super Robot is Mazinger Z, and both it's manga and anime are worth looking at, but for my money the best Super Robot experience is The Legendary King of Braves: GaoGaiGar. It's a perfect Saturday morning cartoon style mecha with a lot of charm and good production. The major caveat with it is that it uses an obscene amount of strobe effects that make it hard to actually look at the action scenes sometimes. Serious Epilepsy warning for that show.

Super Robot has also evolved in later years into more of a high octane action joint, Gurren Lagann is the best known example of this style of Super Robot, but for my money the best in this style is one of Gainax's earlier works, Gunbuster. It's just as high octane as it's little brother and has genuinely incredible animation.

There's also a sub-set of mecha I call "Boy and His Dog" mecha, which typically focus on a big meandering robot companion to a young boy, with a focus on coming of age type stories. The original of these is Tetsujin-28 (which is also arguably the first true mecha), also known as Gigantor in the west. There's a 2004 a anime that reimagines the story as an examination of post world war II Japan and it's pretty good. My favorite of these is Giant Robo: The Animation, which is also just my favorite work of mecha genre stuff period. Its very well animated and captures a strong pulp adventure vibe.

Alright so I've yet to actually give you an answer to this ask, I've just kind of rambled about mecha, but I wanted to lay some groundwork. I'm gonna list a lot of stuff below but the main touchstones I'd reccomend to get the taste of the genre you're looking for are the works listed under anime. The rest are just further reccomendations of things I like. Sorry about my chronic long windedness.

Manga:

- Mazinger Z by Go Nagai

- Getter Robo by Ken Ishikawa and Go Nagai (didn't mention this one above but it's about as classic as Mazinger. I reccomend the manga because none of its adaptations really capture the energy of the manga)

Anime:

- Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) (there's a lot of gundam out there and a lot of debate about where to start. The original show is the best starting point in my opinion, especially in this context)

- Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)

- Gunbuster (1988)

- Legendary King of Braves GaoGaiGar (1997) (mind the epilepsy warning. If the strobes are a problem try Brave Express Might Gaine, Combattler V, or the Mazinger Z anime)

- Giant Robo: The Animation (1992) (also called Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still)

- Macross: Do You Remember Love? (1984) (film adaptation of the TV anime Super Dimension Fortress Macross, I think the movie is better than the show.)

- SSSS. Gridman and SSSS. Dynazenon (these two shows are just really good so I'm sneaking them in here)

Video Games:

- Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon (you can give any Armored Core a try this is just the most recent one)

- Heaven Will Be Mine (visual novel. It's a favorite of mine)

- Super Robot Wars 30 (a turn based strategy game, SRW is a massive crossover of tons of different mecha shows. 30 is the easiest of the series to get in the US. SRW is pretty beloved in the mecha fandom)

Tabletop Games:

- Lancer by Massif Press

- BattleTech by Catalyst Games (BattleTech is the one solidly American mecha franchise which makes it pretty unique. it has a complicated relationship with its Japanese influences)

Novels:

- Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (cool feminist mecha story that draws heavily upon, and reimagines, a lot of traditional Chinese culture, literature, and historical figures)

- Titanicus by Dan Abnett (this is a Warhammer 40k novel, but it's an old fav of mine. It's focused on the giant Titan mechs of that setting and it was my intro to 40k and sparked my interest in mecha)

Podcasts

- Friends At the Table: COUNTER/Weight (Friends at the Table is a great actual play podcast and COUNTER/Weight is a really fun mecha focused campaign of there's.)

- Mobile Suit Breakdown (great companion podcast for the Gundam franchise if you want more historical and cultural context and analysis for the various shows)

[wanderersrest]

An Abbreviated History of Mecha Part 4.1: THE EAST IS BURNING RED!!! (1990-1995)

(Read in the voices of Yosuke Akimoto and Tomokazu Seki) ANSWER ME, DOMON! THE SCHOOL OF THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST!!

THE WIND OF KINGS!!

ZENSHIN!!

KEIRETSU!!

TEMPA KYOURAN!!!

LOOK, THE EAST IS BURNING RED!!!

Welcome back to An Abbreviated History of Mecha! Last time, we saw the proliferation of mecha shows throughout the 80's. We also saw the introduction of an incomplete list of influential industry people who got their start in the 80's. In the 90's, we will begin to see a continuation of this proliferation of mecha works throughout the decade. The 90's will also see a lot of the stories I have talked about pay off, as

What we will also see in the 90's are a few major events that will affect the world of mecha in pretty major ways. The first is the bursting of the Japanese economic bubble, which would cause the Japanese economy to go from an era of excess to one of stagnation known as the Lost Decade. Another is the sudden arrival of a third honorary mecha series, except this honorary mecha series would arguably help to kickstart the slow decline of mecha stories. It should be noted that this series is not the only reason for the slow decline of mecha shows. That is a whole conversation in and of itself, and one that, maybe one day, I will talk about.

The last thing that should be noted about the 90's is that this would also see the creation of a handful of networks in the US that would help to bring anime over to the west, namely one Cartoon Network (and more importantly, its spinoff networks Toonami and [adult swim]) for the people in the US. While anime had seen some popularity in the west thanks to shows and movies like Robotech, Voltron, Ghost in the Shell, and Akira, it would be the four-part knockout of two of the series mentioned here alongside animanga juggernauts Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon that would cause anime to become mainstream.

That should be everything. With all of that out of the way...

Gundam Fight!

READY?! GO!!!

Yuusha Exkaiser/Brave Exkaiser (1991)

Starting us off in 1991, Takara would realize that, due to the sudden success of Transformers in the US, it might be time to diversify as Transformers had no longer felt like it was truly their property anymore. As such, they would create the Yuusha line, with their debut series being Brave Exkaiser. Exkaiser would prove to be a massive hit amongst its intended younger audience and would kickstart a whole franchise, which would also include:

The Brave Fighter of Legend Da-Garn (1992)

The Brave Express Might Gaine (1993)

The Brave Police J-Decker (1994)

The Brave of Gold Goldran (1995)

Brave Command Dagwon (1996)

The King of Braves, GaoGaiGar (1997), which I will talk about next time.

The Brave franchise is important due to how often this series gets referenced by other works, with the usual reference points being either Might Gaine or GaoGaiGar. More importantly, both Brave Exkaiser and the Giant Robo OVA would usher in an era of works that looked to the older mecha shows like Tetsujin 28, Mazinger Z, and Getter Robo for inspiration as opposed to Mobile Suit Gundam.

Super Robot Wars (1991) & Another Century's Episode (2003)

1991 would also see the start of Banpresto's Super Robot Wars, the ultimate crossover of in terms of mecha works. Super Robot Wars is where a lot of mecha-related terminology such as Super Robots, Real Robots, and the Holy Trinity (Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, Gundam 0079) come from. Super Robot Wars would also introduce its own set of original robot designs, each with their own unique pilots. Super Robot Wars would eventually gain a sister series in the form of 2003's Another Century's Episode.

One of the most important factors of Super Robot Wars is that, due to its celebratory (some might even say masturbatory) nature, these games can serve as a good metric behind what is a mecha story.

Giant Robo the Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1992)

In 1992, Yasuhiro Imagawa and company would release the first episode of the now-legendary OVA Giant Robo the Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still. This OVA, along with Brave Exkaiser, would begin the push for giant robot shows to take inspiration from works that were not Mobile Suit Gundam. The Giant Robo OVA, on top of being one of Imagawa's magnum opera (fun fact: the plural of magnum opus is magnum opera) alongside Mobile Fighter G Gundam, would also be the direct inspiration for western darling The Big O.

Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (1992) & Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (1993)

If you're wondering why I mentioned Super Sentai in part 2, this series is why.

In 1992, the Super Sentai series Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger would release in Japan. While, to my understanding, it was about as popular as the rest of the Super Sentai franchise, this specific series in particular would attract the attention of one Haim Saban. With some editing here and there, along with filming new segments featuring an American cast as opposed to using the original footage featuring the original Japanese cast, Saban and company would create Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, which would air for the first time in 1993. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers would go down in history as one of many series that would help pave the way for animanga to gain a foothold in western media.

Denkou Choujin Gridman/Gridman the Hyper Agent (1993) & Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad (1994)

1993 would also see the legendary Tsuburaya Productions, after a long period of struggles, finally make a comeback with their new series Gridman the Hyper Agent. With its smaller budget, the Hero of Dreams would come to be known as the hero who would help Tsuburaya Productions come back to relevance in the 90's.

Due to the success of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, other US companies would want in on the action. DiC Entertainment would buy the US distribution rights for Gridman and would try to put their own spin on Power Rangers by creating Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad.

Eventually, the people at Studio Trigger, who were interested in making an anime based off of Ultraman, would reach out to Tsuburaya Productions in an attempt to get permission to do so. While their initial request for Ultraman specifically was shot down, they were allowed to choose any of Tsuburaya's other properties for their anime adaptation. And they would choose Gridman for their subject, which would lead to the creation of SSSS.Gridman (a show I will talk about later).

If you have time to spare, you should also check out Cheese GX's video on the history behind Gridman.

Patlabor 2 (1993)

The fan-beloved Patlabor 2 would also release in 1993. Reflecting the realities of post-economic bubble Japan and the ensuing Lost Decade, Patlabor 2 would trade out the optimism commonly associated with the franchise with a much more cynical and grounded (even by Patlabor standards) tone. People tend to view this movie as being what Patlabor is all about, but in my opinion, this movie is an anomaly that can only truly be appreciated by knowing the context of everything that came before it.

Magic Knight Rayearth (1993)

1993 would also see the publishing of the shoujo manga series Magic Knight Rayearth. Created by the legendary mangaka group CLAMP, Rayearth would be one of the first magical girl series to really escape the long shadow cast by one Sailor Moon (if I understand my magical girl history correctly, Sailor Moon is basically the magical girl equivalent of the original Mobile Suit Gundam). How was Magic Knight Rayearth able to do this?

By adding giant robots into the mix. That's right: Magic Knight Rayearth is most likely the reason why there is overlap between magical girl and mecha fans. While remembered by many as being an important series in the canons of mecha, magical girls, and CLAMP, Rayearth's legacy would largely be overshadowed by one Cardcaptor Sakura.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994)

1994 would see Gundam return in a radically different form with the martial arts-inspired Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Often considered to be the other iconic series of Yasuhiro Imagawa, G Gundam would mark the beginning of a new era of Gundam by being the first alternate universe series to exist, thus allowing the franchise to flourish while letting the original Universal Century timeline continue to exist and get its own stories. Because of its radically different nature though, G Gundam is oftentimes looked down upon as a series that spits on the legacy of the Gundam franchise.

And again, not to toot my own horn here, but I also have a trilogy of posts all talking about G Gundam. All three posts seemed to be pretty popular relative to my other posts, so there seemed to be something in them that resonated with a lot of readers.

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995) & New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1996)

Following on from G Gundam is 1995's New Mobile Report Gundam Wing, which is arguably the most important Gundam series after the original and Gundam Seed in the 2000's. As a return to the war stories of the original Gundam, the reason why this series is important is because Gundam Wing would be one of the big four anime series that would make anime become mainstream in the West.

In my opinion though, Gundam Wing's legacy begins and ends with it being the first Gundam series to air in the West. In Japan, another series would air at around the same time as Gundam Wing, one that would loom over the rest of canon of mecha due to its impact on the anime industry and Japanese pop culture as a whole.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) & The End of Evangelion (1996)

Ah yes, the original "Not Like the Other Girls" mecha anime.

The series that would hamper a lot of Gundam Wing's cultural impact would be Hideaki Anno and Studio Gainax's legendary Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the second of Gainax's Big Four alongside Gunbuster. Created as an homage to shows like Ultraman and Space Runaway Ideon, Evangelion would take the zeitgeist by storm, forcing its way into the pantheon of the mecha canon like... well, like an Evangelion Unit tearing through an Angel's AT Field. There was a certain je ne sais quois to the series that made it stick to a lot of viewers at the time, and a lot of the history and context behind this series' production would help shape a lot of its more cerebral moments.

Anno would eventually revisit this series in 2007 by remaking this anime series into a quartet of films known as the Rebuild of Evangelion series. At first just a project to bring Evangelion to the 21st century, the Rebuild films would eventually become the first of the Shin Japan Heroes Thematic Universe, which would come to also include:

Shin Godzilla (2016)

Shin Ultraman (2022)

Shin Kamen Rider (2023)

The problem with a series like Evangelion is that, while it is a culturally important series that deserves a lot of the attention and praise it gets, a lot of Evangelion fans tend to go a little bit too far. It's subversive nature tends to become exaggerated to the point where Evangelion is often treated as being subversive of mecha, and thus, not like the other mecha shows. This is, in large part, why the infamous idea of Evangelion being "Not like other mecha shows because it deals with character drama" comes from, and it's something that I'd like to talk about at some point in the future after all of this.

Conclusion

And there you have it! As we get into the latter half of the 90's, we will see a lot of iconic mecha shows begin to pop up. We will also see [adult swim] begin to really play its part in making anime more mainstream, along with Gundam begin to decline and the end of the Brave franchise. We'll also see the appearance of the crazy man known as Tetsuya Takahashi make his directorial debut in what is quiet possibly the single most ambitious JRPG project of all time along with a surprise appearance by... LEGO?!

Next time, Part 4.2: A Grand Glorious Gathering!!

This will be the key to victory.

[polariod240]

Koji Kabuto might be an hero to most, but he hates it and tries his best to be a menace to society instead.

It was fun when he was 14 and suddently people started caring about him, after being tossed aside by family members all his life. However, as time passed, he noticed that media only cared to show an idealized version of himself.

Reporters, politicians, rich enterpreneurs and influencial people alike acted like he was an expendable caricature to use for their own goals.

He was described as an hero, a selfless strong young man who would have sacrificed himself to save Japan from Doctor Hell's mechanical beasts. His grandfather, who was Hell's second in command and ran away with Mazinger Z one night, now was regarded as a tragic hero, too.

He remembers how his estranged grandfather crashed at his and Shiro's apartment one night, begging his older nephew to help him out with something. Shiro was watching cartoons on tv, while Koji was cleaning the dishes. Koji didn't even know how to feed Shiro the next day, so he couldn't give a fuck about this pathetic (maybe drunk?) old man. The teen tried to push Juzo away towards the door, but he couldn't ignore the explosion that came after: the apartment crumbled down in a matter of seconds. Koji heard Shiro's muffled scream somewhere, he didn't know what happened or what to do, but he had to save him. Nothing else mattered, so that's why he cared to listen what the old fuck had to say now. He remembers how his grandfather looked at him once he got inside Mazinger Z's head for the first time.

He was smiling. Koji had never been great at identifying facial clues in others, but he felt like his grandfather was waiting for something amazing to happen. But Koji didn't care, he dashed to save Shiro who was stuck under a wooden desk. When he came back to the Juzo, the man had stopped smiling. They stood in silence for a couple of seconds, then Juzo broke the silence with a disappointed look on his face.

JUZO: "How"

KOJI: "HOW WHAT? IS THIS YOUR FAULT, FUCKHEAD?! YOU'RE LUCKY SHIRO IS-"

But then, the older man looked at him with disgust. Koji knew that stare very well, so he closed his eyes and gently hid Shiro inside Mazinger's metallic palm.

JUZO:"I failed"

That's all he said. Then Koji heard a gunshot that made his body shiver in terror, but he stayed still. He couldn't move nor look at what happened at the robot's feet, but he knew Shiro was crying inside Mazinger's hand and he had to protect him at all costs. So he never looked back at his grandfather, because he knew he couldn't say anything else anymore now.

So yeah, Koji hates when people call Juzo Kabuto an hero on national television.

So, what was I saying? Oh, right!

Why would anyone have done anything about Doctor Hell when they got this very veeery special kid that was able to pilot a doomsday machine all by himself, afterall?

Whoopsie, did I say that Mazinger Z was built to be a doomsday machine? I mean, that's what Hell and Kabuto original plan was, anyway. They based Mazinger Z on an ancient lost Mycenian robot-golem weapon that was said to have destroyed the Mu Empire overnight. Legends said that this war golem acted like an emotional enhancer to its pilot, so no matter what the pilot felt, they would have been overwealmed by their deepest, most hidden desire and go berserk on anything that standed on their way. That's why the pilots were said to be people who had nothing to loose, like orphans, slaves and old veterans. It sounded like a great idea for a weapon intended to threat the entire world with!

That's why Koji's grandfather asked the kid for help that night. Juzo Kabuto would have become Dr. Hell's number one enemy thanks to the destructive nature of Mazinger Z, in order to conquer Earth all by himself. He had no noble intentions when he departed from Hell, he was as bad as the other guy.

Unfortunately, nor him or Hell took in consideration that neurodivergent individuals could fight against their neural link internal system. Was Juzo mad at himself for not taking this possibility into consideration? Did he even believe neurodivergent people were a real thing? Was he disgusted at Koji alone, because it meant there was something deeply "wrong" with the kid?

Or did he see himself in Koji in that moment? Did he hate himself to the point he couldn't bear accepting the fact he could be "wrong" too? We will never know and Koji never came to a conclusion either.

It's not like Mazinger Z didn't have an effect on Koji, by the way. It did, it was the main reason why Koji got very tense and bloodthirsty on the battlefield every single time! He was able to control himself enough to not go berserk, but when he was inside Mazinger Z, he needed to fight anything and anyone, at all times. When he didn't feel stimulated enough by a physical fight, he shouted on mic the most controversial punk opinions he had, because he knew he was being broadcasted on international television. News channels started censoring his live battles for this very reason. Koji keeps using this gimmick as a way to keep the press away from him to this day, so it's not so bad! Still, you couldn't touch or talk to him for a couple of hours after a fight, or even days. It was a real unpredictable mess.

Fortunately, the Mazinger Squad defeated Hell and his mechanical beasts years ago and so, Koji hasn't been able to use Mazinger Z for a while now. Sure, there was an aftermath secret cold war fought by spies and secret agents for some time, but nor Koji, Sayaka or Boss' gang were ever involved with it.

That was Tetsuya Tsurugi and Jun Hono war! Don't you worry, they never had to use a real Mazinger, since the two of them were raised as spies by Kenzo Kabuto more than anything. So they got mobile mazinger-inspired suits that totally didn't give them weirder mental side effects. :)

But ehy, when the story starts Koji (23) is back from the USA after working at NASA as an intern, Shiro(18) just won a scholarship to a prestigious french academy and both Tetsuya (28) and Jun (29) are healing and bonding with Koji like a family. Everything is going great! I surely hope Koji won't see an ufo crash landing any time soon. And I really, really hope he won't find any humanoid alien named Duke Fleed inside of said ufo, that would be a whole new type of mess to deal with.

:D

[peterkothe]

DAI-X from STAR FLEET aka X-BOMBER!

It’s Star Wars meets Thunderbirds meets Getter Robo; or what if Star Wars had a giant robot!!

In the future of 2999, the galaxy is at war with the alien invaders of the Imperial Alliance, who, led by the terrifying Imperial Master, seek to conquer the universe by obtaining the mysterious power known as F-Zero-1. (Not the Space Race F-Zero)

The galaxy’s only hope, the brave unlikely crew of the powerful starship: X-Bomber and its three transforming ships; which, when the going gets tough, combine together to form the mighty super robot Dai-X!

- A lesser known and very ambitious live-action tokusatsu series by Mazinger Z creator Go Nagai, but one that’s gone on to become cult-classic (especially in the UK) for its impressive visuals, model work, action, and the dubbed version’s iconic Starfleet theme song by Brian May!

Oh and Happy May the 4th!

[ryuuseipro]

Tokutember 2024: Day 23: One of my personal favorite moments in tokusatsu, the handshake between the two heroes, the giant hero/Mazinger-inspired robot Jet Jaguar and the King of the Monsters Godzilla, of GODZILLA VS. MEGALON (Toho; 1973)!

[theselostmachines]

This past weekend was the Smoky Mountain Fan Fest, the first big con I've tabled at in a long time. Financially, it could've been a lot better, but: I met Ron Perlman and got my copy of Hellboy signed, I met Butterbean and got my copy of Jackass the Movie signed, my wife joined me on the second day and we posed with...LokiMickey? Loki Mouse? Who then hugged us and told us he supports us after asking about the Pride flag at my table.

And uh, I added to my credit card debt and got a jumbo Mazinger Z Shogun Warrior, so...good times!

[fantasyinvader]

I'm doing The Middle Ages chapter of Live A Live. I can actually blame the King's death on Oersted. I mean, sure, he sees the Lord of Dark in the Throne room. But if you move around a bit, the "Lord of Dark" doesn't attack. He just keeps moving around, showing his back to the player. Oersted didn't find anything wrong with this, and refuses to retreat as unlike Sundown's fight with Mad Dog the Flee option is unavailable. It's one of those moments where he, the character, should have questioned what was going on but didn't. Instead he acted.

It's just like how Streibough's first lines should set off red flags. "Know this, my friend. I will hold nothing back. I've yielded much to you, but not this day. Gods grant me strength- grant me glory deserved!" He has long been second to Oersted, that he's given up so much to his friend and because of that he believes that he deserves to win. That he deserves the hand of the Princess, and be king on top of that, after all he's done for Oersted, but instead he loses one more time. There relationship has been one of Oersted continuously taking with no give.

I mean, the player can lose that fight, but that would also mean that none of the game's stories would have happened. There would be no Live A Live if Streibough had won aside from him and Oested going to save the Princess but there would be less of a chance either of them would be possessed. But that's the thing with this chapter, if Oersted had just stopped for a moment it could have been avoided. Like escaping the Lord of Dark's base, the statue by where Streibough was standing begins to glow and they have to leave before there's a cave in. But there's no timer or enemy encounters as that happens, and Oersted leaves his room just after seeing Streibough in it.

He had full agency in his fall, it wasn't just him doing what others told him to. He chose to do so, just like the King said he would save his fiancee after Oersted stood up. Not to mention his history with Streibough. And for this reason I don't feel that the point of Akira being a foil to him is that "Akira wouldn't allow himself to be controlled by others and said screw Destiny, whereas Oersted had no will of his own." It's more like in Akira's story, it's people admitting they screwed up and either being punished (like Akira being hit for trying to steal Takeo's panties/money, or the bad guys karma catching up to them) or realizing that they screwed up and trying to make things better (see Lawless). Oersted instead blames everyone else for his own fall, with the Remake giving him lines where after everything he's done he asks where his reward is.

I think I'm falling in love with Live A Live. It feels that with Oersted's story, the game is making a statement: Power fantasies where the end goal is some sort of reward are not heroic, and how dangerous games that act in that manner are in terms of messages they send to the players. People are always going to point out that Oersted is meant to be a foil to the seven heroes who stop him, but I feel he's also meant to act as a reflection of players as well. Players who play these games in order to pretend at being the hero, a lot of times treating a silent protagonist as an extension of themselves.

This selfish nature is reflected in the game's boss theme, Megalomania. Cambridge defines Megalomania as “an unnaturally strong wish for power and control, or the belief that you are very much more important and powerful than you really are.” This theme is used when Odio's various incarnations try to stop the heroes at the end of their stories, Oersted lashing out after his own story did not give him a happy ending with the intent to prove that he wasn't the problem. He becomes the villain because he needs validation, and it's usage during the false Lord of Dark fight shows how he fell to the level of a demon.

Which, going back to Akira again, fits. Akira starts by making homage to the central theme of Mazinger Z, that if you were given power how would you use it. Would you use your power to protect others and become a god, or would you use it to destroy and become a demon.

And at the beginning of the Chapter, the game just heaps on this false validation. Everyone's praising you, saying you will be the next king simply because you won a tournament. You don't know the princess, and she only knows of Oersted's deeds. Then the princess gets kidnapped and everyone is cheering for you to go rescue her, one guy even giving you the shirt off his back, and the game just throws armor and healing items at you before you start losing everything with Hasshe's death. Your comrades disappear until you're alone and left to mount a second rescue attempt, only then for Streibough to reveal that he engineered your downfall. You kill your fomer friend, but then the princess you didn't even know kills herself because you just killed the man she had fallen in love with. And then Oersted becomes blames everyone else and tries to validate himself by defeating the heroes.

The end shows, despite being a heroic mime the player can name whatever they please, like the Heroes he isn't just some blank avatar to link the player to the world. He's his own character, and as his own character he chooses to become the next Lord of Dark. And if the player still supports him, they do so rejecting the themes and morals of the other chapters.

The remake gives him a chance at redemption, while the Octopath crossover points to him being possessed. I feel like, in some ways, that lessens his story. Though I do also understand that the English version is largely where his vanity comes from, whereas in the Japanese he was more a traditional hero who broke due to a bad end. But even then, we hear Megalomania while fighting the false Lord of Dark, and we see the various incarnations of Odio. So possession has always been on the table with him. It's always been that he gave in to his hatred and became Odio or not, possession or no possession. And if hatred is the root cause of the game, why there will always be a danger of another Lord of Dark rather than a single individual, it shows how we can all let our hatred make us hurt others.

Like Hopes!Claude or Edelgard do.

This also cemented me using Akira as my main hero for the final chapter. I was going to use Masaru because he has the lowest level, but Akira fits the best I believe.

[asushin-mermaid-au-ask-blog]

Been on a mecha kick last couple of days and will when I have some time will probably watch some SRW playthroughs (AND OF COURSE GET TO MY ASKS HERE) but for now have some thoughts of what Shinji and Asuka’s relationships with other famous Mech pilots would be like.

Noriko Takaya (Gunbuster) - Noriko is the peppy athletic senpai who might drive Shinji and Asuka crazy but they can’t help but respect.

Simon Jiha (Gurren Lagann) - Pre-timeskip Simon is a good friend of Shinji’s and both Kamina and Misato say they’re both similar.

Roger Smith (Big O) - Asuka thinks Roger is the coolest pilot out there, and tries very hard to make Shinji jealous of them.

Noa Izumi (Patlabor) - Noa’s eccentric behavior might raise the two Eva pilot’s eyebrows but she thinks of herself as an older sister to them.

Shotaro Kaneda (Tetsujin 28) - Being the only pilot younger than them Shinji and Asuka are both kinda in awe of the child detective.

Sayaka Yumi (Mazinger Angels) - Being cool and smart, Shinji can’t help but look up to her and Asuka can’t help but be jealous.