Mazinger Z INFINITY Film Review

In my last MPX review, I talked about Go Nagai and how he made his mark in anime and manga history with Devilman, and now with the remade Devilman Crybaby on Netflix. I also talked a bit about his other work, Mazinger Z, which made the mecha genre we now know today. This review will tackle the latter, more specifically the film "Mazinger Z Infinity", which came out in Europe in late 2017, and the past several weeks has been made available in Japan and the US. The film is to celebrate the series's 45th anniversary, having first aired in 1972.

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

Dragon Ball Super 100th Episode Review

So this weekend, Dragon Ball Super celebrated its commemorative 100th episode, which is no small feat by any means. Sure, we have Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece as those who have hundreds of episodes, but for most anime, they don't go beyond 50 or so. It just seems like Japan can produce these shows more quickly, and at times more efficiently, when compared to places like the US where it would take anywhere between 3-5 years for a show to reach its 100th episode.

For the 100th episode of Dragon Ball Super, you'd think the show would do something a bit special. In a way, yes. The 100th episode is where we finally get to see Kale aka the female Broly in action in the Tournament of Power.

Now just a quick crash course for those not up to speed, the current arc of Dragon Ball Super has Goku and his companions engaged in a battle royale against warriors from other universes, where the last team members that survive has their universe spared from erasure by the Omni-Kings.

In the highlights of this episode, Caulifla, the fighting genius of Universe 6, finally faces Goku and demands that he teaches her the Super Saiyan Blue form, in return to activate it and take on Goku at full strength. To show that she's serious, she goes Super Saiyan, but with bigger muscles. This is similar to the form Trunks used back in Dragon Ball Z against Cell. Goku of course notes the weaknesses of Cauliflas's form and demonstrates Super Saiyan 2. Caulifla naturally fangirls over this and Goku's more than happy to teach her the form, much to Beerus's chagrin.

I think I can speak for everyone that in this brief encounter, Goku and Caulifla would make quite a couple if Goku never married Chichi. The two are just kindred spirits as Caulifla is more than eager to learn on how to become stronger and take on stronger opponents. You could say that Caulifia is Goku's true counterpart of Universe 6. Or to put it another way, Caulifla is a gender bent Goku as Fionna is to Finn in Adventure Time.

Unfortunately, this goody-goody relationship between the two is making Kale jealous, who at this point is unable to transform into a Super Saiyan at will and can only do so in extreme anger. While the show never addresses it, I'll put it out there and say Caulifla and Kale are a lesbian couple. subtly speaking. This is because the two share opposite personalities that draws them both together - Caulifla is what anime and manga fans call a 'Tsundere', where she shows off as being a bully, but is actually a kinder person on the inside. Evangelion's Asuka Langley-Soryu popularized that particular character trait. Kale on the other hand is a 'Yandere', which is the opposite of a Tsundere character. She appears shy and timid, but if you want to live up to old age, don't ever screw with her.

So when Kale sees Caulifla and Goku, no pun intended, 'hit it off', Kale's Yandere trait kicks in and transforms into a Super Saiyan with only one thing in her mind - kill Son Goku.

For fans of the character Broly, who only appears in the non-canon Dragon Ball Z movies, Kale is without a doubt his counterpart in Dragon Ball Super, quite literally. Furthermore, Kale has shown in this episode that she is far more powerful than Broly could ever be. This may upset some Broly fans who in their mind still places Broly as the most powerful of all the Super Saiyans, including Goku. Nevertheless, Kale has such unprecedented power that she forces Goku to go Super Saiyan Blue and throw a Kamehameha. But Kale just walks through it without a flinch.

Compare this when Goku, in his SSB form, through a Kamehameha against Merged Zamasu back in the Future Trunks arc. Merged Zamasu is totally unaffected thanks to his half-immortality. Kale of course doesn't have that feat, but is able to tank the Kamehameha anyway.

As expected, some fans argue that Goku isn't even using the SSB form at full power and actually lowered the power of his Kamehameha as a way of 'testing' Kale's power. I've made a video months ago about that subject, which you can find in the video description if you want my detailed opinion on that. But my short reply is, given that the fate of Universe 7 is at stake, Goku is in no position to 'test' someone's power. If Goku were to lower his guard and power at this point, he will be pushed out of the ring, and in the past few episodes, he was very much close to that.

That said, it is true Goku is trying to conserve as much of his energy as possible. Whis has stated that as powerful as the Super Saiyan Blue form is, it eats up quite an amount of stamina. And since healing items like Senzu Beans are forbidden in the tournament, Goku as much as possible, has to avoid using the SSB form until the final stretch. Otherwise, Goku would be too worn out in the closing moments. However, Goku has been forced to use this form a number of times already the past few weeks, and has to use that form yet again to avoid being pushed out by Kale.

As exciting as the highlights of this episode may be, I am actually quite disappointed. For the 100th episode, I was expecting Toei to at least feature what we would call 'Sakuga', which are moments in which the overall animation in one scene or another is done with incredible detail. Toei has done this with Goku Black in the Future Trunks arc. But for this episode, you don't get any Sakuga and instead have moments of bad character design and animation. Not as terrible as the infamous episode 5, or what we see with Goku and Golden Frieza, but it is there and is quite noticeable.

Another reason I didn't like this is the writing and direction of this episode. Kale has Goku at her mercy and the latter's only option at that point is to go Super Saiyan Blue + Kaioh-ken, if not his yet to be revealed new power-up. Instead, Kale tosses Goku aside and rains a barrage of Ki blasts over the entire ring, destroying much of the place before looking for Goku again. Piccolo explains that Kale is losing control of her powers, but doesn't really appear that way and is more of Toei having trouble with Kale's rampage while making sure Goku doesn't get beaten up or eliminated in the process. Time constraints may also play a role as the show doesn't get season breaks and Toei has little time to polish things up.

And what is perhaps the most disappointing part, as Kale's shows off more of her power, Jiren steps in and knocks her out in one shot. All of a sudden Jiren shows he is far more powerful than Goku has ever faced previously and is eager to fight him right away, this is despite his beat up by Kale. The latter wasn't eliminated, but is out cold.

What I'm saying is that I want Kale to be around for a few episodes and engaged in multiple battles against other characters before finally getting eliminated. Sure, she wasn't pushed out, but it feels so anti-climactic that Jiren takes her out easily with one shot, and that's not even him at his full power. So at this point Kale's time is done and is no longer relevant because now we have Jiren who, based on this performance, can take out everyone else with very little effort.

On that note, I wanna go back to the part where fans are saying "Goku isn't taking Kale seriously" when he went SSB. So Goku threw a Kamehameha and Kale was unaffected, but when Kale is hit by Jiren's attack, she was knocked out. It's clear Jiren wasn't attacking Kale at full power. So if Jiren had no trouble taking out Kale with a small portion of his power, why did Goku struggle? If Goku is as strong as fans say he is, then Goku should have no problems in handling Kale even if he used a small portion of his power as a Super Saiyan Blue as fans claim him to be. That is not the case. Kale was going Berserk and Goku had to take her seriously if he wants to stay in the game. Goku didn't turn SSB to test Kale's strength, he used it because Kale is about to do some serious damage to him.

Kale wants Goku dead, so there is no reason for her to be holding back. Even Hit has mentioned that Kale would be disqualified if she kills Goku and Caulifia is trying to calm her down. Was Goku holding back with Broly when the latter wants him dead? Of course not. Was Goku holding back in his SSB form when he took on Frieza's Golden Form for the first time? No. In fact, in the TV version of DBS, Goku has said that he is keeping his guard up on Frieza rather than be excited for their rematch. Why? Because Goku knows Frieza is not someone he should take lightly. So he must fight Frieza at full strength. Same when he faced Merged Zamasu, and same when the Trio de Dangers are using their ultimate attack, and the same when Kale was out for his blood. Never mind the crappy writing from Toei.

If I am to describe this episode, it's like watching an episode of WWE RAW where they hype up the next big feud between their biggest stars, and though it has its moments, in the end, you spent 2-3 hours of watching a WWE program for virtually nothing at all. You'd complain about it, but Vince McMahon doesn't care as long as his shows are always at full house, high ratings on TV or online, people buying their merchandise, and saying New Japan Pro Wrestling is total crap, despite the contrary NJPW is a far better product. Same thing with Toei's handling of DBS. They don't care how bad it is as long as it's a ratings hit in Japan, more people buy the merchandise, and the fanbase thinking it's the greatest anime of all time that everything else is pile of bullsh--.

Teaser images for Toei's "Mazinger Z" movie

Club Dynamic, a fan club of the works of Go Nagai, has shown on their Facebook Page the following teaser images of the upcoming Mazinger Z movie by Toei. I cannot personaly confirm these, but if they are indeed true, it's impressive.

About Mazinger Z - Created by Go Nagai and originally published in Weekly Shonen Jump in October of 1972, Mazinger Z is about a teenager named Koji Kabuto, whom after learning his grandfather is killed by a mad scientist who wants to rule the world, must pilot his grandfather's invention - a giant robot designed to combat the mad scientists army of mechanical beasts. The manga would later be adapted into an anime series in December of the same year, which sparked the Golden Age of Mecha Anime.

About Toei - Toei is one of the oldest and largest animation studios in Japan. Founded in 1948, many consider Toei as the Japanese counterpart to Disney. Toei is responsible for many of the most popular anime that aired over the last 60 years, among them Dragon Ball, One Piece, Digimon, Sailor Moon, Precure, and many others.