In case you don't know Mazinger Z, it is the first work of its kind that feature the concept of a giant robot with a human pilot. It's why we had Voltron, Gundam, Sym-Bionic Titan, and pretty much every other giant robot show that you know of. Mazinger Z did came out in English under the name "Tranzor Z", but it's a heavily butchered version of the original series.
The plot of Mazinger Z goes like this: A young teenager named Koji Kabuto pilots his late grandfather's invention - the giant robot Mazinger Z, to do battle against the mad scientist Dr. Hell, who plans to conquer the world with his army of giant robots called the "Kikaiju", which translates to 'Mechanical Beasts', or for a more literal term 'Robot Beasts' or 'Ro-Beasts', just like the ones in Voltron.
92 episodes later (plus an additional 56 more episodes from the sequel series Great Mazinger), Koji successfully takes out Dr. Hell for good. Mazinger Z Infinity takes place 10 years after the fall of Dr. Hell and the world experienced a moment of peace. Koji follows his grandfather's footsteps and becomes a science researcher. When Dr. Hell suddenly comes back from the dead and attacks the world, a new Mazinger discovered in Mt. Fuji, and a mysterious woman named Lisa being the key to all of this, Koji must pilot Mazinger Z for one final mission to save the world once again.
First off, let it be known that the film is made specifically for fans of the original Mazinger Z series from 1972, as well as its sequel Great Mazinger. This is mainly because the movie has zero time to provide a quickstart on the franchise's lore and just puts everything there, assuming the audience already knows what they are. So this is not, in any shape or form, an entry point for newcomers to the Mazinger franchise.
And that's actually quite the downer with this movie because unless you're knowledgeable about the franchise, you'll be almost out of the loop with the movie's plot. I due recommend before going into this film that, if you do not have the time or access to watch the orignal Mazinger Z series, then watch either MazinKaiser from 2001, or Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact from 2009. Both follow the same basic premise of the original Mazinger Z series, though taken to different directions, but it at least gives you the basic idea of the show's lore.
I have grown up watching Mazinger Z as it's one of the earliest anime I've gotten into. So yes, Mazinger Z Infinity does bring up a lot of nostalgia of my love for the franchise. But it's not without its problems.
I personally have a negative look towards CG animation because as cool looking as they are, come back a decade or so and they won't look as good anymore. 2D animation has a better chance of aging well than 3D animation. With that being said, the CG animation in the film is cool looking and makes the action sequences very appealing, but I don't think it will age well many years down the line. It doesn't help either that there were moments the CG scenes tend to get choppy, it's as though I was watching the 2011 version of the Thundercats, where it had that very issue back then. It is 2018 and I expect 3D animation to be better looking and more fluid.
Hiroya Iijima serves as character designer for Mazinger Z Infinity, and in his interview, he wants his own interpretation of the characters, and not trying to be too close to the original designs made by Go Nagai. Iijima previously did character designs for Afro Samurai, but is better known in providing Key Animation sequences for Bleach, Dragon Ball Z, Iron-Blooded Orphans, and Saint Seiya. The latter more especially because the characters in Mazinger Z Infinity do look a lot more like Saint Seiya characters than Mazinger characters. I don't blame Iijima for his designs, but imagine if Akira Toriyama does the character design instead and you can see how awkward it's going to be given that Toriyama's style is more associated with Dragon Ball than anything else.
If there is one thing that I really disliked most of the movie, is in the middle part, when the action stops and the plot has slowed to a crawl in favor of social commentary. Thing is, Devilman Crybaby already tackled that subject and did it 100 times better than Mazinger Z Infinity. Having to tackle to it again in Mazinger for 20+ minutes got me so bloody bored I nearly dozed off! I also don't like the idea of putting in characters that have absolutely nothing to do with the movie's plot and is only there as mere fan-service.
Without putting in any spoilers, the explanation as to what is going on ends up adding a number of plot holes as far as overall lore of the franchise is concerned. Mazinger Z has a complicated history behind the scenes of which I will not elaborate in this review. But the best I could say is that Mazinger Z Infinity is Toei's attempt to "set the record straight" in a sense.
During the interview segment at the beginning of the film, when asked what the theme of the movie is, director Junji Shimizu (who previously worked on One Piece and Dragon Ball Super) stated the theme is "entertainment". Well, if a 20-minute soap opera on social commentary is part of their definition of "entertainment", he and the rest of the staff have gone mental.
That being said, the action sequences of the movie are its true highlights. Seeing Mazinger Z (and Great Mazinger) decimate hordes of enemy mechs got my blood heating up with excitement. This is essentially what made Mazinger Z a groundbreaking series back in the day that would spawn every other mecha show since. And this is what I really want out of this sequel film. The movie doesn't need social commentary or anyhting like that. Just throw in all the action in there and I'd be really happy about it. But that is not the case.
Don't get me wrong, though. Mazinger Z Infinity is by no means a bad film and I do enjoy it in part due to nostalgia. It's just that the drama and whatnot thrown in is not only unnecessary, it also drags it down from being a really great film to watch. Nevertheless, the movie is to celebrate franchise's mark in history in what made giant robots cool like we know now today, and it deserves to receive that credit and respect. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give Mazinger Z Infinity, 3 Rocket Punches out of 5
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