A brief history of one of the earliest giant robot series, Mazinger Z

Go Nagai and his favourite toy.

Back in 1972, manga artist Go Nagai wanted to create his own original giant robot manga following in the footsteps of Osamu Tezuka, author of Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy) and Mitsuteru Yokoyama, author of Tetsujin 28th (Gigantor). He however didn't want to simply copy what they did.

Tetsuwan Atom and Tetsujin 28th covers.

One day when he was outside on the sidewalk, Nagai saw a lot of cars being stuck in traffic, and thought to himself, wouldn't it be nice if the cars at the back had legs and could just walk over the cars in front and thereby skip traffic?

That's when he had the brilliant idea for his own robot. The giant robot he was going to draw wasn't going to be autonomous like in Tetsuwan Atom or remote controlled like in Tetsujin 28th, but instead, it was going to be piloted. This way, he managed to create his own original giant robot without copying any of what his two predecessors did.

He drew and named his robot, Energer Z and the hero would ride a motorcycle which he would then use to dock into its head. Why the Z you might ask? Because it's cool, that's why.

Energer Z concept art.

However, at the time, Shotaro Ishinomori's Kamen Rider live action tv series was a hit among younger Japanese audiences and that heavily featured plenty of motorcycles. Go Nagai who worked under Shotaro Ishinomori as an assistant for around 2 years before making his manga debut didn't want to copy what his teacher was doing.

Manga version of Kamen Rider.

Therefore, He replaced the motorcycle with a small aircraft which he named the hover pilder. He also decided to rename his robot to Mazinger Z by combining the words Ma, 魔, meaning demon and Jin, 神 meaning god to evoke the image of a Demon God.

The final result.

In Mazinger Z, Kouji Kabuto is a regular motorcycle loving teenager who uses Mazinger Z, a giant robot which his grandfather built in his basement, to fight Dr. Hell, a biochemist hell bent on world domination, and his army of mechanical beasts which he excavated off the ruins of Bardos Island, remnants of the ancient Mycenae civilization.

Nagai then collaborated with Toei Animation to produce both a manga and a TV anime of Mazinger Z. He would personally work on the manga while Toei would take care of the anime.

Needless to say, the anime was a massive success with the kids in Japan and it spawned a whole line of merchandise. The show ran for a total of 92 episodes.

Mazinger Z anime by Toei Animation.

Vintage Jumbo Machinder Mazinger toy.

The manga also did well in Weekly Shounen Jump, but Nagai's version was also a lot more violent than its anime counterpart. After all, Nagai did do Devilman just before and he wasn't going to be underestimated.

Our hero Kouji hides his eyes from all the gore.

You would think its success in Japan was the last time you heard of it, but the works of Nagai had the ability to cross frontiers.

Mazinger Z statue in Taragona, Spain where the anime was a huge hit in the 1980s.

Graffiti art of spinoff / sequel Grendizer, the anime opened the flood gates in France in the 1970s.

Graffiti art of spinoff / sequel Grendizer but this time in a country in the Middle East where the anime was also popular.>

Director Guillermo Del Toro giving Go Nagai a bear hug. Mazinger Z was also a hit in Mexico where little Guillermo spent his childhood.

Today, Mazinger Z is known for having introduced many concepts that we see in giant robot anime nowadays. After it hit the airwaves, many other mecha series attempted to imitate its popularity with varying levels of success such as Great Mazinger (its sequel), Raideen, Combattler V, Voltes V, Grendizer (another sequel / spinoff), Gundam, Macross, Evangelion and the list goes on and on.

But it didn't end there, Mazinger Z also received reboots and spinoffs over the years such as God Mazinger, Mazinkaiser, Shin Mazinger, Mazinkaiser SKL and more.

So next time you decide to watch a giant robot anime, leave a thought for Mazinger Z.

Merry Christmas!

Before you leave, see that poster sitting next to Mazinger Z? That's the poster for Mazinger Z Infinity, the anime movie sequel which takes place 10 years after the original series. It's coming out in Japan this January 2018. The movie already premiered in cinemas in France, Italy. Belgium and Japan along with Spain are the last two to be getting a cinematic release.

Go Nagai walks the red carpet in October 2017 in Italy for the movie premiere.

And finally, here's the magnificent trailer which promises plenty of thrilling action and drama.

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