Mazinkaiser

Director
Masahiko Murata
Production
Bandai, Dentsu, Dynamic Planning
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
7 episodes
Year
2001

Mazinkaiser

By Stephen Lerch
10th Jun 04

Mazinkaiser is a 7 part OVA from 2001/2002. Since the original Mazinger Z series originally began airing, my guess is that this release was to commemorate the THIRTY year anniversary of the great Super/God robot. Some may remember the short lived English adaption of the series as Tranzor Z.

Short Synopsis:

Dr. Hell, the leader of a group wanting to take over the world, has begun his operations once again, sending his dual sex henchperson Baron Ashura to target the Photon Laboratory, Dr. Yumi who is the head of the Laboratory, Kabuto Kouji who pilots the Mazinger Z and Mazinkaiser super robots and anyone else that gets in his way.

Each episode, with the exception of the final 2 episodes, are really self contained stories with the main fight with Dr. Hell for that particular episode being wrapped up by the end of the 23-27 minute episode. Some things do get carried over from episode to episode, but other than the final 2 episodes, they can be watched separately and still understood.

Dr. Hell and Baron Ashura attack our heroes with ancient mechanical monsters unearthed from the Myceanean civilisation.

This series sees the return of Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, Boss Borot and Aphrodite A. Upgrades to the machines and he destruction of others also give us the Mazinkaiser machine and Venus Ace which is fashioned after Sayaka, Dr. Yumi's daughter.

Lot's of fun to be had here for fans of super robots.

Video:

Given the recent date of this show's release, as expected the video is top notch.

The animation studio behind it has really gone the extra step to make it look like the super robot shows of the '70s/early 80's. Thick outlines for the characters along with specialised outfits that match the previous Mazinger series. A great tribute to the Mazinger of old.

The transfer to DVD grants us an Animorphic wide screen picture with no compression blocking and vivid colours. ADV did a good job on the transfer.

In typical ADV style, they have the opening animation with Japanese text, but also hard coded English text beside that. This is forgivable as the clean op/ed and the Japanese openings are available. The end credits, however, are left unmolested and all English credits run after the next episode preview.

Audio:

You have the option of Stereo Japanese with soft English subs, or a Dolby Digital 5.1 English mix.

Acting, or over acting as was the way with the '70s super robot shows, is top notch in the Japanese mix. Every character comes to life in the larger than life style they try to portray them as on screen.

One thing to note is a few instances of bad grammar or misspellings in the English subs. This isn't really a problem since they still make sense over all, but another show that falls victim to ADVs overriding desire to get a show out as quickly as possible, sometimes at the expense of it's subtitle work.

The English 5.1 mix is nicely done. Opinion on the acting can be left to someone more willing to watch it in this manner than I. Sound and music really comes across well in the 5.1 track and is worth a check just to hear.

Extras:

Spread across the 2 volumes we are given production sketches, artwork from the original Japanese DVD releases (6 releases total), the original Japanese openings, descriptions of the robots (bad guys and good) and creditless openings and endings.

Not outstanding, in terms of extras, but what is there is definitely worthwhile.

Packaging:

Presented in two volumes, the first containing 4 episodes the second having 3, the series comes in two standard DVD cases. The artwork gets the action and fun to be had in the series front and centre. It matches the show perfectly and is taken from 2 of the Japanese DVD releases.

The back gives us a few screen grabs and a description of what the show contains, all written in what can only be described as using a comic book style font.

Well done.

Final Analysis:

Any fan of super robots is in for a real treat. Any fan of the original Mazinger Z/Tranzor Z series is in for an even bigger treat, what with the return of all the past heroes and their corresponding super robots.

This is a shining example of what a super robot should be. Plenty of action. Plenty of fun.

The animation is top quality and retains the feel of the older super robot shows many remember from their past.

Story quality is high, voice acting is great.

One thing I will say is that the shower scene with Baron Ashura is... unexpected and a bit disturbing, yet funny.

Definitely worth watching and worth owning for fans of this show type.

Score: 9

-- Stephen Lerch 10th Jun 04

Mazinkaiser Images