Mazinger Z
Mazinger Z (Japanese: マジンガーZ, Hepburn: Majingā Zetto, known as Tranzor Z in the United States) is a Japanese super robot manga written and illustrated by Go Nagai. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973 and Kodansha's TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974.
マジンガーZ
(Majingā Zetto)
- Weekly Shōnen Jump (1972–1973)
- TV Magazine (1973–1974)
October 1972 – September 1974
- Keisuke Fujikawa
- Susumu Takaku[2]
- Michiaki Watanabe
- Akira Ifukube (stock music)
December 3, 1972 – September 1, 1974[3]
92
December 1972 – September 1974
5
Mazinger Z has since spawned a media franchise. It was adapted into an anime television series by Toei Animation, which aired on Fuji TV from December 1972 to September 1974. A second manga series was released alongside the TV show, this one drawn by Gosaku Ota, which started and ended almost at the same time as the TV show. The series was followed by several sequels and spin-off, among them being Great Mazinger, UFO Robot Grendizer and Mazinkaiser. Mazinger Z: Infinity, a theatrical film sequel, taking place ten years after the Great Mazinger series, was animated by Toei Animation and released in theaters on January 13, 2018.[4]
Development[edit]
In his Manga Works series, Go Nagai reveals that he had always loved Astro Boy and Tetsujin-28 as a child and wanted to make his own robot anime.[5] However, for the longest time he was unable to produce a concept that he felt did not borrow too heavily from those two shows. One day, Nagai observed a traffic jam and mused to himself that the drivers in the back of the traffic jam would love a way to bypass the cars in front of them. From that thought came the idea of a giant robot that could be controlled from the inside, like a car.[6] In its original concept, the Mazinger Z robot was named Energer Z and was controlled by a motorcycle that was driven up its back and into its head, an idea which was recycled for the Diana A robot.[6] However, the recent popularity of Kamen Rider, in which the main characters frequently drive motorcycles, led to Nagai replacing the motorcycle with a hovercraft to make Mazinger Z stand out.[6] Nagai later redesigned Energer Z, renaming it Mazinger Z as a play on the Japanese words ma (魔, demon) and jin (神, god).[6]
The motif of the Hover Pilder docking itself into Mazinger's head also borrows from Nagai's 1971 manga Demon Lord Dante (the prototype for his more popular Devilman), in which the titular giant demon has a human head (of Ryo Utsugi, the young man who merged with him) in his forehead. Koji Kabuto takes his surname (the Japanese word for a helmet) because he controls Mazinger Z from its head.
Merchandise[edit]
Mazinger remains one of Go Nagai's most enduring success stories, spawning many products in the realm of merchandising, model kits, plastic and die-cast metal toys (the now famous Soul of Chogokin line), action figures and other collectibles.
A 40-foot tall statue of Mazinger Z was built in a suburb called "Mas del Plata" in Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain) in the early 1980s, to serve as the suburb's entrance, yet the suburb was never completed and the statue remains there.[27]